ǝǝɹʇ sɐɯʇsıɹɥɔ o

We finally put Christmas decorations up in our condo. But, having a cat and a daughter trying to learn to crawl, we were a bit paranoid about the possible (let's face it, the likely) destruction of our decorations. Greg had a solution in mind, and I finally agreed when I realized baby stuff had overtaken our living room and there really wasn't any room for the tree on the floor. Now that it's done, it just makes me smile. What do you think? (Hint: The title of my post is "O Christmas Tree" upside down) And yes, Aurora's stocking is different. I'm making her one to go with ours but haven't found good fabric yet.

Several people have asked "How did he DO that?" There was already a hook in our ceiling (like the kind used to hang potted plants), and Greg IS an engineer, after all. The branches on the Christmas tree automatically collapse when tipped upside down, so he bought some wire and wired the middle of the tree to each branch to get the branches to stay up, then wired the tree to the hook. The decorations actually all stay on by themselves, including the star. But, Rajah realized he could get the star to fall if he pushed the tree (it swings). So, now the star is wired to the tree as well.

Growing, Growing, Growing

I gave up trying to post all our summer activities, but I wanted to include some pictures. In addition, Aurora is growing fast and developing. She's laughing (she's ticklish on her thigh and laughs when you change her diaper), rolling over from her stomach to her back, grabbing at things (not so sure how I feel about that one), and eating rice cereal as fast as I can feed it to her. After my emergency gall bladder removal, my breastmilk really struggled and Aurora wasn't gaining weight very well. So we started on rice cereal and the more she ate, the more impatient she became with nursing. I finally gave up at 4 months, and she's much happier and her weight gain is catching up. Here's a lot of pictures:

Big Springs in Island Park, ID where my Grandpa built a cabin.

Upper Mesa Falls in Ashton, ID.

Practicing holding her own bottle.

Playing in the bouncer. The onesie says "I'll always be Grandma's sweetie."

Proof she's grabbing things. I promise she put the lion on her own head.

A pretty butterfly for Halloween.

I just love these socks so I had to post this picture, too.

Rajah's Tricks Part 2

I have been telling people for a year (since we got Rajah) that he loves shiny objects. His favorites are my sewing pins. For all those who didn't believe me, I now have proof. He will even pull the pins out of the fabric and carry it around the condo until Greg or I take it away.

Rajah's Tricks

So I really will get around to updating. Emergency surgery and a 3-month growth spurt (by the way, where'd my newborn go??) take up quite a bit of time. But this post is about Rajah. He has dealt with the jealousy of adding a family member quite well, but he's still psycho-kitty. Here are some of his more impressive tricks to show how much fun he is.

Sorry this video is sideways. Just look at the loop on the peephole on the door. It's a hair elastic (his favorite toy).

Last but not least. He is a very intelligent cat in that he seems to really understand us. He plays this game repeatedly but will never actually attack, he just likes to look fearsome by going up on his two back legs. I wish I could train him to do this at the door for trick-or-treaters.

Alive Again

Yep, we're here. We're all doing just fine, and even getting 7-8 hours of sleep every couple days. Aurora put herself on a good schedule once I started working again (part-time, from home, with completely flexible hours-woohoo!). I need to update the blog on several topics, including a vacation, general well-being, and a couple of just plain really bad weeks. I'll be updating in the near future by subject rather than chronologically, so be warned. In the mean time, here are some pictures to keep everyone happy.

Our trip to Idaho, this was taken at Big Springs in Island Park, Idaho. More on that later.

Our friend made this adorable tutu and we happened to have a onesie that matched perfectly. I think she looks like a fairy in it, which means I will have to find another onesie to go with it and it will likely become her Halloween costume. Aurora is smiling all the time now and I LOVE it. The above is my favorite picture of her. The funniest thing is Rajah is OBSESSED with the headband. He sat beside her on the couch the whole time I was taking these photos trying to eat the headband. It wasn't long before I swatted him for trying to eat it while she was wearing it. The headband is now safely tucked away in her drawer.

So adorable! My sister-in-law already has dibs on this outfit for when she has a girl, and I'm pretty sure this outfit got a 6-month-old baby (Eddie) at church to have a crush on her. He now sits behind us or beside me in Relief Society and smiles and laughs and kicks doing everything he can to get to Aurora. Which might be a problem because the woman who made the tutu already arranged for her almost 1-year-old (Jaxson) to marry Aurora. Eddie and Jaxson will have to duke it out in 20-25 years. Knowing their parents, it should be an interesting fight!

Aurora's Blessing

For those who aren't familiar with the LDS church, it is typical to give infants a blessing and formally name them in the blessing. Usually this is done a few months after the baby is born. However, since some of my family was in town and that almost never happens around special events, we decided to bless Aurora on June 27, when she was only 11 days old. My mom had made a dress for another granddaughter that we are now passing around the family. Since Rory is the smallest grandchild yet (at birth) and we were blessing her when she was so young, the dress was adorable but positively drowned her. It was great to have family around and we hope everyone enjoyed themselves. It was pretty funny too since having Greg's and my family there practically doubled the size of the congregation that day.

Birth Story

So here's the story. Pictures are at the bottom. If you are grossed out by the birthing process or simply don't want to read this, feel free to ignore it. It's long and detailed mostly because I haven't written this in my journal so I need to record it somewhere.

On June 15 I was 40 weeks exactly, and since I know exactly when she was conceived, I wasn't worried about the due date being miscalculated. Besides being generally uncomfortable and sick of work, my mom was already in town and I was anxious for the baby to come before other family came in town. I was having contractions but never regularly and never lasting more than 10 seconds. Up to this point I had been at work every day, but on the 15th I made arrangements to continue working at home. So at my OB appointment on the 15th, my doctor suggested scheduling an induction date for a week later. I really didn't want to be induced, mainly because I have heard that pitocin (the drug used to induce labor) makes contractions come really fast and hard. So I asked my doctor if there wasn't something else we could try before being induced. He volunteered to strip my membranes (separating the baby's sac from the cervix), which I've heard is painful but was most willing to do. It actually didn't hurt me at all but was mildly uncomfortable. However, my blood pressure was also high so my doctor ordered a non-stress test for the next morning. I left the doctor's office hoping I would not be waiting much longer.

I wanted to go walking or something that night but was ordered to take it easy because of my blood pressure being high. I started to feel more frequent contractions before we went to bed at 10:30 pm, but they still didn't last very long. I woke up at 1 am with very hard contractions and realized I should probably be timing them. So I got up and started walking around the condo and timing the contractions. They were lasting 20-30 seconds and were 5 minutes apart. I timed them again every 15 minutes or so and by 2:15 am, they were 4-5 minutes apart and lasting about 30 seconds each. I decided that this was probably real labor, but I really didn't want to go to the hospital and be sent home. I woke Greg up at 2:30 am and told him I thought I was in labor and he needed to wake up so he would be awake enough to drive by the time I felt like we needed to leave. By the time we were ready to leave at 3 am, the contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and 30-40 seconds long. We arrived at the hospital at 3:30 am and checked in. They checked me and I was dilated 4 cm, so they wanted to call my doctor and see what he wanted to do. Luckily my doctor was the one on call, and since I had just seen him that day, he wanted to wait and see if I progressed. At 5 am they checked me again and I was 5 cm dilated so they admitted me. They had me on monitors and now hooked me up to an IV for antibiotics because I had tested positive for group B strep.

Once the antibiotics were done 45 minutes later, I was finally allowed to get up and move around. I felt the contractions slow after I was able to use the tub and, sure enough, when they checked me at 7 am I hadn't progressed at all. I got up and started walking around then and immediately the contractions came very strong and hard. Within 10 minutes they were 2-3 minutes apart. Then my doctor wanted to break my water to help speed things up. This made the contractions even worse. Whereas before there had been some rest in between each contraction, now my muscles didn't have time to relax before the next contraction started. I entered transition (noted by me throwing up suddenly) and was 7 cm at this point. I had to get more antibiotics, so I was stuck in bed again. I asked for an epidural and the anesthesiologist arrived. Having the epidural set up was strange (the electric shock to my hips and knees really hurt) but I was very pleased with it. I was scared of being stuck in bed and not able to control moving or pushing, but I was still able to move my legs, help move myself from side to side, and control pushing. This was all around 9 am. By 11 am I was throwing up again and had a horrible headache from my neck being misaligned on hospital pillows. They checked me again at 11 am and I was fully dilated (10 cm) so they went to call my doctor. He told them to go ahead and have me start pushing. The nurse came back and helped me get ready and I started pushing just after 12 pm, and again I needed more antibiotics. The monitor that is supposed to pick up the contractions was only working intermittently, so after about 15 minutes the nurse just told me to tell her when I wanted to push. This is where I was very grateful for the epidural to let me still feel the contractions without them being painful. I pushed for about 45 minutes until my doctor came. Aurora was born at 1:10 pm.

So far Aurora has been a wonderful baby, sleeping and eating almost exactly as all those baby books describe the average newborn. She was jaundiced for about a week but didn't need to be under lights at all and now it is hardly noticeable. We weighed her yesterday and think she's back to her birth weight or maybe even closer to 7 lbs. She stays up for about an hour and a half twice a day and then sleeps well at night, eating twice and only waking when I change her diaper. Our poor cat has been seriously traumatized by her and by all our visitors, but he's coming to terms with the fact that she's not leaving. Here are a few more pictures:

Still newborn in the hospital.

Daddy's girl (that's what the shirt says) on Father's Day. She arrived just in time. :)

Rajah and she made friends about a week after she was born. His paw is in the air, not in her face, by the way.

Her preferred sleeping position. This outfit says "Mommy and I agree: Daddy's charming." I love it!

Our little strawberry.

A Sweet Introduction

Aurora Lynn Greenland

was born June 16, 2010 at 1:10 pm,

weighing 6 lbs. 11 oz., 20 inches long

She has slept a lot, is content as long as she's swaddled, and loves to stare at everthing and everyone around her. She's perfect and we're thrilled she is finally here. I'll post details of her birth in a few days. In the mean time, here are some pictures:

Last Pregnancy Picture

This was at 39 weeks, and I'm 40 weeks today. I've made progress (still 3 cm dilated but 80% effaced) and, as evidenced by the below photos compared with previous ones, she has dropped significantly. My doctor agreed to strip my membranes today after he wanted to schedule an induction and I questioned whether there was something that could be done prior to induction. We'll see if it does anything.

Finally

No, no baby yet :) We finally completed the nursery, crib bedding and all. Here are some pictures:

When you first walk in the room, the crib is on your left and the dresser is straight in front of you. Here is the crib view while standing in front of the dresser.

Another view of the crib with the door closed.

A view of the only unobstructed wall so you can see the paint colors.

Standing at the door looking at the corner of the crib, recliner, and dresser with changing pad. Greg and I didn't like most gliders we tried out, so we went with this recliner instead.

A close-up of the crib detail and crib bedding.

It was fun to decorate but exhausting to organize. What you can't see behind the dresser drawers and closet are mountains of diapers, clothes, bibs, burp cloths, blankets, and toys. And just so you know, yes we're aware that this is the last time the room will look this way. :)

Just three days left (if I'm lucky)!!

Getting Ready and More Baby Shower Fun

When we realized I was already dilating, I went into a minor panic over making sure we were ready. The showers definitely helped ease my anxiety, as did each doctor appointment in which nothing had changed. But that didn't stop me from making three lists. One of things I needed to find before the baby came (like a pediatrician), one for things we needed to buy (like a crib mattress) and one for things we needed to do (like pre-register at the hospital). There were thingns on each list that were top priority (like the pediatrician) and others that were lower priority (like me getting a hair cut). I am happy to say that we have now accomplished all of the essential items and most of the non-essential items, which unfortunately just makes us very anxious for her to finally arrive.

One of the non-essential-but-definitely-wanted-done items was building Rajah a new cat house. There were three major problems with our original one. 1) It was too small for an adult cat, 2) it took up too much floor space and 3) it was not a safe spot from little kids. Rajah understands that little kids are not adults and does not hiss, bite, scratch, or bother them. However, loud little kids do not generally understand why the cute, furry kitty is scared of them when they come over. We saw one we liked in Petsmart (for a mere $160), took the measurements and design, and then came home and built it (for about $40). It's 5 1/2 feet tall and takes up half the floor space as before. He loves it more than we expected and now sleeps on the middle shelf quite regularly, which is great because that means less fur on the couch. Sorry to my nieces and nephews who are coming to visit at the end of June and will want to play with the kitty. If you're quiet and gentle, he'll let you pet him. If you're loud and excited, he'll run terrified.

We've also finished assembling, buying, and organizing everything for the nursery except the crib bedding. Buying crib bedding was an experience I will not willingly relive anytime soon as I have very specific tastes and did not want a lot of pink. We finally found something we liked enough (still didn't love it) and it should arrive in a couple days. After we get it, I will post pictures of the finished nursery. After Greg's family's baby shower, I also had one for work, one for my family, and one for the ward. I am still amazed at the amazing stuff we received. Everything is going to be so useful and we only received 1 duplicate item, which was awesome. While we got the essential items at Greg's family's shower, we got all the items we wanted to have at the other showers. We are definitely ready now. And after excruciating back labor in the middle of the night a few nights ago, my only problem with her coming any day now is that my doctor is out of town till Friday.

Birthday and Baby Shower Fun

My birthday (Kay) is two weeks after Greg's birthday. Our friend Tom also happens to have the same birthday as me. So since we've been friends, we get together on our birthdays. Greg was so patient with me this year as every other day I would change my mind about what kind of cake and dinner I wanted. Finally, I decided I wanted a cookies 'n cream ice cream roll cake and belgian waffles with fresh fruit for dinner (we'd just bought a waffle iron). For some strange reason, however, ice cream roll cakes are not as popular as they once were. Greg could not find a good one anywhere. Some employees didn't even know what a roll or log cake was (deprived children). I gave Greg other options, but being the engineer he is, he had to make one. He found a recipe for an ice cream log cake and off to the kitchen he went. The waffles were relatively easy (but SO good) so he spent most of his time on the cake. Tom wanted apple pie, so his wife Steph obliged and they both came over after the cake was done. It was so much fun and I was SO impressed with Greg's baking skills. The cake was chocolate with cookies 'n cream ice cream. The white on the outside is powdered sugar. We had a great time celebrating with Tom and Steph and their daughter.

Then, as if our birthdays weren't enough fun, I had my first baby shower today with Greg's family. Considering I am only 36 weeks and this is my first pregnancy, it was a little surprising when my doctor told me I was already 3 cm dilated last week. I still don't think I'm having this baby early, but it was freaking us out a tiny bit that we weren't at all prepared. Which is why this baby shower was such perfect timing. Greg's stepmom, her sisters, and Greg's sister did an awesome job with everything from decorating to the games to the food. Marilee (Greg's stepmom) even went out of her way to make me pink pizzelles (an Italian cookie which I LOVE and which I now must purchase an iron for). We got every essential that we didn't already have which you HAVE to have to take care of a newborn. So, now it's okay if she comes early. And I am seriously hoping that now that it's okay if she comes early, she waits 4 more weeks! Reverse psychology works on the unborn, right?

More and More Pictures

Greg's birthday on April 21 was nice and relaxing. The chocolate peanut butter molten lava cakes took a little longer than planned, but were very yummy and turned out exactly as expected. Greg and I both love peanut butter so there wasn't quite enough for our taste. If I make them again I will put more peanut butter filling in. Also, I used semi-sweet chocolate rather than dark. I found the recipe here: http://www.mysweetandsaucy.com/2009/03/chocolate-peanut-butter-molten-cake/

And I finally took pictures again. Here I am at 33 weeks (a couple days ago). I feel huge and am starting to have trouble moving around a bit. We went shopping for a recliner to put in the nursery and after reclining in one, I couldn't get out. Luckily Greg was there and helped me out. :) We also had the first-half of our childbirth classes this morning. It was very informative and the instructor was great. I was concerned that she would push certain methods or techniques over others, but she was great about presenting just the medical facts about options or reasons for doing things. It was also very interesting as she would ask questions and I realized I knew a lot more about pregnancy and labor than I thought. It was reassuring to only have 2 or 3 new pieces of information thrown at us rather than 50 pieces. Then again, the second-half of the class is next week, so maybe that will be information overload. :)

Happy, Happy Birthday Greg!

Today is Greg's 28th birthday! He's an amazing husband and will be an amazing father (which I can't wait to see!)!!

I love you, Greg. Happy Birthday!

We are celebrating with chocolate and peanut butter molten lava cakes. If they turn out well, I'll post a picture and the recipe.

More Photos

People keep asking how I'm doing and usually I'm okay and just so THRILLED to be pregnant that I don't really focus on the annoying parts. But today was annoying, so here's probably one of the only times I'll vent about the annoying parts of pregnancy. The thing that is most uncomfortable for me is the constant pressure on my abdomen while doing....well, everything. Eating, sleeping, sitting, standing, bending over, sitting up straight...it doesn't matter what you do, it's not comfortable. I dropped a piece of paper in church today and tried to bend over to get it....um, that didn't work so well. I'm still really nauseated and I already had acid reflux, but it's gotten worse. I still vomit every 2-3 weeks. My gag reflex has become so sensitive from vomiting so much that sometimes all it takes is a hard cough, which was really annoying when I was sick a few weeks ago. My energy level is okay during the day, but fades faster than it used to. If you want to call me past about 9-9:30 pm, don't count on me being awake for long. Anyway, here are photos of 28 weeks (last Tuesday). I don't feel much bigger, but I guess there is a perceptible difference.

Photo Update

The nursery preparation has continued, but the painting is still not quite done. In the meantime, we had to relay the drop cloths to protect the carpet, which resulted in an overlap of the drop cloths. Rajah discovered the overlap and loves it. Did I mention he has a habit of going under things? Under the table, under the blankets, under the bed (when he darts into our bedroom), under whichever book I happen to be reading, under anything. We have a blanket hanging over the back of the couch that he crawls under so that just his head is showing and sleeps there. He loves it. So, if you look closely at the picture below, you'll see an odd lump in the middle. So while we're painting, he runs around under the drop cloth and chases imaginary foes. It's quite funny until he starts attacking your feet.

Also, I am trying to have Greg take pictures of me every few weeks. Here I am at 25 weeks (almost 2 weeks ago). I do not feel as big as I look, which makes me question how big I looked when I felt skinny :) People ask me how the baby is doing and all I can say is "She's growing." She's moving a lot, but is mostly still when other people are around (much to the dismay of my friends and coworkers).

Preparing the Nursery

We spent the weekend starting to paint the nursery (not quite finished). Don't worry, I was using zero-VOC paint and took frequent breaks. However, this is our first redecorating project since we got Rajah, and he is simply too dependent to stay out of things like a normal cat. For example, he did NOT understand the following things:

• why we were home on a weekday (we both had President's Day off and we both took Tuesday off)
• why, since we were home on a weekday, we were not getting up at 6 am, which led to scratching and meowing at our door
• why he couldn't come in the room when he's always been allowed in there before
• why he couldn't attack the mysterious white stuff sticking out from under the closed door (the drop cloth)
• why he should not eat the crumbly white stuff on the floor (spackling)
• why he could not run across the room and jump in anything in the room (i.e., wet paint)
• why we were smart enough to catch him when he tried to sneak up on the wet paint by only moving a few feet at a time

Thus, it was a very interesting weekend and will continue to be interesting until we're done. I'll post pictures when we're done. A question for everyone: what is your opinion on nursery must-haves? I'm referring to the actual furniture pieces rather than supplies like diapers, etc. Crib or just use a pack 'n play? Dresser? Changing table? Recliner vs. glider? I'd love to get everyone's opinion!

Baby Pictures

We had our 20-week ultrasound today (half-way, yipee!). This was our fourth ultrasound. Here are all the pictures we have of our baby:

Picture of the embryos we transferred on day 3. The embryo on the left is more advanced than the one on the right and, personally, we believe it is our baby.

After the blood test was positive, we had one ultrasound with our RE. This was 5 weeks after the embryos were transferred, so at 7 weeks pregnant. See the little white dot in the bottom right of the black sac? That's the baby. We could even see its heart fluttering. In the top photo, on the top right hand side, you can see the other sac (containing the embryo that stopped growing a week before).

This was the first ultrasound done with my OB. This was 2 weeks after the RE ultrasound, so at 9 weeks pregnant (7 weeks since transfer). Since one embryo had stopped growing, we had to make sure it was going away as it should. These pictures don't show it, but you could see the other sac had started disappearing. The baby in these photos is the white blur at the bottom of the sac. The bottom photo alos shows the heartbeat. At Christmas, my awesome brother-in-law, Jason (who's a radiologist), did an ultrasound when I was 15 weeks along. The baby was very cooperative and we were about 80% sure of its gender. Today, we were able to confirm it.

Here is our beautiful little GIRL. The above picture is a profile and you can see her spine, eye sockets, nose, and upper lip. I think it looks like she's blowing bubbles!

I think this is cool because it shows her femur bone. It's amazing that things develop so fast, and all without me even realizing what's happening. You can also see her hand and one arm.

So there you have it! Jason is right and we're having a GIRL!

Pregnancy Pictures

I really meant to be a good blogger and take pictures every few weeks so everyone who isn't around me every day can see that I am indeed pregnant. I especially meant to take a picture before I started showing so you would actually have a reference to which compare my growing stomach. Alas, none of it happened. So, here is a picture of me at 20 weeks. And for the record, I did not realize how big I looked until we took these pictures!