The Quiet Book (aka secret weapon)

I wanted to do this post right after my family reunion last June. Then I found out I was pregnant, then my mom died, then I was sick for 20 weeks, etc. So, now I'm posting it! 

When I was pregnant with Aurora (yes, that long ago), my sister-in-law, Cathi, asked if I wanted to make a quiet book with her. She found this blog, www.quietbook.blogspot.com, that outlined ideas and instructions for a quiet book. We thought it was a great idea and decided to start over Christmas. The idea is that if you make it together, it is faster and easier. Once you learn how to make one page, it is easy to make duplicates of that page. We both decided to make one for a friend, so we each chose 12 pages and made 4 copies of that page. When we finished, we swapped and everyone had 12 different pages. Well, we started over Christmas but quickly realized this was a lot more work than we thought. Cathi managed to finish her pages right before Aurora was born (just 6 months later). Unfortunately, I took 9 months after Aurora was born (15 months after we started) to finish the pages for her. I finished my friend's book quickly, but mine took an additional 3 months and I finished it right before Aurora turned 1. In reality, it probably took about 4-6 months of working on it 3-4 times a week. I wouldn't blame Cathi if she never asked me to do a craft with her again.

But now, it's so worth it. Since Greg is in the bishopric (there is a bishop and two counselors leading each Mormon congregation-Greg is a counselor), he doesn't sit with us in church. Trying to keep a toddler quiet and occupied while tending to a new baby is  interesting, and this book helps so much. Aurora is only allowed to have it at church, on airplanes, and in doctor's offices. So, she doesn't get it often and therefore doesn't get bored. I also don't have all the pages in there right now because a few are too advanced for her skill level. As she and Derek grow, I'll alternate which pages are in there so there's always a couple "new" pages when they tire of the others. I'll also probably make a few additional pages as the years go on because there are just so many cute ideas out there!

All of my pages (4 copies of 12 different pages), laid out:

My Mom suggested dark denim for the covers, then graciously let us use her sewing/embroidery machine to embroider the stars and our name. 

Flowers, also teaches buttoning and colors. I made this page.

Traffic light/road page. The poem on the traffic light page says ""Red on top, green below. Red says 'Stop!' Green says 'Go!' Yellow says 'Wait!' Even if you're late!" The road page has a toy car (Greg wanted it to be a Prius, like our real car), a school, a church, a temple, and three houses. And a garage to house the car. Teaches traffic light meaning, pretend play, colors, velcro (traffic light) and snapping (garage). I made both these pages.

Closet and play people. I'm particularly proud of the men's dress shirts, football, basketball, scriptures, and the Y (BYU) shirt. Teaches pretend play, zippering (closet). The girl's hair can also be braided. I made both these pages.

Shoe/telephone pages. Teaches tying the shoe, numbers, and snapping (phone). Cathi made the shoe and I made the phone.

Letter/Mailbox page. Teaches writing, pretend play. Also a really good place to store extra paper/pencil. I made both these pages.

Noah's Ark/Teepee page. The animals in the ark are IKEA finger puppets, but I couldn't find a Noah and his wife figurine anywhere, so I made some. Teaches zippering (ark and teepee), learning animals, pretend play, using a compass. I made the ark and altered a store-bought compass, Cathi made the teepee page.

Letters. Teaches....letters and spelling. Big surprise, huh? I'm missing the J. There are multiples of certain letters so we can spell names. Cathi made both these pages.

Oven/cupcake pages. Aren't these just super cute? Teaches baking, counting, pockets, pretend play, colors. Cathi made both these pages.

Numbers. Teaches...numbers. I know, shocker. Teaches numbers, colors, velcro. Aurora can already match all the numbers. Cathi made both these pages.

Picnic/blanket. Teaches table setting, velcro, weaving, over/under concept. I'm missing the spoon. Cathi made the picnic page and I made the blanket page.

Fishing/bear. The sign says "Help Peter catch some fish." (As in the apostle Peter). Teaches buttoning, pockets, colors, tying. I made the fishing page and Cathi made the bear.

Shapes/baseball mitt. Teaches shapes, matching, snapping, velcro (baseball), pretend play, pocket (your hand can go in the mitt). Aurora can already match all the shapes. I made the shapes and Cathi made the baseball mitt.

Apple tree. Teaches snapping, pockets. Aurora loves apples and therefore loves this page. Cathi made this page.

Help and Family Pictures

Since my mom wasn't here to help with a new baby this time, my sister-in-law, LaDonna (she married my oldest brother), offered to fly out to help me for a few days. Her kids are both in school this year and my brother works from home, so I had no hesitation in accepting her offer. My sister, Erin, had her baby just three weeks after Derek was born, so LaDonna came out to help me first, then went down to St. George to help my sister before flying home. We're very grateful to her family for letting us have her! Derek really prefers to be held to sleep well, so her help was great. She held Derek, cleaned, cooked, held Derek, entertained Aurora, took Aurora outside to play every day, did my dishes a LOT, gave baths, read books, and generally helped me keep my sanity. And on her last day here, she helped us get family pictures done thanks to my other sister-in-law, Cori (she married Greg's brother, Jeff). Aurora was hilarious because she would copy whatever position Greg was in, but then she just started moving around on the bed like she knew exactly what a model is supposed to do in a photo shoot. So thank you, LaDonna,  for coming to help and for the awesome tie for Derek. And thank you, Cori, for the awesome pictures.

Video Post!

These are videos of Aurora I've slowly been acquiring and am now posting them all.  I love watching her dance to her favorite cartoon (Super Why). You can thank her teachers at church for teaching the Five Little Monkeys song. The laser pointer is actually Rajah's toy, but obviously it entertains them both. And apparently we count to three quite a bit around here because she picked that up without us teaching her.

Picture Update

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Aurora loves swaddling her baby doll.

Derek in the bili blanket when he was jaundiced.

Aurora sick with her first fever.

Snuggle buddies.

Aurora now copies Greg's positions. He was laying like she is in this photo before she got up on the couch with him.

Already plotting.

First time with playdough.

Aurora now gives this adorable cheesy smile when you ask her to smile.

Have you noticed he likes one arm out of his swaddle?

Family pictures coming soon!

Who is Who?

Do all siblings look this alike as newborns? Do you know which baby is Aurora and which is Derek?

Birth Story 2

Once again, this post is more for my benefit since I'm still not writing in my journal regularly. It is detailed and contains all the correct terms, so feel free to skip it.


February 16 was my regular weekly check up with my doctor. I had told him repeatedly (as I had told almost all my friends) that I was fine going late with this baby and that, if possible, I wanted to have him March 1. So at my weekly appointment we joked about having the baby February 29. We had joked about it before and, once again, I mentioned how I wanted to wait until March. He proceeded to check my cervix (I had been 3 cm dilated again but only about 30-40% effaced) and we talked about something else while he was doing so. He finished and after we finished our conversation, I asked if there was any change. He replied "Well, you're still a three, but it's a loose three so I went ahead and stripped your membranes just a smidge." I was floored. Stripping my membranes with Aurora sent me into labor the same day. I was not ready to have this baby and I was nervous about what stripping my membranes a "smidge" meant. I didn't say anything to him at the time and left. I needed to go to the fabric store and, while there, I started cramping. Not contractions, just strong cramps that were completely inconsistent in time and length.

I got home and tried to take it easy and the cramps subsided off and on. Greg had to be somewhere at 6 pm and didn't get home until 5:20 pm. Then Aurora needed a bath, which I hadn't done in months because it's hard to lift her in and out of the tub when I'm that big. But she really needed one and I decided to do it anyway. By the time Greg got home at 8 pm, the cramping was painful. We put Aurora to bed and that's the point where we both got a bit nervous and thought maybe this was serious. I was in complete denial on the outside and inwardly having a panic attack. Again, I was not ready to have this baby. I hadn't packed for the hospital.  I hadn't pre-certified with our insurance. I was supposed to present at a church activity in 4 days. Laundry needed to be done. We were supposed to go grocery shopping that Saturday. I hadn't made the blankets or car seat covers (the fabric was why I went to the fabric store). I hadn't passed an exam for school I wanted to. My sister-in-law, LaDonna, wasn't flying out to help me for just over three weeks. People that were on my list to take Aurora were either out of town or would be very inconvenienced. I called my sister, Kristen, to ask her to be on call for overnight--just in case. Greg took our main car to put gas in it. I refused to pack for the hospital. I was supposed to have ONE MORE WEEK!

By the time we went to bed, the cramping had stopped but I was having bad back pain. I didn't know what back labor would feel like and my doctor hadn't told me what position the baby was in, so I thought maybe the baby was just moving down. We went to bed and I was able to sleep a little amid the tossing and turning. Greg was able to sleep marginally more. Finally at 5 am I was so uncomfortable that I gave up and got out of bed. I started playing around on the computer but the back pain was getting more intense so I started timing it. Turned out the back pain was coming every 5-7 minutes and lasting for 30-40 seconds. Hmm, sounds like labor. I was still unsure though since I had back pain with Aurora two weeks before she was born simply because she was moving. With Aurora, it lasted about an hour and then stopped. At 6 am, I decided to get int the tub and try to relax. It helped a lot and the back pain even stopped for a while. Still, after not sleeping well and being in pain, I decided Greg was not going to work that day. At 6:30 am I got out of the tub and told Greg what had been happening. The back pain started up again and by 7 am I decided we were going to the hospital to see what was going on. I started packing for the hospital and called the insurance while Greg got ready. Since it was now morning, I texted my friend Stephanie and asked if we could drop Aurora off. Of course she said yes, so Greg got Aurora dressed and ready to go. By the time we were ready at 8 am, I was in significant pain and breathing through each episode.

After dropping off Aurora, we got to the hospital around 8:45 am and they wanted to triage me before deciding to admit me. At 9 am, I was already 5 cm dilated and 100% effaced (stripping my membranes helps your cervix efface...obviously it works really well on me). They admitted me and hooked up the IV penicillin. I have a type of strep called Group B Strep that the baby can contract through the birth canal, so I have to get penicillin before delivering the baby. They wanted me to have two doses, and each dose has to be 4 hours apart. So, since they started the first dose at 9 am, they didn't want me to deliver until after 1 pm. The back pain was still intense and they wanted me to lay in bed while getting the penicillin. That's when I asked for the epidural. Luckily the anesthesiologist was fast and I was much more comfortable shortly. At 10:30 am I started throwing up and asked them to check me again. I was already 7 cm and the nurse said my water was really close to breaking. Since they didn't want me to deliver for another 3 hours, the nurse said they weren't going to check me again and wanted me to try to not move much. Fine with me since I had the epidural.

We hung out, chatted, watched TV, and played around on the internet until 1 pm. They started my second dose of penicillin and said they were going to go call my doctor. A few minutes later, my doctor's partner walked in and told me that my doctor was skiing with his family that day and wouldn't be here to deliver the baby so he would take care of it. I was so much more mad after that. He stripped my membranes, forced me to go into labor, and then he LEFT? Not okay. I had met his partner before, though, so I was comfortable with him delivering the baby. They checked me again and I was almost 9 cm, so the doctor came in and broke my water. By 2 pm, I felt different and called the nurse. She came and checked me and I was 10 cm dilated, so we started pushing. After a few contractions, she had me stop and went to get the doctor. The doctor came in around 2:20 pm and we started pushing again a few minutes later. After just a few more pushes, Derek was born at 2:32 pm. I only pushed for about 10 minutes total. It was pretty funny because a medical student AND a nursing student were both following my case (with my permission) and so the doctor was explaining stuff to the medical student more than he was talking to me, but the nurse was great so I didn't mind.

He's really been an angel so far, except he takes forever to eat (about an hour each feeding) and consistently fills his diaper within 10 minutes of us changing it. He's a lot like Aurora in that he's textbook newborn....I can usually set a clock by him eating every 3 hours. He was jaundiced the first week and had to have a UV light blanket for a couple days, but now is doing much better. His two week appointment is tomorrow and I'm positive he's above birth weight, so at least he's getting something from eating so slowly (or maybe so much?). Aurora loves him and kisses his head several times an hour, waving goodbye and kissing him before she leaves to go somewhere, before a nap, or before bedtime. More pictures very soon.