My Baby Boy-3 months old

Well, my baby boy, our Chunky Monkey is 3 1/2 Months old now! Wow time flies. He is growing so fast! I remember when we took Munchkin to get her 3 month pics. She screamed the whole time. But oh, they got some cute pics.

Family

We just got back from a Family Reunion in Canada this week. We decided a few months ago that we were going to rent a mini-van rather than drive our car for two reasons. One-we knew it was going to be extremely tight with all the stuff we needed for Chunky Monkey-Portable Crib, Stroller, Lots of diapers, pumping stuff, extra clothes-and our trunk barely fits the stroller alone. The second reason was that in order to feed my baby, I would need to sit next to him, and try as I might, I could not get in the back seat with the baby's car seat, Munckin's car seat and my hips. Anyway, we went to pick up the car, and they were out of mini vans. Now, I'm still trying to figure out how they give away all their mini vans when it was reserved in February. Any ideas?? So we ended up with a Nissan Armada. It was an SUV, which I was not excited about, because I wanted better gas mileage than SUV's typically get, but it did alright. (between 17 & 20 mph, depending on wether we were in the mountains or not)When we walked out to the car, it didn't have a license plate. It still had temporary plates. It was brand-spanking new! 2009, 117 miles on it. It also kept a log of drive time: 37 1/2 hours of driving! I honestly thought that driving that long with two children was going to be a challenge, but they were amazing! They both did so good. We're home, and a bit tired, but we had a great time.

We went up to Kicking Horse resort in Golden, BC. It was beautiful. Hikari's uncle was so generous to have the entire family up there. I think they said it was over 300 people. There were so many fun activities to do and family to meet. There are so many people in Hikari's family that I had only heard stories about and it was fun to meet them all.

They have a bear enclosure up the hill. You can see it from the gondola up to the top of the mountain, or you can take the chair lift to the enclosure and get out and look for the bear. I never saw it but Hikari did. He got really close they got lots of pictures. Then it started to downpour and the shut the lift down, so him and his Brother in Law had to walk down. Luckily a maintenance guy went and brought them down in his truck so they didn't get too soaked.
We went up in the Gondola and it was such a beautiful view. Munckin wanted to get a lot closer to the edge than I was comfortable with. The first day that we went up, the clouds were so low that you couldn't see the car behind you until you got up through the cloud cover.

Hikari had the opportunity to go see the sights from a helicopter! It was supposed to be Heli-Hiking, but the weather was questionable, and they didn't want anyone to get stuck and the helicopters not be able to get them. So the kids and I watched him take off and he had a wonderful 15 minutes in the air going in and out of canyons

And this was just in the first day! More to come...

Nine weeks and piano

Well, today Chunky Monkey is 9 weeks old! He has found is smile, and I absolutely love it!! It still takes some prodding at times, but there is nothing better then having his eyes light up and his cheeks go all squishy, just for me!!

And I finally did it. I've been teaching piano to my neices and nephews for about 3 years now (I taught them piano and they watched Munchkin while I was working). As Munchkin has gotten older, she has sat and played on the piano more and more. She loves the preset songs and the recorded primary songs I put on there. (We have a Clavinova, which is a digital piano. It feels like a piano, and it looks like a piano, but it is a keyboard with voices and recording and stuff...I love it!) She will sit at the piano and say "I'm going to pactice!" (Her r's are still not there! It's so cute!) So yesterday, I decided that it was time. I was going to try piano lessons.

She was thrilled!!! She sat there for 20 minutes and did everything I asked her to. And afterward she said, "Mom, that was so much fun!" She practiced three more times, and then when dad came home, she showed him everything she had learned and she was so proud of herself. I was really hesitant to do piano lessons with her, because I wasn't sure if she would really focus, or if it would just be play around time with mom. But for now, it's working wonderfully. I guess we'll see how long that lasts!

Chunky Monkey's Blessing

Last Sunday was Chunky Monkey's Blessing. It was so nice to be surrounded by all of our family and to share that experience with them. We also were blessed to have two of the great grandparents there as well. While we here getting CM ready, Munchkin was helping me put lotion on him, and we talked about what was going to happen. She was so excited that he was going to get a special blessing from Daddy. She got really sick over conference weekend this year with the flu, and Daddy and his friend came and gave her a blessing, so she remembered what it was like. He is six weeks old this week. I can't believe how fast time flies. He's so alert, learning what we sound like and taking in everything. And don't you just love that clean baby smell!!!

His little cousin L was born 2 1/2 weeks after him, and they are both just so cute! Thanks to my SIL Chrissy who took this darling picture of the sleeping babes!

Chunky Monkey

One day, I called Baby brother Chunky Monkey, (as he has taken very well to breastmilk and has gained weight in all the right baby places) and Munchkin thought that was the funniest thing, and has now reverted to calling her brother Chunky Monkey. So that is his blog name. She is such a good big sister and she loves him so much. She loves to hold him, but gets bored and tries to sneak out from under him without me noticing, rather than tell me that she's done. There is still a little learning to do!

Baby Brother has arrived!!!

Baby Brother arrived right on his due date April 23, 2008 at 12:40 in the morning. He weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

On Tuesday, the 22nd, I spent my birthday with Munchkin. I'd been having regular contractions for about 2 weeks, and almost thought we were in labor a couple of times. Yet, on the day before his due date, I was still pregnant. We went for a walk and fed the horses, we played sandcastle in the garden, we had lunch and then I layed her down for a nap. I was so exhauseted, so I decided to take a nap myself. At about 3:30, I noticed that the contractions were making it awfully uncomfortable to sleep. They quickly turned uncomfortable enough that I got up and turned the TV on and sat on my Yoga Ball and rocked during them. Munchkin woke up and came into our room and sat on my lap. I asked if she wanted to play a game with Mom, and she of course was delighted and ran into her room. She came back with 5 different games. We played for a while and around 5:00, I realized I was having a harder time focusing through the contractions, and decided to call Hikari at work and have him come home. When he got home, I told him we probably had a few more hours, but I just needed him home. The next contraction was much stronger, and I said "Call your mom, we're taking munchkin over there right now."

We took Munchkin over to Grandma's house, and I cried when I saw her leave, knowing that the next time we see her, she won't be my only baby. I know I was just really emotional at the time, but it was really hard to see her go.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30, and they opted to immediately admit me, rather than send me to observation, as I was clearly in labor. I was only dilated to 3 cm, though, so I was a bit dissapointed, but at least we knew he was really on his way this time. Around 9:30, the nurse came in and said that one of the partner doctors was there for another patient, and if I wanted, he could come in and break my water to help things move along. I decided that would be alright with me, although I had hesitations due to the lenghth and problems that arose after having my water broken with Munchkin.

When he went to break my water, he said that I was still only at 3 cm. I thought, here we go again. I'm going to be here for another 18 hours! He broke my water, and immediately my contractions got stronger and closer together. The nurse said that since I was going natural she wasn't going to check me unless I wanted her too. A couple of hours went by and she came in at 11:30 to check on me. She wanted to monitor the baby a for a minute and I wanted to lay down. She checked and said I was between 5 and 6 cm. I was so glad! It took nearly 10 hours to get past that point with Munchkin. At that point, I knew my contractions were doing a lot more and that things would go a lot quicker than with Munchkin. Little did I know how quick!

15 minutes later I was starting to feel pressure, and Hikari told the nurse when she came in. She decided to check me again, and I was about 8 cm, but told me he was still a bit posterior. She asked if I wanted to go on my hands and knees and I said that I did, but asked if they had a bean bag for me to support myself with. She came back and said she couldn't find it, and so she sent one of the nurses looking for it. I was feeling a lot more pressure and by the time the nurse found the bean bag, I said I was NOT moving!!

The contractions were so much stronger than I was prepared for, and about the time the nurse mentioned that I was getting near transition, I was done. It was so much more intense than I remember with Munchkin. When the doctor arrived, I had started to feel pushing urges to push him further down, very different and much sooner than the pushing urge I felt with Munchkin, but the nurse insisted I needed to wait, as I was only 8 cm dilated. It was so overwhelming. The doctor sat down and looked at the baby and said, "I think she can push through it. Go ahead and push when you want to. I pushed so hard, and though it was a relief to push, the feeling was so intense, I just wanted him out! I took one more deep breathe and screamed. It was so intense. Then my loving husband leaned over and said, use that energy to push him out and not scream, I tried to stop screaming, and pushed his little head, and his little body quickly followed.

I had a much harder time focusing, as I don't think I was nearly as prepared as I thought I was. I think I figured that since I had done it once before, I didn't need to prepare myself as much. But even with that, it was an amazing experience. It seemed so much more intense, so much quicker, but I got the unmedicated, intervention-free birth that I wanted, and I felt great afterwards. The first thing I asked the doctor was "How much did I tear?" I thought for sure the damage was worse than the first time, but I didn't even need a single stitch, making the recovery MUCH nicer!

I look at him and think of the little miracle that he is...that each child is. How blessed I am to be able to experience such in intimate part of our Saviors plan, the creation of life. I have been blessed with a loving husband who knows what I need to hear, when I need to hear it, in order to continue and a loving daughter who tries her hardest to help and to be a good big sister. It's amazing the little spirits that we are priviliged to take care of on this short time on earth.

I wondered how I would share my love between these two children of my mine, and I found that just like when my daughter was born, my heart just grew to contain enough love for each of them.

I think this was probably around 11:00, inbetween contractions.

9 weeks and counting!!

Only nine weeks left!! Hopefully, the baby will have somewhere to sleep when he gets here. The office that is getting transplanted to the basement to make room for baby brother (yes, that is still the child's name) is still in the works, but it is getting closer. I really don't think it is possible to do a home improvement project without "umpteen" trips to the hardware store. Forget getting everything at once!!! There is always a tool that you need, or a fixture that doesn't fit quite right. But it's coming. We finished painting and Hikari and my dad finished the electrical (with the exception of a glitch with the track lighting). This week the job is to install the laminate floor, and then we are getting the cabinets and countertop for the built-in desk next week, and then it's furniture moving. If all goes as planned, which it never does, we will be able to start in on the babies room a few weeks before my due date!! Won't that be fun! Oh well, at least we have a roof over our head, and food in the fridge, and smiles on our faces, right? I do know what we are doing for the baby's room, though. I bought the paint a few weekends ago and I can't wait to get started!
This is the cute bedding set that I found. The walls are going to be the same green as the trim on top with a white chair rail, and then a really light green on the bottom. I'll have to post pictures once it's all put together. This picture really doesn't do it justice. The colors are a lot brighter and it is so cute!!! Anyway, like I said, hopefully this kid will have someplace to sleep come D-day!!