6 Months Old

As of yesterday, Ian is now 6 months old. It seems like I just got home from the hospital with him. He's eating solid food, and loves to eat rice puffs and the freeze dried apples. He also took Anna's sippy cup from her to take a few swigs. It was quite funny to watch his expression as he drank from a sippy for the first time to discover it was filled with ice cold water. He is anxious to keep up with his big sister and rolls, inches and squirms his way quickly around the floor to keep up with her games and play.

Ian wakes up every morning with smiles, coos and giggles. It's a delight to hear his noises, even when I'm overly tired. He has recently decided that Atticus is the most interesting to watch, and I often have to remove him from view when it's meal time for Ian.

Oh, how I love my big boy Ian.

2 Weeks Old

Our little Ian is now 2 weeks old. The time has gone by so quickly. He's building neck strength and is starting to stay awake for longer stretches (usually in the middle of the night). His big sister Anna loves to peek over the bassinet, pat his head, share stories and toys, and if he's sleeping she'll try hard to wake him.

I average between 3-5 hours of sleep each night and I find it amazing that each day I'm still able to function and take care of everyone. Levi has been wonderful and each morning he wakes up early to feed Anna then plays with her while I care for Ian. His help really eases the daily stresses.

Last night at Anna's bed time, I took the first pictures of the kids together. Anna giggled as she held her baby brother for the first time. It's these precious moments that make the sleepless nights a little more bearable.

Our Little Ian

On November 26th at 11:30pm, I awoke in intense pain. Levi was in the office working on homework and I told him in my not so calm voice that I thought it was time to go to the hospital, and I hoped it wasn't a false alarm. He quickly ran down the stairs and started loading the van with our bags. As I was walking down the stairs to join him, my water broke. At the time I thought I had lost bladder control, but looking back I realize the truth of the matter.

The ride to the hospital was long and exhausting. We drove from Lehi to St. Mark's hospital in SLC. It was the longest ride of my life. Before we left the house, the contractions were less than a minute apart. By the time we got off the freeway, I was trying desperately not to give in to the desire to push. At this point I begged Levi to just run the red lights to get us there faster. We made it to the underground parking lot and got the best parking spot, right next to the elevator. I was on my hands and knees at the elevator, as I couldn't control the pushing anymore. We made it into the hospital and had a wheel chair waiting for us. The security guard ran me into the delivery room that was filled with nurses. Hands were all over me trying to remove my clothing as quickly as possible. My only thought at this point was, "Can you give me some drugs now?"

One of the nurses checked my dilation and effacement, and exclaimed in shocked voice, "All I feel is a head, all I feel is a head". Another nurse held my hand and tried to get me to focus and breath. She assured me that the pain would not get any worse. Although I understood this, I couldn't control my breathing and fear.

Moments later, Ian Douglas Pearson was born. Weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce, and 19 1/2 inches long. The total length of the labor was 45 minutes.

He is beautiful and we just adore him. He is a healthy eater and loves to be snuggled. His big sister loves to give him toys and peek over the bassinet to see what he's doing. She rubs his head and talks to him. It's so very precious!

False Alarm

Last night we rushed off to the hospital excited that I was in labor. I really was in labor and it lasted for around 5-6 hours. I was making good progress (dilating and effacing) when suddenly everything stopped. If I was just a few days further along, I would have been given drugs to kick start everything up again. I guess my doctor wants me to hold this baby in just a wee bit longer if possible.

We didn't know if the labor would kick up again after leaving the hospital so we stayed at my parent's house (which is much closer to the hospital). Although I did have regular contractions every 5-7 minutes throughout the day, the intensity and frequency didn't increase.

We hope the baby comes soon, and will let you all know once we have some exciting news to share.

I guess the baby likes to play tricks, as he sure fooled us today.

My Funny Girl

Here is my funny girl Anna. She's 17 months old now and she's making the transition from baby to toddler/kid. She runs around the house and climbs on furniture. She lounges on her Elmo sofa while watching "The Wiggles". She likes to pick out her own shoes and outfits, and sometimes they match. She loves to change her shoes several times throughout the day. Her greatest thrills are to pet Atticus, get tickled and eat raspberries. She likes to climb onto my bed and throw herself into the big mass of pillows (always just seconds after the bed is made). She understands how keys are used and will often take them from my purse and try to open the door. She will also hold the keys in one hand and grab my hand in the other, leading me to the door (her way of saying, "Let's go somewhere mommy". She talks as much as her mommy and loves to make new friends. Anna is such a joy to my life. It's this joy that makes the hard days a little more bearable. The times when she's up all night sick or teething, or just fussy. The times when she just wants to be difficult. All these things are made easier by the love I have for my funny little girl.

Baby & Cat Tag

There is a fun game called "baby & cat tag". It goes like this. The crawling baby spots the cat peeking out from under a Bombay chest. The baby moves into crawling position and takes off towards the hiding cat. As soon as the baby gets close, he runs off under the table. The baby isn't discouraged, but proceeds to change course and heads to the table. Once again, the cat finds yet another hiding place, and the cycle goes on until the cat finally jumps onto a large piece of furniture the baby can't reach. The game is then in "time out" mode. It starts again when the cat walks right past the baby (just out of arms reach) and that signals the "game on" bell.

This game has been played non stop each day and it looks like neither party will be growing tired of it anytime soon.

Christmas 2006

My dear friend Missy has dared me to post on our Christmas adventure. Being a gal that can't seem to pass up a dare, here I go.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were hectic. Anna and I both got sick with colds, and Levi was finishing up his finals. There was also all the goodie baking to do, and I couldn't pass it up. This year I made every one's favorite Blueberry Pound Cake, English Toffee and the oh so delicious Cranberry-Pecan Rugalach. I ate so much Rugalach, I actually gained 5 pounds over the holidays. I only know this because I weighed myself last night and discovered that I'm at an all time high. Consequently, I joined SparkPeople, a weight loss, lifestyle change program that's FREE (music to my ears). My goal is to loose 25 pounds by June 1st 2007. That means I'll have to loose 2.5 pounds per week. Wish me luck everyone!

Back to the adventures of Christmas: We enjoyed a family party at my parent's home and ate delicious food. We even managed to bring a little of it home with us. There we had the family talent show and were fortunate Levi and I were the least talented performers of the day. My niece played a little jingle on the piano, then Levi and I had the kids join in on a Wiggles Pirate School song. We sang badly, but everyone seemed to have fun.

On the 22nd, Anna was able to ride in an airplane for the first time as we went to Washington to celebrate with Levi's parents. She was the quietest baby on the plane and was also the favorite of at least one flight attendants. She had so much fun playing with Grandma and Grampa. They played with her and tried so hard to teach her to crawl. They were so good at it that Anna took her first crawling steps on Christmas Eve. She also met her uncle Nathan and had fun looking at him (as he and Levi have many similar facial qualities). Once again, we were all spoiled silly in Washington and it was hard to say goodbye and come home.

The festivities were fun, but everyone felt a bit sad this year. My sister in law had recently discovered that her cancer was back and growing fast. We all tried hard to smile even though we all felt the ache in our hearts for her. We know that her treatment will be rough and we wish we could help her fight this cancer better. Our prayers are with you each day Liz!

Popcorn or Diapers?

If you read this, you might choose to never eat buttered popcorn again.

From the moment we brought our baby home, we noticed that her poopy diapers didn't seem to smell bad, but had a weird sort of sweet smell. As I am nursing, we figured it was due to all the sweets I keep eating. As the baby grows, so does the intensity of her poopy diapers. I can now say that if blindfolded and asked to identify the poopy diaper from the bag of buttered popcorn, I couldn't tell them apart.

I don't think I'll be hungry for popcorn anytime soon.