Thanksgiving . . . and other stuff

I'm miserably behind in blogging, as I am with most things. Especially Christmas prep. I always think to myself, "Next year I'm totally starting in August." But I never do. And I always wish I did.

Anyway, here's a little report about the last two weeks. . .

Decorating for Christmas

Yes, we did it before Thanksgiving. And no, I don't feel like we pushed Thanksgiving aside either. We're going to be gone for a week and a half during December and I wanted the girls to enjoy them for a while before we leave.

We didn't put up our tree, though. #1 reason was because we have no space left to put it. Too many toys in the front room. Like last year, we'll (I'll) have to go through and purge and reorganize their toys before Santa drops his load. (Please make it light this year, OK Santa? Oh, and nothing that makes noise, please. Thanks! :))

I'm not posting pics of all the decorations because they're kinda silly and mismatched. (One reason why I love my tree -- it's matchy-matchy.) But I wanted to show you these little white trees. Once again the dollar section of Target came through :) The trees were $2.50 a piece and each tube of ornaments were $2.50 (I bought one for each tree). Plus they're plastic, unbreakable, and not swallowable.

Ivy's Birthday Party

In case you're curious, she's 28.5 inches long and um. . . about 15.5 lbs. Sigh. I think it's a combination of being incredibly picky about food, me not producing tons of milk, and now that she's climbing on everything and cruising around, she burns even more energy. The doctor isn't terribly worried, but did mention that they may consider checking her thyroid. Might not be a bad idea.

So we invited all of Ivy's little friends over for some dessert. Ivy liked her birthday "cake". After the disaster of Sophie's first birthday (complete with rash and vomiting), I didn't want to take any chances so I made her a blueberry muffin and topped it with whipped cream. She ate the WHOLE THING. Ivy's only picky about things that are good for her. Sure, I could fatten her up easily if I gave her a truckload of muffins.

By the way, whipped cream is a great substitute for frosting - if you're not worried about giving your baby dairy. It cleaned up SO easily and didn't get stuck to everything.


I love this picture. Ever since the baby boom last fall I've wanted to get all the babies together for a picture. This one is perfect, too. I can't believe we got all of their attentions at the same time. (The two on the left were born in September, the two on the right were November, and the middle guy was December.)

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Sacramento with Steve's family. We left that morning and Sophie helped get Ivy ready by "fixing" her hair - getting her hands wet and rubbing water all over Ivy's head.

The day after Thanksgiving we took a trip to the Sacramento Zoo. Sophie's always up for a trip to the zoo, but we tend to go a little earlier in the day. She just couldn't stay awake on the drive over, and ended up sleeping half the time.

Ivy had fun, though. This was the first trip to the zoo where she was awake for the whole thing and actually noticed that there were animals there.

Ivy's favorite thing, though, was the zoo map. It had a picture of a leopard (I think) on it and she had one in each hand practically the whole time. And she went nuts when we actually saw it in person.

This is probably the best smiling photo we have of Miss Stone-Faced Ivy. (And kind of a weird photo of me. Where did that extra chin come from?) I think she hurts the feelings of little old ladies who talk to her in the grocery store. She's hard to crack sometimes.

Oh, look who woke up and joined the party . . .

I usually don't take photos of the animals at the zoo (Seriously what would I do with them? Scrapbook them?), but a few of them won me over.

The one on the top is a bongo. It looks like a zebra and an addax had a love child. The bottom left is a red panda and of course, there were flamingos. They were a lot brighter in color than the ones we have at the zoo here.

"Smile, Sophie!"

Gratitude

Warm fuzzies on a cold, rainy day . . .



Being grateful makes me happy. :)

Ivy: The Details

It's almost been a week since Ivy was born, and I'm beginning to see how having more than one child affects the frequency of blog posts . . . and I haven't even been left alone with them yet. OK, here's what happened last week:

My water broke on Sunday at the church when I stood up to go home after ward choir. No one there noticed, and luckily it wasn't a complete gush. We hurried home, called the doctor, finished packing my bag (which I'd only started to pack the night before), packed an overnight bag for Sophie, who we left with a friend, and made it to the hospital in about an hour and a half. I'd had contractions at home 5 minutes apart and was getting somewhat uncomfortable, but when we got to the hospital, they slowed to about 8-10 minutes apart, and then almost stopped completely.

Here I am in the triage, which was this weird place they put you right when you get to the hospital. It was basically a bunch of beds separated by a bunch of curtains with a bunch of nurses sitting right outside. I thought I'd have to deliver the baby here, but luckily I didn't. Oh, and I was showing off a pathetic little contraction I'd just had, hoping for more.

This was kind of a repeat of the beginning of Sophie's birth with my water breaking and then not going into labor. In Provo, they only let me wait three hours before inducing me. Here they were a lot more liberal. (We were in Berkeley, what do you expect? :)) I was grateful because I really wanted my body to do this on its own. Unfortunately it didn't. After 14 hours of little or no progress, we started a Pitocin drip at about 7 AM the next morning.

All week I've been comparing Ivy's birth with Sophie's (as well as the recovery) and although my epidural was extremely spotty and almost non-existent toward the end (Gee, I'm glad my leg was numb when she came out. That helped a lot.), this time around has been easier by far. I feel really good. Not exactly ready for a walk around the mall -- or even the grocery store -- yet, but I feel fine doing simple things around the house and taking care of the girls. Nursing has been a breeze, and I don't know if it's because I just weaned Sophie six months ago or that I know what I'm doing this time around, but the girls don't hurt that much. And boy, am I glad to have them back. Seriously.

Having lots of help this week has also made things lots easier. Steve's mom, Judi, drove over from Sacramento the night Ivy was born and stayed until Wednesday. My parents, who had originally planned to fly out Dec 18th, jumped in their car and drove 14 hours to be here on Thanksgiving. It had been a long time since I'd had a T-day dinner cooked by my mom -- complete with mashed potatoes made from real, still caked with Idaho dirt, potatoes that they brought with them. Judi made a couple of pumpkin pies while she was here, and my mom made a pineapple pie -- a favorite of mine that my grandma makes. (And mom, I had a piece for breakfast and it tastes just like Grandma's.) We've got leftovers and pie coming out of our ears, but what's not to love about that?

Sophie on the left & Ivy on the right.

Enough about pie, I'm supposed to be telling you about Ivy. My not-quite-six-pound bundle is probably the smallest baby I've ever held. We've had to get her preemie diapers and clothes and most of those still fall off of her. The first night she was home, she screamed most of the night and having previously been spoiled by Sophie's calm nature, Steve and I wondered, "Is this what it's like to have a normal baby?" Luckily her nights have gone more smoothly and everyone is getting more sleep. I think her temperament is like Sophie's after all. Whew. She's adorable, too, and we think she looks more like Steve then Sophie did. She managed to get my crooked pinky fingers and weird toes, though. Looking back at Sophie's newborn pictures, you can definitely tell they're sisters. We decided, about a day after she was born (and about 15 minutes before the birth certificate office closed), to name her Ivy Lena. Lena, after Steve's paternal grandmother. We like it, and we think it fits her.

I love the newborn "o" face.

Speaking of Sophie, I think she likes having Ivy around. She was pretty moody the first couple of days after we came home, but she's fine now. She likes to point out Ivy's facial features and body parts (which includes sticking her finger in her eye, but that was no surprise to me), and loves to bring her a binky or a diaper. She can even say her name, "AH-vee".

Sophie and Ivy meet at the hospital.

Extra little tidbits that didn't fit into the rest:

• I only gained 35 lbs this time instead of 60. And my weight right now is where I was three months after Sophie was born. I may actually put on a swimsuit next summer.
• Ivy's initals are ILP. A few of you may find that amusing. (ILP is the program that took me to Russia, where I ended up meeting Steve.) It didn't happen on purpose.
  
• If you by chance have a giant sack of potatoes in your car when you come into California, don't be scared when they ask you at the state line if you have produce. Potatoes are OK to bring in.
  
• Steve probably isn't going to Utah, so if I can just get through the next two weeks until finals are over, we'll have three weeks at home together to adjust. (BIG WHEW)
• Some of you commented about me blogging while I was in labor. Ya, that does seems weird, but it's not like I was doing lamaze breathing, trying not to scream while I was typing. The contractions I was having weren't any stronger than the ones I'd been having all week. And during the half hour that the epidural was working, I didn't feel anything at all. Plus I'd just gotten lots of sleep (that's how weak the contractions were). I'd also gotten lots of texts asking how things were going. For the most part, I hate texting. I am the slowest texter ever. I'd rather just post it to my blog or send out an email, that way everyone knows the same stuff.
  

Major snaps go to Ivy for coming last week. Most of my pregnancy dreams came true, too. How many women get to sneak out of the last two, painfully uncomfortable weeks of pregnancy with an early baby? And not only an early baby, but right before a major holiday that enabled extra help of family members. I'm grateful that it was Thanksgiving so Steve wouldn't have to miss as much school. I'm grateful for all of the wonderful friends and family who have stopped by or helped out, too. I'm really glad we live here with such great, supportive friends. I'm grateful for the Spirit that accompanies a newborn into the world. Once again, we're reminded of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.

Turkey Day in Sac

Thanksgiving in Sacramento with Steve's family was great. We spent a lot of time with family, ate way too much, watched movies and played games. Typical Thanksgiving stuff. And since this was the first time in almost four years that all of Steve's siblings were home, we decided to do some pictures in the backyard.

Sophie thought Tito was more interesting than the camera.

Sophie & me with Steve's parents.

Thanksgiving dinner had a bit of an African twist. The George's, friends of Steve's family from Nigeria, invited us to their beautiful home to have dinner with them. Beside the traditional turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes sat rice, fried bread and bowls of yummy saucy stuff that Peju and her kids made.

Here's a pic of us with Peju. She's great.



Someone got a little sleepy after dinner, so I hid her somewhere I could keep an eye on her.

When she woke up, she had some playtime with Dad.

Thanksgiving Updates

I had big plans for this post. We went to Mississippi for Thanksgiving to visit my mom's family and although I have stories, I don't have any visuals yet. It's getting a little late, so I decided to move on ahead.

The Gathering

The Thanksgiving trip turned out to be a full-blown family reunion. We went down, and we also saw relatives from Colorado, California, and Louisiana who had traveled to join us. We all met in what I thought was the Church of God's version of a cultural hall, but as I glanced around and saw a pulpit and drumset, I realized that we were sitting in the place where they held their services. Interesting.

The Dinner

The food was great! It was sort of a schmorgasbord potluck deal, but c'mon, how cool is it to eat fried okra, cornbread dressing and cajun turkey for T-day? Steve got his fill of peach cobbler. (My poor, peach-loving husband is peach-deprived because his wife detests them and never makes anything with them.) I decided that being pregnant during Thanksgiving (and through the holidays) is definitely a good thing.

The Family (Rednecks?)

When I told my bosses that I was going to Mississippi for Thanksgiving, one asked me if my family down there was a bunch of rednecks, and immediately the other one asked if they liked Nascar. I did see one of my cousin's wives wearing a Nascar t-shirt, and I saw a street close to where they lived named after Jeff Gordon. All in all I'd say only a few came close to being rednecks, though. But maybe growing up in Idaho has skewed my definition of what a redneck is. I might be a redneck to someone back East. (But I'd like to think that I'm not.)

It's always amazed me that a few of the relatives I have down there know exactly what's going on in our lives and are so connected with us, and I've only seen them a handful of times in my life. Most of them are my grandma's sisters and a few of my mom's cousins, who were the closest things to sisters my mom had growing up. Everytime we see them, it feels like we're seeing old friends who we know and love instead of semi-strangers that you hug because you share common DNA. A few examples:

Aunt Betty -- If you've met my grandma, then my Aunt Betty is just a slightly younger, a little more avid housekeeper (if you can believe that), and a little more southern sounding version of her. It's amazing how similar they are. We stayed at their house, and I would probably feel comfortable eating off the toilet seat, it was so clean. And might I mention the pre--buttered and toasted banana bread, muffins, grits, eggs, bacon, and biscuits for breakfast?

Cousin Sissy -- Probably my favorite of my mom's cousins. She's been "Sissy" for so long that I don't think I found out her real name until a few years ago. She's a great shopping buddy and will talk your ear off if you let her. She's great :)

Mabel and Elaine -- Mabel is my grandpa's cousin and Elaine is her daughter, and they live in Bastrop, Louisiana. We drove over one day and spent a few hours with them. Talk about two hilarious women. Mabel is 86, but doesn't look a day over 60. (My mom says it's the humid southern air. I believe it. My great-grandma on my dad's side lived in Idaho her whole life and she was already a prune at 70.) She's adorable. And still concerned about having lipstick on when she left the house. Elaine is in her 60s. She has been through so much in her life -- it's amazing that she's as optimistic and independent as she is. When she was 25, she was in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair ever since. Shortly after, her husband left her, and a few years down the road her only child, a son in his 20s, died in a car accident. Anyone who had been through so much would have every excuse to be bitter and reclusive for the rest of their lives, but not Elaine. I could listen to her talk all night about getting used to her new motorized wheelchair and running into furniture while setting alarms off all over the house. She laughs about it! It's amazing what she CAN do in a wheelchair. When she found out we were coming, she made us a coconut cake and a chocolate pie. Double Yum.

Uncle Junebug -- I don't really have any stories about Uncle Junebug. I just like the fact that I have an uncle named "Uncle Junebug". Now that I think of it. . . I don't even know his real name.

The Sonics

I thought that McDonald's was taking over the world (hand-in-hand with Walmart), and they probably are. But they'll have a hard time taking the South away from Sonic. I have never seen so many Sonics in my life. Even the littlest po-dunk town had a Sonic. . . and a couple of Baptist churches :) And talk about fast service. The ones out here have a thing or two to learn.

The Coast

On Saturday, the boys wanted to drive down to the coast to see the wreckage from Katrina. (The girls went shopping, duh.) I actually have a picture from their trip. Steve said it was so bizarre to see a bunch of concrete foundations with stairs leading up to nowhere. Sometimes the tile in the house was still in tact.

The Weather

As much as I love snow and the climate here, I couldn't resist basking in the 70-degree weather down there. Sunny the entire time. When I got to work this morning it was 6 degrees with a windchill of -7. K, no griping about the weather, Nat, it's supposed to be cold at Christmas :)

More pictures to come.