Grayson's arrival!!

December 29, 2010
Well I made it through the holidays to my induction day of December 29. My pregnancy was pretty uneventful thankfully, but I have such bad hip pain that I was ready to be done. Shaun and I got up bright and early that morning and my older sister Ashley came over to the house to wait for Remy to wake up. We headed to the hospital at 6:30 and got all checked in and I was at 3 cm. With Remy I was already at 5 cm when I went to the hospital but this being my second one I had hopes that this wouldn't take all day.


Once we got checked and my IV and Pit going I started dilating. I got to about a 5 and decided that I wanted to get my epidural. My epidural was put in around 9:30. My dad/doctor then got to the hospital to break my water. Shaun and I had talked about how it would be fun to have had my water break on it's own and just go through the whole "we have to get to the hospital!!" type of situation but that didn't happen. At 10:30-ish my dad broke my water it seriously was like a dam broke. I have never seen so much water or seen it come out so fast, and I have seen my fair share of water breaking. I am so glad now that it didn't break before hand because I think it would have been a total "movie" type scene.

Shaun made sure that I had plenty of cherry flavored ice chips, my favorite. It is like eating a delicious slushy and I was so thirsty. We had several visitors. My mom stayed with us most all of the morning and Shaun's parents came around 11:30. I dilated to 7 cm by 11:00 and I was convinced that it would be happening anytime. We took turns guessing how big Grayson would be.

Me: 7 pounds 5 ounces, 20.5 inches

Shaun: 7 pounds 1 ounce, 20 inches

My Mom: 7 pounds 5 ounces, 21 inches

Shaun's Mom: 6 pounds 8 ounces, 21 inches

Our nurse: 7 pounds 5 ounces, 21 inches

Once I was that dilated with Remy I went within the hour. Well, little Grayson wasn't very excited to get out of his warm little swimming pool and it took until 1:45 in the afternoon for me to be fully dilated. He was posterior and wouldn't move into my pelvis for those 2 1/2 hours but than he finally rolled over and he was ready to come out. Luckily I only had to push for 2 1/2 contractions and the little boy came right out. His official birth time was 2:07 pm. It is amazing how small they are, you really do forget how tiny they are.

The picture of Grayson on the scale is not very good, Shaun was so excited that he took the picture with his phone and forgot to take one with the camera. Grayson was 6 pounds 10 ounces. Remy was a little bigger at 7 pounds 3 ounces. They both looked almost exactly the same. It was so crazy!! I was expecting them to look different but they really looked very similar. They even had the same hair, not much but not totally bald.

Here we are with our sweet little babe!! It just blows me away how much they look alike.

Grandma and Grandpa Isbell

Grandma and Grandpa Westergard

First bath

Just enjoying the warm heater.

It was nice to be able to just be me and Shaun with the new little baby for a few days. With Remy I felt guilty leaving him in the nursery during the night but I decided that I would have the nursery keep him at night and just bring him in for feedings. I actually slept better and felt more rested when I left the hospital. My parents and sisters watched Remy while we were in the hospital. Ashley has two boys as well who are 3 and 5. Ashley said that Remy just joined right in the routine. He would line up for his meals, bath, hair and teeth brushing. He loves the regimented life and quite frankly I think he was sad to come home and not have the two boys to hang out with.

My Mom and Sister brought Remy to see us in the hospital. I was really nervous for Remy to come and see me with another baby because Remy is very much a Momma's boy. Shaun went to see him earlier in the day and Remy wasn't even really interested. He was so excited to be running with the big kids that he just did his own thing. Once he got to the hospital he again wasn't really concerned in fact he was really having fun with my mom and sister. People had warned me that when I saw Remy for the first time after having the baby he would look so big to me. I was skeptical but it was true. He looked huge!!! I couldn't believe how big he had gotten over just a few hours. I still can't believe how big and grown up he is. We had Remy sit on my lap and Shaun brought little Grayson over to meet Remy. It was cute because Remy reached out and gave him a hug and kiss. It was like he already knew him. Remy already loves his little brother.

Our first family picture!!

The first night in the hospital Shaun slept on the little pull out bed in the hospital room. It was terribly uncomfortable and I kept telling him how nice the hospital bed actually was so he joined me half way through the night. They recently got new beds in the hospital and it was quite nice for a hospital bed. I think I talked the bed up to much though because Shaun wanted to sleep in it with me the next night. It was not so comfortable the second night.

Here is one of Grayson's favorite positions. Even when we would look at him with the ultrasound he would like his head all of the way back. Shaun calls him his little turtle because he looks like a turtle the way he holds his head. He is a very sweet boy and we love him so much already. He has been so mellow. He eats every 3-4 hours and is happy to just sit, well lay around the rest of the time. Remy also loves him and always wants to give him kisses or put his binky in. He is a blessing in our lives and we just love our boys. When we left the hospital Grayson had gotten down to 6 pounds 4 ounces which is normal but quickly got back up to 6 pounds 8 ounces at his 5 day, and 7 pounds 2 ounces at his 2 week appointment. He is a good little eater and a total joy.

Christmas!!

Christmas 2010
Here I am in all my glory, 9 months pregnant and ready to burst at any time. My whole family was totally convinced that I was going to go into labor during the night and call them Christmas morning to say "sorry stop opening presents I'm having a baby". Luckily for Grayson that didn't happen.

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year!! This year has been unusually busy with being due in the end of December but it is still fun none-the-less. I got my Christmas present a little early, my lovely rocking chair as seen below. I have used it so much and love it!!. I also gave Shaun his present early as well, some handle bars for his dirt bike. I love the decorations, food, family and fun!! This year I decided to keep the Christmas tree in the basement since Grayson was due right after Christmas. Remy and I did decorate it and hang our stockings though. Remy's idea of helping to decorate the tree of course is to take off the Christmas balls, throw them and put whatever else he can find in the tree. I kept finding all sorts of balloons, a golf club, some soup cans, garbage, etc.

My sister and her family comes up for Christmas every year. We ate a delicious prime rib dinner with my family and than went to Shaun's family Christmas eve party at Curtis and Colette's house. After all of the delicious food we were ready to head home and get ready for Santa to come. Every Christmas eve we have started a tradition to open a couple of presents. Mainly some pajamas and a Christmas ornament so down in the basement we went. We had been excited for Christmas because Remy is finally old enough to know how to open presents. We had him open his pajamas first. He really didn't get very excited... instead he ran over and started playing with the food storage. He loves to organize and reorganize the food storage. Unfortunately it was bedtime and I wanted him to finish opening his presents before bed so we would be ready to go to my parents first thing in the morning.

I wound up helping him open his presents by holding him hostage on my lap so he couldn't run back to the food storage. He did end up loving his little tractor that I got him. They seriously make the coolest kids toys now.

You can see Chappy here trying to see what Remy is opening. Chappy loves opening presents and Christmas. I got him some special little bones and a stuffed duck to play with. He will nose open the paper and help you open things. It is really cute.

Christmas morning we got up and headed over to my parents house. I was hoping that with watching everyone opening presents Remy would be more excited about his presents. He did in fact open one present and than played with it the whole morning while we all opened presents. He would run to Shaun every now and then to help hand out presents but he didn't want to open any more of his own. I took all of the unopened presents home and he had a great old time opening one every few days. It was like Christmas for a couple of weeks.

After Christmas at my parents house we went home and took a nap. Christmas just isn't the same without a good nap. We than went to Shaun's parents house for their family Christmas get together. We had dinner and than opened presents. I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures of it but it was very nice to have all of the families together.

Remy loves fun!!

December 2010

My goodness how time flies. It seems like Thanksgiving came and went before I even knew it. Luckily for me I did most of my Christmas shopping early and was ready to enjoy Thanksgiving and December footloose and fancy free. Well at least from Christmas shopping, I have been serioulsy busy nesting. We did have Thanksgiving with my family this year which was delicious as usual. I really didn't feel up to Black Friday shopping due to my current state; however, after my last Black Friday experience when I was pregnant I figured what the heck. When I was pregnant with Remy I went to Sears to get Shaun a big tool kit for Christmas. When I got there one of the workers saw a poor helpless pregnant lady standing next to the tool box. He picked it up for me. Opened a register to check me out and than carried it out to my car. I was in and out in 15 minutes it was great. I wanted to try my luck again. I totally got the best deal ever. I have been wanting a rocking chair for Christmas, not just any rocking chair but an upholstered chair with actual rockers not just a glider. There was one that I liked at Downeast outfitters but it was 400 dollars. When I went Black friday they had it on clearance for 150 bucks. Such a good deal!!! I bought it right away and have loved every minute of having it.

Along with December and November came some snow for Remy to play in. I can't say that he loves it. He actually doesn't really seem to like it. The only thing he loves about it is that we will go outside with him and throw snow balls for Chappy. This is actually one of Chappy's favorite past-times. He loves chasing them in the snow, scampering with his nose down and than digging around. Remy of course thinks this is hilarious and thinks that since Chappy loves that he must love everything thrown for him, or at him, or just thrown in general. Maybe he will be a football player or baseball pitcher. Who knows but it gets old having everything thrown around all of the time. He also has incredible accuracy. He can hit the smallest, hardest place ever for me to get something out of with ease.

Remy has been enjoying time playing with cousins. He doesn't have much of a personal bubble so of course since he likes his cousins he wants to be as close to them as possible. He was having fun with Kanden watching him play his DS. He was sitting seriously right next to him with his head and face about 2 inches from Kanden's. It was so cute, he loves being a big boy and doing big boy things even if it is just watching someone else play their DS.

Remy also had fun playing with Paxton another cousin of his. They are pretty close in age, Paxton is about 9 months older than Remy but they still have fun. Here they are in Remy's big boy room playing. They were having fun and it was so cute because it was the first time I have seen Remy actually playing and interacting rather than just following around and watching. They would go back in the room and I would hear them talking back in the room and than they would both come out to show me something. They would than mutter something to each other and go back in the room to play. They also wanted a snack so they sat up at the counter. Remy usually sits in his high chair but when he saw Paxton sitting at the bar he wanted to be a big boy too. He rarely will ever get in his high chair anymore.

December also brought about delicious treats and office parties. I have to admit that I eat way to much sugar during December because I love love love treats!!! The hard thing is that so many people bring them by the house and to our office. I'm definately not complaining in fact I love tasting all of the different things that people make. Remy has enjoyed it too. Everyday after work before we would go home he would want to grab a little treat to take in the car on the way home.

I also love Christmas parties. My office party is always fun because everyone brings a side dish and than we eat prime rib. It is a fun night of eating and chatting away from the hustle and bustle of the usual office day. I always bring Bak Lava, an office favorite. I love Bak Lava and only really make it at Christmas time so it is fun to have these treats that I only get once a year. We also went to Shaun's office party which was catered by Famous Daves. It was delicious of course.

One of Remy's favorite things to do these days is to "make dough". I attribute this to all of the baking that I did over the Christmas holidays. He spends a large amount of time in my kitchen pointing to my mixer saying "Dough, dough" and wants to make cookies. He loves to help pour the ingredients in and watch it mix them around. I never even let him eat the dough but he just loves to watch.

Remy also has become quite the dare devil. Shaun will hold him so he is standing on his chest, grab Remy by the legs, count to three and than swing him down between his legs. It is definately a dare-devil type of move and Remy loves it. He will follow Shaun around saying "deee, deee, deee" like he is counting to three. So cute.

Halloween 2010

I love Halloween. Growing up my family has always been big into the holiday. My mom is a great costume idea/maker. Several of my favorite halloween costumes have been my mom's in fact. She has been a belly dancer with tons of cool scarves and chime things, Sonny and Cher (my parents were both involved in that one), and of course the Elvis costume my mom made. Probably the most memorable for me and the kids in the neighborhood was when she dressed up in her full body Carhartt type jump suit, wore a mask and than when she answered the door for the trick or treaters had her leaf blower that she would fire up and blow in their faces. Needless to say I don't think much candy actually got passed out because the kids would always run away.

Last year I dressed Remy up as a football, Chappy as the Gator mascot, Shaun as the football player and me as the Gator cheerleader. This year I needed something extra cute as well so I made him a goldfish outfit. It turned out so well and was super easy and cheap to make.

This year we did many fun things. This was really the first year that Remy has been able to do much other than just sit there and look around. My mom and I went down to Provo to visit my sister and bro-in-law and their kids. We had a wonderful time and ate lots of food. We of course ate at The Bombay house which is my personal favorite and ate dessert at Chocolate and the cupcake shop. We decided to take our kids down to the Red Barn for the Halloween patch and pumpkin picking. I of course forgot my camera but we had so much fun. It started out with a Tractor pulled hayride which was fun. Than we went and got to pick out our own pumpkins. Remy had fun just wondering around through the pumpkin patch. They also had a fun little maze and those boards for the kids to take their picture with their head through the hole. Would have been really cute if I had my camera but what can I do about it now. We than ate some delicious apple cinnamon type of donuts that were so delicious.

This year Shaun and I were also the activities committee chair people and in lew of a halloween party we decided that having a donut/hot chocolate stand in the middle of the neighborhood during trick or treating would be fun. I got 8 dozen donuts and we made two huge things of hot chocolate. The donuts were gone in 30 minutes!!! I couldn't believe it. It was so fun though because people got to kind of stop and chat for a few minutes while the kids were running gleefully from house to house for candy. Remy didn't go trick or treating other than to families houses but he did love the hot chocolate. He got a cup of it and was just walking around with it saying "yummy!! yummy!!!" I don't actually think that he got very much chocolate but his goldfish costume sure did.

Shaun and I were also invited to an adult Halloween party by some of our friends. It was so much fun. Being pregnant doesn't really lend itself to many options for costumes but we decided to go with me as an angel and Shaun as the devil. I than had a sign stuck to my belly saying "the devil made me do it" It was a hit and we were voted best couple costume. There were so many other cute couples and costumes. It was really fun to have a fun evening out with friends and not kid craziness.

Family Pictures October 2010

October 2010
We also finally got around to taking our family pictures. We decided that it was high time since the last time we took them we didn't have any kids and we are about to have another one in the end of December. I am about 32-34 weeks pregnant I can't remember exactly how far along when we took these pictures

Remy at 21 months

October 2010
Remy is such a sweet boy. Most days he is the sweetest calmest little boy but he is definitely heading into the terrible two's. Of course that has been happening for the last few months. I think they just call them the terrible two's because that is like halfway through the crazy stage. I wanted to take some time and write down some of the things that Remy is doing at this age. I have written down some of my favorite things so I hope you enjoy. We are not the best at taking formal pictures of our family so we decided that this fall was the time. I love fall pictures because of the colors and sweaters. Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons. Shaun is a wonderful photographer so he took these pictures for us one afternoon, there were so many but these are some of my favorites.

One evening it was nearing bedtime and Remy was cuddling with me on the couch. He looked up at me with his big brown eyes and said "I dub(love) you". I think I almost started crying on the spot and it wasn't just the pregnancy hormones. How sweet it was to hear those words come out of his mouth. Shaun and I both say "I love you" to him and each other a ton so I am surprised that it has taken him so long to say it. He also has only said it the one time but it was wonderful none the less. When asked who loves him he will say Mommy!!! He loves to cuddle and have books read to him. He is starting to put 2-3 words together but mostly it is one word commands and alot of it sounds like puppy or ball with subtle variations.

In preparation for the baby we have been trying to move Remy into a big boy bed. He isn't quite 2 yet but thought it would be nice to have a crib for the baby. My sister gave us her old toddler bed to borrow that she wasn't using anymore. Remy was very excited about the prospect of having a new room. I moved all of his toys and the toddler bed into the room. It was overall just very exciting for Remy, that is until we turned off the light or closed the door. It really didn't go very well. He was funny though he would sit in there on his little bed and play with toys. One day I hadn't heard or seen him in a while so I decided that maybe I should check on him. I opened the door and there he was on his bed surrounded by all of his books "reading" them. When he saw me he said "Hey" like I was disrupting his fun. I said, sorry and closed the door and he went back to reading his books. Such a funny little boy. He can open and close doors now much to my dismay. Luckily he hasn't figured out the child proof door knobs that I have installed around the house.

We have decided to wait on the toddler bed for now until he is at least 2 1/2. Luckily for us my sister-in-law had a crib that she isn't using anymore so now we have two baby rooms with cribs. I think it will help with having Remy still in his crib when the baby comes because he will still have his own room and things. He also hasn't figured out how to climb out of his crib so it will help me keep him contained until I am good and ready to get him out of bed.

-Remy is still all about everything puppy, balloon, or ball. He loves to go to Granny's house to play with the ball popper. He also loves to play with the mud pie kitchen that my mom has for the kids.

-He is the tooting police. If he hears himself or anyone toot he is the first to point it out and laugh. Tooters beware around our house.

-When Remy wakes up in the morning he moans to himself for a while but I know he is ready to get up when he starts saying "Ma-meee, Ma-meee" loudly.

-When asked what he is doing, it doesn't matter if it is good or bad he will answer "nothing". He must be practicing up for his teenage years.

-He loves to climb up the couch and turn on and off the lights. I did end up duck taping them down because it was driving me to the point of insanity with them flashing on and off like a strobe light.

-He likes to empty the dishwasher, mainly the cups. It doesn't matter if it is dirty or clean those cups are coming out and getting stacked. Remy will than follow me around with this giant stack of cups saying "put away" until I put them away.

-He loves to feed Chappy. Now naturally this has ended with a whole cupful of dog food spilled on the floor on more than one occasion but overall he is pretty good at it.

-If he spills anything on the floor he is really good at running to the towel drawer and bringing a towel to clean it up. He will even use the "step on it with your foot" method that I like to use. He is also a very good hand washer probably because I wash my hands 50 times a day

-He still comes to the office with me and loves to run and see "ba pa" (grandpa). He also loves to run and see the nurses. Knows right where Marilyn's smarty drawer is and makes sure to get stickers from Tess before we leave every night. He even makes sure that Tess draws a picture on his sticker before we leave. It is all in the details people, all in the details.

All in all he is my sweet little boy and a total joy to have around the house. I have been so fortunate to bring him to work with me this long and I am sure he will be a great big brother for the new baby.

My Birthday

September 22, 2010

Birthdays in our house are always quite the deal. Shaun for example has his birthday in March and starting the day after Christmas he starts asking what we are getting him for his birthday and planning for his month long of celebration. This past year I of course wanted to make sure Shaun would have a wonderful birthday so I took him to dinner and we stayed at the Destinations inn. For my birthday this year I was pregnant. Pregnancy doesn't exactly leave one with the most energy, or ideas of what one wants for a present. The idea of taking a 20 month old toddler to dinner also sounds just as romantic as getting kicked in the head. I usually end up covered in whatever is on Remy's hands, my food gets cold and something gets spilled. Shaun wanted to make it special though so we got a babysitter for our romantic dinner and he got me flowers and Florence's chocolates. We also went out to dinner with my family and Shaun's family.

Shaun wanted to get me a wonderful present but I didn't know what I wanted. I thought and thought about it and came up with the perfect idea. I wanted a food storage can roller. Shaun thought I was joking but I wasn't. I really have wanted one of those bad boys for a long time. He got me the big daddy of can rollers and also one to go in my pantry upstairs. I just can't wait to get all of my cans organized on my roller.