Grocery shopping with Mali

 These were taken in January 2014- Mali and my parents and sister went grocery shopping while Jesse and I were in the hospital with Olivia.  These were taken at Meijer.

 The story goes that my sister wanted to put her sunglasses on Mali and he didn't want to wear them.  She said his grandma (my mom) would take a picture of him with them on so he agreed to keep them on and he smiled.  Then he wanted to see the picture right away and was just thrilled!  Seriously, he's the cutest boy I've ever known, but I know I'm biased.

 Mali often falls asleep in the car on the way to anywhere.  He fell asleep on this particular trip so my parents and sister transferred him to a grocery cart and he just stayed asleep as they wheeled around!

My sleepy little guy!

Mali in the morning

 Our sweet Mali with sleepy eyes, shortly after he woke up.  Kicking his right foot...(doing his morning exercises!)

 A little smile and kicking his left foot.

 Cute little smile!

 Breakfast of Cheerios.  He is doing really well at using a fork and spoon to eat!

I love how hard he is concentrating.  He tries so hard not to spill the milk.

Sliding Malachi!

This was taken at the end of September 2013.  Malachi was 15 months old and had just learned to walk about a month earlier.  Watch right at the beginning of the video and also at around 1:00 for what I was trying to capture.  (Although the rest of the video is fun to watch too just to see him walking).  He did the sliding thing several times while we were visiting my parents.  I guess he just loved the feeling of the floor on his bare legs!  He was so fun to watch!

Photo update!

I'm at my parent's house for a few days now and thought I'd take advantage of the internet and try to get some photos updated.  I'll be going back several months starting around September, October...(My gosh, Mali was 15 months old then...where does the time go?)   

(September 2013- Mali was 15 months old).  We were home visiting my parents and my dad was holding Mali.  I love how relaxed he looks in this photo.

Our sweet Pooks!

Mali with my parent's dog, Hannah, standing at their front door.  They were both interested in something outside.  I love their profiles and especially Mali in his little overalls.

So serious...

Oh, my heart!  Our little baby- he does look little in this photo and so very tired.

November 2013- Mali loved playing with these little toys that my mom had: little dice and game markers- little wooden cars and people.  He mostly liked putting them into and taking them out of different sized prescription bottles.  He spent a good 30 to 45 minutes playing with them while we were visiting.   

I love his concentration mouth and his hands with his little pinkie finger sticking out.  So cute.

November 2013- When we were visiting my parents over Thanksgiving we went to IKEA and for those who have been to IKEA you know it's a big store!  About halfway through, Mali got very tired and since I hadn't brought the stroller we had to lay him in the cart to nap.  Thankfully I had the blanket for him to soften the seat. 

I love his bottom lip sticking out.

My mom and sister put the stuffed bear behind him as a "pillow".

My sweet sleeping baby. :)  We just let him sleep because, in our house, the phrase is:  "Never wake a sleeping baby!"

November 2013- Oh,  my large-ness!  I was pregnant with Olivia....

and I was rounder than round with another five, actually six, weeks to go (since she was a week late)!!

Jesse attempting to have a belly!  It wasn't quite working!

More updates/photos to come...!

Our new arrival!

Introducing....

Olivia Rose 

 born on Friday, January 10th, 2014 at 10:52 pm

9 lbs 2 oz!

21 1/4 inches

Malachi and my parents came to visit us at the hospital the day after she was born.  Malachi was so sweet with her!  He will be such a great big brother!

A kiss!

I love this photo!

She was almost a week past her due date so I was induced.  I was in labor for almost 24 hours and ended up pushing for about three and a half hours.  They had to use forceps to get her out so she has some bruising on her cheeks/head and I ended up tearing pretty badly.  But other than that, it was a successful VBAC! She is a very vocal little girl and definitely not afraid to have her voice be heard!

We are so excited to have little Olivia in our family!!

(I'll try to post more photos soon...)

A few pregnancy photos

These photos were taken today.  I am 35 weeks pregnant.  Jesse was very obliging since he hates having his photos taken!  And yes, that is a maternity shirt and yes, the stretchy part of my pants is showing below my shirt.  Not many shirts are actually covering me this pregnancy...but that's okay!  I'm growing a baby.

Jesse can joke now!  But, can the pains of labor be transferred?!

Jesse's baby is looking a little flat headed...

Update.

Obviously I haven't posted in over a month.  I know I need to update this blog very badly but it's hard when I don't have internet at home and my time at the library is mainly limited to printing off my lesson and running after a very active toddler.  Blogging is something that gets put on the back burner and often times I want to write a post but my pregnancy induced brain doesn't have the energy to put a post together.  There you have it...the reason for my non-blogging.  Not that I really have many readers left anyway, but that doesn't matter since mostly I do this blog for me.

So, for an update (bullet style)...

::  Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook know that we are expecting baby #2!  A girl!  In early January (as in the first week in January!)  I am currently almost 35 weeks pregnant.  This time in my pregnancy with Malachi I was already on bed rest and he would be here in about a week.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't end up on bed rest with baby girl.  Although it would be nice to have her early (since I am feeling very pregnant) I understand the importance of letting her grow until 40 weeks.

::  I have been sick for pretty much the last two and a half weeks.  It started out as a cold and then progressed to what I though was a sinus infection (although my OB didn't think so and didn't give me antibiotics).  Now I think I might have strep throat since it feels like a knife is digging into the right side of my throat every time I swallow (though I haven't had strep throat since I've had my tonsils out about 20 years ago....)  Jesse has named my "frog voice" Leroy, since it sounds like I have a frog in my throat when I talk.  Honestly I think I'm going to be sick until I have this baby.  It's been over two weeks.  I should be feeling better, right?  Not to complain, but I want to feel better!!

:: My Mali cat is 17 months old!  Time is going so fast.  And it seems to be going faster every day.  I love watching him grow and develop.  I especially love watching his mind work as he plays with toys or encounters something new.  He is so cute.  I just can't help but kiss his cheeks (almost all day long).  I know he doesn't like me to do that (all day) because he squirms out of my arms, but I pick him up anyway and smooch away.  I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for trusting me with him.  I just love him!

::  About two weeks ago we got a kitten (who was named Popeye) from one of Jesse's co-workers and Mali just adores the cat!  He will walk-run (mostly a fast walk since he can't actually run yet) after him and try to tickle him (to tickle Mali will rub his fingers together and say tickletickletickletickle!)  Mali likes Popeye way more than Popeye likes him.  Which is probably how it is with most toddlers and cats, I'm assuming.  Mali stays occupied with him for a good while though and I'm thinking it will be good practice for when his sister is here.

::  I'm scared of giving birth this time, ok, I guess not actually scared of giving birth per se, but scared that the birth will be similar to Malachi's.  Don't get me wrong, I loved having my sweet Malachi in my arms at the end but the process of getting there did not go well at all for me.... 
I started having high blood pressure around 33 weeks.  Since high blood pressure is a sign of pre-eclampsia, which can become dangerous to mother and baby, my doctor kept a close eye on me and a week later I was admitted to the hospital over Memorial Day 2012.  I spent two days in the hospital being monitored and when I was released I was on bed rest until Malachi was born about two weeks later.

A day before Malachi was born I went in for a doctor's appointment where we had an ultrasound and I had blood drawn.  The office called later that day and said that as soon as I could I needed to get to the hospital to deliver my baby since my blood work didn't come back well.  They said I had elevated liver enzymes which is an indication of HELLP Syndrome.  I was terrified.  I called Jesse at work and told him what the doctor said and he said he would finish up and be home soon.  I cried as I took a shower.  When Jesse got home he gave me a blessing and then we left for the hospital.

I had to be induced with Pitocin (since I obviously wasn't ready to give birth on my own).  They had the amount up to the highest they could give me and I still wasn't having strong enough contractions.  They took me off of it for about three hours overnight so we could get some rest (ha ha) and then they started it again.  The contractions still weren't strong enough so about 10 that next morning the doctor came in and broke my water which started the strong contractions.  Long story short, I labored for about 24 hours and when it came time to push I gave about three pushes and since I had the fetal monitor on the doctor noticed that as I was pushing, Malachi's heart rate kept dropping.  She decided that I needed to have an emergency c-section.  I started crying again.  Yes, I knew it was best for my baby since his heart rate was dropping, but I had already been through 24 hours of Pitocin induced contractions.  I was just ready to have my baby in my arms.  They prepped me for the c-section and told me it might be possible he would have to be taken to the NICU.  When he was born the doctor said that the cord was across his chest and wrapped over his shoulder which was causing his heart rate to drop when I pushed.  Thankfully he didn't have to be taken to the NICU, but it felt like forever before I got to see him.

After I gave birth they had me on Magnesium for 24 hours to prevent me from having a seizure.  That ended up making me very nauseous and I threw up.  Honestly I felt horrible.  I was still so, so swollen and felt groggy from the epidural and still in shock from the emergency c-section and having everything happen so fast at the end.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this to be a birth re-cap, but there it is.  That is why I'm scared to giving birth this time.  I don't know what "normal" is for a birth.  Not that there really is a normal when it comes to birth...but still...  I remember talking with Jesse before Malachi was born and asking "what if I go through 24 hours of labor and end up having a c-section anyway??"  Maybe I set myself up for it or jinxed myself.  I guess I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't end up with pre-eclampsia this pregnancy.

::  I started using homemade laundry detergent about two months ago.  I like it.  It seems to get the clothes clean and is definitely a lot cheaper than store bought detergents.

::  I'm glad to be home with my family in Columbus for Thanksgiving.  Jesse drove up today and surprised me by arriving around 7pm.  I had forgotten that the Dean usually lets everybody go home at 12:30pm!  Mali and I are happy to have him here!

::  Happy day before Thanksgiving!

Fuzzy hair

(This is a post I had in drafts that I need to publish- even though it's old).

My baby has such fuzzy hair.  After he got his first hair cut on his 14 month birthday (In August) his hair became very hard to control.  When he gets a bath at night then sleeps on his wet hair (even after I've combed it) he still wakes up with a head full of fluffy hair.  I think it's adorable. 

I love my sweet boy! He is just so cute and happy in this photo. I'm sure I'm biased, but I definitely think he's adorable!

******

Mali and the penny horse

When my parents came to celebrate my birthday in early September we went to Meijer to look for a carseat for Mali.  They have a mechanical horse there where you put in a penny and he starts "galloping" like a horse.  We decided to have Mali ride him.  He tried testing it by holding onto the reins a little bit then grabbed onto my sister!  Overall I don't think he was very impressed with the horse!

Mali and the raspberry

Mali loves fruit.  Loves it!  He will eat almost any type, but his favorites are bananas and berries.  During the summer Jesse would fill up Mali's stroller cup holder with berries and Mali would just munch away, happy as a clam!  I love that he loves fruit.
At the end of August my parents came down to visit and we ate lunch at our house.  My sister brought a bowl of raspberries and those were the main thing that Mali ate....I'm pretty sure he ate the majority of the bowl!  This series of photos reminds me (and my mom) of Little Jack Horner.
(A few weeks before this, Mali experimented in eating food by sticking his finger in it (Cheerios, fruit, etc) and then transferring it to his mouth.  He decided to try it again with the raspberry!)

 I love his concentration lips in this photo!  Trying so hard to get his finger in without the raspberry falling off.

 Still trying....

 Open wide!

 Fish lips!  "I'm pretty cool with this raspberry on my finger!" Yes, you are Mali!

 The raspberry finally made it to his mouth.

 His face looks like the raspberry was sour, but it didn't deter him because he kept eating.

"Oh, that was good!"