Happy Birthday to Summer and Zoey

This year I had a little fun planning a birthday for both of the girls. Summer's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, 18th, and Zoey's will be a in a couple weeks. Also with Matt going out of town on 19th for training we decided to celebrate both together.

Matt Gets a New Job

Well after 5 years with Karl Storz, Matt has moved on. He had been trying to get into sales for awhile and kept getting turned down. Well finally after a couple years of searching and rejection someone is taking a chance on him to give him that opportunity. YEA! Matt is now a sales rep for Cooper Surgical.

I'm very proud of him for not giving up. Someone saw his potential and said, "why not?"

He has to go to Connecticut for training and will be gone for about 2 weeks, with no coming home on the weekend. Bummer for me. But I will be meeting up with him after his training in Boston to celebrate our anniversary. Something to look forward to.

Zoey's Blessing Day {10.19.14}

Finally, I've gotten around to getting this down for the records! Haha!

We blessed Zoey on October 19, 2014. This is the 2nd time we've blessed one of kids on a non-fast Sunday. My reasoning is that I wanted to be able to host a brunch right after sacrament and not have anyone feel guilty to break their fast early. It's not in the books that you have to bless your baby on fast Sunday, but traditionally they are. Not how that started. Wells anyways, this was such a special day for us.

We had a good turnout from our family for this day. Tia Maggie and Tio Gerald came up from Tucson. And I had a special surprise from my cousin Trevor! I didn't even know he was in town from Utah!

Christmas 2014

Christmas this year was a lot of fun! Jen and Greg and their kids came into town to celebrate this year. It's also Zoey's first Christmas! Oh and Papa Earl was here as well.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year was at Rick and Shellie's house. Rick read the traditional Christmas story from Luke. Grammy read her new Christmas book for the year. And of course the opening of the Christmas PJ's which I think is the highlight for the kids!

putting on the pj's

 

Zoey's Birth Story

I thought that it was time to share Zoey's birth story.

On Wed July 23rd I had seen the dr and I was still barely at 1cm. Very frustrating since with the other 2 I was further along by 38 weeks. So I decided to start taking the Evening Primrose oil capsules and rubbing Clary Sage oil on my belly.

I think this did the trick b/c on Sunday I was having some mild cramping but then it went away. Then on Tues, the 29th, as I was making dinner at about 5 pm I started to feel cramping again. I knew these weren't Braxton Hicks contraction like what I was having since 30 weeks. These contraction and pains were the real thing!

Introducing . . .

Our sweet baby girl has finally arrived and she's perfect!

Summer's Shinanigans

Oh man! Summer is sure giving me a run for my money! This girl gets into everything!! I was downstairs doing some things when Summer comes up to me and says, "mommy I color!"

What? Wait color what? I looked down and at her and started laughing. She had found one of the black sharpies and colored on her arms and legs. When she's at Marva's house her a Phoebe color with markers, I guess she thought this would be okay. Oh dear!

So of course I had to take a picture before I stripped her down for a bath.

Luckily it all came off in the bath. Phew! I need to make sure those markers are out of her reach! haha

Oh BABY!!!

This new year will be bring a new change to our family! We are expecting baby #3 and we are super excited about it!!

This new addition will arrive early August. This will be uncharted territory for us because we've never had a new a baby and a toddler back to back. At least we have big brother to help out!

I hope your new year will be filled with fun and new exciting adventures!!

P.S. We surprised our families again this Christmas with this little news. They were all shocked and happy by it!

Family Pictures 2013

This year taking family pictures was interesting. Summer was a bit of a nightmare, wanting to do her own thing! Seriously child, just sit still! haha

The end result was great, thanks to my amazing friend Amanda Shepard and her talent for making us look good!

What do you think?

Summer - 1 year Photo Shoot

I can't believe Summer is already a year! She is that happiest baby ever! She loves to make funny noises and faces. She loves her big brother and her daddy. She can say daddy very well and is learning to say Scott, but it sounds like dot. Other words she can say are baby, pretty, hey, hi and uh-oh. She loves her baby doll that her grammy got her for her birthday. She is a petite but growing and is on track with her milestones. This week she figured out how to walk and is doing very well with it.

Ok, onto the photo bomb of her 1 year photo session. Thanks to my friend Amanda I love how the pictures turned out. Here are a few that I want to share.

10 Years!! Our Story thus Far

I can't believe that 10 years ago I married one of the cutest guys in my singles ward. Our story actually starts 11 years ago when we first met.

I was the new girl to him in the group that I was in and he was just fresh off of his mission and new to me. I actually persued him and it most definetly paid off. It didn't take much and we were dating. By April of 2003 we were engaged with the help of my bestie and a video camera.

a month of dating and i took him home to cali for my baby brother's blessing. Sept 2002.

Memorial Day Weekend Vacation

Ah summertime is finally here and school is out, that means Memorial weekend and Scott's birthday. This year we asked Scott what he wanted to do for his birthday. We gave him the option of going to Sea World and visting his cousins in San Diego or take a couple of friends to Sunsplash. He chose the first option.

We left Friday morning. Summer did very well, I was worried that she would get bored and fussy but she slept most of the way. Thank goodness for the improvement of baby food packaging! I love the food pouches, because I could screw on a spoon designed for them and feed her on the road! We hit traffic on our way into Carlsbad but made in just in time to check into our hotel. Matt's sister met up with us at our hotel, she lives up the road from the hotel we stayed at. I do recommend the Carlsbad by The Sea Resort, if you are planning a vaca to Carlsbad. So the kids swam for a little bit and then we headed to dinner.



Summer sleeping just before we got into San Diego.

9 Month Stats

Monday little miss Summer her 9 month well visit. Has it really been 9 months already!!?!? She is growing up to fast. She is healthy and reaching her milestones.

- weight is now 16lbs 13 oz (yup skinny baby, just like brother was) Dr isn't worried
- height 28 inches
- loves to "talk", can say da da, mmm, ma ma, eh (mainly just sounds are what those are)
- loves to make silly faces
- crawls like there's no tomorrow on her knees and does the spider/elephant walk
- pulls up on the the furniture and is trying to walk with the help of the furniture
- has the funniest laugh
- can pretty much self feed, loves to drink from her sippy cup
- love her pacifiers and you can always find with at least 2 with her if not more if she finds them
- has 2 teeth and about 3 more coming in :(
- still loves to fall asleep on mom and dad
- LOVES big brother and lights up when she sees him :)
- is in the stranger mode and will only want mom :( (still getting used to a clingy baby)

We love her to pieces!!!

Pinewood Derby

A couple of weeks ago it was our wards Pinewood Derby!

Scott and Matt and a fun time builing 'their' car along with the help of Papa, Matt's dad. Scott placed 2nd in his den and my nephew placed 1st for their den. Both boys were beaming as were their dads and papa. :)

It was a fun Saturday morning to be with friends and family. There was some competition with the other dens in our pack. There were some pretty good looking cars that went pretty fast down the tracks that's for sure.






Scott with this car!



Scott with his awards! He got best design.



Eating Better

Matt had me watch some shows about the food industry and our society and how the things were are eating are contributing to bad habits and unhealthy bodies. Well after watching those shows we decided to try to eat better by decreasing our meat intake and increase our intake of veggies and fruits. Well so far so good. We've done it for a week and making meatless meals for a week are easy. I still have those frozen meals that are mainly chicken and I will use them from time. My grocery trip was much lighter on my wallet. Scott loves the meals that I've made and gobbles them right up. :) I love that the meals take have the time than they did if there was a meat involved. I wanted to share with you some recipes that I've found, Pinterest is wonderful thing! Here is my Pinterest board Meatless Meals for some inspiration.

6 Month Update

I can't believe that we have had our sweet baby girl for 6 months! Time sure does fly! Yesterday was her 6 month appointment so here are her stats.

- 15 lbs

- 26.5 inches long

- can roll from back to front and front to back

- smiles at everyone and anything

- has the cutest laugh

- loves anything girly

- still sleeps through the night

- loves to eat

- gets mad if she doesn't get her way (we are

- crawling and getting into everything

We love this sweet little girl and can't wait to see what's in store for her.

Comparison

I thought that it would be fun to compare a picture of Scott and Summer at the same age. Do you think that they look a like at this stage?

My chimpmunk cheek babies! LOL

2 Months Old

I can't believe that Summer is 2 months old already! It doesn't seem that long ago that I had her. She had her 2 month appointment to get her shots and new measurements yesterday. She did okay until the 2nd shot then she started to cry. :( She ended up with a fever today and slept most of the day.

Stats

- 23 inches long

- 10.5 lbs

- coos, smiles and giggles

- can now see colors and tracks well

- can hold up her head while on her tummy

- sleeps through the night

 

 

We love her and can't wait to see what else she can do in the following months!

Blessing Day

On Sunday the 9th, Grammy's (Sandye Sovereign) birthday, we blessed Summer. Our immediate family came minus our sister's that live out of state. Matt did a wonder job with the blessing. Summer was even good during the whole thing, probably because she was alseep the entire time. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. We have waited 8 years for her to arrive and she is finally here and I can't imagine life without her now. She is a very happy baby and hasn't given us much trouble. Here are a few pictures of her special day.

 

Our family of 4!

 

Daddy and Summer

 

Scott and Summer

 

Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mario and Uncle Danny

 

Asleep in church just after her blessing

 

P.S. Her dress is handmade. My Tia Maggie sewed it for her, I picked out the fabric and made her bow.

Summer's Birth Story

This is how Summer's arrival went down.

I was scheduled for an induction on Tuesday, July 17 at 3pm. I called early in the morning to see what the schedule was like, I was told that they were behind from the day before and may not be called in that day. Bummer. I was very anxious to meet my baby girl and not be so swollen from the heat. So I waited and no call. :(

On Wednesday, I again called in the morning and was told that they were catching up and would probably call me later that day. So I waited all morning. My Tia Maggie and I went to Target, Once Upon a Child and got Pedicures. Then at about 4ish I called the hospital and the Charge Nurse said that was getting ready to call me. She said that she was waiting for the nurse that would be taking care of me to get back from her lunch break. She told me eat something and get my things together and that she will be calling me back shortly! YES!! Finally!! So I get my things together and ate a small snack. Then the phone rings, they are ready for me. :) So I get my things together and we make our way to the hospital. By the time we get there it's about 4:50.

I get registered and then my nurse comes out to get me and takes us back. I get changed and she does her thing. Then I finally get my IV for the Pitocin, by that time it's about 6. The nurse checks me and says that I'm already dilated to 4cm and 100% effaced. WHAT!??!!! At my appointment the previous Thurs. I was barely at 2cm and 80% effaced. Dr Tutt then comes in and says that he wants to see steady contractions before he breaks my water. Well the pitocin is working and I'm feeling contractions, nothing to hard. That is about an hour and then the Dr comes back, checks me and says that I have progressed to 5cm and that he is going to break my water, that's at 7pm. I tell him to get the anesthesiolgist ready for my epidural.

My water is now broken and I'm feeling the real hard contractions now. I get my epidural, which took a little longer than expected and I feel relief. The nurse turns me on my side and puts a peanut shaped ball in between my legs to help spread my pelvis to help me dilate faster. Let me tell you this ball totally works! Within the next couple of hours I have gone from 5 to fully dilated. I start to feel pressure and the nurse tells me to push on the next contaction. I'm barely through the contraction and she tells me to stop. She calls in Dr Tutt, he gets ready, I on the other hand want to push but they make me wait. How mean! Finally I can push, that one push gets her head out. Then on the next push she shoots out!! I hear her scream! My baby girl is finally here!!

Then my aunt, MIL and husband pull out their phones and they are taking pictures as I lay on the bed getting stiched up, yup I tore again, but no episiotomy this time. It's funny how much technology has progressed. I hear text message alerts going off as they are sending pictures of the baby. :) haha She is measured and weighed. 7lbs 12 oz and 20.5 inches long, come to find out she was actually 19.5 inches at her first dr appointment.

She was born on her due date, July 18, 2012 at 9:48pm. It took half as long to deliver her than it did Scott. She was ready to make her entrance. It's true what they say that your second baby will come a lot faster than your first. We are loving every moment with her!

With Grammy after being cleaned up.

With Tia Maggie

Big brother meeting little sister for the first time.