Spring Break and April

So I have a feeling that this blog thing is going to turn out a lot like my journal... always starting with so it's been a while...

Anyway, it is now nearing the end of April and I am woefully behind on the happenings. The end of March/beginning of April was amazing! We (my sisters Karen and Catherine, and Eliza) went on a road trip! We drove all the way to Eugene, OR to see my grandparents and for Eliza to meet her great-grandparents for the first time. I was a little apprehensive about the 14 hour car trip with a six month old but Eliza handled it like a champ! She was either sleeping, or playing the majority of the trip. Part of the reason was we left at 4 in the morning but still 14 hour car trip! The only times she got really fussy was when she was hungry or sleepy which we fixed with either a bottle, stopping for a little bit, or putting the cover down and she would go to sleep. I think we were more sick of the car than she was by the end.

It was so great to see my grandparents again and they loved Eliza. I loved seeing them fawn over her-especially my cowboy grandpa-too cute! As an added bonus my mom and my brother Tim came down from Idaho as well. Unfortunately for Tim, he was sick the whole time so he didn't get to play with Eliza, but it was still good to see him. We had a great Easter with them and with my aunt and uncle who live just 10 minutes away.

We also went to the coast which Eliza loved. She loved watching the ocean. I think mostly because that's the sound we put her noisemaker on when we put her to bed so she was weird-ed out that the waves were making the same sound. The highlight of the trip however was we saw whales! Well we saw whales spouting but it was still pretty cool! That was the first time I've ever seen a whale outside of the aquarium.

On Wednesday Tim and Catherine flew back to their respective homes (Catherine to get back to work and Tim to take his national Aca-deca test) and I got to see my friend Tracy! It had been years since I had seen her and it was fabulous to catch up again.

We left on Thursday. This time with my mom replacing Catherine in the car. Again, Eliza was a champ! She was a little more fussy this time but all in all I couldn't have asked for better. My mom came back with us because my dad was coming down to Provo with his Priests (16-18 year old young men in our church) to go to the priesthood session of General Conference. This was she got to spend more time with us and just went back with my dad when they went home that next Monday. Eliza loved all the company and loved being the center of attention. Also, this time when Tim saw her he was healthy and got to hold and play with her. My cousins also came all the way from Texas for conference and it was great to see them again.

So thus ended our fantastic Spring Break. Also, Eliza turned 6 months. At her check-up she was 15lbs 7oz and 24" long. She is rolling all over the place and just barely starting to pull herself forward. She still can't get very far forward or backward but her side to side rolling makes her quite mobile. She loves solid foods (except for peas so far) and is just so inquisitive about everything. She also loves to be in the limelight and can't stand it if people aren't paying attention to her. When she feels like she isn't getting enough attention she will squeal or start to fuss until someone comes and plays with her. She has also learned how to shriek while playing which is a lot of fun during church when everyone else is so quiet. Well that's everything for now and on to some pictures. Sorry I'm not so good at intermixing them with the writing but hey that's how I roll... or I'm just too lazy to figure out how to format it the way I like... you decide.

Eliza loves cups and will grab them whenever they are close.

Four generations!

This picture is about the usual... Grandma smiling nice, Grandpa making as goofy as a face as he can, and Eliza just sitting there but never quite looking the way you want her to.

Oregon Coast!

Eliza loves bath time and playing in the water. I can't wait to take her swimming this summer.

Sometimes she just looks like a model.

Our cute little family!

Eliza with her Grandpa Redford

Eliza and Grandma Redford just hanging out

Last Few Months

"I want that!"

Eliza has grown so much in the last few months. She is now five months old and so big. At her four month check up she was 14lbs 3oz and 24 1/2" long. These are the 55th and 51st percentile which means we have a healthy normal baby. She now rolls from her back to her stomach over her right and left shoulders although she definitely prefers her left side. It's funny because although she is tolerating her stomach better she still hates tummy time. So she rolls over, plays for a minute or two and then starts screaming until she is rolled back over, only to do it again. This is especially frustrating when she rolls over at night and can't right herself and just cries until you turn her over. She also is becoming more and more skilled with her fine motor skills. She is reaching for everything and then of course it goes in her mouth. She has also found her toes and spends most of her day munching on them.

She loves spending the days with her Aunt Katie while Nick and I are at work. Kindergarten is going great and we're just pluggin along. It's hard to think that there is only a couple of months left of school. The time has gone by so fast. Nick is loving his job at Nelson Labs. He works in the media quality control. He basically makes sure that the media the company uses to do their tests works. He loves that he gets to wear a lab coat and carry an i-pad all day.

We also have started Eliza on solid food. So far we have tried rice cereal, applesauce, sweet potatoes, bananas, peas, and carrots. She has loved everything except peas and I don't blame her for not liking the peas. They smelled horrible! She has been gobbling up everything else we have tried.

"What's for dinner?"

Trying Peas for the First Time

One of my favorite new outfits she fits into.

"Now what do I do?"

Catch Up!

Well it certainly has been a while since I last posted. a lot has happened so I'm going to try to get through it all without getting too wordy...
     Eliza is now 3 months old and getting so big! She's smiling more, laughing more, and getting more control over her hands and feet. We have a little jungle gym thing that she loves to play with and she is getting better and reaching for the toys and hitting them with her hands and feet. she has already grown out of a couple of outfits and is on the verge of growing out of a couple more. It's really fun to see how responsive she is getting.

Thanksgiving and Blessing:

On Eliza's Blessing Day: Yes we're a family of squinters...

     Over Thanksgiving we had both families come down for good food, football and fun. My cousins Mirazz and Nathan also came up with their family. It was a lot of fun to see everyone. That Sunday we blessed Eliza. I'm so grateful for a husband who is worthy to bless our babies. It was so sweet and there was such a great spirit to the day. Eliza was pretty good during it. She was fussy before and fussy after but during she was quiet.

The Vaughns (minus Jill, Fred, and Oliver)

My mom refurbished Catherine, Karen, and my blessing dress for Eliza to wear on her special day.

Christmas:
     For Christmas we went up to Preston with Nick's family. It was so great to be able to spend almost two weeks with family and just relax. This was the first year in a while that Nick's family was all together because of missions but we were able to all be there with two new grand-babies. Grandma and Grandpa were so excited to have their grandchildren around and it was nice for us because we could take more naps and catch up on sleep! Eliza did not sleep so well up there. I think it was a mix between a new place, a growth spurt, and being slightly sick (a stuffy runny nose making her grunt a lot more and not be able to breathe as clearly). Now that she's better and back home she's mostly back to how she was sleeping before. It was a lot of fun to see Eliza and Oliver together. Whenever one would start to cry the other would look on with a look of concern. it was so precious! Now for some pictures: 

Eliza looks so small next to Oliver... Maybe she'll catch up before they meet again in the summer.

Grandma and Grandpa Vaughn Love their grand-babies!

Grandma made sure Oliver and Eliza had a lot of matching outfits for pictures. These ones are both covered in snowmen!

A good lookin' family if I do say so myself!

One Month Down...

     I can't believe it's already been a month. This October has flown by! Eliza is one month today and has already changed so much. At her last weigh in (3 weeks old) she was 8 lbs 5 oz and she has only gotten bigger since then. I was just noticing today how some of her outfits are getting a little snug and she won't be able to wear them for much longer. She also is getting much stronger in her legs and in her neck. She still does not like tummy time or being put down in general. She is getting better however, she will tolerate not being held for a couple of minutes now. Mostly when she is distracted by other things. She loves looking at lights. She will stare at any light that is on and follow it with her eyes if you are moving around. She is also much better at night. I think we've mostly cured her of her long wakeful periods at night. She now wakes up to eat about every three hours so I get to sleep roughly in two hour increments at night. Nick is so great and will take her on the days he has off so I get to sleep even more.
     Nick is now working at WINCO as a night freight worker and works Tues, Wed, Thurs nights. It's the perfect job for right now as I'm preparing to head back to work. He'll be able to work and give us a little more income and still stay home with Eliza when I'm at work. His sister, Katie, will also help out a little by coming over sometimes to watch Eliza while he can get some sleep during the day. I head back to school on the 12th so we'll see how things go then. I'm a little anxious to get back to work and back into the swing of things but at the same time I just want to stay home with baby. I am nervous about how little sleep I will be getting but I'll make it work, right? Life is pretty great right now and I'm just loving being a mom. It's a huge responsibility but brings so much joy.

One month old and looking so big!

I'm not so good at catching her smiles on camera. It still is a hit and miss type thing.

She loves playing with her tongue.

For Halloween we went as Wanda and baby from Where's Waldo.

Waldo and baby!

Introducing Eliza Mae Vaughn

Ok so she came two weeks ago and I'm a little slow at updating this but better late than never right? Eliza was born on October 5th at 1:21 in the afternoon. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 21" long. It was quite the ordeal to get her out I must say.
Birth Story: (it's a little long and rambling so if you want to skip it that's ok)
     It started on the 3rd where I had to go to the hospital where they gave me some medicine to help get me dilated. The plan was to go in at 6pm, 12pm, then 5am and get induced. However, when we went in at 6 they didn't have the medicine they needed and I had to wait until 7:30ish to get it and then stay there for an hour. Since that was pushed back we didn't need to come back until 2am and from there they said just bring all your stuff and stay the night since there was no point in going back and forth so much. So we got to the hospital at 2, did the same routine, then slept until about 7:30am where they got me all officially checked in and all hooked up. They started the pitocin around 10am and we waited. and waited. and waited.
     After many hours (about 4:00) they figured I wasn't progressing at all and so they put in a balloon catheter to help expand my cervix. That was the worst I would say. I think it was hitting a nerve or something but I was nauseous, and super uncomfortable-it felt like one big contraction the whole time, and just wanted that thing out of me. It finally came out 2-3 hours later and I was so relieved. The good news was that bumped me up to 4cm. They then upped the dosage on the pitocin and I was starting to feel the contractions more. At around 10pm I asked for the epidural since I knew if I didn't have one I wouldn't be able to sleep at all that night and it wasn't looking like we would have the baby anytime soon. I tried to get some sleep with the nurse coming in every half hour/hour to check on me. She also had to keep changing the pitocin levels since Eliza didn't really like it and her heartbeat would get low. Also, about 4 in the morning I started to develop a fever and some shakes. It was a long night.
     In the morning they checked me again and I had not dilated at all since the balloon was taken out. They decided that since my body had a lot of drugs in it at this point that they would stop the pitocin for a while then start it up hardcore and see if that kicks my body into labor again. Well, that didn't work and finally about 12:30 they said forget it we're just going to cut you open. From that point things moved pretty fast. They gave me more drugs to get me completely numb from my chest down (which made me a little nauseated especially since right after that they wheeled me down to the operating room-good thing all I had to throw up was ice chips) gave Nick a suit to wear and sent me down to get cut open. I have to say that is one of the weirdest feelings to feel people pushing on your body but no pain and absolutely no control. A couple minutes after that we had a baby!
     Labor was rough on Eliza and when she first came out I couldn't hear her cry. That was a little scary. I later found out her apgar score was a 2 which would've really freaked me out if I knew. Finally they showed me Eliza and then took her to the nursery to clean her up while they sewed me up. They then took me back to the room to eagerly await my baby girl.
     We then spent the next three days in the hospital and had many visitors coming and going. I really liked the hospital and the staff they were all so helpful and friendly. After 3 days we got to take her home and the real work began.

Home with Baby:
     Well it's now been two weeks since Eliza was born and we are loving it. For the first week my mom was in town and helped us to catch up on sleep and to help around the house. After she left Nick's mom came to stay with us to help us as well. We have been so blessed. Eliza fills up our time and is such a joy. She's a pretty mellow baby only really crying when she is hungry or overtired. Most of the time if she is awake she just stares at the world around her taking it in. She does have a little confusion between day and night. She sleeps all day and then just stares at night. She is getting better though so hopefully soon she'll really understand when it's good to be awake and when it's good to be asleep. At her two week appointment she was 7lbs 8oz and a healthy girl. I'm so excited to be a mom and see what else is in store. It's a lot of work but I wouldn't change it for anything-even the days where I feel completely overwhelmed.

Now since I know this is really why you look at this blog here are some pictures!

First family picture. Ignore my puffiness, I am glad to say my legs no longer look like I have elephantiasis and I have ankles again!

Coming Home from the Hospital

Daddy and Eliza watching baseball together.

Two weeks old. She loves to fold her hands when she sleeps.

The Final Countdown!

     So I thought it would probably be good to post before Lulu gets here and my life gets considerably busier. A lot has happened these last few weeks and it has been busy busy getting ready for the big day. First my sisters threw me a terrific baby shower. We had lots of good food, good friends, and fun. I got a lot of amazingly cute things. I realized that most of the pictures we took were of the food but it was a blast.

A baby fruit salad how cute is that!

     Also we're pretty ready for the baby at least we have the stuff we need. Our nursery is put together and looks so cute. Karen and Catherine found some great wall decals and made it adorable. We haven't put our gliding chair in there yet it still is in the living room but we'll move it when we need to or get around to it.

Our crib and some of the decals :)

 
    So I'm officially on maternity leave now which is great but it was also a stress to get everything all ready to leave. I still worry that I didn't do enough but my sub is great and I don't have to worry about her. I also found out that when I'm stressed my body holds onto the germs until I relax and then I get sick. Since I went on maternity leave my throat has been sore and my nose has been runny. Hopefully I can get over this before baby comes. Other than not feeling 100% healthy I'm feeling pretty ready. Well, as ready as I can be. It's a good thing I'm feeling pretty ready because I don't have much time left without baby. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and so far I'm not effaced or dilated but since I was on insulin (I'm not anymore my sugars have stabilized at the end of my pregnancy so I don't have to give myself insulin in the morning. I still have to check my blood 5 times a day but no more insulin!) they still want to induce me at 39 weeks. Which is good because I'm officially on maternity leave and I don't want to waste my time off waiting for baby. So the plan is on Wednesday we'll go in at 6pm, be given some drugs to help start things, go home, come back 6 hours later, do the same routine, then come back 6 hours later on Thursday morning to be given more drugs and then stay until we have baby. So I'm thinking if all goes well we should have a baby by Friday! So yeah... just a little bit longer. Hopefully I'm ready for this. It still feels pretty surreal that soon we'll be parents but I guess it will happen when it happens and I better get used to it because there's no turning back now. Well I'll finish this with my last weekly pregnancy picture of this pregnancy and I will see you on the other side :)

She's still riding pretty high but this is 39 weeks :)

    
    

August and September Update

     In my last post I mentioned that I hope teaching helps the time go by faster and it worked! I'm now at 35 (well 36 tomorrow) weeks and the past few weeks have kind of been a blur. Teaching has been going great. I have a couple of students who are a handful but the majority of my class is really sweet and good. I also have an aid to help with management which is fantastic! I don't know what I would do without her. I'm getting a little nervous about leaving my students for 6 weeks after working so hard to get my routines and management set up but it's not like I have much of a choice and I know when it's time for me to go back to school I'm not going to want to.
     As for when I'm having this baby my doctor wants to induce me at 39 weeks so as for now it's looking like the baby will be born right around October 1st. My doctor wants to induce me because I was put on some insulin to help with my breakfast blood sugar levels. They were being consistently high so I now take 2 units with breakfast and most of the time I'm below what I need to be. I like having more of a date that I can plan for. I know my little girl could always come early but I'm thinking I'll make it. Also, because of the insulin that means lots and lots of doctor's appointments and tests. I now have twice weekly non-stress tests (to see if the baby is still moving healthily), weekly AFI's (an ultrasound to measure baby and amniotic fluid levels), and weekly doctor checkups with monthly diabetic specialist checkups. It's starting to feel like all I do is go to school then go to the doctor. It's a rare day that I don't have an appointment. Is it any wonder that all I think about is baby? Maybe it's just the Lord's way to help me not worry about every little thing. I have plenty of people to ask my questions and voice my concerns to.

Nick holding his diploma!

The official proof!

     Nick got some exciting news in the mail yesterday. He received his diploma! He is now officially graduated and has the paper to prove it! I'm so proud of him for working so hard and completing college! He's currently trying to find some kind of job to pass the time before the baby comes and before we need him to stay home with the baby. He's also looking for a career in the biology field as well but he's still figuring out what exactly he wants to do.
     Last weekend we headed up to Preston, ID for Labor Day with Karen and Catherine. We headed up Saturday after Catherine got off work and then got back late on Monday. Saturday we just kind of chilled and went to bed since we got up there kind of late but it was good to see Nick's family that was all up there. Sunday we slept in, went to church, had an amazing meal by Nick's mom, went on the Napoleon Dynamite tour, and played many many board games! I got to play one of my new favorite games Quirkle (kind of a mix between dominoes and rummy) and Nick's brother Jake was introduced to Ticket to Ride. He loved that game. After every game he would say, "again?" On Monday the main event was floating the river which was so fun! I had kayaked it before but never floated in tubes. I also got to lay on my belly for a little bit which is something I've been missing these last few months. After lunch we headed home but we made stops at the Fat Boy factory to get ice cream, the Logan Zoo to see all the fun animals, and Goessner's Cheese Factory which turned out to be closed for Labor Day. By the time we got home it was time for bed so I wouldn't be dead for the kids the next day. It was such a fun and relaxing weekend. Nick's parents were so kind to let us come up and crash their party. Thank You!!
     Well I guess I'll sign off now. Sorry I'm so long winded but anyone who knows me well knows that I like to ramble. Well here's a pregnancy picture to sign off by since I haven't put one up for a while :)

35 weeks and 6 days. Just about 3 weeks to go!