2011 In Review

Sometimes it's just fun to remember the past year—even if it's well past New Year's...

January: Sickest I've ever been (awesome way to start out the year...)

February: Livs turned 2 and I worked on a felt quiet book 

 

March: Phoenix trip and my birthday

April: Easter in St George—a fun tradition for our family

May: Found out I was pregnant just before Beans and Cares turned 5 and 7

June: Sick sick sick (kept thinking "why did I want to be pregnant?") and new car!

 

July: Lake Powell and girl's camp

August: Found out babe #4 was a BOY on Joseph's birthday

September: Sent my sweet Caroline to Kindergarten and potty trained Livs

October: Soaked up fall and cooler days and worked on nesting/organization projects

November: Moved the girls into the same room and prepped for Christmas

December: Anticipated Luke's arrival and welcomed him here on 12/21. 

Best Christmas present ever (and reminded me why pregnancy is sooo worth it!)

Life of Late

—Since returning to school after Christmas, Bentley and Caroline have become walkers on the way home each day. Hurray! There is a new street that just went in which directly connects the school to our neighborhood. Perfect timing on that—I was not wanting to wait in the carpool line with an unpredictable newborn and wiggly toddler.

Over the break Bob and Brooke joined the kids on a "test" walk to and from the school. And on their first official day walking home some exploring in the rocky hills was in order:

—Bentley is our little basketball man playing in Jr. Jazz this winter. He is still figuring out the logistics of playing on the court but he sure works hard and comes home very sweaty after his games :)

—Caroline is in love with her baby brother and holds him at least once every day. Poor girl has red, dry hands from all the washing so she can hold and touch and snuggle with Luke.

—Olivia is as darling as ever but her moods are sure shifty. She wants to be so independent and cries over silly things like me putting a sock on when she was wanting to do it herself (we end up taking the sock off and starting all over of course). Then often times she can be super attached to me and likes me to baby her and hold her a lot and let her sit on my lap. I never know which Livs to expect but I am trying to be loving and patient with her. She did just have her littlest princess status interrupted with Luke's arrival so I can understand how she must feel.

—I have watched so many (probably too many) movies and shows lately (breastfeeding time is always great TV time!) I have recorded about a hundred Friends episodes and watch those when I feed Luke in the middle of the night. Love them. Some of the lines are so classic and things Joseph and I say all the time—yes, I have already seen every episode but they are fun to revisit. Joseph and I also redboxed Moneyball  the other night and it was so slow that I could not stay awake to see it through. I adore Brad Pitt like no other actor but I think I needed some action to keep my eyes open.

—We are so lucky and have continued to be spoiled! My mom came over every day last week to do all carpooling, cooking, cleaning-up and errand running. She totally saved us and allowed me more time to rest and nap and finally feel all healed up. I am not looking forward to grocery runs and Costco outings with the new babe so I am very grateful my mom could do all that for me and postpone my need to return to "real life" just yet! Thank you Mom—we loved all the help you gave us and having you here with us!

3 Weeks

The babe is 3 weeks old today. We are still in the sea of seemingly endless feedings and diaper changes, day and night. But babies do seem to adjust to longer sleep stretches at night right around 4 weeks old so I think we are getting close to feeling more rested and more normal around here (I hope!)

Luke had a notable week starting with standing on my mom's lap and suddenly giving a little jump up and off her legs. What a funny (and strong) little baby! He may be walking before we know it. He also saw his doctor on Monday for a circumcision—long story about the hospital but basically the peds doc who first saw him there didn't do it so our family's pediatrician did. Poor Luke—from what I saw of it, which wasn't much because I chose to just calm my babe and keep my eyes off of the procedure, it looked pretty painful. But my tiny guy has been such a sweetheart in the days since. Only diaper changes really upset him and by today he is mostly fine with those again.

Some stats to record: at Luke's 2 week well visit he weighed 8 lbs 9 oz. Five days later, at his circumcision, he weighed 9 lbs 1 oz—love that he gained half a pound in less than a week. At 2 weeks he also measured in at 21.1 inches so he's grown a bit taller in the past few weeks too. We love our cuddly baby and try to soak up lots of snuggle time with his mushy little body.

 1 week old

 2 weeks old

3 weeks old

Luke's Birth

With our brand new baby, Luke Fielding LeBaron

December 21st, 10:30 pm (2 hours old)

**It's taken me almost 2 weeks to gather up my thoughts (and the time) to write this entry. Nothing fancy or dramatic about Luke's birthday but I want to remember it forever all the same. The births of all my babies have been smooth and swift and rather amazing to me—I know I am a lucky mama.

My 4 darlings, December 22nd, 2011

Wednesday December 21st started out calm enough—the kids were on their first day of holiday break and we enjoyed a lazy morning hanging out in our PJs. Once it was time to clean up breakfast and get everyone dressed for the day, the contractions began to hit pretty regularly. But then again, they had been doing that for about 10 days whenever I was active so I didn't think too much about it. Until they just kept coming, but still weren't quite close enough to signal impending labor. So I kept moving—I wanted to have a baby before the holiday weekend!

After talking to Joseph (and making him come home from work around noon) and wondering and worrying I finally called my OB (as he had told me to do at my appointment 2 days earlier if I thought things may be happening). He said to head on over to the hospital and reassured me that if my contractions were only 10 minutes apart they would still admit me.

From there on out everything happened so smoothly. My parents met us at the hospital right around 2:30 pm and gathered up our kids and their overnight bags. Then Joseph and I walked into the L&D wing and within 15 minutes we knew we were having a baby that day. It was so exciting—I was so ready to have baby Luke (I truly need to gear myself up mentally when I arrive at the hospital. Did you know birthing children is actually really hard work and quite painful—for like days and days after too? Hence--mental prep needed.) The nurses met us as we walked in as they were ready and waiting for us—my dr. had called and told them to be expecting us. When they hooked me up to the monitors my contractions were close enough, even if not exactly regular, and I was dilated to a 5 so everything pointed to being ready to deliver. By 3:30 I had my epidural in, Dr. Watts broke my water shortly thereafter, and then the contractions really kicked in. I could definitely feel a lot of tightening and most certainly the pressure building with each one but thank goodness for that epidural.

After laying on my left side for a while Luke quickly came down right into birthing position. This was round 7 pm and by then I was completely dilated and feeling really ready to push BUT my doctor had to be called in and was about 30 mins away AND Luke was in brow presentation meaning that his forehead was wanting to come out first instead of the tip top of his head. Good thing the nurses assured me that since he was my 4th baby they'd have plenty of room to shift him around before birth and he'd come out perfectly (lucky me?)

And so, when Dr. Watts arrived right around 8, he checked me, jumped into some scrubs, rearranged Luke somehow, and we had a new baby in exactly 3 pushes (weighing in at 8 lbs and 8 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches in length) Before I knew it Luke was resting on my chest all fresh and new and perfect. It was certainly my smoothest and quickest labor—and has subsequently been a fairly quick recovery so that has been especially nice when I have 3 other kiddos to look after. I am actually dying to get back on my bike for a good long ride—seems to prove that things are feeling back to normal in my lady parts...

 

Some of Luke's hospital visitors:

 Grandma Bobbi 

Aunt Cecily 

(who rescued my hospital bag from my house for me before coming to see us—classic that we brought everything else with us like cameras and computers and even Joseph's early Christmas gift—the iPad— but forgot my clothes and essentials...oops!) 

Grandpa Sherm—(fighting a cold)

 Aunt Luci

Nanny, Grandpa Neil, Aunt Mary, Aunt Maggie and Uncle Seth also came to see us but I didn't have my camera when they came. If anyone has pics, send them my way!

And of course Luke's most adoring fans:

loving big brother

smitten big sis

curious (but tender) big sis

Luke at exactly 1 day old

I feel totally blessed and eternally grateful for Luke's healthy and seamless arrival. I do have an amazing OB who is a very skilled doctor and really good guy who has now delivered 3 of my 4 children. He is also my parents' next door neighbor and in the bishopric in their ward. I also love having babies at St. Marks because my dad has worked there for years and years now and everyone seems to know him. Every anesthesiologist knows all about my family and siblings after working in the operating room with my dad. I think I may get really well taken care of because of my dad but I will take it! And I just love the nurses in the maternity wing—they are the best and make my life so easy while I am there.

 

All ready to come home to the chaos that life is!

Welcome to the world and to our family baby Luke. 

We are so happy you are here and are ours forever.

Grateful Heart

Doesn't every post need a cuddly picture of Luke?

I am surrounded by the most amazing people. During the past 10 days or so I have received so much help and service and love from friends and family—it overwhelms my heart.

When Luke was a week old my little sister, in town from Minnesota, left her tiny kids with her hubby and spent the morning at my house. She basically put all of our Christmas decorations away, sweetly listened to Bentley as he described his every move in an iPad zoo game, and started a crockpot dinner for us. Then she loaded up Bentley and Cares and took them to my nephew's birthday celebration at the movie theater. At one week out I was feeling pretty good but there is no way I could have done what she did for us that day.

The next day my mom came over, loaded up my 3 big kids and whisked them away for a fun day and sleepover at her house. I had such a clean and quiet house and worked on catching up on my sleep. It felt so good to just take care of my baby and me—healing days for us for sure. After their sleepover with grandma and grandpa my kids spent the next day playing at my big sister's house with much loved cousins. My sis had 8 kids at her house that day and when I stopped by to pick up my crew she sent us home with a complete dinner!

For the past 3 days we have had the pleasure of having my mother-in-law come and stay at our house. She showered her gourmet skills on us making delicious meals and filling my freezer with 7 ready to bake dinners...7! Of our family's favorites (BBQ pork ribs, chicken cordon blue, lasagna, chicken enchiladas...) She also did a thousand dishes, took Cares to ballet and kindergarten, walked the kids home from school, vacuumed my whole house and cleaned all 3 bathrooms, snuggled Luke while I showered, and babysat so Joseph and I could take Luke for his photo shoot and then see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Oh, and she also found time to make dresses for the girls' dolls! I felt totally spoiled and yet she kept telling me she felt like she didn't do enough for us! Oh Ruth Ann, I for sure married the right boy :) Thank you a hundred times over!

There have also been sweet friends and neighbors and darling YW who have dropped by with gifts and meals and all kinds of love and support for our little family. I truly feel so blessed and humbled and grateful for all of it. I honestly forgot how taxing it is to be awake so often during the night and then try to run a household of busy, needy children all through the day (especially while my own body is trying to heal up and get back to normal). All of the help we've received has been wonderful and restorative. I am the luckiest and I know it. Thanks to all of you! 

2 Weeks Old

From Luke's photoshoot yesterday:

Luke's first week came and went without mention on this blog—but those first days were so full of holiday celebrations and family events that all I could do was feed my babe, sleep with him and make it out the door when needed.

Now that we are 2 weeks in I feel like life is settling down. We are nowhere near a schedule with Luke—just feeding him every 2 or 3 hours around the clock. But I am hoping we'll find some longer stretches during the night soon and find more of a routine as we make it through the next 2 weeks. Luke has been a very good baby though—he rarely cries but just grunts and wiggles to let me know he is hungry. He naps like a champ, loves to stare at the bold pattern on my duvet cover, and snuggles up for nursing and cuddling happily. But in the middle of the night he doesn't always love going right back to sleep after I nurse him and often extends our awake time by about 30 minutes. Those have been the hardest times for me so far—I just feel so sleepy and yet can't let myself fall asleep until Luke is settled. And thank goodness for my hubby's help during the night—he may be rather hard to wake up when he is settled into sleep but he is always a good sport to take Luke into another room so I can doze off quickly after too many night feedings have made me desperate for sleep.

Luckily I am in love with my newborn baby. Joseph and I felt like we just had to capture Luke as a tiny before his folds of skin fill out with fat and his skinny little legs chub up. Love that we have these pictures (and many more from the shoot that turned out so well).

2012

And suddenly it's a new year. I feel unprepared and yet eagerly optimistic about it. All of 2011 seemed to be consumed with hoping to be pregnant, then being pregnant and then welcoming baby Luke to the world. 2012 will be filled with all his milestones and they'll most likely be the last time I experience them with a newborn. Such a weird feeling for me, but I am excited for them all the same. I think Luke may have more pictures during his first few years than any of our other kids. I am determined to savor him.

Anyway, goals seem way too overwhelming for me right now with a 10 day old babe. All I really hope to do is rejoice in small successes: changing a diaper without Luke peeing everywhere, getting at least one 3 hour stretch of solid sleep during the night, finding time for a shower every day, and keeping on top of the abundant laundry a newborn creates. Nothing too exciting but all I can handle at present.

Our New Year celebrating was very low key last night. We did manage to go out to dinner without any fuss from our sleeping babe. And then we came home for some poppers, snaps and horn blowing all before 9:00 pm. Short and simple, and then Joseph and I were off to bed at 10:30 ourselves—gotta sleep when our baby does!