Braden and Kristen's Wedding (plus pics of kids of course)

Last Saturday Justin's brother Braden got married in SLC. Here are Braden and Kristen newly hitched. 

 Sarah said, "She has a pretty dress." about a thousand times. 

Here are my kids before leaving for the reception that night.  This is the best smile Sarah would give me.  She was watching Land Before Time and wouldn't give me her full attention.

 Pretty flower girl. 

Any time anyone would compliment Sarah, she'd reply "I have a pretty dress."

 This is Sarah's second cousin, Dustin.  He's a way cute kid.

No one took the initiative to decorate the car.  Justin and his brothers thought Braden's friends would do it.  They were wrong.  So we did it last minute with the fruit dip left over.  It turned out pretty good.

 Henry seems to be changing so much.  Every day he looks a little different to me.  He's also growing so fast, I swear you can see it happening.  There are outfits that were big on him 3 weeks ago that fit snugly now.  It's kind of sad that he will only wear things 2 or 3 times before I have to put them away.

Handling 2 kids isn't as bad as I thought.  It  helps that Henry is a pretty good baby.  Well, he may just be normal but after the nightmare that was Sarah's infancy, he seems like a walk in the park. He is a really good eater and still sleeps a lot.  During the day, he stays awake for only an hour at a time and then naps for 2 or 3 hours. He gets pretty fussy in the evening and is awake for 3 hours or so straight but once I get him calmed down and asleep, he's good for the night and only wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep. I hope as his little tummy gets bigger, he'll wake up less often at night. When Sarah was this age, she wouldn't sleep more than 15 minutes at a time unless I was holding her, day or night, so she was nuzzled right up to me all night long.  And at least once a night, we'd have to blast music, turn on the bathroom fan or do some bouncing to get her to stop crying and back to sleep. Henry doesn't mind one bit being alone or being put to bed drowsy but awake.  I can't believe how different babies can be.  It makes me less worried about every little thing I do.  Most of what I do doesn't make a bit of difference at this age. I felt like I must be doing everything wrong with Sarah because she was such a pill. But she was just a pill because she was a pill.

 She's an angel now so I wish I wouldn't have stressed so much and wished her infancy away.

She's the best big sister.  She's so stinking cute with Henry. (Well sometimes she drives me crazy because she won't back off when I want her to.)  Even if he's screaming his guts out, she'll kiss him and talk so sweetly to him.  "It's okay Henry. You can stop crying.  Just go to sleep."  She's a really good example to me not to lose my cool when he is really fussy.

Things Sarah says all the time, mostly at random times: "Mom, you have two kids?" "Punqwa's your dad?" (that's how she says grandpa) "Hi handsome" (to Henry) "Rachel is your sister." "Grandma is stuck at the cemetary?" (On Memorial Day, my brother's car broke down at the cemetary.  Sarah heard about it and still talks about it like they are all still stuck there, even though she saw them come home.)

Henry had his 2-week check-up yesterday. He now weighs 8 lbs 6 oz. That's a 2 pound weight gain in 17 days. Let's hope he doesn't keep up this pace.  My back is already tired.

 And hooray for being married for 5 years! We ate at the Bombay House in Provo and got Blizzards from Dairy Queen (We're pretty fancy people) and got back to my Mom's just in time for me to feed Henry again.

I don't have a weed whacker so I was using scissors to cut the grass along my flower bed.  Sarah wanted to help.  This kept her occupied for awhile and she has asked to do it every day since.

My goofy girl.

My goofy kids.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see them together.  For the first week of Henry's life, Sarah couldn't go into the NICU so it was so frustrating and unnatural that my kids weren't together. So even when one or both are crying and I feel overwhelmed, I relish in the feeling of being completely in over my head because it means my family is together.

 I love how tiny Henry is.

Henry is Home!

Henry and I came home yesterday from our week-long visit to the NICU. The picture in the previous post is from his second day of life. This is how he looked hours after he was born.

His umbilical was tightly wrapped twice around his neck and during delivery the cord tore and he lost a lot of blood.  He also had a hole in his lung. I held him for 10 seconds before they whisked him away to NICU. He required a blood transfusion and the doctors extracted air collecting outside his lung by inserting a needle into his side. He was a very weak and sick little baby and though no one put it into these words, he could have died.

We were relieved to see him like this Sunday morning.

This is our first time holding him for reals.

This is Sarah's first time seeing her baby brother.  "She's so cute" she kept saying.  We are still telling her "He Sarah.  Say he."

The majority of our week was spent getting him strong enough to nurse to sustain himself.  I lived in a motel-like room on the NICU floor so I could nurse him day and night all week.  They wouldn't let him go home until he could eat 45 ml every 3 hours for 24 hours.  We started off at 9 ml on Tuesday and the poor guy didn't have enough in him to nurse again until 6 or 8 hours later. After a lot of tears, prayer, water, and nursing, he was averaging 62 ml when we left Friday morning.

 

"I have to go back. I have to bring Henry home," I told Sarah one night before returning to the hospital after a short visit home. I can't even begin to describe the weight of the mantel put on my shoulders to get Henry better. He and I did it. Not without a lot of prayers and support from others but it was definitely our fight. He is my teeny little super guy.

When the attending physician told me we could go home yesterday morning, I really wanted to give him a high-five. "We did it." I said, through held-back tears. He is nearly a pound heavier than when he was born, has no lasting effects, is on no medication, and the hole in his lung healed on its own.  All follow-up will be through is pediatrician. I can't take credit for any of that.  I can't really take credit for anything.

Here's where I'd like to think Henry's life really begins.

He's Here!

Henry Justin Dye. Born May 14.  6 lbs, 6 oz, 19 1/4 inches long. 

I'm in love.

Quality Assurance

Sarah has been very interested in the baby stuff I pulled out of storage.  She also feels the need to test everything out. 

She's grown a tad since she last tested it.

She's tried to climb into the bassinet and infant carseat and open the new binkies.  She slept with tiny baby diapers in her hands a few nights ago and she won't leave a pair of his shoes in his closet.  What's she going to do with the actual baby??

Pregnancy Brain

I have a major case of pregnancy brain.  Last night when I returned something to a store, the clerk asked for the last 4 digits of my phone number.  Without hesitation, I rattled off 4 numbers, but it wasn't mine or anyone else's phone number. 4 random numbers just came out and it sounded weird and like a lie as I said it.  I was too embarrassed to correct myself so I just let it go.  This baby better be dang smart because he is taking all my braincells. 

I've been busy with tons of little tasks and projects I want to get done before the baby comes. On my to do list are chores like clean the car and stroller but also fun things like make Italian Buttercream Frosting and go to a movie. After that I'll feel ready.  Maybe.

So I am just getting around to posting Easter pictures. I thought about skipping over it but since I haven't taken any other pictures since, might as well. 

Here are Sarah and her cousins ready to go with their baskets.  Sarah looks so tiny.  Russel is 7 months older than her and Brooke is 2 1/2 months older.  Her 5th percentile in height sure is evident in this photo.

She was so focused on picking up plastic eggs that she put this bubble necklace right back down.

Checking out the loot.  I think she liked opening the eggs as much as eating the candy. Almost.

 I don't know why she is crouching.  I have a dozen pictures of this pose because she crouched like this forever in her Easter dress before church.  I love little girls in Easter dresses.

In other news, Justin is taking his first summer off in 3 years. He went to school from August 08 until this past April without a break. That's 33 months straight and all of Sarah's life for those of you counting at home. It will be nice to have him around more this summer before he heads back for his final 2 semesters.  He started a new position with his work last month.  He commutes to Draper everyday which is a bummer for time and gas money but he really likes his job and the office much better than in Lindon.  And with all this extra time and energy, he plans on finishing the basement so hopefully next winter I won't have to bundle up to check my email.

Sarah's new thing is asking for all the details about what we're doing, where we're going, what other people are doing, what's going on, etc. 

"Where are we going?" 

"To the grocery store."

"What's something else?"

"Uh, we're going to buy milk." 

"What's something else?"

"And cheese."  This goes on and on until I've recited my entire shopping list. 

Then it starts all over again and she'll ask where we're going.  I've learned to ask her instead. "Where are we going, Sarah?"

"To Macey's.  And buy cheese, and milk, and yogurt, and chicken, and crackers....."

She isn't satisfied with a simple, "we're going home and getting ready for bed".  She wants to hear that we're going home and putting on jammies, brushing her teeth, turning on her lamp, turning on her nightlight, reading stories, turning off her lamp, singing songs and saying good-night. Can you tell she likes predictability and routine?  Just like her mom so all the questions don't bother me too much. Let's hope she handles the disruption of a baby in the house well. I'm praying I do.

Let the Countdown Begin!

Justin will graduate in one year from now from grad school. I can see the end of the tunnel! And I am officially in my final month of this pregnancy.  Sorry no baby belly pictures. I don't do that. What I have been doing is finishing up all these sewing projects I've wanted to do.  If I remember correctly, finding time to sew was pretty hard when Sarah was a baby so I've been making anything I thought I might want to make in the next several months now...while I can.

With leftover fabric from the baby's quilt, I made these soft stacking blocks, a stuffed fabric beachball and carseat strap covers. Sarah knocked off the blocks with a measuring spoon right after I took this picture.  She doesn't like them. I found a tutorial online. 

For the reversible carseat strap covers, I just traced the ones I bought for Sarah. Just super soft fabric with batting in between and bound with bias tape. They are pretty much hotpads with velcro.

I love this ball.  I stuck 3 jingle bells in the middle so it makes sound when you throw it. It's soft enough to not do too much damage when we accidently bonk the baby with it plus it's ready to absorb lots of slobber. This ball tutorial was way easy to follow and it only took like an hour and half. (If you don't count the hour I spent trying to get a good jingle sound.)  Note: A bell in an easter egg didn't work.  Neither did bell in a squashed popcan nor pocket made out of a soupcan. 3 big jingle bells on a loop of string worked best.

On an unrelated note, if you leave your shoes in my living room for any length of time, a certain 2-year-old in residence will pull the laces out for you.  Consider yourself warned.

And I like her.  While we were driving to Macey's this morning, she kept yelling "Best day ever!" (She's watched Tangled every day for the past week.)  When she wants to look for a snack in the fridge, she'll say, "I want some something."  And her word for grandpa is "Punkwa" now.  It used to be something much closer to grandpa. I like Punkwa better.

When You're 2....

Everything is worth crying over.

The desire to pour the milk from the gallon jug is overwhelming.  The desire to pick your own spoon up off the floor is nonexistent.

Fruit snacks, bedtime stories, and one more time down the slide are mandatory.  Pants, naps, and vegetables are optional.

"No! I do it!" and "I love you, Mom" can be spoken in the same breath.

I'll be honest, I thought we were going to get off easy for the terrible two's, since up until a couple of weeks ago Sarah was a piece of cake. Well that was nice while it lasted.

Here are some moments when Sarah wasn't screaming or running away from me.

 She will try her pedals more often now.  I try to show her other kids riding their bikes to inspire her.

I bought this Easter paint set at the dollar store.  Sarah loves it.  It is a real test of my patience as I try to keep her from mixing colors, getting paint on the table, helping her paint more than just one tiny area of the bunny.  Perhaps I should have heeded the 5+ advice.

 I took this picture to remember her cute braids.  I'm posting it to showcase her big beautiful eyes.

Okay....she can be sweet.

Remember that one day when it was spring?

The third best thing about being a parent is showing your kids fun stuff you liked to do yourself as a child. (First place-hearing "I lub you Mom" and second place-watching all the adorable things things they do.)

In the morning of our awesomly warm day last Friday (shouldn't every day be sunny with a high of 72?), I told Sarah we were going outside (or "upside" as Sarah calls it) to do a fun activity. Nope, not ride your bike.  Nope, not shake the tree.  Nope, not push the empty stroller, smell the neighbors' big rock or step on dried worms.

Sidewalk chalk.

She asked a dozen times, "Mom, wha ma ma doing?" which means, "What am I doing?", which she says when she wants you to ask her what she's doing so she can tell you.

She doesn't draw more than just little scribble lines but she took it very seriously. 

Later that day we went to Canyon View Park for a picnic dinner and to feed the ducks.  We got a book from the library about feeding ducks and Sarah was so excited and talked all day about how when Dad got home, we were going to feed the ducks.  And I had been throwing the ends of our bread loaves into the freezer for weeks to get ready.

There was not one stupid duck at the duckpond!  I was so disappointed.  Sarah handled it better than me but she kept watching the pond for them which made my heart break.  So we ate our dinner quickly and left to find a duckpond with ducks.

And we did.  Like a half-mile from our house.  These ducks were so used to being fed by people that they would eat right out of Sarah's hand if she would have let them. Justin and I had to throw bread away from Sarah to keep the ducks at bay.  Sarah definitely experienced duck feeding that day.

You know how every pond has an "odd duck" of the group?  The one with special needs or doesn't quite get what the humans throwing bread right at their beak are trying to do?  I always try to find that one and make sure it gets it's fair share of bread.  I couldn't find that duck because this dang duck was such a bully and would peck at the other ducks while they ate their bite. No wonder it was so fat.



So that's pretty much the highlights of our life.  Justin is back home safe and sound so I'm happy and less nervous sleeping at night.  I did get used to sleeping in the middle of the bed with all the pillows tucked around me but I was willing to give all that up to have Justin back. Marriage is about sacrifice, you know.