July 2010 archive

This is the place

Umpteen years ago, on the 24th of July, 1947, the Mormon Pioneers came into this valley and Brigham Young announced “This is the place.” So they stayed. And now every year on that same date the people here celebrate. People even get off work because it is a state holiday.

To celebrate they have a Days of ’47 Rodeo, various communities have carnivals, small parades, and fireworks are a must.. Our little community of Cottonwood Heights has made me proud with their celebrations. I grew up in a town where the city did all that on the 4th of July. I loved it as a kid and volunteered in everything and even spent most of my teenage years in the parade somehow. I truly loved the 4th then and I love it now too. Now, I even decorate bikes and strollers in Red, White, and Blue and love to make 4th of July T-shirts, headpieces, and necklaces. I like going all out. It is fun.

In Vancouver, we were disappointed with what the big community did. Northwesterners are not very patriotic. Too many treehuggers and not enough redknecks. But then we were thrilled that pretty much all fireworks were legal and our ward friends pretty much threw their own shabang every year that was rather inspiring. Seriously, setting off fireworks with friends in a neighbors’ backyard or in the street is way more fulfilling (and dangerous) than watching some big show at a different part of town with zillions of people and no parking. I came to love the 4th of July in Vancouver. Then we moved. I spent lots of time lamenting that we could not be there for the 4th this year. If I would not have been pregnant and due in August, I would have planned a road trip back to Vancouver to overlap with the 4th.

The 4th of July is a lot bigger here and there is a lot of cool stuff to go see. Unfortunately, I felt very unpatriotic this time around because I was super exhausted from the week and a half old premature baby Davis and was not about to take him out in huge crowds. Bryan took 2 of the boys to the Provo Grand parade and that is all we did. We even went to sleep early that night instead of lighting fireworks. We were exhausted. I felt cheated out of one of my favorite holidays.

Then along comes the 24th of July. Our baby was a month old by then and we were told by friends that the community put on some fabulous stuff that was not to be missed. There was the Fantastic Flapjack Breakfast at the church, the parade at the bottom of our street that gets better every year, and the Butlerville (that is what our area of town used to be called way back when) Days carnival in the park.

I cannot miss free food that I don’t have to prepare so we went to the breakfast at the church. It was close enough to ride bikes or walk so we did. We had a nice time and it was outside and we could leave the baby under a blanket in his stroller and free of prying hands and faces. It was fantastic.

The parade was at 4 pm and seriously less than a block from our house. We walked down the street with our chairs, sat in the shade, and watched the parade that actually had some huge amazing floats in it. We did not even have to camp out for seats which is so nice! People in the parade threw out tons of candy to the watchers and the fire department drove a few trucks through and thoroughly doused people with a fire hose. It was rather fun and the freebies and candy made our kids giddy. The baby slept through the whole thing even when he got squirted by a passing float.

After that there was the carnival at the park a block away. We walked down to that and let the kids play on the inflatables and my personal favorite was to eat a ton of free watermelon. There was entertainment, food, inflatables, a mechanical bull to ride… we did not even see it all. At the end there were fireworks. We did not stay at the park all evening- many of us had meltdowns from doing too much, myself included, so we walked home, got in jammies, had a snack and watched the fireworks from the front yard.

All in all, it was a day that made me happy. And WAY too tired, but I will try to block that part from my memory. Especially the part where the baby did not sleep any that night afterwards.

When we entered this valley just after Thanksgiving with a van full of clothes, a few chairs and a folding table, I was rather skeptical about really moving here. It wasn’t very thrilling, I felt rather homesick for Vancouver, and I just wanted to go back. Now 8 months later I can agree that THIS IS THE PLACE. At least for a little while. The 24th of July has won me over.

Posted by Ily on July 29, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 0 comments

Wouldn't you freak out if you heard this?

Boys: “Mom! Come look! The baby is turning blue!’

Me: “Hmmm….What?” I don’t even know why I did not panic at this point.

Boys: “He spit up and we used that burp cloth on him that we tie-dyed blue and yellow. It is turning him all blue.”

Me: “Ew.”

So now Davis has spent part of his life as a little blue man. BYU blue even. It did come off quite easily in case you were wondering.

Posted by Ily on July 26, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 3 comments

Curiosity leads us to do all sorts of things

Hmm…. How can I figure out how much Davis weighs? He is pooping and peeing just fine which are indicators that he is getting enough to eat. He is also getting the beginnings of fat rolls. ok, so calling them fat rolls is a stretch, but he is filling out and not so totally scrawny. Oooo, I got an idea! We have a postal scale that he will definitely not fit on, but if I place a cookie sheet on top and stay near to make sure he does not roll off I bet we could get his weight…

Well, it worked. We determined the baby’s weight after much fiddling and experimenting on how to weigh just the baby, not the cookie sheet, onsie, and diaper too.

And the verdict?

He now weighs 8lb at 4 weeks and one day old. Hurray! He was reached the birth weight of his brothers. He is growing just fabulously! And his due date is still a week and a half away. What would he have weighed at full term? I shudder to think about it!

Posted by Ily on July 23, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment

Just some random things I want to remember

Because this little pipsqueak of a baby named Davis caused such a stir with his arrival, I just want to write down a few things I don’t want to forget about his birth and the days after.

I drove myself to the hospital to give birth…. I drove myself there to make sure my water had not broken, which it indeed had, and then they would not let me leave. Bryan drove over to join me after he found places for the other kids to go and helped them pack overnight bags and such.

Neither of us had an overnight bag, I was ready with the other births, not at all with this one! I was smart enough to not wear my contacts that day though. Sleeping in contacts is rather awful. I am so glad I had my glasses! We made a list for Bryan to go home and get certain items for me after the first day but we neglected to add shirts to the list. So I ended up with 3 pairs of lounge pants, no shirts except the one I wore to the hospital, and some odd toiletries because I did not fill out the list to the T.

Our baby could not be in our room, he had to be in the Special care nursery from right after his birth until he was discharged. I had to go visit him in the nursery and ASK to hold him. I tried to change his diaper once and was asked not to. That could be one mother’s dream, but to me it was really weird. I found out later that the reason I could not change his diaper was that they have to weigh each one to see if he peed enough and what not. It would have been nice if that first nurse had told me the reason.

Bryan took my car when he left the hospital and the keys to both cars. When I was discharged I was in good enough shape (and off enough pain meds) to drive, but had no keys to do it with. We had a friend bring me my keys (and some shirts since those were missing from my overnight bag) and I actually drove myself home from the hospital too!

Bryan got strep for the 3rd time in a month the weekend that Davis was born. The first time Bryan got strep is because Micah brought the strep germs home from a friends’ house. To avoid reinfection, he got a new toothbrush, we washed every water bottle, we cleaned doorknobs and light switches, we took great care to not share food or drinks. But, he had gone biking before he knew he had strep and drank out of a certain water bottle that he keeps on his bike. Then he forgot to clean that bottle after he got better. He reinfected himself 2 more times before we figured out the water bottle was the culprit. Luckily, he does not have to get his tonsils removed and no one else got strep again this time around.

This baby has been my easiest baby so far. His pregnancy was my worst, but it really was rather short. From the time I knew I was pregnant to the time I gave birth was only six months. This is because I did not find out I was pregnant until I was 8.5 weeks along on Christmas Eve and then he was born 6 months later on June 24th… So I guess I can forgive him for causing so many discomforts because it wasn’t too long when you add it all up.

And last but not least… childbirth HURTS. I don’t want to forget that lest I decide another child might be fun. Because I better adopt if I think that we need another child.

Posted by ily on July 14, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment

Lucky me

There have been a few things that have made me feel very lucky, or blessed, lately. I thought I would share those things since you really must be waiting for our next blog entry with baited breath so I will gladly give you something to read.

#1 I own a lazy boy. I know, it’s a goofy thing to feel lucky about, but I do! a few years ago Bryan was helping someone move who decided they no longer wanted two blue lazy boy recliners. We ended up being the lucky new owners of them. These chairs are the perfect chairs to nurse a baby in. Ahh…. So Awesome.

#2 I felt inspired to buy an infant car seat for this new baby a few months ago rather than waiting until just before his due date. As a result, we had it already when he was born. Phew! No stressful shopping trips before we could bring him home!

#3 One of my best friends, Heather, was scheduled to come for a visit with her kids this week. Her kids and my kids are best of buds. In fact, Reece is convinced that her youngest is his brother. Super cute! I was bummed she would not get to meet the baby because she was coming so early before the due date, but in fact she did! The awesomest part about her is that she is a NICU nurse and has lots of experience with preemies. She helped me be calm about little things I did not know about preemies and their care and she took my kids all over the place while I ran back and forth from the hospital and later helped with the baby when he could come home. She was a lifesaver this week.

#4 My feet are not swollen anymore. The rest of me still is, but my feet are back to normal! Walking is no longer so painful- hurray!

#5 The day I gave birth is the day the heat started here. I do not have to be pregnant in the heat!

#6 This baby is my best nurser, which is strange considering he was premature. Plus, he may have to eat every 3 hours which is so tiring for me, but he goes right to sleep immediately when he is done.

#7 The boys adore him. There is no lack of loving for this baby. In fact they love him enough that they are thrilled to learn to take care of him! Woohoo for me! It is rather annoying that they fight to the point of tears over who gets to sit by the baby in the car, but that is something I can live with I guess.

#8 We have had so many people offer to help us during the crazy time surrounding Davis’ birth. We have had so many dinners and so many people offer to take our kids. They have all been so helpful!

I could go on and on, but you would get bored, so just know we are grateful for all the wonderful things that have been happening in these last few weeks.

Posted by Ily on July 13, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment

Great News!

We took Davis and Reece in for their well child checks today and the news is they are doing great! Both are healthy and strong. I think these two will go in for their well-child checks every single year together since their birthdays are 8 days apart. That makes my life easier at least.

As for Reece, he remains tall and lean. He is a smart kid who is hilarious and fun to have around. He was brave today and got FOUR BIG SHOTS and only cried a little. He did great.

As for Davis, we have continued to keep our expectations low for this kid and been surprised at every milestone he has passed with record speed. He has grown to 20.5 inches long and now weighs 6 lbs 14 oz which exceeds his birth weight. The main reason I am excited about this is for a selfish reason: this means I DON’T have to wake him every three hours to feed him. I can let him sleep longer at night if he so chooses… I am anticipating the long stretch of sleep like you can’t believe! I just get to feed him more often during the day instead, and I am very ok with that. Davis is more alert now which is great. We have moved just a little beyond the houseplant stage. The mother bear in me is still very cautious with him and won’t let him get passed around to a lot of people or held a ton during the day. He stills needs to sleep a lot. Which he does do. In fact, about all he does is eat, sleep, and poop. But he does look at you now too in the few minutes he is awake before he eats himself to sleep again. He is pretty cute for a little guy. We’ll keep him.

Posted by Ily on July 12, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 0 comments

Provo Parade

I forgot to mention that on Monday I took Isaac and Reece down to the Provo 4th of July parade (Micah was tired and didn’t make it). We sat with my sister’s family and her in-laws. Her sister- and brother-in-law got up at 5:30 am and saved us some seats, which made the whole ordeal a lot easier that it could have been. The kids had a good time, it wasn’t too got outside, and we got to see cousin Josh’s tank. Again, I forgot the real camera, but here are a few pics I took with my phone:

From Provo 4th of July Parade

Posted by Bryan on July 11, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 0 comments

Demolition Derby Pics

Here are the two pictures of the Demolition Derby final round that I took with my phone. They aren’t great, but maybe you can see the big green station wagon with the massively deformed rear end, and the orange car that got pushed up over the barrier.

From Riverton Demolition Derby

Posted by Bryan on July 11, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 0 comments

Weekly Update

Things are going well. Davis looks and acts a lot more like I remember his brothers looking and acting when they were newborns. Our Relief Society president is a NICU nurse and when she held Davis on Saturday she thought he looked good. Ily’s mom came Friday afternoon and has had to wait her turn along with Davis’s brothers to hold him.

We had tickets for the Riverton Demolition Derby that we bought about a month ago, so I took the three older boys to that last night. They loved it and gave Ily and Grandma a play by play report this afternoon.

I went back to work this week, and it was good to see how much they had missed me there. I was able to come home for lunch every day and help out a bit. We also realized this week that the 17 year old boy next door could use some money and we could use some help. He’s a great kid, so we paid him one day to take the boys swimming in the afternoon, and another day he took them ice skating. That helped Ily out a lot while
I was at work.

Davis goes to the doctor tomorrow, so we’ll find out how his weight is and everything else. I’m guessing he’ll be just fine.

Posted by Bryan on July 11, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 0 comments

Status report Sunday July 4th

We brought Davis home this week on Tuesday. At discharge he was 6 lbs 3 oz. I didn’t really believe he would be coming home that day, but he did. The only thing he had left to do in order to be discharged that day after the pediatrician approved him for discharge was pass a 1.5 hr car seat check. He had to sit in his car seat for that amount of time and his oxygen levels had to remain high enough for him to be able to come home. He wasn’t doing very well at first, but after some artful work with burp clothes to help support him, he passed and was able to come home. Everyone in the family was excited about him coming home! We were so excited that it was hard to keep us quiet around here!

We had to take him in to the pediatrician on Wednesday morning for a weight check and a billi-check. The news that day was that he had still lost a little weight that day and was down to 6 lbs 2.5 oz, but not as much as other days, so he was likely to start gaining again soon (normal stuff) and that his billirubin score had spiked again. The billirubin score indicated that he was becoming quite jaundiced again and would need to go under light therapy again. Thankfully, we were able to do this at home. Intermountain homecare delivered a billi-bed to us that afternoon. It looks kinda like a baby sized tanning bed and Davis was required to spend all his time on that bed except for when he ate and got his diaper changed. The billi-bed does not make him get tan or hot, but the lights in it cause chemical reactions in him that cause him to look a little red and feel all warm and toasty and happen to help him get rid of his excess billirubin. I got kinda freaked out by the return of the jaundice but luckily my friend Heather, who was staying with us to help out, helped keep me calm and knew what to do with a preemie on a billi-bed. The best thing I ever did was to make friends with a NICU nurse and invite her to come to visit and to accidentally coordinate that visit with the premature birth of our 4th child. She was a lifesaver!

After some thought, we realized that Davis had been getting more sluggish and tired and had not been nursing as well that day. These things are indications of jaundice also. So we decided to start supplementing him with bottled breast milk after he nursed for a shorter time so that he could get more of it in him without him getting as tired since bottles are so much easier than nursing. Of course we had no bottles. So Bryan ran to the store to buy us the smörgåsbord of bottles to try and he took the first one we tried like a charm. So we haven’t even tried the other ones. We did get too tired of washing the one bottle that Davis approved of and went back and bought 6 more.

On Thursday Davis had to go back again for a weight check and he started gaining again. He was up to 6 lbs 3 oz that day. The doctor looked at him and approved of his skin color (much less yellow) and other vital signs and decided to stop him on the billi-bed later that afternoon and billi-test him again at lunch time the next day. This news really cheered me up. Also on this day some good friends of ours , Mike and Nikki T, called and offered to take our 3 older boys camping with them that night. We decided to let them go and the boys were so excited. Bryan helped them get ready and off they went to a campsite 20 minutes from our house (I love living close to the canyons here!). The boys got sufficiently dirty with Mike and Nikki’s girls, hiked up to Donut Falls (but failed to see the donut shaped rock that the falls used to flow through because it fell during the flood a few weeks before), set fire to marshmallows, ran all over the place, slept in a tent, and had a fabulous time! Thanks Mike and Nikki for a) being willing to even go camping considering that Nikki is 8 months pregnant, and b) being willing to take our boys with you! That evening for us was rather quiet and we loved it!

On Friday we had another billi-check and Davis’ score was down again so he gets to officially come off of the lights. We are still supplementing him with bottles though. It has been a great way to get the boys involved with Davis since they can sit there holding him and giving him a bottle. Reece was having a fit one day (man, was he tired out from all of the excitement) and was brought out of his fit by letting him warm a bottle for Davis and getting to feed it to him. As he was getting a mug of hot water ready to warm the bottle in he said “I am already a mad scientist, but now I am a bottle scientist too!” Too cute! After that his day went much better. Micah and Isaac have shown great interest in taking care of the baby too. They fight over who gets to hold him and Isaac is so mad that I won’t let him walk around while holding the baby (My mother bear instinct just won’t let me let him do that yet). They each have done really well with the baby care tasks we have taught them so far. I may survive next week without Heather or Bryan thanks to these boys. I have been harboring worries about being home alone with all 4 boys, but it may turn out ok. I am still so glad my mom comes on Friday!

On Saturday we had all 4 boys to ourselves for the first time the whole day. Bryan took them out ice skating in the afternoon for a diversion and then we played some wii and watched a movie. Micah fell asleep at 5:45, right before dinner, so we can officially know that this week has tired him out. The boys have either gone out with Heather and her boys, or over to someone else’s home for a few hours, or all day even, each day since the baby was born. I am glad they were with us to relax this one day. It could be argued that ice skating is not relaxing, but they all reported that they had fun and it was good for them to spend some time with their dad after they have spent so little quality time with us these past 10 days.

Today I sit at home in the quiet with the baby while everyone else is at church. Since Davis is so tiny and just plain young, it will be a while before I can take him to church. I was called to be a primary teacher last month, and then the bishopric changed their minds the following week and told me I would not have to do that job and I am so glad today! I would not be doing my job if I had that calling right now! Phew!

Overall, this week I have felt so blessed. We received amazing help right when we needed it and most of it was unsolicited by us. The Lord has his timing just perfect.

Posted by Ily on July 4, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment

Ice Skating in July

When we moved in a block or so away from the Cottonwood Heights Rec Center, we decided we might as well get a full membership. It turns out that includes ice skating and skate rentals during any public skate session. We didn’t get real motivated to try it out until Isaac’s school class walked down the street to go skating one day. He loved it and asked for lessons. Ily signed up Isaac and Micah once school got out, and they had a great time. They were very excited to show me their new skills, so I took the boys skating, even Reece. Micah and Isaac showed him how to fall and stand up, and how to march, and he with his immense confidence, did great.

To get them out of the house and give Mom and Davis some quiet I took them again, and I even took some pictures with my phone (I wasn’t doing well enough to remember the camera). Check 'em out! (click on the picture)