Lucy's 6 months

Wow, so it's really been six months? I can't even believe it. Way too much has happened in that six months, and I feel overwhelmed just thinking about all the catching up I have to do. So, I'm just going to start with today; And today Lucy is 6 months old! So, I'm just going to put up my favorite pictures from the last 6 months and go from there...

So even though she was born in Provo, Lucy spent a total of 9 weeks in Utah. We spent as much of that time outside as we could. Lucy Loved it.

Lucy loved snuggling with Steven in his crib, and in his new toddler bed at Grandma and Grandpa's house

We blessed her the second sunday in our new ward, and Nana and Papa came too!

 

We had family reunions back-to-back, and so Lucy got lots and lots of family love

She got to see the ocean!

She went to her first baseball game, and even though there was a rain delay, Daddy did a great job of keeping her dry :)

She got even more attention visiting at Nana and Papa's house

She was sad to see her big brother leave for Preschool

And she started eating solids (finally), even though she's hasn't quite mastered sitting up on her own.

She's just the sweetest little baby, she smiles at everyone, makes everyone around her smile, and is growing up WAY too fast. I love her more than I thought I could.

I love Lucy... and 3 year olds!

She's finally here! Lucy Caroline Peper was born on Saturday, March 30th at 3:56 am. The circumstances under which she was born were a little less than ideal, but the important part is that she's here and healthy and oh-so-cute!
The "story of her birth" is a pretty long one, but I figure I should probably write it down somewhere...
For those of you who have already heard it, feel free to skip ahead :)

We had planned on being at the hospital at 6:30, Friday morning, so I had set my alarm for 5:30 so I would have time to get all ready to go. I had gotten around 3 hours of sleep the night before, however, (I guess thinking about how my life was going to change the next day was a little much for me), and so had apparently slept through the hospital calling me to tell me they were full, and that I had to wait to go in. At about 10:30, they finally called back and said that I could come on in. So we all headed to the hospital. My Mom dropped TJ and I off, I said goodbye to Steven and gave him a big hug and kiss (it was a little bittersweet...) and we headed up to labor and delivery at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.
We got settled in our room, met our nurse, and they started me on pitocin. After about 2 hours, they brought in a Dr and she broke my water. I was hoping that would speed things up a bit, but it didn't. My contractions continued to get worse. I tried walking around, sitting on a birthing ball, and a few other things to cope with the pain. Finally, when I had been laboring for about 7 hours and the nurse told me I was still at about a 3.5, I decided it was time for an epidural. I really was not excited about it.
The anesthesiologist came in, started my epidural (I thought the process was so painful and did not like it AT ALL), and pretty soon things started to feel a little better. Even though I couldn't feel the contractions, it still wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, however, because my legs felt like they were on pins and needles the whole time, even though I couldn't even move them. So even though I couldn't feel contractions, I still wasn't comfortable.
For some reason, Lucy didn't like me laying on my left side. Every time I did, she became less active and her heart rate dropped a bit. Because of this, I spent most of my time on my right side. Because of that, my epidural started to ware off on my left side. After being able to feel contractions (which were now about 2-3 mins apart) for a while, I decided it was time to do something about it. I switched over to my left side and pressed the button to get another dose of my epidural and waited for it to kick in. After about 20 mins, it still hadn't made much of a difference, so our nurse called the anesthesiologist. He came and gave me an extra dose manually, and after a little while, it finally started to kick in. At that point, I thought I should probably switch back over to my right side because Lucy's activity had gone down. When I moved to my other side, however, I all of a sudden starting feeling this sharp pain on the left side of my uterus. That was when all the craziness started.
A ton happened in the next 2 hours, but I'm even a little fuzzy on some of it, so I'm gonna try and just give the highlights. The pain in my side kept getting worse and worse, until finally the nurse called my Doctor. He came up and after watching through a couple contractions (when the pain would get even worse) said he was afraid I had a placental abruption and so we needed to get the baby out quickly. So I started pushing (which was a lot harder, I thought, with an epidural). The Dr Crouch kept saying that she wasn't dropping, even enough to use forceps. He said I could keep trying, but he thought he needed to do a c-section. I, at this point, started freaking out. The doctors and nurses weren't really helping either since they kept talking about how the anesthesiologist was in another c-section and there weren't any extra nurses to come help, and other things that were just freaking me out more. After I had been pushing for about 45 mins, Lucy's heart rate starting dropping, and so Dr Crouch said we had to do the c-section. I was bawling, in tons of pain, and so freaked out. I couldn't stop shaking.
When we got to the operating room, the stressfulness continued as the anesthesiologist yelled at the nurses, the room wasn't all the way ready for us, and they kept saying things like, "Where are the tubes? Did you lose the tubes again?!" I was basically in hysterics. TJ remembers more at this point than I do, but I just remember crying uncontrollably, being in so much pain, feeling so weird that I couldn't feel my legs, seeing Lucy being taken out of me, feeling them pull at my insides, and then being given tons more drugs to try and knock me out. I don't remember almost anything after that (except still feeling panicked), but TJ said I was still in and out, saying things about being in so much pain still. The next thing I really remember is waking up in my room, asking about Lucy.

So that's the story! Sorry it was such a long one! The really important part is that Lucy was born a healthy 8 lb 10 oz baby, and I ended up being fine too. As I'm finally finishing up this post, she's 2 weeks and a day old, and getting cuter every day. She's such a good baby, hardly ever cries, and even sometimes lets me sleep for like 5 hrs straight at night. We all love her so, so much - especially Steven! He wants to hug and cuddle with her all the time, and is getting better at being soft :) I think he's a little sad she can't play with him or talk to him, but he still shares his cars with her whenever he gets the chance. I'm so glad she's part of our family, and I'm so excited to see her grow and get to be part of all those awesome baby milestones all over again. :)

I also have to talk about Steven turning 3!! It happened the day after Lucy was born, so we had to celebrate in the hospital, which I felt a little bad about. Hopefully they won't mind having birthdays a day apart... We took Steven in for his 3 yr check-up last week, and he did great! He's 34.6 lbs (79th %tile) and 38.3 ins tall (72nd %tile). He passed his eye exam, showing he knew a lot of his shapes, too! I am so amazed at how much he's learning every day, and love all the little phrases he uses. He's such a loving big brother, and such a tender little guy. We just love him so, so much!!

Baby Showers

Well, the end is finally in sight. I will be induced on Friday, March 29th if I don't go into labor before that. I'm still hoping I'll just go by myself, but I don't have a lot of hope at this point. I have had a lots of distractions recently, though, which has made the waiting a little better. Last week I had 2 baby showers! I felt so spoiled! I only had one with Steven (thought it was amazing!), and I wasn't even expecting any, since it's my second baby. They were so much fun, though. One my Boss threw for me at work, and the other some of my friends from my ward threw for me. Everyone was so, so nice, and I got some much needed girl stuff.

TJ and I have also been trying to really take advantage of the time we have with Steven right now, too. He's been kind of a pill, recently, which has made it a little hard, but it's gonna be sad that it's not just the 3 of us anymore! It has been for almost 3 years now. Anyway, he's done some pretty cute stuff, though. He's currently in love with the show "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood," and always talks about it. So, after an episode he watched the other morning, he announced he wanted to be like "super Daniel." Luckily I had his cape that TJ's sister, Katy, made for him a few years ago. So, we got it out, and he "flew like tiger" for the next 20 mins or so. Then he ran around outside being Super Steven, and we even got to be Super Mommy and Super Daddy. It was a good day :)

This video is actually from a while ago, but we keep forgetting to post it, so I'm doing it now :)

Playing drums with Dad

This one is from a while ago, but they still do it all the time. Maybe Steven's the next Phil Collins - drummer and singer!

STRONG

Daddy taught Steven all about being strong! I decided to only show the video with the little guy running around with his shirt off, though :)

Daylight

This is one of his favorite songs at the moment. He likes to pretend he knows all the words. (ps - sorry the video is so dark... we took it while driving in the car at night)

If for some reason this doesn't play on the blog, I think if you click on this link, it'll take you to where it is on you tube... http://youtu.be/LaPzcoZZvP4

Dancing with Daddy

So, I finally figured out how to post some videos using youtube (with the help of TJ and Steve). Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to do more than one video on each post. So, I had to do one for each video. Oh well! I guess this will make up for how often I usually post things :)

Most of these videos just show how musical of a child we have. He's so hilarious and loves dancing and singing. He has a few things he might need to overcome before becoming a star, though. One - his ability to only run clockwise (although, there hopefully won't be much running in circles during his all-star routine), and two - he seems just a little tone deaf to me. We're counting on all that changing with practice :)

Still Pregnant...

I know this really isn't an excuse, but I actually did try posting a couple of videos on the blog like 2 weeks ago... When it didn't work, I just got frustrated with the blog in general and decided I'd show it what it was missing. I don't think it cared. Anyway, I repent, and will fill everyone (and by everyone, I mean all 2 people who read this) in on whats going on.

Unfortunately, I don't really have a lot of pictures to document everything that is going on right now... Someday I'll learn to take advantage of photo-worthy happenings. 

The number one thing on my mind is that I'm still pregnant. I know this may seem like just a very impatient complaint (which it mostly is, I'm sure), but when I'm measuring 6 weeks ahead, and Baby Sister (according to an ultrasound I got, by chance, when getting an ultrasound for my thyroid) is probably over 7 lbs right now, it's hard to not feel ready to get her out of me. We're hoping she'll come by herself a little early, but at my last Drs appointment, my Dr did say he would induce me a week early if she didn't. We'll see if my complaining (and possibly even some tears I throw in for good measure) will change that timing at all at my next appointment. Although the thought of being a mom of two pretty much scares the crap out of me, my sciatic nerve pain, lack of sleep, swelling feet, and all the other complaints you'll ever hear from a pregnant woman are overriding any fears I might have. I know I would be a better mother to the child I already have if I could get rid of these problems!

Speaking of Steven, he's hilarious as always. I feel like he has about 10 times the energy that he usually does, but that could just be because I have 10 times less energy than I usually do. He's a pill most of the time, but then when he sits next to me, puts my arm around him and snuggles close, it's hard to not love him more than anything else in the world. He can definitely make me laugh, even when I don't want to.  His favorite thing to do right now is sing along to some of the songs that are popular on the radio. It's so great. He even has his own names for them such as "the outside song" (Ed Sheeran's "A-Team"), and "the ever song" (Taylor Swift's "We are never getting back together"). We actually do have video's documenting this, but I of course can't get them to upload. Along with singing the songs, he also loves dancing to them, which usually just entails running around in a circle, and only ever going clockwise.

He seems to be really excited about Baby Sister, so I hope that feeling continues after she's here :) He loves putting his face on my tummy, asking to see baby sister, and then laughing so hard when she "kicks" (which, since it's impossible to get her to do on cue, usually is just me moving my belly... somehow this deception doesn't make me feel bad at all...). He also thinks she's still sleeping inside of me. If only that's what she was doing the majority of the time... One picture I actually do have is from the other day when he decided he wanted to share his new race cars with Baby Sister. I thought it was so precious :)

Just a couple other things, because I actually have pictures to go along with these... We went to visit the Ellsworth's last weekend and it was SO good to see them. Steven loved playing with Lizzy and Brenna (and watching movies on the iPad with them). I'm so sad we don't live closer so they can play ALL the time! I have a feeling they would be great friends.

Steven also got his hair cut, which he was in desperate need of. He actually did much better than last time. He didn't cry at all! I know it's not that exciting of a picture, (although it does kind of show how long his hair had gotten on top) and the only reason I actually even have it is because he straight up asked me to take one. I couldn't really say no...

Well, I'm sure this was far too much talking for the whole 3 pictures that I posted, but it was probably more for my benefit to just be able to document than anything. So I apologize to those of you who fell asleep. Hopefully we'll have lots bigger news soon, and we will definitely have lots of pictures to go along with that!

Christmas Time

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy for us, as I'm sure they have been for everyone. So, here's a rundown of what we've been doing this Christmas season:

1. Decorating our tree! We were thinking we weren't going to do it this year, but I'm glad we did. Steven loved it!

2.  Tried to spend as much time with the Hopkins as possible before they MOVED! We were so sad!! I wasn't actually even in Provo when they packed up and left, though (which is probably a good thing... I would have cried so much!), because I...

3.  Went to Macomb for my Mom's graduation! She graduated with her MBA and all of the Rands' kids were able to be there for it. My Dad got to actually present my mom with her diploma, followed by a kiss :) It was so great to spend time with my family! We realized that we probably haven't spent much time together, without kids or spouses, for around 14 years. We decided it's definitely something we want to make happen more often than that!

4. The day after I got home from Macomb, TJ and Steven left for Bloomington, where we were going to spend christmas. We decided it would be a good idea for me to stay and work for another week, and then meet them out there. So while I was at home, working hard to pay the bills, TJ's brother, Steve, took everyone to the zoo! He was doing an internship there, and so got "backstage passes" to see some of the animals. I was super jealous. I did get to see my cousin, Ami, while I was still here, though, which was so great!

5.  On Christmas Eve, I finally flew out to join them. I was a little worried the weather would be bad and I would end up missing christmas, but everything went smoothly! We then all spent the next week and a half with TJ's parents, and it was great! Steven didn't even know what to do with all the toys there, and loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa and "Master Steve" (TJ decided it would be funny for Steven to call him that, now that he has his master's, and it stuck! The best part is, it kind of sounds like Steven is saying "monster Steve" :) It's cute). We even got to visit Martha (TJ's best friend from high school who we basically haven't seen since our wedding) up in Indianapolis.

6. TJ left a couple days early to help [Master] Steve move out to Utah. I stuck around and got to see our friends America and Tyler before I flew home!! It's a good thing, too, since Tyler's headed back to Rwanda and America will be joining him there in the summer. We'll miss them so much!! TJ got here the day Steven and I flew in, and so came and picked us up at the airport.

We're happy to be home, but we had so much fun with all our activities. I am so grateful for the wonderful friends and family we have, and the blessing we had to be able to see so many of them! I just feel like the luckiest person ever to have so many people that I love so much. I'm grateful that I get to add a new little person to that list, and am so excited for all the changes we have coming in 2013!