We're Baaaaaaaaack!

Maybe it's because it's after one am and I clearly should have been in bed hours ago. Maybe it's because my house is a total disaster and must be cleaned ASAP to prepare for the arrival of Megan and her kids. I'm not sure why, but whatever the reason, I have this hankering for posting on our blog--I figure I should just do it now before the desire dissipates.

As usual, it's been five months since my last post. I'll try to keep the commentary to a minimum.

This summer we tried to get out more. We've always spent time outdoors, but we 've lived in Denver for five years and it feels like we never go exploring. We took the girls on a hike that was just outside Silverthorne, CO. Lilypad Lake--it's fairly easy, and it's beautiful. Hiking with two under two presents some challenges. I carried Lexie in a Moby wrap, and Ella in a backpack. I seriously looked ridiculous. I really wish we had a picture! Dusty carried his pack with rain gear, food, water, diapers, etc.

I LOVE my camera!

Although the destination is the same, this is a later trip that we took with our close friends, the Gundersons.

As part of our quest to explore, we went to a park that has a water feature. This is seriously the coolest park I've been to. It's in Englewood, and is incredible. The playground is built around the existing trees and landscape. I guess it's won a lot of awards, which is not surprising.

Ella and one of the boys I babysit:

Oh, how I adore those chubby legs of hers. They make me smile every time I see them!

This is a great tooth-shot. Ella recently had her two-year-old check-up. Our pediatrician looked in her mouth and said, "Wow. She still has seven teeth that need to come in." Yes, doctor, our daughter was toothless for more than the first year of her life. She's been teething like crazy, which, I hope, explains her desire to bite anything and anyone at the smallest provocation.

Just before she turned six months, we gave Lexie her first taste of solid foods. She LOVED the rice cereal and didn't even make a mess. I was expecting lots of spitting and collecting with the spoon, and refeeding, etc. but she just swallowed it down like it was no thing.

And, to top it off, she really enjoyed it. I was so excited! But, the second time wasn't nearly as great. She decided to behave like a true infant and make it interesting (and messy) for mom. Sorry I don't have pictures!

Ella's birthday:

I decided to give her a last-minute friend birthday party with the kids I babysit and two of her closest friends. They had a blast and it was so much fun to see them all running around in their little party hats. I decorated Ella's and I also made her shirt (which is of course covered up with the bib. Ugh).

So, Ella loves pulling treasures out of the trash can in our kitchen. I really need to put a lid on it. She found this cream carton, which I thought I'd emptied. Apparently there was still enough for her to make a mess, so she couldn't very well let it go to waste now, could she?

I love this picture because she knows she's in trouble. Those eyes are killer, man.

I'll try to add more soon.

Dusty built us this bed in all his spare time...it's Pottery Barn's Farmhouse bed. We got the specs off their website and he just did it. I can't believe how many awesome talents he has. I'm the luckiest!

Ignore the pile in the corner, please.

and then there were four...five including Abby

I HATE blogger, so you're getting pictures first and boring commentary second. Sorry everything is out of order. Enjoy!

Mom and I did a photo shoot with Lexie when she was 5 days old:

Ella playing in the garden with her new garden tools:

Lexie's first bath:

At the hospital in the hat her mama made her:

In her going-home outfit. Tulips! Yummy!

Waiting for the action to begin:

I LOVE my family!!!!
The time we've all been waiting for has come...I'm finally updating our blog with pictures of our newest member of the family--Alexa Louise.

For those of you who care, I'll go through a relatively boring birthlogue. The rest of you, feel free to skip onto the good stuff...pictures!

The final weeks of my pregnancy went relatively smoothly, until the last week during which high blood pressure and proteinuria resulted in a scheduled induction for April 9th. My mom came on the 8th, and early on the 9th, we dropped Ella off at a friend's house and headed to the hospital.

When I arrived at the hospital, I was dilated to a 3, 75% effaced, and the baby's head was at a -2 station. By 10 am the pitocin was dripping and everything was looking good--the baby had great heart accels and she was really active. Around 1 pm, my ob had a meeting at the children's hospital next door, and the overly cautious floor staff were concerned about a few (as in, two in an hour) late decels, so they turned off the pitocin for a few hours until the doctors became available again. This was a bit frustrating because when they restarted it, they had to turn the drip rate down quite a bit, so that set us back even more.

At 4 pm, I decided I'd like to have them break my water to see if we could get things moving along more. Unfortunately, my ob left for the day, so we had to wait for someone else to come in and do it. Dusty kept saying, "Lauren, you know I did this during my 3rd year rotations...I can do it. The instrument is right there." I don't know why I don't believe him when he tells me things like that...maybe it's a product of my being a victim of his incessant teasing during our childhoods. I guess sometimes I still see him as the boy who tied my dress to the music stand at district band festival, or the boy who paid my sister to hide my curling iron--not the incredibly brilliant doctor who operates on people's brains and saves lives every day.

Anyhow, I digress. When the doctor did come in to break my water, Dusty was surprised to see that it was one of his fellow interns, Allie, who graduated with him last May. She asked us if we were comfortable with her being our doctor. I hadn't ever really known her, so I looked to Dusty. "Yeah, we're fine with it. I trust you....some other classmates, not so much, but you were one of the good ones." So, she checked me (5, 100%, 0), and broke the water.

After that, the contractions definitely started strengthening. Within the next two hours, I decided I was ready for an epidural. Again, a resident came to do it--this time it was a 4th year. He began by giving me lots of "numbing medicine," which was actually rather uncomfortable. He then attemped to place the epidural, unsuccessfully, for the next 20 minutes. This involved two sticks (not including the extra numbing medicine he kept injecting) and a lot of painful tapping sensations in my spine, which Dusty said was sterile saline they inject to determine the location of the vertebrae (I hope I'm remembering that right). I was feeling like I was going to lose it as the contractions were increasing in strength and length, and there was no relief in sight. Miraculously, the anesthesia attending just happened to walk by and pop his head in the door. He successfully placed the epidural in one pass. Dusty later confided in me that the resident was using a completely wrong trajectory and that he was about ready to tell the guy to stop and call the attending.

Next came the itching. UCH does an intrathecal along with the epidural, which I've never had before. It's nice because the relief comes immediately, but I have never experienced all-encompassing itching before. They promised it would wear off in the next hour or so, which it did.

The contractions continued to increase so much that I was having to give myself a boost of pain meds using the little button control. Allie came in at 10 and said she'd come see how I was doing around midnight. By midnight, I was having to focus my breathing during the contractions, even with the epidural and the pain button. When she came in, she checked me, and said that the baby's head was "right there." She told me to push a little to see how I'd push with the epidural. I did a half a push, and she said, "woah, stop!" Apparently, I could still push well under the influence! She got her chief and got gowned and one push later, at 12:21 am, Alexa Louise was born. Lexie was perfect, and was crying before they even put her on my chest. She was 19.5 inches long and a mere 6 lbs 7 oz. I know. I was shocked too. I was fully expecting an 8.5 - 9 lb baby as Ella was 8 lbs 2 oz. But Lexie is just the cutest little thing.

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC experience. The nursing staff was great, the ob staff was great, the anesthesia attending was great. It was so different from Ella's birth. They kept the lights low and it was actually quite relaxing. There was definitely a spirit of peace in the room.

Lexie's now 2.5 weeks old, and is a joy to us all. Ella has handled everything like a champ, and I've been so blessed to have help first from my mom, then from Dusty's mom and sister. And now, unbelieveably, Dusty is home for the week! Life is exceptionally good and I am SO BLESSED!

Now, onto the pictures.

November Part One

It's that time again. Time to update the blog. It's a total pain, but I love you all so that's why I do it. I hope you appreciate it!

November was a great month. Dusty was on neurology and had a FANTASTIC schedule (7:30-5ish). It was so great to have him home at a decent hour!

In the middle of the month, Megan, James, and McKenna came to Denver for a visit. It was so great to have everyone there. I love having family around! Megan and I saw Wicked, which was incredible, and Dusty babysat, which was also incredible. He's the BEST! Two days later we all (Dusty, Ella, Megan, James, and McKenna) went to my ultrasound appointment where we found out we're going to have another girl! We are SO excited to have Alexa Louise (99% settled on the name) join our family. I know how close I am to my sisters, and I am so happy for Ella and Lexie to have that, too! And I'm excited about dressing them up in matching outfits!

Over Thanksgiving, we were able to go to Cody for 10 days. It was so great to see everyone, and the time always flies when we're there. We had two Thanksgivings and one Christmas, so it was a busy time!

Dusty got me a new camera for Christmas, so I've literally taken 2000 shots in the past two months...it's so easy to do when your camera isn't a dinosaur. I'll try to self-edit and only post the best ones, but it's going to be a challenge!

One of the first five pictures with my new camera. I LOVE it!




Same day...more than 100 shots later. I love my girls!

Now, I have to tell a story about the next picture. Ella is a wonderful little girl. She's also a naughty little girl. One day, I put her down for a nap without pants. That was the last day I put her down without pants because:

Yes. That is pee. All over the crib bedding (bumper, sheet, blankets, and stuffed bunny). I love how she tossed the diaper to the side. Clearly she had no need for it when she could just relieve herself in her bed.


Mama's naughty jailbird.

When Megan and McKenna were in town, we went to Bass Pro Shops to have Ella's and James's pictures taken with Santa. It wasn't a very popular idea:

But Ella did love the chair she found in the store. We had to get it for her for Christmas.

Ella loves wearing clothing that doesn't belong to her. Dad's shoes:

Dad's hat:

And Aunt Megan's heels. She wore these puppies all over the kitchen. I think she was so proud of how beautiful she was wearing grown-up heels!

When we were in Cody, Ella and her cousin Kerrigan got to play together. Ella loved sitting at this little table.

And I hate to do this, but it's almost 11:30 and I'm pregnant and exhausted. I'll try to add more tomorrow!

September and October

September--This was a very fun and busy month. Ella really started walking well about a week before her birthday. We decided to have two birthday parties for her: a family one on her actual birthday, and then a friend one the following weekend. Megan and James came up for the big day, and we all went to the zoo. Dusty even was able to meet us there!

Ella was thrilled to finally be one:

At the Denver Zoo there is this really great exhibit called "Lorikeet Adventure." It is a large caged area that is filled with the most beautiful birds. You can buy a little sacrament cup of nectar to feed to the birds. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever!

That night Jenny and some of the kids were able to come over for cake and ice cream.

Waiting and waiting:

Oh, good! Here it comes:

More waiting?!?
First taste:

A messy one-year-old:
After some clean-up, it was time for presents:

This was the most impressive thing. Grandma Julie and Grandpa Rob got her a doll. She saw that bottle, and knew exactly what to do:By the end of present-time, she pretty much had the hang of it:
And then came bath time. I have to put this one up just so I can embarrass both Ella and James when they get older:

Megan and I spent the rest of the week running errands and preparing for Ella's friend party, which was going to be a BBQ. We baked and baked, cooked, and then baked. And then, on Saturday morning, Ella woke up with a fever and a terrible cold. I did NOT want to cancel because of all the preparations, but Dusty and I decided that was the best thing to do. We rescheduled for the next weekend. I cannot accurately describe how crazy that weekend was. I literally spent ALL NIGHT Friday night decorating Ella's cake because I had Super Saturday all day on Saturday until 4 pm. The BBQ was scheduled to start at 5. I got two hours of sleep and left Dusty with a disaster of a house to clean in preparation for the party. But he did it, and I survived, and we had a great time!

Ella with "two," as our neighbor Emil says. He's referring to her pigtails.

Ella's been eating solid adult foods really well. I thought I'd try giving her pear without removing the peel. At first glance, she appeared to be doing great. Then I took a look at her bib:

Sometimes I think we have the silliest children ever. Abby wants to be a (lazy) cat:



And Ella wants to be a (mischevieous) dog:


Or a soap-eating rodent of some sort:
October--This month FLEW by. Towards the end of the month, we went to a pumpkin patch:


They also have a few animals. Ella LOVED them. She kept trying to pet all of them and she talked the cutest baby talk to them. She would decide which ones she wanted to talk to and she'd walk over to them as fast as she could:


We had our Halloween Party on the 30th. It was a lot of fun. Ella was Snow White, Dusty was a patient (complete with catheter bag), and I was Indian. I thought I got more pictures of our little Snow White, but I didn't. I'll have to take more.


On Halloween day, we went to visit one of my old Crestmoor ward visiting teachees. Ella got her first dog bite (which she dramatized greatly...it was really just a scratch), we went to Boo at the Zoo, which we didn't take pictures of (shoot me now), and then we came home and ate and handed out candy to the Trick-or-Treaters. Ella got her first tast of ranch dressing, and let me say, she's an addict! She kept licking it off, then redipping the celery.

Waiting for more ranch:

Well, that about does it. Two and a half hours later, I'm mostly caught up on blogging. I'll do it again in another four months. : )