Monday, December 20, 2010

The first quarter of 2010

It counts as writing an update, even if it was a year ago, right? Anyway, I'm sure I'll look back on this time of procrastination and laugh, but at least I will have it all down! Moving on...

January 2010: We decided to potty train Mallory. She was not so interested, but since she was turning three the next month it was time to get things rolling. I read a lot of information and gathered a lot of advice and went to work. Things...didn't go so well. Mallory just did not care about it. She was just too preoccupied with playing. We tried and tried and I cried and cried, but finally she got it. When I look back on this period of time I have to laugh...or cry. It seemed like Mallory always needed the potty right in the middle of Allison nursing, so I would be carrying a baby latched on to the bathroom and trying to pull pants down, wipe. etc...oh well. She still has accidents, but for the most part she is really good about going potty. Allison was just...Allison, waking every 3 hours or 4 hours to nurse, smiling a little, rolling over,swinging in her swing, looking cute. I was still surviving on 5 hours of sleep a night, wondering when and if this child would ever sleep through the night.

February 2010: Mallory turns three! We celebrated with a Tinkerbell party complete with Tinkerbell cottage cake at Grandma and Grandpa Hanner's house. I can't really think of anything else special that occurred in February...I am sure there was tons of snow and tons of snow shovelling.

March 2010: John and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! I feel ridiculously lucky to have stumbled upon a man so perfect for me. Sure, we don't agree on everything, but we always kiss and make up. He picks me up, dusts me off, and helps me see the bright side in life. We celebrated with a new to us minivan. I was dying for one, and it has been SO nice. Allison continued to get up every few hours to nurse, although she would sleep for a 5 hour chunk of time. Mallory and I started going to the library for story time and kept up our twice monthly play date. We got ready for the big thaw and when I say "got ready" I mean did nothing...oops.

Well, sorry to leave with a cliffhanger, but it's past my bedtime...

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A synopsis of a year or so...

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted.

A friend has inspired me to write more, so I will try my hardest to keep up with my blog. Even if it is just for the sake of my 4 followers. You know who you are.

So, should I do a recap of the last year or just start now? Heck, I have time. Last post was August, we'll start there.

August 2009: Pregnant with Allison, although I am not sure that we had decided on her name yet. Still working at Rooster's in Layton. John had just been hired at Hill AFB as a student intern, which I was totally stoked about! Previously he'd driven to Draper for work every day and it was starting to take it's toll on our sanity. We were living in Layton in the apartments, dreaming of owning our own home someday. Well, when John got hired at Hill we decided to look at houses in Ogden...

September 2009: Found a house in Ogden I could live in for at least 5 years! After many dismal options we found a home in our price range that was move-in ready. We put in our offer. We waited. We got a response. We counter offered. We waited. We got another response. We counter-counter offered. They agreed! By now we were in October, but who's counting really? I finished up work at Rooster's and went on Maternity leave.

October 2009: Most of October was filled with offers, counter offers, and postponements. Finally, on October 26th,John's 29th birthday, we closed on our house! But more exciting news was to come our way that busy Monday.
I went to my 37 week prenatal visit at noon and found out that I was 4-5 cm dilated! The week before I was 3 cm dilated, which was very different from my pregnancy with Mallory. Since I had not felt any contractions, the doctor was kind of worried, as was I, so he said to call him if I did feel any and if they were 6 minutes apart consistently. He also said that we would be more than likely having the baby that week, rather than November. I called John and he assured me he would leave class immediately if we needed to go to the Hospital. However, I was not so convinced I was having the baby that soon. I went to pick up Deidra to go over to Wal-mart for a bit and see if the walking got the contractions going. Well, chalk one up to Wal-mart! After an hour of shopping for some last minute items that I might need if indeed I did go to the hospital that night, my contractions went from 15 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart. Went back to Grandma's and called John. Still not so convinced, we left Mallory there to go to the hospital, just to get checked. After lying down for a bit, my ctx went back to 15 minutes apart. I was still only 5 cm dilated, so they weren't sure if I was going to stay or not. Well, then my blood pressure went way up and after a little discussion they decided to keep me. it was about ten pm by then, and they called Dr. Meek with the news. They agreed to start pitocin at 4 am and in the meantime gave me some drug to sleep...well, Allison had other plans. The rest of the details are slightly fuzzy due to the meds. I know at 7 cm I got my epidural and was definitely in pain. I think it was midnight. At 2 am they called Dr. Meek. He arrived at 2:15ish or so, came over and broke my water, had me keep pushing through the ctx, and out came Allison! Yep, one push. The whole room was in shock. The nursery nurse had not even made it to the room yet, and John didn't even have time to turn on the camera!
I have to note here that Dr. Meek jokingly said to me at my appointment to call him anytime, but try not to make it 2 am...Ha ha, he should have known!

So, Allison Melanie Reynolds was born 10/27/2009, at 2:20 am. 5 lbs, 9 oz, and 16 inches long. Tiny little thing, and so beautiful!

November 2009: We moved in to our new (or slightly used...ok, really used) house the week before Thanksgiving and started unpacking. I was up every two hours feeding the baby, so I saw ALOT of sunrises that fall/winter. It's amazing how the body adapts to little to no sleep. Allison was the most beautiful baby, but MAN was she picky. She would not take a bottle to save my life. I didn't mind too much, since I wasn't working and didn't really have a lot of stuff going on. Although it might have been nice to get out sometime for longer than an hour. Oh well! Thanksgiving was spent in the company of my family and the Baskette's. It was really fun to be with family and friends and especially great to show off the new babies (Lucas Scott Sherrod was born in September).

December 2009: We managed to get our Christmas tree and stocking hung for Santa, although that was about all the decor we had time for...John was busy with finals, and I was busy...you guessed it, feeding the baby. I was feeding that baby so often that Mallory started "breastfeeding" her baby dolls. It was a cold, snowy winter and it was probably the first time I actually asked that it not snow anymore. The snow is not quite as great when you actually have to shovel it yourself. John bought me tickets to see "The Nutcracker Ballet" in Salt Lake City, and I enjoyed every minute of the show! It was fabulous and I was sad to see it end. I am pretty sure our 2009 ended with the entire family in bed before midnight. Our party years are over for while, it would seem.

Well, it's late and I should get to bed. I will definitely be back soon to write the rest of my "18 months in review."