Family Tree Quilt

Several months ago I was talking to my sister in law who pointed out to me that my mother in law was going to be 60 in July. She had come up with an awesome idea to make a scrapbook for mom and have everyone make a page or pages on their favorite memories with Grandma. While she was telling me about the scrapbook I started thinking about quilts. My MIL is the one who taught me how to do pieced quilts and she has helped me make one for each of my girls when they are born. I thought it would be fun to make her a quilt using the kids hand prints. At first I was thinking of something simple like each child use a square of fabric and put their hand print on using paint. While I was thinking about what I wanted to do I realized that my mom was turning 50 in July as well. I started talking to my sister, who was an art major and my simple quilt idea quickly turned into "lets make a family tree quilt!" I thought it sounded awesome so I started perusing google and pinterest looking for ideas. I found several that were very nice, but not quite what I had in mind. I wanted the hands touching its 'branch' with each family group one one branch. Mostly I needed some way to quilt it. I didn't want to tie it, there was already so much visually, but I don't know how to freehand quilt, so I needed some sort of pattern to the background so that I could quilt it using the lines that were already there. Since I couldn't find exactly what I wanted I decided to just make up the whole design from scratch. I got out some paper and a calculator and got to work. I wanted the quilts to be a picture of their family on that birthday so I had all the ladies send me traced hand prints of everyone in their little family. My MIL is who I always ask quilting/sewing questions to and it was so hard to have to just figure it out! Also, just keeping the secret! My mom knew we were going to do something for birthdays. Her's, my dad's and my nephew all have birthdays in July so we were planning to celebrate when we got together at the beginning of the month for a family reunion. My MIL did not even know we were planning to celebrate her birthday. Almost all of Marcus' family got together last week for a couple of events. We kept telling Grandma that we were together to celebrate those event and we weren't going to do anything for her birthday. At the end of the trip we threw a surprise party for Grandma! Hopefully she didn't want to kill any of us for our evil planning :)

Gma Laurie opening her quilt.

Both quilts were basically the same.  The only difference was the colors used for the hands/border/birds.

Gma Ann's quilt and the kids all finding their hand on it.

Lizzy is 2 months old

Lizzy is already 2 months old. I can't believe how fast time flies!  She is our little kitty, she likes to purr, and Livvy and Lily still love her to pieces.  Liv is very quick to jump up and help her the second she starts to cry.  Liv thinks 3 seconds of crying is 2 seconds too long :)  She isn't worried about the noise, just about the baby.  She's a good little Mommy.  Liv will hold her on the couch and just sit there and watch a show.  Lily would like to, but I only let her when I am next to her.  Call me crazy, but my 2 year old holding the baby is mildly frightening to me! :)  We love to go on walks together too.  Lizzy is getting big so quickly.  We found out she has reflux in the beginning of April.  I thought maybe she was constipated.  She would go stiff as a board and just scream and scream, poor thing.  We took her in to the doctor and got her on some reflux meds.  Right after that she got bronchiolitis, which I think is just a fancy word for a chest cold in a child under 2.  She hardly ate for like a week and a half with her cold.  Once she got over that I noticed that the reflux medicine wasn't working as much as it should.  A quick call to the doctor and dosage increase solved that problem and she was back to being a happy baby.  Her 2 month appt was earlier this week.  She is developing really well.  The doctor was a little concerned about a heart murmur that she could hear and the fact that Lizzy is losing weight.  She would have lost some when she was sick, but she hasn't gained it back and has actually lost some since then.  With the murmur and the weight loss the doctor wanted to send Lizzy in for an echocardiogram which is basically an ultrasound of the heart.  While I knew that everything was probably fine, I think any mother would be a little worried about their baby having to have imaging done on something as important as the heart.  The doctors office set up the appointment and we were able to get in the next morning.  Lizzy did great during the test, she pretty much slept through the entire thing, what a trooper!  I was told we would probably hear back the following day, or the one after that, since the images had to be sent up to Primary Children's to be read by a pediatric cardiologist.  When my phone rang 5 hours after the test was completed and I saw it was the doctors office I think my heart stopped for a minute.  Luckily there were no problems, they were just really fast that day.  The doctor said everything in the test looked good, no indication or any holes or leaking.  The doctor will listen again at Lizzy's 4 month appt and make sure the murmur doesn't sound worse.  That would indicate that is was something they couldn't see on the echo.  I have to take her in in two weeks to have her weighed again and make sure she is gaining weight.  Other than that she is developing great.

Some of Lizzy's cute and silly faces

At two months Lizzy...

is 9 lbs 6.5 oz

is 22.5 inches long

likes to smile - but for some reason mostly just at Daddy

is starting to hold her head up longer

loves to look around

loves lights and fans

still purrs like a kitty

is very calm and easy, unless I forget to give her her reflux medicine
sleeps very well usually from 9:30/10ish till 8 or 9 the next morning with one wake up to eat

is sure loved by her Mommy, Daddy and two big sisters

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I thought it would be fun to make up something for Marcus' birthday from the girls using their hands and feet.  This is what we came up with.  I couldn't find a poem I liked so I made this one up to go with it  They were really excited about making it, except for Lizzy who clenched her hands the entire time and it is hard to get a baby hand print even when their fist isn't clenched!  When we got done they asked if we could make another one.  Anyway, I think it turned out pretty cute.

My hands and feet are small

And I am still real tiny

But I just love to watch you Dad

With eyes all bright and shiny.

I watch you work so hard for us

Each and every day

I want to follow in your footsteps

And be like you in every way.

Dad you are the greatest

And I'm proud as I can be

To walk by you and hold your hand

And show you belong to me!

Blue Angels

Several weeks ago the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels had an air show here in St. George.  With the exception of the ridiculous traffic due to there only being one road in and out it was LOTS of fun!  We saw planes doing "twirlies" and "dancing" in there air - flying completely vertical and inverted.  The was a mock WWII battle with tanks and air support.  There was a plane walker.  We got to go in a C 130, and Liv and Marcus even got to go into the cockpit and pretend the fly the plane!  They also had a news helicopter that the girls got to sit in and a Blue Angels plane that our family sat it!  The blue angels had been practicing in the airspace over our house for the previous two days and were still awesome at the show!  I didn't get very good pictures of the planes flying though, most were so fast it was hard to get them just right in the shot.  The girls thought it was great and Marcus was about 10 years old the whole time we were there!

Grandma Visits

We had two visits from Grandma's after Lizzy was born!

My mom came the night I left the hospital and stayed with us for a week.  I'd love to say we did something magical and fun, but I think mostly I slept! :)  The girls played alot with Grandma.  Grandma even taught Liv a new game that we loved so much I bought.  It is called Spot It!  I hadn't ever heard of it, but it was a lot of fun. Apparently I spent so much time sleeping that I didn't take any pictures, but here are a few of Grandma Laurie with Lizzy.

After my mom left Grandma Ann came for a week!  Grandma flew into the new St. George airport and the girls got to go pick her up with daddy.  We did a little bit more while Grandma Ann was here, but mostly our normal stuff.  We let Grandma come to dance and see Liv's dance, we went to Jumpin' Jacks one day, and also to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

Elizabeth Juliette

**WARNING - This is a birthing story.  Don't read it if you don't want to hear about dilating and epidurals ande placenta!**

When I went to the doctor on Thursday February 23 the doctor said I looked ready to go.  He said he thought I would either go into labor on my own within the day, but in case I didn't we set up for me to check into the hospital so he could break my water since I was ready to go the next day.  I waited and waited all afternoon with contractions that wouldn't get normal or close enough.  Makes for a cozy day :)  Monica and Johnny came down from Cedar that night so that they would watch the girls if/when I went to the hospital.  I didn't sleep much during the night and finally around 5:30am they started to get regular enough to get ready to go in.  I woke up Marcus right before 6 and told him to get ready.  Not 2 minutes later the hospital called and told me to come in, they had a bed ready for me so they could break my water and get me going.  At least I knew I wouldn't be sent home!  We headed to the hospital and got put in a room and hooked up for monitoring.  Anyone with kids know that the best way to get them better is to take them to the doctor, it miraculously makes all symptoms disappear.  Apparently this baby wanted to get an early start on that and so my labor sort of calmed right down as soon as we got to the hospital. Luckily I didn't have to go home since they had called me in anyway.  After the doctor broke my water things started back up and I got cozy for a fun morning of laboring.  While waiting to progress the nurse came in and told me there was a guy training to be an EMT and as part of their training they have to sit in on a birth and would I mind if he sat in during mine.  I told her that was fine.  After two-ish hours or so my contractions starting hurting more so I called the nurse and told her to send down the anesthesiologist.  They checked my progress while they waited for him to come down and I was at a 4.  The anesthesiologist got my epidural all set up and I laid back down knowing a baby was coming soon.  As I waited for the epi to work I started having more and more pain.  The nurse came in to check on me about 10 - 15 minutes after they epi was started.  She looked at me and knew something was wrong since I was laying in my bed with tears streaming down my face grimacing in pain.  I told her that I was not getting numb, but feeling more pain than before.  Clearly I wasn't alive during medieval times, but I felt like I was being tortured on the stretching rack.  She called the anesthesiologist back down to try and figure out what was wrong.  One of the nurses also showed Marcus how to help with the pain some by pressing on pressure points just below my knees.  He came back down and gave me something through the epi line that was stronger.  (I don't remember what it was, I wasn't really paying attention to medicine names at this point.)  As we waited to see if that would help alleviate the pain they checked me again and I had jumped up to an 8, it had been maybe 40 minutes since they had last checked.  Anyway, I was still feeling everything and in pretty serious pain so the anesthesiologist decided to re-insert the epidural.  My doctor was called, and arrived while the epi was being re-done.  While "sitting like a cat"  and with a nurse and Marcus pressing on my knees I told the anesthesiologist that I really didn't think I would be able to sit still.  He said that was fine, he had braced himself against my back with his arm and that if I moved he'd move with me.  While sitting up I started to feel the urge to push which I immediately screamed to the nurses who were looking mildly concerned by now.  They laid me back down and rechecked my dilating, which was now at a 10.  The doctor stepped out into the hall to call his office and let them know he would be staying to deliver.  While he was on his 30 second call the baby decided she was ready to come then.  I started screaming, loudly, and he promptly hung up the phone and rang back in.  During the previous two labors I either had to watch the computer monitor and/or be told by the nurses/doctor when to push because I couldn't tell when I was having a contraction.  With this one I didn't have that so much, I couldn't stop pushing.  With the epi not working I felt every moment of the baby coming out and just screaming like a little girl.  Since I had progressed so quickly I hadn't had a chance to stretch really.  The doctor gave me some local anesthetic to try and help with that, but like the epidural the local also didn't work.  I was in so much pain trying to push the head and shoulders through that I was starting to panic and was taking really fast, shallow breaths.  So I had one of the nurses yelling at me to "breathe, breathe, breathe deep through your nose" while I was screaming like a little girl and yelling "it hurts! it hurts!"  The poor EMT was probably thinking "man, I sure chose the wrong birth to sit in on" while Marcus' hand was being punctured by my fingernails and he was thinking "this sure isn't like the other births!"  I thought I was going to pass out due to my rapid breathing, but the nurse helped me stay conscious with her yelled commands to take a breath every few seconds.  I can't imagine being unconscious and birthing work very well together.  Finally the baby came out and they put her right on me.  I was so dizzy and shaking so hard that I had to ask them to take her off.  I was afraid she would fall off of me.  When baby and placenta were all out (and btw, the doctor informed me it was a fabulous looking placenta! yea me!) the doctor started to stitch me up and I about jumped off the bed.  He couldn't believe I still had any feeling.  I assured him I surely did, so he used some more local anesthetic.  As he started stitching again I again about jumped off the table.  Finally after my third set of local it was numb enough that I didn't care anymore.  He got me all cleaned up and handed me back the baby.

After recovering for an hour or two they decided to move me up to the mom and baby unit.  The nurse asked if I thought I could stand and get in a wheel chair.  I had never lost any feeling in my legs and said I was pretty sure I could get in the chair fine.  They had Marcus put his arms around me just in case, but I didn't even need him.  They wheeled me upstairs and I climbed from the chair to the bed again with basically no help.  As the L&D nurse passed me off the the M&B nurse she told her that she had no idea how I could stand, let alone feel my legs with the amount of medicine they had given me.  She said I shouldn't even be able to move them.  While talking to me mom later that afternoon I told her that on a pain scale from 1 to 10 it had been a 41!  I'm sure there are things that hurt more, like being shot or actually having a limb ripped off, but it was the most pain I'd ever been in.  I did NOT care for it!  I had a nice rest in the mom and baby unit.  With the exception of the super intense pain it was like a mini vacation.  Marcus brought the girls to visit both days.  We all had dinner together on my bed one night.  It was like a picnic, but with no grass and more squishy.  Oddly enough, even though it was by far the most painful birth, wouldn't it happen that the baby I felt completely is almost a full pound bigger than the other two girls, it was also by far the easiest recovery.  I had very little pain and was up and about much quicker.  I sure wouldn't have chosen for my birth to go like that, but it did and I can now say I have birthed a baby naturally.  I can also say it is a darn good thing we are made to forget with time because I would never want to get pregnant again if it didn't fade.  I did end up with another beautiful girl who I love to pieces though, so it was all worth it!

Happy Birthday "Olivillian"

Olivia and Lillian both had birthday's in January.  I can't believe how big they are already!  We had a week filled with birthday fun.  First we celebrated Lily turning 2.  She wasn't quite old enough for a party, but we invited one of her friends to go to Jumpin Jacks with us and they had lots of fun.  Although, I think it would have been just as much fun to go and ride the merry-go-round over and over.  Lily got to pick her birthday dinner and surprisingly, or not, she chose mac-n-cheese and olives.  We also had a cake for her and opened presents.

Several days later we celebrated Liv turning 5!  I can't believe my baby is already 5!!!   Liv had a pretty low key birthday since she had a birthday party scheduled for a couple of days later.  She also got to pick her birthday dinner, and once again we had mac-n-cheese and olives.  We got a little pack of cupcakes, since she had a big cake for her party and sang and opened present with her.

A couple of days after that we did a family party for the girls since Grammy Lollie and Grampy Rob were visiting.  Aunt Moni, Uncle Johnny and puppy Zoe came down as well.  They opened presents from aunts, uncle and cousins, as well and Grandma and Grandpa.  I think we even web cammed in Aunt Jessi.

Finally Liv had her birthday party with some friends.  She wanted to go to the park and have a princess party.  The kids each got to paint a picture frame and decorate it with stickers.  I took pictures each of the kids to put in their frame.  I think the pictures are still sitting on my counter so I can take them to the kids.  That is the problem with doing parties when you are 8 months pregnant!!  She also had a castle pinata and a princess cake.  It was lots of fun.

Liv and Marcus Cruise

This past January Marcus had another cruise for work and since I was 8 months pregnant at sailing time I couldn't go. Bummer for me, but it worked out well for Liv! The person who was going to go with him had to cancel last minute so we decided to let Livvy go with him since a number of other people were also taking their kids. It's a good thing that we are always ready to flee the country and have valid passports :) Anyway, they got to spend the week together in Mexico while Lily and I spent the week together here. Livvy and Lily usually play together very well, sometimes too well, like at night when they are supposed to be sleeping. It was really nice to put Lily down at night and have her be asleep 5 minutes later. I had so much free time that I had to take a trip to the fabric store and find a project to do!

Playing at Lover's Beach.  This is where the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California meet.