I've been scolded for my lack of Kendree pictures

so here she is. Ronnie thought she was looking especially serene at this moment. I was just thinking that it would be nice if this look lasted all through the night!

Sometimes we have our cousins over to play

and we have frosting on graham crackers for a snack.

We get a little messy...
but our cousin REALLY dives in!

And then lets us know how she feels about being teased!

These two are so funny. Easton is a notoriously clean child. A little frosting around his mouth and on a few fingers, but Alayna gets covered in whatever she eats and it doesn't phase her. Cleaning them up after snacks and meals is like dealing with polar opposites.

More things about Easton that I want to remember

• He can count to 12 unassisted and to 20 with a few prompts.
• He can read all numbers 0 to 11--it's pretty impressive if I do say so myself.
• He recognizes that "E" is for Easton, but only a handful of other letters (R, C, V). It's all about the numbers in this household currently.
• He knows the following colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink and kind of knows white and black (he just gets them confused).
• He is at the stage where he repeats the last word of your sentences in question form ALL DAY LONG. This is what our house sounds like: Me: "Easton, should we go play a game?" Easton: "Game?" Me: "Yeah, a game, like Toy Story Memory." Easton: "Memory?" You get the idea. It's two parts fun and hilarious, one part annoying. We've learned to end our sentences with appropriate words though, and avoid saying "Oh, crap!"

For whatever reason...

having two kids has made my daily shower an absolute necessity.

It refreshes, rejuvenates and makes the rest of the day seem possible.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed showers before, but now they are seriously lifesavers.

Now if only I could find the time to take one before 1p.m. life would be really great.

2 1/4 years

And "totally" grown up.

at least that is what he wants us to believe. I thought I would record a little of what Easton is up to these days. (in bullet-form no less)

He is:

• Loving his sister. Occasionally, when he doesn't know where she is, he will search the entire house calling out "Kenny! Kenny!"
• Speaking in real, actual sentences. Like last night when he walked away from my sister for a minute, then came back and announced, "I'm back!!!" I'll try to remember some of the others so I can document them on here.
• Loving the movie "The Gnomemobile"
• Singing songs with you. He is really good at "Once There Was a Snowman" but all other songs he really just sings out the last word of every phrase.
• Wanting to play in the snow all day every day.
• Throwing a few more tantrums than normal, but I'm confident that the Easton I know will return to us in the next month or so.
• Very good at saying sorry, not so good at preventing the things that require the apology.
• A Memory Game addict! He got a Toy Story Memory game for Valentine's day and we play it multiple times a day.
• Loving the OK GO video This Too Shall Pass (really, what human being isn't?)
• Hitting hundreds of golf balls daily (don't worry the plastic and foam indoor kind). He's even starting to get his hands right. He certainly knows how to make his daddy proud.
• Wanting to watch someone play the Wii all of the time. He doesn't care at all that he is not actually doing anything, just wants you to do it.
• Just a delightful little man--so fun!

This one's for Aunt Ali

This darling outfit was sent by Aunt Ali and Uncle Alex and Ronnie had the good sense to take pictures while she was all dressed up on Wednesday.

As it turns out...snow is a good substitute for warmth

at least if you are two.

Easton recently discovered that snow pants, a coat, hat and gloves equals enough warmth to get him out the door.

FREEDOM! (you can almost hear him yelling it as he heads out)

Please note that Ronnie is the one who gets to stand outside while Easton shovels, eats and entertains himself.

Mother's Guilt

Remember how I made that apron for Easton and he wouldn't wear it? Turns out if you actually invite him to cook with you, the apron is easy as pie to put on. Who knew?

On Sunday, Easton and I made cupcakes. He thoroughly enjoyed the batter, and the finished products were pretty good as well. He is such the eager helper in the kitchen--which makes it
two parts fun and one part messy.

When we were done and cleaning up, he looked at me with his sweet little face and said with so much emotion, "Thank you Mama!"

Did that make me feel good inside?

Not so much, it made me feel guilty for not doing this more often. For letting the "messy" part of the equation stop me from including him sometimes, for letting my need to just get things done already make me put in Aladdin while I make dinner, or clean the bathroom, or make my bed, etc.

As I relayed the story and my feelings to my parents later that night, my dad said, "Only a mother could take a perfectly sweet and nice comment and let it make her feel bad."

How true that is! Why do we let it happen? I wish it was something you could just turn off, but sadly, I don't think that is the case--it's there, all of the time, waiting to make us feel guilty and inadequate.

So, I made a resolve to do more things with Easton, AND not feel bad when I don't.

Now to carry that through...

Kendree's Two Week Appointment

We went to the doctor yesterday. Kendree was technically one day short of two weeks old, but we won't get hung up on that technicality :)

She was a whopping 6lbs. 14 oz. (10th percentile)and 20 inches long(50th percentile). They were especially pleased with how much weight she has gained as they are really just looking for the kids to be back up to their birth weight at this point. I wasn't worried about it--she is an excellent eater and really likes to eat all the time!

The length thing is such phooey as there is no way that she grew an inch in two weeks, but it is more likely that one or both of the measurements are off. It seems a little ridiculous to try and make newborns stretch out anyway. Oh well.

She is still a great baby--only getting up an average of 1-2 times a night and overall is in a great mood most of the time. She really doesn't like when she has gas or bubbles, but neither do most adults, so I suppose that is understandable.

Most of her umbilical cord fell off on Monday, but there is a little stump that is left, so no real baths for her quite yet.

We just love this little one and her mama is loving that daddy is home again to help out. That single parenting business is not for the faint of heart!

They still exist and are just as cute as ever

A cute picture taken on Grandma Cali's cell phone.
Kendree taking a nice relaxed nap (arms up just like Easton).

Taking the first ride in the swing (she really loves it, despite the face).

See? But her hand was in the way here, so when I moved it, she got mad. It's all about the pictures people.

And this little guy is still around as well.

He's making the adjustment pretty well so far, but does not like when Kendree is crying, and I mean really crying. Then he imitates her exact noise (not my favorite thing) until she stops. He is super sweet with her and seems to realize that she is not going anywhere and he better get used to it.

Tonight, I couldn't find a set of keys that I needed and when I asked him where he had put them, he pointed underneath the recliner (where they were) and then said "Sorry, Mama!" So cute. It's funny how he seems so grown up and big. Almost like a giant!

So far, this mom of two business seems manageable (especially if I get my afternoon nap in). It's not the easiest but man it is nice to have friends and family willing to take a certain 2-year old off my hands for a few hours a day.

My Current Lifesaver

See this little gem right here?
It allows Easton to turn the light in his room on and off and it is my new best friend.

Sigh. I love modern conveniences.

This post is what Ronnie would call my need to overshare

mainly because I've had one or two people ask me and then I get the idea that you all have to know this right now, or perhaps, you just might die.


A few months ago, a woman in my ward commented to me about how much she liked the name Easton. She said that it went so well with our last name, and that it was unique, but not too weird, etc.


I was flattered.


Okay, okay...I was beyond flattered. I was just plain proud. The comment seriously made my week, possibly my month. Naming your kids is hard. Really, really hard. They are stuck with it (unless they pay to have it changed) for the rest of their lives.


I know how hard it is to grow up with a different name. I loved that I never had to be called KaLee L. while so many were Jenn S. and Jenn R., etc, but was so sad when I could never purchase anything with my name on it. No pens or pads of paper, or other cool little do-dads. Kaylee wasn't even a popular name back then, let alone with the old capital "L" in there.


So anyway, while pregnant with Easton, we knew we were having a boy, and both of us loved the name Easton. We heard it when we lived in Provo and while it wasn't "popular" by any means, most people had heard of it before. Then, we moved to Laramie, and no one had ever heard of it. It didn't deter us though. We still loved it and it was in the final three names that we took to the hospital (since I am also of the opinion that I need to see my babies before I can really commit to something).


We get two consistent comments in regard to Easton. "Is the next one going to be Weston? HARHARHAR" and "You mean like the baseball equipment?" Neither really bothers us, and we hope that Easton isn't too scarred by the fact that his name is the name of a company as well.


As far as Kendree goes, oddly enough, I fell in love with it at a baseball game. We were in California when I was just about 12 weeks along and went to an Angels game. They have a player named Kendry (who is a boy) and I proceeded to look up the name online to see if it was just a crazy name, or one that I could live with and found that the masculine spelling was the Kendry and the feminine was Kendri. Neither was my favorite, but they were something to work from. Next I had to convince Ronnie. It took nearly the rest of the pregnancy, but he came around and also agreed that Kendree was an awesome name and again, we had three names when we went to the hospital (well three girl names, we all know about the boy name struggles we have).

So apparently, all of our inspiration comes from baseball. Which is especially funny considering I HATE watching it on television, but do enjoy a game in person (who am I kidding, it's all because I can get cotton candy when I'm there).

And there we have it, the back story on our children's names. Hopefully I haven't completely bored you to death.

P.S. No, we did not plan for their middle names to rhyme (Jay and Rae). It is not something I look to do with the next child, just a strange coincidence.

Kendree's Birth Story

{Disclaimer: Some of you will not want to read this. You've been warned}

Ronnie and I dropped off Easton at my parents' house at 7:30pm on Tuesday, February 16th and headed up to the hospital. We checked in at the emergency room and I was wheeled upstairs (that always feels a little ridiculous when you aren't actually in labor).

After getting settled in my room, and hooked up to the monitors it turns out that I was contracting every 5-10 minutes, but I couldn't feel them at all (those are my favorite kind!) I still was not dilated at all though. The doctor came in and gave me the cervadil drug at 9:30pm. That medicine would be in for 12 hours and then the doctor would re-assess the situation. I was offered a sleeping pill, which I declined. The cervadil regulated my contractions and intensified them just a little bit (every 5 minutes) but I was able to sleep through them, so I did get some rest.

At 9:30am on the 17th, when they took out the cervadil, I was dilated to a 2.5. We decided to do some walking to see if we could get things moving and that made everything feel much less intense. (At this point I was feeling most of the contractions in my lower back, just like I did with Easton). I walked off and on for an hour and a half and at 11am, got back into bed to get hooked up to the monitors.

Dr. Klingler came in at 11:25am to check me and I was at a 4. He decided to break my water to see if my body would continue the labor on its own. After my water was broken, the contractions became much more intense right away. I talked to the nurse about how long it would take to get the epidural (20 minutes after I asked for it) and decided that I would wait just a few minutes before asking for it so that it didn't slow things down. Just ten minutes later, I had to really start breathing through the contractions, and I asked the nurse to order the drugs.

At almost that exact same time, the baby's heart rate started decreasing, so the nurses started playing with my position to see if they could make things better for the baby. Things seemed to settle down after a position change. Just a little after noon, I began having problems keeping my breathing slow because the contractions were so painful, so they gave me an oxygen mask and at the same time, the baby's heart rate began decreasing again and the nurse decided to check me to see what progress I was making.

"You're all the way!," she exclaimed, followed directly by "You won't be getting that epidural." I remember thinking, "WHAT!!!" and at the same time, having the need to push, RIGHT NOW!

The floor exploded with nurses running everywhere, yelling to call the doctor to get up here NOW, and the occasional instruction to me to "do what I need to do." I had no idea what that meant, but I was fairly certain that they wanted the doctor there before I delivered, so with each contraction, I let my body do what it wanted to do naturally, but didn’t put any extra effort behind the pushing.

Dr. Klingler arrived at 12:20, threw on a gown and two contractions later, at 12:28pm, Kendree was here!

In all of the excitement, no one reminded the doctor that we didn't know what we were having, so when she came out, she was rolled away from us. Ronnie, the nurse, and I were straining our necks to get a look and finally the nurse yelled out “It’s a girl!” I started crying, out of joy, surprise and just the fact that it was over.

They immediately put Kendree on my chest and as she cried, they started to clean her off. Ronnie was also able to cut the cord. She looked a little bluish/purple to me, but pinked right up after a minute of crying. The nurses took her over to the heated bed to finish up the cleaning, etc. Soon enough, I was all cleaned up and little Kendree was being snuggled. (I know you are thanking me for leaving some of those details out).

A few other notes:

*Ronnie and I were both genuinely shocked to have a little girl. Ronnie because he thought he saw “something” during the ultrasound and me because it just seemed more natural to be having another boy, since that is what I knew. I did have a very vivid dream about two weeks before she was born that she was a girl, but I never know how much stock to put into pregnancy dreams. They are crazy. Combine that with the fact that all of the older ladies I work with kept on telling me that I was carrying exactly the same as I was with Easton (low) and many other wives tales (no morning sickness, heart rate ranges, etc) and so I HAD to be having another boy and that was that.

*I have never cared to know what it felt like to have a baby naturally. I had nothing to prove to anyone and was completely expecting to have an epidural and be on with it. That being said, I will say that it was awesome to be able to get up and clean up/walk around just about 45 minutes after Kendree was born. If I could guarantee that every labor would be just one hour of intense pain (and not the possibility of many hours) then I may even consider doing the natural thing again. Recovery has been so much faster and easier than it was with Easton, although I don’t know how much of that is Kendree being the second child (so my body knows what to do) and how much of that is the fact that I didn’t have the drugs.

*I asked the nurse if the hospital keeps track of how long your labors are and if that goes into your charts. She said yes, and that they usually have the labor "start" after you have made some progress, so in my case, she charted my labor as starting at 9:30am (when I was dilated to a 2.5) and ending at 12:28pm when Kendree was born. 3 hours. She also told me that if I EVER want to have drugs when I deliver, I have to make them give me the epidural before my water breaks. Good to know, good to know.

A few more for the fans

So new, so precious.

Big brother meets this "baby" that everyone has been talking about.

Grandma Cali and Kendree

Grandpa Cali and Kendree

Such little feet.

Daddy's girl

Easton hanging out with Kendree (whom he calls "Kenny") at home.

Wide eyes.

More of Kendree

All in pink, ready to head home from the hospital.

Grandpa and Kendree.

Uncle Jord-man.

Uncle Jord-man, Kendree, cousin Alayna.

Aunt Erica.

Uncle Dan.

But sometimes life isn't fair

Shortly after Easton was born, I started a blog just for him. It was a great way to get that "mommy" stuff posted for family to read, without boring all of you!

I plan on continuing to post that same "mommy" stuff for both Easton and Kendree, but let's face it--there is no way I can keep up with a blog per child. (despite what you all may think, I'm not super woman)

So, in all my "fairness" talk with quilts, etc. I realize that there are some things that we just can't change. I've changed all of Easton's posts over to the new "kiddo" blog and will continue to post all things Easton and Kendree there. There will also continue to be a link to the right.

Enjoy!

And here she is!

She shocked both Ronnie and I, as we were expecting a boy (I think just because that is what we know and have).

Cute little hat, and goopy eyes.

Mom and daughter

Our first (rather unsuccessful) family picture.

We didn't get pictures of all of our visitors, but here is Aunt Sarah.

and Uncle Adam.