CheckUp

We took Pieper in for her 2 week checkup, well she was 3 weeks old when we actually got her in to the Dr. She weighed 8lbs 1 oz. and was 20 inches long. and her head was 35.8 cm. So she had gained an entire pound plus an ounce and is in the 30% for weight. She grew 1 inch and is in the 24% for height and the 33% for head circumference. I can't believe she has gained that much in just a few short weeks. She is a great eater and maybe that has something to do with it. The doctor said she looked perfect and I couldn't agree with him more!

Pieper's First Bath

As I am about to post about this, Matt reminded me that this isn't her "first" bath, she had her first bath in the hospital right after she was born. He is right technically, but this is her first bath at home after her umbilical cord had healed. She loved it at first, then she wasn't too crazy about being taken out of the warm water and then being exposed to the cook air while I put lotion on her and dressed her. I LOVE LOVE LOVE a fresh baby just out of the tub, they smell HEAVENLY!! Septmber 14, 2013. 14 days old.

Home

There is something wonderful about walking into your own home after being gone for a period of time, whether long or short. I was definitely excited to finally be in my own home after being in the hospital for 3 days. The kids made a cute sign and hung it up in the kitchen welcoming Pieper into the family and welcoming Matt and I back home. When we walked in the door the kids all jumped out from their hiding places and yelled, "welcome home!" It was cute! They were all excited to have their turn holding the baby, she is going to be one extremely loved little girl! We got all settled in, Matt ran to the store to get a few things, including my prescription for pain pills, and my wonderful mom took the kids with her back to her house to get dinner ready and I was able to rest with Pieper. We had to stop on the way home from the hospital and rent a Bili light for her to use and when we got home we got that all set up so that she glowing. I can tell that her level is dropping, but we want to make sure she is on the light as much as possible. She is a great little eater and loves to be cuddled. After a great dinner, of Spaghetti pie, we got the kids ready for bed and tried to prepare for our first night home from the hospital. Parker started 2nd grade the next day and I was grateful that we were able to be home for that special day for him. We survived the first night, by taking shifts and allowing the other person to sleep while the other of us was holding/feeding the baby. It is amazing how you forget how hard it is to be woken up so many times during the night. A good 6-8 hours of sleep seems like a distant memory anymore and I don't know how I nursed 3 other kids during the night by myself, getting up to feed them 4-5 times a night. I am glad that this time, Matt is able to help and that he is willing to do so. Either way, we are so in love with Pieper that we wouldn't trade this time for anything!

Going Home

All packed up and ready to go home! We are excited to take Pieper home to her brothers and sister and to be in our own space together as a family. We had great nurses and great care while we have been here, but we are just ready to be home, (and lets face it, why pay for more use of the hospital than you need!)

Bathing Beauty...in Blue

The night before we were planning on leaving the hospital, we noticed that Pieper was looking a little jaundice. So we had the nursery take her back and check her levels. And sure enough, they were in the 14's! Which is pretty high, high enough that they wanted to keep her in the nursery under the blue lights for the entire night. Which, allowed me to get a fairly good night of rest, but I was worried about how my little girl was. In the morning, after I had eaten breakfast, showered, and watched some TV, I was wondering when they would bring her back to my room. They finally showed up and said that her levels had dropped a little bit, but that they wanted her on a portable light for the rest of the day. I had been cleared to go home, and now we were waiting to see if the baby was going to be able to go home as well. After talking to the pediatrician, he agreed to let her go home on the condition that we take a bili light home with us and keep her on it as much as possible. After making arrangements for the light and doing all the paperwork to check out we were finally on our way home at about 2:30.

Photo Shoot, 1 day old

I couldn't resist taking a bunch a picture of Pieper when she was just 1 day old! How sweet is this new precious baby! I wanted to make sure and capture her teeny tiny features right from the start. I am so in awe and amazement with this new miracle we have have been blessed with that is straight from heaven!

More Visitors

Aunt Tara and Macee and Race came to visit on the second day as well as

Aunt Lydia and Makayla

Grandma Linda

Uncle Josh

 

We also saw My friends Melissa Pariona, and Karla Hillier. It was so fun to share our sweet little angel with our family and friends. We are so in love with her and cant wait to show her off to everyone!

The Visitors

Grandma and Grandpa Christiansen were the first visitors we had. They were super excited to meet their newest granddaughter!

We had to get a picture with Mommy

Tiny toes!

Grandma Yancey

Big brother Parker

Proudest big sister Paige! She was so excited for a girl!

Auntie Charyn

Grandpa Yancey

 

Paxten, checking Pieper out, deciding if he likes her.

He does like her after all!

My 4 kids with Grandpa Yancey!! I have 4 kids!!!!

The Delivery

After finding out that we were indeed going to have the baby in that morning it was a crazy rush to get me into the operating room. Matt and I hadn't brought in any of our things from the car because we didn't know if we would be staying for sure. After finding out that we would be here for a few days he made a trip to the car to get clothes, the camera, and all the things we would need while staying in the hospital. Meanwhile, while he was gone, the nurses got my IV in, I talked to the Anesthesiologist, signed the paperwork for the C-Section and Tubal, and talked to my doctor. They were just about to move me from the room to the operating room when Matt finally walked back in the door. For a minute I thought he wouldn't make it back for the delivery. While he was changing into his scrub clothes, I was in the operating room where they put in my spinal block, which I think hurts less than the IV. It took affect pretty quickly and I was numb from my chest down in a matter of minutes. Dr. Leavitt came in, painted my belly with  iodine, and was ready to get started. A minute later Matt came in to sit by me. They pulled the blue sheet up and the surgery began. This time it seems like it went more smoothly than the precious C-Sections. it seemed like it was quicker, less painful, and I didn't experience the nausea or light headedness like I have before. Within a few minutes, the Dr. said they were about to pull the baby out, Matt stood to watch and she seemed to be a little bit stuck in there. They had to use a vacuum to help pull her out, and she had so much hair that the vacuum didn't get a good suction on her and slipped right off. After the second attempt she was out and they pulled her out and said "Happy Birthday" and showed her quickly to me before handing her off to the nursery. She was born at 7:30 A.M. As the surgery was beginning Matt and I took guesses as to what we thought she would weigh. I said 6 lbs 14 oz. Matt said 6 lbs 9 oz. She ended up weighing 7 lbs. and was 19 inches long. After they got her cleaned up a bit Matt was able to take her and hold her right by me as they were finishing up the surgery. She was so beautiful and I couldn't wait to hold her. It took the Dr. about 30 more minutes to do the tubal and get me all sewn back up. After that I was wheeled into the recovery room where I was able to hold our new little girl for the first time. Pieper Jo Christiansen. She was absolutely adorable! We were able to feed her for the first time and Matt was able to go with her back to the nursery to help with her first bath while I recovered from the Anesthesia. It was about another hour before I was taken into a regular room and almost another hour before I was able to move my toes. It is the weirdest feeling to be telling your feet to move and it not responding. After getting settled into our room we were able to let friends and family know our good news. I was completely exhausted after being up the entire night and then having to go through the surgery, but I was not able to sleep because of all the excitement. Pieper got her first set of shots, passed her hearing test and everything looked perfect! She spent the majority of the first day in our room meeting friends and family as they came to visit. The kids were so excited to meet her, Paxten was a little hesitant at first, but then he decided that he wanted a turn holding her as well.

Best Buddies

These two kids can be the best of buddies. Some days I wonder what they are up to and I find them like this. Close by each other playing together or watching a show together. Paxten really looks up to his big sister and has to do everything that she does. He is always concerned about "Pai" and wants to be where she is. When he asks for a snack, he asks for one for her as well. When he is in another room and realizes she is gone, he asks where she went. He gets so excited to see her when she gets home from preschool and pretty much follows her around the rest of the day. Paige is a pretty good big sister as well and lets him follow her around. She plays with him really well and tried to include him in the things she is doing. She lets his cuddle right next to her on the couch and sometimes I catch her rubbing his back, or with her arm around him. They really do love each other and moments like that just melt my heart! I hope they always feel that way about each other!

Best Buddies

Paige and Paxten have been able to spend a lot of time together while Parker is at school. They get along so well and for the most part they play well together and entertain each other. Catching them snuggled up on the couch together is almost a daily occurance, but it makes me smile every time. I love seeing them get along and I love seeing them be kind to each other and help each other out. Paige is a really great big sister and is always helping Paxten out and getting him things he needs. Must be that motherly instinct girls have, because Parker is not like that at all. Paxten often follows Paige around doing what she is doing and sometimes I catch them in her room playing dolls or barbies and Paxten is loving it! He just loves to be included and doing what everyone else is doing. These two kiddos make me smile everyday and sure make me grateful to be a mother! (Parker does too!)

Matt's 30th

Matt turned the big 3-0 on the 17th!! Can you believe it?? I can't! That makes me sad because I know I am only a few months behind him then we will both be out of our 20's. It is a sad time!! But we sure don't feel old! I remember being small, like 8 or 10, and thinking that the ladies that were in the Primary as leaders were old. Well now I am one of them and I sure don't feel old. For Matt's birthday per his request, my dad smoked us his "Damn fine burgers" and we had all the toppingd to go along, lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon, avacado, ketchup, mustard, and chipotle mayo. We also had potato salad and chips. It was even nice enough outside that we had our first outdoor BBQ! It was wonderful. For his gifts he got golf balls, tees, 2 pair of jeans, an itunes gift card and a new ladder from my parents. He was extremely excited about the ladder and can't wait to use it. Of course he like the golf stuff from the kids, we call that "the usual" the gifts that he always gets when you don't know exactly what to get him. Matt's usuals include: itunes gift card, anything golf, socks, gift cards to the movies, 5 Guys Burgers & Fries, Famous Footwear, Cal-Ranch, & El Vaquero. At least we know he will use that stuff. We had planned on going bowling as a family to celebrate, but both bowling alleys were packed full of people so we weren't able to go. The kids were very sad about that and are still bugging us to go. We had Rupe's ice cream for dessert on the way home. It was great!! Happy birthday to the best husband ever. I am sure glad we get to spend forever together! Love ya!

Wedded Bliss

Today Matt and I are celebrating 8 years of wedded bliss. Hahaha (is there really such a thing?) We are still in love, but marriage is not all roses. There have been struggles and hard times and I am sure there will be more. But there have also been really wonderful great times, many more of those! We are very lucky to still be married and to still love each other. I am really grateful for that. In those 8 years we have moved 3 times, had 6 different vehicles, 3 beautiful children, 5 fish, 1 college degree, 6 different jobs, a lawn business, and a mountain of school and business debt. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

We celebrated over the weekend by going on an overnight vacation to....(drum roll)....Pocatello! Yeah we are adventurous like that. No, really I decided to book a room at the Black Swann Inn and surprise Matt. We stayed here on our honeymoon 8 years ago and I thought it would be fun to stay there again. Back then we stayed in the Romeo and Juliet Suite. This time we were in the Caveman Suite. It had the most amazing jetted tub!! It was fabulous!! We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, one of our favorites. Then we went to the movie The Hunger Games. It was amazing. We slept in in Sunday, just because we could and we ate lunch at Jack In The Box before heading home. We had to keep the tradition. On our honeymoon we were both starving because we hadn't eaten anything since before the wedding reception and it was after 10 before we got to Pocatello. The only thing open was a Jack In The Box. So Matt and I joke with each other that one of our first meals as husband and wife was Jack In The Box. So now we have to keep that silly tradition. It was wonderful to spend time together and to not have to worry about the every day stuff. We were excited to come home and see the kids and both feel recharged to get back into our every day routines. I love you Matt and I look forward to eternity with you!

Valentine's Day

 

I try to do something special for each of the kids on all the holidays, whether it is a special activity, or suprise or a special treat. This year each of the kids woke up to a small gift bag with some candy, a gumball machine, and valentine pencils. Paxten got a stuffed sock money instead of pencils. I just always want my kids to know they are loved and that Matt and I think each one of them is special. We are so lucky to have 3 wonderful kids in our home that bring so much LOVE into our lives. Yay for a day filled with LOVE!!!

Matt got me the next movie in the Twilight Series: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and a box of chcolates. I got him some of his favorite candy, Reeses Peanut Butter Hearts and a Play Station 3 game, Madden 2012. Today we got enganged 8 years ago so Valentines day will always be special to us!! Happy Heart day!!