January

Colby:
Colby started his last semester at Weber. It is definitely an adjustment for him to only have to go to one university and his Weber classes are mainly online. He only has to go to Ogden twice a month for lectures so this pace has been different for him. I have really liked it because he has been able to help me out at home with the girls more than he would have in previous semesters. He is, however, getting anxious to get started in his PA program.
He has been super helpful since having the baby. I'm very lucky that I have a guy who isn't afraid to do a little cooking, cleaning, and diaper duty!!

(I love watching these two play.....)

Megan:
I am adjusting to life as a mother of two!! It is still a crazy thing for me to think about. The first few weeks after delivering Hanna I almost felt like I had crazy amounts of adrenaline. I felt so great not being pregnant anymore. I was able to clean things that had not been cleaned in so so long! The fatigue finally started to set in just after she turned 3 weeks old.
I am starting to look for jobs up in Salt Lake. There aren't a ton but I'm sure going to give it my all until I'm able to nail something down! I have applied for about 5 at the U and got a phone interview for one of them. I don't think I did very good cause I was a little caught off guard but hopefully, if I get anymore I'll be a little more prepared!
We finally got a car that we can all fit into!! It is a 2012 Dodge Durango and I love it! I really hadn't looked into Durango's before but we found it on KSL and couldn't pass it up......I am hoping it'll last us a good 10 years or so. I'm not looking forward to the payments though.

Hayden:
Big sister started back in dance at the first of the month. She looks forward to it every week. She also graduated from Nursery and started Sunbeams. She is so good at singing I Am a Child of God, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, Do As I'm Doing, and the Wise Man Built His House on A Rock. I love listening to her sing these songs when she thinks I'm not listening!
She loves being the big sister and is constantly wanting Hanna to watch her do tricks. She loves to go grab diapers and wipes for me and get the bum cream ready. Sometimes she is a little too helpful and she thinks she wants to help me breatfeed by "squeezing" them. She obviously has no regard for personal space yet! Ha ha. Just a few days after Hanna was born she asked me if I had another baby in my belly and when I told her no she asked why my belly was so squishy. She is always very concerned about her sister. When she cries she says, "Oh no, whats wrong with my sister?" She wants to hold her about a thousand times a day. The first couple weeks she was a lot more clingy to me. She has always been a daddy's girl so it was a little weird for me. Now she has turned a bit more defiant and she is not wanting to listen. I think she thinks she can get away with more since I'm tied up feeding or burping or changing a bum.
She also has not been wanting to sleep in her room unless her dad is sleeping in there with her. I think she is a little jealous of the baby getting to sleep in our room. We have been struggling with her nap time- she is kind of transitioning into not having a nap but it is hard. She hasn't been getting sleepy enough to nap until 5 or 6 at night and then she won't go to sleep on time. But she gets so sleepy she can't stay awake any longer.
This month something happened that I have been dreading for a VERY long time. She found some scissors and CHOPPED her hair when she was supposed to be in her room sleeping while we were watching a movie!!!! She did quite a number on it. She feels really bad and keeps saying, "I don't like this hair" and "I look like a boy" and "Is my hair growing?" It is amazing how much it has effected her self confidence. She doesn't like to look at herself in the mirror anymore. I had no idea that a three year old could have confidence issues!!!! It breaks my heart. We keep telling her she is beautiful and her hair will grow.

(The full pageant- swimsuit, talent, evening gown)

(First day of Sunbeams)

(Repunzel hair she did herself)

("I wanna hold my sister")

(The product of her chop session)

(The aftermath)

Hanna:
Hanna has been doing what newborns do best. Eating sleeping and pooping! Ha ha- at her two week appointment she was passed her birthwieght at 8 lbs 3 oz and she had grown an inch measuring 21 inches. She has been much easier to breastfeed. It may be because I am not a nervous new mom this go round but it has thus far been a much better experience. She is eating about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day. At night she has been stretching her feeds to about four hour stretches so I usually only have to wake up once or twice to feed her. She hasn't been a very spitty baby thus far which I am very grateful for. I am having a really hard time not just sitting in my chair all day and rocking her to sleep. I really need to stop doing that though cause I can tell that she is definitely getting used to it. But it is one of my favorite things to hold a sleeping newborn. Our schedule goals for this last month have simply been: Try to get a full feeding and not just snacking and follow the Eat-Wake-Sleep routine. I have loftier goals for this next month. I am going to try to not hold her while she is sleeping as often. Start having a specific "start the morning" time- hopefully around 0800 give or take a half hour. Stretch the night time feedings to 6 hours or more. We'll see what I am able to accomplish! This week is her 5 week mark and she has definitely hit a fussy point. That is exactly when Hayden hit her fussy mark as well. The other night she kept us up until 0330. I was exhausted!! I am hoping that this doesn't last like it did with her sister! She is such a happy baby all day long but around 11 pm she gets very irritated. It's so sad!

(Hanna with her Namesake- her Great-Grandma Joyce- an amazing woman)

(Memorable moments of our first month)

(One month photo shoot- big sister wanted in on the action too.....topless.....with a tiara.....)

Christmas

I had to break our Christmas into several different entries. It was a tad bit eventful for us!! So, while Colby and I were frantically driving to Cedar to welcome our best Christmas present ever into our lives, Hayden got to stay at Grandma Nikki's and Grandpa Russ's. She pretty much stayed awake from 3 o'clock in the morning until just before all of her cousins came out to the house. Nikki said that she just played and played with all of her new toys from Santa. Then she got to spend a while with her cousins who she loves so much.

 

 

Meanwhile, we were settling into our room over on the recovery side of Labor and Delivery. I felt IMMEDIATELY better once Hanna was born. I had gotten so incredibly miserable towards the end. I waddled, I couldn't pick stuff up off the floor and I was so so tired at all times!

 

 

Hanna was the first baby born at Valley View on Christmas. Our delivery nurse was fabulous and she decked her out in this cute red bow and gave us a little swag bag for being the first one of the day!

 

 

Although we were thuroughly enjoying our day with our new little one, we could not wait for her big sister to come and meet her! Russ and Nikki brought her down that afternoon. Millie was so excited to meet her sister.

 

 

 

After the big introduction, Russ, Nikki, and my parents stayed and chatted and snuggled for a while then my mom and dad took the big sister back to Delta to spend a couple nights while Colby and I spent a night in the hospital and got adjusted at home.

Because our first kid had been under bili lights, they decided to do an early check on Hanna and I'm so glad they did because it was already in the high risk zone. So we were able to quickly get her on lights. These bed lights and the masks are so much better now then they were even a few years ago. So she spent her first night and most of the next day on the lights and we did a recheck and her levels were coming down.

 

 

 

Taking a break from the lights with dad!

 

 

 

We got discharge approval later in the afternoon that day after Christmas. We were so excited to take her home. We spent the next few days going into the lab to do bili checks but got cleared that next Monday.

 

 

She then got to meet the other member of our family, the furry one!

 

 

My mom brought Hayden back down on the 27th and we were so excited to reunite the sisters. Grandma Cyn was able to stay with us for a few days and then Grandma Nikki came for a couple as well. We are so very fortunate to have such great family that is willing to help when we need them.  

 

 

And the big sister finally got to open her Christmas presents from mom and dad!! Although Christmas was a little chaotic this year, the party got extended and it seemed she was opening presents for DAYS!

 

 

She was so excited to get her "bowling stuff" and played with them constantly.

 

Hanna Joyce- her birth story.

Christmas Eve night I said my prayers and asked that I not go into labor for 24 hour- thats it!! If I could just make it those 24 hours, I wouldn't feel so bad for the birthday my little one was going to have! Well Heavenly Father had different plans for my little one. At 3 o'clock in the morning, I suddenly woke up and then felt something change. Then my water broke. I woke up Colby and told him. Both of our thoughts were, "You have got to be kidding me!" We heard some bustling in the kitchen and it turned out that Nikki was up doing some baking! So Colby told her- Hayden also woke up during all of the commotion so we decided to tell her that Santa had visited and we took her in to see what she had gotten. I snapped a couple pictures. Russ and Nikki were busy getting blankets and towels gathered up for our drive and Russ also so kindly went out and started our car. I'm glad I had thought to get a full tank of gas just the day before- just in case! By 3:20 we were on the road.

 

 

 

 

I called my parents as we were heading out of Hinckley and my dad said he saw a white car go buzzing past just a few moments later- Ha ha!

My contractions during the drive were only about every 6 minutes apart. Colby drove pretty dang fast. We were very fortunate that there weren't any cows on the road and the fog lifted just a few miles outside of Deseret. It was a pretty clear night. Just before we got into Milford I told Colby to turn on his hazard lights just in case we passed a cop. Sure enough, in between Milford and Minorsville those blue and red lights started flashing behind us. Colby said, "Pretend you're having a contraction!" In return I said, "I don't have to pretend!!!" When the cop came to the drivers side window he asked what was wrong and Colby told him that I was in labor. He asked where we were headed and we told him that we were headed to Cedar and he told us to "go on- get out of here!" and as he started to back away he hollered, "Oh watch for deer!!" He followed us for maybe a mile and then turned around.

We got to the hospital about 4:40 (which is our record time for that drive- he he). When I got there, I was already dilated to 7 cm and my contractions were definitely getting stronger. The nurses tried telling me that they thought I could do it without an epidural at this point. I told them that I still wanted to try and get one!!!

 

 

I was, in fact, able to get my epidural. It was a great one! I could move, feel my contractions, and could tell when I needed to push. In the end I am so glad that I got it because Hanna was positioned face-up making it harder for her to descend. I think it would have been very very painful had I not gotten it because Dr. Gatherum tried multiple times to turn her but she wouldn't. Just before 7:00 they decided to let me start pushing to see if that would help her descend. I pushed for a little over an hour. Once she started coming- she had the cord around her neck twice- once that was removed she started turning herself. Dr. Gatherum and the nurse even thought it was pretty cool. At 0809- we got to welcome our beautiful little girl into this world! She pinked up quickly and was perfect from the get-go.

 

While pregnant, I thought that for sure she was going to be over 8 lbs. But in fact, I had a TON of fluid and the placenta was huge! I was super grateful that she was in the 7 lb range!!

 

It was love at first sight- we couldn't have been more blessed. We are so grateful that we get to have her in our family. She brings such a sweet spirit into our lives.

The rest of fall.......and into winter.

Our fall was fast and furious!! Aside from working full-time at Dixie, I was working one day a week at Cedar Valley Medical Clinic as an NP. It was a great opportunity to get my feet wet in my new field. The staff there is amazing and so gracious to me! In November, Colby went up to the University of Utah to interview for their PA program. We were surprised that he even got an interview their because they are the #2 PA school in the nation. Just like the other interviews, he made the best of a grueling process and let his personality shine. Just two days later, we found out that he had been ACCEPTED there as well!!!!! Then it was decision time......he had been accepted to all three schools that he had interviewed at and decided to not attend another interview because these three schools were very impressive. So........... after contemplating the pros and cons of each of the schools. We decided that the University of Utah would be the best place all-around for our family! One of the big reasons is how close we would be to our families if we get in a bind. I was going to feel awful if our girls only rarely got to see their grandparents and cousins. Also, our move is going to be so much easier than moving to another state, let alone across the country!! Besides the family stuff, Colby will have the opportunity to learn at an amazing program.

 

The first part of December, we made our annual trip up the mountain to fetch our Christmas tree! Colby was a trooper and found the tree for us and then only had us walk a little ways to get it seeing how I was 36 weeks pregnant! Millie was super excited to get her Christmas tree!

 

On December 10th, we had this cutie's very first dance recital!! Grandma Cyn and Grandpa Rick were coming through town so they were able to come watch. We were a little nervous cause she tends to get a little shy. Taking her backstage was a little dicey- she did not want to stay there with them. But finally she agreed to go play games. When the big moment finally came and her class walked onto stage, both Colby and I were holding our breath. But she walked right up there and danced away! She looked so stinking cute and we were so proud of her for doing it!

 

Here I am at 37 weeks pregnant. I was pretty miserable. My hips and pelvis felt as if they were splitting in two. If I didn't keep up on taking my zofran, I would start puking again. My feet looked like tree stumps and there were only a few pairs of shoes I was able to wear. It was a little weird because my left foot would swell A LOT worse than my right. At my 37 week appointment, I was measuring 40 weeks. I thought, for sure, we were going to have a chunker of a gal. My belly was huge. It took us clear until December to settle on a name for our little one. We decided on the name Hanna Joyce. I like the name Hanna because it is a very classic name that I feel could span generations; however, we dropped the H at the end- I hope I don't regret that later. The name Joyce is after my grandmother who has always been such a great example to me. We love our girls' middle names- they remind us of our grandmothers who represent such strength and kindness.

 

 

After contemplating whether or not we should travel to Delta for Christmas, we decided to just chance it. After all, I didn't got into labor until the day before my due date with Hayden. So I thought at 38 weeks, I should be okay even though I was measuring big! We went up Sunday after church and stayed at the Moody house the first two nights and then the Bliss house for Christmas Eve. It was so nice to go up a little before to be able to relax and spend time with family. I even was able to get my hair colored and trimmed for the first time in a very long time!

For Christmas Eve, we did the usual bounce back and forth between the two families. We started out in Hinckley that evening because Santa was coming over to visit. Hayden did so good and was so brave being the first one to jump up and sit on Santa's lap. She asked for a, "Purple princess dress a repunzel one." That is exactly how she worded it. After that though, she lost all confidence and had a little meltdown when all the grandkids were supposed to go take a picture with him.

 

 

I said to Nikki as I asked her to take a family picture of us, "This may very well be the last family picture with just the three of us!"

 

 

 

After Santa's visit, we went into my grandma Joyce's for her annual dinner. It is always so good to see how packed it gets in her house with all of our family! Then we headed back out to Hinckley for the night.