Life is Crazy

So, in April I thought, you know I'm so excited for summer. We don't have very many plans, we can chill at home, maybe go camping a few times, and just enjoy the warm weather. Well, all of that has happened plus a ton more. So here's a little catch-up. Alex has been learning how to crawl. He does a push-up (I can't do them like this kid does. I think only my Marine brother Jared and his wife can do them with expertise this kid shows), drops his knees and then rocks. When he gets frustrated that he isn't going anywhere, then he makes this little leap to get what he wants. He's growing so fast. It doesn't help that at 7 months old he is the size of a average sized 15 month old. He is the happiest kid though, and I'm really thankful for that.

 

William is so active. He runs everywhere, jumps on everything, and is constantly in my fridge. Typical boy. He loves his cars still and has developed a love for water. That includes the bathroom sink, the kitchen sink, the pool, the bathtub, and dumping his drinks out on the table. Bless his heart :D.

 

Abby has turned into such a good helper. It's so much easier when they can dress themselves and are out of diapers. And for better or worse, her vocabulary is huge. The other night James and I were laughing about something in the car and she told us to "settle down guys". She's awesome with the boys too. She plays with them and helps me help them. And at night when she is done and William is trying to turn on the lights she yells at us under the door to "turn off the breaker please!". How many 4 year olds know what a breaker is? She does because it disables William so he can't play all night long.

 

Well, enough blabbering, here are some pictures of some of our adventures.

Our cute family pic courtesy of Jes Myrick.

Daniel's high school graduation. The question is where are Abby and Tavner in this picture? Deriously no one knows. So much for a family pic at this event!

Charity and her kids came to visit in June! Yay! It had been almost two years and it was great to see them.

We went camping with Melissa, Brandon, and Maxwell.

Alex asleep in the car top carrier.

Maxwell and William playing in the tent.

Abby's family of inch worms.

Abby

Alex always has his tongue out.

William's birthday. Poor kid was sick but he got his bike!

Hiding in the box is fun too.

Putting stuff together is always fun.

James 10 year reunion

4th of July Parade in Kaysville.

Old car in the parade.

William thought that old car was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He was so excited since that is his favorite show right now.

James and his brother Daniel and their synchronized diving

 

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And last but not least, the house we have under contract that is also under construction. It looks more finished now. They are painting this week. Maybe one more month or so and we can move in. About the time that we are going to sign and move in, my brother should be going to CO on leave before he leaves for Afghanistan for 7 months. My friends are having a reunion at the same time. And, James is doing the photography for a wedding. We're just hoping the timing all works out perfectly on this one! To see the video tour of our very unfinished house clicke here:

http://www.jamesandshauna.com/photos/photo.php?photo=9858&album=186. That's about it for now. Thanks for being patient with my inability to post more regularly.

 

 

Alex Baby Blessing

It's been a busy month. My little sister got married, which made me feel old since she is the youngest and last to get married. It was fun though, and I don't think I've ever seen her more beautiful and confident. It was a fabulous day. And, since the whole family was in town, we did Alex's baby blessing. He is the fattest little thing. Yesterday he cried for an hour before I pulled off his pants and he stopped crying. They were too tight. At this point jammies and one piece outfits are tons easier. Even his new church cords are 6-9 mos pants, and I have to unbutton them. He just turned 3 months this week. He's a big kid, and a very happy one. Adjusting to 3 has actually been good since he is a happy baby. Additionally, William is learning to talk which makes life easier. And lastly, Abby is amazing. She has grown up so much and she is such a good helper. She's smart and funny and I think she is beautiful. I feel bad sometimes because I don't usually do her hair with curls or put it up much. But, she is finally getting enough hair to do it, so we need to start practicing. Anyway, here are some pics from the blessing.

James, Alex, and I

My mom holding Alex

Grandma and Grandpa Slaydon

James, Jared, and his wife Basia

Abby with her cousin Tavner (his mom was here, she was the one taking the pics, thank you Christy!)

Nana and Papa

My parents

Jessica and Dave (sorry Jessica, it was the only pic we had)

Caitlin and Will

Daniel

It was fun to have everyone together. Even Crystal and her now husband Zachary came. He left quickly though since he was late for his own Bachelor Party. Thanks everyone! We appreciate your support and love!

 

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Abby and deductive reasoning

So last week, Abby and I were talking about fingers and what the names of all the fingers were. Pinky and thumb were easy, but she was getting the other three mixed up. No worries though. The next day, I was getting ready and was cleaning my ears out with Q-tips. Abby came in and wanted to clean her ears too.

Mom - If you want to clean your ears, then I need to help you. We have to be careful with the Q-tips so that they don't go into your ear too far and break your ear drum.

Abby - Oh, we don't want to break my ear drum, cuz that would hurt huh mom.

Mom - Yup

Abby - That's ok mom, that's what this finger is for (holding up right pointer finger). This is my ear finger so that I don't break my ear drum.

It's amazing how much they really retain when you don't think they are really paying attention.

Alexander Zethan

It's been forever, but obviously the biggest event is that Alexander Zethan was born on Christmas Eve. I had been having timing contractions for a couple of nights previous. So when I went into labor at 2am I wasn't sure if it was for real. I called the hospital and woke James at 3am, and decided to leave for the hospital at 4am. The contractions were 10 minutes apart at 2am, and 5 minutes apart at 4am. We woke up our neighbors upstairs and gave them the baby monitor to listen for Abby and Will, scraped the ice off of the car and left. At 5am in the hospital, I was already at 7cm, and since I had tested positive for Strep B, the nurses were scrambling to get my IV in with the antibiotics. I started pushing a little after 6am. It took awhile for me to figure out how to push. I've always had an epidural before, and this time I didn't have that. The other issue was that my leg and feet muscles were cramping so badly I couldn't concentrate on pushing. I finally made up my mind that my misery wasn't going to end unless the baby came out, an epidural wasn't an option, which left it to me. It only took two more pushes and he was born at 6:58 am, weighing 8lbs 6oz, and 21 inches long.

I had been hoping I could do it without an epidural this time around. I'm so glad that I did. The other two recoveries were very difficult. This recovery was a lot easier, which was good since there are three of these little people now. The biggest blessing was that for William's birth I was so numb I couldn't push, so the doctor had to use foreceps. They broke my tailbone doing it, and it healed wrong so that it's been very painful to sit for the last 18 months. Alex rebroke it and it healed correctly so that I don't have that injury anymore. The other blessing was the fact that this time I went with a midwife and I was so pleased with that change. They were willing to let me have an epidural if I wanted it, and there was a doctor there in the hospital if something went wrong. It was awesome when she got to the hospital, she knew a lot of pressure points to relieve pain which is how I made it. All in all, it was a great experience for a change. And it was only 5 hours long which was awesome. Here's a pic of newborn Alex

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We actually let Alex pick his name. So, for all of those that participated in our name vote, we had the most votes for Logan Alexander, and that was my personal favorite. James liked Alexander and Zethan, and we agreed that we couldn't decide. So, three days before Alex was born James and I conducted a kick test. The baby was moving fairly regularly, and so we asked him if he liked Logan (pause, no kick). If he liked Alexander (pause, 1 kick). If he liked Zethan (pause 2 kicks). At this point we didn't know if he wanted Alexander Zethan or Zethan Alexander. So we asked him which one and he kicked for Alexander Zethan. It's probably totally bogus, and we were laughing really hard. Mostly because a kick test had worked at all, and then because we seriously considered the results and decided that name was it. So, I think that means that Karen, Kristina, and Jess won the vote. Mostly because the baby voted :D.

Here's me and James too.