My Little Two Month Old

Morgan is so cute! She is smiling and cooing at us often. Right now she is squawking for me to come either pick her up from her nap or put the binky in her mouth... it was the former so she's sitting next to me listening to Big and Rich.

Anyway, I took some pictures of her in her blessing dress. It is a special dress because it was the dress that I was blessed in 29 years ago. If I had a scanner I would scan my blessing picture but we can't find our printer/scanner (it's somewhere in the house or garage, I'm sure).

Jeremy took some pictures at her blessing dinner. Thanks, Jer!

She has been going to sleep by herself in her bassinet and usually sleeps for about 3 to 4 hours per stretch at night, which totally rocks my world. I've also started to worry less that she will stop breathing so I can actually sleep.

We had Morgan's 2 month appointment the other day. She is growing well. She weighs 10 lbs 2 oz and is 21.5 inches long. She is in the 25th percentile for weight, height and head circumference.

Utah Trip

It's been a good couple of weeks. We had a family trip to Utah planned for the week before Father's day but Tom got an opportunity to go to a seminar to do some business for his work and flew to Canada with Russell and Garrett until the Sunday before father's day (we were going to leave the Friday before that). I decided that I'd fly to Utah on Wednesday so Morgan and I hopped on a plane and had my mom pick us up. Thanks mom!

Morgan did great on the plane. She slept the whole time. I think the ambient noise was very helpful. I wish we had it at night.

We spent almost a week in Lynndyl with my family. Tom drove from Boise on Sunday and spent a couple of days with my family before we went to Salt Lake to hang out with his.

Both of his brothers, Robb and Adam, and sister, Mari and their families were there. It was a lot of fun except they wanted to start their days at 10am and with Morgan not sleeping all night, it's not a reality for me unless I want to run on 3 or 4 hours of sleep, which I don't. I asked them to go without me one day and I'd catch up but they all just waited for me.

Tom's dad flew in from Green Bay the Friday before Father's day and we spent the weekend with him. It was Tom's first time to see him in a year and they had fun together. Actually, Tom was sick and slept quite a bit of the trip (poor thing) but had a good time never the less.

We blessed Morgan on Father's day. Tom did a fantastic job.

Prior to the blessing, I called Britt and asked her to bring McKinley's blessing dress just in case Morgan had a blow out. Well, Morgan did great throughout the blessing but as soon as she was handed back to me she pooped all over me and her dress. Luckily we were done with the blessing and the dress was chiffon and washed out easily. I took off the cotton slip and put on a onesie and the dress again. Everything looked normal.

I was supposed to get some stuff for the dinner that we were having after church and thought I had everything. My mom and I went over the list right after the blessing and I realized that I forgot the rolls for sandwiches. I ended up breaking the Sabbath and sped to Delta to buy rolls for our bar-b-que turkey sandwiches.

I will have more pictures to post later but those in this entry are courtesy of Mari.

Thanks to everyone who brought food, gifts for Morgan, and support for our baby. Sorry I couldn't have visited friends while we were in Utah. It was a full trip.

Yay for Warm Weather and Swimming Pools

Wow, it's been about double Morgan's life since I've updated my blog. We have a few things to acknowledge.

At 3 1/2 weeks Morgan rolled over from her tummy to back. I thought it was a fluke at first, then she did it four more times that week. At 5 weeks she rolled from back to tummy with the exception of an arm that was in the way.

About that time one day she started screaming the painful scream. I picked her up and noticed that she was pulling her own hair. Funny.

At 4 1/2 weeks she smiled at me. It didn't last long and has only happened once since but it was a real smile.

She is now just over 5 weeks old. She does very well keeping eye contact. She has even started to mimic us. If we stick out our tongue she does too.

She loves being held and we love holding her. She was doing alright sleeping in her bassinet (an hour or two at a time), then I realized that she sleeps so much longer if I'm holding her so I gave in the past couple of nights and let her sleep with me. I really kick myself for it afterward because we're regressing. It seems like whenever I put her in her bassinet she starts crying. I read in a book that it is okay to let babies cry for up to 45 minutes so they can get used to going to sleep by themselves. It is so hard for me to listen to her cry so it seems like I give in after about 10 minutes. I would love advice on how anyone got their babies to go to sleep in their own beds. I'm really struggling with it. Any advice on how to get them to sleep through the night is welcome too.

Morgan is usually very alert during the morning and early afternoon. By the time Tom gets home she is usually ready to eat and sleep. I pump and leave a bottle for Tom and I go running. When I get home this is what I often find.

She finally took a binky at 4 weeks. It turns out that we were trying to give her the wrong kind. She really likes the Mum brand. She doesn't keep it in for very long most times but at least she's taking it.

I love this dress. Katie gave it to me for her when I was in Las Vegas in March.

Tom's sister, Mari, and her family visited us a couple weekends ago. Unfortunately this is the only picture I got. Her cousin, Meg, is holding her.

We had our first play date in our back yard a couple of weeks ago. These pictures are from two separate days. I love having the pool because it gives me an excuse to have everyone over during the day.

Collette and Ellie

Carter

Haylen, Bowen and Dallin

This is of them after the pool. They wanted to watch Bolt. It's also a good time for moms to chat.

I tried to protect her from the sun. The "infant sized" hat is a little big.

Last but not least, my weight loss... I went off sugar for a week, then ate some on Memorial day then off again for another 5 days. I weighed myself. I'd maybe lost one pound. One pound! I'm breast feeding for crying out loud. So yesterday I had a sugar binge and have recommitted to my strict Total Health and Fitness nutrition plan (I used to be a diet and exercise consultant and made myself a plan... like I said, it's strict) and I joined an exercise boot camp that starts today and goes all month, 3 times per week. I hope it kicks my butt and helps me lose the gut. I took some pictures but I hate them so much that I won't post them. Maybe when I lose 25 pounds I will do the before/after pictures but I don't want anyone to see me.

Dear Dairy

One might look at the title to this one and think, "Kelli doesn't know how to spell." Well, that's true, however, I wrote that as a tribute to an assignment I had in elementary school. I must have been in 3rd or 4th grade and our teacher handed out a paper to each student for creative writing. It said, "Dear Diary," and the rest of it was full of lines for each student to write in their diary.

I got the paper and read it... "Dear Dairy..." "That's interesting," I thought. "We didn't go to a dairy but what the heck, I'll write to them and pretend we did and that it was a great experience." So, instead of writing to my diary, I wrote to the dairy. (I excelled in math, okay. Not spelling.)

I really feel like I run a dairy here. Almost every day I hook myself up to the breast pump and sit there while it pumps my milk so I can freeze it for Morgan. Every time Tom walks into the room I beller. Mooooooo!

Here are some pictures of Morgan having tummy time and bath time.

ready to walk

her neck muscles are getting strong

it looks like she's holding her head up with her arm and waiving with the other

Today is the day I turn over a new leaf and start eating healthily. I weighed myself -- 163.3. Twenty five pounds to my skinny jeans. I've started jogging and my mom got me Dance Dance Revolution for my birthday so I can exercise while I'm with Morgan. I'm going to write my progress and post pics like I did while I was pregnant. That way I won't forget my sacrifice (no cookie dough).

Happy Mother's Day!

Morgan turned two weeks last Friday. Her milestones are yellow poop, laughing in her sleep, eye contact (sometimes), sleeping for short periods in her bassinet, and, I think, recognizing her mommy.

She and Tom are buddies. He is already wrapped around her little finger.

Morgan sleeps very well in her swing (thanks Robb and Shell). I would put her in it at night but I want her to get used to her bassinet, then we'll transition to a crib.

We had some friends over yesterday for Mother's Day. We got a new bar-b-que grill (supposedly for Father's Day, but we'll see) so we wanted to try it out. It was awesome.

Anyway, here are a couple of cute pictures of Morgan with Carter and Brooklyn. Brooklyn was so cute with her. She kept touching her arm and her little toes.

Some other friends were going to come but couldn't find our house. Our phones were in our room so we didn't answer. Sorry again Tasha! Later on, Tasha did come over to see Morgan and bring her little baby, Kade. He is adorable. He was born prematurely and was in the NICU for a couple of weeks. He is getting big though and tops the scales at 9 pounds, making Morgan look tiny.

We took her to church yesterday for one hour. Some of the women thought we were crazy for taking her so soon. Honestly, I don't really know what is normal because this is my first time to be a mom. I feel fine though and she is doing well so we figured an hour at church wouldn't hurt. I ended up spending half of it in the mother's lounge feeding her. I did make it out for the mothers' gifts at the end of the program. My first time to get one that wasn't a sympathy gift!

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! I hope you had a great day.

We're really excited for our new ward. It is smaller that we're used to but the people are awesome. The Relief Society president is super cool. She is the type that is young and vivacious and claims that she never thought she'd be Relief Society president because she tried to live just below that line. I'm excited.

Here is a picture of Tom and Morgan playing and another of them resting.

P.S. We are going to be blessing her in Leamington (Utah, near Delta) on Father's Day. Sacrament always starts at 11:50 there. If you will be in the area, you are invited.

Pictures of Morgan

Morgan's first bath

Morgan and Mommy

Morgan and Daddy

Morgan and Aunt Shyanne

Morgan and Uncle Jackson

Welcome to the World, Morgan!

This has been the most action packed week of my life. To make this blog shorter I will do a timeline.

Wednesday, April 22 - Signed documents for purchase of new house.

Thursday, April 23 - Started moving boxes to new house. My boss, Cathy, and her family helped. Saw Monsters VS Aliens in 3D.

Friday, April 24 -

8:28 am - got up and went to bathroom for probably 5th time that morning.

8:29 - washed hands.

8:30 - water broke and dripped down legs. Told Tom and we stared at each other until 8:32.

8:32 - called my mom.

8:33 - took a shower.

8:40 - got dressed.

8:45 - blow dried and straightened hair.

9:00 - packed bag for hospital.

9:25 - went to new house to pick up car seat base that was moved the night before.

9:40 - went to McDonald's to get a fruit and yogurt parfait because we were told I should eat before going to hospital because I would get no food during labor.

9:41 - first strong contraction hit.

10:00 - arrived at St. Luke's Downtown Boise hospital and parked our car in "no parking."

10:01 - valet asked if we need car parked. Gave him keys.

10:03 - signed in at front desk of labor and delivery.

10:15 - got checked by nurse and hooked up to fetal monitors in triage room.

11:00 - got my own delivery room.

11:01 - asked for epidural.

12:00pm - started crying tears of pain because hadn't received epidural but was dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced.

12:01 - Tom left room to make someone give me an epidural.

12:30 - anaesthesiologist arrived to give epidural.

12:40 - felt really good.

1:45 - started pushing.

3:52 - felt her head with my hand.

3:54 - Morgan was born.

I absolutely love this picture. She is so cute!

She weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce and was 19 inches long. Her hair was light brown/silver with blond roots.

Today she is a week old and has captured her daddy's heart. Tom is so good with her. He's such a good dad and has found a new definition of love.

Alright, back to the timeline...

3:57 - got stitched up because I tore.

4:44 - tried to pee but couldn't.

4:45 - my parents, Jackson and Shyanne arrived.

5:15 - tried nursing with help of RN.

5:30 - overflowed the bag for a urine catheter.

5:35 - went to my room in the maternity ward.

8:30 - still couldn't pee so overflowed another bag while being cathed (I drink a lot). Sometime before midnight I finally was able to go so I didn't have to have a permanent catheter for my entire stay.

Saturday, April 25 - I spent the day with Morgan in the hospital while Tom, Robb (his bro from Green Bay who flew out around midnight to help), Adam, Dana (other brother and wife), my family, and a bunch of our awesome friends around Boise moved everything from our rental to our new house. It was so great. I had hired a couple of young women to clean the house first and they did on Friday. Then Cathy (my boss) arranged for the carpet cleaners and movers to help with the big stuff. I am so grateful and overwhelmed by the kindness and help that everyone has given to us during this time. I hope that we can repay all of you or at least pay it forward. Thank you!

Sunday, April 26 - Morgan and I came home to our new house. Adam and Dana went back to Salt Lake.

Monday, April 27 - Grandpa Doug, Aunt Shyanne and Uncle Jackson went home to Utah. My mom stayed, thank goodness. I couldn't have gone through this week with the fraction of sanity that I have without her. Robb took amazing pictures of Morgan (which I will be posting soon). Organized some things in the house.

Tuesday, April 28 - Robb left. Organized some things in the house. Went to American General to have my baby shower that was previously planned and introduced Morgan to my friends there.

Wednesday, April 29 - My birthday. Went out to eat at Pad Thai. Organized some things in the house.

Thursday, April 30 - Took Morgan to her doctor appointment. Everything is perfect except that she weighs 5 pounds 11 ounces. That was her weight when she left the hospital so the doctor wants to see her on Monday to make sure she is gaining. Organized some things in the house.

Now here we are. I am typing this while Morgan is in her bassinet. I'm trying to get her accustomed to it so she will sleep there during the night. I have a hard time putting her down at night. I just want to hold and cuddle her. I love her so much.

Thank you all who called/texted/wrote on facebook. I appreciate all the support and love you have shown us.