Sunday, December 30, 2012

Playing in the Pantry

Chick-fil-A

Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012
Lunch with Daddy
Chick-fil-A

It was Customer Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A, which meant activities, bounce house, and a huge cow. Unfortunately, we missed out on the bounce house 
but we were able to snag a picture of the kids in front of the cow.



1 Week Old

Baby Ellie 
One Week Old
December 19, 2012


Ellie is such a sweet baby! So far, she is our best baby. We hardly ever hear her cry, unless of course she's hungry or needs to be changed. Our home has so much more love in it now that she's here. We feel her sweet little spirit so strongly and are so blessed to have her in our family. Our kids just adore her and love to gives hugs and kisses and say, "I love you!". When she does cry, both Talmage and Emma run to her side and say, "It's ok Ellie. It's ok Ellie." I love watching them be so sweet to their baby sister.  


Ellie had her first doctor's appointment on Monday, December 17. She weighed 7 lbs oz, only 1 oz smaller than her birth weight! The doctor was very pleased. I was worried she'd lost more weight because my milk didn't come in until Sunday, when she was 4 days old. We also discovered that she is only 19.5 in, not 21.3 in like the hospital said she was. Emma was 19.5 in so I'm pretty sure the doctor's office was more accurate. Plus, we are both short so it makes sense that our babies are short.

Sisters

Sisterly Love
December 17 & 18

Ellie - 5 days old

 Emma just adores her baby sister! She always wants to hold her. 
She says, "I hold it! I hold it!" Both the kids love giving her hugs and kisses.

 Emma is so excited because Ellie is actually awake! 
She's saying, "Awake, awake!"



Emma's showing Ellie her broom.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Siblings

12-14-12

They both adore their new baby sister!!


Ellie's 1st Bath at Home

1st Bath
12-15-12







Emma Maren is 2!

Happy Birthday Emma Maren!
12.12.12
2 years old


Emma's birthday this year was a busy one! She got just what she wanted, a baby sister! Ellie Marie was born on 12.12.12! Emma spent the night with Aunt Audrey and her cousins. They sang to her in the morning and Aunt Audrey spoiled her and brother by taking them to Chick-Fil-A to play and get a kids meal. After Ellie was born, Audrey brought them back to meet their sister. Jacob took the kids in the evening to play at McDonald's since that was her #1 request. She just loves "nonalds."

We officially celebrated her birthday on Friday morning, December 14th. She opened all her gifts and had her special breakfast. Her gifts consisted of mainly princess stuff, clothes & accessories. She is such a girly girl.

Emma is such a fun and spirited little girl. She has the cutest personality! Her favorite thing is to sing and dance! She loves to laugh, make faces, and make others laugh. Sweet & spunky totally describe Emma. She can be cuddly & kind one moment, then crazy & stubborn the next. She's loving her twin bed and continues to do pretty well with potty training. She still cries sometimes at night and likes to refuse her naps half the time. She's also quite the talker! We are loving are the fun and cute things she says. Brother is teaching her lots of new words and songs. She's one crazy girl but we wouldn't have it any other way! She brings so much life & fun into our family.

Happy 2nd Birthday pretty girly girl!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Ellie Marie Lewis

Ellie Marie Lewis
12.12.12
12:10pm
7lbs 14oz
21.3 in 
(Dr said she's only 19.5 in)

The morning of December 11, a Tuesday, I had a doctor's appointment. Since I was measuring at 40 weeks, she decided to strip my membranes to see if labor would start. I was already a good 3cm and 60% effaced so we were hopeful. I had cramping all day and just felt yucky. Around 7 pm, I started having contraction every 7-10 minutes. By 9 pm, my contractions were every 2-4 minutes apart and painful. Jacob's sister, Audrey, came to pick up the kids around 10 pm. They headed home with her husband and she came with us to the hospital. 

In triage, they checked me and realized I was now 5 cm dilated. We were hopeful this labor would be fast! I received my epidural around midnight and was still at 5 cm. This was so weird  Both Talmage and Emma were very fast labors. Talmage was 6 hour and Emma was 4 hours. I proceeded to labor into the night, slowly dilating. Ellie was very high and would not drop low enough to break my water. This meant trying all kinds of positions during the night to help her drop. Finally, at 9 cm, the doctor broke my water. A few hours later, I was ready to push. I think it was around 9 am. I pushed for awhile with the nurse and not much happened. She was still pretty high.

Then, the doctor came in to try a few pushes with me. Still, not much was happening. Around this time, I was having lots of pain and pressure. With the other two, it was just pressure. The pain got more and more intense and I had to stop pushing. I couldn't hold back the tears. I felt like weak since I had an epidural. They called the anesthesiologist to come in to see if he could help with my pain. By this time, I could move my legs perfectly and I could even feel the cathedar sting. It was at this time that I realized the epidural had been turned off. The anesthesiologist was the one who told me it was turned off. He was puzzled why the doctor would do that. I was not too happy! Apparently, she wanted me to feel enough to push. I think she thought I'd only push for 15 minutes. Anyways, by this time, it was pretty much too late for anything to help. 

Luckily, they were so busy that extra doctors were called on to help out. This meant I got a new doctor, the doctor I wanted! She was the one who gave the okay for me to get more medicine in my epidural. We immediately started pushing through the pain and I was actually making some progress. She kept manually stretching me to help prevent tearing. She also put mineral oil to help with elasticity. Overall, she was great! I ended up tearing a little but not too bad, considering she was my biggest baby.

After 15 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing, Ellie was born face-up. She was purple and had a cone-shaped head. The labor and pushing were prolonged because she was face-up. It's a lot harder for babies to be born that way and a lot more painful. The nurse said 85% of babies face-up result in a c-section because they get stuck. Lucky for me, I was able to push her out. She inhaled fluid, which caused her to turn purple from lack of breathing. After suctioning her airways, she let out her first little cry. It was beautiful and definitely a relief.
Her cone-head from being born face-up.


The wonderful "after giving birth" shot. 
I was exhausted!

 The nurse made her little bow hat. So cute!





 The 12/12 birthday girls! 
Emma was so excited to get a baby for her birthday!

 Both the kids are just loving their little sister! 
They're always giving hugs and kisses!


Going home!

Friday, December 7, 2012

100 Things I remember about my mom. By Jacob CML Lewis


When I began to write down these tender memories, I didn't think I could make it to 100. When I was finished typing, however, I couldn't believe how much there was to remember about my mom. I will always love her and will do my best to honor her.


1.      The three most important things I remember most about mom was: Family, The Gospel & The United States of America.
2.      If there was a fourth, it would be chocolate covered nuts.
3.      The fifth would be BYU.
4.      Her brown permed hair.
5.      Her excited response to no matter what you would tell her.
6.      When she would call for dad when he didn't have his hearing aid in: "Dad. Daddy! WAYNE!"
7.      Cottage cheese on chili or spaghettio's
8.      The way her Spaghetti tasted, YUM!
9.      When she would heat up pot pies and put them on rice.
10.  Her helping me with my school project, that was due the week before.
11.  Saying "I didn't know that. Dad did you know that?" When I told her something I just learned for the first time.
12.  That sweet, sweet smile.
13.  The red fingernails scratching your back.
14.  When she would impersonate Jimmy Stewart's line from Mr. Kruger's Christmas "A a a bass."
15.  The way she quoted lines from any movie, especially What's Up Doc!.
16.  The way she would grab her heart and sigh when a particular song or movie came on.
17.  The way she lovingly looked back at my father.
18.  The way she would 'pift' whenever something inappropriate happened.
19.  How she had the house on Terrace Dr painted pink and the inside walls painted bright colors to remind her of Arizona.
20.  That no matter what house we lived in, you could always find the wall of family photos.
21.  When she would repeat Dutch words.
22.  Her love of grave sites and her reverence there.
23.  The way she placed her dolls for display.
24.  When she would say "mmm bye" instead of just bye on the telephone.
25.  Her love of flowers, especially roses.
26.  Her moo moos.
27.  The twinkle in her eye.
28.  Her cheerful voice on the phone.
29.  Her love of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.
30.  The crush she had on Tyrone Power in her teens.
31.  The countless items of tender jewelry she wore. From her rings to her bracelets to her ear rings to her necklaces. She didn't wear them to look important or fancy, for each piece had a special meaning and she wore those items that she wanted to remember.
32.  The way she said: "I love you." as she stared right up into your eyes.
33.  How much she loved to sit as a family and watch an episode from the Dick Van Dyke show or the I Love Lucy Show, and watching her giggle through them.
34.  How her spiritual dial was always turned up to full blast.
35.  Her love of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which her father sang in when he was younger.
36.  The stories she would tell us about our ancestors.
37.  The way she celebrated and decorated for holidays that nobody cared about:
38.  For Presidents Day she would have pictures of the presidents all over the house.
39.  For Memorial Day we would go and visit the grave sites of our families.
40.  For Veterans Day she would have an unproclaimed WWII movie marathon.
41.  For Thanksgiving the house would be decked out with Pilgrims and turkeys.
42.  The way she would blast the house with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir every Sunday morning to get us out of bed.
43.  The way she morphed the home for Christmas on the outside and inside with two Christmas trees, her snow village, nutcrackers and countless other items.
44.  The way she treated the in-laws as her own children.
45.  The way she treated each of us as her only child.
46.  The way she fit into your arms when you hugged her.
47.  The AVON products in the bathroom.
48.  Her fingernails painted with Y's on them for game day.
49.  The way she sang the BYU fight song with her fists punching the air.
50.  How she would take care of me when I was sick.
51.  The way she tenderly placed Neosporin on an open wound.
52.  When she would take me out in the neighborhood to put AVON pamphlets on every door knob, and then we would go out to buy basketball cards afterwards.
53.  Seeing her in the back row at my performances, because she chose to put everything off at the last moment to come see me.
54.  Seeing her pull into the front of the school in the little blue Rav 4 to pick me up.
55.  The moment when she clutched my hand, as we began to slide down from Terrace Dr. on the ice.
56.  When we would go up into the mountains to see the leaves change color.
57.  Waking my mom up from a nap, knowing that my life was in danger of another frantic maul.
58.  When she would make Postum for us during the winter before we left for school, and the toast wedges that we would dip in them.
59.  I also remember how she would turn on the oven just for me, so that I could put my legs on the open door to warm up.
60.  When she moved to the room in the basement so that Grandma & Grandpa Lewis could have their room upstairs.
61.  Her love of dancing.
62.  The way she would hug you as if it was the last hug, especially within the last three years.
63.  Coming into the home to see mom either doing the bills, the meds, typing up a patriarchal blessing or just watching a movie. At her side would be all kind of snacks.
64.  One of the snacks was her all-time favorite: Lays chips with yogurt.
65.  The red cough medicine spray.
66.  Her beautiful, and surprisingly legible, cursive penmanship.
67.  I remember helping her make the bed on Briar and Terrace Dr. with all of the frilly bedding and pillows. Every pillow had to go on a certain way.
68.  Seeing her face on Christmas Day as she watched us tear through our presents.
69.  Watching Luke II, at her request, on Christmas morning and feeling a spirit that I would never forget.
70.  The way she would kiss dad.
71.  The way her hands would feel so soft.
72.  How she reminded me of Josephine Hull.
73.  The massive VHS collection of Disney movies.
74.  Her love of anything made by Walt Disney.
75.  That whenever she told you to watch a particular movie, that movie would always change your life.
76.  Her love of the Boy Scouts of America and how she motivated me to finish my eagle and get my merit badges. I am forever grateful for that.
77.  How she would pick out an actor in a scene that they did the Temple Work for.
78.  When we would look through her annual Year In Review edition of the encyclopedia, to find out who had passed away. Each year she would give at least ten “oh, not them!”
79.  Having this conversation: "Hey Mom." / "Hiiiiiiiiiii" / "How are you doing" / "Good!" All while she attempts to get up from the bed in pain.
80.  Her contagious laugh that sounded just like Grandma Genevie's laugh.
81.  Her fantastic intelligence. Her memory was amazing and she seemed to know anything about everything.
82.  The way she could apply any event to the gospel.
83.  The short drives we would take past the homes we used to live in or that our ancestors did.
84.  Her heavily marked scriptures.
85.  I remember the way she would hang on to things when you would ask to borrow it: A movie, a book, a CD, a photo.
86.  Her love of history. She had a way of applying any historical event to God's Kingdom on earth.
87.  How dad was the only one to tell me how much pain she was in.
88.  The way she treated each grandchild as if they were not only her favorite grandchild, but the only grandchild.
89.  I remember how much she hated gossip, and how she would deflect it with: "That is so sad."
90.  That no matter where she was or what was happening, she would stop, stand as straight as possible, place her hand on her heart and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance if it began to play. I distinctly remember being late to school a few times if she discovered that it was playing on the BYU campus as we drove through it.
91.  How every bad thing done by her child was erased from her memory as if it never happened.
92.  How she loved you more for what you were (her child and a child of God) then what you were doing.
93.  Her contagious Christ-like attitude.
94.  How anyone that knew her, was honored to know her.
95.  Her unwavering honesty and obedience.
96.  The way she would comb your hair with her fingers as you cried in her lap.
97.  Her comforting presence that made you feel everything was going to be okay.
98.  How every hobby she had was more than a hobby, it was a passion: Her dolls, her movies, the holidays & her family.
99.  Her optimism that changed lives, comforted your soul, and moved mountains.
100. That her best friend was the Savior, and that knowing her, helped you know Him better

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

37 weeks + Ultrasound

December 4, 2012

3 cm dilated
50% effaced
-2 station

Our baby girl is still measuring 39 weeks, weighing 7lbs 8oz!
Both my tummy and the ultrasound show 39 weeks, which goes right along my with my original due date of December 12th. I'm pretty sure the doctors were wrong when they changed my due date to the 25th. So pretty much any day now she could come! It's kind of surreal to me, especially since they've been telling me I still have 3 weeks to go! Now, all of a sudden, they're telling me she could come now! If she hasn't come by Wednesday, December 12, then my doctor will strip my membranes to get things going. Her head is measuring 40 weeks so I'm hoping she won't wait too long to come.  Since Emma's birthday is the 12th, I'm hoping she'll come December 13th or 14th. But we will see!






Friday, November 30, 2012

36 weeks!

November 29, 2012
36 weeks, 2 days

Measuring at 38-39 weeks!

Nothing fits over my belly anymore! I feel like she could come any day now. I have an ultrasound and doctor's appt on Tuesday, at 37 weeks. We can't wait to see my progress and our cute little girly!

Thanksgiving Advent

 Our THANKSgiving Tree
November 22, 2012


After all the decor and excitement of Halloween was over, I felt like there was nothing left for Thanksgiving. There's always fall decor, but not much focused on the actual holiday of Thanksgiving. So I came up with a Thanksgiving advent calendar. I cut out a tree from a few pieces of brown construction paper. Then, I cut out multiple fall leaves, totaling 22, for 22 days until Thanksgiving. We started on November 1st. Each day, the kids would choose a leaf and add it to our Thanksgiving tree. Then, we'd write something that we were thankful for. The kids absolutely LOVED this! Everyday, they always reminded me that we needed to put up another leaf. So here is a picture of the finished product, on Thanksgiving!