Elani Diane Harper

Elani (pronounced like Melanie but without the M) Diane (named after my mom) was born at 2:58pm on June 14, 2011. I did not get to hold her or see her until almost 7 that evening. I also was put all the way under for the c-section because I could feel them cutting with pain. Turns out we just should have waited a few more minutes. By the time I got her she was starving. And latched on and ate for a good 10 minutes. I was so happy about that. She weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She has been such a good little baby.

We came home on that friday and sunday went over to my parents house for Fathers Day. It was nice. We also went over to my grandparents house and all the family got to meet her. My grandma had even bought a few cute outfits for her.

As far as recovery goes. I was feeling great by that sunday. And I keep forgetting to take it easy because I am still technically recovering. I feel it sometimes. For example I feel the need to cough sitting down. It is less painful.

V has been great in all of this. At first he was jelous. He didn't like that E was ALWAYS on mommy's lap. But he is very interested in the baby. The first thing he told her was "no baby these Dernon toys." hahaha. He cracks me up.

Fabulous 28

Yup that time of the year has come again. My birthday. And I am 28 this year. It was a nice birthday. I had to do something distasteful-renew my drivers license. Oh well. I also got to go the chyropractor and get my back adjusted for the weight of the baby. Boy does it feel nice.

I got a Cold Stone Creamery cake and boy is it good. It tastes like oreo in cake and ice cream form.

We also went to the Shrine Circus. Oh it was a great experience. V loved the tigers and elephants. He hardly blinked the whole first half. There where camels and horses and men who balance swords on their mouths. Oh wow. There was also a bear.

However after the intermission he lost interest. Until the elephants did tricks. Then for the finale was the motorcycles in the cage. He was scared. Snuggled up real close but he couldn't take his eyes off the cage. They fit 4 motorcyles in that cage. WHOLEY COW was it intense.

I also had lots of people on facebook wish me a happy birthday. I am truely blessed in my life.

Easter

I made things simple this easter. We didn't dye eggs, but I have boiled eggs to do deviled eggs, which I still haven't made. I got candy to fill the plastic eggs V was going to hunt.

Saturday I had to work and it was tiring. I stayed later to help out. We had three cashiers helping guests until 10 and there was a line at each register. When I got home I had to fill the eggs and M hid them. I also had to prepare for nursery the next day. We were splitting them again.

Unfortunately V had (and still does) a cold so he didn't go to church.

I had gotten ham steaks so we had easy fried ham, instant potatoes, and rhodes rolls.

Yup I took things easy. We got to skype family in fallon, so that was nice.

Oh when V hunted eggs, we had to point them out, but he was quick to grab them, open them, and then dump the candy out into a candy bowl. Then he had to put the empty eggs on the couch. Once again I got pictures but am unable to load them.

BABY SHOWER

I've been putting this off hoping I could post some pics but that isn't happening, so here goes. There are always women in my ward who are pregnant. Right now there are 4 of us due within weeks of each other. One woman and I are due within days of eachother. One is having a boy and two are having girls. I will be the tie breaker or evener. Anyway we had a triple baby shower to make it easier on those wanting to throw one for us. We had diaper cakes which turned out so cute! Love them. One lady in the ward made two cakes and they were so delicious. We had a nice turn out, and people volunteered to make food for the brunch. Muffins, keish, fruit and juice.


We played a quick game of guess the size of everyone's belly. I thought that was pretty funny.


It was a pretty busy day. There was a ward temple trip that afternoon and our hostess was incharge of the nursery for it. So she didn't even get to stay for the whole thing. All three of us who participated in the shower opened our gifts together. We got homemade bath towels with hoods, homemade nursing covers and two women wrapped their washclothes and onsies to make what looked like cupcakes. There are many talented women in my ward!


A sad thing happened during the shower. The fourth woman who is pregnant, she chose to help with the shower, her husband got in an accident.


He was driving a few youth to a stake activity, including my visiting teacher's son when they were hit by a tanker in oil country. The car was totaled and the boy was taken to the hospital. Thankfully nothing serious was wrong and he was able to go home the same day.


Me and one of the other pregnant women stayed and helped calm the mother's nerves. So the shower was at 9 and I got home after noon. It was a long morning. When I got home V kept trying to eat my diaper cake and he wanted one of the "cupcakes." I immediately wrote thank you notes and sorted the gifts so they take up less room until I have a place to put them.


Speaking of wich I keep trying to prepare for the baby and I keep running into snags. I need a dresser to put the baby clothes and blankets in. And I need to clean our room so I know where to put the bassinet in our limited amount of space bedroom. At least I have been organizing all the baby clothes so they are easier to find!

April

I am on a roll! One blog a month. Hopefully that won't be the case this month. There is just too much happening. The dr. wants to see me every three weeks. So I get to go on my mom's birthday (the 12th)! Easter is on my parents wedding anniversary. Happy 29 years together! My birthday is this month!!!! Not sure how I feel about turning 28. Nope don't know. We got snow yesterday. Not fun. Although it wasn't a lot and it didn't stick for long it does make 7 consecutive months of snow. And I DO NOT want to see snow come again this october!!!!!!! That would mean only 5 months out of the year without snow. No wonder we want to get out of Minot for a while, or permanantly if the job opportunities were there!!!! Speaking of wich M's job is still slowed down. They get off every friday at lunch and go in ever day an hour later. But he just passed his builder 3 level so that was a raise!!!! I will be 30 weeks on friday. Unbeleiveable! And because I am in my 3rd tri-mester I have become an emotional roller coaster. Poor M he never knows if something he says will set me off. Some times I cry for no reason what so ever. And then there was yesterday. V managed to pull my hair on accident, well his fingers got caught in a curl, and I started to cry. I couldn't stop crying for about 5 minutes I just cried, and the pain had subsided. Well through the crying I was talking to M and told him that I didn't know why I was still crying and that I hated being me. M likes to make me laugh to get me to stop crying (which is one of the things I love about him) so I started to laugh cause it worked, but I was STILL crying AT THE SAME TIME. I was really creeping M out. It was a wierd 15 minutes. I wasn't emotional in this manner with the first pregnancy so it is another reason I think we are having a girl. We set a date for the c-section. It will be June 14th. I feel that it is weird to know the day your baby will be born. A part of me wants to try to experience labor again. Maybe some contractions this time. Or at least not have my water break so early in the game. V just keeps getting funnier and funnier. He will come and sit behind you and pull you back so you squish him. Then if you try to get up he chokes you back to him. He doesn't like to ride in the shopping cart anymore, so I get a little boy walking near me at the grocery store who doesn't watch where he is going or walking in front of. If we go to the produce section he tries to help put things in the cart. I have to keep an eye on him or he will take bites out of tomatoes, apples, avacodos, or anything else he picks up. I had to buy some grapes because he reached in the bag and took one. But we are working on what we do or don't do at the store. He has some friends from church, they are brothers, he calls one by his first name, Caleb, and the other by thier last name, Meade. So you here things like "Bye Meade" or "come here Meade" We went to a play group at the church where you could ride on toys in the gym. V takes his tricycle with a basket on back. I look over at him, and he has little Caleb sitting on the bucket so they can ride together. It was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. Happy April to you all!

Funny little man

V has had M and me cracking up with laughter for the last few days. Here is what I can remember!

M was laying on the floor and V had him sit up where he proceeded to "rock-a-baby" daddy. Singing and rocking him at the same time. Too cute!

V likes "mu-ick" and "rock-a-roll" is his favorite he dances to The LITTLES theme song. Well yesterday he got really excited about watching the littles and threw his hands in the air and yelled "all right rockaroll" While moving his hips side to side with his legs spread out.

He can say superman but it comes out "supernaman"


But on the other hand he also is a definate 2 year old with ownership and power struggles. Wich result in me getting frustrated to the point of tears with him. For example one morning he wanted milk and juice but not in two seperate cups. And it took about 20 minutes to figure it out. Then suddenly he just stops throwing his fit and goes off like it was nothing. grrrr.

In other news I have a pregnancy photo on the camera and a date set for the ultra sound. June 14! Baby is growing and doing great. The ultra sound determined that the baby is farther along, due June 8th, but they aren't going to change it from the 17.

Ultrasound

We fell in love immediately.

This was the best face shot

Baby was being un co-operative for the most part. But we managed to wake peanut up and all he/she did was kick me. You can see a hand right above the face. Then the curve of the leg upwards. Yep thats where the kicking came from.

We let V come with us. He was pretty interested in the two screens. And then he got bored, managed to get his finger stuck, and crawl under the bed.

It was a special treat for M, he hadn't been to any appointments up until now and so he never heard the heart beat. He only saw the first sonogram picture when I was first pregnant. Needless to say we can't wait to meet this sweet little boy or girl.

So V is definately a little two year old. Last night he got a hold of some markers and managed to draw a picture on our kitchen floor and wall. OOhhh I was soo mad. But it comes off easily with some 409 and a scrubber. He has really started talking now. He says three or four word sentences.

We are starting to get cabin fever and would like to get out of the house more. But there isn't really anywere to go in the cold. I still want to go ice skating at least once.

I have started to get a mild case of nesting. I realized that I am on the down hill side of this pregnancy and well there is so much to do. I did manage to get all my maternity clothes out though. And I realized that a lot of it won't fit for much longer. Which means I get to buy stuff a little at a time!!

I need a new diaper bag and I found one. I just need to find it again and show M. He isn't big on girly diaper bags. Oh he doesn't mind holding my purse if I am needing both arms, but to hold a pink floral diaper bag is where he draws the line. Wich is fine with me, the one I found is grey AND best of all it has a place to hook your keys and hold your wallet, plus plenty of side pockets. Now where did I see that at? the JCPenny's website???