"Forbt"

I remember building forts when I was young.  I loved pretending that it was my house.  Yesterday, Curtis did the same thing...accept he called it a "forbt".  I made it with the TV set inside so he could watch one of his current favorite movies..."The Chipmunk Adventure".  He loved having his own space to escape for the day.  And I have a feeling this was the first day of many days to be spent in the "forbt".

Snake!

We heard mom scream as she came home from lunch today. We then went outside and found this King snake. Mom yelled at it. I ran to get Clifton and the camera. Once we found out that King snakes are good snakes, Clifton felt bad for killing it...But mom says,"Any snake is a bad snake if it's in my back yard!" It was probably 4 feet long.  I mean, compare it to the size of the garden hose!  She was fat too!

Clifton tried to through it over the fence, but it landed on top instead.

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

Memorial Day Weekend

Here are some fun things we did for the Holiday!  Loved it!

We went bowling with our friends Katie, Levi, and Mackenzie.  Curtis has been asking everyday if he can go bowling again.  

Curtis wanted to be apart of everybody's turn.

  

Then we went to IGA where they have a ferris wheel for only a quarter and soft serve ice cream for 75 cents!  I love the look on Mackenzie's face.

 Lastly, Curtis filled up the pool (with WATER) and we enjoyed the summer evening.

And just because he's so darn cute...my Jesse boy!

MY House

For those of you who haven't heard, we are buying a house!!! Here it is! We love it! 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath, 1400 square feet. 1187 8th Ave in Thatcher. All it really needs inside is a fresh coat of paint and a good scrub down. Maybe a small remodeling around the fireplace/living room. Oh, and a fridge and dishwasher. Other than that, this house is PERFECT for us. This means so many things for our family, it's insane. 2 blocks from the Stake Center and Park. 2 blocks from the schools, a quarter mile from the college...its just fantastic!!! Anyway, more pictures to come soon. Closing date is June 9th and we couldn't be happier!

Look What I Made - Part 2

After Curtis saw the last project and he figured out it wasnt for him, he FREAKED out. Well the only logical thing to do would be to make something for him out of the same material. At the time he had his melt-down, he was wearing my moms travel pillow around his neck... GENIUS. So here it is! Custom made for Big Brother!

Picture Link - Leah Davis Photography

I know this is a good picture (only because of the adorable Jesse bear) but if you want to see GREAT pictures of him, click here. I watched the slide show and cried through it all (blame it on the hormones...or i'm just in love) Thanks again Leah! You have a gift!!!

Leah Davis Photography

Look What I Made

While I was pregnant, I found this great tutorial on a car seat cover. I was really excited to make it...and then I forgot all about it. My mother bought me the material and had every intention of making it for me. But we've been busy around here, and things happen...my project took a back seat. This morning I woke up and decided I could do it on my own! So I did! I'm excited to use it! It sure will come in handy at the store, the park, church, etc. I haven't sewn in a couple years so i'm pretty proud of myself.

Double top stitch around the trim - Rounded corners

Velcro Straps

Cute Decal on the front of the red

Reversible!!!

(blurry pic) I'm in love with it! High five to me!

Picture Post

Jesse just before a bath: 3 weeks old

Thanks Aunt Denise for the awesome CARS!!! Curtis loves them!

An Easter tragedy - Curtis couldnt get to the eggs fast enough on the egg hunt and he had to share with cousins Audree and Olivia. It's so hard to be 3.

I have the best boys in the world!

Sneak Peak

My amazingly talented sister Leah took some pictures of Jesse this weekend while she and her family were down for a visit. Here are just a few to taste!

Week 1

There is something to be said for 2nd babies. I am totally LOVING the newborn phase this time around. Jesse is just a dream baby! I dont know if it's just because i know what to expect, or if he really is just the best baby ever born! I feel like and old pro because he makes it that easy for me. At 4 days old, he was back to his birth weight. That same day was his circumcision, and he screamed through the procedure, but we've hardly heard a peep from him since. He eats every 2-4 hours!!! I get plenty of sleep at night because i nurse him before i go to sleep, and then only twice before it's time to wake up. Physically i feel TOO good. I know i shouldn't, but i would love to go running tomorrow. I'm about 8 lbs. away from my pre-pregnancy weight. My body is bouncing back pretty fast compared to the first time around.

Curtis LOVES his baby brother. We really tried to prepare him emotionally for Jesse to come and flip his world up-side-down, and he has handled it like a champ! He has really taken ownership as well...like when company comes over, he says "this is my baby!" Such a cutie. Curtis loves to hold Jesse and give him his binki. He's even gone as far to say that he loves his baby brother! I thought that would take awhile.

Im in love with my little family. The other night, Clifton went to bed early with Jesse...Curtis was already in bed...and i got to say "all my boys are sleeping!" Im soaking it all in and taking things slow. I feel the blessings from Heaven! How did i get so lucky?!

Baby Brother

Jesse Bryant McNeill

3-25-10

8lbs. 15oz. 21in.

3:41 a.m.

Im finding it hard to find a place to begin, so I guess I’ll just jump right in. Wednesday morning (3-24) I had an appointment with the Dr. He told me a week ago that he would induce me…I was very excited about that. So, the appointment went well, I was still dilated to a 2, but my cervix was more favorable than previous weeks. (TMI? Get over it, there is more TMI to come) My Dr. kept to his word and said “should we send you over right now? Or would you rather wait another day or two?” I was ready to go! Besides we had made arrangements with my parents to watch Curtis that day.

After getting to the hospital about 10:30, they got me started on my first dose of cytotech (the inducing drug). And I quickly found out that there is nothing on daytime tv. By 3 pm they gave me my 2nd dose…still only dilated to a two. I was walking a lot to try and help moving things along, but I felt like I wasn’t in enough pain to really make things move. Well, by 7pm I was due for my 3rd dose of cytotech, but I had only progressed to 3 cm!!! (get that…1cm in 8 hours!) At 7:20 the Dr. broke my water…that was one of the strangest sensations I’ve ever experienced! Besides the initial rush of water, with every contraction after that for an hour it was a constant flow! I estimate that I lost 3-5 lbs. of just water in that hour! I got to get up and walk around for an hour after that (again, to try an make things happen). At this point I started to get really frustrated that the labor wasn’t moving fast enough. I might as well have been walking around the store because I could walk through the contractions! At 10:30 pm I was 4cm and the nurse started me on pitocin (sp?). 12 hours of labor and only 2cm…awesome. Here’s where it gets interesting! The pain was coming!!! I had been waiting all day to feel like I was in labor and almost instantly with the pitocin, the contractions were stronger and more painful. I received my epidural at midnight and it couldn’t have come at a sooner time. I was beginning to shake uncontrollably and vomit from the pain. But I was at 5cm…half way there! From this point on, time seemed to fly. I went from 5cm to complete in 3 hours. 3 am, and the nurse asked me to try some practice pushes. I pushed twice and she told me to stop because it’s best that the Dr. is there for the delivery! By 3:20 (ish) I was pushing. In between contractions/pushing, the nurses were taking bets on the weight…they were all off. At 3:41 Jesse was born, and I couldn’t have been more relieved! The cord was wrapped around his neck once but other than that, it was a very uneventful delivery…of which I was grateful for.

He is named Jesse after my great grandpa Jesse Addison Udall, and Bryant is Clifton's mother's maiden name.

Since being home (we got home at noon on Saturday 3-27), we’ve loved our time with him. He really is an angel! Curtis in anxious to help out too! I told him it was time to feed Jesse, and he ran to get a bottle! I then had to explain how I feed him, but so far I’m grateful for Curtis’ willingness to help.

We love our new baby! We feel so blessed to have him in our home.

Picture Update

"i wanna take silly pictures mom!"

this is our new camera (since our old camera was stolen out of our car)

fancy!

sideways - SUNBEAM!!! such a big boy

We've taught Curtis that mommy and daddy wear rings and it means we love each other very much. Well, the other morning he found this key ring and he says "i love mommy so much". I sure do love this kid!

If there ever were 3 year old best friends, it's these 2. This is Zach! He's my VT partners boy and they just get along so well! She and I kinda do a babysit swap thing (im sure i owe her!!!) and we love having the boys over to play.

This is Blake! Zach's little brother - 19 months old and Adorable!

Best Friends!!!!

Procrastination...isn't it about...time

I thought since i had a minute to sit down and think, i'd better get this post in. I PROMISE, an update post is coming soon...with pictures!

I'm nearly 38 weeks! Can you believe it?! I think i've distanced myself so far from being pregnant that i've forgotten how close this little guy actually is to getting here! Well, at my Dr.'s appointment yesterday, i notified him of an incident that happened Sunday evening.

Here's the scoop: we were having a little FHE with our close friends Stephen and Lisl (who just moved back to Thatcher...YIPEE!) and their 2 kids. We had a quick song, a short lesson on temples, and then a root beer float for our treat. Within 15 minutes of finishing my float, I noticed my vision was getting blurry. I couldn't really focus on anything! Wavy lines began to appear as well as bright white spots along with the blur. This continued for 10 minutes until i mentioned it to Clifton. He went into "Nurse Mode" and whipped out the blood pressure cuff. My BP was normal! After about a half hour of not being able to see clearly, it started to fade...back to normal. I really didnt feel like going to the hospital so i was happy when i could see again.

So back to the Dr - I told him about what happened and he was upset that I didn't go and have it checked out. He said "we're sending you over right now to have a CT scan done. it's considered a stroke util we can rule it out." I was shocked!!! I did as I was told and went right away. Because of my "condition" (being pregnant), all the tests that the Dr ordered were done pretty fast...I mean within an hour! I was optimistic that i wasn't going to have to be there all afternoon. Well, tests are one thing, RESULTS are another. I waited for 3 hours! Truthfully it wasn't that bad, i just knew that nothing was wrong so when the results finally came i was ready to be discharged. So for the remainder of my pregnancy, i'm on baby aspirin to help prevent clots.

I'm dilated to 2 cm, so all that means is the Dr can feel the babies head...he says to me "i'm fairly confident you'll go into labor on your own." I laughed at him and thought "riiiiiiiight" (like kronk from the emperor's new groove). All i'm doing is playing the waiting game...and it might be the one game i'm not good at.

straight A's

we got a letter in the mail yesterday letting us know that Clifton made the "Presidents List". Basically this means he got A's in all of his classes last semester. Pretty cool.

Also, Clifton has a test date for the state nursing exam...also known as the NCLEX. February 13th at 8 AM!!! we are so excited to finally have the date set!

stay tuned...long, boring, update post coming soon.