Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
This week.... +2 if we are still counting
Elise is 2 weeks old, crazy no?! I am working on posting new pics on the blog but I just realized the camera battery needs to be charged before I can upload pics so it may be another day or two before that gets done.
Jeff just left this afternoon for the airport he will be at a conference in DC for 3 days, then the day after he gets back he will be defending his preliminary defense. (stressful!!!) To celebrate it being done on Friday we plan to take Erin to Chicago to serve her the famous Giordano's pizza! Then on Saturday she will be flying home back to Ut.
This past week has gone by quickly, I can't say we've done a whole log but we did have a few noteworthy things happen.
1. Elise is gaining weight well and learning to sleep eat on 2 hour intervals.
2. I am learning to function on minimal sleep
3. I played co-ed Volleyball with Jeff Friday night, (2 week + few hours since Elise's birth, so I met the Dr's orders) It felt great! I can tell that my body still needs to loose weight but I felt awesome and it felt even better to get moving around.
5. Ben didn't have school so he had some extra 1:1 time with Elise, both Ehre and Ben are getting to be really good baby holders. Ehre even helped with a diaper change today.
6. Erin has been a big help, its so nice to have her here, I get a lot more done, what will I do with out her for the 6 days before mom and dad arrive next week?
7. I've lost 20 lbs since Elise's birth, 20 more to go. (Blah, that's not really good news but it could have been worse) I have noticed that my feet have new "wrinkles" from all the swelling, but since I didn't get any "new" stretchmarks this pregnancy, I guess its a fair trade.
Elise is hungry (again) time to go.
Love you
Ann
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Re: This is the week.
Erin as a vampire with the kids. (I love the white wig!)
Elise ready for her first day of church, Becky sent her a beautiful dress similar to this one but I forgot to wash and shrink it last night, so she is wearing Ehre's dress! So Cute!!
Re: This is the week.
Halloween costumes...
Ehre a Fairy
Ben a crocodille
Mom....red wig
Jeff 1970's convert...ok it was just a black wig, and his clothes from a church meeting :)
Re: This is the week.
Jeff holding Elise
Elise's halloween costume (nothing fancy since I had to plan for a boy or a girl) " I love my "mummy"..and my "mummy loves me".... no she wasn't thr
This is the week.
Elise ready to go home, she looks way to small for this carseat, maybe we should have brought Ehre's doll carseat...it would have fit her better. :)
This is the week.
Congradulatory Dinner, provied by the hospital (yes thats lobster that they served us!)
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Birth Story
Wow, we are sooo excited to have baby Elise Addison here with us! A few of you have asked for more details so here goes.
I switched OB's at 34 weeks, looking for someone who's style was more like mine. I found Dr. Eid, and fell in love with her style immediately! Dr Eid is from Lebanon, and is new in the area here. She is also pregnant herself, and as I found out yesterday in only 3 years she has delivered over 1000 babies!
When I met with her, I knew that she specialized in high risk deliveries, since Ehre was a C-section, I fit into this category. She kept track of my progress, and reviewed my health history. She concluded that it would be best if I didn't carry this baby full term, and hoped that we could get "it" here around 38 weeks and 2 days. ( Which in the end is exactly what she was!)
So at 38 and 1 day I went in for my 38 week appointment, she stripped my membranes and stretched me out a bit (ouch!) and then sent me home. I had a good friend who also had this done within the past few weeks but it didn't put her into labor, so I "hoped" that this would work, but realistically accepted the fact that it wouldn't.
All through out the day I had small contractions but nothing significant, since that morning I had only been a 3 and 75% effaced, I was sure that I would be going back next Tuesday for a repeat appointment. That evening I had my "one more before the baby comes" girls night out. 15 friends got together with me at 9 Irish and we enjoyed good company and great food.
Friday morning, Jeff and I got up for scripture study and breakfast and I was feeling normal, but tired. When he left for school I decided to go back to bed. Within a 1/2 hour I had a strong contraction, followed 10 minutes later by another one. I was sure this was just false labor and kept on trying to sleep. At 8 I woke up my kids so that we could get ready to go to Playgroup at a pumpkin patch. By 8:30 the contractions hadn't stoped so I called my doctor, since the time intervals and the intensity varied I wanted to confirm that this was most likely false labor. Dr Eid recommended that I wait another 1-2 hours to see what would happen when I drinked more fluids.
Jeff and I had an agreement, he would work on writing his prelims in the library but would keep his email up so that I could reach him, since he didn't get cell reception. So I emailed him...no response. I emailed him a 1/2 hour later...no response. All I wanted to tell him was that I was having contractions, FYI who knows what is going to happen. I called the library and they were kind enough to request that Jeff take my phone call over the PA system. I told Jeff not to worry that we'd just watch things and I'd call him after playgroup.
We were supposed to leave for playgroup at 10 and that's when I realized, these contractions were too uncomfortable to wait out. A good friend agreed (Thank you!) to watch our kids and I called to pick up Jeff. In the 20 minutes to get to the hospital we had 6 strong contractions, and I couldn't figure out still if this was real or not. I could talk through the contractions, but they hurt. We checked in via the ER, and headed up to Labor and Delivery. According to my admission RN she was sure that this was false labor as well, I just didn't look like I was hurting enough. She checked me and lo and behold I was a 6 and they let us stay! What a relief!
This whole pregnancy I've talked about how I wanted to do this labor without an epidural, was I stupid or what?! By the time I was at a 7 I quickly changed my mind, and as soon as that numbing relief came I enjoyed the rest of my labor. We checked in at 10:30, and delivered Elise at 2:59 pm. Dr Eid had me wait to push for a while, and in the end I only had to push through 4 contractions. I hardly have any micro tearing and a small "abrasion" but no tearing. Elise has a perfectly round head too!
The whole family got together last night for a picnic in mom's room. The kids gave Elise her birthday presents and held her for the first time (pictures coming soon) I am sure they'll be back in a few times to day as well. Ben is amazed with her tiny Ears, and Ehre is a proud big sister. When Ehre found out that we had delivered a girl, she told her friends that she felt bad that Jeff was going to feel sad over not having a baby boy. But Jeff isn't sad, he's a proud dad and loves his little girls. Its so cute to watch him hold Elise, or for that matter its wonderful seeing him interact and care for our children, he is such a wonderful father!
Elise at birth weighed 6 lbs 6.3 oz and as 19 inches long. She has a cute dk brown mullet, from sitting head down so long in my pelvis, but since my kids loose their hair its not going to last long that way. 10 fingers 10 toes, she is perfect. She has turned blue once, and had some problems with clearing mucus from her stomach and lungs, this is because I didn't push long enough to help her clear it...but she is improving fast and doing well. She had her first bottle feeding today, we are trying to get one in a day. She surprised us all when she at 20 oz, instead of the recommended 15 and wanted more. :)
We will stay here today and tomorrow, and probably get discharged around 5 pm Sunday afternoon. I got a shower in today, and a yummy breakfast, so other than needing some more sleep things are going really well. We are excited to have Jeff's little sister come stay with us for a few weeks, she will come on Tuesday. The kids are so excited to have someone "cool" to play with.
Oh and yes the countdown has started 6 more weeks and I can return to Tuesday Night Volleyball!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Elise Addison Maas
Please join us in welcoming Elise to her turn on Earth. She was born about 2:59, at 6.6lbs and 19.5 inches. We are very grateful to our Heavenly Father for another shining light in our family.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Update on Indy Temple
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On Sunday I was privileged to meet with our Area Authority 70, Elder Lansing, and the other stake presidents in Indiana. We learned the following about the new Indianapolis Indiana Temple:
*It will be located in Carmel. The property has been identified, the purchase price agreed but the sale has not yet closed, so they will not disclose the exact location at this time.
*It is anticipated to be 50% larger than the Louisville Temple, near the scale of the recently-dedicated Gila Valley Temple in Arizona.
*It takes about three years from property purchase to temple dedication, so this might be anticipated in the Fall of 2013.
*Groundbreaking ceremonies typically occur one year from property purchase, so anticipate this in Fall of 2011.
*There are anticipated to be only three dedicatory sessions, with attendance by special invitation. All members will be invited to attend a closed-circuit broadcast in their meetinghouses. This will be for all baptized members 8 years and older who receive a special recommend from their bishop or branch president.
With this wonderful news, we feel blessed that the Lord sees Indiana Saints as a temple-worthy people, ready to sustain the work that will proceed in a House of the Lord. Our focus as individuals and families should now be to fulfill this expectation of our Father and His Son by becoming and remaining temple-worthy and engaging in preparation of names for temple work by indexing or direct ancestor research.
I bear you my testimony that the Savior Jesus Christ lives and that He will be in His temple in Indiana. Let us all prepare to come and rejoice in obtaining the blessings of the temple in our collective very near future.
Sincerely,
President Cowley
PS--you may pass this information along to your families and organization members.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
ONE Prego Pic...and thats all you are going to get
OK I had to dress up for a lab dinner with Jeff and decided to break down and take a pic. The original deal was that I would post a picture of me being pregnant and a good friend (ahem!) would also post a photo of herself on her own blog...but she is still getting to that. :)
.... yes my legs are still quite swollen....oh those feet, they can be a real bother by the evenings. I can't wait to have this baby soon! Hopefully less than 2 weeks left, lets see if we really can get this child here at 38 weeks!
"The Year Money Grew on Trees"
Check out this book, Jeff's professor from BYU is not only an amazing Electrical Engineer but also a junior fiction author! We've just purchased our first copy and we can't wait to read it. Its won a few awards, so check it out, maybe its something you will want to add to your own personal library!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Temple news....
Ok so we are getting a temple in Indy!!! Here is another update from our corkboard out here....
"My husband retired from the building division of the church and called some of his contacts after the announcement...Reg knows more about it, ie. approximate square footage and all....I'm just excited we will not have to drive through Chicago any more!!!! What a blessing!"
-Sandie M.
Until we hear it as a fact, I have to treat this news more as "rumor", we have a large LDS pop in Carmel IN (further east) so that location wouldn't surprise us either...but for now we'll play around with the Avon idea.
Jeff and I google mapped Avon, IN. It is 1 hour 11 minutes south of Lafayette and 1 hour 14 minutes North of Bloomington, this means that when we move in two years we will be moving "farther away" from our nearest temple.....:) We're not to broken up over it though!
Just for reference if the traffic to Chicago is good, and you take into consideration an ideal travel time, a weekend, construction etc.... It typically takes us 3 1/2 hours to get to the temple. Then Jeff and I trade on/off the kids to do two sessions, another 5 hours... and then 3 1/2 hours back home....its an all day trip!
If we go to KY, then the driving time is basically the same, since we don't have to deal with traffic or construction...either way...going to the temple is a well planned event.
We know that the announcement of this temple is not based on our families temple attendance. We've not attended nearly as much as we should have in the past 3 years that we've lived here. But it is because of the faithful saints collectively that have moved in and out of the area, as well as those that have lived here for a really long time, that we are getting this blessing!
To echo the words of the song sang just after this announcement, "We thank Thee oh God for Prophet!"
Good Mormon examples in the Parenting Magazine.
I was reading my free copy of Parenting and found a wonderful little article. From my understanding, the church did not fund Prop 8...even though this mom was sure that we did. But I really enjoyed the examples of the Utah State girls while visiting CA, so here is the article. What do you think?
Article on pg 156 posted from lesbiandad.com.
" My daughter and her cousin are on the from stoop, selling lemonade. Business is slow; we live on a quiet street. Then along come a half-dozen college-age gals in running gear, strolling up from the direction of the nearby subway.
"Lemonade! Get your lemonade!" the girls cry out, for no reason but the love of yelling, since their customers are already slowing.
"How much?" asks one.
"Twenty-five cents!" the girls chime.
"I'll take a cup," says the college gal, affably. "I'm totally parched." Every one of them follows suit, until the lemonade is all sold out.
Turns out they're in town for a track meet. I think happily about the positive role model for my girls.
"where are you all from?"
I ask.
I ask.
"Utah State."
I wonder if they can make out the T-shirt I've got on, bearing the name of our region's gay family organization. Surely they haven't missed the two marriage equality signs still in our front garden, years after the ballot measure that s so bruised our state. A battle famously funded by the largest institution in their state, the Mormon Church. What's their take? Defiance? Chagrin?
None of these are questions I'm inclined to ask at the lemonade stand.
Instead, I offer, "Welcome to sunny California!" Which I sincerely mean. Here we are, I think. The family you hear so much about these days.
The gals knock back their drinks, smile, offer goodbyes, and walk off.
"What are the chances, eh kids?"
" Yeah," says my daughter, happily. "They were the perfect customers."
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Baby Update
Ok, I switched Dr's long story but in the end I LUUUUUVE my new Dr. Eid. She is from Lebanon (the country not city) and is super sweet. I had some concerns and she addressed each and every one.
1 Q: PPD with Ehre, can I have Zoloft again like I did with Ben?
1A: Absolutely, moms should get the help they need before hitting rock bottom.
- So I'll start that in 2 weeks. :)
2Q: Is it ok if I try and go without an epidural?
2A: Yes, what a cool experience.
3Q: VBAC any issues with this?
3A: No, but if the baby shows any signs of distress I am going to insist on another c-section. And I don't want you to go full term, so if you've not had this baby by 38 weeks I am going to strip your membranes and then help stretch the cervix out to get you some good progressive contractions. By the way, its not comfortable but it will make your VBAC much safer.
My response: Fabulous, the sooner the better.
4Q: So where am I now?
5A: Lets check, 1 cm and 40%, good starting point. Lets see you again next week and see if there are any improvements.
Did I mention that my Dr is also pregnant, at 28 weeks. She's super excited about babies and pregnancies and is very attentive. This is just what I need right now. She sympathises over my extremely swollen feet and legs but reassures me that it will go away soon. She notices when my blood pressure is up a little, and reassures me some more.
So that's the update. I guess the best news is hopefully we can have this baby 2 weeks early!
Till next week!
Ann
Friday, September 24, 2010
Ehre's Kindergarten School Pictures
Friday, September 10, 2010
Women should be Women
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Jeff's officially in writting
A while ago I posted that Jeff's article had been accepted for publication. Well the actual journal arrived this weekend...and Jeff's going to keep it in the protective plastic. :)
Grandpa the Photographer
Isn't he sweet, he is always taking photos for our family and they are all amazing!
Isn't he sweet, he is always taking photos for our family and they are all amazing!
This is the picture he took of my kids! (He even made Ben's stitches disappear!)
First Day of School
Ehre missed the first two days of school because our family treated us to a quick visit to UT (which was absolutely wonderful!) So she started last Thursday. This is a picture of her all ready to go! She was sooo excited....for her the rest of the day was fun, for me on the other hand, I never knew there was so much stress involved with a buss drop off.
At 3:15 I saw a bus go down our street, I ran out side ( a friend was over, and Jeff had the car) and was totally worried that I had missed meeting Ehre at her bus stop...would she remember where to get off? I stole my friends car and drove around looking for the bus, no luck. Then I stopped by a friends house just around the corner, her kids weren't home yet so the bus I saw wasn't the elementary school bus, she commented that the first two days were a little late but that most of the kinks should be worked out by now. So I went back home. I picked up Ben and we went over to Ehre's bus stop, our neighbor let us sit on his large rock in the shade and Ben enjoyed playing "King of the Rock". We had been there about 10 minutes waiting when Ben said he had to go to the bathroom, the bus wasn't here yet so I didn't feel like I could leave since I can't see the bus stop from our house. So we kept on hanging out. At a 1/2 hour I called some friends, no answer, maybe they were waiting for the late bus too....an hour later, ok now I am really worried, where is Ehre?
I called a different friend at the end of the bus route and she said that her kids had been home for a while...now I am really getting worried. Did Ehre miss the bus? Did she get on the wrong bus? I headed for home...how was I going to find her with out a car...and the school office closed?
Thankfully, my friend who lives around the corner left me a note on my door. Her daughter had told Ehre to get off at their bus stop since the bus didn't go to her stop. They had walked over 3 separate times looking for me, but couldn't see me at the bus stop. So Ehre was playing at their house...what wonderful friends I am so thankful for them.
The next day I told Ehre to get off at their house again, just to make sure she got of in the right spot. Yesterday I went into the office to see where the confusion was, most likely it was me right! Nope, for some reason Ehre wasn't on the bus rout, so the driver (an extremely nice guy) didn't have her stop on his route. The school asked me to meet him at the designated stop for the afternoon drop off and we had a good talk. He apologized for not having her on his list, it really wasn't a big deal. He then volunteered to move the bus stop, Ehre is the only one that gets off there, and since he now will be driving directly pass our house, he is going to just drop her off at our house. :) Next year, he'll pick her up at our mail box. Isn't he nice! Won't this be nice when the baby comes?
Ehre loves her teacher Mrs. Wojtelowitcz (What-a-love-ich) and even mentions the possibility of having a "slipper day" soon. She is super excited to go to the library today and check out a book. I really think she is going to be one of those kids that just absolutely loves going to school! I am excited to get involved with the PTA, in fact we have our first project this week. :) This new phase in our life is exciting, but really are we old enough to have a kid in school...and as Jeff would say, "Before he's even finished !" ?
Ben is going to do Joy School, we are in the process of getting that all arranged. In the mean time we enjoy undisturbed rest time after Ehre goes to school and I really am grateful that she is in the afternoon class.
More adventures I'm sure will follow. :)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
8 Stitches Total
Side note...traveling with Medicaid as your kids primary insurance can be a pain...(claims are often denied for out of state care..and an ER is expensive!) Two days before we left for UT we decided to go ahead and add the kids to Jeff's insurance with Purdue...what a blessing. This made our ER trip run sooo smoothly!
Stoned
...Falling asleep...
Another Hospital trip in Utah!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Life of a PhD Student's Family...
...no this really isn't how our life is, but there have been times where its been tempting to do just this..... Thankgoodness for free department dinners :)
Monday, August 9, 2010
New House
Ok here goes....
Living Room: Looking in from the front door.
This was a FREE bookcase, and I love it!
From the living room looking to the stairs going upstairs, downstairs and into the kitchen.
Bad photo, sorry! This is the kitchen.
My bare wall in the kitchen, the shelves are all small (Can only fit the height of a small Triscuit box) So we are using other shelves to store things...we will fix this....later most likely by buying shelving with doors or putting a counter top in.
Backyard....oh we mowed on Saturday...13 bags of grass later and 4 boxes....ohhh this will be a challenge to keep up!
Living Room "Library"...seriously we could fill 3-4 bookshelves..but for now it will fill up the wrap around shelving in the room. (and no, the entertainment center isn't usually pushed into the room...just another side affect of trying to get the Internet to work)
Office area in the living room...Jeff trying to get Frontier to understand that our Internet connection really stinks and doesn't always work...in the end...they were not helpful at all.
We'll try again to fix things today. It looks pretty cluttered, this is one area I am still organizing...too many books, and school stuff to keep track of.
Looking down the hall into the downstairs bathroom and the craft/laundry room
Upstairs Bath
Master Bedroom
Ehre's room (LOVE vinyl wall stickers!)
Ben's room
Door Decor for the kids rooms...they painted these by themselves, what good artists!
Well that's it, basically its a standard split level home, and for our first home we love it. The garage door currently doesn't open, and there isn't another access into it so we are kind of stuck there. Hopefully it will get repaired soon. Its a good thing we were trying to pull in when it broke, or our van would be stuck inside. :)
Front of the house:
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Back in business
I know people have been trying to reach us on the new land number but our provider never actually hooked up our phone line... :) But that is all fixed now, :) So pictures will be coming soon of the new house ( I can't find the camera or camera plug yet... This was an extremely busy weekend, but 95% of all the boxes are unpacked and put away, I'll hand pictures today, and then come what may. We are so grateful for the help we got from ward members and all of Jeff's research lab (including Dr. Chappell!) This made the weekend go so smoothly, even if there were allot of boxes to move!
More to come soon!
Ann
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