Pic of the day

Let me just start by saying that Logan hates anything on his head. Anything except this...


His sister's hat! He wouldn't take it off for the longest time.

Deception Pass

Earlier this week, Sam and I came up with the brilliant plan to escape the heat by going to Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island. It's always cooler up there and with the expected highs to be in the 100's, we figured we would make the trip today. However, the heat we've had seemed to have done something to our minds. We somehow thought this would be a smooth trip with no flaws and everyone would have a great time. Here's what really happened...

First, we decided to head up after Logan's nap since it is hotter in the late afternoon anyway. Well, Logan's nap didn't last too long. It seems that in the fit he threw before going down, he took off his diaper, or something to that effect because he woke up a short while later screaming his head off for reasons I most likely don't need to explain. (Let's just say it wasn't pretty.) So Logan was NOT well rested like we had hoped. We packed up the things we would need, I fed Olivia, put her in her carseat where she started to scream for a short while (she does not like her carseat), and then got Logan into the car where he thought it would be funny to scream as loud as Olivia. Let the drive begin...

Olivia fell asleep soon after we left, thankfully, however Logan decided it would be fun to scream off and on the entire drive up (an hour and a half). Just before we arrived, Olivia woke up screaming yet again. This girl does not cry, she just screams. Of course it was time for her to eat and we were still a good 10 minutes away from where we could park. We eventually got there, Sam took Logan out of the car and walked to the beach while I stayed behind to feed Olivia. We decided that it was a good time to eat dinner, so we unpacked our things and had our picnic on the beach.
It didn't last long before Olivia decided she was still hungry. So, as I went off to feed her again, Sam and Logan finished dinner and packed things back up. We had planned to stay longer, but it was late in the day and we had to get the kids home and to bed at a reasonable hour. Of course there was the famous tantrum thrown by Logan and Olivia's screaming as we tried to get them back in their carseats. We had people watching and giving us those sympathetic looks. I just had to laugh. I never imagined myself in this type of situation, but now I know it's going to happen and will happen more often than I'd like, I'm sure.

We made it home and we all survived. The whole point of the trip though was to avoid the heat. Although it didn't go quite as planned, we did manage to stay cool for a couple of hours, even if most of the time was spent in the car driving to and from our destination. On the way home though, Sam and I decided that we will not be attempting any trips like this again in the near future. We decided that we should wait for the kids to be a little older.

What do you do when it's hot outside?

Play with the hose of course!

Today was one of those hot Seattle days that seem just awful because no one has air conditioning. Luckily, we have portable A/C's in the bedrooms. So Olivia and I hung out in our room most of the day while Sam entertained Logan with the water. Logan apparently loved it!

Chasing Rainbows

And I just had to throw in a picture of Olivia. She is such a great baby. She only cries when she's hungry and sleeps great at night. She doesn't sleep through the night like she did at first, but she's only waking up 2 times to eat, sometimes 3, but it's nothing like what we had with Logan (being up pretty much the entire night with him). We have really been blessed to have her join our little family.

I'm still curious as to how we manage to have such big babies. I'm pretty much convinced that Olivia was 3 weeks late instead of 3 weeks early...despite what the 6 week ultrasound said. Oh well. We love both our kids so very much that it really doesn't matter.

My favorite time of day

Logan and Sam were also sleeping...such a peaceful and quiet time in the house. Love it!

Best Big Brother

Logan has had his share of ups and downs the past couple of weeks. We kept sending him off to various places to stay with family just so I could get through the last couple of weeks of pregnancy without having to worry about him. It really messed with him though, when we finally got him back, he was home for a day and a half before we had to call grandparents again to take him while his sister was born. Poor kid, he really had put up with a lot. It really made me worry to have him come home to mom and dad...and sister. I honestly thought we'd have some problems with jealousy and such. However, Logan has really shown me differently. Although at times he appears to be upset with me and dad, he really has shown some great love for his little sister. He helps out in whatever way he can, it's very cute.

This picture cracks me up. I guess Logan has seen his dad give Livi his pinky finger when she's hungry and I'm not quite ready to feed her. Since she was crying, Logan thought she was obviously hungry and tried to calm her down by putting his finger in her mouth. Of course, once she started sucking, he panicked and quickly pulled it out. It was hilarious!

Here's big brother trying to rock his sister. He's actually very good at being gentle. Well, gentle enough as only an 18 month old knows how to be gentle.

And you can't forget the pacifier. He tried so hard to give it to her. I guess he didn't realize that she's sleeping and isn't interested.

Of course, being a big brother is no picnic. When Livi cries, it's more like an ear piercing scream, so you can't blame him for covering his ears.

I'm so glad that Logan has taken an interest in Olivia. He has been so great to her. He loves to come into our room in the mornings (even though our room is off limits to him) and say hi to his sister before he runs off to play and he's always trying to hold her hand or touch her hair. I think these two will grow up to be not only brother and sister, but also good friends. I guess I never had anything to worry about.

1 week and 18 months

Today both Logan and Olivia had doctor appointments. Logan for his 18 month visit and Olivia for her 1 week check up. It was our first time getting two kids ready to go out. What an experience that was. It didn't make it any easier when they both started screaming, but fortunately, that was short lived.


Olivia is now at 10lbs 2ozs, just a little less than her birthday. However, with the way she eats, I don't think it will take much longer for her to get back up there.


Logan is growing like a weed. He is now 28 lbs and 34 inches tall (both put him in the 90th %tile)

The Story (it's a long one)

So on Friday, July 3, Sam, Logan, and I were just hanging around the house not doing anything in particular. That afternoon I started have some really bad low back pain, but didn't think much of it. After a couple of hours though I realized that my back wasn't getting any better, but instead, it was getting worse. Three hours had passed and I just wasn't feeling any better, so I gave in and called the hospital. I really didn't want to go just to be sent home again (it had happened too many times already), but I did need something to manage the pain.

So, we packed up Logan and took him with us thinking we wouldn't be there for too long, and off to the hospital we went. Sam dropped me off, parked the car, and stayed with Logan. Meanwhile, I took myself into Labor and Delivery where they sent me to the triage room. At this point, it was a little after 5pm. I got checked out and was told that I was barely at 2cm. I just shrugged my shoulders and laughed. I asked for something for the pain and if I could just go home. The nurse told me that the contractions I was having were coming on pretty strong and were really close together so maybe I should try walking the halls for a bit. She had me hooked up to an IV thinking that if I got hydrated enough then it would all stop. So there I was walking around the maternity center with an IV not really thinking of anything. I was supposed to walk around for about an hour, but after 10 minutes, I couldn't take it anymore. I went back to the triage room and waited for my nurse to get off her break. In the meantime I was really starting to feel the contractions and was starting to wonder if this could be the real thing, but I shrugged it off again, not wanting to believe it.

The nurse came back and checked me again, this time I was 4+cm. So she went to call the on-call doctor to find out what to do. It was 6:15 at this point, so I called Sam to let him know what was going on. The nurse came back around 6:20 (yes, I was watching the clock at this point) and told me that I was going to have a c-section that night. So I called Sam again to let him know what the plan was, then I called my mom to have her head up to the hospital to pick up Logan for us. I was thinking the c-section would be done around 8:30 or 9pm, so we had plenty of time...at least in my mind I thought we did.

The next thing I know, the anesthesiologist was talking to me about the procedure and what they were going to give me. My mind was a blur at this point. I couldn't figure out why she was talking to me so soon, it was only 6:30, I thought I had plenty of time. The nurse came back, with the doctor, and I was told that we were going to go have the c-section and that it was scheduled for 7pm. At this point, it was now 6:45 and there was no sign of Sam or Logan or anyone to watch Logan. So I franticly made some phone calls to see if anyone could come watch Logan until my mom got there. It was utter chaos. The next thing I know, I'm walking down the hall with the nurse manually injecting some antibiotics into my IV. We got to the Operating room and there was still no sign of Sam. I had the spinal done and was on the table and still no Sam. I was freaking out! But Sam walked in just in time and at 7:33pm our little girl was born. Talk about a close call. It was crazy.

And just when you think it's all over, I heard the doctors saying something about an appendix that should probably be removed. I was so out of it, it didn't register that they were talking about mine. Apparently there was a cyst on it and it just didn't look right to the doctors so they had to call a general surgeon to come in and remove it. The next thing I remember is that it's after 9pm and I was just then being wheeled into my room. I hadn't really seen or held my baby yet and I still had to wait for the medication to wear off. It was quite the night! But all is well and everyone is healthy and happy.

And now, here are some pictures to enjoy.

Announcing the Arrival Of...

Olivia Rachel

On July 3rd, 2009 at 7:33pm. 10 lbs, 13 oz and 22 inches long. More details to follow...