Carter's Blessing day

 

 

This sweet little boy has my heart.  I love having a boy, and I feel so lucky to have such an EASY baby.  I honestly didn't know that a baby could be so good.  He sleeps well, he eats well, he smiles a lot, and he is so easy going.  Justin was able to bless Carter today in our ward. I was worried about his 6-9 month outfit being too big, but it fit his cute chubby body perfectly.  I wish I could have had a picture of everyone who was in his blessing circle, but I don't.  He had a pretty big circle: Justin Packard, Jared Taylor, Dee Packard, Gordon Packard, Mark Babcock, Adam Brower, Joe Deim, Scott Carter, Conner Packard, Ezra Robertson. After his blessing, we headed over to Justin's parents house for a BBQ.  We had a lot of friends and family able to attend.  I'm so grateful for my family and friends.  Love you all.

 

 

 

 

Carter

My sweet little boy is already a month old! This past month has flown by.  I absolutely love having a little boy, I never knew that babies could be this good.  I love my girls, and I enjoyed them as infants, but they were hard, they wanted to be held, or bounced all the time, and they couldn't figure out night and day for several weeks.

 

The day of my induction, I was supposed to call the hospital at 5am, to see if they could take me in.  The cranky nurse said they were currently full, and to go back to bed, and call again at 10. I was disappointed, but I did as I was told, since my mom had stayed the night to watch the girls.I put my phone on silent, and when I woke up at 830, I had 3 missed calls and voicemails from the hospital, apparently they had an opening for me.  I got to the hospital at 845, and after all the paperwork, I was finally settled in a bed, ready to go, and feeling good.  I wasn't nervous at all because my last 2 labor and deliveries were so easy.  Around 1015, the dr broke my water, and said we were probably looking at an evening baby.  When I got to the hospital, I was only at a two, and after about an hour and half on pit, I was at a four. I decided to get an epidural soon after.. I figured if I was going to pay $1000 for an epidural, I didn't want to be in any pain for any amount of time.  My epidural was complete shortly after noon, but Carter's heart rate was being really erratic which the nurse said can be normal after the epidural, but still to be cautious, they put me on oxygen trying to regulate my blood pressure.

Haha, at least Justin was entertained by the ordeal.  By 2 pm, babies heart rate was looking more normal, but then 1/2 hr later the nurse came back in and said his heart rate was dropping again, so she checked me, and she was like oh, well that makes sense, you're ready to push! I must have had an awesome epidural, because I had no clue.  The nurse went to call the dr, and said whatever you do, don't push! So we waited, and when the dr came, I pushed once, and out was our sweet baby boy.  EASY! When we looked at him, we totally changed our minds on what his name was going to be.  We had though it was going to be Evan, but we decided to name him Carter, which had been on the bottom of our list of names. 

Carter Randon

6lbs 10 oz 18 inches long 3:04pm 2/25/13

 

I always pictured myself with boys, but after two girls, I wasn't sure if I would get my boy.  I was a little emotional when I first held him! I can't believe I have a boy. The hospital would not let any visitors under 18 in to visit because of how bad flu and rsv was this year, so the girls didn't get to meet him until we got home. 

They are seriously such good big sisters!

 

Carter's first night home was the only night that I was up in the middle of the night with him.  As of night two at home, he goes to sleep around 1030, and sleeps 3.5-5 hrs, eats, and poops, and then sleeps another 3-4 hrs.  He rarely cries, and he is a good eater.  He is such a good baby! We feel so happy and blessed to add him to our family.  I have realized more and more what a blessing children are.  Im not a perfect mom, and being a mom can be so hard and trying, but my life would be so empty without these 3.  Love them all so much.

 

Almost There...

Just two more days until we get to meet our baby boy.  Can't wait.  What I'm looking forward to most:

Seeing what he looks like-Justin or me? The girls favor me more than they do Justin, so Im really hoping this little guy looks like Justin.  The red hair I can take or leave, but everything else I hope Justin. :)

Im also looking forward to getting him out of me.  I constantly worry if he is moving enough.

Getting him dressed.  Since this is our first boy, I have never been able to get a boy dressed, it's just fun to do something different.

The girls meeting him for the first time.  I remember when Lexi first walked into the room to meet Roz, I got all teared up, it was such a special moment for our two kids to meet each other. Obviously Lexi is completley thrilled to meet this baby, but Roz has no clue what's going on since she just turned two...we are hoping she adjusts okay.

Im also really excited to loose the baby weight.  I miss my clothes.  It took me abour four months to loose everything with Roz, so Im giving myself 5 this time :) That gives me until mid summer.

There is a lot to enjoy about pregnancy, but my favorite part is the kicks and squirms.  I know a lot of people say it makes it harder to sleep sometimes, but I love falling asleep to it. 

I'm planning on this baby being in the 6 pound range.  I have been consistently meausuring 4 weeks behind, and have had two growth ultrasounds to make sure everything is okay, but he as far as the ultrasound goes, he is doing great, my drs aren't worried about it.  Justin is 5'5, and Im 5'1, were just not going to have huge kids. :)

I should probably post a picture of my belly before I get induced on Monday, so I guess I'll take one today, the last one I took was 17 weeks...oops :)

A Quick Update on my girls and life

I would much rather read all of your blogs, then take the time to write a post, but I figure between my journal and a blog, I might be able to someday prove that I existed .  For Thanksgiving this year, we spent a week in Oregon. We drove to Boise, and then flew to Portland.  It was nice to get a break from work, and life in general.  We went to OMSI, and had a great time, we did an endowment session in the temple that we were sealed in, which is always fun.  Justin and I went to Washington Square to shop which is always beautifully decorated. Justin went golfing and to the movies, and I went out to breakfast with my girlfriend Erin. Justin has never been with my family on Thanksgiving, in fact the last Thanksgiving I had with my family was 2004, so it was very enjoyable.  My neices are on a dance company, and do a perfomance of the nutcracker every other year, so Justin and Lexi and I went to see it, it was so fun, and now Lex is always talking about the nutcracker. Christmas will be spent locally with Justin's family.  This will be the first December that we are not traveling, and I must say Im looking forward to a more relaxing holiday season. 

 This is a picture of Roz getting electrocuted at omsi...lol she didn't even care!

Lex deocrating cookies for her preschool class.

Roz Update:

Roz is such an adorable pill.  She is a hitter, a biter, a sweetheart, and a snuggler...it doesn't make sense, but that's just how she is. She doesn't care how big her opponent is, she is always ready to fight.  She loves Lexi, and they are finally to the point where they enjoy playing together.  They like to play hide and seek, and a game that Lexi and my neice Soleil made up called mom and sweety..when Roz is allowed to play, they name her Brielle, and she is the baby.  Roz is getting better and better at saying 2-3 word sentances, some of her newest things she is saying are: where are you?, honey!! (when calling for lexi), daddy home!, where go?, right there, and then trying to count to 5.  She loves to play with dolls, and cars, and loves mickey mouse club house and Diego. 

Lex:
Lexi loves to be around people, so if she isn't totally occupied with
something, she is following me around.  She loves to help me with anything in the kitchen that has to do with baking or cooking.  She also loves crafts.  She is really blossoming in preschool.  She is learning to write and recognize letters with out me having to write it first and then have her copy.  I can say things like Rozlyn is spelled R-O-Z-L-Y-N, and she can write it down.  She loves movies, and games. She is a big sweetheart, and always trying to be funny, and make us laugh.  She is also soo so curious: the other day she was asking how her cousin got into her aunt's tummy?? I tried to tell her that when a mom and dad love each other, they can have a baby...she kept saying but how mom?  I finally said, Lex, I'll tell you when you get older, preferably when you and I don't share a bedroom wall.  Besides being curious, she has a very tender heart.  She said to Justin the other day: "dad how are we going to know who gets coal in their stocking, so we can get them something else?" Very sweet.


Another exciting thing that happened in November is my brother and his wife had a new baby: Simone Mayell Marie.  She is adorable, and looks a lot like my girls!

Relieved....

Was Justin's main response when we found out we are having a boy! As for me I was crying, and asked twice if the ultrasound tech could make sure.  I'm not a cryer at all, in fact I don't think I cried with either of the girl's ultrasounds, and I didn't cry when they were born.  I didn't even cry when Justin proposed to me (but he did) :) I seriously love my two girls.  They make me smile and laugh everyday, and I'm so grateful for them, but even as a teenager, I always pictured myself with boys, not girls, so the news that we will be having a long awaited boy was really cool. The tech was able to tell within the first 20 seconds that we are having a boy, he wasn't shy at all! lol. We were able to get a 3d ultrasound, which I had never have before.  He doesn't really look like an adorable baby yet, but I'm hoping that will change :) He definitely has Justin's lips and my nose, but that was the only familiar things I could pick out from the pictures. He has been quite the mover already, and I love feeling him kick and squirm throughout the day, and especially at night. Justin is just happy that we aren't going to be one of those families with all girls.  We have had several people tell us "oh you just seem like the type of family that's going to be all girls. " And all I can think about when people say that is the teenage years..yikes..that's going to be crazy enough with two teenage girls. Anyway, we are so thrilled to be having a boy, I can't wait to start getting all of the hand me downs from my nephew out..(is it to early to start washing and putting them in a dresser for him) Can't wait!

In other news, Justin and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on October 8th.  Well we didn't really celebrate too much, we just put a new roof on our house so that took a good chunk of money, and we couldn't justify doing anything too crazy, but we went out to dinner, and ice cream (Because I really like food especially right now) while my brother and sis in law watched the girls.  We had a great time!

In case you haven't heard

We are having another baby! Pretty excited about it.  Baby #3 is due 3/3/13.  We find out on tomorrow morning what we are having.  I have come to terms with the fact that the baby is probably a girl...but it would be nice to have a boy somewhere in our mix. I don't like taking pictures of myself when I'm pregnant, but I do have updated pictures of my family.  I'm so glad that it's finally fall.  It was a hot summer, and we don't have AC, which means I feel sick anytime I am too hot. Besides not feeling great, we had a pretty low key and fun summer. We have moved Rozlyn to a toddler bed.  She is still adjusting.  Last night she called Mommy out, and 2am, and she was half asleep on the hardwood floor.  Then at 6am, she started panicking so I go in her room, and she somehow got stuck underneath the 6 inches between her bed and the floor, with her two blankets.  Like all the way under..I still don't know how that happened. I had to lift the bed to get her out.  Roz is hilarious, and always making us laugh and smile, but she is a little terror.  She bites, kicks, and hits all of us, and Lexi's friends! She is starting to talk quite a bit, saying things like: outside, Lexi, juice, auntie, Lei Lei, Mine, and many of the basics.  Lexi can write her first and last name by herself, and is getting really close to reading a few simple words. She goes to dance, gymnastics, and preschool.  Here are a few pictures from the past couple months:

                                                     Roz and her friend Addy exchanging cups

                                                                     Lexi into mischief

                                                            Roz going to gymnastics

                                 Justin with his brothers the night of his mission call to Pennsylvania

                                                                      Lexi at preschool

                                                                       Before church

                                    Into my waterproof mascara, it took a while to get it all off

                                                      Helping put up Halloween decorations

                  The three amigos, they totally did this themselves, so I hurried and grabbed the camera

Summer 2012

Im not a summery type of person, I usually prefer the fall and winter months, but I am really enjoying this summer.  The weather has been mild for the most part, and we have already enjoyed a couple days at the splash park, tons of walks, and one family reuion camping trip.  We have another reunion at the end of this month, and then to Bear lake in July with my family, so excited! Also Justin ran a 1/2 ironman on June 9th.  He did awesome, and place 202 out of 1650. The weather started out awful (41 degress, windy, and rainy) but by the time he got done with the swim, I was mostly dry, and the sun had just started to peak through. So the pictures above are from family reunions so far, and fun summery days!
 My girls are doing great.  Lexi had her first dance recital in May, and she was adorable.  Right now she is doing gymnastics twice a week, and preschool twice a week. She loves to be active, and wants to know everything.  (mom who was that on the phone? What did they want? Mom what is that person doing? Mom why are you wearing shoes right now? etc etc)  She is kind and loving, is learning to be a better listener. Rozlyn is so feisty! She is not even a little shy about sinking her teeth into anyone who takes something she wants.  She is gaining weight now that she has been drinking whole milk like crazy.  She mostly sleeps through the night.
Hope to post more about our adventures through the summer!