the RADFORDS

Monday, August 26, 2013

Sylvie June Radford

So... I kind of have this disease where I can't put my newborn down...I think it should be a rule that no newborn should have to be put down except for night time. So yes, that will be my excuse for not telling the world about my perfect baby girl.
But here it is. (First, the short version).

Sylvie June Radford
Wednesday, August 14, 2013

born at 12:45 p.m.

6lb. 15oz. 19.5 in

16 hours of labor

6 days early

Perfect features. TONS of RED HAIR.

(now for the very long version and a lot of iphone pics)

I had my last Dr. appointment on Monday the 12th. They did another ultrasound because I was measuring 3 weeks behind and they were concerned that the baby wasn't growing. I had been having weekly ultra sounds to make sure things were going well--and they always were. But on that last Dr. appt. they noticed that my fluid was really low and they didn't want to risk it getting any lower and having it affect the health of my baby. So the Dr. left the room and came back 5 minutes later and said "Well I scheduled you to be induced tomorrow night at 8 p.m."

Say what?? Tomorrow?

I thought I had a whole week left.

I was pretty shocked/nervous/excited.

So to celebrate we went to Red Robin.

I spent the next day cuddling with Stori and pretty much spending every minute with her. I was feeling guilty I would have to share my attention starting the next day.

When Dan got home from work on Tuesday, we packed up about 7 bags and headed out to my mom's house to have Stori stay the night.

It was my very first time being away from her and I was kind of struggling with that. I knew she was in great hands though--she LOVES granny's house!

We checked into the hospital a little before 8 p.m. and I was supposed to be put on a light medicine to help start contractions. Well when they hooked me up to the monitor I started having contractions all on my own about every 3 minutes. So they skipped the first medicine and they decided to put me on Pitocin a little after midnight. I decided I needed my epidural around 5 a.m. because I wanted to try and sleep---Dan was snoozin on the couch and I was jealous.

Sadly I wasn't able to fall asleep because the nurse had to come in every 30 minutes to manage my medicine for Group B Strep. I also had to be put on oxygen for a little bit so the nurse had to be with me for about an hour straight. No Sleep.

Around 11:30 a.m. I called the nurse because I felt like I had to go to the bathroom. She said that it usually means the baby is getting ready. And she was right. I was complete and the baby was ready to be born!!! The trickiest part was NOT PUSHING! The Dr. wanted me to "Labor Down," which meant that I let the baby work it's way down and not push until the end. It really was SO HARD to not push. Like actually painful. The Dr. finally came to my room around 12:30 and got everything set up.

I literally only pushed 3 times when the Dr. said, "Wow SO MUCH RED HAIR." I hadn't even seen her yet but I was crying because I was filled with so much love for this tiny human.

Dan cut the cord, they handed her to me, and I said hello to Sylvie June. When she heard my voice she opened her eyes and looked right up at me. It was such a tender moment. She knew I was her mother.
I had a hard time believing that I would actually be able to love another tiny human the way I loved Stori. I really didn't comprehend it until the exact moment that the Dr. told me one more push and I could hold my little girl. I instantly knew that my heart had managed to explode and triple in size. {much like the Grinch}. And just like that, I loved another tiny human EXACTLY how I loved Stori Rose.

I couldn't wait for Sylvie to meet her older sister, and I was missing my girl terribly.

My mom brought Stori in right after Sylvie was born and Stori asked to hold her and gave her a "special kiss" without me even asking her to. It couldn't have gone any better. It felt so good to be a family of 4!!!!

I spent that night in the Hospital and by the next morning the Dr. said I could go home whenever I wanted. I was so ready to be home with my family that I decided to go home that day after our Stork Dinner. :)

A HUGE SPECIAL THANKS to my mom who helped out SOOOOOOO MUCH!!
Now for an iPhone picture overload (dan hasn't finished putting the real pictures on the computer yet. That will be another post)

First picture as a family of FOUR

3 red-headed best friends

riding over to our new room

First moments with my Sylvie June

Getting ready to go home

Bath time at granny's

Best friends

Capturing some smiles from my cute lil human

we call this the "Haily hairstyle"

Chillin on Granny's deck (3 days old)

Some behind-the-scenes newborn pics

Monday, August 5, 2013

Potty training

This sassy lil thing is almost completely potty trained. She still has issues with going #2 around people so there has only been 2 times that she has done that on the potty. Even in our house she will run to a closet, hide under clothes, or find the back of our hallway to do her business. AND, if you try to talk to her while she is going, she says "look away...look away." haha she is a funny little thing, she is.

Yesterday was our first outing in panties (see pictures above). Dan was worried that she would have an accident so we took a towel with us on our walk, but she was a champ.
However...when we got back to our apt she ran to the potty but stopped just short of it and said a very sad, "Oh Noooooo." she didn't quite make it. At least she looked cool on our walk though... 7 necklaces, panties, crocs, glasses, and no pants. Classy.

So this is how I am potty training, and it has worked great:
-Designate several days of staying inside (this worked great right now because all of our friends have abandoned us during the 7 week break).
-Don't put panties or a diaper on her and only allow her certain places for her to play in case she has an accident.
-Set a timer for 20 minutes and have her sit on the potty and tell her very happily to go pee. Which she did every single time. The second day I did it every hour. The third day and every day after that, I would just have her go when I thought it had been a while or when she would tell me.
-Have her go right before and after she sleeps. She usually wakes up dry from nap time but in the morning her diaper is slightly wet.
-If we are just home hanging out, I either keep her naked with a shirt or just put panties on with her shirt so she can go easier.
-I don't use a reward like candy or stickers or anything. Her reward is getting to flush it! She loves that!!

I realize that this was a bad time to start potty training, because I'll have a newborn in a week or so, but she was the one who started talking about it and actually asking to go. So I did! If she reverts back after I have the baby, I'll just have to try and not stress about it and work on it again.

I think I turned 28, but I know for sure it's been 4 years.

Well, July 26th came again. I honestly have the hardest time keeping track of how old I am. The main reason for this, is the fact that SDR and I graduated the same year and we are the same age---but for only 2 months. So for 10 months I assume I am his age. He is 28 almost 29, and I have done my math and figured out I turned 28. Phew.

Well this year we were suppose to go to SLC for a sealing, but when that didn't work out, SDR planned a last minute birthday trip to Jackson to celebrate. We went through the park, ate our picnic, walked through stores, and then grabbed dinner at Quiznos. Stori's only request was ice cream, so Dan stopped at Maverick for some fro yo but he made the mistake of getting chocolate... the moment she saw it she said, "Nooo, not chocolate milk. White. Ice. cream." So the good daddy that he is, went back in and got her "white ice cream." She is a funny girl with some dang crazy taste buds.

some of her sleeping buddies helping her sleep on the way to Jackson.

We stopped and let Stori play in this park after we shopped and we all got a little crazy.

Oh man oh man do I LOVE this family of mine!

The day after my birthday my mom was kind enough to watch Stori while Dan and I went to lunch and then went grocery shopping. It was as romantic as it sounds! :) Then she had a cake made for me and dan got stuff for root beer floats. We had some major sugar overload!!

The very next week was our 4 year anniversary. Sadly I was 37 weeks pregs and we weren't able to dress up in our wedding clothes like the last few years. My mom volunteered to watch Stori again after she got off work so we could go to a movie. Unfortunately once we got to the theatre, the movie that we were going to see had the wrong time listed so we didn't get to see it. So we just got dinner and came back an hour after we left. haha also as romantic as it sounds! But Stori is always glad to hang out with Granny---she cries for her when she leaves. We are lucky we live so close to her!

So happy birthday to me, and a VERY happy Anniversary to my handsome SDR! So lucky he chose me! Love you Richard, Peter, SDR, Steven, Esteban, Daniel, Dan, schmoopie!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Mesa Falls and the beginning of goodbye

I've said it before and I will probably say it again, but I HATE when our friends grow up and abandon us! It's getting even worse now that Stori is talking and connecting with everyone. (and even more worse when those friends live 7 steps away).
So to celebrate the end of an amazing semester of friends, we headed to Mesa Falls. We packed our lunches and hit the road after church and naps.
We headed straight down to the waterfall and got all the picture-taking out of the way.

We had the perfect spot for our picnic because the kids were sorta trapped in the forest and therefore they entertained themselves while the adults ate and talked. They did lots of exploring, climbing, dancing, eating cheetos, falling of tables, and lots of pooping.

Dan decided to take Luke down to the waterfall again to see if the lighting was better. I took that to mean that they would go down there and come and get us if the lighting, was in fact, better. Dan thought that meant we would go down there if we wanted to see it again. Well, while they were gone, both Lila and Stori pooped. Lila wears panties, so those went to the garbage. Stori wears diapers but somehow she went through that like she was a newborn. She was in so much pain but Dan took the keys to the car. The car that held her diapers and wipes. So we took a trip to the great and smelly potty---emptied her diaper, and washed her down naked in the water fountain. Keepin' it classy.
Well the boys finally returned after an hour and we took another stroll down to the waterfall for some even more pictures. I'm married to the king of taking pictures.

Nora, Alicia, Drew, and Lila

Alana, Tracen, and Luke

Besides the poop, we all had such a GREAT time!!!
We took a detour home to Silver Falls to enjoy the pretty waterfall and the million mosquitos. And let me tell you this, I would rather have a million mosquito bites than have our friends move away....
the end.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Drive-In with the family

Nothing takes you back to your younger days quite like floatin the river during the day and enjoying the Drive-In at night. There were 4 of us siblings and our families (plus Mother who actually stayed awake) eating popcorn and penny candy, and yelling at other cars that were blocking our view ;) Just as it should be.

My tiny human has been growling like a monster ever since this night. (Monsters University and Lone Ranger---we didn't stay awake for the 2nd one though)

Thursday, July 25, 2013

CFFR8 and all things great.

The week of the 4th was so so so so crazy fun!

I would say the only bad part about the whole reunion/celebration, was that I didn't get to see Dan very much. He loves being with my brothers and bro in laws, so they took every opportunity to play frolf, go shooting, go for soda runs, play cards, etc. The girls didn't need the husbands anyway---we were busy talking, cooking, cleaning, reminiscing, and just enjoying being family.

We literally had every single member of my family home and staying at my mom's house. (48 in total). There was room for everyone because part of our reunion tradition is camping out in mom's forest. Also, we live only half hour away so we came back to our apt to sleep part of the time because my pregnant self wasn't getting the sleep I needed because Stori was having way too much fun to sleep! She literally cried for "Granny's house" if we came back to our apt. But we would get home late and leave real early, so she somehow managed to survive. :)

A few highlights of that week

-80's theme reunion: Lot's of big hair, hairspray, makeup, and mullets

-beyond delicious food

-child-less date to Texas Roadhouse for Kristie's bday

-dress up with cousins

-4th of July parade in Menan: where the boys took a swim in their clothes

-Menan fireworks: literally has become our favorite spot to watch them

-Trapeze swinging for Stori and Daddy

-a huge backyard for running around

-hammock-ing

-perfect deck for relaxing and eating

-tricks on the trampoline

-building towers for Flynn Ryder

-cousin time

-BOUNCY HOUSE! this was a huge hit

-s'mores over the fire

-Listening to 80's music with the Queens of the 80's (sisters)

-picking up Corey from the airport in our 80's gear

-Ryders blessing and having everyone at church for it

-playing games after the kiddos are asleep
-not getting on my phone! I would go to charge it at night and still have 96% battery! It is wonderful to be disconnected from all the distractions I let in my life!

And holy cow so much more..... !!

The best part is that it's not even over. we still have lot's of shopping to do, floating trips to take, shooting, hiking, more food to eat, and lot's of deck sitting in the perfect Idaho weather. I just love this time of year and my family!
The Christensen Family Fun Run year 8