The birth story

sorry these pics aren't in order, it just takes too much time to do that!

So its been awhile, but I've been super busy, i had no idea that having one more kid could be so hard!

On the 20th we went to Ogden Regional to have the baby and we got in on our scheduled time which was really cool. I was dialated at just a 2+ to start. They put me on the pit and the dr came in and broke my water and a couple of minutes after that I got light headed and passed out. I managed to scare my husband and the nurses and immediately became more of a priority :) They put me on oxygen and monitored my heart rate which was irregular and my pulse would go from really low to really high the whole time. They ordered an EKG and I got to be just like ET with stickers all over my chest. I asked the tech "I'm gonna look like ET right?" and Jared said "no more then usual" which still makes me laugh. The EKG showed that my heart beat had an irregularity like an extra beat now and then. The student nurse told me that everyone on the floor is concerned about me and watching me really closely. As for Konnor he was a trooper the whole time and kept a normal heart rate even when i passed out. The next shift i found out that i was assigned my very own nurse, she didn't have any other patients except me. I did have an epidural and it was fantastic, at one point it wore out and for about an hour i could feel the contractions so they gave me an extra boost of something that helped them disappear. I was on Oxygen the whole time up until delivery. The really cool thing was that i didn't throw up the whole pregnancy even during delivery! After around 10 hours of labor, at 8:27 pm, I had my sweet little boy, who looked huge compared to Makayla when she was born. He weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. And he still looks like he's gonna be a red head which I'm actually okay with cuz i love him so much! I guess he can say that he was jinxed by his mom too.

He is now 12 days old. The first couple days home from the hospital i was pretty sure I was turning into a crazy lady and my 2 year old was gonna push me over the edge. She has managed to find all new ways to get in trouble, I thought for sure my house was toddler proof but i was so wrong. This past week I've been able to get it all together and not feel so overwhelmed, I think it helps that nursing isn't hurting me as bad and i can be nicer. Not that anyone really wants to know but Thursday night i felt so yucky and had a fever and then later found out that i had mastitis in one breast, the other breast had been bleeding so after i noticed my child was drinking my blood i decided to pump until it had a chance to heal, so needless to say nursing has been my own personal hell with this child.

Yesterday I got to take Konnor in to get circumcised, and it was super sad, i stayed in the room and i didn't really watch but managed to make myself nauseous, he screamed the whole time even though he had been numbed and i told Jared that we can only have girls from here on out.

He is doing good today when they weighed him yesterday he was 8lbs. 4 oz. so he is eating good. I've only weighed myself once and it was just a couple days postpartum and I'm ten pounds shy of being back to my old weight, but i think that I've lost more since and a good 5 lbs has to be in my breasts. So overall i feel pretty good and if this child continues to eat like he has been I'll be skin and bones really soon. Pretty much that sums up what I've been up to the past whatever.

Diaper Wipe Case

I've been in love with cute wet wipe cases for quite some time now, and I've managed to lose 2 plain ol cases and have been using a Ziploc sandwich bag to carry wipes in for Makayla. Well today I found a case at Honk's a Dollar and decorated my own diaper wipe case. The Huggies cases are nice but when you get it all decorated then you cant even use the cool top so with this one it doesn't matter cuz it doesn't have a cool top. I started my removing the attractive sticker that was on the top then i cut and sewed some material and hot glued it onto the case, it was pretty simple. I used some left over batting from the curtains to pad the top and the bottom of the case just for fun. And i learned how to make cute fabric yo-yos which also turned out to be very simple. I used some scrap fabric i have in the house and a ribbon and button i also had so in total it cost me a dollar :)

Flyleaf Concert

Jared won some tickets to the Flyleaf concert from a radio station (the blaze) so last Friday we went to the Murray Theater to see them perform. We got there at about 7 and waited in line for about a half hour to get in then when we were inside we waited until about 8:45 for them to start, on the tickets it said the concert started at 6:30 so we were all wondering if we were hanging around for nothing. They didn't end up having an opening band, so maybe that was why it took them forever to begin, I'm not sure they never gave us an explanation. The sound could have definitely been better and i don't think it was the bands fault but the sound guys fault, the bass and the drummer were overpowering the singing and you could not understand what she was singing in the slightest, i totally drowned her out. So we stayed for about seven songs and decided that we would rather listen to it online. It was fun to get out of the house, the wait was lousy, the band was very animated so that was fun to watch but not a very pleasant listening experience. I'm pretty sure my baby may have hearing problems because of the concert it was sooo loud! our camera doesn't take very good night shots

Inside waiting for something to happen

outside in line

someday we'll have a better camera... someday

An Update

Last Friday at my Dr's appointment I found out that the baby is around 6 pounds 11 oz, which is what Makayla was when she was born, and that i'm dilated to a one+ which is more than i was with Makayla the first time I was checked with her, so he's obviously a bigger baby and my body seems like its progressing faster with this guy. Both good things i think... I have a date set to be induced on the 20th at 7:30 at Ogden Regional, at first I was hesitant cuz it seems so close but now I'm completely comfortable with the idea of being done then. When i was pregnant with Makayla my contractions felt like hunger pangs, so pretty mild and now that i know what my contractions feel like I definitely feel them more with this baby. But i also think they have been more intense with this baby too. I'm pretty sure my ribs are bruised they hurt so freak'n bad most of the time and just about all of my shirts are belly shirts on me which gets frustrating when I need to find something cute to wear. Today I'm in total grandma elastic band pants they are hideous :)
I had an awesome shower on Saturday, (thanks to Livia for setting it all up) and after going thru all of the clothes and stuff i have for him I'm pretty sure we are set and have enough of everything which is a good feeling (thanks everyone whose been so generous in helping us out!). I washed the infant car seat last night and i have it all clean and set up for the hospital if I had the camera around i would post the whole set up. Carrie made me a super cute car seat cover that i'm using with a baby wrap blanket that goes inside the car seat so you dont have to tuck blankets in everywhere. I plan on getting my overnight bag packed and ready for the hospital today. They told me to eat a light breakfast before going in but I know they plan on starving me all day so I may disregard that and eat my fill.
As for New Moon, I may join all the teeny boppers at the midnight showing at one of the plain ol' theaters that you don't reserve your seats at. Its the night before i give birth, so it might be a bad idea but i cant imagine I'll be getting much sleep that night anyway. But I may wait and see a matinee a couple of weeks later when the crowds have died down and i need to escape from the house.
When i get the camera around I'll post some pictures of the flyleaf concert and tell you how that all went.

some halloween pics and big choices

my sister Marijka in the Sasquatch mask, we never got the whole body suit maybe next year.
my hula girl

i look like my brother in this picture

Candy!

pumpkin carving

this is how you hold your coconut

I've got a tough decision to make and I'm having a hard time figuring out what would be best. My due date is the 28th of this month and with Makayla I had my Dr start me a week early because i was done and ready to get her here. So I have the option of being started again and I'm thinking that is probably my only option because i think that Makayla was content with living in me forever and my mom had to be started with all of her babies. The tough decision is deciding when i want this bundle of joy here, I'd like to work it around Jared's work schedule on a day that he has off so that way he doesn't have to take unpaid time off. The most ideal time would be the 19th to be started its a day that Jared has off and he also has the next day off so he could spend that time with me in the hospital, he would be missing some school though. The next week he has Thanksgiving and the next day which is his birthday off, and I'm thinking my Dr wont feel like starting me on Thanksgiving but she may be just fine with the next day. I don't care to push it to a week late because then he would have a December birthday and i think a November one is bad enough. It would just be nice if he chose to come all on his own, but I'm afraid i would be two weeks late and delivering a 9+ pound child. A dumb but i think valid reason i don't want to be started on the 19th is that new moon comes out the 20th and although i don't have tickets I'd like to see it before it comes out on video. (it'll be harder to get away with a newborn). So I'm stuck, the best route seems to be to let nature take its course and he'll get here when he gets here. Maybe i'll just schedule an induction on the 27th if he's not here yet, that way i can enjoy thanksgiving (kind of) and Jared will get a baby for his birthday :) I'll be able to see new moon between then and i wont be taking him too early. I'll keep you posted on the big day and let you know when that might be.

My Thermal Curtains

The windows in my messy room, it gets really cold in here in the winter and the main motivating factor to making the curtains was so that when the new baby is in our room he wont freeze and we wont have to pay so much to heat the house overnight.

I measured out the fabric to be slightly bigger than the opening for the window.

first finished curtain

not the prettiest sewing job but it'll work

both finished curtains, someday i will get a cute ribbon to tie around each but for now a black piece of yarn is doing the trick.

The other day I decided it wouldn't be very difficult to make thermal curtains. I've wanted to buy some for a couple of years now, i even went to shopko last year to purchase some but couldn't bring myself to pay $24 for one panel. so i looked up online what all should be done to make your own thermal curtains and some sites said to use a pre put together thermal fabric that you could get for about $12 a yard other sites pretty much said you can use old sleeping bags for the thermal fabric, or heavy cotton, felt, denim, pretty much some heavy fabric that would help keep some of the heat in and the cold out. I went to Walmart last night to see what kind of fabric they had that could work and the prices per yard blah blah blah. While i was there i checked out how much thermal curtains would be just to purchase them and for one panel the cheapest was about $13 so that really wasn't too bad, i read what material they used to make the curtain and it said 100% polyester. In the fabric section i decided on fusible fleece which is also 100% polyester, and the cheapest black fabric i could find. the fusible fleece was 2.77 a yard and the fabric i bought for the outside of the curtain was 2.47 a yard (i think) So all in all it ended up being more expensive then i thought it would but i have extra fabric. All in all i spent $29 which i think is still steep but this includes the tension rods i used to hang them up, black string, and 3 yards of each fabric and tax. I have some sticky back Velcro that i put on the sides of the windows and curtains to make a tighter seal at night. So I'm hoping tonight we'll be able to tell a difference besides our room being darker, (which is almost worth it all by itself).

Makayla Words

Makayla is using sentences and says lots of words in her own cute way and i thought I'd post some of her cute words

Chicken Nuggets - Mugwits
Witch- switch
the - za
potato - tato
black - bwak

she says belly button, with a British accent, which is hilarious.

I read a book

... and its overdue so i should return it :) I really have enjoyed some of the self help books by Dr. Laura, she seems to have a very level head and I enjoy the way she is able to tell it how it is. The book i just finished was Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, it was good but also a slap in the face wake up call as to how I treat my husband, so not a completely comfortable read but it definitely had some value. Last night is when i finished it, i wrote in my journal different points that I'd hope to work on, some of them are from this book others are from previous books or good advice I have heard, I don't know that any of you will find this of any value but I'll list what I've chosen to be a goal for myself in order to have a more harmonious family.

• Appreciate spouses hard work outside of the home in both work and schooling, express gratitude.


• Arrange planned meals to be when my husband is home (since he has an odd schedule the big meal will be lunch)


• Do chores and prepare meals while he is away and use the time he is home as down time/ family time


• Allow spouse an hour each day to unwind


• Find time each day to both get outside and exercise


• Ask my husband for help nicely and provide options for things that need to be taken care of so there is less "telling" and more freedom of choice.


• Anticipate hard days and allow breaks to keep from overreacting and being stressed.


• If the day is too daunting focus on one room and allow more time for playing with kids.


• Appreciate all the blessings i have and give thanks


• If feeling "unloved" or "under-appreciated" focus on giving to or thanking my spouse or someone else.


• Give more hugs


• Speak softer, more ladylike and be aware that anger is a choice.


• Know that every day, week, month or year cant be perfect and that hard times happen but can't stay around forever.


• Treat spouse how I would like to be treated.

Wish me luck on being better :)

time to kill

i saw an idea for this on another blog only she used beads and suggested pine cones so i made it yesterday, it was a bit time consuming but not too bad.

I've seen cute pictures of infants wearing a hat with ears and i thought that would be fun to do so today i made a cap with ears, initially i thought it'll be a little black bear cap and then when i put on one ear i realised that actually it looks like a mickey mouse cap, which isn't as cute of an idea

:( Because Makayla is napping i wasn't able to use one of her baby dolls to model it so i used a beat up pumpkin :)

Productive day

double stroller before, and when its been stripped of the seats

after, ya i know it doesn't look much different, it smells better though :)

I haven't had a mantle or a shelf to decorate before so this year being bored one night i created a Halloween display and i know it isn't that cool but I'm pretty proud of how it turned out considering i just used what i had which isn't much.
its pretty fun to look at in the dark but these pictures don't do it justice.

I had Makayla try on this bee costume to see if it still fit, although she will be going as a hula dancer for Halloween. Well when i put it on her she didn't want it off so she spent most of the day in a bee costume, and since she is such a hat person she added the hat to just complete the outfit so i had to take a couple pics.

I love days when i can say something got done, and because i have nothing left to do that i want to do right now I'll tell you how today went! i woke up early did a haircut then snuck back to bed because i didn't want to be up that early, then i woke up again when Makayla did, made her some eggs (I'd already eaten breakfast the first time i woke up), and did the dishes. Jared came home from school and the gym, i decided to clean up Makaylas sock box in her drawer which i haven't done since she was born because i hate mating socks (we also have a big sock drawer in the laundry room because its just something i don't care to do) So i mated all the socks in the box and put all the "too little" ones that couldn't pass for boy socks in a laundry bag to be put away in a clothes tub down stairs for when i have another girl. The white socks that needed extra help cuz the soles were so brown i put in the sink with some bleach and anything else i could think of to whiten them. I think i folded 3 loads of laundry one of them containing the newly bleached socks for my son. So now he has some socks although I'll probably still go get him at least one bag of new ones. After lunch Makayla went to bed, Jared went to work and i took a much needed shower, then i patched up two pairs of jeans that have started to tare on the bum, so hopefully they will last longer cuz i really like one of them. Then I pulled out the 2 seat stroller my mom found for free on the side of the road with a sign that said free, it is super sun faded and every time I've looked at it it makes me tired but today i took off all of the fabric sprayed it down with spray and wash and washed it in the washing machine then i wiped down the whole frame sucked up the spider webs with the vacuum and used window wash to get all the dust off. Then when the fabric was finished drying i screwed it back into place on the stroller. Its now all disinfected and smells nice but it still looks sun fade and worn and I'm contemplating reupholstering the thing but it may be a job too big to tackle.. we'll see. I raked the backyard again while Makayla played in the leaves, then went inside to make "noodles" (makaylas way of saying she wants top ramen) but we are out so i made egg noodles with a top ramen packet and added left over shredded pork with frozen peas and ended up with pork noodle soup and it actually tasted good to me and i ate most of it, makayla ate some noodles and left the rest, oh well. We watched some of the biggest loser then went to a visiting teaching interview. Came back and ate an apple with Makayla, then i picked up all of the apple peel she spit out all over the carpet, then i put her to bed for the night. And now I'm writing you an extremely boring post but yet its something to pass the time till Jared gets off of work. I'll post some pics of the stroller i hope it looks a little bit different but I'm thinking it wont really.

My dry erase calender

this calender cost me a grand total of $2, the lettering i used was from a press on page with months written out, so i had to cut out the individual letters for each word and was really surprised that i had enough letters. (the press on page was given to me by a lady at the Weber county fair 2 or three years ago) I don't know if you can tell but it says Arnold Family Menu, since i already have a calender that i put things i need to track on i figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a monthly menu calender too. So maybe now I'll have an answer to my least favorite question "whats there to eat?"

Makayla wearing a cute shirt my mom got her

finnished nursing cover

so i found this fabric at walmart the orange fabric was a remnant piece and i didn't realise it had tigers on it until i got home and unrolled it all, so its not really a cute cuddly baby fabric but it looks pretty cool. I followed the directions on the blog Make it and Love it, thanks so much Annie for the suggestion! For the boning that goes in the top I actually used a plastic soft spread butter container and cut a strip the size that i needed, its really flexible so it will be able to bend the other way and it was great cuz it was free. I didn't use the D ring on mine to adjust the neck tie i just sewed one side in a loop and I'll just tie the other strap to it to adjust the size.


now my next project i'd like to finnish is my temple painting all i have is a basic sketch...