He's Here!

Sorry I haven't blogged in forever. As you can see, I have a good reason!! Micah arrived this last Friday, May 23rd, at 5:49 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds even, and he was 21 1/2 inches long.

This was a weird labor, because I started contracting Wednesday evening, but they weren't close enough together or painful enough. They were really intense, though, and I couldn't sleep all night on Wednesday night. I continued to have these same weird contractions all the next day. Finally, on Thursday night, after about 30 hours of these kinds of contractions, they started to get more painful and closer together. When I checked in, I was dilated to a 5!! Though they were really painful, they weren't as painful as Dylan's contractions, which was nice.

They immediately gave me my epidural (yay), IV, catheter, etc., and then they told me to take a nap, since it was the middle of the night. They would wake me and check on me every couple of hours. After they checked me and said I was at a 9, I was too excited to go back to sleep. :) I knew it was time to push, because it feels like you're going to poop the bed. So they told me to hold the baby in until the doctor got there. He got there within ten minutes, and it was time to push!

I only had to push through one contraction to get Micah out. His head is much smaller than his siblings' heads! And the doctor was really good about telling me when to pant and when to push, thus saving me the need for tearing or an episiotomy, which has been nice.

When Micah was traveling through the birth canal, he swallowed a bunch of my blood, and he came out not breathing. They had to rush him over to this special table, and there were three nurses hunched around him, suctioning out his stomach and trying to get him to breathe. He didn't breathe for about five minutes, and I was SOOOO scared. I was just sitting there, on the other side of the room, unable to get up, wide-eyed... Luckily, he pulled through, and he's just fine.

Those two days in the hospital were so blissful! I took total advantage of the 48 hours that you're allowed to stay. Micah wasn't satisfied with my colostrum, though. My other kids were good with it, but not this little piggy. We had to supplement him with formula. My milk has since come in, but my entire right...you know...is clogged. I suspect mastitis, because the redness and tenderness on that side extends clear up to my collar bone. I've tried massage, pumping, heat, standing in the shower, etc. etc., but nothing seems to unclog those ducts on that side. It's too painful to breastfeed, so I've been pumping and feeding Micah that way. Sigh. Breastfeeding has never really worked for me. Not that I haven't tried... I'm totally ready to throw in the towel. Or throw in the lansinoh pad, I should say.

Micah had/has jaundice, and we had to rent a bilirubin light and keep him on it, night and day, for five days. He got good blood test results yesterday and today, so we were able to turn in that stupid light today. It made things so hard, to have all this hardware attached to my son. He still has that yellowish tinge, but if the doc says he's okay, I believe him!

Apparently, I had a bladder infection that I didn't know about (the pain in my chest is all I've been able to concentrate on), and the contracting of the bladder made my uterus contract even more than it already does after birth. The contractions were so hard on Wednesday night that they felt like really hard, advanced labor. I was in a ball on the floor, screaming and crying. So Ben rushed me to the hospital, while my parents watched my kids, and they gave me morphine (ahhhhh) and did an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed that there were no bits of placenta in there or anything, but the pee sample was what solved that mystery. I'm on pretty heavy pain pills, and of course, antibiotics for my bladder infection. Oh, and I've been constipated, too. So that is also part of why I haven't been blogging - I have just plain felt too crummy. But I'm sure things will get better soon.

Sorry - I'm trying to keep this as short as possible, because I could talk about it all day. But I wanted to show you some pictures of Micah! Ben took a million, but these ones are my favorites. Micah looks like Mr. Magoo. This one really accentuates his Mr. Magoo eyes:

He also likes to look around with just one eye. We call him One-Eyed Willie, a holla to Goonies:

He always has his arms up by his ears, or behind his head, like he's relaxing behind a desk with his feet kicked up:

Ben took our "good camera" to the hospital, and he's such a better photographer than I am. This is a shot of Micah's little feeties:

And here's a cute one of him looking at the camera. He looks like Dylan looked as a newborn, so I'm sure we'll have a little Dylan Twin running around. I can tell his eyes are going to be big and beautiful, like Dylan's:

We are sooo excited to have Micah in our family. He's a sweet little man, and he's so tiny! I've never had one this small before, and it's kind of fun! Birth is such a miracle, and I'm really grateful that he survived it, and that he and I are (relatively) healthy. I just love him so much!!

Who Knew??

A few weeks ago, Sadie's speech therapist was over, and I needed to occupy Dylan's attention, so I taught him how to rinse dishes, using a scrubby sponge and everything. Once he got the hang of it, he did sooo well! He was very thorough, and he wouldn't stop until every single dish was scrubbed and ready to be stacked into the dishwasher. I couldn't believe it. Ben came home, and he said, "You know, if you want to stop, I can finish up for you," but Dylan refused! He actually thought it was fun! I never, ever thought this boy would enjoy doing a chore. I'm going to start having him do more chores once he turns five (in a few weeks). And I think I'll start doing a tiny allowance. Nothing huge. I want to get him trained to do chores before he gets much older (or much mouthier). So I'm thinking he can rinse dishes once a week, and then he can sweep, mop, and dust his own bedroom once a week. And maybe make his bed every day. Am I being too ambitious??

Speech Therapy

This is Sadie with her speech therapist, Marissa. Marissa comes once a week to our home to work with Sadie. She's a really sweet gal, and Sadie looks forward to her therapy sessions. She loves that there are always new toys, puzzles, and books to look at and play with. I usually have to take Dylan to Mom's, or occupy him with something else, because he cannot bear to see all these new and different toys and not play with them. He also wants to answer the "questions" that Marissa asks Sadie, soooo badly. Sadie seems to be doing well. I can tell that she's made a teeny bit of progress, which is exciting to me.

Ben's Territory

Now that the weather is nice, I thought it would be nice to water the lawn, and since we don't have a sprinkler system, it takes several days to water the entire front lawn and back lawn with our single outdoor faucet, hooked to a hose and a sprinkler. So I started slowly watering our front lawn the other day, moving the sprinkler from spot to spot, slowly across the lawn.

Ben came home and said, "Why are you watering the crap out of the lawn?"

I was like, "Dude, I move it every two hours, and each spot doesn't get watered again for another week. I don't think that's 'watering the crap out of the lawn!'"

He's all, "You're watering it way too much. You need to do it this way and this way and this way, blah blah blah..."

So I said, "Okay, Ben, the lawn is your deal. I won't touch it any more."

He seemed satisfied. Sometimes, I'll see a dry patch, and I'll want to water it so badly, but I figure that, if he dries up our lawn, it's his funeral. I've learned my lesson - the lawn is Ben's domain. I'll stick with my flower garden. :)

London

My sister, Alexis, is in Europe right this very minute, and I'm soooo jealous! She's on a tour, which will last for about a month, and the tour goes to several European countries. My sister, Natalie, went on a similar tour when she was 20, and I did a study abroad program for four months when I was 20. The only countries I got to see were England and France, but the experiences I had, and the people I met, were invaluable. Lexi has been blogging about her travels, and I've had so many memories hit me. I thought I would scan a few of my pictures and memorabilia which compare to the things she has been doing.

The first thing she mentioned was going to Kensington Palace. The "London Center," where I stayed for those four months, was a few blocks away from Kensington Palace. It was one of the first places I went when I arrived. Princess Diana had died the day before our arrival, so when we went to visit, the palace, which is where she lived was swarming with people:

I'm willing to bet that every single person who lived in London at the time brought a bouquet of flowers and laid it at the gates outside the palace. She was so dearly beloved by the people of England. I should have taken a picture one week later - the flowers had piled up to be as tall as a person.

Lexi said that she and her new friends went back to their hotel and slept after that, which I can relate to. Jet lag sucks!! I wanted to go to the funeral procession for Diana, but I could not get out of bed. I had to get this picture taken to put with my tube pass, and you can see how out of it I was:

Um, I had some pretty large eyebrows at the time. :)

Lexi says she got pretty proficient in figuring out the underground subway system - the tube - which also brought back memories. Here is my copy of the tube map:

I love mass transit. We rode that thing everywhere. We always had black boogers, from all the dirt and soot down in the tube stations. Something really funny that is repeated over loudspeakers and is painted all over the platforms is the phrase, "Mind the Gap," which essentially means, "Watch out for the gap between the train and the platform." Because it's probably a foot or so from train to platform, and if you're not careful, your leg will fall in. My friends and I thought that sounded funny - Mind the Gap. This is a picture of me (on the left) and Melissa (on the right). Sorry for the horrible picture quality - this was before digital cameras:

Lex went to Big Ben on her second day in London, which is also one of the first things I did there. Another horrible-quality picture of me (on the left) and my friend Alicia (on the right):

I would show more pictures, but I don't want to bore you! I just thought it was fun to take a little trip down memory lane.

Headstart Party

Dylan's last day of preschool was today (I'm panicking - what am I going to do with this kid all summer??), and instead of a normal day at school, it was a fun party day at the park. It was at a shelter near a new all-access big toy. Here are the kids in the big toy area:

Then the kids participated at the games and activities at different booths. Dylan is actually really good at limboing:

They colored frisbees with Sharpies at this table:

The bean bag toss:

The bubble table:

Dylan and his best friend, Marcus, were sooo excited to win these cheesy, fake-gold necklaces with football helmets on them:

They also had a face-painting table:

It was soooo hot today. I was excited when we found a patch of shade where we ate our lunch:

Personality Questionnaire

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Oh, yes. My two grandpas, Karl and Glenn.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? On Monday. I had the stomach flu and heartburn that felt like someone was stabbing me. I hadn’t slept in about two weeks because of said heartburn. Now I’m on Nexium and I’m a HAPPY GIRL.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yeah, I think so.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT: Ham
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes, two and eight-ninths.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yeah, I think so.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Way too often.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP ? Oh, no, no, no, no. I’m sooo scared of heights and falling.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Sadly, it hasn’t been sold in stores for years. It was called Quaker Oat Bran. Oh, I loved it soo much.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No. I really should. I guess that’s why I prefer slip-ons and flip-flops, weather-permitting.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? My husband says I am, but I disagree. I feel like a weakling, emotionally and physically. My upcoming labor and delivery: epidural, thank you very much.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip. Leatherby’s Toasted Almond.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Teeth, I think. Or eyes.
15. RED OR PINK? Red.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF? That’s kind of an oddly-worded question. Hmmm. Sorry. I got distracted. Um, I hate how hot-headed I am. I wish I could be patient and mellow.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My seesters.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I got this via e-mail, but I’m posting it on my blog. I’m going to tag…Pete, Nat, Beads, and Emily.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? My J. Lo velvety grey pajama bottoms and no shoes.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A bean burrito. What else? :)
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The hum of central air.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Lilac.
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Lilacs, gardenias, roses. Cilantro. My husband’s soap – Coast. Bleached towels.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Benny
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes. I wish I could have connected with her at our 10-year reunion.
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Basketball. And I don’t mind a good golf tournament every once in awhile. I watched golf during my labor with Dylan.
27. HAIR COLOR? Brown
28. EYE COLOR? Green.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Unfortunately, yes.
30. FAVORITE FOOD? Bean burritos, baby! Some things never change.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings. But not cheesy happy endings. Of course, I’d rather watch a movie of paint drying than a scary movie.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I think I watched the second half of X-Men Two with Ben.
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Kind of a cranberry color.
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Neither. Hate the heat, hate the cold.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs, for sure. I have a hard time kissing when I’m pregnant. Sorry, Ben. I suck.
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Buttermilk pie.
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I think my tag-ees will all come through for me.
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Maybe Nat? She has a newborn, after all.
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Places in Between by Rory Stewart.
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? The one at home is just one of those nice ergonomic ones that you rest your wrist on. I like those. I don’t have one at work.
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? A really interesting documentary on these three teams of mountain climbers that got caught in a deadly storm while climbing Mount Everest. Ben and I could not keep our eyes off the TV screen.
42. FAVORITE SOUND? My kids laughing. But not that evil laugh that kids do when they’re doing something naughty.
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Hi. It’s Karlenn, folks. The Beatles.
44. WHAT IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME ? France.
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I’m really good at picking things up with my feet, so that I don’t have to bend down and get them.
46. FAVORITE PASTIME? Scrapbooking.
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Provo
48. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? All my tag-ees.

Just Like Atzin!!

There is a little girl in Dylan's preschool class named Atzin (the name seems unusual, but she is Hispanic). She has Down's Syndrome. She is really sweet and cute. She doesn't talk at all, and she still wears diapers. She has huge silver caps on her back molars - I don't know if it's from cavities or a worse problem. Perhaps she doesn't like getting her teeth brushed, or perhaps she was allowed juice in her bottle in bed when she was smaller - I'm not sure the reason. Anyways, we had some red grapes in a salad a few weeks ago during dinner, and Dylan put two red grapes on his back molars and said, "Look, Mom! I'm Atzin!!" Ben was totally confused, but I laughed so hard. I had to explain to Ben about little Atzin and the caps on her molars. Dylan is so funny. I had him do it again for the camera:

Ivy is Here!!

My sister, Nat, gave birth to her fourth (and she says, final) child, her only girl - Ivy Marie! I'm embarrassed to say that I can't remember the exact birth weight. Six pounds, something ounces. And 20 inches long. Nat had sciatica in both hips/groins/legs/butt cheeks pretty intensely for the last couple of weeks of her pregnancy, so she begged her doc to induce her, and he said okay. I'm so jealous. So she had Ivy about 1 1/2 weeks before her due date.

The labor and delivery went very smoothly, and Nat is sooooooooooooo happy not to be pregnant anymore. (Pete is happy that Nat isn't pregnant anymore, too.) She says that she feels amazing, now that she's not pregnant. That is so true. After I have my babies, I feel like a zillion bucks. No more nausea, heartburn, sciatica, constant headache, etc. etc.

Alright. Enough blathering. Here are the photos of my gorgeous neice. She has Brock's chubby cheeks and Jake's mouth. Here's me, holding her for the first time. She is sooo teeny!! My kids are always 8-pounders when they're born, so it's weird to hold a 6-pounder. Nat and I always joke, because we have the same vocal intonations, kind of, and our newborns always look at their aunts like, "Are you my mom? You sound like my mom!!" We call me "brown-haired mommy" and Nat "blonde-haired mommy":

Nat did her hair and makeup before she went in to be induced. Smart girl. She looks fabulous:

Ben, our family's renowned baby-hog. Once he holds a baby, he won't let anyone else hold it:

Nat is bottle-feeding Ivy from the get-go. She did the same with Troy. She just really, really hates breastfeeding. I would totally follow suit, but I breastfeed to lose the baby weight. Seriously. That's the ONLY reason I do it. Because it's never been pleasant for me, either. Here's Ivy at the bottle:

I was interested to see my kids' reactions to a newborn. Dylan was very tender and sweet. He loved holding the baby, and he was good at it. So that's exciting to me:

Sadie couldn't have cared less about the baby. At one point, when I was holding Ivy, she got jealous and said she wanted me to hold her. So I'm kind of nervous about her reaction to our baby, but she'll just need to buck up. I need to go see Nat and Ivy again today. I was soooo sick yesterday that I wasn't able to go see her at the hospital for her second day there.

Sweet Beads

Here are some sweet shots of Beads with Sadie. My kids have wonderful aunts.

Mother's Day

We took this quick shot of me with the kids on Sunday, Mother's Day, outside of Brianna's apartment. For my Mother's Day gift, Ben's giving me a massage package at this local spa, and I cannot wait. It's the perfect gift for someone who aches all the time. Last night, I told Ben that only my ears didn't hurt, at that moment.

Dinosaur Museum

Sorry for the delay in posting - my little family went out of town for the weekend, and then yesterday, I got the 24-hour flu, so I felt too crummy to do anything at all. I'm feeling much better today, thank goodness. I was praying for death. :)

We went down to Lehi, Utah, to visit my sister, Brianna, for a very, very short weekend. I was cheating - you aren't supposed to travel within your last five weeks, but I have four weeks left, so I figured I'd probably be okay. Brianna and her hubby are moving to Buffalo, New York in a month or two, and I wanted to go down and see them before they moved, but also before I had a newborn. Traveling with a newborn? No thanks. To my Utah friends - I'm so sorry I didn't have time to visit everyone. It really was an extremely quick trip, and I wanted to spend every second with my sis, since she will be so far away.

We went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday - so much fun. I thought this picture of Beads, Spence, and Dylan holding hands was cute:

Dylan, Dad, and Sadie at the erosion exhibit:

Just Dyl:

Sadie on a statue of some kind of dinosaur:

Dylan on the same statue:

Dylan and Sadie "uncovering fossils":

This part was so funny. You can use different stuffed dinosaur parts to build your own dinosaur. Here is Dylan:

Ben had more fun at this exhibit than Dylan did. He put two heads on the front of the dinosaur, then two tails, then a head at the head end and the tail end...Dylan was getting pretty ticked. Then Ben put one of the heads in front of his face and chased the kids around:

Then ran around with the tail on his bumb:

He is his own best audience. :) Brianna, making a "rubbing" - she loved this, because it reminded her of the Barbie rubbing toy we had as kids, where you would change Barbie's outfits and make new "drawings" of each one:

We saw a 3-D dinosaur movie, which was fun:

I think there was some prehistoric coral named "Spence," so I made Spencer pose in front of the sign:

Dylan, crawling around some pretend caves: