Family of Four

The first night with little Stockton at home was, as expected, not a restful night. But the second night, and ever since, he has woken up only to be fed at 3:30 and 6:30. What a little angel boy! We'll see how long it lasts...

The boys and I are slowly moving into a new schedule. Cam leaves for school at 6:30 or so and Parker is usually up by 7:30. We can take those few morning minutes to ourselves as Stockton still sleeps for most of the morning. And most of the day. When he is up, though, Parker loves to hold him and insists on always kissing him on the nose.

Cam remains ever positive with his busy schedule. He usually arrives home around 6:00 and we have dinner. Not long after, Parker and Stockton are sleeping and Cam and I are able to catch some last minute conversation before both of us zonk out. Weekends are something both of us look forward to, but for awhile the weekends will consist of settling apartment affairs (since we're still managing until September 1st) and unpacking odds and ends and decorating our new home. (At least, we hope it will be our new home. We still haven't closed yet...) I'll have pictures up soon of our lovely little abode.

And speaking of pictures...

 

 

After Cam's blessing at 3:45 A.M. on August 13th, my fears and anxieties about induction were completely erased. I knew that everything that was about to happen--whatever that was--would be fine.
We arrived at the hospital a little after 4 A.M and by 5:00 I was laying in a hospital bed, trying to catch up on sleep I had missed the night before. Even after receiving the Cytotec, my contractions were nearly nonexistent and I wasn't progressing very rapidly.
By 8:00, the nurses decided I was barely to the point to receive the Pitocin. They popped in periodically to check me for the next little while, but Cam and I continued to sleep, thinking that our baby was simply going to take his precious time to enter the world. The contractions at this point were bearable.
At 9:30, Cam decided to go grab breakfast and make a few little stops along the way. "You might as well," I told him. "Nothing's happening here."
But, when my doctor came in to break my water just half an hour later, I called Cam to let him know what was going on. To my dismay, he didn't answer. I told the doctor to just go ahead and do it.
Ten minutes later, I asked for the epidural. I still can't believe how fast and hard the contractions came after my water had been broken!
And guess what... Cam still wasn't back.
When he did call, I answered somewhat frantically, but tried to keep the humor in my voice amidst the pain of the moment.
"Hi, Cam," I said quickly, "I'm getting the epidural right now."
"What? Right now?"
The nurse was giving me instructions. I sped up the conversation.
"Yes, right now." As in, they're washing my back to put the needle in. "Bye."
I could tell Cam was still stunned, but he quickly shot out a "bye" and I tossed the phone to some unknown area of the room.
By 11:00 the epidural kicked in and took the edge off the pain. They checked me again and, to my surprise, in the last hour I had dilated from a three to an eight. By noon, we were prepping to push.
Twenty-four minutes later, our little Stockton Allen appeared (we couldn't decide on his name until he was a few hours old). He weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20 in. long. He didn't cry when he came out, just whimpered. It was rather adorable.

Amazing Discoveries!

I've had a hankering for s'mores lately. But what pregnant woman wants to roast a mallow over a fire in the middle of the afternoon? So, one day, I simply assembled the piece-of-heaven-in-your-mouth (complete with Reese's instead of Hersheys) and just popped it in the microwave for 15 seconds. Best. Thing. Ever. Try it. Now. Seriously.

Another amazing discovery has been cleaning with those magic eraser things. I just grabbed a different kind of brand at Big Lots for cheaper than the Mr. Clean brand. And, let me tell ya', I love 'em! Especially for getting scuffs off walls and doors and baseboards.

And, lastly, AMMONIA.

Yes, ammonia. I got this bottle at Big Lots for $1. My sister-in-law, Alleen, told me about this, and I looked it up online for specific instructions. This, my friends, was an absolute miracle. Watch this.

Okay, not the best pics, but you know how those grates/elements on your stove get really disgusting? Like, burned-on-anything-and-everything-for-years-and-years type of disgusting?

Simply put the grate into a gallon size Ziploc and pour a 1/4 cup of ammonia into the bag. Quickly seal the bag and let it sit. You can let it sit for three hours or overnight, depending on how dirty your grates are. I let mine soak overnight and when I took it out of the bag, all I had to do was SPRAY OFF THE BURNT ON GUNK. Not even joking. Some scrubbing was required afterward, but it wasn't difficult. Isn't that the best thing ever?!

Oh, FYI: be careful of the fumes. I did it with my windows open. Smart move, I think. You only need a 1/4 cup of ammonia in the bag because it's really the fumes that get all the stuff off.

We're Moving?!

Last Friday, we were given keys to the house in Enoch. Since then, Cam and I have been busy cleaning and sanding and painting walls, baseboards, and trim. Jeannie (Cam's mom) was an angel and came to our rescue on Wednesday to help Cam paint while I kept Parker away from the wet walls. Ryan and Beckie Henrie and their kids have been lifesavers as well, watching Parker while we have painted.

 

No, we haven't closed on the house. Yet. We have been given the option to rent it so we can be in before the baby comes. At first, we thought we wouldn't be in by the time Baby got here, and that we would use the "renting period" to just clean it and paint it and such.

But, alas, Baby is not here yet (he's five days late, little stinker!). And Jeannie called today and told me that nearly all Cam's family is coming tomorrow to paint, clean, knock out weeds in the yard, and move stuff over. With as many people as we have coming, we could probably get everything done. By tomorrow. Tomorrow! (I would take a picture of how excited I am, but I'm not in the best looking condition right now.) Family is truly the best thing ever! I don't know how we will ever repay them.

We are already way excited for the ward that we will be moving into. We've had a neighbor and his wife, Cameron and Jodi Findlay, come with their four children (ages 6 years to 6 months) and knock out some of the weeds for us. What troopers! What saints! We've had the bishop of the ward welcome us and offer his services, and we've had four Relief Society sisters bring us brownies and make us feel so welcome. Is there anything better?

I guess having a baby would top it all off, huh? That being said, we do have an induction date (blah! I have an unexplainable fear of induction) set for Monday, the 13th at 4am. I didn't think he'd wait 8 days to come, but I'm beginning to think it's possible... Oh, well. At least we'll be moved in, right? Thank you, family!!!