Our 'little' Lexie

Oh where to begin! This weekend flew by faster than I could have ever imagined. But I'm glad it's over and my sweet baby girl is finally here. As you know by now, for journaling purposes this will be a long and semi-detailed post. Enjoy, or skip to the pictures.

Since I was being induced I had to wait for the hospital to call me to tell me when to come in. I figured it would be about 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning before they called and then I would need to hurry over. Friday night Colby and my dad gave me a blessing and we made plans with my mom for the morning. I was up until almost midnight ironing, blogging, and making sure things were ready for me to be gone for a couple of days. Of course I didn't sleep well, or almost at all, and at 4:55 a.m. the phone rang. They wanted me there at 6:00! I don't think I've ever showered and gotten completely ready as quick as I did that morning. And obviously our plans had to change a little bit. My mom came to sit with the boys and Colby & I headed to the hospital.

They got me all hooked up and checked me and I was only dialated to a 2. The Dr. came at 8:30 and broke my water. A couple of hours later I started having pretty good contractions, and at around 11:00 I was at a 4. I told the nurses I would be there all day and probably not even have the baby until later that evening. In my mind, I really thought, or hoped it would be around 3 or 3:30. My contractions started getting pretty good, and only about 3 minutes apart. I asked for my epidural, and 45 minutes, getting pretty mad, and telling Colby to go find out where the anesthesiologist was he finally showed up. I'm pretty sure I was acting like one of those women you see on t.v. when they get really mad and are screaming for their medicine. I was in pain, and did not want to go through this without it. And when he came in he wanted to make friends with me...uh hello! I'm in pain here! He was really nice and professional, and talked me through EVERY thing he was doing. Let me just tell you, I did not enjoy hearing "OK, it's going to poke, now it's going deeper...now deeper..." and then "Now I'm inserting the tube..." seriously people! I almost told him to just do it without all the details but I was really trying to be nice. About 20 minutes later I felt great! Everyone left, I got a little rest, and at 1:00 the nurse came in to check me and told me I was complete. My mom walked in the room right then and I called Colby to tell him I was going to start pushing.
By now my contractions, that I thankfully could no longer feel, were starting to get bigger and closer. My nurse came to tell me that the girl in the room next to me was ready to start pushing and she was on her 4th kid, so they were going to do her first then come and do me. By the time they got in to me, my contractions slowed down to about every 5 minutes and weren't as big. But we got the job done with no problems. The dr. did show me the placenta and said that it's a good thing we induced when we did because she wasn't getting any nutrients. It was small compared to normal placenta and had calcium build-up all over it. I really didn't want to have a baby this close to Christmas, but I'm so glad she is here and healthy!

Now, enough of the details. Here are some pictures.

Our teeny, tiny Lexie

Cutler was so excited to see me and Colby and the baby. He just wasn't quite sure what was going on. And he would not let his death grip on Colby go.

Noah has been asking about this day for as long as I can remember. He is so excited to have his baby sister here with us now. All he wants to do is hold her and asks when he gets to feed her. He stayed right by her side the whole time he was there and checked out everything the nurses were doing to her.

As wild and crazy as this kid is, he really can be soft.

Notice how big her clothes are on her.

She's here!

lexie Daun Labrum

arrived today {Dec. 27th} @ 2:34 p.m.

weighing 5 teeny pounds and 9 tiny ounces

measuring 19 inches long

Lexie is the cutest little bundle...so glad she is here!

What a darling little family!

Check back for more from Tiffany when she and Lexie arrive home possibly Monday.

{posted by Gramma Sherie}

Hopeful

Seeing as how it is 11:30 at night, hopefully by this time tomorrow night I will be holding my sweet new baby girl. They will call me in the morning when they are ready for me to come in, and hopefully it doesn't last all day like Cutler did. The dr. thinks it will, but I'm praying for something different. And hopefully I can get Colby to post when the baby arrives.

Christmas

As always we managed to have an amazing Christmas! Santa made his stop at our house and left way too much stuff. Noah has already outgrown his bike, so he wanted a new one "with a kick stand". He is a little small for it, but with a little practice he'll once again be a pro.

Cutler too got a bike. His came with all the bells and whistles you would ever want on a bike. Now I just can't wait for it to dry up and get a little warmer so he can enjoy the thing outside.

After we opened presents at home we went over to my parents and had a super yummy breakfast. Then off to Danjanovich's to be spoiled once again. By the time we got done over there it was time for a nap. I have ended up with a stupid head cold, and one by one we are all getting it. So we all needed a little rest. Every year we spend Christmas night with the Labrum's. It's usually quite the production - the 'English' dinner, bon bons, games, songs, the nativity, and of course presents.

Cutler and Rob have quite the little bond, (after all they do share a birthday) so he was entertained for the better part of the night. One of the games is the 'guess how many are in the jar' game, and Cutler won! Yeah Cutler!!

And Noah always gets to play a great part in the Nativity. This year, Joseph.

We are so blessed to have so much family around us to be able to celebrate "...the most wonderful time of the year" with. We hope you all had a great and Merry Christmas!

Carter party

Every year we get together with my mom's whole family for the Carter Family Christmas Party. It also sort of doubles as my grandma's birthday party, which is Christmas Eve. I always look forward to the great food, laughs, and just getting to see almost the whole family. This year we missed only a few, and had a great time.

Each of the kids got to decorate a cookie and then of course eat it. They had so much fun running around and playing with everyone. We thought for sure they would crash by the time we left town, but not our boys. Noah got tired and wanted to go to sleep, but Cutler wouldn't stop jabbering the whole way home.

Oh Cutler!

A couple of random things...

First -
The other day I couldn't find Cutler, which immediately told me he was doing something he shouldn't be. I finally walked into the office to find this...

He had put my glasses on and was drawing. He loves to wear glasses thanks to papa Kent!

Next -
Colby witnessed something for the very first time ever! Cutler didn't have a nap and while we were trying to get ready to go somewhere I put a movie on for him. When Colby walked in the room and saw Cutler asleep he was completely amazed.

I have to say, I've seen it before but only once or twice. The kid loves a movie and unless he's beat tired, will not fall asleep during it.

Merry Christmas!

We have a date!

The dr. actually gave me the choice of when I wanted to have her.I first thought to myself, who wants to have a baby? I mean, actual labor & delivery? I told him Friday, but he's not on call that day. So we narrowed it down...today, thursday, or Saturday. I have things to do today, plus I would probably still be in the hospital on Christmas - not happenin'! Thursday is Christmas - not happenin'! So Saturday it is. I only measured 33 today, and I lost a pound this week. He told me I am starting to go downhill and since she's not growing that we need to get her out. I couldn't agree more!

Now if I can only get my house clean...!

A little bit of our December

In all of our getting ready for Christmas, and now it being crunch time to be ready for the little 'miss', we have been trying to enjoy the holiday as well. Here are some things we have been up to...
At the first of the month Colby & I got to enjoy an evening out at Tuacahn. We went and saw 'The Gift' - a concert put on by Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband, Sam Payne, and Peter Breinholt.

As we all know we got quite the little snow storm last week. All morning while I thought Colby was at work, we found out he was actually home...making these! I'm actually very glad he did, because I was not looking forward to spending the morning trying to build snowmen. He did a great job!! Aren't we such a cute family?!

Cutler loved the snow! I think he thought he was in heaven that day. He played so good and loved making snow angels and eating the snow.

Noah loved not having to go to school that day. And having fun new neighbors to have a snow ball fight with. These two are trying to build a snow fort to hide behind when the big brother throws snowballs at them.

I hope everyone is having as much fun as we are. I have more to post, but I've caught a little cold and I'm tired, so off to bed I go.

And as for baby news...last week I started my weekly appts. I have started dialating, but when he measured me I was only measuring 34 when I should have been at 36. He put me on the monitor to do a stress test, and I now have to do those at every appt. He says that if the baby doesn't start growing, and if things don't change we'll just have to get the baby out. I'm not quite sure exactly what he meant by that...c-section, induce labor, send me to the hospital after my next appt. I don't know. But I go in the morning so we'll see what happens!

Than-ta!

Yes, you read that right. No, I did not spell Santa wrong. Cutler totally has this lisp thing going on and it's so funny. Anyway, that's how he says Santa. Some of you will get this picture soon, lucky you. But I had to post it because I thought it turned out pretty cute. Isn't he the best Santa ever?! After all, Noah told me "He is the real Santa!"

Another milestone

It seems like everyday Noah is learning to do something new. Which seems weird because he's 6, what more can he possibly learn? Whether it's a school project he has to complete at home, a book he's reading, a word I can hear him sounding out and figuring out how to spell, or a math problem, it seems like every single day he is getting smarter and smarter. Well, he has now officially learned how to tie his shoes! Are we late on this? I always thought they should know how to tie them by Kindergarten, but because we didn't take the time to teach him this summer, he didn't know how. I was dreading teaching him and quite honestly wanted Colby to do it. But I'm the one to get him ready every morning and off to school, so it pretty much fell on me. I have to say, the first couple of days were pretty stressful for me, I'm just not a good teacher. But it really did only take a couple of days and now he does it all by himself and is so proud! I must admit, I'm pretty proud of him too!

Leaf pile

Even though we are only weeks away from the most wonderful day of the year, here in our sunny parts we are definitely not feeling like it's even close to winter. I barely feel the fall air these days. We still have leaves on the trees, and green leaves at that. You can barely see the lights on our tree out front because the leaves haven't fallen yet.

Our neighbors behind us have the biggest Cottonwood(?) tree and I think every leaf that ever falls from it lands in our yard. The other day Colby mowed the lawn and as soon as he got done and came in the house said, "I bet tomorrow all the leaves fall off that stupid tree." He was right. We let them just lay there for a couple of days and finally I decided to rake them up and put them into a pile. Noah & I have been talking about doing it for a week or two now, but it's been wet, or there haven't been any on the ground yet. After listening to the boys fighting and yelling at each other for what seemed like hours, I decided to change what they were doing all together. I went out back and raked up all the leaves into a big pile and let them do what every kid wants to do when they see a big leaf pile...Jump! Roll! Throw! Lay! Whatever they desired, with a few pictures of course.

It's OFFICIALLY, official!

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and as great as it was, it's gone. Time to Deck the halls and my blog with Christmas!! Finally! I have been wanting to change my background and music for a week or two now, and since turkey day is finally past us I don't feel quite as bad. Now, let the shopping begin! Or in my case, let's finish what I've started. Sherie and I have already hit a couple of stores this morning - chaos! And in a couple of hours I'll be heading to the Santa's workshop. Let's hope to find some great 'treasures'.

Macee, Macie, or Lexie?

So these are the names we have finally narrowed it down to. Obviously I can't quite decide how to spell Macee/Macie (I can't even type it without doing both). Colby doesn't like telling, but I'm tired of not being able to call her something other than 'baby'. Noah likes Macee/Macie, but Colby and I have always liked Lexie, and since I threw that back in there last week, he's sold on it. I kind of see her being named the first, but I have to admit - I'm stumped! Her middle name will be Mae, after both of our grandma's. What do you think? Which do you like better, and see us having in our family?

Baby update

I am now 33 weeks, and so ready to be done. (don't pay attention to the counter, it's off a few days) I am starting to have flashbacks of when I was pregnant with Cutler and how miserable I got...'It's all coming back to me now'. My clothes are, well, tight. My face is getting pudgy. And No, I haven't had 1 picture taken of me this whole time. I don't know if I can do it. It truly is a good thing we forget what it's like to be pregnant, for me anyway. I really don't know if I'll do this again. When we went in for my 20 week appt. to have an ultrasound we found out I had this placenta previa thing going on. So we had to do another u.s. to make sure it was taking care of itself so I don't have to have a c-section. Tuesday was that appointment and all is well. Thank you! I was seriously worried about it. Here is a picture of the little one resting. I know ultrasounds are so hard to see sometimes and this one is blurry on top of that. I was so excited every time he took a picture because on the screen they all looked so good and clear. Then when he printed them out every one of them turned out blurry. Sad. But we have pictures. You can't tell in this picture but I think she's going to have Colby's big lips.

Anyway, she's laying on her side and you can really only see her face. Perfect!



Now I'm off to Vegas to finish getting things so I can be ready, and able to enjoy the holidays. Let's keep praying it's a girl. He only gave me a 90% this time. Is that good enough???

Our kindergartener

Noah finally brought his school pictures home the other day. We were on vacation when they did the first ones, so he had to wait for re-takes. I always get so nervous because of his cheesy smile, but we think it turned out pretty cute! I definitely don't think he looks 6! (more like 8 or 9)

Happy, happy Birthday!

Reag, we hope you have a great birthday! Wish we were there to celebrate too!!

He finally lost it!

A couple of weeks ago I went out of town just overnight. When I got home Noah had a loose tooth! It was already seriously loose. We kept telling him to play with it to get it to come out, but I don't think he really liked the idea of it coming out. We told him about the tooth fairy, and that helped convince him. He wouldn't ever really wiggle it, you know, to loosen it. He would just move it around. Finally the other night, he was doing the bedtime routine and when he only took about 20 seconds to brush his teeth I made him go do it again, but I had to watch. I knew he was babying the tooth, so I made him show me how loose it was. Holy cow, k, the dumb thing was barely hanging there, I mean by the last string. I told him to twist it and he could turn it all the way around. I got Colby in there and I told Noah he had to get it out. I left the room and only about 10 seconds later he pulled it out!

A couple of days later I told Noah I needed to get a picture of him with what the tooth fairy left him. These are his exact words:

"Ok, but don't put it on the blog. Please! I don't want everyone to know what I got."

So I can't tell what she left him, you'll have to ask him yourself. I think he's worried that someone will come and try to steal it from him. Funny boy!

Halloween festivities

We love having cute 'holiday' shirts to wear. And for some reason we can't get out of the fake cheeser smiles stage, but they're cute!

Noah before school

And during the parade at school. Everyone LOVED his costume!!

We're lucky we even got Cutler in his costume. I've tried for months now, and he wouldn't

have anything to do with it. So piece by piece we put it on him last night. And finally convinced him it was fun to wear.

Every year my mom makes homemade chili on Halloween. It is super yummy,

and the perfect way to start out the night.

Colby and I took turns taking them around the neighborhood. I can't believe Cutler is old enough to actually walk around and trick-or-treat! I had to put him in the stroller for my shift because he had eaten so much candy he wasn't really wanting to stay by us.
We ended the night at Colby's parents for donuts and cider. I hope everyone had a safe
and as fun of a halloween as we did!

a new niece

I just have to announce the arrival of our newest little niece...

Reese Natalie Carter

7 lbs. 13 oz.

20 inches

She was born yesterday, and she is simply adorable, look at those cheeks! I can't wait to meet her and get to hold her. It's so hard not being able to just jump in the car and drive over to the hospital to see them. Now we just have to hope for Christmas to hurry so we can finally hold her (and see everyone).

Good job Stef & Reag, and Congrats!! I bet the boys just love her.

Staheli Farm

I have lived in St. George for almost 25 years and have never been out here before. We ventured out there the other night with the boys to see what they had going on and the boys had a blast. Cutler absolutely loved the little wooden rocking horse. Noah loved the huge swing. They loved seeing the animals. Cutler chased the chickens around and finally stopped at one of the coops where a chicken pecked at him and got his little finger. He didn't really get hurt, but it was quite funny watching his reaction. We told him that's what he gets for chasing them around. The boys both wanted to go on the little tractor/train ride but I didn't trust Cutler by himself, or alone with Noah, so I went. We skipped the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. The ride would have been fun, but it didn't look like there were very many pumpkins left, and I just wanted to get their picture out there. We already had pumpkins at home, so we chose to miss that part. Once we got home I let Colby have at it with the carver and now we have some pretty cute pumpkins on our front porch. (Noah's even has a loose tooth, just like him!)

Noah's 'friend only' party

Every year I ask Noah what kind of party he wants to have. And every year he tells me and airplane party. Well, the past 4 years I haven't really known how to do an airplane party so I've taken it upon myself to figure something else out. I will stand on my soap box right about now and say that 3 of the 4 years have been quite a party (I do like to make a big deal of it)! They are a lot of work, but so much fun, and even more rewarding when everyone has left, it's all cleaned up, I can sit down and reflect on the things that happened and how it all went. I can say I have been pretty proud of myself and the parties that we've had for Noah.

Well, this year since he is in Kindergarten we decided it's time for 'friend' parties. Noah made sure he let all of the grandma's know that they weren't invited, and not to come. (grandma sherie was my photographer so she had to come. but she promised she would only take pictures and not get in the way.) And also, since this was his first friend party I thought it would be a good idea to do the kind of party he wanted. First it was a pirate party...check, then it was a halloween party...check, then a dinosaur party...check. So I got busy and found a way to do THE Airplane Party.

As the kids arrived I had these 'briefcases' filled with goodies, and a luggage tag for them to decorate.

Here are most of them concentrating on how to write their name and which stickers they were going to use.

Once they all got there, and the tags were ready we got started. First we did paper airplanes. Colby is the ultimate paper airplane builder, so he taught them how to fold them. Most of them just watched and then said they couldn't do it, so we had to make them.

Then, Colby had built a runway for them to throw the planes onto. Whoever's plane landed on the runway, and went the farthest won.

Next we had them build little wooden gliders to throw. They were super cheap and not so durable, therefore most were broken before they were even built. But we managed and did the same thing, had them throw theirs onto the runway.

Here's Noah blowing out his #6 candle!

Overall, the party turned out pretty good. It was definitely less work than his others, all of his friends came, and he got a ton of great presents.

So one last Happy Birthday to Noah...until next year.

Look who's 6!

It's so crazy to think back to when Colby & I started dating and remembering Noah like this...

and how he has grown into this...

Noah has become such the big boy/little man!

Some of Noah's favorite things to do right now are to play with his friends, swing, ride his bike (which he is way to big for...santa), create things with a string & a toy (it's a boy thing I think), and he has now learned to read! I can't believe he is big enough to be reading.

I snapped this picture of him on his way to school this morning. He looks so big to me.

Noah, we love you so much and hope you have the happiest birthday ever!

To tape or not to tape?

First of all, nobody take offense to this post. It's my personal opinion and it's about me, and my belly button.

I have an inny. It's not super deep, but it's an inny. I actually like my belly button, besides the scar right above and right below it thanks to surgeries. But you normally don't even see those. Anyway, that's beside the point. Most pregnant women get an outy as they get bigger. (This is where I don't want anyone to get offended) I personally think outies are ugly. I guess I'm just partial to mine. I do not love looking at pregnant bellies only to see a belly button poking through the womans shirt. So, when I was pregnant with Cutler I was so worried about mine poking out. It never did. It got flat, but nothing more. This pregnancy is completely different. Here I am, 6 months into it, that's right, 3 more months to go and I already have an outy!

The dang thing itches, the scar on the bottom is getting super sensitive and starting to really hurt. I just don't think mine is suppose to go out. I am seriously contemplating taping the thing down.

This is where I wonder... To tape, or not to tape?

*And no, this is not my belly!*

Sleep/Night Terrors

*Let me just warn you right now, this is long. And may be boring. I apologize, but remember, this is my journal too.

Have any of you ever had to deal with this before with a child? It is one of the most sad, confusing, scary/freaky, frustrating things ever! A couple of months ago Noah comes into our room in the middle of the night just bawling. He doesn't do this often, but it was nothing we were really concerned about. As we are trying to talk to him and figure out what is wrong and why he is crying, the thought crossed my mind that he wasn't even hearing us and that he was sleepwalking. This is the frustrating part. He won't answer. He can't answer. I tell Colby what I think is happening and we try to wake him up. It doesn't work. After what feels like forever, we watch him 'come to' and he looks around (the confused part) then looks at us wondering why he's in our room, and sometimes starts to laugh. We get mad, take him to bed. I would always ask him the next day if he remembered what happened the night before, and he looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about and would tell me no.

This actually started when he started not taking naps anymore. Like he was so tired from the day, but not tired enough to nap, so this happens. During the first week we had at least 2 or 3 episodes. Each one a little different. Crying every time, yelling at people, and mostly just scared out of his mind. After talking to a couple of people and reading some great articles, we decided this is what it was. Sad.

We have gone quite a while without anything like this happening, and have been very relieved. Almost feeling like it was a short phase and we were through it. Until last night. I have no idea what time it all started. All of a sudden we hear him coming into our room, crying. You could hear the fear in his voice. "Someone just hit me in my bed." He was obviously dreaming, and we have gotten to the point where we can tell if it's a nightmare, or night terror. This was definitely a nightmare. Colby took him to his room, turned the light on, checked things out. Did the usual 'put back to bed' routine. A couple minutes later Noah is up turning lights on, shutting doors loudly. Almost like he's going to let whoever it is scaring him know that he's still here. And so are we. The night was long and there was more that happened, but we have concluded it was a nightmare night. All morning long he moped around, layed in bed, on the floor, the couch. I told him he needs to try to sleep at night, and that it's ok to be scared and to come to us if that happens. As the day went on, he got headaches, his eyes hurt, fevers, tired. He wouldn't even let grandma Sherie talk to him and console him. Now we know he's sick. Tonight we thought we would get the boys out of the house, knowing Noah still didn't feel very good we took them to a movie. (Wall-E. don't go see it) About 15-20 minutes into it Noah's eyes hurt, he wants to lay down, starts crying, moaning, whining. I ask him if he just wants to go home (actually frustrated) and he says yes. We stay, and about 10 minutes later he pukes all over. Of course we left. We got home, he sat in the tub for a minute then went to bed. About 2 hours later he starts crying. Colby goes in his room. He's there for a while so I go check on them. Colby looks at me like he doesn't know what to do. I walk over to Noah and take one look. His eyes get big and you can see the fear. He was afraid of me. Colby tells me he's still asleep. We were totally stumped because he was already in bed. We couldn't just walk him back there and tell him to go to sleep. (which is what you're suppose to do if they have night terrors. Don't try to wake them up.) I tried to talk about something to see if he understood, or could respond. He couldn't. He got more scared. He was waving his hands, so I gently grabbed his arm and layed it down. It seemed to calm him. I could tell he wanted to talk, but the words wouldn't come. Sad. I asked him about Bernard, he responded. "Where's Bernard?" "I don't know" and he tried to look for him. We tried to find him. He just layed there. Then Colby looked in the closet. When Noah looked at Colby he got scared. He said he didn't want to leave. He wanted to go home. We were able to talk to him. I needed to convince him we were home. I didn't want to 'wake him up'. "Do you see your hats on the wall? Can you see your toys, the tool box?" He could see them. He could respond. Relief. He didn't want me to leave, so I layed by him for a minute.

He is now asleep, and hopefully we are done for the night. With him anyway. Cutler is still up, and now it's time to work on him. I'm reading this book Sherie's letting me borrow, and hopefully I can learn some new techniques from it. Wish me luck.

I feel so bad for Noah. He doesn't even have any idea this is happening, which is a good thing I guess. I really hope this is a childhood thing, and that we can learn the best way to deal with it. Like I said, it's sad, scary, frustrating, confusing. All of these things, to all of us. If anyone has any ideas, or knows the best way to handle it please help.

Our Halloween's past

*I totally stole this post idea from Stef (thank you!).

It's always fun looking back at the costumes and how cute the kids were in them. And then it's sad to think how cute the costume is, how much money it cost, and how it will probably only be worn once. As you will see, I have definitely re-used some, and I'm sure I will again. As the boys get older it gets harder and harder to try and coordinate their costume. Noah is getting to the age where he wants to choose what he is, but Cutler is still little enough that I want him to wear the 'cute' costumes. I almost gave up this year, but I have figured out how to make them coordinate so that one is still cute, while the other is a little more 'not so baby-ish'.

Noah 2003 - 1yr.

Noah 2004

Noah 2005

Noah & Cutler 2006

Cutler 2007 - 1 yr. Hand-me-down costume. And still 'Oh so cute'.

Noah wanted to be Batman and I was so not in the mood to worry about trying to have matching costumes. I have to say, he did make a very handsome Batman.

As I go back through this post I realize that Noah & Cutler have never had matching costumes. I guess in my head it's something that should be done, but I never really made a valiant effort to achieve. Well, I don't have Noah's costume yet. It's ordered, but this year I will accomplish my goal. I'm crossing my fingers that everything turns out the way it's suppose to but we are planning on Frankenstein & the Mad Scientist. We'll see what happens.

What are your kids dressing up as?