2.19.2014

charlotte's story

holy crap holy crap.
i have 2 kids!
we added the second kid on january 31.
so let me tell you about that exciting day.
the due date was indeed friday, january 31st but on thursday, the day before, i had just visited my doc and talked about the possibility of inducing.  we decided on inducing on february 5th if nothing happens by then and let's be real, i was shooting to have the baby in february.
everything was all planned.  i went to bed at 12.45 that night (my mom and i had a walking dead marathon so i've been going to bed really late lately and being 40 weeks pregnant makes for sleepless nights anyways) and at around 1.30 am on jan 31st my water broke while i was attempting to sleep.  i ran to the bathroom to make sure it was my water breaking and not just me peeing myself (at least this time it didn't happen at the mall!) sure enough it was my bag of water escaping me.  i woke up my mom and brett and we headed over to the pioneer valley hospital in west valley.  my doctor decided he wanted to start delivering babies at this hospital instead of here in tooele, which meant having to haul it to west valley.  he's lucky i love him enough to change hospitals.
this time around though i started feeling contractions right away, which is something that didn't happen with everton.
as we got closer to the hospital the contractions got closer and were just a few mins apart and they SUCKED!
we got checked in and were brought to my room.
it was now 2:30 in the morning and the contractions were steady.  they had to go through the procedure of making sure it was my water breaking and blah blah blah before they could call the anesthesiologist who lived 30 mins away.  i wanted that epidural NOW.  with everton i was dilated to about a 3 when i asked for the epidural (i'm a HUGE wimp and have a super low tolerance for pain.)  they called the epidural dude and i still had to wait 30 mins for him to get here.  
i progressed from 4cm to 7cm in an hour.  i thought i was dying.  contractions are truly a B!@%$*^$#$&^* the baby's head was more towards my back, which meant having back labor.  awful awful awful.
the anesthesiologist finally got there and i told him to shoot me up!
it took a little while for the epidural to kick in and when it did it didn't reach this one spot in my lower back for a while.  i couldn't feel anything anywhere else except in that one spot.  it felt like hell so the epidural man shot me up with more of that sweet juice.
it finally took effect in my back and now all we had to do was wait for me to get to 10cm.
the epidural did slow down my progress a little but pretty sure i didn't care cuz i just didn't wanna feel those horrifying contractions.
it was about 7ish am when i finally reached 10cm. 
i pushed and pushed and pushed and with a little help from a kiwi vacuum i birthed a baby girl at 7:42 and the first thing she did while on this earth was take a poop on me.
THE STATS
-name-CHARLOTTE AVELINE CALDWELL
-weight-7lbs 8oz
-length-20in



brett, here's your daughter.
good luck with her.





my everton, my sweet everton.
when he first met little charlotte, he hung his head, grunted, and exclaimed, 
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO."
he eventually warmed up to her.
he would try to roll her hospital bassinet around and reach out to hold her.




officially a fam of four.


and these grandparents are thrilled about this 4th addition to their grandchild collection.


i think she's perfect, but i'm not gonna lie, i was hoping she would have as much hair as her brother did at birth.  and again, with how much tums i ate during this pregnancy i thought she'd have a ton o' hair.
but i am glad she does have some hair anyways and it's really dark.


getting ready to go home.



my mom made this AMAZING car seat cover and my sis kyla made charlotte's car seat swaddle blanket.
practically pink in every way.


poor poopsie was so sad to be leaving the cushy confines of the hospital.
me too girlfriend.

it's been an adventure adjusting to life again with a newborn schedule plus a toddler on the loose.
the first night REALLY sucked.  charlotte was up what seemed like every hour but the next night we decided to put her in the bouncer and she slept for 5 hours at a time between feedings and she's been sleeping that way since then.  we definitely don't plan on having her sleep in the bouncer forever but right now, i've been getting an adequate amount of sleep for having a 2 week old newborn so sleep in the bouncer she shall.
p.s. watching 30 rock is an excellent show to watch while nursing in the middle of the night.  thanks be to netflix.




everton has been adjusting to charlotte at home.  we're still trying to teach him to be gentle with her at times but for the most part he's sweet to her.  he actually loves to hold her (with parental guidance) and loves to shove the pacifier in her nose eye mouth.


and everton is already willing to share his toys.

 




she looks like a dancing mushroom from fantasia.


brett took 1 week off and then my parents have been here helping out since brett went back to work.
i'm so thankful for them all!  i seriously don't know what i'm going to do when my parents leave.  dealing with 2 kids give me the heebie jeebies right now.  i've been left alone with them for just a few hours so far and i think everton knows he can get away with murder while i'm glued to the couch nursing.  it'll be interesting living life with 2 kids but for now i'm totally going to cherish my dad taking care of everton in the early mornings and my mom cooking amazing food for us.  i wish brett could get the same paternity benefits like they do in other countries and get like a whole month off or something.  
and if men could help with breastfeeding that would be AWESOME too.



oh my gosh i seriously love having a girl!
i love the pink, the dainty shoes, the frilly dresses, the pink, the flower headbands, the adorable onesies with the ruffle butt pants, and the pink, pink, pink!

thanks for coming to our family, charlotte.
we needed you.

1.28.2014

ready to poop, i mean POP

let's talk about the fact that i turned 39 weeks last friday.
i'm SO ready to poop this baby out.
my due date is in THREE DAYS.


i just finished my third bottle of tums this pregnancy so this baby better come out with luxurious pocahontas hair.
as of my last doc visit i'm dilated to a 1 1/2-2 cm and he said she's deep in my back which is why my back's been so achy lately and why i don't look that huge.  but believe me, i feel freakin huge.

i'm ready to be done being pregnant and brett and i are ready to meet our little girl!
as for everton, who knows what he's thinking.  he still doesn't talk but i'm sure he's aware of the super girly carseat sitting in the corner or all these little girly baby clothes hangin around.  i hope he loves her when he meets her and doesn't try to hulk smash her instead.

i thank the heavens my parents are here to help out while brett's at work.  my dad is so awesome at getting everton ready in the morning and entertaining him and my beautiful mom continues to be the amazing cook that she is and has helped me tremendously in organizing and cleaning my messy house in preparation for the baby girl's arrival.

we're all sitting on pins and needles as to when she decides to make her debut.

some things we've done while waiting for said baby have been....

going to the ice castle in midway, ut.



and celebrating kyla's 23rd birthday!


she requested that we go the cheesecake factory for dinner and before dinner we browsed our favorite stores at the city creek mall.
 and while waiting for a table at the cheesecake factory we met tracy morgan!


when he strolled in, i was like, "is that tracy morgan??"  seeing celebs in real life doing regular things sort of made me think, "nahhh that can't be him."  turns out it totally was and we quickly got a picture with him.  he was so awesome to talk to and when he saw kyla's baby he said his baby that was with him is the same age.  they talked about how much trouble kids are when they start crawling and other baby stuff.
the waiter told us that that was mr. morgan's second time at this cheesecake factory within a few days and that he was in town for a stand-up comedy show. 

and that's been pretty much it.  hopefully next time i blog we'll be a family of 4!
now i gotta go take a nap, growing a baby is seriously tiring work.

12.31.2013

the end of 2013


i am 35 weeks now.
5 weeks to go!
i think my new years goal is to drop a few pounds...in the form of a baby.
the girl thoroughly beats me up from the inside, i'm poppin tums like there's no tomorrow, i have horrible congestion, and i feel HUGE.  i'm in need of a crane getting out of bed or off the couch.  i know i don't look super huge but i'm feelin it.
we're still unsure as to how everton's going to react when we bring a new creature home to stay with us in a few weeks.
if you ask everton where the baby is, he points to one of my boobs.  let's hope a baby doesn't come out of one of those.
we're getting excited for the new year, mainly because we'll be a family of 4!
it'll definitely be a new adventure.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY!

i'm planning on having a lord of the rings marathon and getting crunked on sparkling cider.

12.29.2013

The Caldwell's December

Christmas has come again!?
didn't we just have Christmas last year??
seriously can't believe the year is almost over.
here's our Christmas card....that we didn't send out.


i was all gung ho on getting em sent out then i hit the lazy wall. let's use my favorite excuse as to why i don't have the energy to do things and say it's cuz i'm pregnant and am too tired!

our brazilian friend thiago took these pics before he left back to brazil.  it was so fun having him, thanks for hangin with us thiago!





it being december 2013 you know what that means!  that means the Hobbit-The Desolation of Smaug is out!
and this time kyla came with erin and i to the midnight premiere, IMAX 3D showing.  and we all wore our LOTR shirts we got from comic con.  i love my nerd family.  being pregnant made for an uncomfortable 2 hours and 45 mins though but i refused to let the growing fetus girl prevent me from seeing The Hobbit!
thanks to our parents, who had just arrived the day before, for watching the children!
we all crashed at kyla's apt that night then the next day brett and i scurried on over to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.
my mom, kyla, and i all requested tix thinking that one of us was bound to get some but we were all denied.  i was pretty much devastated because John Rhys-Davies was going to be there.  and if you don't know who that is well let me tell you, he plays gimli in The Lord of The Rings.

this guy.


we were SOOOOO lucky that brett was able to find tickets, his co-worker hooked him up.  




it was such an amazing concert.  i never knew how much the church puts into their yearly Christmas concerts.  sometimes i do feel lucky that we live here in utah.  there are so many opportunities here that you couldn't get elsewhere.

the program said that after the show the special guests will be signing autographs at the deseret bookstore over at city creek.  so after the show this pregnant woman hauled it to the bookstore in her high heeled boots dragging brett behind her.  i was determined to get John Rhys-Davies's autograph.  we made it to where we didn't have to wait an obscene amount of time in line.


he was such a nice guy and it was so cool to meet him!  i got a little star struck meeting him.  he signed our program and a book we bought there.  2 signatures would've been like, $80 at comic con.  it's nice that deseret bookstore does this kind of thing and i don't have to give up my firstborn or something.


we spent the rest of december playing in the snow and farting around waiting for Christmas to come.



#sundayselfie

then the blessed day of Christmas came.  i love the fact that everton understands more of what's going on this time around.  and it helps that we know what to get him for Christmas based on his likes and faves and right now he's obsessed with pixar's planes.  so he got a good sized collection from lots of family members.  thanks all for fueling his love for planes! 



he loved unwrapping his presents too.


we got everton a mega blocks table thing, which everton uses to pretend he's godzilla destroying downtown tokyo.


call me lame but i took a pic of my Christmas goods and posted it mainly for everton's darling face.  but for real, brett, my mom, and my sis erin hooked me up with some sweet makeup!  LOVE IT.


then after the unwrapping of Christmas goods we chowed down on another type of goods, my dad's traditional Christmas cinnamon rolls.  and this year he stuffed them with cranberries, raisins, and pecans and spread an evil cream cheese frosting on top.
i think the baby girl's going to come out looking like a cinnamon roll with how many i've eaten.

then later that day we headed down to my aunt's in provo for Christmas dinner.


the food was bangin.  check out the hungry hungry preggo in the back.


then we finished out the meal with my dad's eggnog cranberry cheesecake.
it was EVIL i tell you.  the baby's been throwing a rave since Christmas.

the day after Christmas travis and kyla came over so we could unwrap more presents!


sassy hazel and her new fairy outfit from lola.


lola also gave hazel a bucket of play food so naturally everton and hazel started snacking on the plastic chocolate bars.


everton's new sunday suit from lola and grandpa.  such a a snazzy and sour kid.

took some quick pics after church today.


i look like i ate one too many cinnamon rolls.  i'm getting so tired of wearing maternity clothes so i stuffed myself into one of my looser non preggo skirts.  i miss wearing pencil skirts up to my boobs.


my hot mom, everton, and i.

december and Christmas of 2013 have been quite excellent.  having my parents here have made it more excellent too.  i am just so thankful to have the family that i have and for the family i married into.  the holidays are all about spending time with family and i sure love doing that.  and eating is our favorite too.

 hope everyone had an excellent Christmas as well!

11.27.2013

everton probs and preggo favs

it's been precisely a month since my last post because when i have an idea for a post i would rather shnuggle up with everton and watch a movie...or stuff my face...or go to the bathroom (since i'm the urinator again.)  and my memory is that of a goldfish so even when i do have an idea for a post it flutters away from my mind.

so brett has a friend from his mission in brazil currently staying with us for a few weeks.  brett took all of last week off to hang out with him and show him the american way of eating really unhealthily and took him on the mormon tour of temple square.  and thiago (the brazilian friend) also wanted to see the sights of vegas so he and brett had a little brocation.  and while i totally didn't mind brett leaving for a few days, what was awful was taking care of everton by myself those few days.  i'm at this point in this pregnancy where i find myself thinking/asking, "how the hell am i going to take care of 2 kids when i can barely take care of 1??"  i don't know what it is but everton's been a gremlin lately.  it's been like pulling teeth to get him to eat and it's like all of a sudden he's gone deaf and would ignore everything i say to him.
BAHHHHHHHHH.
it did help going to kyla's and hanging out there while brett was gone, except the fact that everton likes to take a swing at his cousin hazel every now and then.
everton scares me.  i think he's transitioning from the terrible twos into the terrifying threes and he ain't three yet.
good thing he's so freaking cute.  his looks are what save him from his mom's wrath.  
i do love that little monster.
he still doesn't talk yet so i've been having a speech development teacher come over and help give him a boost in talking.


will everton be a superhero to our little girl?  or a super villain?

life's just been hectic with everton and whether we're ready or not, baby #2 is coming!
i'm in my 30th week of pregnancy and seriously everyone who have asked when i'm due, their jaws drop when i tell them i'm due at the end of jan.  i have 10 more weeks and i'm in disbelief.  
10 MORE WEEKS.
despite my belly being tiny, the doc said that her head is measuring a little big; that'll be an adventure to push out, everton had a huge head too.


i love the fact that as the ultrasound technician found the girl's face, she immediately said, "she has your lips!"
i'm dying to see what she looks like.

so i wanted to share with you some of my favorite preggo products.
these are what i used in both pregnancies and i swear by them.
and honestly i wanted to write these down somewhere in case i forget what i like to use in my next pregnancy...cuz you know...my brain is empty most of the time...


1. back when i found out i was pregnant with everton i did what most newly pregnant women do and i went and got myself some prenatal vitamins.  except they were horse pills!  and getting into my nausea stage those horse pills were hard to swallow without gagging.  i found these gummy prenatals and they are soooo good!  i continue taking these to this day and i love the little dose of sugar i get from them.

2. in both pregnancies i like to treat my growing belly with tons of TLC.  the next 3 items are really just for my belly.  after i've done my usual shower routine the last thing i do i rub this delicious coconut lime body sugar scrub all up on my belly.  it's SO relaxing and smells amazing.  it scrubs off any dead skin and makes my tummy super smooth.  i used to get my body scrubs from bath and body works but those can get a little pricey.  this brand is a lot cheaper and works just as well.

3. when i get out of the shower i lather this stuff on liberally.  it smells like chocolate and isn't greasy after i put it on.  (now don't hate me)  but i have yet to get stretch marks on this growing tummy of mine and i like to think it's because of this creamy cream and getting my mom's awesome filipino genes has helped too.

4. after the scrub and the stretch mark cream i seal it all in with this baby oil.  i put just enough to lightly cover my entire tummy or else my clothes will be sliding all over my belly.  these 3 things really help to prevent the major itchiness that comes with the stretching of my tummy's skin.

i know this sounds like an arduous process but i find it to be so relaxing and i make it part of my "me" time.  who knows if i'll get to continue this process when i'm pregnant with our third in the future but i'm sure as heck i'm going to try to make time for it!

tomorrow is thanksgiving!!!  i love being pregnant in the winter/holiday time cuz it means good food and spending lots of time stuffing my face with said good food (the baby needs it.)

and what i'm grateful for this year is
 my darling brett and rambunctious everton
my awesome family and family in-laws
food
a healthy pregnancy
yoga pants
church
my home
and food, oh that's the baby talking.

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