Baby Abbie is born

Until we get the pack and play, Abbie is sleeping in the doll crib, just like Katherine did when she was first born:) :

My boys:

The boys with the baby:

Katherine with her sister. When she wants to hold the baby she says, "hold! hold!":

When I got home, Katherine "helped" me make some brownies. After we got the brownies in the oven, I was doing the dishes and turned around and found that she was licking the bowl and had put my sunglasses on. Silly girl:

Alex was really sad when it was time to go home the second night, so he stayed the night with me in the hospital that night. We had some good Alex Mommy time and watched tv and ordered snacks. In the morning we had breakfast in bed together. Then Todd came to pick us up and take us home! We brought Katherine's old car seat, but couldn't get the straps to the lower setting, so Todd had to run to the store and buy a new car seat before we could leave.

When Alex stayed with me, I asked him to hold the baby while I went to the bathroom. I told him to make sure not to drop her. He said, "Will you turn off the tv so I won't be tempted to watch it?" He's such a good big brother:

Nathan was really bored at the hospital and was anxious to get home to play MX Unleashed:

When the kids came to meet Abbie for the first time, we turned around to ind Katherine with Abbie's paci:

My family is complete!

The proud Daddy with his littlest girl:

Right after delivery her brow was scrunched up:

Abbie's feet:

Abbie at the park on Mother's Day. Precious girl!

Out of all my pregnancies, this one was the hardest! We also found out that the baby's cord was wrapped around her neck. I talked to the dr. about having the baby at 38 weeks instead of 39. 38 weeks was Wed. May 5, and Todd was having a crazy week at work so he asked if we could do it on Friday instead. On Thurs. morning we went to the dr. to do the amnio test to make sure the baby's lungs were mature to have the baby the next day. The amnio showed that there was a bit of meconium in the amniotic fluid so dr. asked if I wanted to have the baby right then. Of course!! So we went home, I grabbed my stuff, freaked out about finding a babysitter, and drove myself to the hospital leaving Todd with the kids at home. Luckily a heavenly angel named Jessica and her husband volunteered to watch the kids, and they ended up spending the night at their house. I didn't think Katherine would go to sleep there, but she did! I arrived at Timpanogos hospital in Orem at 2pm, and they started the IV and antibiotics. They started the pitocin at 4:20 but nothing really happened until Dr. Young broke my water at 7pm. I got my epidural (a very long and painful process this time) at 9pm and I was at 5cm. 45 min. later the baby was on her way! The nurse called the dr. (I had a fantastic nurse by the way, named Monica) and it took him FORTY minutes to get there! I was getting quite anxious. When the dr. got there I pushed the baby out in 1 contraction, and only 2 pushes. She was born at 10:44pm on Thurs. May 6, 7lbs and 18.5 inches. Besides the epidural, that was the easiest and fastest labor and delivery of all! She cried little squeaky baby cries (so cute!) and was perfectly healthy! I was so happy to have my little baby happy and healthy, no c-section and not pregnant anymore!!!!

Today is Sun. and she is 2 1/2 days old. It's Mother's day today and I got the best present ever: a complete family! She sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. I have to wake her up to eat. She is a beautiful baby and I am so happy she is here! I am glad to be back to my old self again: not hormonal, not uncomfortable, and have my energy back, etc. etc. etc. I have been doing a ton of stuff since I got home, just because I have my energy back now and my lungs and heart are not squished up anymore! The kids have been so cute with her. Katherine did not like me setting Abbie in her crib, though. We're going to get a pack-and-play for Abbie so she can sleep in it upstairs at night and I can put it downstairs during the day. Katherine loves to hold her and look at her and rock her in her carseat.

pics of kids in daffodils

My sister took pictures of the kids at daffodil fields in AR. She is coming out to Utah in June if you want her to take pictures for you! www.kerryguicephotography.com
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these pictures!

food diary day 5

nutri grain waffles with Todd's freezer jam

wheat bread with peanut butter

low fat cottage cheese and peaches

popcorn with no butter at the movie

grapes

hamburger patty made with 93% lean meat and spices and brown rice mixed in (makes the expensive meat go farther, it's healthier, and you can't even taste it)
strawberries and banana slices with truvia (Yummy!)
peas and corn with salt, pepper and 0 cal butter spray

pics in AR

Here are just some of the many pictures my sister took of the kids in Arkansas:

We tried to take pictures with all of the grandkids in their matching outfits. I bet you couldn't guess how that turned out:) :

Papa with all of his grandkids:

This is a classic Nathan picture-- shoes on the wrong feet, shoes untied, engrossed in a video game:

This is also a classic Nathan picture:) :

Again, classic picture of my boys. Swords and guns are their favorite toys:

Katherine's cute pigtails:

food diary day 4

Day 4:
nutri grain wheat eggo waffles (taste good. maybe we'll try the low fat ones next time) with peanut butter (I should also get reduced fat peanut butter. It's a good protein in the morning, but also high in fat).


frozen carribbean smoothie popsicles made from last night

sugar free popsicles--told the boys they could have a treat for being such great helper cleaners (shouldn't have used food, but oh well)

kashi crackers

tuna sandwich- 1Tb. lite mayo per tuna can and relish, tomatoes and spinach leaves

dinner- burritos with whole wheat tortillas, corn, black beans, shredded chicken, spinach leaves and light sour cream

strawberries and bananas with a little truvia

I feel good today. Hopefully it's from eating better. Or maybe after I was crying for no reason last night Todd prayed he would have a normal wife again...

I think this is a good first step-- eating healthy and cutting out junk food, then counting calories. I'm sure I'm still eating a lot of calories, but at least they are not empty calories. Baby steps!

food diary day 3

Day 3:
Oatmeal squares cereal
low fat cottage cheese and peaches
fruit
baked torilla chips with black beans, salsa con queso and tomatoes
stir fry with brown rice
carribbean smoothie

I was SO proud of the boys today. Todd's dad offered them an otter pop but I told him about our 4 weeks of no sugar so he gave them oranges instead. The oranges were sweet and juicy! They also had a pan full of brownies on the counter....but we resisted. The boys are such good examples to me. Last night I saw a picture of a cheesecake and I was craving Todd's cheesecake SO bad! The healthy treats like the smoothies keep me going.

I'm frustrated because eating healthy is costing a lot of money. We're going to have to find some money somewhere to put in our grocery budget and Todd's going to have to help me find ways to eat healthy that will fit in our budget.

I found a good replacement for pretzels- Kashi crackers. They taste really good, are sweetned only with a little bit of honey and have lots of whole grains.

food diary day 2

Kashi GoLean cereal
wheat bread with peanut butter
scrambled eggs with turkey bacon, tomatoes and spinach leaves in it
fruit medley
dinner: YUMMY! tilapia with can chipotle diced tomatoes and green pimiento olives (olive oil the pan so it doesn't stick, put in oven at 400); spinach salad with avacados, tomatoes, cucumbers and fat free balsamic vinagrette Girard's; whole wheat bread with sprays of I can't believe it's not butter 0 cal. spray, garlic powder, italian seasonings and fresh rosemary, toasted lightly in oven
smoothie- frozen strawberries, plain yogurt, milk, 1 packet truvia

day one

First full day of eating healthy:
-Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal (we all liked it)
-unsweetned applesauce with cinnamon, heated up
-whole wheat bread with avacadoes and tomatoes and a little salt (Alex said it was ok, Nathan ate half at least. I liked it.)
-sunflower seeds
-carrots
-smoothie: pinapple, banana, coconut milk and plain yogurt-- we all loved it! It tasted like a treat but it was healthy!
-BLT burgers: whole wheat bun, small 93% lean (Macey's doesn't sell 96%) hamburger patties (and Todd added spices to make it yummy), turkey bacon, tomatoes, spinach leaves, light mayo, spicy brown mustard, ketchup and relish
-skim milk

The boys did so good trying new things. I had lots of cravings, but I didn't give in! Because I'm pregnant, I'm just eating when I'm hungry, but after I have the baby I'll probably join weight watchers to loose weight.

our healthy change

We decided to eat healthier as a family. I got some healthy cookbooks and I've been researching about what I consider "healthy" for my family. I want high fiber/low glycemic index so we don't get the sugar crash and cravings but instead feel fuller longer; whole foods with lots of vitamins and minerals and good oils and fiber, etc. because they are unprocessed and have more vitamins and good stuff and less of the calories, sugars and bad stuff; lots of vitamins and minerals, but I'll take some fat and calories if it has good vitamins and minerals, for example avacados; and no fast food, fried food and really high bad fat food. I don't want to do artficial sweeteners in place of sugar, and I don't want a ton of reduced-fat/light stuff- for example instead of sugar-free syrup on pancakes, we'll put mashed up fruit with maybe some truvia in it on our pancakes, and instead of sugar free cookies we'll make fruit smoothies. I read about sugar and sugar replacements and talked to my Dr. about it today. Here's a good article, the best one I saw about it: sugar info article
I did get some truvia to try though, because it's all natural and has no glycemic value. It's for drinks, yogurt and fruit. I did get some sugar-free popsicles though for a once a week treat or if other kids are getting treats they can have those. We don't mind light mayo, skim milk, light sour cream, and light balsamic vinagrette dressing (and we're trying low-fat cottage cheese). I'd rather have less of the regular stuff or replace it with something else that's natural. So, I told the boys if we can not eat sugar for 4 weeks, Todd will take them camping. They are really excited about it and we threw away their Easter candy and all the junk food in the house. I am so proud of them. They even came and told me today that a neighbor was giving them some popsicles and they asked if it was sugar-free. She said it was, so they ate them. Hopefully after going non-sugar for 4 weeks we won't crave it, and then we can just have a rare sugar treat after that. Right now we have a treat every day--I am REALLY bad right now, craving sugar like an alcoholic craves alcohol! It'll be a hard 4 weeks for me but I know it will be better after that.

I went to the store and I was so happy because my cart was full of fruits and veggies and whole grains and lean protein and whole foods. For snacks we can have fruits, vegetables, olives, grape tomatoes, whole wheat bread, sunflower seeds, walnuts, unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon, whole wheat bunny crackers (from the health food store, the kids loved them!), cottage cheese, yogurt, edamame, black beans (Todd makes yummy black beans!) or popcorn with cinnamon or the butter spray or nutritional yeast. I want to learn how to jazz up fruits and veggies and things (Kerry said she'd help- she's an amazing cook), for example I really liked a recipe I tried for a wheat pita with hummus and tomatoes, and I think something else but I can't remember, but it was really good. But that's also why I got some good cookbooks. I made my menu based on those cookbooks. For breakfast I read that it's best to have protein and complex carbohydrates to keep you full and keep your blood sugar even.

We're also going to do more exercise. We decided that the boys have to try one sport we sign them up for each year, but that they can pick which one they want to try. They can also ride bikes, jump rope, jump on the trampoline (once we get that up), ??. We do a "chicken fat" song in the morning as part of school that has them do sit ups and push ups and then we put on the Carmen "run for your lives" song and they run around for a little bit. I have to be strict about our 30 min. a day screen time rule, sometimes I don't pay attention to the time.

I'm definitely not going to be a health nazi, but more at first, but we decided that Sunday dinner can be whatever we want it to be. I asked Dr. Young if I should portion the kids' food and that's all they can have, and he said definitely no. I think that if all they have is healthy options and low- glycemic/high fiber foods they should naturally regulate themselves. Kids also have growth spurts where they need to eat more sometimes.

Those are my thoughts right now. I wanted to write them down:).

P.S. But some things I don't know about: banana bread? blueberry muffins?vanilla soymilk? will those send the blood sugar crashing? do I need to make a wheat blueberry muffin or something? What about pretzels?
Keri's healthy banana bread and other recipes- thanks!
info for vanilla soymilk and anything else
blueberry muffins- I guess I'll just move it from the breakfast category to the treat category
pretzel info