Halloween Week

October 2010

This whole week was full of all kinds of Halloween related activities. Ian of course loves Halloween -but mostly he just loves any holiday! We decided to head out to North Logan Pumpkin walk. This was Aaron's first adventure out at 3 weeks old. Ian helped make sure that Aaron stayed all bundled up and nice and warm.This year the pumpkin walk was great because they tons of Disney movie displays -which Ian loves! His favorite was of course the Toy Story display. Plus we got to pretend to be Mickey, Buzz, and Jesse.
The next day we made Halloween sugar cookies. Ian is our sprinkler and taste tester. As for Aaron he observed.
Then it was time for pumpkin carving. Ian and daddy started that afternoon digging out the pumpkins. I bet you can't guess what Ian wanted his daddy to carve.....Buzz!
Later that night my family came over to finish carving pumpkins. Hunter carved the Utah Jazz one above. We also had "Monster Pizza." It was supposed to be mummy pizza but I didn't want to keep cutting all the mummy cheese strips, and Ian doesn't know what a mummy is so we called it monster pizza. We even made homemade Root Beer -Ian loved watching the fog flow everywhere.

Ian and AndrewMy grandparents even made it up for the weekend to meet Aaron.
Plus it was my dad's birthday!!! Happy Birthday to the best dad ever!!! When singing happy birthday Ian quickly blew out the candles before we could finish the song.

Then it was time to go trick-or-treating! Ian did not really care about the candy at first he was just excited to be all dressed up! Erin had this Buzz costume which fit him perfectly. He absolutely loves it and still puts it on at least once a week. Aaron was dressed in his halloween outfit as seen up above -and slept in the car while Tim and Ian walked around the trunk-or-treat.
Then to top it off Tim's mom got him these mechanical wings -which he was so proud off. Plus my mom found a toy story basket. We headed out to our wards trick-or-treating and Ian had a blast showing everyone that his wings would retract in and shoot back out. He was super proud!We even bumped into the Chipette Brittany -also know as Ellie!
All and all it was a great Halloween! As you can tell Ian had a wonderful time!

Brothers

While it has been an adjustment having two children -Ian sure does love his brother. I'll be honest the first two weeks I really did not think I would ever survive having two of them. However, now having had sometime to adjust it is perfect! I don't know what we would do without both them (actually I do we would do whatever we wanted but it would sure be boring).

He loves to cook with Aaron -or bring Aaron lots of food to test out. If Aaron is lying on the floor Ian loves to get out his blanket and lay next to him. Plus he loves to read him all of his little kid books. Aaron doesn't seem to mind he just stares back at him.

Insert video clips

We have finally got to a point where Ian thinks that his little brother is kind of fun. He loves running to get new diapers for Aaron and always tells Aaron "go in the potty." He also loves to rub his head. Day 1 -Ian was super excited to have me home but not to excited that Aaron came as well. Luckily grandma and grandpa Diamond brought Ian a big brother gift with tons of big boy things. The best gift of all the light saber. Although the moment he saw this he headed straight for Aaron's head -scary! Don't worry since then he only hits the balloon. Grandma has been his best friend! He even tells grandma -"you're my friend, grandma!"

However, Ian was over excited that mom was finally home!

They even had bath time together. Aaron did not like his first official bath too much which made Ian upset. As I would pour water over Aaron, Ian would shout "No mom, stop, Aaron doesn't like, stop." Glad he is already starting to look out for his little brother.

Had to snap a few picture of them together in there dog pajamas after bath time.

Random pictures

Aaron arrived 3 weeks early on October 11, 2010 8:01 am

Our Family!

Aaron is about as close as it gets to being the perfect baby. He loves to sleep, he loves to eat, and of course he has gone through 86 full diapers in one week! The only downside we have had is Aaron has his day's and nights completely flipped. Not bad if he were the only child but when there are two of them it does not work out so well. He wants to eat every 3-4 hours during the day and every 1 1/2 -2 hours during the night. Luckily he is a great eater and it is rare for him to spit up or be fussy.

We enjoy the moments his eyes are open -it is not very often. Already when Aaron hears me talking he begins looking around for me.

Who does he look like??? We have not quite decided yet. We think he is a complete flip of Ian. However, Aaron most definitely has Tim's eyes and my ears.

Relaxing with daddy.

Meeting big brother Ian.

Ian was not too sure about Aaron -truth be told he really did not like him at all. The first day we brought Aaron home Ian wanted me to "take him back." It did not help that Ian had been fighting some kind of digestion stomach thing for nearly a week and it was definitely taking a tole on him and all of us. He would not eat and everything was coming out both ends. The second night we were all home Ian ended up in the ER but since then has been doing better.

The night we brought Aaron home we were not sure who woke up more -Ian or Aaron. Although for the first week Ian thought Aaron's name was Issac (all babies are Issac to him). He is finally decided his name is Aaron and seems to be adjusting a little better each day -it helps that he does finally feel better.

Meeting the family

Ian liked visiting the hospital. Mostly to sit with me and watch a movie or cartoon while everyone else held Aaron. He was not to fond of me staying at the hospital but he did ok.

Meeting great grandparents.

This is Aaron's great grandpa Davis -who he is named after. Plus the four generation picture!

While we are still adjusting to life with two children -each day it gets a little bit easier.

Well mostly each day Ian does a little bit better -which makes life easier.

Hartzheim's Quick Visit

October

Lisa called me last week to let me know that they might possibly be coming back to Utah because Ragnar's grandma had passed away but that it would be a short trip. We were not sure how but knew we had to find some way to meet up. While it was touch and go for a little while we finally made it down to Salt Lake and caught up with them for lunch.

It was so great to see them even if it was only for a couple of hours. If only we still lived closer :(

Aaron's Labor Story

You may be in as much shock as we were. Aaron decided to come 3 weeks early. We should have saw it coming based on my previous doctors appointments, but figured he would be just like Ian and that we would have plenty of time. Oh were we wrong! If you don't want to hear the story skip a ways down :)

How it all began -well not quite began but you get the point. At my 35 week appointment with Aaron the doctor informed me that I was already dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. I did not worry since I was dilated to a 3 at 28 weeks with Ian and deliver on my due date. The doctor considered bed rest but just told me to take it easy -haha like that is possible with a two year old. At my next appointment 36 weeks I was dilated to a 4 and 100% effaced. Again the instructions were to take it really easy -but that the baby size and everything was good so not to worry. I scheduled all of my appointments for the rest of my pregnancy with the hopes that on October 27th she would strip my membranes and we would have the baby that night. The first quarter at Logan High ends on October 22nd, so it would all work out perfectly. My substitute would take over all of second quarter. The doctor would laugh and say if you make it. I figured no worries I worked and did everything up to the day I had Ian.

The first week of October -Ian has been sick, diarrhea galore and not slowing down. On Sunday, October 10th I decided I better take the day off work because I would hate to send him to a babysitters with these problems. So that night I went into work and set everything up for a substitute on Monday (good thing). Everything was normal -put Ian to bed then headed to bed myself. I always wake up around 1 or 2 am and have a bowl of cereal. This morning I did not feel like it but still could not sleep. At about 4 am I started have hard contractions. They were about 7 minutes apart so I did not worry. I walked downstairs and got Tim (he was sleeping in the basement since I went to bed so early and did not want to be disturbed when he left for class early in the morning). At around 5:30 am the contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart but every now and then there would be 3 or 4 of them about 2 minutes apart. We called my dad to let him know that it looked like we were going to be heading to the hospital sometime that morning and that we would call when the contractions were closer. We started debating maybe Tim could make it to the first part of his presentation and make it back before we had the baby. At about 6:30 we decided we better call my dad because the contractions were about 5 minutes apart with random quick ones. So why were we not in a hurry??? Read Ian's labor story. With Ian we went in when the contractions were about 4 minutes apart at 12:30 am and I did not have Ian until 1:20 pm. We figured we had time. My dad arrived just after 7 am and the contractions were about 3 minutes apart. I realized that I never did take a pregnancy picture so I made Tim quickly snap one.

Here I am at 37 weeks -just before walking out the door at 7 am.

When we got in Tim's car the contractions started coming one right after another. Tim was asking how far apart they were but I could hardly talk because there were not any breaks. Wouldn't you know on the 15 minute drive to the hospital we hit every light RED! We got to the hospital and Tim grabbed a wheel chair wheeled me inside and parked the car. We had called the hospital around 6 am to let them know we would be coming in later that morning. We got to Labor and Delivery at 7:28 and they did not check us in but just had Tim wheel me straight back to a room-apparently I must have looked very happy :) We got to the room and two other nurses came and were saying to call the doctor right away. One nurse began putting an IV in my arm and the other nurse checked to see what I was at and replied station 2. My thoughts -what the heck I moved backwards??? Then they began pulling everything out as if I were going to deliver the baby right then. I asked the nurse when can I get my epidural and she did not respond. So I looked at Tim -and he slowly shook his head and said that I would be fine there was not time. Slight freak out by me for the next couple minutes!

By the time everything was set up and ready to go it was around 7:45. The doctor came in broke my water which felt just like a water balloon popping. Everything after that was not exactly pleasant -so I am not going to share detail. However, just as the doctor was saying this next one is the last push you have to get him out (his heart rate was slowly dropping). I looked over and Tim was on his knees and white as a ghost -just about to hit the floor. The nurse shouted to get another nurse to stand behind him and was shouting at Tim to sit down -but he of course did not want to. He finally sat back on the floor as they were trying to get another nurse in to help me. So while Tim is not happy about him writing this because he keeps saying he was not grossed out and that non of that bothered him. He is guessing it is because he locked his knees and had not had anything to eat. Tim did manage to pull through and stood up to help with the last set of pushing just as Aaron was born at 8:01 am.

It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience to say the least -but it was an experience. While I have had almost a week to reflect back on the experience it was kind of amazing. But not exactly the way I would like it to go again -if there is ever an again. Even the nurses were commenting after all was said and done -"Wow, that was a rush" or "That was crazy". On the plus side the recovery has been much easier -non of the shakes, headaches, infections, and all that other stuff. Plus right away on the first day I was up and walking around. So after having the baby they then check us in and filled out the rest of the paper work.

As for Aaron -he is perfect!

All Boy!

Fall 2010

We have been super busy with just life like everyone else -but Ian is still as funny and completely full of energy as ever. Plus as you can tell he is not too fond of wearing clothes!

He got a frog tattoo. Don't worry it was Tattoo Tuesday and may students gave me one to bring home to Ian. It is not permanent of course.
It was homecoming week at LHS so I took Ian to the parade. Lets just say I have the best students ever. Ian had an entire grocery bag overflowing with candy. Finally other kids started coming over by where we were standing because there was candy everywhere. We were still picking up candy after the parade was over. Below he is covered in taffy so we just went straight to the tub.

and had fun there too!Like most boys he loves his reptiles. Here is Sal our Salamander. Sometimes (only when daddy is home) we let Ian get Sal out of his cage and play.
As you can tell he doesn't mind his slimy body one bit.
Ian has become a pro at riding his tricycle. We are thinking for his birthday it is definitely time for an actually bike. Plus he loves his Grandma Diamond.But not as much when she cuts his hair.
Like I said he loves to run around -luckily this time in his underwear.He is full of energy and loves to play all day
and night long!