Lila Montana

Lila loves Sunny's Hannah Montana microphone. She kept playing the song and dancing and spinning over and over. This kid cracks me up.

This Is What Happens When You Have A Big Sister

I'm sure Griffin really appreciates the big silver heart earring.

Actually, I'm think he hates it!

We call this face the "pirate eye". He does it a lot.

These last two are just sweet. He is already getting so big.

Sunny's Package and The First Day of School

One of Lila, just because I think she's feeling a bit neglected lately.

Sunny got the much anticipated birthday package from Mok this week. I don't have pictures of everything, but here are some highlights. The purse Sunny and I crocheted. It came in a kit with a great instruction book. I really enjoyed working on it with her.

Hannah Montana wig and microphone. She is in Heaven!

Feeding her baby. This doll is so real it is freaky. It cries when it is hungry or needs a pacifier. When it goes to sleep its chest rises and falls. Both the girls love it. The cry sounds just like a real baby and sometimes I'm not sure if I hear Griffin crying, or if it is the doll.

Today was also Sunny's first day of school. Poor Sunny is definitely suffering from middle child syndrome b/c I didn't even remember to take a picture of her. I remember with Jax standing at the door watching him go in and shedding a few tears. This time it was more like, "There's the door Sunny, see you later!" Luckily she is not scared and ran right in. She said she had a great day and can't wait to go back. Way to go Sunny!

Happy Birthday Sunny Mae

Yesterday was sweet Sunny's 5th birthday. I can't believe my first baby girl is getting ready to go to school already. She is such a great kid. I just want to keep her this age forever!

She loves her "hippo" (hippie) dress. Ever since Katie came to visit she has been wearing a peace sign necklace and has decided she wants to be a hippie. I guess it's appropriate considering her name is Sunny!

Sunny is constantly amazing me with how artistic she is. She loves to draw, paint, dance, sing, etc. You get the picture. This is her new artist set-up we got her for her b-day. This is a picture of several ducks walking down to the lake. I wish you could see it better, it is really quite good. Drawing and fashion are her two favorite things, and she could do both for hours. Her favorite t.v. show right now is Project Runway. Again, how appropriate. She used to want to be an artist when she grew up, but now she wants to be a fashion designer. Oh yeah, she also wants to be on American Idol :)

Love the blue eye shadow and hippie braid.

Happy Birthday Sunny Bunny. We love you.

Check Out Griffin

We got Griffin's pictures back and they turned out amazing. Our neighbors own a photography business called Shadow Mountain Photography and they are great! I can't wait to get pictures of the other kids done. Check out Griffin on their blog (right now he is the second one down).

Deep Thoughts by Sunny Mae

"Lions Bite. That's why you don't want them at your birthday party."

Griffin's First 2 Weeks

Took Griff to the doctor for his 2 week appointment today (He is 12 days old). He is up to 7 pounds 14 ounces and is doing great!

Here is a summary of his first week. Pretty much all he does is sleep.

Not Griffin, but this is what Lila spends all her time doing. She loves to hold Griff, but I don't have any pictures because I can't help her and take the picture at the same time.

Pushing baby brother in the swing.

He looks really googly in this picture, but this is for Uncle B.J. Gotta love guitars and peace signs.

Caught a random smile. This was 2 days old.

Basically this is what Griffin does all day.

With sister. Doesn't he look comfy?

Sweet big brother.

He loves sitting with Jax and Sunny. They are so patient and will hold him for as long as I let them.

Me and my sweet boy. We spend a lot of time like this, and I am loving every minute of it.

Here's The Whole Story

This is the only picture I can post of that night. The others aren't very flattering of me (not that this one is, but it is the best since you can't see me really), so I don't really want to put them on the Internet. Anyway this is a partial shot of the crowd surrounding our van right after Griffin was born. I think there were between 12 and 15 people out there. I think the whole emergency room staff was bored and came to check out the event.

I want to write down my version of the events of Griffin's birth while it is still fresh in my mind. Since we make our blog into a book every year, I figured this would be the best place to do it. I'll try not to let this be too graphic, but if you don't like hearing about this kind of thing you better stop reading now.

The morning of the 30th I had my 37 week doctor's appointment. I came down and dropped the kids off with my Mom and went over to the office. The night before I had a couple hours of really bad contractions and I was hoping that I would go in and he would send me over to the hospital to have the baby. When the Dr. checked me he said I was 4 centimeters and 90% effaced ( from 3 and 80% the week before). He said to make an appointment for the next week but he didn't think I would make it that far. I did. I totally thought I would make it all the way to my induction date of Aug. 11th.

After the appointment Mom and I went with Katie up to have lunch at Lindsay Nielson's house in Daybreak with Lindsay, Rebecca, and Cindy. While we were there I didn't feel very good, but I never feel good so I didn't think much of it. Later Mom said she noticed and thought something might be going on. I remember having a conversation about the baby and telling them all I was so tired of being pregnant but I knew he wasn't coming out on his own and I would make it till the 11th. After lunch we went to Target with Katie and I walked around a bit. Mom had been planning on taking the kids to the Lindon pool the next day and asked if I wanted them to spend the night so I wouldn't have to bring them in the morning. I said yes, and that turned out to be a great decision.

After leaving Mom's house, Lila and I came home and found Ryan at home on the couch. He had come home early from work b/c he was sick with some sort of stomach virus. The house was a bit of a mess (not really, but for some reason I thought it was horrible) so Lila and I started freakishly cleaning. We cleaned the whole house top to bottom. Then I put Lila to bed and went to bed myself around 9:00. At 12:30 I woke up with contractions, which was not unusual, but I did think they hurt a little more than normal. I came downstairs and Ryan woke up and he immediately asked if we needed to go to the hospital. I was still annoyed with him and told him to hush and that I was fine.

I started timing the contractions and they were about 2 minutes apart but only lasted for 30-40 seconds each. They weren't too bad so I wasn't sure if this was the real deal or not. I took 2 hot baths and after the second one all of a sudden it hit me that they weren't going away so maybe we should go to the hospital since we live so far away. I just wasn't sure. I mostly thought that I was probably 4 centimeters still and I didn't want to go all the way to the hospital and get sent home. Anyway, I did tell Ryan we should go and we started getting Lila ready and grabbing some stuff to put in the car. I had two pretty bad contractions while I was getting her clothes and yelled at Ryan to hurry up because we did need to leave.

We got in the car and I called my Mom and told her we were coming to drop off Lila. She said she had just had a dream that I called at 1:30 and was in labor. It was actually almost exactly 1:30 at that point. I told her I wasn't sure if this was real or not and she said she knew it was.
We started driving and I was having a difficult time because it wasn't a very comfortable position to be sitting in the car, but I was handling it fine and had no idea of what was to come.

By the time we got to American Fork I called my Mom again and asked if she could meet us at the hospital and get Lila. I didn't think I was going to have the baby, I just thought that I was in a lot of pain and didn't want to drive all the way to her house and then back to the hospital. I didn't plan on getting an epidural, but I did want some IV pain medicine, so I was ready for that and she agreed to meet us there. About 30 seconds after I got off the phone I had a really bad contractions and could feel Griffin start to slide down really low. I had about 10 seconds of panic and I knew what was about to happen. I told Ryan I didn't think we could make it. He asked if we should call 911, but I told him to just drive as fast as he could because we were so close to the hospital. At that point we were getting off of Main Street in American Fork and crossing over onto 1100 North. I told him that I was okay but that I could tell Griffin was coming fast and that in about 2 more contraction he would be born.

About 3 minutes later we pulled into the parking lot by the emergency room. I told Ryan to run in and get someone. He grabbed Lila and ran in and apparently no one was around. He came out with a wheelchair and thought he could get me in the hospital himself. By this point I was yelling so he could hear me that I couldn't get in and he needed to get someone fast. I heard my Mom come up behind me and then all of a sudden my water broke -- in the front seat of the van. The first thing I thought was, "Oh crap, my van is fixin to be ruined!"

The next thing I know, Griffin is on his way out. A nurse came out and said something about getting me inside and I told her no that it was too late. She checked and when she realized he was coming out she yelled for a doctor and told me not to push. I think they didn't realize I was serious as all of a sudden lots of people came running out, but no one was prepared. They were yelling for gloves, towels, scissors, and other stuff and no one had it. Anyway, I told her it didn't matter if I pushed or not he was coming so I might as well push to speed the process along. She helped deliver his head and then the doctor got there to catch the rest of him.

He was born 15 days early at 1:54, about 20 minutes after we left our house and about 2 minutes after we got to the parking lot. From the beginning to his birth, my whole labor was about an hour and a half. After he was born they took him to the nursery and put me on a bed and wheeled me up to Labor and Delivery as fast as they could so they could deliver the placenta and check me out. My doctor was not there, he was actually on call the next day and all weekend, so I met his partner who I really liked. They asked if I wanted an IV for pain meds and I said no way. Then they asked if I wanted any medicine at all. I asked for Motrin. Then they Dr. said to at least take one painkiller, so I did, even though I felt great. I got all cleaned up and in my room and a nurse came and asked if I felt well enough to go to the nursery to see Griff get his bath.

We went to see him and he was doing well. They put him on C-Pap for a few minutes and had to give him IV fluids because he had high blood pressure and fast breathing which they said was the result of a fast birth. They bathed him and we took him back to our room. I hate to say it but he was really yucky looking. He had lots of bruises, especially around his eyes and he burst lots of little blood vessels in his head and face b/c he came out so fast. It looked like someone had taken a red marker and made dots all over him, but it all went away within a couple days.

We got the okay to go home earlier than usual and I was ready. We got home and Griffin has fit perfectly into our family. He is an awesome baby. All he does is eat and sleep. Last night he slept 8 1/2 hours, which was his longest stretch ever, but usually he sleeps at least 6 hours.

The whole experience was really great. I definitely glad it happened with my 4th baby instead of my 1st though b/c Ryan and I both knew what to do and weren't panicked at all. The whole scene outside of the hospital was chaotic, but really happy and fun. That sounds weird, but once the hospital staff realized we weren't freaking out and thought the whole thing was cool they did too. Everyone was smiling and laughing, even me! I was talking and answering questions while I was delivering the baby. It really was fun and exciting, and I couldn't have planned it any better. Especially the end result of a beautiful, healthy little boy.

Pictures

Just got back from ordering Griffin's pictures and they are amazing! Our new next door neighbors have a photography studio in their home and offered to take Griff's pictures for us. I am so thrilled with how they turned out, and it was really nice just to walk next door to do it. He is so dang cute, I can't wait for everyone to see them!

Introducing...

Griffin Mikel
July 31, 2009
7 pounds 9 ounces
19 inches

p.s. Gotta love the blonde mohawk

Meeting Big Brother and Sisters

We're home. Just over 24 hours in the hospital and I was ready to break out. Fortunately my Dr. said okay and Griffin's Dr. did too, so here we are. I have tons of cool pictures of all the drama, and I want to tell the whole story from my point of view, but for now here are a few pictures of the kids meeting their new baby brother.

The big kids are thrilled and so sweet with him. Lila is pretty interested, but thinks he is her own personal baby doll. She is good, but we have to keep a close eye on her around him.