Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Audrey's Baby Blessing

Yes more Audrey. I'd say she sort of rules around here, but really I have to say being #4 you do have to conform to everyone else quite a bit actually. Poor kid has to endure a pause in a feeding for mom to pick up kids from school, keep something from boiling over (food and kids :)), wipe a bum (my favorite), prevent fatality.. you know the usually stuff.

Anyway, back to the purpose of this post. Sunday, April 28th we blessed Miss Audrey Lynn.
Before she was even born I decided I wanted to make Audrey's blessing dress. Elyette's dress and Jack's outfit were made by my mom from extra fabric from my wedding dress and Charlotte wore my baby blessing dress. Since each one of them have had a special outfit, I wanted Audrey to have something heirloom as well. I finally trust my ability as a seamstress (and I finally got a serger, WAHOO!) so I went for it.
Charlotte and Audrey with Great Grandma Audrey

The only problem was finding fabric. I tried to not get an idea in my head of what I wanted and just be "inspired" by what I found, but I was partial to eyelet and wanted to make a over coat sort of dress. Well the only eyelet I really liked, there wasn't enough of in stock in town (tried 3 stores), so, cutting it really close I decided to order some I liked online at fabric.com in hopes it would arrive promptly enough as it has in the past from them. Well after some crazy stuff like the train it was on derailing, I got the eyelet the Thursday afternoon before the blessing. That night I rushed off to Hancock Fabric and got thread, trim and a satin for the "under-dress" and finally was able to get to work on it at about 11pm and finished Friday afternoon (about a 6 hour project).

This is the first project I've done that I started with a prayer (like I know my mom did for my wedding dress and I'm sure many other special and sacred occasions) and let me tell you, prayers are answered! Everything went as I had it in my head and the results I'm glad to call of heirloom quality. It was very cool sewing something prayerfully and really feeling a spiritual influence as I did so.

The best part was putting it on my sweet little babe.
getting ready



We had a little photo session (got lots of this cute little face) and it was off to church.

She had hiccups leading up to her blessing and from the sounds of it, still had them through most of her blessing :). She was so stinking cute looking out at the congregation when it was done. I'm a beaming mom, what can I say. Can you blame me?
Thanks to those that could make it! 

I also want to say how VERY grateful I am for ALL the worthy priesthood holders in Audrey's life (had all of them been able to be there, between her father, grandfathers, and numerous uncles, we never would have fit in the chapel) and for ALL of her family who will love and support her. We LOVE our eternal family!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Audrey 2 months

Audrey is 2 months old!
She looks a little annoyed :)... check out those droopy cheeks.

And I have stats from her check up yesterday:
Weight: 11 lbs 1 oz (50%)
Height: 23 1/4 inches (50%)
Head: 38 cm (50%)
Is there anything better than a baby fresh out of the bath?

The second month has been fantastic! Feedings are more consistent (not so painful :)) and faster. Audrey has been a wonderful little night time sleeper. A week ago she started sleeping in her crib in Jack's room. It couldn't have soon enough for Jack. I was a little emotional, having to let her grow up already :), but for the past several nights she been going to bed around 8 or 9pm and sleeping until 3 or 4am and then back down til 7 or 8am (with a few exceptions). Its been VERY nice!
What I get to wake up to :)

Jack had been long anticipating Audrey moving in (asked everyday when she'd be in there) and they are adjusting well to each other. The first few nights when I came in to change/feed her in the middle of the night you could hear Jack's little voice in the dark cooing "oooohh". He LOVES his little Audrey.

Audrey's done a lot of her own cooing lately too. She's getting quite chatty. And my favorite, she starting to make a little giggle.  She's smiling more and more. We are starting to see hints of her little personality.

 Here are a few shots I got of her this afternoon:



Babies bring such a sweetness to a home!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Charlotte is 3!

Well, Charlotte thinks, since its been almost a month since her birthday, she's got to be 3 and a half by now. 

Three has had an amazing effect on what she's willing to try and do. She's always been very autonomous, especially for her age, and quite the helper, but with the addition of the magic line "oh but you are a big 3 year old now", she'll do just about anything for me :)... very handy when you have a demanding baby around.


Charlotte's birthday was full of her "fay-bret" things. First, it was all things PURPLE. Purple breakfast cake in bed, purple crown, purple balloons, purple wrappings, purple cupcakes, purple ice cream cake (boysenberry) . We all even wore purple (or pink if purple was not available).


After breakfast we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the zoo, where we met up with Grandpa Greg, Grandma Debbie, Uncle Sam and even Boz's cousin Katie.


After 2 months of anticipation (and telling everyone), Charlotte got to feed the giraffes! Her favorite animal.



We pooped her out good.



That evening, we were very blessed to have my sister Jennie and her family of 8 come stay with us for the weekend (on their way to Disneyland). Its a good thing too, 'cause we had A LOT of cake.



Charlotte got some awesome gifts.





nutter butters :)
The crown jewel was a play kitchen made by her daddy:



Huge props to Boz for this one. With a newborn in the house and him getting really sick for a week, it really came down to the wire with this one. We were throwing on coats of poly, screwing in hinges, gluing in plexi-glass etc. intermittently during her bday festivities. Right up until the reveal. It was a huge hit!

Charlotte 3 days old
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR LITTLE CHUBSTER!!! 
No one can make us giggle like you can! 
WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Audrey 1 Month

This is a week late... story of my life :), but wanted to share all the same. Audrey's chunking up and becoming more alert and today this kids and I swear she's starting to try and smile at us (on purpose :)).

Here's her 1 month photo (taken 3/20/13- with Charlotte's toes on the side):

And a few more photo's while I'm at it:


Boz walked in one Sunday morning and found these two like this :)

Some little leprechaun visited Audrey on St. Patty's Day


Begining to really enjoy bath time
 (sorry for the odd color- my white balance was off)

My little helper



Saturday, March 2, 2013

Welcome Audrey


Meet our newest little sweety:
Audrey Lynn Millar
Born February 20th at 4:33pm 
8 lbs 9 oz, 20 1/2 inches
I'm starting a trend here. I had Charlotte on my littlest sister, Marissa's, bday and Audrey just had to come on my oldest sister, Jennie's bday. I just like to be like my mom and labor on the same days.

Audrey's Birth Story:

Not sure where to start here.  Hard to say the moment labor commenced. I labor for weeks really. So here's a little back story:

Pre-labor: When I was first checked at 37 weeks I was 4cm dilated, which ensued a chorus of "you'll never make it past the weekend" from all of my OB's staff. I knew better, and told them all I'll see them next week. Granted I did still take the weekend to deep clean my house, pack the hospital bag, prepare frozen meals, etc... but sure enough I did make to my appointment the next week. This time 5cm dilated. The OB was shocked I was still walking around. He simply asked me what I wanted to do though. My reply was that as long as all was well with me and baby I'd continue to let nature take its course. 
At the hospital ready to blow.

I admit though I was pretty batty that weekend since I'd been at a 4 for a while before, but never to a 5. I started wondering at what point my body would finally go into active labor and worrying that by that point it would be too late and that baby would be born in the tub, car, anywhere. I wanted to avoid induction, but then I did not want something to go wrong and would never forgive myself if something happened to the baby. I should have just planned a home birth as a back up, but even then it might go to fast to get help in time. 

Anyway, I had another appointment the following Wednesday morning, the 20th. I wasn't sure how things were going to go. I was trying to prepare myself to know what to do and to trust what the OB advised. I walked into my appointment (Charlotte in tow) with a "ta da! I'm still here". More shock, shaking heads and laughter. I was at 6cm dilated. Without hesitation my Dr. told me he wanted me to go right in as soon as I could to the hospital. He was afraid to even let me leave his office and had worried about me all weekend and like me, was convinced that when this baby came it would be too fast. He felt that all he needed to do was break my water and baby would be on her way. No induction necessary. I kinda figured that would be the end result of all this (that or a car baby). 

Boz thought that this would be the case, so he wasn't surprised when I called him (probably very relieved too), but for some reason I was still a little in denial. It took some effort on my part to mentally prepare myself, but I felt it best to go in. Anyway, on to the hospital events:

Action time: We got to the hospital around noon, got checked in and hooked up to an IV. That was actually an icky moment. For some reason my blood pressure dropped dramatically and I lost all color in my face and of course felt awful. After several minutes of deep breathing I started stabilizing. I was praying that wasn't an omen of things to come. 

1:15 the Doctor showed up and ordered my penicillin (a safe guard for my history of Group B strep, though I tested negative this time). He returned at 1:35 to break my water. After 2 hours of just a few weak erratic contractions, some Pitocin was ordered. Before the pitocin was administered though my contraction started picking up and intensifying around 3:30ish. Must have just been the mere mention of pitocin :)... Unfortunately as I feared for weeks based on my erratic contractions and back pain, I was having back labor which made me fear pitocin even more. I had back labor with Elyette and it was far less manageable than my labors with Jack and Charlotte. This was good ole back labor again, so I was starting to doubt my ability to do things naturally again.

The pitocin was put in at 3:45, but the nurse thinks I never even got any in my system before we turned it off. I'm not sure, cause there was a contraction at 4pm that felt "pitocin" like (harder, doesn't ease up as much, etc.). I kept changing position (thanks to the back labor). At 4:10 the nurse decided to turn off the pitocin and check me since she had a feeling things would "melt fast" now that things were intensifying.

 I was 8cm. She called the Dr. The very next contraction was my first "urge to push" contraction. I was actually thrilled to have it cause I knew things would be over REALLY soon and the back labor wasn't prolonging things. Each contraction of course was much more intense than the last and I got into "hold this baby in" mode. I felt her crown at the end of the next contraction. Back up was called in and the nurse prepared herself to deliver the baby. She was crowning more and more each time, but being more familiar this time, it was easier to control her not exploding out of me than it was with Charlotte. It felt different though because Audrey head was against my tailbone. Boz said it looked like she was coming from far lower that she was suppose to be. She was.
Meeting the Sibs

The Dr. flew in at 4:30ish. I was amazed to see him work so swiftly. I tried to hold back a bit, but the relief of the Dr. being there made me let her go a bit and she was born at 4:33. I think the Dr. was there for 2 contractions. He administered a local anesthetic, episiotomy (since she was coming in so low- would have torn me up) and caught Audrey in just 2 minutes. I was rather impressed. Not to mention, extremely grateful. The long 10-15 of being stitched up was torturously long in comparison. I'm also SO grateful to my nurse for being ready for anything!
First Family Photo :)
 That feeling once they here and you really get to see your baby... wow... I made a very audible "Ah". Awe for the relief and awe for seeing this beautifully little person for the first time. 

She came out pudgy, pink, and with a healthy wail. She has Elyette's complexion and light hair color and crazy long eyelashes (it was kinda funny seeing these long lashes coming off of those puffy newborn eyes). Oh and a bit of a squashed nose, like her sisters:

She looks a bit like all of her siblings. I see mostly Elyette and a bit of Charlotte in her. We'll see as she grows. Basically, she looks like our kid :).

We took quick notes of when what happened when Charlotte was born. Which has actually been really cool to refer to. So we did the same with Audrey. Here are Boz's notes:

12:00 - check in 6cm (-1 station)
12:40 - IV start - weird cold sweat thing
1:15 - doctor shows up
No contractions yet
1:35 - break water
2:00 - first light contraction starts
3:00 - Contractions still sparse and weak.
3:25 - get up to go to the bathroom, started a couple goodish contractions
3:45 - Start Pitocin
4:10 - 8 cm (0 station) Pitocin off
4:12 - urge to push
4:32 - Doctor shows up
4:34 - Baby born 
He was off a minute on the birth :). 

There were a lot of babies being born, so the postpartum unit was packed and the rooms are shared. My roomate had some very late vistors and kept the bright lights and TV on all night. I got about 3 hours of sleep the entire time in the hospital. I was given the go ahead to go home the next morning but they have SO much stinking stuff you have to do in the hosptial (much of it fluff it seems) and they were busy so it wasn't until 4:30 the next day that I finally got to go home. For me at least I get NO rest in the hospital and cannot wait to get home with baby. It can't come soon enough. It is soooo good to be home. 
Sure do love these monkeys!


w/Grandpa (she's grandbaby #31!)


Got to have my parents for the week. It was GREAT!
Thank you little Gma and Gpa! We miss you already!


And as you can imagine Audrey is VERY LOVED and doted over. Its amazing how much she's changed and grown already. We are sure enjoying her!
10 days old