happy terrific twos

 Adam sang "Happy Birthday to Me" along with us all as we were singing to him.  It was soo adorable. 

 The pinata was so much fun!  Note to self-- pinatas are probably not age appropriate for a 2 year old birthday party-- there was no way he was breaking that thing and got jealous when it was anyone else's turn, however I still thought it was worth it!!

 Ellie got passed around from person to person, of course sleeping most of the time. 

 Another note to self-  Bounce houses are definitely worth it!!!  I think the adults may have had just as much fun as the kids playing in the blow-up bus.  Adam LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!!! So did all of his little friends.  It didn't hurt that Tom got a super great deal on it, and got it for like half of what it usually costs.

When the party was over we stayed at my parents' house and hung out for a little bit.  As I was going back through to watch the video from his party I noticed we didn't get Adam singing Tom thought he was turning the camera on when he was turning it off and them recorded his leg, feet, and table for about 40 minutes after the cake and song.  At first I was super upset, I went for a super long walk around my parents neighborhood to calm down.  Then came back feeling stupid because it doesn't matter that we didn't get it on video.  What matters is that everyone had a wonderful time and Adam had the time of his life.  At least we got some good pics to capture the moment.  And it's goodbye ONEderland and hello Terr.... Twos.  Don't know whether I would call them terrific or terrible, but I'm quite hopeful they will be TERRIFIC!!

just chillin

 Ellie, Maya, and Adam just hanging out on Paris and Lisa's couch during Family Home Evening.  So cute-- I even got them all looking at the camera.  Such cute friends.  Adam loves Maya and tries to give her big hugs and kisses every time we see her.

Just hanging out watching TV and looked over to see this wonderful sight!!  My beautiful family-- we are so blessed, and I am truly grateful.

November 14th, 2011.  We met Anna Tom's cousin for the first time on this day.  She is living here in Vegas with Tom's mom.  She has a passion for photography and created this collage out of some of the shots she got.  I love the one up in the corner of Adam picking his nose, because of the story to it of course.  Tom told Adam that he can only pick his nose if he wipes the boogers on Nana or Grandma.  hahaha Are we creating bad habits?? :)

families can be together "to Infinity and Beyond"

We LOVE Halloween. Adam had such a wonderful time. He caght on to "trick or treat" rather quickly. I'm sure he was thinking that this is the best-- all I have to do is say "trick or treat" and people give me candy!! Sweet! He dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Ellie was a sweet little Jack o' Lantern.  She slept through most of Halloween.  Adam got a ton of candy, which was awesome for us!!!  :) I love having a toddler that can trick or treat and share his candy!!

 Someone was passing out these light-swords instead of candy.  This was Adam's favorite "treat" of the night. 

 He also got to meet a bunny for the first time ever and he thought that was pretty cool too.

Ava Espiritu invited us over after the "trunk or treat" for spaghetti and dessert.  I think Adam had about 20 meatballs-- maybe even more than that.  We had a great time as a family and with Nana and Popi.   We all stayed up way past our bedtime, but it was worth it.  And Adam crashed within 2 seconds of being strapped in the car.

after ellie's arrival

 That yawn pretty much says it all.  Ellie was born on September 14th, 2011.  She weighed 7lbs exactly and was a beautiful, healthy baby.  Her pediatrician said she is a model baby, because she is so tall and skinny.  She latched on right away, which was a massive relief compared to what I went through trying to nurse Adam.  These photos are from our first week home with our newest addition... Eleanor Ann Fender! 

 Look at those proud grandparents!!  Adam is such a great brother too.  He ignored her the first couple days... I think he thought she was going to be leaving.  Haha But once he realized that she was goig to be sticking around for a while his demeanor changed.  He is soo sweet with her.  One time when she was about 2 weeks old we were hanging out watching tv and ellie was in her bouncer, she started crying and Adam went and sat next to her and held her hand and she stopped immediately.  She sure loves her big brother and he loves her!

 Yes... I'm not sure you got tickets to this "Gun Show", but I couldn't help myself.  Aren't my boys sooo handsome... even when we are all sleep deprived and exhausted!!

 So I had to get at least one picture of Adam and his pet fish in here.  The story is that Adam went to Parowan for the fair with Nana and Popi, and he won these two fish all by himself playing the throwing game I think.  Anyways, he loved them and named them Nemo and Dori.  Nemo and Dori were not doing so hot after the drive down to Vegas but Nemo ended up pulling through.  We told Adam that Dori went to live with Heavenly Father.  A couple months later the pordelain express was Nemo's fate too.  Our first pets and I'm afraid we didn't start off on the best foot.  It was soo sad.  When Nemo died I'm not sure Adam noticed.  And no...w e still haven't had that conversation with him.  I'm not sure we will have any more pets for a while.

 Jeri Rael sells these super cute handmade hats in her shop.  We had a fun little photo shoot with her.  it is oo much fun having a girl.  I think within the first hour of us being home from the hospital I tried on about 10 bows. 

 Leesee made this one!!  It was my favorite, I think she wore it almost every day the first few weeks.

 Here is Ian and Lindsay's newest addition, Blue.  Isn't he so cute!!  He is a wild man-- totally different from Izzy.  I am sure they will have their hands full.  It's debatable who was more tough to care for-- Blue or Ellie.  :)

 Blue knows I am breastfeeding, maybe I remind him of his Mama.  Whenever Ellie is eating he tries to jump right on top of her. 

Adam loves when Uncle "Sesh" comes to visit from college.  he sure misses him a lot!!

baby sprinkle

Since I'm having a girl, I had a Baby Sprinkle (instead of shower) last night.
Thank you to Karen and Leesee and Ashley!

 

I was soo overwhelmed at everyone's generosity and the beautiful clothes and diapers that we got for Ellie.  She is going to be the best dressed girl ever.  I guess I was planning on having her wear all of Adam's old clothes but with bows on her head-- but now-- she won't have to do that thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family.  I got a little emotional because this actually seems more real now than ever, and sometimes I don't actually believe that we will have a new baby girl in a month.  I will post some pics that Ashley took once she gets them to me.  I still have no camera. :(  if anyone knows someone who has one they don't want I'd be happy to take it off their hands or buy it for a fair price.  We just cannot afford to get a new one quite yet.  Maybe when Tom starts working a day job again.  I guess I just have to have patience.  (and figure out how to get my crappy phone pics on the computer)





(Love this picture of Adam and Matix!)
Also, my wonderful doctor is going to let me try to v-back... so on Wednesday we nailed down the plan, which is for me to go into natural labor and not be induced-- he is giving me until the 20th-- a little after my due date, which is the 14th.  By then, if she is not coming on her own, I will have another c-section.  However, after talking to a lot of my friends who have given birth naturally-- I'm somewhat terrified and don't know if I've made the right choice to give it a try.  Hopefully everything will work out for the best either way.  So excited and nervous!!  Can't believe it's right around the corner.

an interesting week

last tuesday morning started out with blood.  i noticed as i was showering that the water looked red, but of course thought nothing of it.  as i stepped out of the shower, more red dripping all over the floor.  immediately my first thought was, i must've cut myself pretty bad shaving; second thought, i didn't shave this morning; third thought, period;fourth, i'm 17 weeks pregnant-- this is not supposed to happen.  so i called for tom and of course him being the smooth operator that he is said we're going to the hospital (since my doctors office didn't open for another 3and a half hours).  he immediately got out of bed threw some clothes on got adam's bag packed and got him up and ready to go.  meanwhile, adam knew something was up... he was really good and did everything tom asked him the first time.  when tom sat him on the couch while we were getting everything together, he just sat there looking at us with his hands folded.  my precious little boy. 

so we left the house went to sarah and chris', who, thank goodness chris and conner, were actually awake already and we dropped adam off with them and tom and chris gave me and the new baby a blessing, the spirit was soo strong and i'm so thankful for the priesthood.

a hop skip and almost 4 hours in the hospital later, they were able to say that the baby was ok and i needed to see my obgyn, dr swainston.

upon doing an ultrasound, dr swainston found that my placenta and cervix were far enough apart and neither were on top of my scarring from my previous c-section.  so pretty much, everything looked good and he had no explanation for why i might be bleeding.  he concluded that maybe i was pushing myself too hard or possibly it was stress related or something weird happened when the placenta was attaching and this was my body's way of fixing things.  and he said most likely its a girl. then he prescribed at least a week of bed rest.

so here i am not even halfway through my pregnancy on bed rest.  it's amazing how guilty you can feel when on bed rest.  i feel guilty that other people are playing with adam and tom is doing everything, that other people are helping us and bringing us meals and that i can't do anything even though i pretty much feel fine.  it is a strange experience.  i bled 3 days in a row, but have been fine since friday.  today i will go in to see what the verdict is.

in this week...

• i've watched more television than i ever wanted to
• i've read 3 books and restarted and am in alma of the book of mormon
• i've gained some amazing personal revelation through my reading and prayers
• adam got an allergic reaction to something and had hives and a fever for 2 and a half days (still not sure what caused it)  it started at the doctors office so maybe he is allergic to the doctor, oh and yes he got 3 shots that day too, but the hives started before he received the shots.
• adam ran away from home (funny story really), the front door was open, we always let adam play in the courtyard, he came inside and picked up tom's shoes and was hugging them. tom took them away from him and said that they were dirty and were for feet only, not our hands.  of course, adam got mad and yelled and then sweetly said bye-bye and went outside to pout.  about 5 minutes later i said are you ready to come home now? and he said no!(what are we going to do with this headstrong little boy of ours-- ha he has tom's stubbornness and my... well... stubbornness. )
• tom did all the work around the house-- with a little help from friends and family
• i laid around all day every day! (i know it sounds nice, but a girl could go crazy-- really when you have a week off of work and other people are taking care of your kid... there are a million and half different things you can think of that you should be doing- but doctor's orders-- you can do nothing)

last but not least, i need to say thank you to everyone who helped out and to heavenly father for answers to prayers and blessings and for the gospel and a ward family-- i really don't know how people live without it. 

so thank you...

• mom
• dad
• mom (tom's)
• seth
• ian
• sarah and chris gwin
• lor'e seager
• dynelle howcroft
• jane harris
• lara wilson
• des leathers
• emily bowman
• ashley marx
• kelli lyman
• lisa bayardo
• and everyone else who was willing to help and prayed for us.

we really appreciate it and are counting our blessings!!  hopefully after my appointment this afternoon we will get good news and life can go back to normal... well as normal as it gets around here!!  :)

lack of sleep

adam is very adorable.  he is using his words so well now-- it had been a week since he woke up crying at night.  he would wake up in the middle of the night and say "where binky go" or "baba" and in the morning he would just say "daddy... mama... daddy.. mama" until we went into his room to get him.  Awesome, right?

well yeah... except the past 2 nights have been a different story.  i don't know what has gotten into him or why he has no desire to sleep at night, but he wakes up and when we try to lay him back down, he says "no.. no" and he will cry if we leave him in there on his own, but when we bring him into bed with us he won't just relax and sleep unfortunately either.  we make sure he has a bottle if he is hungry, has his binky and  teddy, change his diaper- but that still isn't enough.  he doesn't even want to lay down. he wants to sit up and talk and be loud and take turns cuddling all over daddy and mama and kicking us AND needless to say we can't get any sleep!!  last night this lasted for almost 4 hours.  we NEED to start getting our sleep.. i mean i'm already exhausted because my body is trying to make a baby-- but this lack of sleep thing is really wearing on tom and i both.   any suggestions????