Our Day

This is us the day I came home from the hospital a week or so ago. It's also how we spend most of our day.

Me nursing,

Max wanting to hold the baby,

and Benny petting him.

Recovery

Andrew getting some sun on Nona and Papa's electric blanket Christmas Day.

This really has been a great recovery for me, for two reasons:

1) JB.

He has been so so great with Thing One and Thing Two. He takes them on errands, to McDonald's, to a Jazz game, to the dollar theater....and he's incredibly patient with their needs, even when they are pounding on each other. The holidays mean not as many mortgage loans are getting done (bad) but he can spend more time at home (good).

2) No jaundice.

Max and Benny each had to be on the lights for about a week, with almost daily heel-pricks and blood-draws. I was a worried, weepy mess the whole time. But our boy Big Drew has been just fine. He turned yellow, but the doctor wasn't worried. He said as long as he's eating and pooping well, then he's fine.

Speaking of eating well, today I went to a lactation consultant (ABC Lactation) and got good tips. Even with my third baby, I still need a little help! Andrew also had his two-week checkup today, 3 days early. He's an ounce away from his birth weight and has grown a quarter-inch. The Dr says he looks perfect. I agree.

Merry Christmas!

Those trucks now get tucked into bed near the boys at night. They get carried all over the house too.

Andrew and I got new hats for Christmas. I made his with monkey ears. He's very impressed.

Benny and Max had a great day. These are their new shirts, and their new best buds pose. I think they made it the whole day without fighting. My sweethearts.

Benny and Papa each got a new Utah shirt. I gave JB two new U of U shirts, too, because this Cougar is nice like that. Benny has not taken his jersey off since Christmas, even for bed. He also has a football helmet waiting up high for him to wear, if he only goes poo on the potty. But he tells us that football players don't use the potty. Hmmm.

Happy holidays from our house to yours!

A Photo Shoot

JB took some pictures of our little Christmas present under the tree.

But he got a little upset about it.

He's either saying, "Free my hands! Let me scratch!" Or "Milk! I want milk!"

Look who came to join our family!

Andrew Rockwell

I went into labor Friday night, and he came Saturday morning. He's 8 lbs 14 ounces and 21.5 inches long -- and that's 10 days early!

The boys are excited to have their little brother home today. Max is already a very attentive helper. We feel very blessed to have a healthy, sweet, chubby, soft pink baby to love.

Me on TV again

Still no baby, though I was afraid if I was sent to Provo early this morning I could go into labor. I'm helping cover the story of the fire at the Provo Tabernacle. It really is awful, as I have many memories of the building from my time at BYU.

Here's the link to the story, and I'm in the middle of the video somewhere, at least until they update the story with a newer version:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13693318

The Big Squeeze

I keep having contractions. But they don't go anywhere. I just keep feeling them randomly throughout the day, for the past week and a half or so.

I had only a day of this with Benny, then the next morning went into labor. So every night I go to bed and wonder, "Will this be it?" But I sleep through it all. This morning I'm just ignoring it as best I can. I don't even time them anymore because they are so annoying.

I just feel bad for this baby. His home keeps getting squeezed! As it is he's way out of room. He just squirms now. My iphone "What to Expect" app says this week the baby is the size of a watermelon. Are we talking the watermelon my dad used to buy to feed us 12 children? Or the watermelon you get for a smaller family?

Waiting

(Benny's potty chart)

We are all playing a waiting game at our house. Waiting for Benny to be potty trained, waiting for colds to get all the way better, waiting for Christmas, and waiting for this baby to arrive.

Benny has been doing very very well this week on the potty. But he has figured out how to game the system. He can do probably 6 little tiny peeps in the space of a half-hour instead of one big one, and that way he gets more stickers on his chart. Hmmm. Plus he still refuses to poop in his potty. He prefers to have a diaper on and hide in the corner.

Baby update: At my appointment last week I was measuring large. I had an ultrasound on Monday, at 37 weeks, where they estimated this "little guy" is around 8 1/2 pounds. But yesterday my Dr said she's not too worried. She won't induce any earlier than 39 weeks. When I was this far along with Max an ultrasound estimated he was 9 pounds and I was induced just before 38 weeks along. He ended up 8'3 or 8'4. My Dr now says all the research shows waiting just a bit more is better for the baby's health, if they are not too big. So we wait!

Benny boy's birthday

Our Benny is now 3 years old! He loves sports /balls/athletes, cars/trucks/planes/trains, and everything else boy. He requested a football cake, and hasn't taken off his new Jazz jersey from Nona and Papa yet. He wants it over his jammies too.

We went to Chuck E Cheese (after months of requests everytime the commercials came on) and the boys had a blast playing the games.

JB earned us more tickets with his mad basketball skills. Benny had to be right there to help as well.

We just love this little ball of energy and are so glad he's in our family!

Sisters, sisters

I loved having my sister Bekah in town for a week. Last Monday we drove to Provo and had our younger sister Rachel as our waitress at the Brick Oven. Fantastic service and food.


We made onesies all together for this new little guy. Look how cute!

I couldn't resist making a few for a new baby girl coming to my friend soon:

We also borrowed a bunch of stamps and markers from a neighbor and decorated several onesies with those. Trust me, they were sooooo cute. And then I washed them. Apparently the ink was not for fabric. They are back to plain white again.

For your entertainment

That's me in the wig. Studio 5 at work was asking people to show their team spirit last week, and they put the pictures on their Facebook page.

I have a funny full-length mirror at home that is slanted, so I never knew until I saw that picture how much I am sticking out this pregnancy! I dreamed last night I had a ten pound, 27 ounce baby, which I believe is impossible math. Then I dreamed that I had twin girls instead, and I was mad at my doctor for not telling me I was going to have twins. "I have to mentally prepare for these things!" I yelled.