A Very Green Thanksgiving

This year was our year to be with my family for Thanksgiving and since I was due to have a baby so close to the holiday, my family decided to rent a condo at Thanksgiving Point (how appropriate!) for the week so we could all be together. It was so nice to have everyone here for the weekend! The condo was huge and well furnished so there was plenty of room for everyone. Jon and I stayed at home since we need to have all the baby supplies handy but hung out at the condo with everyone during the days.

Jeff and Audra brought Guitar Hero over and there was a pool table at the house so those activities occupied most of the boys' time while the girls made various shopping trips.

We took family pictures (long overdue) which turned out sooo cute!

I am so grateful for my awesome family! How wonderful it is to have such neat people for brothers, sisters, and parents. I can't say thank you enough to my parents for everything they've done for us this week. They have taken such good care of me during this transition period!

Here are some pictures of our holiday!






You can see that I'm already enjoying the dressing part of having a baby girl! I made these leg warmers out of socks. Cute huh?

A New Bush in the Yard

On Tuesday, November 18th at 6:52am, Sophie Suzanne Bush joined our little family! She came about 2.5 weeks early so we were surely surprised! She weighed 7lbs, 9oz and was 20in long. She is healthy and strong and beautiful! We're so excited to have her here.

For those of you that want the whole labor story, here it is. If you don't really care, you have my permission to just scroll on down and see the pictures!

At midnight on Monday night my water broke. I wasn't sure if it was indeed my "water" breaking so we decided that we'd go to bed and wait to see what happened since I wasn't having any contractions and it wasn't quite as obvious as when my water broke with Jonah. So about an hour and a half after going to bed, I woke up and it was clearly my water that had broken. I still wasn't having contractions but we decided that we'd better get to the hospital since I needed to have antibiotics in my system for 4 hours before she arrived (Group B Strep).

We got the hospital at about 3am and they said they'd let my labor progress on its own for a while to see if it would pick up. By that time I was having contractions about 7 minutes apart. The doctor came in about an hour later and said it was looking good and he'd let me keep going to see if it would continue to get stronger. About 5 minutes after that, he sent a nurse in with pitocin...I guess he really wanted the baby to be born before his shift was up. We were pretty mad that he didn't give us a chance to continue on our own but we went ahead with their plan.

My contractions immediately got stronger and faster and within about an hour (around 5:30am) I was 5 and 1/2cm dilated (from a 3 when we got there). At around 6:30 my contractions were almost unbearable and at one point I told Jon that I needed to push during the contraction. He called the nurse in to check me and I was at an 8. She started setting the room up for the baby's arrival as I feverishly worked through each contraction. Jon helped me breathe and the nurse helped apply counter pressure (which helped and killed at the same time). After about 15 more minutes I was at a 10 (and screaming during contractions...hehehe) and they said I could go ahead and push. After 1 and ONLY 1 push, our little girl arrived!

I successfully delivered her naturally and feel that the recovery was different (easier) from with Jonah's birth. People have asked me to give a comparison of the two births and for now, suffice it to say THEY WERE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. I can't say which I'd prefer at this point.....give me a few months to forget how much it hurt!

My mom has been here the last few days to help out and it has been wonderful. She's such an amazing mom!!! Jon has also been absolutely wonderful and has been my rock and support through the transition. Jonah is fairing well and has only bonked Sophie once so far. I'm going to start keeping her high and away from him so as to completely eliminate temptation. He knows her name and sometimes tries to share toys with her so I'm sure he'll come around eventually.

Here are the promised pictures! We'll be taking lots more in the next few days so I promise to keep posting them. We also have some video I'll be posting in a few days.

Here I am, braving the hospital food. If you can't tell, this is meatloaf...mmmmm!

Sophie had jaundice and we ended up having her under some "bili-lights" for two nights to lower her biliruben levels. Good news, though! Today after having her foot pricked, yet again, her levels were such that we no longer have to have her under the lights and we no longer have to take her to get tested! We didn't get her picture under the lights but just so you can all see what they're like, I've included a picture of Jonah when he was under them. The contraption is a suitcase with UV lights in it. It really is the most annoying thing because you have to cover their eyes and try to get them to calm down without being bundled up or covered with anything but a diaper.





You can see the two different methods for covering their eyes...neither is really that effective. Quite a pain in the butt, actually.

Baby Shower Fun

My dear sister, Laura, threw the most splendid baby shower for me last weekend. She held it at the boutique she works at called Dear Lizzie. It is the cutest place ever and the atmosphere was perfect for a baby shower. Dear Lizzie has a little bistro in the back where we sat and talked and ate!

When we planned the date, I didn't think anyone from my side of the family would be able to attend because its so close to Thanksgiving when everyone will be coming out here anyway. But I was very, very pleasantly surprised when I walked out of the bathroom and found my mom and Annie sitting there at the table. I doubled over and just bawled my eyes out---I'm sure the pregnancy hormones had everything to do with it!

Here are a few pictures of the festivities! You can see my belly...it is just so huge. I think it looks like I've stuffed a basketball in there. My next doctors appointment is tomorrow and we'll find out how close I am to being ready to deliver. I'm hoping she'll be early (safely early) and really think she won't be able to wait until the 5th of December.

Thank you to all my dear friends and family!!!

I'm taking guesses on when she'll arrive. Leave your guess in the comments!!!

At Exactly Midnight

Well, I'm happy to report that Jonah is doing much better. It has been quite the fight each day to give him his medicine but we've gotten it down and it is indeed working!

I, on the other hand, am not feeling fantastic tonight...or this morning. You'll notice the time of this post. Well, I'm having issues sleeping. It's amazing how during the day I can lie down and be asleep in a matter of seconds but at night, it's a different story. I've been lying in bed for 2 hours now with no sign of sleep. Grrrrr. It doesn't make it any easier when Jon gets into bed and immediately starts snoring (not his fault, but I'm a light sleeper and hate earplugs). So tonight I decided to hit the couch--or the computer, until the couch sounds appealing.

So what I really meant to post about was the fact that at exactly midnight (we know because we checked) our radio stations began playing Christmas music. Can you believe it?! We knew it was coming but when we actually heard it...weird! We decided we might have to boycott those stations for just a bit longer since they refuse to play more than 10 Christmas songs over and over.

Halloween was fun! Jonah strolled around Jon's work and immediately grasped the idea of taking candy from strangers and putting it in his bag. He dressed as a giraffe this year and was adorable! My favorite part of the costume was the butt because it was huge and just swayed back and forth when he walked. We went down to Springville to trick-or-treat with Jon's sister and our nieces and Jonah had a blast. We weren't sure he'd get it but soon enough he was mimicking his cousins and saying "tick-a-t" or something to that effect. I forgot my camera so I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. For tonight I'll show you the best Halloween costume I saw today...it just made me laugh!!!!

The best part for me was the red frosting on his eyebrows. Ahhh...I'm still giggling!

I guess I'll try to get some shut-eye now. Nighty-night!

Poor Jonah Boy

The last couple of days have been pretty miserable for the boy. He was really cranky all day Saturday and woke up around 2am with a fever of 101. We gave him some Motrin and put him back to bed. He woke up Sunday morning acting pretty cheerful but after a couple of hours his fever had returned. All day Sunday we kept dishing out the Motrin hoping that whatever was causing his fever would reveal itself or his fever would finally subside. By 4pm he was at 103 and we decided to give Motrin one more try and then go to the doctor if it didn't go away. We ended up taking him to after hours care at our pediatrician's office at 9:30pm. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. He was zombie-like with bloodshot, watery eyes that were closed half way and he was absolutely burning up. I hate seeing my baby so sick!!!

When the doctor saw us she said that she'd already had several fevers that night and that half were showing up as strep throat and the other half viral. Sure enough, little Jonah's came back positive for Strep. The doc prescribed antibiotic syrup and I asked if they could do a penicillin shot instead and she said yes but that the dose was huge and was the same for all kids under 75 lbs. At that point I didn't want to see my little boy in any more pain or discomfort so I opted for the syrup instead. By the time we got home and administered the drops (both antibiotic and Tylenol for the fever) it was already 11:30pm so you can imagine Jonah's exhausted and sickly state. He took the Tylenol just fine but when it came time for the antibiotics, we had to hold him down, only for him to throw everything back up all over himself, us, and the couch. Poor kid. After a quick back and a book to calm him down, we managed to get one dose of the antibiotics down and put him to bed. Then I gave him one dose of Tylenol after he'd been in bed for an hour since his fever hadn't broke and he was unable to sleep.

This morning my boy woke up feeling a little better and without fever. I'm considering going back to get the penicillin shot instead of forcing the drops down his throat twice a day for 10 days...what a process!!!

Anyway, we're hoping he feels better soon and we have our normally happy and content boy back!

Another Weekend in Colorado

A week ago we drove to Colorado for one of Jon's best friend's weddings. We took the opportunity to see the beautiful fall foliage and drove along the I-70 route. Veil was absolutely breathtaking. Fall is by far my most favorite season!

Here are a few pictures of the wedding. It was neat to see Jon with his buddies from high school. They haven't been in too close of contact with each other so it was a sweet reunion for them! The wedding was up Boulder Canyon outside of a nice restaurant. It was beautiful!

On another note, the belly is huge! I'm feeling pretty good but can tell that the time is drawing near. I'm almost 33 weeks along and my sister-in-law, Natalie, commented last night that I look like I'm 9 months plus one week! I have a feeling this little girl is not going to be so little! Jonah was 8lb 12oz so we'll see what happens with this one!

I'll post some pictures later today.

Let's Groove Tonight!

Today Jonah and I got back from a short trip to Colorado. We flew out there to have another "girl-get-together" with my sister's-in-law, Laura, and Mom. On Tuesday night we went to the Earth Wind and Fire concert at Red Rocks! It was fantastic (except for the extremely strong smell of fajitas cooking, the occasional and inevitable pot smoke wafting our direction, and the couple who thought it was OK to pretend they were in their own bedroom while listening to the music...if you catch my drift). The cool part is that Michael McDonald opened for them...and I'm sure that 99% of you will have to look up who the heck that is so I've provided a link for you. He is the former lead singer of the Doobie Brothers...and I've provided a link for them as well since most of you probably won't know their stuff. Sheesh, people, get with it! We all had a great time dancing and laughing at each other's dance moves (and the drunk people who thought they were dancing).

Jonah decided that he'd wake up at 3am today so you can imagine the horrific plane ride home with him. The worst part was when the guy next to me gave me the look of death when Jonah tossed his sippy cup onto the guy's khaki pants. I think he thought it was going to spill all over him. The glare along with the extreme exhaustion and frustration of dealing with Jonah's antics nearly caused me to burst into tears. But I held it together and we made it home to my sweet Jonathan, whom I missed horribly.

Here are some pictures of the concert for your enjoyment! Oh, and do yourselves a favor and go to iTunes to check out some of the artists' music I've mentioned today...make me proud!

We raided my mom's closet and all wore tie-dye.

Here I am at 29 weeks and Lindsey's at 21 or so. SWEET!

From left to right: Linds, Audra, Laura, Me

Michael McDonald...awesome deep voice.

Yay For Date Night!

It's amazingly hard sometimes to make sure we're having a weekly date night so today we planned to go to dinner together...just the two of us! We usually include Jonah in our "out-to-eats" but I decided that after a relatively long week filled with a few great previews of the "terrible twos" that Jon and I needed some alone time. Jon took me to Red Lobster for their delicious Endless Shrimp (which, for those of you that don't know, happens every year around this time and we always make a point to go). Jon's parents were soooo great and took Jonah way last minute for us while we went to dinner. What fun we had!!

On another note-- GO COUGARS! Each Saturday we go to my in-laws house here in Orem and watch the BYU game in their sweet home theatre. I wish we could go to a game this season but watching it in the theatre is almost better (at least I have to convince myself of this) for several reasons: 1. I get to recline in a cozy leather chair, 2. We can rewind any play we want or even fast-forward through commercials if we start the game a little later (which makes a 4 hour game last about 2 hours), 3. I can take potty breaks in a nice clean bathroom (increasingly important as my bladder has absolutely no room anymore), and 4. We can snack on anything and everything and usually do (we've made a tradition of buying french onion dip and chips).

Anyway, this season has been awesome and I'm excited to see what comes!

About Those To Whom "Social Responsibility" Doesn't Exist

I don't really ever post this kind of thing but I was watching a bit of news the other day at the gym and something reallllllly got under my skin and I have to make it known. The news was mostly covering hurricane Ike in Texas and the news reporters were mentioning how the authorities and asked (more like pleaded with) people to evacuate if they were in the areas that would be most affected. Well, of course, there were people who just wouldn't (and maybe a few who couldn't) evacuate. I'm upset with those that WOULDN'T, against better judgement, evacuate their homes...BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!!!! People with good, common sense had to put their own lives in danger, making multiple helicopter rescue trips, to save those stupid people who wouldn't leave. So not only did they put their own lives in danger, but the lives of those who had to go rescue them. This makes me sooooo mad. Millions of dollars goes into each one of these rescue trips and PEOPLE DIE trying to rescue the idiots who didn't leave in the first place!

This is a topic that really got me boiling in one of my law classes at BYU. There are stupid people who think they need more of a thrill and go rock climbing without ropes, or go hiking or mountain climbing without anyone with them or at lest telling someone where they're going, or those people that go back country skiing and snowboarding when there are clearly serious warnings about avalanches. So these people use millions of dollars from responsible, taxpaying citizens like you and me when they get lost, trapped, or fall hundreds of feet and need to be rescued.

So do me a favor, People! EVACUATE your dang house when you're told you should, your material possessions are not worth your life, or more importantly, the life of the person that has to come save your stupid butt!

Glad to get that off my chest. Now just to clarify--I'm not saying you can't take risks and have thrilling, exciting adventures (I, for one, enjoy these types of things!). Just do it responsibly so you don't put other people in danger when you decide to do something stupid.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day Weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the extra days off together. It's always hard to go back to the normal routine though. We went to Colorado and stayed with my parents for the weekend. Here are a few of the cool things we got to do:


1. Attend Alison's wedding (one of my bestest friends from home)

She looked amazing and happy and it was great to get to be there with her and her husband Taj.

2. See the Columbine Memorial

None of my family had gotten to see it yet so we decided to go together after Alison's wedding. We were all very moved at how nicely it was done. It is an inspiring memorial.

Grandpa with Jonah.

This is a Columbine.

3. Visit Estes Park on Labor Day

I love Estes Park. It's really nice that my parents live so close to it now so it's just a half hour drive up to the town. We walked around the shops and then visited the Stanley Hotel just for fun. For those of you who don't know, it was made famous by that creepy movie "The Shining" so now people go there just for the ghost stories. That's not why I like it--it's just really pretty.

Jon is either looking at a ghost or a really bad hairdo!