Reinforcement

My dad came this week while Michael is gone at another medical school interview in Maryland. It was SOOOOOOOOOOO nice to have the extra help. He cooked us dinner, breakfast, washed my dishes, played with Stetson and anything else I needed. It was nice to have the extra help--I felt pretty spoiled. He also bought me a new set of bowls and cups--sa-weet. He left for Riverton this afternoon to go watch Rocky's bball team at regionals (my oldest brother coaches the high school bball team from my home town). They beat Big Piney yesterday and are playing Mtn. view in the semi finals tonight at 6. GO GRIZZ!!
Papa and Stetson sharing some icecream
Stetson was endlessly entertained by his grandpa

For some reason I haven't has much time to blog lately!!! :) Things are going really well, I'm glad that first week is over, it always seems to be the most stressful. Kandace is doing awesome, after a few days under the lamp her levels went from 15.8 to 10, so we're glad thats all over. She's eating awesome and getting on a 2 1/2 hr eating schedule which has been such a lifesaver. It gives me some kind of control/predictability in my life and gives me much needed tome to give Stetson some attention. Stetson LOVES his little sister. I couldn't be happier about his reaction to the whole thing--I just have to watch him really close and make sure he doesn't get carried away. :) He loves to point to her little features and name them... "Nose", "Mouth" etc.

Last weekend Jan & Dorthy came (Michael's mom & gma) and helped me SO much. I'm really grateful that they could come.
Michael's interview in Seattle was yesterday and he thought it went really well. I'm so happy to have him back home!

Jan definitely has the touch so I asked her to give Kandace her first bath--it went very smoothly, definitely better than when we gave Stetson his first bath. He screamed through the whole thing.
4 generations
Jill sent us the most DARLING girl clothes and a present for the "big brother." Stetson loved it!

Bathing beauty

Well these last few days have been a little crazy, but we wouldn't have it any other way because we love our baby Kandace. She is such an angel. Kind of an "orange" angel though, as our pediatrician said. She has jaundice and if your bilirueben level is 15 or above then you have to treat it with a lamp, and her level was 15.8 so she's been "tanning" all day. Lucky girl. I'm really relieved that she's doing so well with the whole thing--she likes to be swaddled and she can't be swaddled in it so we got her a little binkie that she sucks on sometimes and then she sucks on our pinky to keep her happy. We're having her levels checked again tomorrow morning and hopefully we'll be done with the lamp and can have more snuggle time.
We're excited to have Michael's mom and grandma here visiting this weekend.

Blessing from heaven

Kandace Asay
born February 10th, 2009
7 lbs 11 oz
20 in

Well I must be a true blogger if I'm posting less than 24 hrs after givine birth...BUT I had to show off our beautiful girl. I'll try to give you the low down in a shortened version-- we were admitted about 7:30 am yesterday, they "started" me at 8:34 am, a few hrs later I was a good 3, but not much happened after that despite the constant walking we did. So at about 4pm they gave me a really low dose of pitosin, and still not much happened SO then at about 5 or 6 (I've already forgotten a lot of details) Dr. Keeler broke my water and wam. Thats all it took. Not 5 minutes later my contractions were getting a lot more intense. My contractions were manageable for like the next hr and a half, and I thought I was going to be able to do it w/ out the epidural, but I caved and said "epidural please!!" After what seemed like forEVER the nurse anesthetist made her glorious appearance but unfortunately the results weren't so glorious. The epidural ended up not working, (did anyone else think it was REALLY hard having to sit there that still AND contract at the same time?) so she tried again and still no luck. So by this point I seriously think I'm going to die because I'm feeling every contraction still and at this point in the game they're inTENSE. AND they made Michael leave the room while they put the epidurals in which was really hard. Anyway, I was at a 6 after the first epidural and by the end of the 2nd I was complete so I pushed for like 10 minutes and she was out. It was amazing, of course and I bawled like a baby and we are so grateful for our little miracle.
We're both doing so good, Kandace is eating like a champ--its so much easier the second time around!! I have a lot less anxiety about things this time and have been able to rest some which has been great.



Matthew & Charlene have been our little angels helping with Stetson and everything else. Thanks guys, we love you!
Matthew holding his first neice
Its possible that Stetson was more excited about this blue ball than a new sister. :)

Because he loves me

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Well I should give credit where credit is due, and so this is a shout out to my great husband who has been so helpful to me these last few days. First of all, on Friday night I was craving "something good" (isn't everyone?) so he ran to the store and got stuff to make a favorite of mine--chicken salad. He put avacados, tomatoes, cheese garlic croutons and "seared" chicken to name a few things. It was great. Secondly, I've been wanting to shampoo our carpets for a couple months now as part of my "nesting" frenzy, so Saturday we cleared out the living room and Michael went and got our rental carpet cleaner and got to work. It looks a lot better now and it was good to move the furniture and clean out from under it. It was getting pretty bad.

In other news, baby #2 is supposed to come on Tuesday so we're still finishing up some last minute things to get ready for that. It's kind of nice being able to plan a little for it and know exactly when I'll need to be at the hospital. I have a lot of anxiety about being induced and being away for Stetson for so long (I've never spent a night away from him) so hopefully I'll get through all this craziness o.k. :) Maybe my next post will have a little baby girl in it!


Stetson trying out the carpet cleaner

7 things tag

Thanks Lubby, I love tags!!
First of all, thank you for all your wonderful comments, they made me feel a lot better.

7 Things I can do
1. teach step
2. sing
3. cut Stetson's hair (I know, sweet huh, its my newest thing)
4. eat a whole bowl of caramel popcorn by myself
5. cry whenever a baby is blessed
6. drive a stick
7. spend forEVER at Ross


7 Things I can't do
1. cut Michael's hair
2. let Michael give plasma
3. sew
4. wear my favorite jeans
5. Not mop my floor at LEAST once a week
6. sleep w/out Michael
7. grocery slop w/out a list



7 Things I say often-
1. I love you
2. Did you poop?
3. Where's daddy?
4. Will u rub my feet?
5. Do you want to eat?
6. Seriously
7. I changed the last one

7 Things I love about Michael*
1. He loves Stetson
2. He cooks/does luandry whenever I ask him to
3. He went on a mission
4. He's nice to my family :)
5. He works hard to provide for our family
6. He watches Stetson w/out complaining so I can get out and do stuff
7. He doesn't judge others and he's really nice to people

7 Favorite foods-
1. Olive Garden
2. caramel popcorn
3. my dad's spaghetti
4. Jan's spinach salad
5. wedding cake
6. caesar sald
7. eggs sunny side up

I'm not tagging Rachel & Laura because they're too good for me and never do my tags, so I tag Shan, Shay, Kendra, Jennifer H., Sarah B. & R. & Jamie C.

update

I had an appointment today and after my examination they gave me the green light to be induced next Tuesday. Eeek!! I'm not decided that thats what we want to do, but it does thrill me to think of seeing this baby so soon (and not being prego anymore). My old wardrobe is all the sudden looking very appealing to me. This probably seems crazy to some, but a lot of the thrill of having a new baby to me at least, is that moment when you're FINALLY feeling your contractions consistently for the first time and knowing that the baby is on its way!!! I like the anticipation and excitement of the surprise. If I'm induced, there will be no surprises in that department, but hey there's always a good chance that our little girl will end up being a boy so we'll be surprised that way. :)
I'm also nervous about being induced because it just seems better to let nature take its course --I don't like intervening, but its been comforting that everyone I've talked to whose been induced has been successfully induced (meaning no c-section). I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. :)