Three Whole Years

THREE whole years have passed since they put a squishy little baby in my arms and told her she was mine.  THREE years ago my life forever changed.  THREE years ago I became a mom and have be grateful for every single minute. 

I remember lying in the delivery room as Eden made her big debut.  I remember how the nurse told me that needed to take her to the NICU right away because she wasn't breathing great and I remember telling Les "Don't you leave my baby!"  I remember walking down to the NICU after I was all stitched up and looking at my baby all covered in wires and a plastic bubble over her head...

I remember only having 15 minutes before I had to leave for shift change and the panic I felt to have to leave my baby...again.  She had only been in the world for 30 minutes and all but maybe 30 secs of it had been away from mama.  I remember putting my hand on her little belly and touching her little face and telling her that she needed to start breathing really good so that she could come back to the room with mama.  I remember telling her that me and daddy loved her SOOO much and we needed her to get her O2 sats up so I could hold her and love her. I remember talking to her until the nurse told me I had to leave. I remember asking her to give Eden a binkie because I felt like it would help calm her down.

I remember how I felt sitting in my room at 4:30am just staring at the clock, waiting until I could go back down to the NICU and see my baby again.  I remember how I called the nurse exactly after 20 minutes had passed and asked if I could come back down.  I remember how the nurse told me that she would bring Eden to me because she made leaps and bounds after I left and they felt like she just needed her mama.  I remember how hearing the nurse refer to me as "mama" for the first time just felt right.  I was meant to be a mama...always have been.

Now three years later my little baby doesn't NEED her mama like she used to.  She can tell me what she thinks and what she wants and MAN she knows how to get her way.  Most days now end with me locking myself in my room so I can get a break but I wouldn't change it for anything. 

If you know my family, you know that birthdays are BIG...like really big.  I've been asked several times why I spend so much time planning birthdays when Eden's not even going to remember them and my response is always the same.  The day she came into the world I became a mama.  I found my purpose. It was the greatest thing that ever happened to me and I will celebrate that day, not only for her but for me, because she is my joy and every year I am so grateful that she is mine. I want to celebrate and remember that day for the rest of my life... and in true Hutchison fashion... we either go big or go home!

8:30am - Breakfast in Mama's bed WHILE watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates. 
Menu:
- bacon (baby girl LOVES bacon...like her daddy)
- hasbrowns
- chocolate chip pancake (in the shape of a 3...of course)
I lite the candles and walked into the room singing happy birthday and Eden just smiles the biggest smile.  She waits impatiently all year to have that song sung to her and so on her birthday I make sure I sing it as many times as I can.  Every time, without fail, she LOVES it!

9:00am In Bed Manicure
Eden loves it when I paint her nails.  She always holds REALLY still and makes sure to tell me every couple of minutes how great a job I'm doing and that her nails look "beautiful!".  She loves to help me blow on her nails and she spends the next half hour or so very carefully  using her fingers as to not ruin her beautiful nails!

10:00am Make-up Chair and Hair
While I got really for the day, Eden decided to keep me entertained by running in and out of her room as fast as she could through the crate paper I hung from her door.  She couldn't figure out why I put streamers on her door.  I kept telling her because it was her birthday and she would always add "and because I'm your baby..." 

11:15 Birthday Photo Shoot
We traveled on down to FotoFly for a birthday photo shoot.  This was the first time that Mitzi Torgerson didn't take Eden's pictures.  She lives in Vegas and I'm so sad she moved away.  I love Mitzi's photos and so I was a little skeptical on how these were going to turn out.  Well, the lady who took Eden's pictures did a great job.  Eden just laughed and squealed the whole time.

12:30pm Lunch at Great Harvest
While we were waiting for our photos to get edited, Eden and I headed over to Great Harvest for some lunch.  I told Eden we were going out to lunch because she was the birthday girl.  I told her she could have anything she wanted for lunch and that she would even get to pick a treat.
Menu:
- half a grilled cheese
- chocolate milk
- sun chips
- GIANT oatmeal chocolate chip cookie

After lunch we went back to FotoFly and picked up our free 11X14 print and our CD.  The fact that I got my pictures same day turn around...dealsies...we'll go there again!

2:00pm Doctor's Visit
Why not pack as many things into one day as you can?  I mean it was the only day I had off from school and so I made the most of it. We visited Dr. Lash and showed him how big we are.  Eden is in the 90th percentile for height and weight (which is where she has ALWAYS been).  She showed Dr. Lash how she's dances, flips (a.k.a somersaults) and doesn't stop talking.  He was quite impressed! We even ended the visit with a request for a shot.  Eden told Dr. Lash that Doc McStuffins (a Disney channel show about a little girl who is a toy doctor) always gives her patients a shot.  Dr. Lash said no shots today but he would put some medicine in her nose (a.k.a FluMist) and that seems to sufficient.

3:30pm Mini Golf
Eden has been BEGGING Les to take her golfing.  We weren't sure if we'd be able to take her golfing today since it was suppose to rain, but luckily the weathermen don't have a clue what they are talking about and we made it.  Eden had a blast.  She didn't want anyone to help her.  She wanted to do it herself.  She would hit the ball a total of 3 times and then pick it up and put it in the hole.  After the full 18 holes she told me "I'm good a golf!  I'm better than daddy!"  She then asked to go golfing at the driving range.  Les told her she needed to practice more and get better, to which she replied "I am better, daddy.  I am a good golfer!"

After golf we finally made it back home where we spent the rest of the night playing with new toys and putting away all the new clothes.  The night ended with me tucking my big girl in bed and kissing her goodnight.  She didn't made a peep and when right to sleep. 

I can't believe three whole years have passed!  My little shadow is starting to venture out on her own and doesn't need to be glued to her mama all the time.  I can't believe that my little baby is now carrying on full conversations and giving me a piece of her mind.  I love that she can play pretend and I sort of love that she can do everything by herself.  Like getting dressed or feeding herself or going potty all by herself. I'm the luckiest mama around because I get to call her mine.  Three years ago I became a mama and I have loved every single crazy and frustrating moment of it!

27 Week Follow-up Ultrasound

Today I went in for a follow up ultrasound.  At my 20 week ultrasound they saw what they called "echogenic bowel"  That's when the baby's bowels look brighter than they are suppose to.  It's a soft marker for a million different things, including Down Syndrome or Cystic Fibrosis.  Today they wanted to see if the baby's bowels were still bright and they wanted to look at the baby's kidneys, but first let's look at this ADORABLE face...

The ultrasound technician first took the baby's measurements to make sure he was thriving.  According to this head and belly I'm measuring a week ahead.  His femur was measuring right on track and overall he was looking great.  She took lots of different views of his bowels and kidneys to give the radiologist a lot of different views.  She told me that his bowels still looked a little bright but not nearly as bright as they did on my last ultrasound.

She kept saying "I'm not impressed, not like I was with your first ultrasound."  She kept reassuring me that I was going to be JUST fine.  Because his bowels were still showing brighter than usual and I was paranoid about Down's or Cystic Fibrosis, she took at a look at other soft markers to try and help reassure me.  Usually Down's babies have short femurs, heart abnormalities, abnormal hand folds, a fat pad at the base of the neck and an under developed nasal bone.  My baby had none of these things and so the technician was very confident that he doesn't have Down Syndrome. The technician also didn't see any signs of thick mucus which is common with cystic fibrosis.

So what does all this mean?  I asked the technician... "So what do you think?  Should I still be concerned?"  She told me that she definitely would have said I had echogenic bowel for my 20 week ultrasound but she wouldn't be so confident saying that this time, just because they weren't bright enough to raise any concern in her mind and after looking at all the other markers she wouldn't be worried, but that she isn't sure what my doctor is going to think and worse case scenario is that I get another ultrasound in a few weeks.  However, once I enter the 3rd trimester, baby will start producing meconium and meconium shows up bright on the ultrasound.  So bottom line, we still don't know if there is anything to be concerned about.  We are just chillin' in no man's land.

Next, the technician looked at little man's kidney's.  She said everything seemed to functioning correctly and the baby was producing urine like he should.  However, his left kidney looked like it had two ureters coming out of it instead of one. The technician tried to look at a few different angles but my little guy did NOT want to cooperate at all.  He kept turning and moving around.  The technician said that because everything looked like it was functioning correctly, I shouldn't be concerned.  She told me worse case scenario is that the baby will have to have an ultrasound right after he's born to confirmed that he is voiding correctly and having two ureters does happen and doesn't mean anything is wrong.

So again...we are just in the waiting game.  Bottom line, baby looks healthy and is growing great.  I'm still worried. I just want my baby to be healthy but I'm going to try and not get stressed out and just wait and see what my doctor says.

After all the diagnosis was done, we spend some time looking at my cute baby boy in 3D.  Can I just say, I don't know what it is about ultrasound technicians, but they are obsessed with little boys' units. They LOVE to look at them.  The technician even got a little creative this time and I was DYING!
Meet baby's snail...

She's all "Look!  a little snail is crawling up his leg..." We kept trying to get a good picture of baby's face but he was just cuddling up to my placenta, perfectly content...it was adorable and I'll take any picture of my baby's face, even if it's just half of his face.

The baby's hand or foot was always right in front of his face so we didn't get any great shots but I still just ate them up.  At one point, he was sucking on his big toe.  It was adorable!

baby is VERY flexible! The technician called this shot the "Go Yoga" move.

This is a picture of him playing with his foot and blowing bubbles.  This is a top view.  His head is on the left and he's holding his food with both hands...adorable right?

Bottom line? No matter what, IF anything is wrong with my little boy I already love him to pieces and NOTHING is going to change that.  Cross your fingers and say a prayer that all will be okay and let's hope this mama's little heart can take the worry for 3 more months.

Crazy Life and 26 Weeks

Man, where have I been?  Why has it taken me so long to update my blog....oh that right, I'm a crazy person these days!  My life consists of work, cleaning the house, finishing our basement, more work where I actually get paid, oh yeah, and planning a birthday party...No big! I can't believe I'm 27 weeks.  I'm just a week shy of my 3rd trimester.  Where has the time gone?  At my last doctor's appointment I was informed I would now be coming every 2 weeks.  I asked my doctor if she was joking, she wasn't.  What a pain every 2 weeks is.  That's a lot of time I have to get off.  Who has time for that?  Definitely not me! It's also a reminder that this baby is coming soon and I still have LOADS to do before I'm ready.

This week I have an ultrasound that I'm a little nervous about.  At my 20 week ultrasound they saw some bright spots in little man's tummy.  It's called echogenic bowel.  Basically what that is, is when the stomach or bowels look as dense as bone or cartilage.  Apparently it's a marker for like a bazillion different things (including cystic fibrosis and down syndrome) and so my doctor wanted me to have a follow up to see if it was still present.  My doctor didn't seem to concerned.  She told me it happens quite often and usually means nothing but they like to keep an eye on it just in case.  Well, being the naturally paranoid pregnant person that I am...I stress.  So cross your fingers for me!

The rest of this week will be spend putting together the final touches for this little girl right here.  Can you guess the theme?

21 Weeks and It's A...

Well, it's been crazy busy in my life and these past weeks have just FLOWN by.  I can't believe I'm half way through this pregnancy. I think I'm in a bit of denial, there is so much to do and I have yet to get started.  I keep telling myself I needed to wait to find out what this baby is before I jump into things.  After today there are no excuses.  It's nice to finally not be sick all the time but now I feel bloated and uncomfortable...not to mention if I step on the scale I about have a heart attack! Don't even get me started on pregnancy boobs (it's out of control!), but that's not why you are reading.  Let's get down to business. What is this baby? I have been waiting for this day WAY too long.  I kept having dreams that I was having a girl and so going into today I was convinced that's exactly what it was.  Also, Eden has been referring to my belly as her baby sister since day one and so I just agreed with her and that's how we talk about my belly. I always say things like "Don't push on my belly, that hurts your baby sister" and stuff like that.  So today I just wanted to be sure!

Les and Eden joined me today and right when we got into the exam room the nurse asked us if we wanted to find out what we were having.  I told her about our troubles with the last ultrasound and so she said "Well, then let's get down to business!"  She took a few measurements at first and then went straight for the bottom. Eden informed the nurse that her baby SISTER was in my belly.  Well the nurse took a minute and said "I hate to tell ya, but it's looking like a baby brother my dear"  Her and Eden went back and forth for a few minutes until Les and I convinced Eden that it was in fact a baby brother in my belly!

The nurse gave us good five minute session of looking at the baby's "junk".  She was cracking me up.  She kept saying "There's the spout" or "Look at manhood!" or "See those little bum cheeks and then BAM!  There he is!".  She was very animated and re-assured me SEVERAL times just how adorable/precious/cute my little dude was.

I love ultrasounds.  I want any and every opportunity to see my baby to make sure everything is okay.  Today was great because it was a really long session.  We were there for about 45 minutes.  The nurse told me I was lucky because I'm thin she was able to show me things most people can't see, so that was fun.  I just wanted to see 10 fingers and 10 toes and 4 chambers in the heart.  check, check and check.  After that it was just nice to lay back and try to wrap my mind around that fact that it was a BOY!

I didn't think I would be so surprised but I really was.  My mind was already made up about it being a girl.  I was already planning the bedroom remodel and how it was going to be a purple and girly.... Now I'm at a lost. When Les saw his little man parts he said "I TOLD YOU!' but that is about all he said.  I know secretly he's very excited.  He has told me on numerous occasions that he doesn't know how to handle Eden so I think he feels a little more confident on how to handle this little boy.

Shall we talk about the name?  When I found out Eden was a girl I basically told Les "Her name is Eden, so sorry!"  He didn't have a say at all.  I finally decided to let him pick the middle name (even though I wasn't happy about it) and that's why her middle name is Rae.  Les' middle name is Ray and his mom's middle name is Rae.  Well, WAY back almost 3 years ago when Eden was born I told Les that I would let him pick the first name of the next baby since he was so bugged that I didn't let him have a say...now that's coming back to haunt me.

I have no idea what names he is thinking.  For years, he has been saying that he wants to name a little boy Sniper only for the shear fact that if he gets lost in a big crowd, Les could just yelled "SNIPER!" and everyone would hit the ground except our child... This is was he tells everyone when they asked him what names he likes.  I'm hoping it's not true.  Time will just have to tell.  I may have to pull the "I'm the one pushing this baby out of my body and there is no way in heaven or earth that we are naming this child (blank)..."  It's my trump card. I'm holding onto.

Much to my surprise I was able to see my little dude in 3-D today.  I was no expecting that either.  I didn't get that opportunity with Eden and so it was a very welcomed surprised.  It was so fun to see him rubbing his eyes and moving his fingers around.  He kept his hands in front of his face most of the time but I did get a little sneak peak at his little button nose and I'm already in love. I kept trying to see if I could tell if he looks like Eden or not... I can't say one way or the other so I'll let you decided...

Les calls the left one his "mini me" shot and that he's telling me that Dad's #1...

Today just made me super excited to finally know what this little person is.  It looks like A LOT of clothes shopping for me and introducing blue and green into my life because as of right now this family lives in a purple and pink world!!

Oh A Camping We Will Go!

This past weekend we packed up my dad's truck and headed to the mountains for a little camping trip.  The orginial plan was to leave Thursday after I got off my rotation at noon, but it turned out that my father had other plans.  If you know my dad at all, you know that he runs on "Todd Time."  Love my father to death but that man has no concept of time.  He was well aware of our plan to leave around 1:00'ish days before (infact he was the one that wanted to get there as early as possible).  On Thursday, I acutally left my rotation early and grabbed all the kids at Marcia's and was at my dad's by 11:30.  Then we spent the next 2 hours just waiting on my dad.  He had to pack (who know what!), feed his chickens, get the 4-wheeler ready, pack the food and load the car.  I tried to speed things up a bit by pack the food myself and loaded up his truck. 

Finally around 1:30pm my dad was ready to hitch the 4-wheeler trailer to his truck and make his way to Marcia's.  The plan was to load Marcia's camper trailer with all the stuff and head to camp.  Kurt would come up after he got off work with the trailer and meet us there.  Marcia and I put the kids in her car and headed to her house with my father to follow.  As we were pulling out of my parent's house, Marcia stopped and waiting to make sure my dad was actually getting in his car before we pulled away.  We got to Marcia's house, got the camper ready and waited for my dad to show up so we could FINALLY hit the road.  Well, a half an hour went by... and then another...and then another.  By this time I was ready to get in the car and go find my dad determined that he MUST be broken down by the side of the road without cell phone service cuz there is NO WAY in this green earth that it should take an hour and a half to get from my dad's house to Marcia's (it's only 5 mintues away).  When he finally showed up, he informed us that he had to get the 4-wheeler trailer hitched to his truck and he had no help so it took some time.  (Okay, whatever, let's hit the road).  Then I remembered that I forgot the paper cups for drinking in my car at my parents house so back we went.  I jumped out of the car and ran and grabbed the cups, well, my father took this opportunity to decide to put some oil in his truck (since we were there and all) and so we waited so more.  FINALLY, at around 3:30 we were headed to our campsite.  

We just went 10 minutes outside of Brigham city.  It was far enough away that we were in the mountains with nothing but nature around but close enough that if we forgot something or needed something it was just a short trip away. Once we got on the road and after about 20 minutes, Brennen asked "Are we there yet?!"  to which my dad reply "I think this might be the only time I will ever be able to say this...but yes, yes we are." We pulled in, decided where the tent should go and 10 mintues later Kurt arrived.  We had a good laugh about how long it took us to get up there, but secertly I wanted to strangle my dad all day long.  I HATE waiting around.  It might be my one pet pev.  If we have a plan and a time line I want to be within that time line and get to where we are going....I guess I need to work on patience.

Anyway, our campsite was next to a little stream and so of course the girls IMMEDIATELY wanted to play in the water so we threw their swimsuits on and let them at it.  It probably took all of 5 mintues and they were covered in dirt/mud from head to toe.  My dad and kurt got the tent set up and the camper situated while Marcia and I got dinner prepped.  The kids had a blast just playing in the dirt.  They found the helmets we brought for the 4-wheeler and decided they needed them on.  Then they started dancing and posing and rolling around in the dirt.  I could not stop laughing.  They were cracking me up.  One would stand there and say "Pose!" and then they would all strike a pose and then run around again and then the next one would yell "Pose!"

I should have known and just stopped trying to get my daughter to get up off the ground because it was all in vain.  There was dirt and she wanted to play with it. 

At the end of the night after the girls were covered in dirt and marshmallows, we took them over to the spiket and literally hosed them off while they screamed because it was so cold. Then we headed to the camper to tuck the chicklets in and get some rest. The night ended with bedtime stories of magic rocks and purple dragons. 

My dad and Brennen slept outside in the tent and in the middle of the night Brennen came a knockin' on the camper door.  He told Marcia that is was raining and he was all wet!  Well, my dad had worked the night before and with our long excursion to the camp site he was plain exhausted.  He put his earplugs in and his eye cover on and he was OUT!  Well, Marcia told Kurt that my dad didn't put a rain fly on and to "Go do something!"  So Kurt ran outside and tried to wake up my dad...no go!  So being quick on his feet like he is, he grabbed the table cloth covering the pinic bench and threw it over the tent...then went back to bed.

Worked like a charm!  My dad said at one point he woke up and noticed his sleeping bag was wet but he, himself was still dry and so back to sleep he went! 

The next day we woke up and within minutes my once clean girl was covered in dirt (and lovin' every minute of it).

Can we say "I love camping?"

Next, we headed to the lake for a picnic and some fishing.  We found a prime location and started setting up shop.  It was a bit windy and BLASTED hot.  Marcia and I struggled for about 20 mintues trying to put up the shade canopy and just about took flight a few time in the process.  Brennen was dead set on fishing and so he required all of my dad's attention so he could get his fishin' pole ready.  Eden and Ever just wanted to reel in the line.  They had no desire to sit and watch the bubble bob up and down in the water.  So my dad took off the hook and just attached the bubble to the end and let them cast and reel. 

Everytime Eden reeled her line in she'd yell "Pa!  Look I caught a weed again!" and then laugh.  The kids had fun fishin' and throwing rock in the water.  They probably could have stayed out there all day long.  Marcia and I on the other hand felt like we were literally melting!

After a couple hours we headed back to the trailer for a nice cool nap.  The kids zonked out right away and gave Marcia and I some much needed "mommy time."  Later that evening the my dad and Kurt loaded up the kids and took them for a 4-wheeler ride and left Marcia and I to again enjoy some alone time to read books and play games on Marcia's kindle (love!).

After the gang got back we made some dinner and kicked it by the fire until it was time for bed.

The next morning we woke and made some delicious breakfast (I don't know why, but food always taste better camping).

We talked about going fishing again or heading to the lake to let the kids swim but then we decided to just pack up camp and head for home.  Twenty minutes later we were taking baths and feeling clean.  I love camping more than anything.  I would camp every weekend if I could.  I'm an outdoor girl all the way and by the looks of this weekend it seems that Eden is right there with me!

4th of July

Let's play catch up a shall we?  4th of July was pretty low key this year.  We didn't do much.  We just mostly hung out at my mom's and enjoyed the day, but that didn't mean we didn't celebrate...I mean seriously, who do you think we are?

What's a holiday without a delicious holiday inspired breakfast?  I give you my Stars and Stripes Breakfast.  Eden loved it!

Ever came over later and her and Eden just played outside all day long.  They enjoyed dipping some strawberries in some blue sugar and playing a game of "Jaken" (Jake and the Neverland Pirates...a.k.a Jake-and).  This is a staple around my house.  Eden is ABSESSED with the Disney TV show.  She walks around the house saying "Yo Ho Ho!"  or "Ahoy Mateys!"  She cracks me up!

Ever has had her eye on a little cheerleading outfit of Eden's since the day she saw Eden wear it. I believe her immediate response was "Why don't I have a dress like that?!" And so that day she made it a point to tell Eden they were going to play dress up and SHE was going to be the cheerleader and Eden was going to be the daddy...Not liking that idea too much, I interveened and told Eden she was going to be a USA soccer player and Ever was her cheerleader.

(insert VERY proud mama here)

My girl is pretty much a natural!  I gave her the ball and told her to dribble across the backyard so Ever could cheer for her.  Well, she took that ball and took off! Dribbling with BOTH feet might I add and I wasn't the only one SUPER impressed.  My dad even said "Look at her go!!  She's using both feet!  Did you teach her that?!"  Nope, my little girl just knows the way to her mama's heart.  Soccer star here we come!

Later that evening the rest of the gang cam over for a BBQ.  I tried to get Eden to show everyone her mad skills but true to her character she decided that she needed to "stretch" before she could preformed. She bent and twisted and did all sorts of stretching exercises I've never seen before and then decided she needed a break. So I guess the family will just have to wait until she makes her big soccer debut! 

Of course I didn't get any pictures of the BBQ but I did take some pictures of the 4th of July inspired food we had, cuz well... like I've said.  We do holidays right.

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July.  I love that I live in a country were I can spend my days with my family in a land that is free for us to be the Awesome Amazing family that we are!  Happy 4th!