Ella's First Photo Shoot

While at the hospital, a professional photographer came to take pictures of Ella.  Unlike hospital photos of the past, several pictures were taken, props were used, and Jason and I were even invited to be in a few shots. (The invitation to be a part of the pictures was totally unexpected, so please excuse the hospital gown and three-day-dirty hair--mine, not Jason's)   We liked the pictures so much, we decided to buy the CD of images and photo copyrights. It was a bit of a splurge, but I think you'll agree it was worth it.

This post authored by Amber

Special Delivery

Thursday morning (January 20th), I went in to my doctor's for an appointment that I was not expecting to have reason to schedule. The time I could be seen was 8:30 a.m. with Dr. Rees.  When he examined me, he said he was surprised I had been sent home from the hospital the previous Monday.  He also mentioned that my blood pressure results turned out to be a little high--not enough to get all concerned and worked up about, but enough for him to use it as an excuse to send me to the hospital to have my labor induced.  He told me to go to the hospital right then, and he would call to make the arrangements for my admittance. 

I was taken off guard a little.  I hadn't brought my bag with me or anything, and I certainly wasn't expecting to go to the hospital in the morning (I tend to labor in the evenings and through the middle of the nights). Fortunately, Jason had come with me to be with Garrett and Spencer in the waiting area during my appointment.  He was planning to go to work right after, but was sent home to make arrangements for the boys and return to the hospital with my things instead.  While he was doing that, I headed over to check in to Labor and Delivery for a third time, stalling as much as possible to give Jason time to get there.

My nurse, Tricia, had been the one to observe me during my first visit, and I was thrilled to have her for the real delivery.  She was a sweetheart!  She got me all set up with monitors and an IV while Jason was arriving. She also checked my blood pressure, which was normal (too funny).  Dr. Drewes came in to break my water and start me on a low-dose of Pitocin at 10:45 a.m.  I was then allowed to receive the epidural, which I gladly accepted, and things were well on their way! 

True to form, I delivered a baby within two hours of having my water broken.  Dr. Drewes and Tricia both commented on the fact that it was a very short and uncomplicated induction.  I felt spoiled to have basically gone into labor without...well...laboring (and I was definitely not going to complain about having a baby at a decent hour of the day)!

So just like that, little Ella made her grand debut.  She weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 1/2 in. long ( 'cause people care to know those sorts of details), and she was a "cookie cutter" pattern of the three who came before.  As you can imagine, we are all a little smitten with her!

Here are some pictures from our stay in the hospital:

What girl doesn't love having her weight made publicly known

(or having nude pictures of herself turn up on the Internet)?!

After Ella was slightly "de-gunked" I was given a chance to hold her.

Dad is showing off his newly bathed little girl.  She is

sporting a little red bow that he picked out for her.

Yeah, she's a keeper!

From the very beginning, Ella demonstrated how

much she likes having her hands up by her face.

I will just say now, that the food at UVRMC was absolutely fabulous.  They had a room service program (for Mother/Baby patients only) where you could order whatever you wanted from a menu.  As you can see, I got a little carried away.  There are actually two meals in these photos.  Jason could prepay $7 to receive his own meal of choice. We got a babysitter for the older boys on my last day in the hospital so we could have a lunch date together.

 

There was no shortage of kisses from these three.  They love their little sister!

I got to come home to pink balloons and an "It's a Girl!" sign. 

It's all a little foreign to me, but I think I could get used to it.

This post authored by Amber

Pinewood Derb-Wii

Tuesday, January 18th, marked the night of the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.  It turned out to be a blessing that there was a cessation of all contractions for a period of 48 hours so I could enjoy this event with my family (not to mention, I was pretty much in charge of the activity, so it was kind of nice that I ended up being there for that reason, too).

Brevin and Jason had worked for several weeks to bring Brevin's creative vision for his car to fruition.  He came up with his own design concept--a Wii remote.  While we had little idea as to how fast his car might be, we knew that at the very least, it would look awesome.  And it did!

Prior to the race, we tried to  prepare Brevin for a possible poor finish by telling him that he might not win.  I realize now that all of our back-handed pep-talks may not have even been necessary.  He was thrilled and shouted for joy after each heat of the race, "I came in second!" or "Yes! I won third place!" (Did he not realize that there were only four cars racing at a time?)  It was so entertaining to watch his reactions first hand, and I was so glad to have been present at his first ever Pinewood Derby.  As it turned out, of eighteen cars racing, Brevin's finished middle of the pack.  Not too bad for a car lacking in aerodynamic form!

Here are some pictures we took to prove that Jason wasn't the only one who worked on the car (although he did get totally engrossed in the project):

Sanding the Car

 Spray Painting the Base Coat

Adding the Stickers and Details

The Final Product (and Side by Side Comparison) 

This post authored by Amber

False Pretenses

At the hospital, I realized I didn't really have a belly shot.  Thinking it

might be the final opportunity to take one, Jason snapped this picture for me.

I have been sent home from the hospital....twice.  You would think that after having given birth three times previous, I would have it all figured out, but whatever.

The first time wasn't too unexpected.  I had an appointment on Monday (the 10th) and there was some progression that indicated that things were in motion.  After three hours of consistent, five-minute-apart contractions on Tuesday evening and the same during the afternoon on Wednesday, I thought maybe something was in the works.  Turns out that on both occasions, I was experiencing labor induced labor as a result from trying to get my house cleaned.  All that vacuuming, mopping and laundry set off the series of contractions that ceased the minute I slowed down long enough to put my feet up. So after sitting in a hospital bed in observation for an hour with no contractions to speak of, I signed the papers for discharge and was given a lovely note about how I should try not to feel stupid about being sent home.  

So at my appointment on Monday (the 17th), one of my doctors said I was in the most ideal situation to begin labor, he stripped my membranes, and excused me from his office by stating "We'll see you tonight."  When contractions were two minutes apart for an hour (albeit, kind of wimpy), I didn't hesitate to head to the hospital, sure that I would have my water broken and have a baby within the evening. 

After three hours of  observation (and walking the halls to try and encourage a more active labor), the doctor on call decided to send me home because I wasn't progressing very fast.  I was quite upset that he wouldn't break my water.  That had been the protocol in the past, and it proved to be quite productive for me (not walking the halls!).  What's more, he didn't even come in talk to me and it all had the feel of being very impersonal care.  If only Dr. Wolsey had been there...  

Well, as it turns out, it was a blessing that I did not have a baby Monday night (although I did spend a majority of the day Tuesday being all sour grapes about it).  Not having the baby Monday (or Tuesday, for that matter) allowed me to go to Brevin's Pinewood Derby to see first-hand his excitement during the whole event. That was a delight!  It also turned out to be a good thing that I was there since I had charge of the event. I think it ran much more smoothly than it would have if I were trying to instruct others on how the event was to be handled over the phone from a hospital bed.

So now I'm just waiting (and blogging) until I feel there is enough reason to head to the hospital once again. Perhaps the third time will be the charm! 

This post was authored by Amber

Shout Hooray

Yes, I did celebrate the fact that I recently turned thirty three.  Since we had another family party to attend on the actual night of my birthday, we decided to celebrate a day early.  I chose to have dinner at Tera Mia, an Itallian restaurant in Orem that I had heard was excellent, but didn't know much other than that. It turned out that the recommendation was good, and I really enjoyed my meal. On the way home, Jason stopped at Baskin Robbins to let me pick out a flavor of ice-cream cake (devil's food cake with Oreo ice cream).  Delicious!

As one of my gifts, I was treated to a night out alone for a pedicure.  Boy did that feel good on tired, pregnant feet!  Not to mention, I am still sporting a bright pink nail color that I hope will still look nice when I finally get around to delivering a baby.  I took pictures of my "little piggies" but I will spare the blogosphere from those.  While they are well manicured (or should I say pedicured?), it is still a little disturbing for me to see my toes up that close. 

My other gift was a haircut and style.  Yes, I am definitely in need of some image TLC. 

I have to wait until May to enjoy my final birthday gift, but I am thrilled to know that I will be going to Les Miserables when it comes to the Capital theater.  Man! I love getting old! 

This post authored by Amber

"Somehow or Other, It Came Just the Same!"

I know that December has come and now past,

So I'm getting to posting about it...at last.

It came without mention of wild winter weather.

It came before getting my "blog-act" together.

It came without uploads of pictures to Facebook

(Despite all the numbers of pictures I took).

It came without lists of highlights from our year.

It came without bragging of what goes on here.

Somehow the season just came and then went,

But here are some photos of how it was spent!

Every Christmas, Grandma & Grandpa Park take the entire family to

Los Hermanos for some chips & salsa (among other things).

We went to Temple Square early in the month to beat the crowds at getting to see the lights.

A family friend secured tickets for our family to attend "A Pioneer Christmas"

 at the Church Historical Museum.  The boys even got to see Santa to tell him that he

 could bring them whatever he wanted.  They had no requests. 

We had our annual dinner of snowman-shaped pancakes to go

along with the reading of the book Snowmen at Night.

The Park family has a tradition of having a train around the base of the Christmas tree. 

Grandpa's Polar Express train is much cooler than our GeoTrax train! 

Before church on the Sunday before Christmas, we dedicated some

time to take a few family photos.  By the time we were finished,

Jason and I both had broken into quite a sweat. 

Why is getting a decent family photo such hard work?

The last day of school before Christmas break ended up being

canceled due to a massive snowstorm that dumped on our area.

With school canceled, what better way to spend the day than sledding!
 

We pulled out the china to have a formal Christmas Eve dinner. 
 

The boys were excited to open their pajamas before going to bed.

Garrett "crashed" at 7:30  p.m. and thus missed singing

"Happy Birthday" to Jesus before eating some cake.  Brevin and Spencer

 were not far behind when they went to sleep at 8:30 p.m.



 The gifts seemed to be a hit, as everyone was smiling.

The day following Christmas, we traveled to Ogden to be with my family for our annual Grab Bag and Nativity reenactment.  We also had lots of delightful foods to eat.

Spencer got to portray Samuel the Lamanite in the Nativity. 

Brevin (with cousin, Emma) was one of the wise men.

This post authored by Amber

Novem-blur

When the calendar was turned over to December, I was baffled and confused.  Where did November go?  It went by so quickly, I wasn't sure what happened during the month.  I hadn't even loaded a single picture from my camera to my computer since Halloween.  Once I viewed the pictures, I realized there actually was a month of November during 2010, and it was plenty eventful.  (I must just be loosing my mind!)  Here is a recap of a few of those events:

The month started out a bit unseasonably warm--so warm, in fact, we managed a backyard wienie roast. 

 We finally purchased a new, flat-screen TV for our family room.  The box provided just as much entertainment for the boys as the new TV.

 Brevin prepared and presented a fantastic report to his second grade class on the country of his choice, Japan.  Jason was most helpful in providing souvenirs and food for the demonstration. 

Both Brevin and Spencer had many activities leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday in their classes at school. 

We met with family at Grandma and Grandpa's house in St. George for a fabulous Thanksgiving feast, followed by a traditional tournament of dodgeball (I was merely a spectator, though).

 During the holiday break, we made a point to catch an early showing of Disney's animated film, Tangled.  We were unaware that the showtime we selected was a 3-D showing, but it turned out to be awesome.  Garrett was completely riveted, which means this was the first movie at the theaters that I have enjoyed in quite some time (and, boy, did I enjoy it!  The film is darling).

This post authored by Amber