Alison Ruth Butcher

So today I'm finally posting about our newest addition. I'll also share with you my labor story...I like to read about peoples' stories but feel free to skip if you don't care! So, above...last pregancy picture. Huge, I know! I was scheduled to be induced on March 25th...I woke up about 2am that morning with contractions about 15 mins apart. I thought nothing of it but they kept coming all morning and eventually were 10 minutes apart and painful by 4:30am. Still...10 minutes apart I thought no big deal. They were becoming more painful so I got up and thought I might as well start getting ready since we had to be at the hospital at 7 anways. Through getting ready they got closer and worse but still only 5-7 minutes apart. I called labor and delivery and asked if we could come a little early...they said sure! We got there about 6:30am...not too early...and they had spaced back out to every 10 minutes. I got the monitors hooked up and my first dose of antibiotic in before they started the pitocin. The nurse started me at the very minimum dose and said she would not turn it up until the doctor came in to break my water and check me. Still contracting very minimally every 5-10minutes. Finally the nurse said "I think you should get your epidural before the doctor comes in to break your water.I called Dr. blank to come start your epidural." I was thinking...no I want to wait and see how far along I am. So, at 9am I got my epidural and at 9:30am Dr. O arrived to check me and break my water now that I was starting to get numb. He shocked me and told me I was 8cm and that he would go change to have this baby! 8cm!!!! Good thing that nurse got me my epidural! Below...laboring. After 10-15 minutes of pushing at 10:18am I had Alison Ruth Butcher. She was 8lbs 7oz and 21.25 inches long! HUGE! I couldn't believe she was BIGGER than Hyrum! I don't hear numbers like that very often where I work. 6lbs seems huge! Needless to say she still felt like my small little baby and we love her! Below is Daddy holding Alison for the first time. (As with Hyrum I seem to tolerate labor fine but get all sick afterwards so I didn't get to hold her for a while and had to have a fluid bolus and some oxygen afterwards.???)

In our postpartum room! First family photo!

Hyrum came to visit about 5pm that night and loved holding his baby sister!

First family photo of 4!

Our baby girl! She has a full head of auburn colored hair. We think she looks like Hyrum alot but also different in her own way!

I was spoiled tremendously by co-workers while at the hospital. She always had bows and her hair done and was the best dressed!

Hyrum looking at Alison.

He loves her!

We came home on March 27 and have been adjusting to life as parents of 2! My mom is here helping us and our other family around here has been great too! We had some newborn pictures of Alison and our family taken today so in a few weeks I will have those back and ready to post! I'll be a blogging slacker the next few weeks I'm sure because you forget how much work a newborn is! We love our little blessing and so grateful she arrived healthy and strong!

Welcome Alison!

Birthday Boy Turns 3!

Hyrum the "snowmobile guy" as he names himself. His amazing speech teacher can attest to his frequent and long conversations about snowmobiling...so 2 days before his birthday she arranged for Hyrum to get to ride on a real snowmobilie. Her boss has snowmobiles and they invited us up for part of an afternoon. Hyrum was actually terrified once the snowmobile was turned on but after forcing him to take a ride with Alyson(the speech teacher) and daddy he loved it! Above is a picture of Hyrum on the kids snowmobile that was broken. He loved it...we might have to invest in one of these. Below is Alyson, Hyrum, and Ben on the snowmobile.
Hyrum sitting on the snowmobile before being brave enough actually take a ride!

We are so grateful to have wonderful people in our lives and Hyrum's to do something so special! It was so wonderful! The worst part is that next Tuesday is Hyrum's last day of speech...he tested at the level of a 4 year old and no longer qualifies for speech! While I am so grateful he has done so well we will miss his teacher so much!

So, this is a few weeks late but...My baby turned 3! Hyrum had his 3rd Birthday on February 27, 2011! I had worked all weekend so we did a small celebration on his birthday and then had the party the next night. I don't know why but we've started this tradition of taking pictures of him waking up on his birthday...so...while I was at work...Ben took pictures of Hyrum waking up for me.

Sunday night I had attempted to make this brownie/waffle idea from Rachel Ray...didn't work at all...but we still ate parts of it and put candles on top for Hyrum to blow out on his actual birthday! Can't believe he's 3!!

So, now we are on to the next night...his party with cousins/family. He wanted a truck themed party so we did dump trucks and stuff. Here he is in front of the construction zone!
He also is sporting his "snowmobile" shirt. He is OBSESSED with snowmobiles and so I found him this shirt for his birthday. He wore it 3 times that week!

Hyrum with the cake I made getting ready to blow candles out!

The decor...

Blowing the candles out!

Opening presents from everyone! (He loved the outfit G&G Butcher!)

Now a little baby update...March 5th my sister in law Becky and cousins-in-law Lindsey & Adrienne all got together and had a little baby shower for me. We went out to eat and I forgot to take pics but here is the diaper cake Lindsey made! So cute! We got spoiled with clothes for baby girl and it was so great to go out with no kids!

I'm officially 38 weeks! Hooray! I'm 3cm dilated and dr says any time now. If no baby comes by next week..we'll be having an induction on Thursday or Friday (24th or 25th). We're hoping for Friday because my mom flies in on the 24th...so we'll see! I am so excited to be a mommy again and finally meet this little girl we've been waiting what seems like forever for! I'm so grateful we have been blessed to go through IVF and have such success. I've taken care of a few patients at work lately that were IVF and have not been as fortunate as us. Here's to our last week as a family of 3!

All things Pink...

As usual..my pictures are out of order but...Here's a quick recap! Well, since Valentine's was 2 days ago...we had a nice valentine's day...quiet and simple but nice. Ben & Hyrum surprised me with a hand made card... very sweet and crafty! We took home Panda Express and had strawberry pie and chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Yum!
I finally have the nursery all put together so here are some pictures from it. My mom helped me recover Hyrum's denim blue rocking chair while she was here at Christmas and here it is in the room!

In January we tried to go bowling in Rexburg but it was too busy so we played some arcade games with Hyrum. He had a blast!

Daddy & Hyrum racing.

Okay..back to the pics. So here is the wall opposite the crib. We decided on the name Alison Ruth Butcher so I made some letters. I love the flower light too..thanks mom for dragging from ikea! Oh how I miss that store!

Some shoe hangers next to the closet.

The crib and the quilt I made to go above it.

The curtains I made. I must give a big shout out to my wonderful hubby and mom for helping do chair rail in the baby's room It turned out so cute and I don't think the pics do it justice!

A little quote/sign I made.

It has been so fun decorating the room and now I can't wait to get her here! I had my 34 week check up today and after weeks of her being breech she finally flipped! I'm so happy! So...as of now no csection! I so enjoyed labor/delivery with Hyrum and am looking forward to it again. 6 more weeks (hopefully less!)!

For the grandparents...Hyrum can now sing his ABC's so enjoy! This kid loves to sing...he now can sing once there was a snow man, jingle bells, old mcdonald, the wheels on the bus, abcs, I am a child of God, and probably a few more I'm forgetting. The sad thing is he learned most of them at nursery and not at home! Oh well, we now sing alot at home..something I'm not good at but he enjoys!

Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Anniversary, Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so behind on blogging but there has been so much more fun stuff to do!

First off, we're expecting a GIRL in March! We are so excited and I've been working frantically to get everything together for the baby's room! I'll post pictures of what we've done as soon as it's all together! Happy that tomorrow marks the 3rd trimester and we are getting closer to meeting this little girl! Traveling back to Thanksgiving...we got stranded in Idaho due to weather and did not make it to Portland. So, we crashed Ben's sister's house for Thanksgiving and had a great time. Above is Hyrum and his cousin Candace-they have become quite good friends lately and it is so cute to see them play together! Below is Hyrum helping shovel some of the snow we have received lately!
This is Hyrum Thanksgiving morning with our dog Chloe.

Daddy & Hyrum Thanksgiving morning.

Please excuse the out of order pics...here is from last Saturday night! We've enjoyed a whole week off with Ben between Christmas and New Years so Ben wanted to grow is beard! Here's what a weeks worth of no shaving is! Silly man! Yes, there is a beard but the camera doesn't do it justice!

Since we could not travel to Portland for Thanksgiving, and I had to work Christmas Eve...we talked my mom and brother into coming out for Christmas! Hyrum enjoying his new "snowmobile" (it's a sled that looks like a snowmobilie) on Christmas afternoon. He got so spoiled and it is hard for him to pick which is his favorite Christmas present...snowmobile sled, train table, or train tracks from G&G Butcher?

Hyrum playing outside/helping dad shovel.

I've been busy crafting lately...Ben's cousin Lindsay came up with this cute nativity idea and one cold December day Lindsay, Amber (Lindsay's friend) and I put these together! Thought they turned out so cute! Thanks Lindsay!

Not the best picture but I've always wanted an advent calendar and have never been able to find one that was also a nativity. I got searching online and found this pattern on etsy and bought it and made myself one! This is how it turned out! There is a different character for all 24 days. Hyrum really enjoyed it and I look forward to the tradition every year now!

Here is the Butcher Family Christmas morning. Please excuse me...I was up all night!

Hyrum going right to his train table! Thanks Daddy, Grandma, Dallas, & Uncle Nate for putting things together all night!

Hyrum on his snowmobile sled! Such a happy boy!

Christmas Eve our neighbors got home from snowmobiling and Hyrum happened to be out walking with Grandma and Uncle Nate. They asked if he could sit on the the snowmoblie...he was in heaven. This picture will soon reside in Hyrum's room and he asks to look at it on my camera every day!

Dec 23rd we decorated sugar cookies for Santa. I'm not sure how many Hyrum decorated versus ate?

The family decorating...

A few weeks before Christmas we had dinner with some family and I made baby Paige this tutu for Christmas. Thought it turned out cute and can't wait to make one for our little girl!

My work party had Santa visit and Hyrum did better this year. He loved that Santa gave him a monster truck at this party and until Christmas was convinced that Santa only brought monster trucks. We'd see Santa at th mall and he'd ask to go see him to get another monster truck. Now he has realized Santa brings other great things too!

Cute little snow angel!

Feel guilty about this but...Hyrum can sing Jingle Bells! We didn't figure this out until several days after Christmas because we've never taught him this song. He told us he learned it at nursery! Here's a video of him singing!

Also, for G&G Butcher, here is Hyrum saying thank you for his train set since he refuses to talk on the phone! Thank you!

I almost forgot to mention that Ben & I celebrated 5 years of marriage Dec 17th! Love you sweetie!

We had a very blessed holidays and can't wait for all the exciting things 2011 will bring. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a wonderful 2011 as well!