Kid Updates

I love being a mom. It's the most rewarding job I've ever had. I love watching my kids learn and grow and I can't believe how smart they are. I never realized my heart could have so much love for two little human beings. They, and their father, bring me more happiness and joy than I ever knew I could experience. I was definitely meant to be a mother.

Now don't get me wrong- it can be really hard sometimes. Johnny is almost two after all. And they aren't named the terrible twos for nothing. And I'm tired. I feel like I haven't really slept in two years! And I realize that I haven't been a parent very long and we will experience trials I can't even think of right now. But the joy I get from my children is totally worth everything else that comes with it!

Now on to some pictures and updates:

He loves his tools. If anyone in the house ever pulls out some tools to work on a project, he runs to get his tools to help out!

Johnny is genuinely the sweetest little boy! He loves people and especially loves being around kids close to his age. Marcus' cousin is about to move to Utah and she has a little boy about 18 months older than Johnny and another boy 5 weeks younger than Johnny and I can not wait for them to get here so all the boys can be friends!

He is a little jabber box. The boy talks like crazy. It is so nice being able to communicate with him and understand what he is wanting. He is starting to be able to count- he knows numbers 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,10. We're working on 6 and 9. He doesn't count on his own really- mainly if you start counting with him, he'll join in. He also knows 9 colors- red, blue, green, orange, pink, white, yellow, purple, and brown. The latter three he doesn't know as well as the first six but he does pretty well. I was changing his diaper the other day and he started looking at his hands. He pulled them right in front of his face and said, "White. Johnny is white." Hahaha it was so hilarious.

He has sensitive eyes so he loves his sunglasses

Johnny loves to make people laugh. He is so silly and has so many great facial expressions. He loves to play a game my sister taught him that he calls, "neak neak BOO!" It's his way of sneaking up on people. He'll whisper "neak neak" (sneak sneak) as he's walking up to who he wants to scare and then when he gets to them he yells "BOO!" Then it's your job to act scared at which time he'll laugh hysterically. It's pretty fantastic. Johnny sure does love his Aunt Shay Shay and all the fun things she teaches him! :)

 

Johnny loves the outdoors. He would live out there if we let him. It's really nice now though because he's finally big enough that he can climb up the jungle gym and go down the slides at the park on his own.

He is still a very picky eater. He does not eat very many solid foods. But he sure does love his V8 Fusion juice which is where he gets most of his fruit and vegetable nutrients. The foods that he is most likely to eat are: spaghetti, soups, cheese, cereal, PB&J sandwiches, rice, french fries, hash-browns, and soft pretzels. But he'll only eat those things if the stars align and he's in the right mood. Most of the time he'll reject all of those things (except the last 3 which he'll eat pretty much anytime they're offered- figures they have absolutely no nutritional value) and just beg for juice. I feel like the two things I fight him on- eating and sleeping- are a vicious cycle. He doesn't eat well so he doesn't sleep well so he just wants to comfort himself with a sippy cup of juice and so on. Thankfully, he really is a happy kid so I'm grateful our fight with him eating doesn't make him grumpy.

 

 

Johnny is such a good older brother. While there are times that he asks me to "move Claire" or "Daddy hold Claire", he does care about her already. When she's crying in the car, he'll try comforting her by telling her, "We're going home, baby." When he sees her blanket, he'll cover her with it and say, "Here you go, Claire." And he has to give her a kiss goodnight before he'll go to bed. It's super sweet and I'm excited to see how their relationship develops.

Baby Claire is perfect and an absolute joy. She is such a good baby. She eats really well and sleeps well, too.

Daddy and Claire on Easter

She recently had her two week appointment. Here are her stats:

8 pounds 1/2 ounce

20.5 inches

 

 Today- Johnny is 23 months old and Claire is 4 weeks old.

I love my kids!

Claire's Birth Story

I like to blog about my deliveries for two reasons: 1- I like to read birth stories so maybe other people will be interested in my stories and 2- it's an easy way for me to record what happened so that I will always have a written memory of it.

I started having pretty regular contractions starting Tuesday night (March 19th). This wasn't the first time I had regular contractions so we didn't think anything of it. I woke up pretty regularly through the night and would think, "I'm having a contraction" but then I'd fall right back to sleep. Johnny had a rough night so my mom took him that morning and let me go back to bed for a couple hours. I woke up at 8am and realized that I was still having regular contractions. I called me doctor to see if they could fit me in to be checked. (I did not want to go to the hospital unless I knew I was in labor. I had already gone a couple weeks before and was sent home so I didn't want to do it again). They had a 9:20am opening and so my Mom, Johnny, and I went to the doctor. At my previous appointment, I had already dilated to a 3cm almost a 4cm. When I was checked on the morning of the 20th- I was at 4cm. Combined with my regular contractions, the doctor decided I was in labor and should go to the hospital but it would be a good idea to stop and get something to eat first.

We met up with Marcus at University Mall, had something to eat, and then Marcus and I headed to the hospital while my Mom took Johnny back to the house. We got to the hospital around 11am and the doctor came and broke my water at 1:15pm. About an hour after he broke my water, I started having stronger contractions. They were strong contractions but endurable on the pain scale so Marcus and I decided I wasn't going to get an epidural this time and try going natural. As I continued to progress, my contractions continued to get stronger and I had a lot of back labor. But the nurse showed Marcus some ways he could push on my back and legs to help ease the pain.

A little after 5pm, I started to go through transition which the nurses had warned me was going to be the hardest part. And they were NOT kidding. For the next hour and 40 minutes, I was in constant pain. It becomes such a mental game. You have to tell yourself you can get through the pain and not break down. All I did for that hour and 40 minutes was repeat in my head, "I can do hard things!" The nurses and Marcus continued to push on my back and legs to help the pain. At that point, I didn't feel like anything they did helped the pain but having them close and trying to help really allowed me to not go crazy and get through all the contractions. The nurses also really helped by saying lots of comforting words and giving lots of encouragement.

Dr. Parker walked into my room at 6:40pm and as soon as I saw him I said, "I have to push!" He responded with, "Well I'm here so we can start pushing!" They got everything ready really fast and I was able to start pushing. The pressure of Claire coming down the birth canal and the extremely strong contractions felt unbearable. I remember thinking that if I had to push for more than a few minutes, I was going to die! Thankfully, I only had to push for 5 minutes and she was out.

When Johnny was born, the cord had been wrapped around his neck so they had to take him and do some vitals before we could hold him. But as soon as Claire came out, Dr. Parker suctioned out her nose and mouth and then they laid her on my stomach while the nurse wiped her down. She was beautiful and perfect and I was SO glad I was done being in labor! I had to have an episiotomy (which I'd also had with Johnny) and being stitched up felt like it took forever. Part of recovery from labor is shaking uncontrollably. They say it's really normal after your body has been through so much and then all of the sudden it's over. But once I got some pain medicine to help with the discomfort of pushing out a baby, I was finally able to fully relax and enjoy the fact that I had a beautiful baby girl.

I was induced and had an epidural with Johnny. With Claire, I went into labor on my own and went without medication. Recovering from the unmedicated birth was SO much easier and quicker than recovery from Johnny's birth. It was so awesome to be able to get up and walk shortly after giving birth to Claire. I get really sick when coming off of anesthesia so it was so nice to not have to deal with that this time. I could definitely see myself doing my future deliveries unmedicated. But that is several years away so I'll cross that bridge when we come to it :).

Oh it's so good to have her here!

Claire Nicole Gilson

Introducing the newest member of the Gilson family:

Claire Nicole Gilson

March 20, 2013

6:51p.m.

7 pounds 3 ounces

20 inches



We are obsessed with her already. Including her big brother. Johnny always wants to be near her. If he sees her pacifier, socks, hat, or blanket laying around, he immediately exlaims "Oh my!" and runs the item(s) to her. He's the best big brother a little girl could ask for!

 

 

Welcome to the world sweet Claire! We're so glad you're here!

Baby Shower!

My mom threw me a baby shower for little girl Gilson and she was SPOILED! It was a little different than my baby showers for Johnny because we didn't need any of the big stuff like car seats and strollers this time. So we just got to register for cute clothes and toys! And she is one well outfitted baby already!

Top- sleepers; Bottom- pants

Hats and bows! I hope she will let me put these on her!

Cute itty bitty socks

Onesies, shirts, etc. I LOVE all the pink and polka dots!

The GORGEOUS quilt my Grandma Smith made for her! It is so soft and beautiful and perfect. She made one of these quilts for all of us grand kids growing up and they were so special to us. Most of us had to have her make us second and third blankets because we wore the others down to rags. I feel so blessed that she has been able to make them for both of my children!

Thank you to everyone who came to the baby shower or sent us gifts! We are so appreciative and can't wait to meet this little girl!

Marcus' Birthday and Valentine's Day

We'll join these two posts since there's not a whole lot to say about each one. Being in Law School plus neither of us working translates to low key celebrations.

For Marcus' birthday, we went to Outback for dinner and came home to eat the cheesecake I made for him. I think that sometimes the simple things are what you remember most. Our celebrations may not be fancy, but we always have a great time together and I know someday we'll look back with fondness on these simple times in our lives.

Chocolate Malt Cheesecake

For Valentine's Day, my parents spoiled us with a night away in Salt Lake. They got us a hotel room downtown, took Johnny for the night, and sent us away on a very relaxing evening that included soaking in a whirlpool tub for over an hour, falling asleep around 11, and sleeping in until after 8am. It was heavenly! Since Johnny just started sleeping through the night a few weeks ago, it was so nice to get away before the baby girl comes.

Before we headed up to Salt Lake, Marcus came home with a beautiful red rose and box of chocolates for me and a bag of 3 Musketeers for Johnny. (Marcus and I may or may not be eating more of those than Johnny but whose counting?) I have found that I really love Valentine's Day. It's not that Marcus and I have ever done something extremely elaborate or spent much money on each other, but I just love it. I'm excited for when I have kids that are a little older that I can surprise with treats and valentine's. It's such a happy day to me.

Christmas

As usual, we were spoiled for Christmas this year. We spent the holiday in Washington with Marcus' family and had a great time. And we missed Utah's first big snow storm. (I wish we could have missed all of the snow storms. I am NOT a fan of winter or the snow!)

We spent lots of time with all of Marcus' siblings since everyone was there for Christmas. It was so fun to have lots of time to spend with the family and really enjoy each other's company. We also went to see Les Miserable while in Washington and LOVED it! Johnny's favorite part was playing with his cousins- especially Ukiah. I'm pretty sure Ukiah is his favorite person in the world. He calls him Kiah and it is the first name he has said outside of Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Rambo and Adrian (the last two are my parents' dogs). It's always so fun to be around family!

We drove home New Year's Eve and partied until midnight with my family. We had cheese and chocolate fondues, played The Game of Things, and had sparkling cider as the ball dropped. Subdued- but perfect for us!

We hope your holidays were filled with joy and love!

Family Photos

Back in the fall, my good friend and wonderful photographer Mani took our family pictures. They turned out WONDERFULLY and so I wanted to share some. If you need any pictures taken, you should definitely call her- she's fantastic! Look her up on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EmmanuellesPhotography or check out her blog: http://emmanuellesphotography.blogspot.com/