Lately

Marcus is interning at the Franklin County District Attorney's office and he's loving it! They're in the middle of a murder trial and so he's getting tons of great experience. Plus he was able to get a Rule 9 license which allows him to actually work as an attorney as long as he's supervised. I'm glad he's enjoying it and now we're just hoping it won't be too bad getting a job after he graduates next year.

We'll go through what else we've been up to lately via pictures.

 We go almost daily on a walk around the pond behind Grandma and Grandpa Gilson's house. Johnny loves throwing rocks in the pond. We only have a single stroller and so one time Johnny wanted to hold Claire in the stroller instead of Mommy holding Claire.

 I have a picture of Johnny at the same age Claire is in the above picture doing almost the exact same pose and facial expression.

 It's so fun to play in the puddles in Grandma and Grandpa Gilson's driveway!

 Johnny LOVES to love on baby Claire. It's so sweet but we always have to remind him to be gentle :)

All ready for church!

So much love!

 For awhile, Johnny loved to play in our shower.

 Johnny made me a Mother's Day card in nursery. It melted my heart!

 Church is from 11-2 and Johnny usually naps from 12-3. So normally he gets home from church and crashes on the couch for an hour or so. 

 Johnny and his best buddy- cousin Lola. So sad they moved away to Colorado! But they have some legal connections there so hopefully they can get Marcus a job.

 Gotta look cool while grocery shopping.

 Sweetest baby girl!

 Lola and Johnny love Claire and are so good with her!

 Lola and Johnny also share a love of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

 She's found her thumb a couple times. I'm perfectly great with her sucking a finger or a pacifier. After Johnny, the idea of a kid being able to pacify themselves is awesome!

 Sometimes, Johnny wants to still be considered the baby.

 Grandpa Gilson turned 90 this year and we had a big birthday party for him in Twin Falls, Idaho. Since Twin Falls is only 3.5 hours from my parents, they came up to meet us in Twin Falls. It was so fun to have them there. We toured the canyon, Shoshone Falls, went to the park, went out to eat, and swam in the hotel swimming pool. It was a great time! 

Grandpa Smith and Claire.

 I'm pretty busy with Johnny during the day so when Johnny is napping or down for the night, I get some one-on-one time with Claire. She loves to hold on to my shirt as if to tell me that I shouldn't put her down. I love it! 

 She is already showing signs that she'll be a better sleeper than Johnny. She will put herself to sleep all the time. It's such a blessing.

 Summertime is all about hanging outside and ice cream cones :)

Ukiah is the best cousin. He's almost 6 years older than Johnny but he will always play with Johnny. Johnny just adores him and we are so glad we get to be close to him and his parents this summer! 

Johnny turns 2!

On May 17th, Johnny turned 2! We had a dinosaur themed party for Johnny with almost all of the Gilson side of the family (we missed you, Brittany!). He loved having his cousins at his party and all the attention he received.

Starting his birthday off right with a donut :)

 Johnny loved that they cookies were shaped like dinosaurs. The kids just licked off the frosting :).  

 I love making cakes! I really want to take more classes so I can do more with the cakes.

 Johnny and Cole hanging out while dinner was being finished.

Johnny's loot. He's a spoiled boy!

Happy Birthday, Johnny! We love you so much!

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!