An early entrance

Landon Michael arrived at 6:27 a.m. yesterday morning. He shocked us all with his early delivery. We are thrilled that with being 7 weeks early he weighed in at 5 lbs. 8 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long. He is in the NICU but seems to be doing well. He is on oxygen and has been given medication to help his lungs develop. He is VERY cute and has a lot of dark hair all over! The proud mommy got to hold him for the first time today and feed him from a bottle. He isn't thrilled about eating because all he wants to do is sleep, but we are praying he'll drink from a bottle so that he doesn't have to have a feeding tube put in.

Late Friday night I started having pretty consistent contractions and by the time we got to the hospital I was dilated to a 5 and there was no turning back. Since my doctor was out of town yesterday I had to have another c-section. I knew that might end up happening though and it's okay. I feel pretty good, just really tired! Dr. Meek did my surgery and he was very nice and took good care of me.

About 2 weeks ago the hospital I'm at changed their visitor rules. They weren't letting children under the age of 12 visit, because of all the sickness going around. We were sooo bumbed that Kayleigh wouldn't be able to visit. Apparently enough moms complained that they changed it. So, Michael surprised me yesterday when he walked into the room with Kayleigh, I was so happy to see her, pretty shocked, too, since I didn't think she was allowed. It was a special surprise! Since she is under 18 she can't go see Landon in the intensive care unit. It's hard to try to explain that to her when she asks me, where is the baby? We are hoping that within a few weeks Landon will be able to come home and then Kayleigh can see him.

We are so grateful that Landon is doing as well as he is, it could have been so much worse. Thanks to all our family who has helped out so much already! We love you!

My little baby

Okay okay, I know she's not anywhere near a baby anymore, but I still call her that sometimes. Michael and I like to go in and see Kayleigh every night before we go to bed. A few nights ago she was cuddled up so cute with her babies that we HAD to take a picture. Awe!

6th annual Christmas friend party

The whole crew

Playing Pop 5

Every year since we've been married, we've had some of Michael's friends over for a Christmas party. This year was no exception. Since I had to work most of the day, Michael made the ham and potatoes. Everyone else brought salad, rolls and dessert. The food was very good and it was especially fun to see Jake and Alaina who live in Missouri for medical school.

Since it has been 10 years since these friends graduated, Michael thought it would be fun to play some old video of their marching band days, where most of them became really close friends. It was hilarious to see their hair styles and how crazy they were! We laughed quite hard.

We also played Pop 5 and Catch Phrase which was fun too. Until next year then, Merry Christmas friends!

St. Nicholas Day

I've always loved celebrating St. Nicholas Day and this year it was fun to explain to Kayleigh how it works. Since we were up late Saturday night with Michael's friend party, we actually didn't put our shoes out till Sunday, right before Kayleigh went down for a nap. When she woke up she was very excited to see if St. Nicholas had left something in her shoe. I was at a Primary Presidency meeting but Michael said it was the first thing she asked about when she woke up. St. Nicholas brought her a new puzzle and some snowmen window clings. Michael got the new Michael Buble c.d.

She keeps telling me, "Maybe Nicholas will come again today." I tell her he'll come again next year and then she says "No, right now!" Silly girl!

The Festival of Trees

An amazing castle

The house from "Up"

Enjoying a yummy scone.

Last week Kayleigh and I went down to the South Towne Expo Center with my mom to check out the Festival of Trees. It was really busy, but really fun to see all the trees, wreathes, quilts and gingerbread houses. Oh, and the fudge was really yummy too!

Kayleigh did great! She mostly rode in her stroller and enjoyed looking at everything. I think her favorite trees were the ones with Disney characters or baby stuff. She also loved seeing baby Jesus, she's really into that right now since it's Christmas time.

I think the festival is a great thing to help those kids in need at Primary Children's and I was glad that the money I spent went to help them. I hope we don't ever have to know what that is like, having a child there. Thanks to all the volunteers who help kick that off every year.

My conversation today

I ended up working a little this morning for a lady that had a falling accident over the weekend. My mom and dad watched Kayleigh while I worked. Once we were home Kayleigh asked me, "Did you have fun at work, Mom?" I said yes and then she asked, "What did you do?" I told her that I filled prescriptions so that people would have the medicines they need. She then said, "That's great, Mom!" It was so funny! It's times like those that I remember why it's so great to be able to stay home with her and be a mommy!

Gingerbread houses

The back of our house
The front, notice the skittles and life savers

Yummy!

We had a blast making gingerbread houses on Thursday! Marie, my mom and myself all bought candy and got together to decorate. My mom and I actually made the houses out of graham crackers the day before so they would be ready and the girls wouldn't have to wait while we made them. I got the idea from a girl in my ward to just use a glue gun to connect all the graham crackers. It was a lot easier than trying to worry about icing drying, etc.

Once again, as was the case when we made those turkeys a couple weeks back, the girls couldn't get enough candy! It was so fun to watch them. I really liked when, after I put life savers on the front of our house, Kayleigh put the matching color of skittle in the hole of the life saver. I didn't tell her to find the matching color, she just did it on her own. What a smarty!

Last year we used those kits you buy at the store to make them. We agreed that this was cheaper and the icing/candy tastes better anyway. Plus, who really eats the house anyway? All the kids care about is the candy, right?

I can't believe Christmas is fast approaching! This was a fun way to kick off the season!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

We have enjoyed a great holiday weekend together with our family. We have so much to be thankful for. Our Heavenly Father has blessed us with so much. Our home is nice, we always have food to eat, cars to drive, clothes to wear, a family who we love and loves us, friends, the gospel, our health, and a little baby on the way.

As Christmas is now upon us, we are excited for time off work (Michael), more time with friends and family and all the decorations and holiday cheer. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

31 weeks and counting

Okay, so technically I'm not 31 weeks til Friday, but oh well. Here's what I look like. I feel huge. It's already hard to put socks and shoes on and I hate bending down to pick stuff up. And I don't know what it is about being pregnant, but I drop things a ton more than I used to.

Landon is moving a ton! He is so much more active than Kayleigh was. It's pretty fun because feeling them move is the best part about being pregnant I think. This pregnancy has gone fast and I can't believe that he will be here soon.

Landon's room

The crib

The beginning of our long project.

Kayleigh really wanted to help us paint.

She did great until she touched the wet paint on the door. New blinds and my blue tape marking touch up spots.

New light fixture.

Landon's closet/clothes

Book shelf/toys

Changing table

Note: I hate blogger when it comes to loading pictures, so, these are NOT in the order I planned.

Our project has finally ended! I felt like it took forever. Mostly because I am an anal freak when it comes to mess, painting was hard for me and that's why I felt like it took too long. I am so glad it's done though, and so glad we decided to do it. The paint is so much better now, color and texture. I am happy with how everything turned out.

Painting was a new experience for us. I have to say a huge thank you to my husband who spent hours and hours and many late nights working on it. We've learned a lot and hopefully our next project will go faster. Painting/taping with textured walls is very hard. Now, I have to pat myself on the back for the baseboards, cause I painted those all by myself! Because pictures aren't the greatest, I'll just tell you, the ceiling is now white, white door and trim, red wall (Crimson), and the other walls a tan color called Baked Scone.

Now I just have to decide what to hang on the walls for decoration. Such a dilemma! :-) As we set up the crib and room it really hit home that we are going to be having another baby. I feel so grateful to be ready this time. Kayleigh was born quite early and we weren't prepared at all. Thank goodness I have great family that came to our rescue, but this time I wanted to be ready in plenty of time. So, with 9 1/2 weeks to go (I'm thinking probably less) I just need to wash everything and we will be ready.