The Kimbers

December 9, 2009

November 8, 2009

One Big Weekend

Halloween weekend was a big one for us. We had a really cute kangaroo and giraffe:

(Love my little animals!) And then we had Lydia's 2nd year birthday party (note the monkey cakes made by me):

(She is still a little short for her new bike. Oops.)
And we had Russell's blessing that Sunday. The outfit (made by Grandma Kimber):

His flirty smile (watch out ladies):

And my favorite:

It was a good weekend.

September 30, 2009

Russell is three weeks old! It feels like he has been here longer than that at the same time that I can't believe it has been that long. He's a big boy who is growing well. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz. at his two week checkup. And I have to say (much to the chagrin of mothers who have higher maintenance babies: Mandy, Melissa) that he is such a good baby! He hardly ever cries (just when I pick his nose), he puts himself to sleep at night, and he nurses well. What more could I ask for? Lydia is a really good girl too. She usually plays by herself and lets me nurse and hasn't acted out too much since her brother arrived. Why do I have such easy going kids? I don't know. Maybe Heavenly Father knows I couldn't handle anything else. And believe me, I'm knocking on wood really hard right now just so I don't jinx myself by typing this outloud.

I'm doing well too. I've had a few glitches like a case of mastitis, but things seem to be balancing out a little. And though I'm tired of being tired, I still have a lot more energy than I did when I was pregnant or than I did when Lydia was a newborn. I am looking forward to Christmas time though because I figure Russell will be sleeping through the night by then. Even just six hours in a row would feel miraculous right now. I get two hour naps all through the night and hardly a minute more. I have been lucky in getting the kids to sleep at the same time during the day so I get an afternoon nap. All in all, we're holding our own.

This morning I had a good chuckle. I had just finished nursing the baby and when I looked up, I noticed Lydia in the rocking chair with her shirt up and her teddy bear snuggled into her bare belly. I had to laugh at her attempts at "nursing" her bear. Hilarious.

September 12, 2009

Cheaters Prosper: A Family of Four

We are a family of four now! Russell Morgan arrived on the 8th. I did cheat to get him here though. My good friend Mandy and I always talked about how we thought using less medical intervention was best when bringing babies into the world. Well, she delivered her little bundle of joy at home with no help (literally, her husband delivered the baby). And well, I joined the leagues of Utah women who were, dare I say, induced! My reasons for going that route were that I was 40 weeks, I was enormously uncomfortable (I could barely walk the last two days), and I didn't want him to come on 9/11 or on Chad's birthday, and I didn't want to deliver a 9 lb baby.

So into the hospital we went. Our nurse starting working on me about noon. At 12:30 the doctor started the pitocin and broke my water. I started contractions at 1:00 and within half hour was about to the breaking point with pain. Luckily the anethesiologist came in and got me my epidural by 2:00. Even he said that my contractions were "humongous" so I didn't feel like too big of a wimp. My epidural didn't work at first though so he dosed me up again about 3:00. Fifteen minutes later the nurse checked me and the baby's head was ready. We waited for another fifteen for the doc and Russell came barreling out at 3:37. So you can see that I cheated in every way possible. I only suffered for one hour and then took every convenience modern medicine could provide. And I don't regret a bit of it. I thought Lydia was an easy delivery, but this guy was ridiculously easy and fast. Yea for me.

Now, I told everyone that I felt enormous, that I knew my baby would be big. Keep in mind that Lydia was only 6 lbs 15 oz when she was born. So will you all believe me when I tell you Russell was 8 lbs 8 oz?

Lydia with her new brother just a few hours after his birth.

Our precious baby. We're doing well. We're conquering nursing with a vengeance. For any of you that remember the absolute torture I went through trying to nurse Lydia you can give me a victory shout because we are doing much better with this guy. I'm recovering well and even faster than I did with Lydia. Russell doesn't have a schedule yet, but I think we'll do just fine. He woke up every three hours last night, but that was a major improvement on the night before. Hopefully it only gets better from here. I can tell you it is so weird to have him here. It's amazing how his presence has already changed the chemistry in our family. I can't help but look at Lydia and feel that she is so much older than she seemed only a week ago. She's been really good about the baby so far. I'm worried about how she'll be when I'm the only adult here to meet her needs though. So far Chad's been around a lot and a few grandmas pop in once in awhile too. Only time will tell. I can say that Monday is looking a little scary because it looks like it's the day that I'll have to do it on my own.

We are so blessed though. A family of four. I can hardly believe it!

Good Quotes

*We were all getting ready to go somewhere. The kids were ready but I wasn't so Lydia started singing a "get ready" song she made up. The following conversation ensued:

Lydia: See, Mom. That's what you say when your kids are ready but you aren't.

Me: Oh, so can I use that song when I'm ready and you aren't?

Lydia: Sigh. Mom, I know I have to explain this to you because I'm smarter than you are.

*Russell had a belly ache. He cried a little, lay back on me and said, "I want my baby out." Later the same day Chad sat down by him and Russell said, "It hurts. Baby kicking me."

*Russell patted my belly and asked, "Baby in there?" I told him yes, and then he kissed my belly.

*The other day Russell was playing with Chad's tape measure. He held it up to my butt and said, "Getting bigger!" I'd have felt better if he'd at least held it up to the baby bump.

*Russell will often say, "Guess what?" When we say, "What?" he says, "I a princess last night."

*Lydia was drawing unsupervised in the next room. I asked her to bring me her paper because I wanted to make sure she wasn't using my checkbook for her artist palette. She came in looking confused and then asked, "To see how pretty it is?"

*During Sacrament meeting, Chad was asking Lydia why we take the bread and water. He was hoping for a reply that included something about Jesus, but Lydia's response was, "Cause we're REALLY hungry!"

*When approaching an elevator, Lydia said, "Are we gonna ride in the alligator?!"

*When washing Lydia's behind in the bathtub she energetically said, "You're doing a good job back there!"

*Chad gave Lydia a playful swat on her behind. Lydia must have liked it cuz she excitedly cried, "Daddy! Hurt me again!"

*Lydia: "I want some chocolate so hard!"

*Without prelude or hesitation whatsoever, my grandpa said, "Brenna, are you having twins?" The nerve.

* The other day I just happened to be standing so Chad could see my full profile and he said, "I'm surprised you don't tip over."

* I was with my very stylish grandma who was wearing mint green capris, super cute wedge shoes, and a green leather purse. I said, "Grandma, you are so fashionable." She looked down and said, "Oh. It's just an accident."

* Chad had lay down in a slide while we were at the park with Lydia and said, "I could sleep here, if I were homeless."

* Lydia is learning adjectives. Yesterday she called me "black mommy" cuz I was wearing a black shirt, and "big mommy" cuz well, let's face it, I'm big.