Oh, Michael

This weekend we went to a Halloween party and dressed up as biker dudes. We tried to take some tough biker pictures and Michael really struggled with it. It was pretty funny.

Lookin' a little sad

One Of a Kind

Oh, how we love our little Ava Belle. She is full of so much personality and she is so fun. We just moved her into a big girl bed and she is doing great. She liked her crib a lot and didn't really want to give it up. She never tried climbing out of it (not because she can't but because she is kind of a chicken.) We moved her to a bed because we felt like she was ready to move on. She loves to be the center of attention. When we are not giving her our FULL attention she will do something "naughty" to get our attention. She usually grabs something she knows she is not supposed to have and runs straight to the closet with it. We know if we haven't heard or seen her for even a minute she is in the closet doing something she should be doing. There is really never a dull moment around here. Celeste gave Michael a biker dude mustache and Ava wanted one too. After she gave Ava a mustache she found Ava in the bathroom giving herself black lips with the paint pen.

Sweet baby Caysley

Our first family picture

She is seriously a great baby. She is hardly ever fussy and sleeps all night. I think she has cried a total of two times at night since she was born. I know I should not get too excited because she is only a week old. I keep thinking its just fluke that she sleeps all night but I sure hope not. She is such a sweet little baby. I love having a little cuddly baby again and I am trying to soak up every second of her newborn stage because it goes by way too quickly.

For anyone who may be interested in Caysley's birth story, here it is. Our doctor thought it would be best to induce labor a few days early because Caysley was measuring big and my blood pressure was pretty high. I was so ready to meet her but I was still a little hesitant to be induced because of increased complications and I have heard that it is a longer/harder labor. On Thursday, October 15th we headed to the hospital at 7:45am. On the way to the hospital we were brainstorming names because she had been Cayleigh or Caylee the whole pregnancy. Michael came up with the name Caysley and I had to think about it for two days. Anyways, we arrived at the hospital at 8:30 and were put in a room and I was on a pitocin drip at 10:30. I immediately started having contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart but they were not very intense. At 5:30 my doctor came in to check me for the first time and I was at a four. He asked me if I wanted an epidural and I told him that I wanted to "wait to see if I thought I need one." He then broke my water and left. As soon as he walked out of the door my contractions became one hundred times more intense. I was having pretty bad back labor so by 6:30 I told Michael that I needed an epidural. The nurse told the doctor I was ready for an epidural and he told her that the anesthesiologist was about to head into surgery and it would be a while before he would be in. Michael was so great, he rubbed my back for hours. I would not let him leave my side. At 9:00 my contractions were so intense, I was dilated to an eight. The anesthesiologist finally got to my room at 9:30 and tried six times to get the epidural in but could not do it. The nurse ran out to get the doctor and he came in and told the anesthesiologist that I was almost ready to push and that he needed to do a spinal. I was in so much pain I don't even remember the doctor coming in but Michael told me that he could tell that the doctor was not happy at all. I got the spinal and felt so much better for about forty five minutes until I started to shake really bad and had really bad pains in my lower back. I told the nurse and she said ok, that means you are ready to push. The doctor walked in right then and Caysley was born at 10:22. As soon as she was born the doctor put her on my chest and I held her for a long time. That moment was so surreal to me, nothing compares to meeting your child for the first time.

Big Sister

Everyone seems to be curious about how Ava is handling having a new baby at her house. Anyone who knows Ava knows that she loves attention and to tell you the truth I was really worried about how she was going handle having someone to share the attention with. Let me tell you that she has been AWESOME! She is so gentle and loves her baby sister so much. She really does not get jealous at all unless her daddy is holding the baby. Daddy is Ava's best friend and nobody is allowed to touch him, including me.

Welcome baby!

Caysley Ruth was welcomed into the world on October 15th. She weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 22 inches long.

Welcome to the family Caysley, we love you!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I am always amazed by the things that come out of the mouth of my little 22 month old girl. She cracks me up. This last week she has really been hilarious. This morning Ava woke up right before Michael had to leave for work and I was still in bed. He brought her in my bed to snuggle and she looked at him and said, "Daddy goin' school?" He told her that he did have to go to school tonight and she said, "awww, cool dude." Then she said, "Daddy goin' work?" He told her yes he had to go to work. Ava said, "Ohhh, daddy home sick?" I guess I really need to watch what I say around her now. A lot of mornings I jokingly ask Michael if he just wants to stay home sick. He never plays hookie but I probably ask him this a few times a week to be funny. I never really thought that she was listening to me. I am not going to ask him that from now on. Though these last few weeks have been fun, it has not been all smooth sailing around here. I can defiantly see a new meaning to "terrible twos". She is not terrible, she just throws terrible little tantrums every now and then. She will lay on the ground kicking and screaming for a minute then be perfectly happy and laughing the next minute. 99% of her tantrums are about me telling her no candy. Last week she had nightmares almost every night. I would go get her out of her bed and she would tell me that she wanted out of there because there were scary butterflies in her bed. I would put her in my bed, go to the bathroom and come back to find her fast asleep hogging my spot in bed. One night she would not get in her bed and she wanted to sleep on the floor in her room with her dad on her big stuffed dog. Now she always asks if she can sleep on her dog.

Michael kept Ava busy during general conference this weekend by painting her toenails...he did a great job! Look at that bed head...I love it.

Cayleigh Ruth's first pictures

Today we had a 4D ultrasound to check the size of the baby. I have been measuring 1-2 weeks bigger that I actually am for the last couple of months so my doctor wanted to see how big she was. The ultrasound said she weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces! Look at her chubby little cheeks, she is so cute!

Side view of her face

A cute little hand in front of her face

Isnt she cute? Yawning

Sooo cute, we can't wait to meet her!