olivia's birth story

On the morning of September 19^th I went in for a prenatal check-up and to see the progress of any dilation. I now weigh officially 156 lbs. up from my pre-pregnancy weight of 121 lbs. To my surprise I was already 3-4 cm dilated and 80% effaced! Two days before my due date and had yet to feel any consistent contractions or labor pains. After the appointment Jack, Seth and I made our way down to the fountain since Seth was such a good boy in the doctor’s office. While there, Jack and I were discussing that we thought it would be another week before she would come since Seth was 6 days late (secretly I thought it would be earlier but didn’t want to get my hopes up). Lin, our midwife, encouraged us to take some maternity photos just to remember this time, so when my friend Jackie came over to the house that morning to spend time with us I asked her to take some pictures of my belly. The rest of the day was very peaceful at home with me and Seth. We were both very mellow and spent a large amount of the afternoon cuddling and watching “Curious George.” Jack came home, we had dinner, put Seth down and watched some TV and by 9:45 when the show was over I noticed contractions coming but didn’t think too much of them at first because I had Braxton-Hicks contractions for many weeks leading up to this point. I didn’t say anything at first to Jack but was watching the clock and noticed they were the most consistent I have had so far. I mentioned it to Jack and decided to monitor them for the next half hour before calling my Mom. It only took 15 minutes for me to realize that this was it! I called my Mom and told her to start getting ready to come. I went to the bathroom and noticed a little bloody show and decided to also call Jackie who would stay at the house with Seth. I told her on the phone that it was a good idea we took those maternity photos today because this will be the last day I would be pregnant. She said she was on her way as well. 

Over the next couple of hours the contractions were coming but remained very erratic … not the smooth, predictable labor I experienced with Seth. I tried to rest while we were waiting for my Mom to come and the contractions were light enough where I did dose off a few times. Jack was too excited to sleep and decided to get a last minute meal in before we headed off to the hospital. My mom made it here in record time around 12:30am, and while Jackie was asleep on the couch, my Mom, Jack and I played a few games of Rummy, monitored contractions on Jack’s phone, and got remaining things together. I had moments of nausea but didn’t throw up (like I did with Seth's labor) and snacked on a few Ritz crackers as the contractions came closer together and stronger. Before I knew it I had the chills and bundled up in multiple sweatshirts, pants and socks and could no longer talk through my contractions. They were 4 minutes apart lasting for a minute each. At 1:30am we said goodbye to Jackie and hopped in the car and headed toward El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos. The freeway was completely open and we got there close to 2am. Since it was the middle of the night we had to go through the Emergency entrance. They had a wheelchair waiting for me and brought me straight to the Labor and Delivery wing. As we were turning into the room I would labor in I looked across to the nurses’ station and saw Bethany Monte, the midwife who delivered Seth! She is now a labor and delivery nurse at this particular hospital, and after seeing my name on the list requested to be my nurse for Olivia’s delivery. Praise God! (She’s a Christian as well!) She had me get into a hospital gown and I sat down on the bed so she could check my vitals. If there’s one thing I learned from my first labor with Seth it’s the importance of keeping calm and relaxed through contractions. I was trying my best to do so this time around as well. Shortly after, Lin came in and checked to see how far I was dilated.  My mom told me later that she and Jack were in the corner of the room when Jack leaned over to her and said, “What do you think she’ll be at now? I predict 6cm.  My mom guessed 7cm.  Lin announced I was dilated to 8cm and we were all very surprised. I asked her to break my water for me to “get the show on the road!” I was ready to meet my daughter! I don’t remember what it felt like to have my water broken with Seth but this time it was actually a relief. Within a minute the contractions became much more intense. I asked if we had enough time to do water therapy in the bathtub (that’s where I spent the majority of my labor with Seth and it helped tremendously). Lin said we didn’t have enough time to go in the bathtub but we could go in the shower. For some reason I didn’t want to and I already had the urge to push. I thought I must be crazy since we just got there and I still had 2cm to go but after a few contractions that went by and still having the urge to push, I asked Lin if it’s normal. It felt like I had to go poo immediately! Both Lin and Bethany replied, “Yes” and if I feel the urge to go ahead and gently push, but I was only at 8cm so I didn’t think I could. Lin told me you could go from 8 to 10cm in a matter of minutes and that I might just be ready. Before I knew it the gentle pushes turned into to hardcore pushing-my-baby-out pushes, and Jack and my Mom were on either side of me holding my hands and legs. I remember what a relief it was to push and that I didn’t want to stop. I remember Jack saying, “I need to take my ring off!"  What I didn't remember, but my mom and Jack told me later was that Lin instructed Jack to go into the bathroom and wash his hands immediately and very quickly because the baby was coming and she wanted to give him the chance to help pull her out.  I kept hearing my Mom encourage me to stay calm and push hard. Then I felt Lin grab my hand and put it where Olivia’s head was coming out. It was slimy but amazing! I jerked my hand back to support my leg because I just wanted to keep pushing. A few more pushes and I could feel her coming right out.  Lin was telling Jack, in the meantime, where to position himself so he could help pull Olivia out. At 3:05am our precious bundle of joy arrived, weighing 7lbs., 13 oz. and 19 inches long. She even had my red hair! Then the ugly cry started.  You know - the cry where you don't care what you sound like or how distorted your face looks - yeah, that one.  I was just so in awe of my little girl!  I remember Lin lying Olivia on my tummy and just being amazed at how quick of a labor and, honestly, minimal the pain was. As Lin and the nurses cleaned me and Olivia up, I watched her take her first breaths and kept telling Jack how much I loved him. Jack cut the umbilical cord, then it was time to deliver the placenta. One push and it came out, along with a huge gush of blood over the side in which both my mom and Jack had to jump out of the way to avoid. My mom left shortly after to go home and relieve Jackie and to get a few hours of sleep before care-taker duties began.

I still felt great at this time, and Olivia was doing equally as well. While we started our first nursing period, Bethany started pushing on my abdomen to cleanse out the rest of the blood out of my uterus (my absolute least favorite part of the whole labor and delivery process … something I remember very vividly from my labor with Seth). It was then that things started going downhill. The amount of blood and blood clots coming out of my body was way more than normal. I had slightly the same issue with Seth, but they gave me one shot of Pitocin in my leg and it caused my uterus to contract back to normal and control the bleeding. Well, they gave me the shot of Pitocin this time, but it had absolutely no effect on me. Every 20 minutes Bethany was coming in, pushing on my abdomen (ugh!), and still a huge amount of blood and clotting kept coming out. After the shot of Pitocin didn't work, they gave me a different shot (I think it was Methergin), which works differently, but should have the same result of causing the uterus to contract and control the bleeding. After more and more time and still more and more excessive bleeding after more and more painful pushing on my abdomen, neither drug was working. I was officially hemorrhaging. 

Basically, there were two reasons why this could be happening: 1) Because my labor was so short, my uterus had been working extra hard and was taking longer than normal to contract. It was, simply put, tired. It needed longer time than usual to contract back and control the bleeding.  But in the meantime, my body was still losing all of this blood, which needed to be controlled.  Or, 2) A piece of the placenta could still be inside my uterus and signaling to my brain that the baby was still inside and still needs the blood. Bethany also said that hemorrhaging is most common among red heads (interesting!). 

Then she inserted a catheter because sometimes when the bladder is too full, it prohibits the uterus from contracting. Lin came in and did a manual check with her hand to see if there was any placenta that had been left behind inside my uterus. She found nothing. They called in the OB-GYN on duty, Dr. Soliman, to discuss what to do next. Bethany went through the next steps of what they would try to do to control it and it wasn’t looking very good. Because I had already lost so much blood and was continuing to lose blood, they decided to put in an IV to hydrate me as well as a drip of Pitocin so it was constantly running through my system. At this time, I was still feeling okay. I guess that’s why I didn’t understand why they were making such a big deal out of this … I had just had a baby, shouldn’t I be bleeding??? I still felt great! But when more time past and with every push of my abdomen more and more and more blood kept coming, then I realized that something really was wrong and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Bethany came in with the doctor and discussed with me and Jack what would happen next. Since the bleeding was still excessively heavy, and hours had passed since her birth (I can’t quite remember the exact time) and my body had not responded to either of the shots or the drip of Pitocin, that they needed to go inside and do a thorough exam and cleaning of my uterus to make sure there was no placenta left inside. Everyone left the room to get what they needed for the procedure, leaving just Jack and I in the room. Then I broke down and started crying. Why was this happening??? I could tell that Jack was trying so hard to stay strong, but I could see the tears welling up inside his eyes too. As Dr. Soliman began the procedure, Bethany was on one side, holding my hand, and Lin was on my other side, holding my other hand and Jack was up near my head comforting me. It was incredibly uncomfortable and painful. After only about 10 minutes into the procedure, they paused because it was obvious I was in so much pain. I hadn’t had an epidural or any other pain medications during the labor, so I was feeling every single thing. I okay’d a pain killer and Bethany put it into my IV. Whoa. That drug was strong! I remember starting to feel a little floaty and before I knew it, I could hear voices and noises, but couldn’t feel a thing. I was in a deep sleep. When I started coming to, I could hear that the procedure was ended and things were looking up. Jack was right by my side when I opened my eyes and he told me that they didn’t find anything inside, but cleaned me up and it seemed like the bleeding was slowing. When this all started, Jack had called and texted our parents and close friends from church to pray for me, so it didn’t amaze us when the doctor said, after completing the procedure, “There is no medical reason for why the bleeding has slowed. Nothing short of a miracle.” PRAISE THE LORD.  SERIOUSLY. Though the procedure went well, the bleeding was still heavier than normal. They kept me in the labor and delivery room all day to monitor me, but over the course of the day, my bleeding slowed to a level they were comfortable with and eventually moved me into the postpartum wing around 8pm that night. 

During that day, I finally started feeling the effects of losing so much blood. I felt excessively thirsty, tired and flushed pretty much the whole day and had chills that would shake my body uncontrollably at times. Eventually though, I was back on track and they allowed me to discharge on the normal day I would have even if nothing had happened. Praise the Lord! It’s still going to be a long road to recovery (I need to lay extremely low for the next 4 weeks), but God is good and the ultimate Physician. Already one week at home, I am finding it really difficult just to walk from room to room, but also feeling better each day. Praise the Lord for great friends and family who have been supporting us and providing for us. 

Olivia has been a great baby.  During the whole time in the hospital when I was going through so much, she just slept.  She'd wake up to feed - latched on right away - and would go right back to sleep.  It's been that way the majority of the time at home too.  It's so wonderful how our God provides even in the simplest of ways.  I love Olivia Rose.  I love the family God has given me, and feel so undeserving.  I am so excited to see how God uses our family over the years and to see how both Seth and Olivia grow into people that love and serve our GREAT GOD.

time flies when you're having fun

It's about time for another update!  This summer has been crazy busy with lots of fun things, leaving this mama crazy exhausted.  When Seth's naptime comes, I have every intention of doing something creative, clean something, blog, or respond to emails.  Most of the time I nap.  Finally, I'm getting to it. 

1) To start: I am almost 36 weeks pregnant with Baby O2.  She has been a lively one I tell you!  Everything is right on track in regards to measurements, heartbeat and all the weird pregnancy symptoms I'm having.  My body is just not holding up as nicely as the first time though, in my opinion. To my midwife, everything is still normal (she says that every subsequent pregnancy after the first is usually harder but delivery is easier ... typically).  We shall see!  My September 21 due date is almost exactly one month away.  So excited to meet our little girl!

2) We went on vacation with my parents and brother, Max, in July and had a blast!  We stayed at a condo in Angel's Camp (small mountain town in the Sierra's) for one entire week.  Jack couldn't join us until later in the week, exactly when my family had to leave to attend my uncle's memorial in Colorado, but it was nice for Seth and I to get out of the house for an entire week.  Seth is still talking about the "condo" and memories we had from our time there.  Pictures from our time:

Grandma and Papa bought Seth his first golf club set.  It was a hit.

We went hiking (twice) in Big Trees National Forest.  Seth LOVED it.

Seth fully enjoyed living at the condo for a week.  It is now his home-away-from-homes.  And yes, we had to bring his top 4 favorite stuffed animals with us.  

When Jack came, we went and took old time photos as a family in an old mining town called Columbia.  Seth had a blast!  He kept calling it "fun," hence why he got to do his own second photo shoot:

He was POOPED the whole week we were up there, taking great naps and sleeping full nights (I thought the excitement of being somewhere brand new might throw him off a bit, but not at all!).  It's always so precious to catch a glimpse of him sleeping!

He is a growing boy.  Grandma bought this swim floatie for him ... and it was definitely a little too small!  Every single day we were there we went swimming in the huge pool at the condo (it was mid-90's to low 100's the whole week).  This kid loves the water ... jumping in on his own into someone's arms, splashing, etc.  Such fun!

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Some updates on Seth and his interests include:

1) His constant chitter-chatter.  He can say any word you ask him to, and is putting 3 and 4 word sentences together on his own.  It's a lot of fun.

2) His new favorite thing to do is to sit on the couch and read books.  A few of his favorites are Click, Clack, Moo, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Goodnight Moon, and Piggies.

3) Seth now prays before every meal.  If there's nothing that blesses a mama's heart more, I don't know what it is.

4) Other favorite activities include cooking, Hot Wheels cars, playing on his tool bench (and really playing with anything mechanical or a contraption of any sort), drawing, and doing crafts (this makes me happy!)

Thanks, Trader Joe's!

"Teacher" Seth

We recently got a new faucet in the kitchen.  Seth is obsessed with it.  The next day after it was installed, he asked me to open the cabinet so he could look at the pipes.  Then he decided it was a good time to play with the iPad too.

It's amazing to watch Seth grow and mature.  All of the things that he used to need help doing, he can do on his own.  So fun!

the nursery

Here it is ... the much awaited blog post of Baby O2's bedroom!  It's about 98% complete, but I just couldn't wait any longer to share it.  I had so much fun dreaming, scouring Pinterest for ideas, and finding deals.  I'm sure a lot of people think I either am way too excited to be having a girl or have too much time on my hands to have started so soon and (almost) finished her room two months before she comes, but great rooms take time ... trust me, I've changed my mind a million bajillion times on what and how I wanted to do things in here.  And they take money.  As impatient as I am to complete a project, I have learned it is so much better to do things a little at a time, doing a little more with each paycheck, instead of racking up any credit card debt.  With that being said, I'm really happy by all the deals I found and will share them with you too ... I'm no crazy coupon-er, but I don't know anyone who doesn't like a good deal.  

Her crib.  I'm in love.  I originally saw the idea to paint an old crib on Pinterest and LOVED  it, so Jack spray-painted my littlest brother's crib that my parents still had sitting in their garage. *Side note: This was our first ever stray-painting project and Jack has vowed never to do it again (even though I've since had him do one more project).  I hugely underestimated how many cans it would take ... I started with buying 2 and had to go back multiple times, finishing with 8.  Ugh.  Though it was still cheap to do so, it was more frustrating than anything.  Poor Jack was out there a few weekends in a row working on it. I thought spraying it would be better since it has so many spindles, but we should have primed it first (covering dark wood).   

Reusing old family crib: $0

Rustoleum spray paint: $4/can

It bothers me that the room looks so barren from the doorway, but that's where the extra 2% of unfinished room comes in.  I'm still looking around for a bookcase, and would like to leave space for the kids to just play. Eventually I imagine a little table and chairs going in there for tea time and possibly a play kitchen ... but that will be in a few years.  I did find a fabulous Victorian-esq frame at IKEA in their as-is section (it was missing the back of the frame), that will be hanging above the baby's crib.  It will have her name on it, and since we'd like to keep her name a surprise until she's born, the frame won't be hung until then either.  Her white curtains I love as well.  They're sheers, but have a tiny little pin-stripe in them with polka-dots every few inches.  Hard to tell from the photo, but they add a nice texture.  There was so much color going on between the wall color, the crib and the bedding that the room needed something soothing.  I wanted to add in gold/burnished brass as a metal in the room and did so through accessories and the curtain rods.  I don't know why, but I am in love with her curtain rods.  So silly.

Behr wall paint: $30/gallon (paint and primer in one ... a must)

IKEA frame for above crib (not pictured): $7

IKEA curtains: $15/2 panels

JoAnns curtain rods: $11 & $16 (sale plus coupons ... I saved 60% on these!)

Her bedding.  This is what inspired it all.  And this was the splurge.  I think it's okay to have one splurge per room, as long as it's a statement piece or jumping-off point.  I loved all the flowers and all of the colors.  It's feminine without being sickly girly.  I love rooms that are so monochromatic or have soft shades, but I am also drastically attracted to color (hence my first car being a lime green VW Beetle).  So when I saw this bedding ... dainty and lively at the same time ... I just had to get it.  It gave me the wall color and the crib color.  Love love love.

Land of Nod bedding: ~$200

Another look at the lovely curtains and a (dark) peek at the botanical prints I got from Etsy.  More to chat about below.

I was toying with the idea of buying an actual changing table, but decided to save some money and repurpose an old dresser that Jack has had for years.  After painting it white, I changed the knobs and it looks like a brand new piece of furniture.  I love mixing materials, so when I saw the hot pink lucite butterfly knobs, I knew I wanted to pair them with something more mature, hence the burnished brass pulls (I'm still needing to get a couple extra screws to install the missing pull).  I love the look together.  I'm debating on whether or not to purchase an additional changing table mattress, or just take Seth's out of his room.  Though he's showing signs of progress in his potty training, he's not there yet. Hmmm.  Regardless, the changing pad will go on top of the dresser.  I got a simple bookcase in the corner to store diapers, wipes and other diapering items since the table top is so small.  Love the pink baskets to bring not only practicality, but also the color pink to the other side of the room.  Also a laundry basket in a fun print.

Reusing old dresser as changing table: $0

Target butterfly knobs: $15/4 pack

Knobs.com burnished brass pulls: $3/each

Target pink storage baskets: $5 and $7 

Home Goods laundry basket: $14

One of my surprise favorites in the room has to be these prints.  I got the yellow botanical prints from Etsy, the polka dot "mat" (which is really scrapbook paper) from Michael's, and the frame from IKEA (which came with the white mat).  By buying a larger frame than needed for your artwork or photo, you can add in another layer with paper, acting as a mat, and make the whole piece bigger.  One things I hate to see is when wall art is too small for the wall it's hung on.  I don't know why, but it gets me to the core!  I'd rather see an empty wall than one with something too small for it.

Etsy botanical prints: $30/4 different images

IKEA frame: $10/each

This wall was one of my first creations for the room.  I got the idea from Pinterest and it's so simple!  Taking scrap fabric or quilting squares and put into embroidery hoops.  It's that easy!  And since it's so cheap, you can do lots of them of all different shapes and sizes.  I originally wanted these to be hanging above the baby's bed, but when I put the bedding on I realized it was WAY too much color, so I moved them over the a large blank wall to bring the color to the other side of the room.  Love it.

JoAnns fabric quilting fabric: $10

JoAnns embroidery hoops: ~$1/each

Some of the little touches that I love ... a simple golden box that my Grandma gave me the last time I went to visit her.  I absolutely love older pieces.  So much character, and something you could't find now if you wanted to.  I think I'll be putting the baby's hair bows in here.

Family heirloom box: $0

Fun accessories for the room.  No real purpose but cuteness.  (I was thinking of you, Abby!)

Home Goods pink owl: $8

The only think missing from the room is a floor lamp that we got off of Craigslist for $25.  It's a new lamp, but made to look old and a little Victorian.  It was a dark mocha color with a glass shade, but it's in the process of being spray-painted white and I'm looking for a regular shade for it (Where do I get one???  Anyone know?).  I haven't decided yet if I want to do something fun on the shade.  I probably will.  And there will be another post about that.


So now we wait for our bundle to come.  9 more weeks until my due date.  I cannot believe how fast it has gone. 

making room for baby

I'll eventually get to the title for this post, but first, a few of the latest happenings around the Osorno household:


1)  Seth has been developing so much over the past few weeks and months.  His language is growing by the day and his fine motor skills are great!  He loves putting his star, circle, square, triangle, hexagon and crescent-shaped blocks into their specifically-shaped holes (and can say each of their names), yelling out the color of almost anything, and can find matching items.  He has a memory like no other, too.  I'm amazed.


2)  Seth had his first running-through-the-sprinklers experience two days ago.  He was fascinated at the water shooting up through the ground and got soaking wet in the process of his investigation.

3)  Last week while Uncle Max was visiting us, we went to the San Jose Children's Museum.  It was the first time we had ever been and it was so much fun!  Seth loved the water area (designated for kids his age) and the art class.  He still is talking about "Water! Painting! Max!"

Every 10 seconds while painting, Seth would put down his paintbrush and go wash his hands.  Haha.

4)  Great Aunt Julie sent Seth a Strider bike!  It's a pedal-free bike that he can sit on and use his feet to scoot along.  He loved helping me put it together.  And it's his favorite color: greeeen!

5)  See that nasty old carpet in the picture above?  Well it's no more!  We finally got new carpeting put in our house.  It was quite the ordeal getting all the furniture out and having only 10 sq. ft. of living space for the day with a 20-month-old, but we are so happy at the end result.

Seth taking a nap on our bed while the carpeting was being replaced in his room.  Initially I was a little worried he wouldn't sleep there since he associates any bed but his bed with jumping and playing around, but he went right to sleep and I got to hear him snore for a few hours.  :)

New carpet in the baby's room!

6)  Speaking of the baby's room, as you can tell from the above picture, we have painted it!  We moved Seth into the front bedroom, and painted over the ugly green-yellow paint that was in there (I swear most of the time I'm much better at choosing paint colors, but that "green" turned out to be like a neon yellow in most lighting.  It had to go.)  We chose a light blue/periwinkle.  We love it.  Once the baby's room is all put together, trust me, I'll have an entire post about it!  All I'll say is I'm having so much fun putting it together!

So not only are we getting her room ready, but Seth has been showing some signs he's also getting ready for his baby sister.  While reassembling our house after the new carpet, I was bringing the bouncer to the baby's room when Seth saw it and was asking me about it.  I described to him how the baby sits inside.  Then he had me put it down, went and grabbed his stuffed animals and plopped them down one at a time inside and said they were going "nigh nigh".  Haha!  It was so cute!  He was really taking care of them!

Also see the new carpet.  Kind of boring, but clean and soft for a new baby!

 7) Speaking of our baby, I went in on Wednesday for a check-up and things are looking great!  I'm 25 weeks along ... 15 weeks and counting ... and feeling great for the most part.  I still have a bit of acid indigestion/heartburn, but otherwise am fine.  She is moving SO much.  Perhaps even more than Seth!  And boy oh boy is she strong!  Praise the Lord!  


Even though I don't think we're having a baby shower, I have had a few people ask me if we are registered anywhere.  I created a baby registry at Target (click here to view: Sylvia & Jack's Baby Registry), for those interested.  We mainly need clothing, diapers and breastfeeding supplies. 

Here's the ultrasound picture of her at 17 weeks.  She's much bigger than this now ... around 13 inches long and about 1 1/2 lbs!

i couldn't agree more

Women of God can never be like women of the world.
The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender.
There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind.
There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined.
We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need women of faith.
We have enough greed; we need more goodness.
We have enough vanity; we need more virtue.
We have enough popularity; we need more purity.
Margaret Dyreng Nadauld


Oh, Lord, I couldn't agree more.  Help me to be a woman of God.

the zoo + a myriad of other things

On Friday Seth experienced the zoo for the first time.  He loved it!  My friend, Lainie, and I took our boys to the San Francisco Zoo for the day.  He wanted so badly to just explore!  And honestly, he could have cared less about the animals like the giraffes, tigers and penguins.  He loved walking through the tunnels, climbing the bridges and walking along the curbs.  Haha!  BUT he did love the family farm/petting zoo section.  They had pigs, llamas, chickens and alpacas to look at and goats and ducks roaming around that you could pet (or in Seth's case: chase).

Seth and Jonas in their Jeep (which they ended up spending very little time in because they wanted to get out and explore on their own).  Oh and now every time I ask Seth to "Smile!", he squints his eyes, as seen above.  Haha!

At the family farm, "feeding" the ducks with the gravel he was picking up off the ground

Looking at the alpaca

Brushing the goat

Chasing the ducks

A rare moment: actually looking at the animals!  Prairie Dogs in this case.

The boys were pooped out after the zoo (and so were us Mommas!).  They fell fast asleep on the way home from the zoo.  It was a wonderful time and I'd love to go again with Jack too.

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In other news, I caught a rare glimpse of Seth sleeping this past week.  I normally never see Seth sleeping in his bed because he puts himself to sleep and I'd be crazy if I wanted to go in there to check on him.  But when he decided to take a three hour nap, I decided I should probably make sure he was still alive.  He was just totally conked out!  Look how big my baby is!

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Over the past year since Seth has been mobile, Jack and I have "lost" certain items.  Most of the time they usually turn up ... like my hairbrush in the kitchen cabinet, or Jack's USB device in the couch cushions ... but there were two items that we just could not find: one of my hand mixer wisks and the lid to our blender.  Yesterday while Jack was cleaning up a bit, he decided to take out the remaining few garbage bags we had out of their large box and guess what he found?

Yep.

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As the weather is heating up (yesterday was in the mid-80's!), we were trying to find something cool (literally) and fun for Seth to do.  This is what we came up with: plastic melamine bowls filled with water and colored ice cubes.  Seth loved it.  We spend the majority of the day out there, and of course it all ended with a huge water fight between the three of us. :)

seth's first easter egg hunt(s)

This past Easter was such a wonderful time with both families.  We spent Saturday with my family, where Seth had his first Easter egg hunt!, and Sunday with Jack's family, where Seth had yet another egg hunt.  Here are a few pictures from the hunt in my parent's backyard:

I'm so horrible about taking pictures when I want to.  I wish I had gotten pictures of our family on Easter.  I didn't even think about it.  I wish I had gotten pictures from the egg hunt with Seth and his cousins.  I didn't.  Ugh.  So these three are all I have, but as you can tell, Seth caught on to the idea very quickly.  In fact we had to empty out his basket because my brothers decided to hide 36 eggs.  After one egg popped open and he tasted the jelly beans inside it (he's never had candy up until this point), he started going to all the eggs and forgot about putting them in his basket and just opened them to get the candy inside!  Haha.  It was pretty funny.  

On Sunday we met up at Jack's brother's house where they had a bounce house inflated in the backyard for Seth and his cousins (he loved it!), and they had another egg hunt.  Seth remembered the candy from the day before, so after seeing the first egg, he just sat down, opened it up and started eating the sweets inside.  Hahaha ... it took a lot of coercion from Jack and I to get him up an collecting the eggs instead of eating them.  

By the time we left, he was pooped out from all the egg-citement (haha I'm a nerd, I know), but obviously had a blast!

uncle max came to visit

This week is spring break for my younger brother, Max, so he decided to come stay with us for a few days!  We had a great time together ... Monopoly (he got demolished by me), hiking, coloring with chalk in the backyard ... all those fun uncle things.  Here are a few photos from our hike:

We hiked about a mile and a half (Seth walked a huge amount of it!) to a little tiny farm with some animals.  On the way we came across a huge stump that we had been to before.  Seth just had to stop and investigate!  Then on the way back from the farm we decided to get back up into the stump and eat our packed lunch there!  It was a wonderful afternoon.

the pet store

Following the advice of a friend for rainy days, Seth and I visited the pet store today.

We saw fish (his favorite), lizards, chinchillas, guinea pigs, hampsters, birds, and dogs of all shapes and sizes.  It was a great idea.  Seth loved every second of it.

saved by the bell

99 episodes of Saved by the Bell have been added to Netflix!  

Just ask my mother how obsessed I used to be with this show.  Oh my gosh.  Every afternoon I knew the time and channel and I watched it religiously.  And the College Years.  And the Hawaiian movie they made.  And Zack and Kelly's wedding movie.  I'm betting there isn't a single episode I haven't seen.  When we got book orders in elementary school, I would always get the Saved by the Bell books ... and I was convinced that Zack Morris personally knew how much I loved him and his show because I always bought his books.  I was also convinced that he was going to show up at my school to meet me because I was his biggest fan (I was in the 4th grade ... don't judge).  


Needless to say, I'm excited to watch all 99 episodes again.

17-month seth and 13 weeks baby o2

I thought it would be fun to give another Seth update.  His fascinations are changing constantly!


1.  Seth loves ketchup.  He wants ketchup on everything.  Everything.  He is so much like his father!  Here he is hamming it up for the camera with his potatoes and eggs.

 2.  He also L-O-V-E-S cooking with me.  The second I even open the fridge or pull out food, he's running for a dining room table chair, pushing it up to the counter and asking for the pepper (I guess he thinks pepper goes on everything).  Here he is again with the ketchup too.  :)

3.  We were teased the past few weeks with gorgeous weather ... like 70s and above type weather ... so I got all excited and got Seth his first helmet so we could all go bike riding.  I'm pretty sure the day after I bought it, it started raining and hasn't really stopped.  But we're excited for the day when we can go!

4.  Seth has also decided he is a professional climber now.  We have found him climbing up onto almost everything.  This kid has learned from many falls that he still needs to be careful ... luckily for us he isn't a reckless climber.

5.  Other random Seth facts include: beginning to use the word "no" ... or more like how he actually says it, "no, no" with a head shake.

6.  He loves two books more than the rest right now: Piggies and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?  We seriously read them over and over and over and over and over ... yes, that repetitive toddler "Again!" is in full swing.

7.  We were given a DVD of kids singing Sunday School songs (probably from the '90s) and Seth is seriously addicted to it!  Jack and I constantly have those songs stuck in our heads now.  Haha ... a good thing because they're great, simple, Godly songs ... but oh my gosh I can't even remember what it's like to not have the same song playing over and over again in my head!

8.  Seth has a fascination with poop.  While at the park one day, I told Seth to not touch some doggy poop he was so curious about.  I told him it was doggy poo-poo and now any tiny spot he sees on the ground, he's convinced is poop and will yell out, "Poo-Poo! Poo-Poo!" We've even semi-started potty training with him (he went pee twice and poop once in his own potty!), and we're constantly talking about poop with that.  Goodness!

9.  He also is obsessed with sweeping and mopping the floors.  I'm not going to complain!

10.  Any time he gets hurt, he feels the need to explain exactly what happened and how he got hurt.  Of course I can't understand any of it, but it's really cute to see him point and act out what happened.

.. .. ..

Now onto Baby O2!  

We went in yesterday for our 13-week appointment (officially in the second trimester!).  We were able to hear the baby's heart beat and find out everything is completely fine and healthy.  I've already gained 5 lbs ... a little ridiculous, but whatever.  We'll go in again in 4 weeks for the next check-up and for our anatomy ultrasound and gender reveal!  YES, we are going to find out the sex of the baby this time!

Our little person is now about 3 inches long and weighs almost an ounce.  S/he even has fingerprints!