The Big Island - Day 1-2

We knew we wanted to take a trip to Hawaii for our birthdays in June.  However, as we scouted out options for flying in, we realized flights were already looking really full.  We saw that this may be our last weekend to go with lots of extra seats.  We were able to trade hotel points for buddy passes with Dave's sister and brother (THANK YOU LORI AND JIM!)  and we got to stay at a SUPER ULTRA AWESOME hotel.  Usually we go with the cheapest room we can find.  But this resort treated us like royalty with all the extras you could EVER ask for.  It is like a mini-disneyland.  There is a tram or a boat to take you to your room or around to the swimming pools, man-made beach, dolphin lagoons, shopping and artwork all the way around the hotel.  This Hilton was amazing.  We found ourselves thinking maybe we would want to spring for nicer places in the future.
Anyway, back to the beginning.
We packed for several days before hand.  I shopped and packed an entire box with food, snacks and meals for the 5 days we would be there.  We had everything very planned out because I was nervous to fly and stay for so long with a newborn.  It went really well .  I don't think we forgot anything.
We left Thursday morning.  We checked 3 bags, a box of food and a car seat so we had very little going through security (diaper bag, 2 backpacks, 3 kids, a car seat and a stroller) Dave had the worst flight of his life going to Hawaii.  Mariah ate and slept pretty much the entire way, so I got some time to relax and even sleep a bit.  Jackson and Hallie were demanding and Dave gave most of his time and attention to them.  In out past trip to Hawaii, we gave them some 'sleepy meds' and they slept for half the flight.  We thought this would work great. .  .but it backfired.  Both kids did fall asleep, but were woken up within an hour and cried and whined because they felt awful.

Hallie had diarrhea and we almost ran out of diapers by the end of the flight.  The plane was the older ones and didn't have a changing table.  Luckily, we had the last two rows of the plane and were able to change he on the seat without too many people noticing. Finally, we arrived at the Big Island.  I had been warned but I was still shocked at the ugliness of the area surrounding the airport.  It was dry, black lava rock.   It took so long to get our luggage and car.  Luckily, I figured this might be the case, and I was able to continue to entertain the kids.  We stopped by Costco for pizza (despite Jackson's impatience to be at the hotel) and then headed to the Hilton resort.

We spent our first night swimming at the kids sandy pool and the hot tubs.  We were amazed by the resort and loved exploring it a bit.  despite it being 11 pm Arizona time, the kids were having a difficult time settling down in the hotel room.  We sat on the balcony enjoying the view while they finally crashed for the night.
                                                  On the boat ride around our resort

P.S. I LOVE the moby wrap!!  Why has it taken me 3 kids to discover this little wonder?!?

Sunset from our the pool

 

Friday morning we explored around the tide pools around the hotel.  The kids are total scaredy cats.  I guess I should realize that, I am a pretty scared person myself, but they kept asking if the things we saw could hurt them.

Later, we went to a beach called "A" bay.  It was windy, cloudy and the sand was rocky.  The water was a bit murky (for Hawaii).  The kids were scared of the water and didn't play much in the sand.  It wasn't exactly what we were hoping for.

 

Jackson and I hiked 1/2 mile on a coastal trail back to the resort.  It was a gorgeous walk and helped me appreciate the black lava mixed with the white rock (I'm still not sure what it is).

We headed back to the resort and  played at the pool and hot tubs some more.  We were exhausted from the kids getting up early, so we watched a movie in our hotel (they have free DVD and play station game rentals!)  We went back to the pool for the sunset and then had late night hamburgers.  One of the only problems with the resort was that it is so big that it took a while to walk places.  Plus, there were a few places we had to carry the stroller up and down stairs.  We really liked the stroller to hold all the stuff we needed (plus the car seat and the baby), but it was a bit inconvenient at times.  Dave was a trooper to keep loading and unloading it from the car.  We eventually realized that we could get it onto the tram and that helped us walk a bit less.

Another day in paradise comes to an end. . .  taken at our resort pool. 

 

3 more days to come!

 

Getting out and about

Somedays, being a mom of three feels so overwhelming and stressful (like the day Jackson swallowed a penny and Mariah got a toy put in her mouth by Hallie).  Other days I feel like I can handle it.  It is amazing that I feel like a champion (I DID IT!) when I go on outings with all three kids (going to 4 stores in one day!).  Other times I wonder why I even try (checking out of the library with 2 screaming and one running kid).  I am definitely learning to slow down and take things a piece at a time.  

This Saturday US Airways employees got in free to the zoo, so we took advantage and had a great time.  The kids loved it and are at the perfect age to find and appreciate the animals.  It was hot, but bearable. 

 Hallie even pet the goats (as long as she was VERY near Jackson.  He is already a protector for her)

 Mariah slept the ENTIRE time until we were leaving the zoo, then she screamed the whole way out to the car.  She was so sweaty.  Summer is going to be challenging!

In other events, Hallie is still smothering Mariah with her love.

Jackson found my 3 inch boots and likes the challenge of walking around in them.  

 Jackson chose an artist pallet as his toy from the $ store.  He figured out how to make an artist hat from his chef hat and I helped him set up an easel.  He is becoming quite the little artist.

Mostly, I am loving being home with my children.  Jackson and Hallie try to drive each other crazy sometimes (especially when I have my hands full with Mariah.)  Mariah is fairly easy to get to sleep, but she does get woken up often.  I wish she would take a binky, but she will not have it.  She is sleeping fairly well, She sleeps a 5-7 hour block nightly, although I am usually not asleep for it.  

I love my  kids and want to be a better mom than I am for their sake.  I hope that I can improve.  I find hope in the atonement in becoming better and repenting of those moments when I am not who they need me (and Heavenly Father needs me) to be.

Mariah's first flight

Since Mariah was born in to a family with 'benefits' we thought it was only fitting to take her on her first airplane ride before she was 4 weeks old (plus, my little sister's farewell was important to us too :) )

She was terrible and cried all the way through security and the terminal (if you know phx airport this is LONG).  I finally got to feed her (which is super awkward in an airport might I add!) and she slept the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately, the damage was already done and I am very hesitant to fly again with a baby.  My mother-in-law (bless her soul) traveled with the 3 kids and I.  But it was still very stressful.
Once we got to Utah, Mariah kept sleeping for another 2 hours, waiting until we were home to be fed again. The rest of the trip was wonderful.
We stayed in Bountiful with Dave's brother on Friday night.  We love the food and the company.  They have a trampoline IN their home, which was so fun for the kids. We went to Sheel's and rode the Ferris wheel forced the kids to get photos next to the terrifying stuffed animals.  We're terrible parents.
Mariah slept the entire time.  I love newborns :)
Our extended family got to meet Mariah for the first time.

 She looks so little next to a 6 month old!

Jackson loves to ride with Grandpa!

My little sister Marcie was the reason we went to Utah.  She gave an amazing talk in church.  She will make a great missionary in Kennewick Washington.  I am so proud of her.  I can't believe she is actually at this stage in her life.  I was almost 14 when she was born, so I remember so much of her life and loved her like my own baby :)  I feel a bit like my little girl is leaving.  She will be missed!  My kids will miss their aunt "Mardy" as they like to tease her.

Time Flies

Mariah is nearly 3 weeks old and has found a place  in our hearts and home.  I am so thankful for my mom for coming to help with this transition for nearly 2 weeks and for my mother-in-law for coming for the next week.  It has been wonderful to have so much help with meals, cleaning, time with my other kids, babysitters so I can go shopping or to appointments.  The first week with Mariah home I was wondering how I would ever survive with 3 kids.  I am still worried, but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel better.

I am feeling great!  Mariah is eating well (although she is a shallow sucker so I am still in quite a bit of pain while she eats.)

 The kids are still so in love with her.  Jackson is helpful, sweet and gentle with her.  Hallie loves with every ounce of energy she has in her (not-so-gentle or sweet, but VERY loving)  She wants to hold her, kiss her and love her every second she gets.  When she hears the baby make a peep she goes running to her.

I think I just might have the cutest kids.  I am so thankful again for my mothers in helping me stay sane while we adjust to another little one.  

Meet Mariah!!

Quick stats:  Mariah Harper - named 12 hours after birth :)
 born 7 am 3/27/13
9 lbs 3 oz
21.25 inches long


WARNING: TMI, TMI . . .if you don't like birth stories, don't read ;)

Dave's grandma passed away on Saturday and we wanted to attend her funeral this Thursday (in Utah).  That being only 6 days before my due date, there was no way he could go unless the baby was here already.  So I moved up my weekly appt and got my membranes stripped (Terribly PAINFUL process!) Apparently I have a posterior cervix which means that just being checked is pretty difficult and uncomfortable, let alone being stripped.  I had been having light contractions all morning before the stripping and continued with light, irregular contractions all day.  I tried to walk and move quite a bit.  In fact, we walked to our local Wal-mart, which is about 2 miles round trip.  By the end of the walk I was very sore and having painful contractions fairly close together.  As soon as we got home, I didn't have another contraction for an hour.  They continued about hourly, and then were completely gone by the morning.  I was so sad and discouraged.  All those contractions and hope and nothing actually happened.  Plus, Dave was going to have to miss the funeral.  About 4 pm on Tuesday I started have some strong, real-feeling contractions.  They were irregular and some were spread out 10-15 mins, but they felt very strong.  Throughout the evening I was wondering if I was in real labor or not.  When it got to the point I could barely talk through them I figured it was real labor.  Jackson was so excited he couldn't sleep until after 10:30.  My cousin came to sleep at my house at 10:30 and we headed to the hospital.  My contractions slowed way down and spread apart, even though they were really strong still.   In triage, two different nurses had to work to check me. .  .I hadn't progressed at all since Monday... I was still a 3 +.  I was so discouraged!  I felt like it was going to be a labor like Jackson's.  Lots of pain and very little progress.  They let me stay for an hour to see if I progressed.  After this the contractions became very close together and strong.  I was shaking and in a lot of pain.  I was so discouraged and thought that if they sent me home I didn't know how I was going to do it, the contractions were so painful.   Luckily, an hour later, the cervix wasn't quite so posterior and I was at a 4+ so they admitted me.

I felt so relieved to be admitted and on my way to an epidural.  I had a sudden naseaous spell and threw up several times.  This has never happened during my labors, so it caught me off guard.  Then I started shaking (mostly during contractions) and couldn't stop.  My legs and arms and hands were just shaking out of control until I forced myself to relax before another contraction.  The epidural was heavenly as always!!  It was now 2:30 in the morning and I was desperate for sleep (for me and for Dave. . . I wanted him to have a good experience, too).  My blood pressure kept dropping sending off the alarms on my machine.  So every 10 minutes I would be woken up.  Then my water broke (also a first for me) and I was checked to be at a 5 dilation.   I was light headed and naseated.   I then started getting a bit panicky or nervous about the baby coming.  Nervous about the pain and the pushing and meeting her.  I think all the junk running through my body contributed to the anxiety.  Finally, at 5:00 I felt the need to push and I was fully dilated.  However, my doctor was delivering a set of twins (pre-term) so I was not first priority and I held off for a couple of hours.  It wasn't hard or anything, I felt pressure during contractions, but didn't feel a strong need to push. I had been laying on my side and when I rolled onto my back, the baby was completely on my right side. . . in fact my belly button area was concave, my left side was completely empty and the right side was all baby.  It looked so funny!  I wish we would've gotten a picture.   Finally, around 6:40 the doctor came in and I started pushing.  My epidural was so strong I couldn't feel my legs and had a hard time telling how to push.  The baby was face up, so that made the pushing even a bit longer.  Even so, I pushed for about 20 minutes and out she came.   As soon as the doctor saw her he knew she was at least 9 pounds . . . sure enough she was 9 lbs 3 ounces and 21.25 inches long.  She had chubby cheeks and a double chin.  She cried a bit, but calmed down quickly too.  Also, he movement were not so frantic and wild as my other kids (which is what I experienced with her in the womb.  Her arms are not always flailing and she is able to be calm and even soothe herself.

I didn't tear or get an episiotomy.  The epidural wore off in 2 hours and I was able to walk and move.  I feel like I will recover quickly.   I only itched after the epidural for an hour and after eating I my nausea and headache went away and I started feeling great.  I am tired from not sleeping last night, but happy that I feel like this will be an easy recovery. 

She nursed and gulped lots of colostrum.  However, since she is so big, they have to measure her sugar levels every hour and she wasn't meeting the requirement, so we have to supplement with formula after feedings.  Even then she is dropping her sugar levels before the next feeding.  It is a bit of a concern so we are continuing to feed her formula.  She is going to continue to be a big baby I think.  Because of this problem, she still hasn't bathed, so we don't have a photo of her cute hair yet.



The kids came to see her at 1:00.  Hallie gave her so many hugs and kisses and would just leave her lips on the babies lips.  She kept saying, "baby come out!"   She just loves her SO much.  Jackson was equally in love, but shows it in a more mild way (thank goodness).  He wanted to hold her an feed her.  The baby didn't mind being squished and kissed by Hallie one bit and didn't complain about it at all.   She is a tough little girl. 



She has lots of dark hair, cute little nose and perfect everything.  I think although she has some features of my other kids, she has her own different look.  Her eyes look much darker and I wouldn't be surprised if they are brown soon.


I already feel so in love with her and can't imagine life without her (although just yesterday I couldn't imagine life WITH her :) )

Way behind...

At end of my pregnancies I just feel so lazy . . . and yet anxious.  I sometimes forget about living in the here and now.  I haven't taken many photos in the past few months, but I will catch up to the present with a few photos and some journaling.  Then at least I'll be prepared to blog about the new arrival!!

We took a trip to Utah in early February to go through the temple with Marcie (mission call to Kennewick, WA) and say goodbyes to Melinda (headed to Ukraine Donetsk mission - Russian speaking).  We had a great time in the snow and being with family.   Unfortunately, the only photo we got was with Dave and the kids playing outside.  I just love AZ and didn't have any desire to play around in the snow.  The kids loved it though!

In February, I got my AmEx rewards . . . and I went on a shopping spree through Costco.  It was very exciting for me :).   I got all of this pictured, plus two packs of socks for the kids (the were wearing them already).  I understand there are plenty of people who swear by the envelope or cash form of budgeting, but I just can't understand why you wouldn't take advantage of earning rewards, cash and free things just by swiping a card (which is so much easier to boot!)  Anyway, getting a Costco gift card is a dream of mine, so this was a close 2nd.  

 Here we have Hallie in all her messy hair glory.  She loves to climb into my bed and read books, pictures or not, she loves to turn pages and read.   I love that she poured through my scriptures for 15 mins one day!

 Here is our one photo of V-day.  Hallie made sugar cookies at a neighborhood party while Jackson had a Valentine's day party at school.  Dave and I made steak and twice baked potatoes and for our 'date' put our kids in front of a show so we could eat dinner 'alone' for a half hour.  Pretty romantic, eh?

 Dave's mom came to visit us in February.  It was just perfect weather for showing off our new residence.  I think she may just come back every February for the entire month!  It is gorgeous here!

 The Mesa temple and the grounds are beautiful.  We are glad to have a temple so close and another one opening up before next year!

 The cactus garden at the temple.  Who knew there were some many different kinds of cactus?

 We were going to hike to the 'A' for a family activity and then when we got there, Dave's mom realized she had bad knees and I realized I was 8 months pregnant and we ditched out.  Dave still had to drag 2 little ones up to show them the A.  Hallie is hiding behind the trees, but she did NOT want daddy and Jacks to leave her!

While my mother-in-law was here, we decided to pull out a sewing machine I bought at a garage sale for $5 to see if it worked.  It did, in fact, work and we went to get some things I would need if I ever actually wanted to USE the machine.  I knew if I didn't try to do a project or something, I would never actually learn to use the machine.  So right at the store, I pulled up a pin that I had recently pinned on pinterest and we bought what we needed to make these awesome baby carriers.  I had enough material left to make 5 of them, plus this gave me lots of practice with sewing, threading, doing a bobbin, making a button hole, etc.  Thank goodness my mom was there to guide me through it because I know I would have thrown my hands up and given up (those are always my thoughts when I am sewing!) but she helped me finish and then I finished 4 more in the next few days.  It does give a sense of accomplishment to complete a project!  I think including the cost of the sewing machine, it was about $30 to make 5 of these.  If you have a little girl with a birthday party coming up, you might be receiving one!

 Friends from my old ward and also friends from my new ward planned a meal out and threw me a couple of 'showers' for our new baby.  It is so nice to be thought of.  I love that just because it is baby #3 doesn't mean she is forgotten or loved less.  I had a great time eating out with them!   and talking and talking as only girls can!

Finally, St. Patrick's Day.  Jackson reminded me that a leprechaun had visited at his cousins house last year and wondered if he would come again (his memory is amazing).  So, he did visit with a yarn maze and a message.  Jackson was thrilled with reading the words pinned to the yarn.  Hallie just loves tagging along, too.  They found a pot of gold with skittles rainbow just inside our doggie door where the leprechaun must have snuck in. 

I just hit full term on my pregnancy and I am feeling it.  Just last week I thought 'this isn't so bad, I can handle it', but every second of the last few days have been 'unbearable'.  I remember now why I complain so terribly about the last 3-4 weeks of pregnancy. . .. it is miserable!  I can't sleep or get comfortable in any position- sitting, standing, laying, etc. Heartburn is rampant.  I can't bend down (which is what a mother of 2 toddlers does ALL DAY LONG).  I don't want to move at all.  It is in the 90s here and I am still wearing compression stockings that are making me itch always.  None of my maternity clothes cover my belly anymore.   All that being said, I probably don't have room to complain since I have not gained nearly as much weight as previous pregnancies, nor  do I have the back/tailbone pain of the past.  I should just be thankful for what I have.  Mostly, I am, but I think this may be God's way of pushing a woman to the point of wanting the baby out more than in . . . regardless of the pain of labor, delivery, and recovery, sleepless nights, soreness of nursing or other consequences of having a newborn.   I think I am to that point now . . .if only we had a  name!  I can't wait to meet this little one!