Rylee's Third Birthday

Rylee's Birthday and the Library Book Festival happened on the same day so we celebrated both! Cody and I stayed up until really late making her sign, blowing up balloons, making Elsa cape ect. It was so fun. We did a Frozen Theme. We had a picnic for lunch and pizza and cake for dinner. 

Okay, so I have to explain Rylee's cake. Her birthday was on a Saturday, and on Fridays the office gets the expired bread and bakery items from the local store which we tenants get to take for free! Cody went by the day before her birthday and grab this cake. He was so excited to show me.... I wouldn't have to make one. Which was so sweet but I wanted to do a Frozen theme and the cake was NOT Frozen looking at all. But I jokingly said something about if only we had a little Olaf to put on top and then we could call the cake "Olaf  In Summer" (like his musical number in the movie). Then Cody said he would totally make an Olaf that night for her cake and tada!!!! Rylee's Olaf in Summer Cake to keep in theme with the Frozen theme! :)

this took FOREVER. And actually, Cody blew them all up. What lungs!!

Elsa Crown

Gifts - New Romper outfit, Cinderella dress up shoes, and play purse! And a new dress.

Library Book Festival

Birthday girl

Seven and Twenty

I celebrated my 27 birthday last week! I took each of my loved ones on dates to celebrate! Joseph and I went to the arcade, played games, earned tickets and got a prize....and he was so thoughtful and got something for Rylee as well! Then we went to the creamery and had donuts. It was so much fun. His favorite game was the ball toss game. I also took Rylee to the arcade...I was going to take her swimming but when she heard what Joseph and I were doing she insisted on going to the arcade too. While we were there a sweet couple on a date gave us their tickets... 600 to be exact! So we were able to make out with gifts for everyone and some treats! Then we went and got donuts together as well. Cody and I had our dear neighbors watch the kids while we went bowling..... and I whipped Cody's butt! Okay...so we played two games... Cody won the first and I won the second time. Then we went and got blizzards at DQ. I know! SO many treats! Although I have to say I did my cake a little differently. Our dear neighbors the Willman's invited us over our first day we moved in (we moved within our ward so we already knew the Willman's) It was her birthday dinner and for her cake she had pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream! I loved it so much I copied! No ice cream and no frosting! which is like a huge thing for me! :) It was a really good birthday! Thank you family for making it possible!

I got two new shoes....thank heavens. Having size 11 feet is a curse. I can only really find shoes my size at Walmart and Target. These were both from Target. I desperately needed them!

Okay. so buying pens is a little silly. But I found these beautiful ones at the dollar store and couldn't resist. Now... I just need to do a LOT of writing to make it worth it. :)

Two of my favorite Juvenile books! I had to own them. I found them for super cheap online and now I can flip through them whenever I want! :)

The biggest present - A Juicer! My baby! I am so excited for this. Freshly juiced apples are great! Starting soon we are going to start a 10 day juicing fast! Crazy i know. I watched an awesome documentary called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and we are inspired to try it out ourselves. :) I will document day by day when I start.

I have been wanting this duvet since last year! I love it. I knew exactly what i wanted to do with our room when I saw this...I usually have a hard time knowing what to do decoration wise, but this duvet inspired me! :)

Louise Christine is Here!

My mom was able to come down and watch the kids for us which took a lot of stress trying to find someone in the ward to do it.
We were supposed to be there at 6:30. Normally I would be too excited to even wait that long but this time I was kind of wanting to wait...maybe at least an hour. Not that I wasn't excited it's just that I was so tired! We ended up getting there at 7:30. They got me settled in and then began the WORST part of labor/delivery for me.... the IV. I hate my veins. They are so stinking small and nurses ALWAYS have trouble drawing blood from me. They didn't stick me once, not twice, but THREE times to find a place where the liquid would actually flow into me! It was awful and made me hot and sick to my stomach! And then when they finally got it into a spot I had to hold my hand a certain way to make sure the liquid flowed, if I moved to far one way the IV would stop! The nurse said she could move the IV again but I was not going to go through that a third time.... holding my hand one way was so worth it. And because the IV was being finicky they had to stick me on my upper arm to draw blood samples. ugh.
I think the doctor came in around 8:45ish to break my water. It was so weird, I could literally see my belly deflate a bit... that was my first bit of hope that the baby would be smaller then we thought. I always think that I can hold out longer and not ask for an epidural until the last moment. ha. so I got my epidural (I can't remember what time) and it started to work but didn't go further then make my legs tingle. I told the nurses but they just assumed it would continue to numb. The nurse came in to put in my catheter (to drain my bladder) I was nervous because I knew I could still feel down there. She checked me before putting it in and I was dilated to a six. She put the catheter in and it was extremely uncomfortable! I kept trying to tell her that and then all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain and the nurse could tell from my face that I was in pain so she checked me again and I was dilated all the way to 10! In less than a minute! The nurse said she had heard that for some women, as soon as their bladders are drained they open up all the way and the baby drops. So she called in the Anesthesiologist to give me another dose of epidural and called the doctor in. I was having strong urges to push but was trying so hard not to. Because of the second dose of pain medication each contraction (which was super intense) got less and less noticeable and by the end I couldn't feel anything...thank goodness because I had an episiotomy. Pushing while on an epidural is weird because I feel like I am doing nothing, but the nurses always cheer me on and tell me I am doing great so I just keep doing what I am doing. I pushed a total of 10-15 minutes and she was OUT! I couldn't believe how much hair she has and how DARK it is. They took her to do vitals and Cody took pictures and I could hardly keep my eyes open! I was so drowsy from the epidural I could have fallen asleep between pushes! I was so amazed to hear that she was only 8lbs. 9oz.! The nurses said she was big....psh. She is so tiny! We looked back over Joseph's and Rylee's pictures and they were both noticeably bigger but also there legs and arms were definitely chunkier! Louise's arms and legs are so little I feel like I might break them! She looks quite a bit like Jojo and Rylee's pictures but still her own person too. We love the fact that we have a blond, a ginger, and now a brunette!
At this point we still hadn't picked out a name. We had been throwing back and forth a few names but I just couldn't figure out what to name her. Cody knew almost instantly when he saw her that he wanted to name her Louise. He said that thinking of calling her Louise made him feel really happy. Louise is one of my grandma Schultz's middle names. I guess I had a harder time accepting that name for two reasons. With Joseph and Rylee we had picked out their names months in advance so I had time to get used to them and imagine calling them that. Also, I always imagined Louise kind of being an uglier old fashioned name like Helga or something and I was also concerned that other people would feel the same way. But when Cody had briefly mentioned the idea of calling her Louise before she was born we had liked the idea of the nickname Lui. I honestly had no opinion of another name. We didn't feel like she looked like an Emmaline like we had been planning to call her. So in the end I figured I would get used to the name and so we started calling her Louise. And you know what? It is growing on me. And who cares what other people think of her name? Honestly, after we got out of the hospital and put her name down as Louise Christine (My sister Rochelle's middle name) I was having second thoughts for the same reasons mentioned above so we were trying to come up with a different name and looking through a baby name book.... in the end that just solidified to me that her name is Louise. So that is how her name came to be. Names have always been special for me and I was feeling bummed threw out pregnancy that I couldn't think of a name, but I think what makes her name special is that Cody absolutely LOVES the name Louise. :) I figured that I am absolutely dead set on calling our next boy Peter whether Cody likes is or not that he could definitely pick this name.
Breast Feeding? Why oh why do I ALWAYS have to run into obstacles with breast feeding. With Joseph it was the fact that nobody helped me first nurse until several hours after he was born which led to him not latching on very good and months of pumping and feeding until I just gave into formula. With Rylee it was her high level of Jaundice and breast fed jaundice - I had to pump and throw away my milk to keep a supply going until she was completely jaundice free, and then I only nursed for five months until Rochelle passed away and I decided to switch to formula. Now, even though she is not jaundice and is more alert and she was latching on and sucking good - My nipples are sore sore sore! Like PAINFULLY soar, like cracked and bleeding and scabbed over soar (Sorry for the details) but it SUCKS! I have no idea why it has hurt so bad this time. But pumping is slightly less painful so I have been pumping and feeding. Which honestly, I HATE doing. I wouldn't mind only directly nursing or only formula feeding, but pumping and feeding is awful. So why and I doing it? Formula feeding has been a LOT more convenient for me so far so I don't know, I still want to try breast feeding. I bought nursing pads, and nursing bras, and a nipple shield and I spent all this money to help with nursing I don't want to give up yet. I am going to find a lactation specialist to see and get help. Wish me luck.
Either way we are so happy to have little Lui Louise with us. She is such a good baby and hardly cries and it is such a soft cry.... Joseph's was a soft cry too. Oh, and good news, she was not jaundice!!! Her eyes are so alert and you can tell that she loves to be talked to. Every time I hold her I feel so blessed to have her here! I love babies.

Louise

Joseph

Rylee

Let the craziness begin!

I love having a Van

Stretch!

Louise

Joseph You're Four!

And I can hardly believe it!
You have grown up so much and are such a handsome kid!

I wish I was more eloquent at writing and could send you a nice long letter of who you are and why I love you so much. Writing is a little difficult for me. But I love to capture your smiling face and awesome personality. I made a video for you. I used a song that has meant a lot to me. I hope you can understand the heart that I put into it and the love I feel for you.

Love, Mom

Rylee's Two

Rylee turned two last Friday.   

Time has really flown by. 

A little over a year ago I was still skeptical about weather she was actually a red head or if it was too good to be true! She is our beautiful girl. 

She loves food! I swear she eats more then Joseph ever did. 

She loves her baby dolls - she loves to cuddle them and kiss them and she even puts them in her crib turns out the lights turns on the radio and shuts the door shushing us as she does so. 

She loves doggies - Like stuffed animal dogs not real ones. Nana and Papa bought her a little one when they watched them for our anniversary and she has to carry it everywhere. 

She loves to sing and dance and she has one of the silliest and most confident walks I've ever seen.

She is very independent - Where Joseph liked to have things done for him, she....does not. 

She has a temper to match her hair. 

She can say prayers (although she just says our names and Jesus over and over...but it's cute)

She loves people and is so friendly to complete strangers. She yells "hi" to EVERYONE! 

She is one the messiest kids in the world....hands down!

I just asked Jojo what he likes about his sister. He says that she is funny, and she likes pizza, and is a good friend!

She is still trying to say more words and say them clearly. This morning she said to Cody "I'm going to get you!" 

She is growing. 95% in weight (See heavier then she looks) 85% for height, and 45% for head. At least her head is smaller ;). 

I wonder if she will be taller then Joseph because he was in the 60% for height and she has always seemed tall to me.  

I am so glad we have Rylee in our lives. I love having her personality around. She is so cuddly and it makes me so happy. She has made Cody a little more sensitive too and she loves her daddy so much. 

Tuckered out

Her rainbow layered cake that took forever to make!

The kid's Table

Trying out Rylee's Bubbles 

Video of us Singing 'Happy Birthday'

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