Blessing

Lillian was blessed on November 2nd, 2008. Daddy gave her a beautiful blessing. We were so privelaged to have so many family and friends attend! I wish we would have taken more pictures of all the people that were there!


We were so happy that my Aunt Terry was there! We haven't seen Aunt Terry for a long time and it was so fun to have her out here! She got to meet Steve, Lilly, all of my sister Sarah's kids, and catch up with the rest of us, since we've all grown up! It's funny, everytime I see one of my mom's sisters, it weirds me out how much they look alike!!

Steve's parents were also there, but like I said, we didn't get hardly as many pictures as we should have! But we were so happy that Grandma and Grandpa Stott were able to be here!

Lilly looked gorgeous!! I loved her dress! She looked adorable! We tried to get her to sleep before the blessing so it would be quiet during the blessing... however Lilly had another agenda! She was perfectly happy and wide awake right up until the blessing.... which she screamed through the entire time!! After the blessing was over, she quieted right down and then quickly fell asleep! She's a booger sometimes!! But we love her!

After the blessing we all headed over to Steves Aunts house for lunch, where Jolene cooked like a maniac! We had so much food!! It was delicious though!

Lilly really did look adorable that day. We didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but she had professional pictures taken in her blessing dress, so when I get them I will post those so everyone can really see how adorable she is!

Slacker

I know... I've been a slacker about updating the blog since Lilly was born! I just have a very cute distraction!!

First of all... Lilly enjoys her baths now! The only part she doesn't like is coming out of the bath! I feel bad because I read something the next day that said when you put a baby in bum first it's like falling off a diving board backwards. So the next time I put her in I made sure to put her feet in first. She still was a little weirded out, but she knew it felt nice! Oh and not only that, but we only use that bath support for her head... we just let her splash in the water.

However, after that bath, she has almost permanently had that look on her face... It's cute though...

Front and Center had a halloween party and I brought my cute little family... I wanted us all to dress up in something that correlated with eachother... and we came up with Dog, Cat and Mouse! It was fun!

Oh... and we carved pumpkins! Steve's is awesome... the skeleton... Mines pretty cool but it was pretty easy... it was the sun.. The one in the middle isn't ours.. but it's still pretty cool!

Well, I will be better about posting... Lilly's baby blessing is on Sunday and everyone is welcome to come! 1:00 pm 225 e 200 n in Orem!

Bath Time

So last night Lilly had her first bath. It was... an adventure! All this week I've been trying to find time to give her a bath, but we just hadn't yet. I was so excited to do it because I was so sure that she would love the warm water. We even got this special infant bath support thing that soaks up the warm water so that the baby doesn't get cold. Steve and I got everything ready... It took us 10 minutes to decide which towel we should use and if we were going to just put her in her pj's right away or if we were going to put her in her robe... we got all the baby wash and lotion ready, Steve drew the tub, I got her undressed and ready to get in....

We were SO excited... I carried her into the bathroom and I was almost shaking with excitement cause I KNEW she would love it. I carefully lowered her into the tub and the moment her naked bum touched the wet blue bath support, she screamed at the top of her lungs!!! She WAILED the entire time she was in that bath tub!!

No matter what we did she did NOT like this bath thing! I don't know if she was just scared, or cold, or if she really didn't like it... but she screamed the entire time! We hurried and washed her up and got her out of there as soon as we could. Suddenly we didn't care what towel she was in... and the thought of putting her in her robe was way out of the picture! We rolled her up in her cute white towel (which she pooped in right away!) and she calmed down a little. Then she just stared at me and Steve like... "What the heck did you guys do to me!"

She had this look on her face for like, 10 minutes straight! We felt so bad!! But after all was said and done and dry, and no longer in a poopy towel, she was just as sweet and soft and snuggly as ever!

Pictures of Lilly

I won't write a lot, because there hasn't really been much going on... I just want to say that being a mom is the best thing in the world!! I love it! My daughter is amazing and is already on a schedule. Steve and I got 8 hours of sleep last night!! How often does that happen really!! Anyway, I thought I would just post a few photo's so that you could all see how beautiful my baby is!

This is us getting ready to go home from the hospital. Her clothes were GIANT on her... But she's growing into them now.

In the car! Can't really see her cause the blankets and beanie cover up her tiny body... but it's still cute!

In her crib! I can't believe we actually got one of her smiling! It's amazing!




Ok, This by far is the coolest thing. One morning she was a little bit fussy, so Steve pulled out his guitar and she went CRAZY!! She stopped crying right away and starting moving her arms and legs all over the place and opened her eyes really big.... she totaly loved it! It was the most precious thing ever!

Uncle Matt and Lilly!

...And Then There Were Three...

Our Lilly has come!... I'll tell you how she got here...

At about 1:30 in the morning I woke up with some pretty strong contractions. I woke Steve up and told him that I was sure I was in labor, but that he should go back to sleep because I didn't want him to be tired. I left the room and got VERY anxious. I could only make it about a ten minutes without him before I had to go wake him up again. We hung out, watched tv, went for a walk (yeah... at 3 in the morning) and finally decided that my contractions were strong enough to go to the hospital at around 5:30.

We arrived at the hospital and found that I was dilated to 4 cm and 80% effaced, I labored there for an hour so that they could see if I was in real labor. When they came back an hour later I was still at 4 cm, but 85% effaced. They said that even though they were very sure they would see me later in the day, they had to send me home. So we left... but just a little bit relieved... it was much easier to labor at home!

As soon as we got home my contractions started getting more and more intense! I tried everything! It seemed like nothing REALLY worked, but there were a few things that helped just a little. I sat in a warm bath for a while, but that was a BAD idea because I started sweating and got a little dehydrated and faint. Pretty much after that, the only thing that helped was pacing, and lower back massage... at the same time. Poor Steve had to follow me around the tiny apartment like a choo choo train! I hate to say it but I got pretty snippy at him if he didn't hook on fast enough... but I apologized! Finally at around 11:30 I decided that we were going to the hospital for 1 of two reasons... 1) I had made significant progress and was ready to be admitted... or 2) I was going to get some pain medication. So, we packed up and got ready for the drive.

When we arrived at the hospital, they checked me and I had only progressed to 5 cm and 90% effaced.

I was tired because I had been up all morning pacing, so I agreed to an epidural, even though I originally didn't want one. I didn't recieve the epidural till about 12:30 pm ish, and although I was disappointed that I needed one at the time, and really wasn't happy with the fact that I couldn't feel anything...I'm ETERNALLY grateful for the that epidural right now!

The nurse had just finished getting everything settled from getting the epidural in when the babies heart rate dropped considerably. That was the scariest moment of our lives. The threw me on an oxygen mask and started flipping me from position to position, but it didn't seem to help. The nurses were flipping out and I could tell that Steve was scared out of his mind. Finally one nurse decided to check where I was, probably because they were contemplating an emergency c-section, and she found me fully dilated, and completely ready to have a baby, which can make the heart rate decelerate especially when the water wasn't broken yet. They called the doctor and he said he was on his way to come break my water and then we would see where we are. Right as he was walking in the door, my water burst and I was ready to push. I pushed about 5 times, and with the help of forceps, and a few other things that would have been absolute TORTURE had I not had an epidural....

Lillian Elizabeth Stott was born into the world at approximately 1:30 PM on September 30,2008. The tiny little girl weighed 6 lbs. 2 oz and was 19.5 inches long.

She has the most beautiful cry in the world.

She had some fluid left over in her lungs, so she was wisked away to the nursery right away to get her breathing normal... and she was also at risk for an infection which they are testing her for right this minute. (If not, I probably wouldn't be writing this right now... I would be looking into the eyes of my sweet baby girl!) Steve and I have had like, a total of 10 minutes with her since she was born, but we will see her soon.

I cannot tell you what it is like to see your child for the first time. Before she was born, Steve and I felt like we knew her, and now that she is here, it's like we've been friends for a very long time. She is such a sweet spirit, and I can't wait till I can hold her in my arms again. Steve and I hope to see everyone soon, and we'll post some better pictures of her as soon as we can.

When's it MY turn?

So here is just a little update for those of you who haven't heard from me in a while. By the way... I'm sorry about that. I just feel bad cause I don't have ANYTHING exciting to report! I'm am now 38 1/2 weeks. The hope that she would come early is slowly fading... and I'm just hoping that she won't be over due! I went into the doctor on Wednesday to see if I had progressed at all... and the doctor I was supposed to see was out at another delivery. So I saw the midwife that helps out at the office. I used to really like this lady, she's the one who checked me last time. She spent about 2 seconds in the room with me... and pretty much just decided that she didn't care to check my progress. She couldn't give me a number that I was dilated to. The only thing she said is that I had progressed. That's it. So I was pretty frustrated as I walked out of my room, when the nurse caught me to tell me that the midwife ordered a non stress test for me... for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON!! So I had to go sit at the hospital for another couple hours while they check the babies heart rate, which was perfect anyway! It was all very frustrating. Especially because I'm getting so antsy to meet my daughter. I left my job a couple weeks ago, so I've been sitting at home, cleaning the babies room, reading, and just waiting. I've been watching "A Baby Story" and without fail I cry everytime the mommy and daddy get their baby. And I just can't help but think... When is it going to be MY turn to get our baby? We are SO ready for Lilly to come home to us! It's seriously killing us to wait any longer! I know this may sound weird, but it feels like we already know her... like we are just waiting for her to come home... like we miss her! Anyway... I know this is ridiculous because I haven't even reached my due date yet, but Steve and I are just VERY ready to bring our baby into this world. BLAH!!

36 weeks...

Baby?!?...... No baby...... Yet

So just a quick update... no baby. Wednesday night when I got home from dance, I started feeling contractions, but in my head they didn't seem hard enough or consistant enough to be real labor, so I pretty much just ignored them. Steve and I started getting ready for the baby to come, since we are pretty sure she will come soon, so we went out to the stores to shop for some essentials that we hadn't bought yet. While we were shopping I told Steve we were going to play a game.. Everytime I started having a contraction, I would tell Steve, and he would look at the clock. He would calculate how far apart the contractions were, and then NOT tell me, cause I didn't really want to know. So I started with the first one, and then I told him when the second one came around. True to his word, he didn't tell me how long it was in between the contractions. Until I beat it out of him.... I really did want to know. 8 minutes. Ok... so even if these were consistant, it wasn't enough to rush to the hospital or anything... so I got distracted. We kept shopping and then I felt another one come on and I told him. He looked at his phone and looked up at me with surprise... 8 minutes. And every contraction after that was consistantly 8 minutes apart....for the next 3 hours. Come on people!!! IS THIS NOT LABOR?!?! I guess not... cause after those exciting 3 hours, I still had contractions but they were ridiculously random, for about 2 hours, and then they just went away. I have woken up the next two mornings with MAJOR pressure, and a few contractions that last ALL DAY... but nothing as exciting. So we are still just waiting... and waiting... and waiting.

Baby?!?!

Hey... HOLY COW it's been a long time since I've blogged... I'll go through really soon and fill everyone in on what's been going on with Steve and I... complete with pictures and everything... But until then, I thought I would share the exciting news. I went to the doctors office today and they told me 1)If the baby were to be born now, she would be perfectly healthy and happy... no worries about being premie, and then they told me 2) The baby has dropped into position, and I've already dilated to 2 cm. She said that I could go into active labor at any time... it could take anywhere from a day to a month...

Now, since I found this out, I don't know if this is all in my head or not, but I've been getting contractions all evening, and they feel like they are getting worse... so I'm a little anxious. We just keep telling ourselves that when the baby REALLY decides to come, we'll know it for sure. Anyway... We'll keep you posted!

New Form of Transportation!

Ok... so my dad has been staying with us on and off for the last couple of weeks... and he's been awesome while he's been here. Steve and I haven't washed a single dish for probably two months, yet we always have clean dishes! And today he cleaned out our microwave.. a task that neither of us EVER felt up to. Anyway... He did the coolest thing today. Yesterday, we were all talking about rising gas prices and how expensive it is to drive all over the place all the time, especially when we only have one car right now. We started talking about how we really need to buy a bike and just ride to work, since Steve works so close and it would save a ton of money.. Mind you, this is all just small talk.. Well, My dad came home with a little surprise today!

YAY FOR MY DAD!!!!! He went to DI this morning and bought a bike for freakin 8 bucks! So what we are going to do, is Steve is going to wake up like, what... 15 minutes earlier than he normally would, and bike to work (75% is downhill). I go ahead and take the car to work, and when Steve is ready to come home from work, I can go pick him up (since on the way back it's 75% uphill, in the heat of midday). I'm SO excited about this... and I was like... Hey.. I can ride the bike to work! I'd love to do that! I've always wanted to ride a bike around town.... but Steve just laughed at me and said I wasn't allowed to since I was pregnant... :P Anyway... I was really excited about this, but I think it caught Steve offguard... he had this "someone just sucked all the oxygen out of the air" look on his face... I think he'll like it once he gets used to it though. And if not, then it was only 8 bucks, and I'll ride it when I'm no longer "with child".

Anyway, once Steve got used to the bike, my dad and I rode it around for a little bit..

Dance Workshop & Baby Lilly

So this last week I had a week long Summer Ballet Intensive class. Holy cow it was amazing! Every day we had a two hour technique class, an hour of repertoire, an hour of pointe/pointe prep, an hour of conditioning, and sometimes an hour of modern. Then the tough girls stayed for an extra 1/2 hour of pointe repertoire... We all had so much fun! Can I just say that I have the coolest job in the world! I absolutely love it! I get to hang out with goofy girls all the time and watch them learn and grow and gain an appreciation for the arts!

The whole year I had been struggling with the girls because it seems like they all just really like the fast, exciting, "poppy" stuff... and as soon as I would pull out an adagio, or something slow and pretty... they would automatically get bored with it, and do it only halfway. Well this week one of the major accomplishments was that we did a waltz across the floor. Waltzes are not neccesarily slow, but they are smooth, and beautiful, not fast and poppy... they are, by far, my FAVORITE thing to do because I just feel so pretty when I move across the floor! I had one teacher of mine tell me that I should dance as if I was wearing this huge ballgown and the prince was sweeping me across the floor! Every time I do a waltz I just feel like the Queen! I LOVE it!

Well, I gave my girls a waltz combination, and for the first time, I actually saw them "Dance"! I've all seen them dance before... but never actually "Dance"! I saw arms lifted and floating, and I saw expression, and beauty... and good turns that were finished correctly! And then I asked the if they enjoyed that combination and they all said that they had loved it! OH MY GOODNESS!! We may not have done a lot in the way of "technique" but I feel like we definitly accomplished something.

Moving on, This week I enter my 30th week of pregnancy... yeah.. I only have 10 more weeks. I can't believe how close I am! It seems like just a few short weeks ago I was asking Steve if he thought I looked fat, and him saying yes, and that being a good thing because I didn't want to look pregnant yet, because I didn't want people at work to know I was pregnant yet! It's so weird having people just walk up to you and grabbing your belly and asking about the baby... sometimes I still forget that I have a huge belly and bump it into things... poor baby Lilly! However, I have to say that pregnancy is one of the funnest things! It's so much fun because you actually can play with her even while she's in my tummy! Steve and I take turns poking her, and then she pokes back... We know what foods she likes... and we know she gets hiccups all the time! I honestly just have to say that despite all of the uncomfortable-ness (if that's a word) and swollen feet, and not being able to lay on your back or your tummy, and sickness, and heartburn, and the fear of stretch marks (I haven't gotten any yet... pray for me!) and restless legs, and cramps, and not being able to take medicine, and all the stuff that scares pregnancy away from people... I absolutely LOVE being pregnant! It's so worth it! The symptoms aren't really that bad, but when you feel your daughter dance after eating a yogurt (one of her favorites... good thing cause it's mine too) you would be willing to endure much worse then a little heartburn. Seriously, the only thing that I don't like about pregnancy is that you can't actually see her yet... That's the only reason why I wish my pregnancy was over! We want her to be healthy, and we know that means a full term, but Steve and I can't help but think to ourselves... If she were born now... then she would be fine! But we do want her to stay in the oven a little longer!

One Year

July 7 was Steve and I's first anniversary. Oh boy... it was crazy. I told Steve that since he planned the honeymoon, I would be fine taking charge of the first anniversary. I planned this whole thing... it was going to be amazing! First of all, I was going to take Steve to a park we used to go to when we were dating. I was going to play music and have a letter there for him, and we would have an appetizer there, and just have a picnic.. Then I would take him over to the park where he proposed to me, have dinner, another letter, and music. Then I would take him over to the temple and have dessert, the third letter, music, candles, gift exchange... the whole thing... it was going to be so romantic!


"Was" being the key word...

So we went to the first park, where my dad was supposed to have set up the blanket, and the food and everything, so it would have been already done and everything, however... we found a blanket on the bench, and no appetizer. I had to set it all up myself with him there, and all I did was make Steve read the first letter, and then we left. LAME-O.

So then we went to the second park, and my dad had totatally redeemed himself. I didn't tell him exactly where to set it up, but he found the exact spot Steve proposed. Our food (and appetizers) were there and everything was set up really nice. I started to set up the music.. and it decided not to work... oh well. So he read the letter and we started to eat our food, just as a swarm of mesquitoes started to eat us! It was absolutely ridiculous! I have like, 10 bites from the 10 minutes we were out there! I'm allergic to mesquito bites, and I can't take Benedryl cause I'm pregnant, so we had to go sit in the car! I didn't have the nerve to stay there another second and get a picture... sorry.

So then we went to the temple, and I got everything set up. It was so romantic looking with all the candles, and sparkling cider, the music, chocolate strawberries, our top layer of our wedding cake... beautiful.

And then there were sprinklers....

Yes. My attempts at having a romantic anniversary celebration was totally crushed... That's ok though, because it will definitly be memorable! Plus it didn't mean any less to Steve or me! Either way, we are both so happy to have eachother, and we are both still SO in love, and we both look forward to the many anniversaries to come!

St. George

So, this last weekend we went down to St. George to Max's temple endowment. It was pretty...bitter sweet! We drove down to St. George with my dad on Friday night, expecting my sisters family who lives in Kaysville to beat us down there because they were saying they were going to leave early. When we got there, we found that they hadn't even left their house yet. They finally got out of their house around 10:30 PM and didn't arrive in St. George till 4:30 AM! Apparently Sarah and Noah were sitting in the back seat, taking turns puking into a cup! Noah was feeling better in the morning, but Sarah was not! We all felt so bad, but she was too sick to go to the temple with Max! So there were only the five of us that went, and it was beautiful! Max said that he loved it and it was such a wonderful experience to see my family in there together! We ate down in the temple cafeteria and it was delicious! Max's girlfriend, Lindsay, waited outside the temple for us and we took pictures! It was GREAT!
When we got home, Sarah was feeling better and we decided that we should take the kids out of the house! We went to "downtown" St. George, where the new water fun stuff is on Main Street. The boys loved it! Here are some friggen cute pics of them playing in the water!

The next morning, I woke up, went upstairs... thinking that everyone had been healthy when we went to bed, so I was expecting that everyone was healthy in the morning. I was wrong. I heard the weirdest heaving noise there ever was! Brad sounded like a friggen donkey! Anyway, it was very sad that Brad was sick. It pretty much kicked his butt all day. He was pretty annoyed when I took this picture.. he said that it made him look really pathetic.. I said, "You are pretty pathetic looking right now, so we need to remember this moment!" We left that night and later on found out that my mom had also caught the sickness. Steve and I, however, remain healthy! Good thing too, if one of us would have gotten sick I probably would have had a meltdown!