New beginning

I now have two post-baby runs under my belt. Wow, is it different. Spencer's schedule has still been changing every month, so I haven't even tried to come up with a regular schedule for running. Mostly it's when it works out easily. That's not going to cut it, though. I am working on finding the motivation to get serious again. I saw one friend who did 30 miles combined of exercise the week she turned 30 last year. I really like that idea - maybe spread over the whole month. 21 July is not that far away. But with the 27 miles of trails that go throughout the city of Plainfield, IN (just outside Indianapolis where we are moving at the end of June - more on that later), it may be a great excuse to get out and explore the city. 

I am improving, though. My first run at the end of April was one mile and just over 10 minutes. Today I did a mile in 9:45. Far from where I was a year ago but it's something and I'll take it!  

Here's to many more miles!

Pink dresses

Anne loves a pink dress. Just about every day she asks to wear a pink dress. Only when both are dirty will she pick her purple dress and as a very last resort will she wear the blue.

This afternoon after Jane's bath I fed her just wrapped in a blanket (a wonderfully soft swaddling blanket made out of bamboo of all things!!). After Jane ate, Anne came by and noticed Jane needed clothes. She immediately went in search of clothes and came back with, of course, a pink dress!

8 years

We celebrated our eighth anniversary yesterday. I kept meaning to get a picture, but I didn't, so here we are at eight years plus one day of marriage.

We had a nice time yesterday on an afternoon date thanks to some new friends who just moved into our ward. Unfortunately we won't have much time to become better friends since we'll be leaving soon (five weeks from tomorrow we drive away!). But thanks, again, Bostons! 

First we went to get a new car battery for the van (we had to jump it twice yesterday - thankfully both of those were in our garage and not at the boys' soccer game!). When they tested the old one at autozone their tester said "bad battery. Replace now!"  

Then we got lunch at Cafe Samana. Wow! Wish we had found out about this place before now. A fun little vegetarian place that's only open for lunch. Was it delicious!

After that we went to a park to sit on a bench and reminisce about our last eight years and how far we've come as individuals and as a couple. And, of course, some thought as to what the future will bring. It was a wonderful day. 

I am so grateful two see many ways in which Spencer and I have become even better friends over the last eight years. and I will always be grateful that he is the man with whom I get to raise our wonderful (if sometimes strange) children. I feel incredibly blessed. 

Overheard

During scripture reading tonight.

Lilia: Da-ad! You read "And it came to pass" last night!

Jane Cotterell

Things are going to be out of order for a while because there are lots of things I have not posted that I would like included in our blog books.

A lot of the following is taken from my journal. I have been writing daily since November and have the benefit of not needing to rely on my far-from-perfect-and-sure-to-be-rosy memory.

Earlier in the week before Jane was born, I had asked Spencer if we were going to have a date.  I think we were both fully expecting to go all the way to the end and we knew that if we didn't get a date the weekend before, there wouldn't be one in March.  Our date nights are very important to me, so I quickly called our babysitter.  Thankfully she was available Saturday night!  We were able to go to McNellie's and enjoy their charburger and sweet potato fries (yum!).  Then we picked up some treats from Whole Foods and went to go see Skyfall (it was very enjoyable, by the way).

I started having contractions pretty regularly during the movie.  I didn't mention it to Spencer because I had been having Braxton Hicks for over a week off and on.  He may have been wondering, though, why I kept checking my phone throughout the movie.

End of 9 March entry:
Who knows, though, the contractions I've been having tonight may end up turning into something before too long.  They are not super strong, but stronger than they were in the past few days and they are about ten minutes apart.  We'll see how things go tonight and at church tomorrow!

10 March 2013
Well, Wow!  Spencer and I did not end up making it to church today.  Jane was born at 8:05a.  And, wow!  I ended up going to sleep last night at around midnight.  Well, falling asleep.  I was able to sleep through the contractions I was having.  Then I woke up around 1:30a to contractions.  From that point on the furthest apart they were was 6 to 7 minutes, but they were mostly about 5 or fewer minutes apart.  And they were building in intensity.  I didn't want to jump the gun, so I let Spencer sleep.

Things definitely got harder as time went on and I made myself wait until 6a to wake Spencer up.  I asked how proficient he felt at checking my cervix for dilation.  He said not very but checked anyway.

We said a prayer together to feel peaceful about going to the hospital or not
(Spencer knelt, I was lying on the bed.  Things were not comfortable).  I said I really did not think Spencer or I would be going to church.  That's when Spencer called Sister Francom.  She said they would get dressed and come right over.
Elder and Sister Francom are a wonderful senior missionary couple who are serving in our ward right now.  Elder Francom knows my dad from working for LDS Family Services.  They are wonderful and the kids really enjoy them.  Both Elder and Sister Francom had offered their services for a middle of the night call if we were going to have the baby.  After the third offer I told Spencer that I thought they were serious!  I'm glad it didn't come to that, but it was somewhere between 6 and 7a.

Spencer and I got ready to go and thankfully I only had three contractions on the car ride over, so it wasn't horrible.  We got all checked in and Tracy, the L&D nurse checked my cervix.  I was at an 8.  She kind-of ran out of the room to work on getting things ready for a baby.  That was probably close to 7:20a.

Dr. Babb ended up breaking my water (I am really grateful I didn't have to feel a contraction strong enough to rupture my membranes!).  I am not exactly sure what time, but not long after it was time to push.

I am not really a screamer, but I was definitely crying out this time around much more than I did with Lilia or Anne.  I thought, even, of asking for an epidural, but I knew that would only slow things down -- even if there were time to get it in!  Honestly, I am amazed at how hard it felt for the whole process.  Then I found out why when Dr. Babb announced "That looks like a ten-pounder!"  9lbs 5oz is the official weight and 20 inches long. 

The most amazing thing was when Spencer told me it was a girl.  Discovering this beautiful new baby completely from that moment was incredible.  I am amazed at the wonderful blessing it is to experience childbirth.

End journal.

Things went really well and I am so grateful.  I experienced a wonderful treat when Spencer brought the kids later that day to meet the newest member of our family.  Benny, Andy, and Lilia each had an offering for her when they came: Benny brought Goodnight Moon, Andy brought a blanket Spencer's mom had sent a while before, and Lilia brought a rattle from the bouncer.  They all got lots of turns holding Jane and just loved it!  The best, though, was when Benny came up to me on his own and said, "Thank you, Mom, for helping our family to grow."  Does it get any better than that?  I don't think so.  He said something similar the next day as well.  He has loved having another baby around.

Life has been wonderful (and very tiring) since Jane has been with us.  It worked out well that we had Jane over the weekend since Spencer was working in the clinic for March.  Thankfully he was able to get all of Monday off as well as Tuesday morning.  Jane and I got discharged Tuesday morning and made it home by lunch.  I asked Spencer to pick Benny up from school and I didn't have to worry about getting him from school while Spencer was at the clinic that afternoon.  And looking back, I am really grateful for how well things went Wednesday and Thursday with my taking Benny to school and picking him up with all of the kids.

It has taken me way too long, now to get this done. Here are a whole bunch of pictures. 

One of Spencer's colleagues came with her husband to meet Jane. I think it was hard to get a turn with the way the kids were always crowding around!

Unfortunately we weren't able to find the byu onesie that all the other kids came home in. We substituted with a different BYU shirt - Go Cougs!!

17 March - before leaving for church. Jane didn't have any green, but we didn't mind. 

Our babies get such full bellies after eating! And those thighs are just beautiful. 

I love our little belly sleepers!