Thank Goodness I Have Long Toes

My mom flew out to Rexburg to help me with Skyler's birth and with all of the adjustments afterward. I owe her a ton because she helped out when drama hit. So thank you, Mommy, for all of meals you made for us and Lily, the cleaning, almost-sleepless nights, and entertainment. She brought Sky this little onsie. It's pretty obvious that it's from her.... if you can't read it it says, "If Mommy says no ask Grandma." Pretty perfect for her since there's also a whale on it..... hopefully he'll fit in it for a while...... but no promises since he's putting on weight faster than me in my third trimester.

Becca also came up for a couple of days to pick up my mom and bring her down to Utah. She and Sky bonded nicely. I love sleeping babies..... SO CUTE!



Then April and her girls came to visit. Here's a picture of Sam and Lily together. They're only a month apart and looked almost identical when they were newborns. The camera took this a split second after they let go of holding hands.... awwwww.....

April: "This picture is going to make it look like Skyler's OUR baby....."

As for our little Macbeth family we are doing much better. Lily has finally been sleeping through Sky's cries at night. She used to pop up after every noise and cry when I would get Skyler out of his crib and leave her in hers. However, Saturday night she was just EXHAUSTED. Her bedtime is 7 but I couldn't keep her awake that long...... this is her close to sleep at about 6ish...... (sorry about its blurriness).....

Let me say that I totally LOVE having two babies. It keeps me busy and I'm past the roughest part (I'm pretty sure) and so I'm just enjoying the love that I get to experience each day. This doesn't mean that it's easy, though. I have discovered a whole bunch of "magic tricks" up my sleeve. So what's my biggest asset? My toes. That's right. My whole life I've made fun of my toes that resemble E.T.'s fingers. Well I'm not laughing anymore. When I'm nursing Skyler I can tickle Lily, grab her blankie when she cries, close baby gates behind me when I'm holding one or two babies, pick up trash really quick before Lily gets to it, and so many more things. I have a whole new respect for toes now. And yes, you really are reading a blog post about toes. I promise that when I get more sleep I'll write about something that actually makes sense. In the meantime enjoy my mindblowingly dilusional blog!

Who Needs Coffee When You've Got Two Babies?!?!

That's right...... I don't need coffee because I have a newborn and a 13-month-old keeping me on my toes...... let me explain. Anyone who knows anything about babies knows that they lllloooooovvvveee putting things in their mouths. They seriously find things that are invisible to the adult eye (after you've vacuumed and swept countless times, of course) and just pop them in their mouths not caring what it is. Well this morning was no different from any other day and I saw that Lily was trying to chew on something I definitely hadn't given her. "Mom do you know what she put in her mouth?" "I think it might have been a raisin." So I of course walk casually over to her and stick my finger in to check and pulled out her "snack." "AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! It's Skyler's umbilical cord!!!!!!" And that, my friends, is why I don't need coffee.

Ben's parents were able to come up on Tuesday to meet little Skyler. It was good to see them again. Here are some pictures from the visit:

My mom and I agree that Skyler is the easiest baby we've ever heard of. Each night I only have one real night feeding and then one early morning (5:30ish) feeding and they're only about an hour long. He doesn't really cry, either. I am very happy to be proven wrong that I had a baby who's even easier than Lily was. She was a phenomenally easy baby, as well. Anyhow I call Sky my little Cherub. Just look at that face..... I'm currently trying to convince Ben to let me dress him up as Cupid for Halloween. I can just see him with little heart arrows...... he's already gotten me with one of them. I just love this little boy. I think I've got to be the luckiest mom in the world to have Lily and Sky.

Here's a movie I really enjoy. Nothing's better than a dizzy baby, right?

Skyler's Birth (My Side of the Story)

Skyler's birth is definitely a story I want to remember well. I figure I started my pregnancy with a bang so it was only appropriate to end with a bang. I ended up going through false labor 6 times. That's right. 6 times I had contractions at 3 minutes apart for hours at a time. Thank goodness I only went to the hospital the first time. Whenever they got regular I didn't think anything of it because I figured my body was just lying to me again. So I did have to wait until the 30th to be induced. I was admitted into the hospital at 7:30 AM, had my doctor break my water at 8:30, and then started Petosin at 9. I was already 4 cm when I got to the hospital so my nurse told me I could have an epidural whenever I wanted but I chose to tough it out for a little bit so I could progress faster. At noon I started shaking during each contraction from the pain so I decided that it would probably be a good idea to get my epidural. I had the wonderful anesthesiologist come in and told him about my last labor (I pushed for 2 hours with Lily and the epidural wore off halfway through so I felt the entire delivery) and let him know I DID NOT want to do that again. So he gave me a button to push to give myself another dose when the time was right. So epidurals just put me to sleep so of course I just went off into La La Land. Shortly after I woke up the nurse came in to check up on me and told me I was at an 8 and to let her know once I started feeling the urge to push. Yeeeaahhhh....... so I told her I was feeling it. She checked me again and started setting up a table with all of the delivery instruments and so my mom knew what that meant. I will never forget this. She said she was going to use the bathroom in my room and about a minute later when she came out I had already started pushing because I was at a 10. What. The. Heck. So they had a nurse run out and call my doctor really fast and he got to the hospital just in time to deliver Skyler. What an awesome delivery (and my epidural lasted the whole time!!!!). My only problem is that each labor gets faster and with a 10 hour labor and a not-quite-6-hour labor under my belt I'm going to have to be close to a hospital for now on. I'm so grateful everything went well and that I have a healthy and happy (he rarely cries at all) baby boy. Now our family is just going through an adjustment...... and when I say family I really mean Lily.

Here is our first family picture of the four of us. It describes our lives pretty well right now.

Although our family is definitely in a time of adjustment we're enjoying life. Ben and I are sooo grateful for our two babies and we wouldn't change a thing about them. Yes, Lily has been struggling quite a bit with her sleeping (which makes EVERYTHING go downhill) and seeing Skyler with me all the time but she's doing better all the time. One of the things that has been miraculous to me is that she's now walking. She started walking really well while I was in the hospital (Murphy's Law, of course) and is now walking just about everywhere. It has been amazing timing because with all of the attention Skyler needs Lily now gets quite a bit of praise. Here's a movie of her as our little walker. We sure are proud of her!

Skyler James is Finally Here!!!!!

Our little Skyler is finally here. After 6 false labors and 6 hours of labor, he was born at 2:18 pm on Thursday the 30th of July. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 inches tall. Since I am no blogger, I will leave all the humor to my dear wife.



The birth went well. He was born face up, but because of how fast he came thankfully there was no bruising. He is extremely healthy and started nursing like he had done it before (I don't know if heather will agree, but I thought it was super fast).



Heather is doing really well. After the delivery she had a cheese burger, fries and a shake. Other than being a little tired she said that yesterday was a pretty good day. She sure does love and adore her little boy. We both think that he looks more like her (Which his daddy doesn't mind), but Grandma Whale thinks he still has my nose.

All in all we just love our little boy. Yes, the pregnancy was hard, but having him here makes it all worth it. God really is blessing our little family with amazing spirits. We really are a blessed family. Now we only have to teach Lily that he is not another doll, chew toy, or drum. What fun!

False Labor. Twice. Boo.

I was a little hesitant to go to church on Sunday lest my water break causing me to switch wards out of embarassment. But I told myself, "you're just being paranoid like usual. Go to church. You'll just be sitting around either way." So Ben and I went to church. I had been having some contractions that morning but I didn't think anything of it since I've had contractions for forever. They got worse at the begining of sacrament meeting. As we were singing the sacrament hymn I told Ben that we had to leave as soon as the sacrament was done. So we left (as I was in tears from pain) and started timing. Sure enough, every 3-5 minutes. So we waited. And waited. After 3 hours of consistent contractions we headed to the hospital. To make a long story short the nurse said I was borderline for staying in the hospital. I was just past 3 cm and she said if I could dilate or efface at all they would keep me. So Ben and walked the halls for a good while. After 6 hours in the hospital (starving, I should add) they told me I hadn't progressed at all and that I should go home. Then last night the same thing happened--3 hours of contractions 3 minutes apart. I was getting really uncomfortable so I went to lie down in bed and WABAM! They disappeared. I then remembered that if you change position and your contractions stop it means it's not real labor. I went to bed feeling defeated but oh well. Today's a better day and I'm about to blow up my pilates ball. We'll see if this can help.


As for more pleasant things here are some Lily things. I don't want to end this post on a low note because I'm really trying to be positive about this whole "no baby" thing. So here is my adorable daughter.


It was REALLY hot today. Auntie Becca and I were desperate to cool down so we had ice cream while Lily was bathing, which means Lily had ice cream, too. I'm pretty sure she liked it...... :)

Lily finally learned how to drink through a straw. Sure it was upside down, but it's the same concept, right? I just want to preserve this memory since this was during my 21st b-day celebrations meaning Lily drank quite a bit of my strawberry daquiri. Good thing it was virgin. :) P.S. I know I'm huge.

This movie isn't anything special. Lily's been able to walk with this toy for months but she's never done it with shoes on. She HATES wearing shoes and always manages to get them off but I figured she needs to learn to wear them so she can start walking in public. So here is one of her first attempts with shoes. The first was amazing because she walked with her honey buns out and her head dropped with huge strides. It was priceless.

A July Baby

Well I went to the OB/GYN this morning (I'm 37.5 weeks) and got some awesome news!!!! I'm 2-3 cm! My doctor told me that this baby will be coming any day now and if for some weird reason he doesn't then I will be induced on the 30th! This is awesome news since my original due date was August 3rd and then last week my doctor told me that HIS original due date was August 8th (which just about had me in tears). So yay for an early birthday! This means that all of our birthdays will pretty much be within a month of each other since Lily's is June 24th and Ben and I are at the begining of July. Crazy!


As for other things a week ago I went shooting for the first time! Who would have guessed that I could say I was 9 months pregnant when I shot my first gun?! I have to say it was fun I surprised myself because no one died because of me! My aim wasn't too bad.... in fact..... (since Ben doesn't really read this blog I might be safe saying this) I did better than Ben at first but his second time shooting he did way better than me.


Lily has been making progress as well. She's adding more words to her vocab and she takes about 2-3 steps at a time. I'm patient. When she wants to walk she'll walk. She's also starting to take directions pretty well. When she spills her cheerios on the floor at church or wherever I'll tell her to go get them and point at each one until she gets them all. I would normally do it but reaching the floor isn't one of my fortes at the moment. She also comes when we ask her to and she's gotten VERY cuddly lately. She's never been a big snuggler but Ben and I guess that she's sensing some big change because she always wants to be in our laps cuddling with us. I often encourage her to play with her toys or try walking but she always crawls right back to me and begs to be picked up. So since I know her time is limited as an only child I'm going to cherish these little moments and totally spoil her because it won't be long until she has to share some attention.


Well I'm personally hoping that the next blog post is all about my labor and has pictures of our little boy! We'll have to see! Here we go on our next little adventure!

Happy Birthday Ben and America!!!!

Well the partying never stops at the Macbeth house.... or so it seems. Ben's birthday was the 3rd and of course we had to celebrate Independence Day. So on Friday Ben turned the big 2-6. I guess our brains are a little fried from Mother's/Father's Day, Lily's b-day, and our anniversary because we couldn't really come up with anymore ideas for Ben's birthday. So it was just a pretty relaxing day and we just tried to treat him well. Most of the celebrations happened on July 4th.
We started off the day at the Rexburg parade (my first 4th of July parade, as a matter of fact) and that was a lot of fun. Lily's naptime is at 9:30 and the parade started at 10 so she skipped her nap and did very well because she had these stairs to climb/descend over and over again and these two men to crawl all over. Gotta love having a baby who is a total social butterfly.... she thinks everyone in the world is meant to adore her.......

We had some pretty awesome things in our parade. As seen below there was a pooper scooper 4-wheeler for all the pretty horses. Some of my favorite floats were probably the Star Wars one, car washers who all danced, and the Veterans' float that said, "If you can read this thank a teacher. If you're reading this in English thank a veteran." So bless you veterans out there and thank you for your service for our awesome country! I should have taken more pictures but let's just say that I think I deserved some of my Paula Deen's cinnamon rolls since I was 35 weeks pregnant and outside on the 4th of July....... sooo my fingers were a little sticky at the time........

The rest of the day was fun, too. We watched Star Wars Episode IV and then had a cookout on the dry farms 20 minutes outside of Rexburg. It was so much fun being out there because once it got dark we went to the top of this big hill where we could see all of the fireworks from Idaho Falls to Rexburg. Of course they were smaller from there but it was cool being able to see fireworks exploding from 8 places along the horizon at the same time. It was a great day and I'm glad we were able to celebrate our freedom (and those who have fought for it). As for this week we have some more partying to do as I turn 21 on Wednesday. We still don't have any real plans but let's just say I'm pretty sure I'll be drinking a few virgin daquiris........