catch up time...

 New baby, 3rd b day...and life in between. It has been a wild month.  Juliet Pearl St.Julien joined the crew on my birthday, June 15th. It was the most memorable b day yet, to be sure!!  The birth was amazing.  In short I woke up feeling contractions around 3:30 in the morning.  We weren't convinced it was labor because the contractions were super close together...we decided it had to be the real deal and headed to the hospital around 5.  By the time we got to the hospital I was in serious pain!!  They took me into the admitting room and I was dilated to a five.  Which was NOT what I was wanting to hear.   I was sure all that pain was doing ALOT more than one centimeter of progress.  Thoughts of ACTUALLY going natural were quickly dissipating. I started panicking and yelling all sorts of crazy things.  I was desperately trying to convince everyone I couldn't do this, I was begging Dave to forget everything we had decided and get me that DANG epidural NOW!!!  He was trying his best to decide if he should listen to the pre laboring wife or the screaming wild animal in front of him.  Then my water broke and some how we made it to the delivery room and I was all kinds of CRAZY.  I was still only dilated to a 6 but I was feeling the urge to push sooo strong. So I did and my midwife luckily made it there in time to give me the go ahead to push.  I was STILL begging for drugs and the nurses finally said "If you get an epidural it will be at least 10 contractions before you feel it, and chances are that baby will be here before you feel any relief."  NOT what I wanted to hear, but at that point I realized I was gonna do this thing whether I wanted to or not.  And I didn't want to anymore!!!  

I had all these visions of how my labor would proceed.  In my minds eye I was walking around calmly with Dave trying the different positions we researched to reduce pain .  I pictured getting in the tub, or sitting on the birthing ball.  In my mind the pain would be there but it would be manageable.  BOY was I WRONG!!  All I was able to do was grip that side bar on the hospital bed and scream like the dickens!!  I didn't have to push for long...it felt like longer than it was. And there were a few times I really honestly thought "this is too much,  I will NOT do this anymore!! I am going to reach down, push that babies head back up and GO HOME!!!!"  But instead I pushed harder. Somehow, I did it. That dark head finally came out and I have never been more relieved of ANYTHING in my life. I don't know that I felt that feeling some people talk about, of like a euphoria.  Mine was exhaustion and RELIEF!!! 

Juliet was born at 6:30am, three of the longest most memorable hours of my life. It was fast and furious, but thankfully she was a healthy 7 lb wonder.  We were in love immediately.  We are still baffled by this mop of dark hair.  She didn't have a name for the first day, we were trying Juliet on for size.  The next day we figured it was as good a name as any and she would grow into it.  We decide on Pearl for her middle name because it's the June birthstone.  Our girls are smitten with her and we are excited to get to know her as she grows.  Looking back at the birth experience, the further away I get the more fond I feel about it all.  I am glad everything went the way it did.  Dave and I laugh at how loud I was yelling and how I literally screamed so hard that after things had calmed down my guts hurt.  That's what screaming your guts out feels like. I don't know that I will try going unmedicated again, Dave will tell you NO WAY.  But I am undecided.  I am glad I know what it feels like.  And I am glad Juliet is here and healthy. Welcome little lady...

   

Rosie turned three!! We are crazy about our three year old.  She is just the best.  We get such a kick out of this girl.  She is still just so funny and unpredictable.  She is so intense one minute then sweet and loving the next.  I don't know that there is a cuter face in this world!!  I just stare at her face and those green eyes and dimples and I am enamored!  She is no angel but we love every single bit of her and are so glad she is part of our family.  She just adores Scarlet and lately they will just play and play together in their little make believe world.  It's the BEST.  There are so many things Rosie says and does. I wish I could capture them all and remember everything.  But I don't think I will be able to at the moment. We love you Rose bud!!

 Thanks to everyone who came!  Special Thanks to Katie and Dustin for bringing the whopper hopper!! And for the great photos of the party and of Juliet.  (all the fancy pretty pics are from Katie, the dark boring ones are all me.)

We believe in Easter...

Yet again, late but not forgotten.  Roll your eyes if you must but I am posting our Easter pictures.  It's only a month overdue... 

Our special hopping visitor left his foot prints on the floor...it was all the girls could talk about for days.  Rosie would tell everyone "the Easter bunny left hop prints on our floor!!!"

In other news and events...we are LOVING the weather...waiting for baby, house hunting and possibly moving in the very near future.  We celebrated Dave's b day this past weekend.  I took Dave on a surprise get away to Park City.  It was SO much fun, and exactly what we needed before our lives get turned upside down and shaken all around.  A few more pics...

 Park City PARTAYYY!!

Dave's big 3-2!!

brought these home for the girlies, bigger than your face lollipop...I couldn't resist.

Happy readings

I had a reading vacation I guess.  I was busy...nope it wasn't that.  I guess I couldn't find anything enthralling enough to get that jump start I was in need of. The couple books I recently finished were good.  Good enough to set a spark to my little pile of kindling per say...

Sunday Clothes

This was a book picked by the book club I haven't been to in ages. I finally got around to reading it and I think I liked it enough.  It was one of those books that gets me all frustrated inside, and then it doesn't stay inside and I get grumpy and Dave has to make sure he didn't make me mad, that it was just that DANG book.  I always have a hard time with reading, watching or hearing about marriages that are stuck and no one is communicating and fixing the problems, I get aggravated, I just want to barge in and set everyone straight!!!  Anyway, I finished the book and was relieved when it was over...so maybe I didn't LIKE it all that much...


Promise Me This

I DID like this one.  No maybe's here.  It is a semi historical fiction novel about some people's lives who were effected by the sinking of the Titanic.  There's all sorts of love and sacrifice and tragedy and just a good ole fashion absorbing read...I thought.  And a decent ending to boot, which is always satisfying.  I can tell a book is pretty good when I am not skimming half pages at a time.  I only skipped a few sentences here and there.  Which is actually good for me.  You get a book like oh...The Help and I don't skip a thing, that's like a 5 star book.  Skim a few sentences here and there and that's a 4, or 3 1/2... so on and so forth.  This was a slim skim, but not a no skim. 

Now I am hoping to find me something else to while away the down time...any recommendations are always lovely...happy reading.

Family Vaca

We did it. We finally went on another vacation with the whole gang. Meaning Dave and me, and our girls. We haven't done that since Disneyland a year and half ago. That trip was exhausting. The drive was looong, and the girls woke up at 5 every morning! Not my idea of a vacation! We must've recouped enough to venture out again. This time not QUITE so far. We headed to sunny St.George. And for once we actually got all the sun we were hoping for! It was a perfect week to be down south. We stayed at a condo and played all day until we were all SPENT. And the girls were in heaven. They LOVED the condo. They'd say, "can we go back home, but not our REAL home our new home?" Rosie kept forgetting what it was called and she would ask "can we go back to the Sando?" Or she would say, "whats that place called again at our vacation?" We swam...in the hot tub...the pools were like glacier water!! The best day we had was spent at the sand dunes. The girls could have stayed ALL day! It was perfect weather just enough sun with a perfect breeze. All that was missing was an ocean. The girls still woke up early, that was tough. But they are old enough now that they can watch shows until a more reasonable hour for Dave and I to drag ourselves out of bed. It was such a great trip. The girls kept saying I LOVE St.George. I kept thinking WHY is this so much fun!? Usually on vacations I get a little stressed or something. But it was so relaxing and fun to have Dave all to ourselves and our girls are finally at fun ages where they appreciate the surroundings. I just remember at Disneyland, exhausting myself trying to get them to be excited about everything. It's like it was all just too much to take in or something. But they loved every minute of this trip and it made it so much more worth it. Every few days Rosie will say, whats that place called again? I know exactly what she is asking. The condo. Ok ramble, ramble. Here are some pictures.

Scarlet DID turn 5!!

It seems like ancient history now that Scarlet turned 5!! It was a crazy couple of days. We had a family party on her actual birthday. She got to bring her best friend Hannah with her to storytime at the library, then to play their hearts out at Micky D's. When Dad got home went out to the cat place, or the firework place, aka costa vida and did some ball-ing, as Scarlet calls it, aka bowling. Then had dinner and played with Daddy on the slide. Perfect day...as far as S was concerned. Then her Hannah Montana friend party was the next day. I was all partied OUT! But the show must go on and we got the cultural hall and some microphones and let the girls rock out the show on the stage. It was loud and chaotic and perfect.

This lady is growing up too fast. It has been a privileged to watch her grown and to get to be her mom(I sound like my mom). She continues to make us smile with her entertaining personality, spontaneous singing performances, contagious laugh and all her funny peculiar preferences (mostly her clothes, she is very picky. It has to be glitzy, and go well with her boots, which are pretty much welded to her her feet around the clock!) I am still a little in shock that my little chunky cheeked, bald headed baby girl is FIVE!! This is a serious milestone. At least she still lets me pull her on my lap and kiss her little face off. Some pics of my favorite five year old, on her special day.

(Proud to say I made that cake and I sort of enjoyed doing it. Kinda hurt me a little to cut it all to pieces...)

(We were a little surprised that Scarlet didn't really want to sing, she was WAY more interested in stealing the show with her dance moves.)

(The rock star crew, having cake, what a day!!)