TWO WEEKS GONE BY

Two weeks ago today I came home from the hospital and the kids had made me these signs with Grandma Bytheway. They were a little sad that I didn't have Molly with me but they were all super excited when I came hom with her the next morning.
I think the doll might be as big as Molly.

Being home meant we had to use this lovely bed of lights. Luckily it was only for a few days because she did not sleep well on this bed which meant I did not sleep well. After having her biliruben (?) levels checked twice, we were done.

Lucas loves to hold Molly.

When she is awake she is very wide eyed.

Her first bath at home. Surprisingly she didn't seem to mind.

I was trying to get a picture of her cute lashes but they are so light you can hardly see them.

And here she is at two weeks old. She has already changed so much.

When I took her in for her two week check up she weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz which is the 19% and she had grown an inch in length so at 20 inches she was in the 38% in height. Her head on the other hand is quite small, coming in at the 9%. Which is why none of her head bands fit yet. Oh well. She is so cute I love to just stare at her. We are still adjusting to having a newborn. But we all love her. The house on the other hand, looks like a tornado comes through everyday. When we get one thing cleaned up, something else is a mess. I guess as long as everybody is happy then its okay.

RACHEL

Rachel did this.

And then did this.

I hope she doesn't think this will get her out of cleaning it all up.

AT THE HOSPITAL

Molly Marie Bytheway

October 8, 2010

11:34 pm

6 lbs 6 oz 19 inches

Mom and Molly. It was nice to be able to hold her right after she was born.

Dad and his baby girl.

Dave brought all of the kids in the next day to meet their new sister. Lucas just kept pointing at her and jabbering. Every time I tried to move her away he would grab onto the blankets and pull her back down so he could keep looking and pointing at her.

Rachel was so excited to hold Molly. Before Molly was born, Rachel wanted to name her Lollipop. Since we didn't do Lollipop, Rachel has nick named her Molly-Lolli-Pop.

Preston only wanted to hold her for a second and then he was off to find more exciting things to do.

Zack and Jackson couldn't wait to hold her. They are such good big brothers.

As everyone was sitting on my bed and then when I looked at the picture later I thought "Holy cow! We have A LOT of people in our family!"

This is what Zack, Preston, and Rachel did for entertainment when they weren't holding Molly. And Lucas kept wrapping himself up in the curtain by the door way.

Apparently we are raising a bunch of Monkey's!

Love her to pieces. I am so greatful to have this little piece of heaven with us. She is absolutely perfect in every way!

Hanging out under the lights.

She wears a little cover over her eyes while she is under the lights so she still looks pretty yellow around her eyes. Another day or two with the lights at home and she should be good.

MOLLY'S BIRTH DAY (long story)

So Molly decided she didn't want to wait until her scheduled delivery on the 11th and let me know that when I woke up on Friday morning with contractions. I thought I would just get a few here and there and figured it was nothing. Just in case, I started writing downs the times of my contractions and turns out they were pretty regular. About 20-30 minutes apart. So not super close but they weren't stopping either.

At about 2:30 I called Dave and told him he probably shouldn't go on his campout that night. (I don't think he was too upset because it was supposed to be pretty cold that night. But he really wanted to hike Timp the next day. I felt bad that he didn't get to do that.) I told him he didn't need to come home from work early though because I was still going to get my hair done despite the contractions. So all during my hair appointment I was still writing the times of my contractions. My stylist/brother probably thought I was a little crazy for still coming in. Anyway I got my hair done but I did have to cancel my girls night to the movie. I didn't think it was fair to make Dave stay home from his campout and then me go to the movie.

Since I was having a C-Section I didn't know how long I should wait before going in so I called the hospital to see if I should come in and they said that I could wait until I had about 6 contractions in an hour. So I finished making the cinnamon rolls that I had started earlier in the day, sat down and ate them with Dave and the kids and all the while my contractions started getting a bit closer. About 10-15 minutes apart. This was about 8:30 pm. When we were done eating I had Dave put all of the kids in bed so that I could lay down and see if that slowed down the contractions. Nope. The opposite happened. Contractions started coming about every 6 minutes.

I started calling my family to get someone to come over. When my sister and her husband showed up we headed off to the hospital. Got there about 9:45 pm, got all checked in by 10:05 pm, threw up in the hallway as I was being wheeled to Labor and Delivery, had my blood drawn, IV started, and a hundred questions later, I was finally all hooked up to the monitors at 10:24 pm. The nurse came in to check me at about 10:30 pm and HOLY COW, I was already dialated to an 8! Maybe more but she couldn't tell for sure because my bag of water was so low. I couldn't believe it! The nurse called the on call doctor to check things out and she said there may not be time to do a c-section because of how far I was and because the baby was so low already (she was low enough that they couldn't really get her on the ultra sound machine). Then that doctor called the doctor that was filling in for my doctor cause he was out of town. So him and another doctor showed up (they both needed to come to do the c-section) and then I had everyone asking if I wanted to do a vaginal delivery instead of a c-section and I was just scared and nervous because after having three previous c-section I didn't think I could deliver any other way. And honestly my contractions were getting stronger and all I wanted right then was an epidural. We got that taken care of and then the doctor came in about 5 minutes later and decided to break my water. Then he told me to push just to see what would happen. And lo and behold their is the little girl's head. After about four more pushes our little baby girl was born on October 8, 2010 at 11:34 pm. Only an hour and a half after getting checked in downstairs. The doctor said a vaginal birth after 3 c-sections is certainly not recommended but because of the situation he felt that was the best option. So basically I didn't have a choice in the matter.

I am so grateful that everything worked out. And I am loving the recovery. So much different than recovering from a c-section. And it was so nice to be able to hold Molly right after she was born. She is absolutely beautiful and we love having her here with us. I will post some pictures when I get the camera back from Dave. (He took the camera with him and the kids as they spend the afternoon at the museum on Hill Air Force Base so that I could have some quiet time.)

THE DIRTY DASH (with lots of pictures)

Last Saturday we headed up to Soldier Hollow for the first ever Utah Dirty Dash. My sister was planning on doing it with some friends so some of my brothers thought it would be fun and talked Dave into joining their team of 5. The first order of business was to eat some breakfast.
Don't they look excited? They all had their matching shirts on because the boys were doing a mini race after the big one.

Before the race.

L to R: Kevin Crandall, Jordan Chambers, Dave Bytheway, Chad Chambers, Ryan Crandall.

The race was a 10K with obsticles through out the whole thing. It started out with everyone running up a mud hill and then during the course they had walls to climb over, tunnels to crawl through, tires to step over, a ravine to go down and back up, a bunch of switch backs, a few hills, a slip and slide coming down the last hill and of course they ended the race with a big mud pit that you had to crawl through.

I think Dave is at the top of the mud pit going under the flags.

The after shot.

L to R: Ryan Crandall, Jordan Chambers, Chad Chambers, Dave Bytheway, Kevin Crandall

Dave totally dove head first into the mud pit. He said it was actually pretty fun.

Then after the 10K they had a one mile Piglet Plunge that the boys and two of their cousins ran in. They were pretty excited about their tatoos. After running up the mud hill and back down, Zack just looked at me and told me it was lame. After the mud hill they ran up to the top of the slip and slide and came down that and then finished off with a dip in the mud pit. I'm actually surprised that none of them lost a shoe or got stuck themselves. Preston was smiling the whole time that I could see him. And Zack even cheered when he finally climbed out of the mud pit.

Dave was such a good sport to go along with them after he had just barely gotten cleaned off from his own race.

Preston told me it was awesome. I think Jack liked it. And all I ever got from Zack was that it was lame and he wished he had just stayed home by himself all day.

Preston asked me if I wanted a hug. I think I will pass!

Apparently the water was freezing. The boys wouldn't get under the shower so Dave was just trying to splash it on them. He did the best he could and then we just changed them and headed home. They were all pretty worn out. Lucas and Rachel were so good just hanging out the entire time. But Lucas was asleep before we even left the parking lot and Rachel wasn't too far behind him.

It was a pretty fun day. When we got home, everyone showered, ate dinner and then we headed off to the circus. Needless to say, we all slept in the next day.

ALL GROWN UP!

My little Lukey Bug is growing up! He went in for his 18 month check up yesterday and he finally passed the 20 pound mark. He weighs 20 lbs 7 oz which is in the 3% and he is 30 inches tall which is the 1%. At least he is on the charts. With the new baby coming we thought we would try Lucas out in the toddler bed. He does fabulous at night and doesn't even get out once. Naptime is a different story. Since I am not ready to give up his two, two hour naps, we will be sticking to the crib for now. Doesn't he look so cute in his little bed? And here he is enjoying a peanut butter bar that my brother made. I don't think he actually ate anything but the chocolate on top but he had a lot of fun playing in it!

Dave was the lucky one that got to clean up this mess!