Christmas Pictures

Here are a few pictures of what we've been doing lately. It's been fun to hang out so much with Paul after his finals ended and with my family. We've done lots of fun Christmas things together. Cassidy and Lyla had their picture taken with Santa.

Kinda random, but I thought Lyla was so adorable wrapped up in her little towel after bathtime!

Lyla's a bit hungry- can you tell? :) She just makes me laugh when she is looking to eat because her mouth is open so wide and she moves her head all over like crazy trying to find some milk!!

Family picture- Lyla wasn't very happy at this point but she was wearing an adorable Christmas dress!

It's been 2 1/2 weeks since our precious girl joined our family and we're continuing to adjust to all of the changes that have taken place. The newest change is that my doctor told me yesterday that I need to change my diet because she thinks that something I'm eating is making Lyla really fussy. For two weeks I'm not allowed to eat dairy, citrus, chocolate, whole grains, eggs, corn, or tomatoes. Those of you who know me well know that this list pretty much covers my entire diet! And no chocolate over the holidays? How is that even possible?? I need some creative ideas on how to handle this- any good suggestions of yummy things I can still eat? At this point I'm planning on living on water and white bread- I guess it could be the perfect way to get back to my pre-pregnancy body...

Cousins!

The day Lyla and I came home from the hospital, we spent some time with the Grossarth cousins before they had to leave!! Cute little Kaitlyn kept reaching out to Lyla and trying to console her. She didn't take her eyes off her the whole time we were together!

I can't believe how much babies change in 5 months!! Kaitlyn is so big compared to Lyla!!

Fun pic of the girls!! Lyla was tired of all of the attention and the bright flashes by this point!I can already tell that Kaitlyn will be a great older cousin! They are going to be best friends!

Grandma with the cute girls.

Grandma was brave enough to hold all three grandchildren. It was pretty hilarious trying to keep them all happy at the same time- Jackson was good as long as we constantly handed him marshmallows.

Jeanne and the kids left the next day and it was such a hard goodbye for me!! We had so much fun over Thanksgiving and then hanging out the week before Lyla was born. I almost feel like Jackson and Kaitlyn are my own kids and I could barely handle kissing them goodbye. I've felt so close to Jeanne as she's helped me through this transition to being a mom and I cried for days after she was gone. Definitely not a good idea to mix crazy post-pregnancy emotions with the normal depression of saying goodbye!! Can't wait until the next visit from my favorite family!

Lyla Brooke part II

A few people have asked for more details on the whole delivery process so feel free to skip if you don't care or don't want to know! :)

Last Friday, December 4th, I had my weekly doctor's appointment. I wasn't expecting much but he told me I was dialated to a 2 1/2 or 3, 90% effaced, and the head had dropped. He stripped my membrane and told me that 50% of the time that would bring on labor within 24-48 hours. Most huge pregnant women would have been celebrating at that point, but for me the anxiety attacks began! I thought I had one more week before all of the changes would take place and I'm one who likes to plan things out and mentally prepare. I have a hard time with any kind of change so the thought of leaving the pregnant lifestyle that I was used to was scary. I was worried about labor, worried about all of the plans i had for the next week, and worried about my ability to be a good mother to a newborn!!

Friday night, Paul and I went to The Forgotten Carols with Jeanne and my parents. It was great as usual, but I had a hard time focusing because I has having braxton hicks contractions constantly and they were getting stronger. I went home and stayed up blogging, emailing, & cleaning, which probably wasn't a good idea- sleeping would have been smarter. After about an hour and a half of sleep, I woke up at 2 am with pain in my stomach. I didn't know exactly what it was and kept telling myself these weren't contractions- just random pain that was caused by something else and just happened to come right then!! I figured that if i never admitted to myself it was labor it would just go away for a few days! :)

Paul woke up around 3:45 because i was breathing hard- trying to get through the pain. I made him try to sleep for awhile but then at 5 we started timing them- and sure enough they were less than 5 minutes apart and lasting for a minute. We started packing, getting dressed, I tried to do the last minute things in the nursery- all in between contractions. At 6 we drove to the hospital and called my parents. I was dialated to a 4 so they checked me in. It definitely got more intense and the next few hours weren't fun- but paul, my parents, and Jeanne all helped me through one contraction at a time. The nurses were great- my delivery nurse especially was amazing and sweet!! After 1.5 hours I started throwing up and shaking- so the nurses said that i must be in transition meaning dialated to a 7. That gave me hope, so it was pretty deflating when they checked and said i was only at a 4.5 or 5. And I had to get all the way to 10? Ahhhh!!!! Mini freak out session, but everyone calmed me down. I ended up making it to a 7 before getting an epideral- and despite my hesitation to get one and my desire to see if i could handle labor without, it was the most amazing blessing to suddenly feel only tightening in my belly instead of lots of pain. I'm so grateful for modern medicine and have respect for anyone who can handle that entire process naturally! The atmostphere in the room quickly changed- instead of stress and pain we were talk and laughing and reading the ensign!! I even closed my eyes and tried to nap a bit! The dr was supposed to come right down to break my waters, but it took him 2 hours to get there!! When he finally did he said I was fully dialated and it was time to start pushing. Lyla was born a few minutes later at 10:49. It was such an amazing experience and I'm glad it all went so well!! It definitely made me have so much respect for my mom's willingness to go through so much to bring me into the world. I also am starting to understand the love that she has for each of us and how she really would do anything for us. She's such an amazing example to me of a righteous mother who raises her children the way the Lord would want her to.

Here are some pictures of that first big day of Lyla's life. I love just holding her and looking at her beautiful little face.

Paul was so supportive and such an amazing help thru the whole process. The nurse kept commenting about how good he was in that situation and it definitely helped me find the energy to keep going when I thought I just couldn't do it anymore.

Here are pictures of my cute, supportive family who all came to visit within 2 hours of Lyla's birth. I really appreciate each one of them so much!

Jeanne is such an amazing sister and friend to me and I was so glad that she was still in town when Lyla decided to join us. I'm constantly asking her baby questions and would be lost without her advice and tips.

This was taken the morning we left the hospital. It was nice to stay thru Monday so that we had two nights there with constant help. I soon realized after going home for our first night that my choice would be to stay in the hospital for the first two weeks instead of just the first two days!! Of course Lyla decided that it would be fun to stay up all night to celebrate coming home. :)

Can I just point out the fact that in this picture I'm actually able to hold Lyla in a normal position? Because my huge belly is mostly gone? Yay! A few days ago I showed Paul my new trick- bending down to touch my toes!! It's been months since I could do that...

Cute grandpa came to say hi in between his surgeries since he was operating at the same hospital!
Paul had class when I was discharged so my mom helped me get home.

Lyla already loves being held by Grandma!

Being a mom is very challenging and there is so much to learn and to remember, but I love it and I'm excited for all that is ahead for us! I realize that this picture isn't at all flattering of me, but I just had to put in this perfect moment that Paul captured of both of us sleeping in the same position. The question is- who is more tired these days, the new mom or the new baby...?

Lyla Brooke Rumsey

This morning at 10:49am Lyla Brooke Rumsey entered the world weighing in at 7lbs 4 oz! She is a beautiful little girl, and both her and Mommy are doing just fine. Tiffany was up since 2am this morning with labor pains, but didn't go into "actual labor" until about 5 am when we started gathering our things to head to the hospital. Lyla and Tiff are both fast asleep right now after a long morning of work. It was an exciting morning, but I'll let Tiffany give you all the details. For now, here's what you've all been waiting for....pictures :-)

Lyla right after being cleaned up. She's so calm and peaceful! I hope that continues!

The new Mommy :-)

The support crew who was there for almost the entire hospital process. Thanks!

39 Weeks!

So, tomorrow I'll be 39 weeks- crazy!! Here's a pic last week at 38 weeks: My mom has a Santa apron that was perfect with my big belly. The entire family was very entertained by it.

One more pic- a few days ago. This week my maternity leave started and I've had so much fun hanging out with my mom and Jeanne all week. They've helped me get all of the last minute things done and helped to distract me with plenty of fun activities as well. I've loved spending time with Jackson and Kaitlyn- the cutest kids ever!! I'm really going to miss them when they go back to Wisconsin. Kevin has definitely been missed- thanks for letting your family stay here!

I had a doctor's appt today and it sounds like I'm getting really close!! I'm dialated to a 2 1/2 or 3 and her head is really low. I've been having braxton hicks contractions like crazy all evening but who knows when this little girl will decide to come! Until then, I'll try to not worry too much...

Paul's birthday!!

Paul turned 24 last Saturday and we had a great weekend together!! On Friday night we went to eat at Texas Roadhouse- yummy!! I think I gained 5 pounds from the rolls but they were worth it!! We then went home and spent the evening watching Smallville and relaxing which was so nice after several busy weeks!! I was feeling overwhelmed with baby things which were lying all over the condo instead of organized in any way, so Paul was sweet enough to say he wanted to spend part of the evening going thru everything. It really was fun to evaluate what we have and what else we'll need. On Saturday I tried to decorate with streamers although I didn't get very far since it required me to stand on a chair...a difficult balancing act at this point. I made waffles for breakfast and then we ran lots of errands getting Christmas decorations and some of the baby things we still need.

We then splurged on some Taco Bell :) and then spent the afternoon relaxing at our place. It's so nice when we don't have millions of things to do on a Saturday!!

We decided it would be fun to have a few friends over to celebrate the day, and Paul requested that we watch Superman since it's his favorite hero. He wanted brownies and I did my best to make them festive...

I do realize that the correct superman symbol is red, not purple but we discovered that red food coloring doesn't actually look red, no matter how much you use!! It was yummy though and we had a fun evening.

On Sunday we had an amazing dinner with my family- Paul's request of ribs, au gratin potatoes, salads, and wheat rolls. We ate in the formal dining room which is quite the honor- way to go Paul!! He opened his presents and then we had dessert.

He requested cheesecake so my mom and I made one with a chocolate crust and raspberry sauce. I wish I had some right now! Here's the group shot- minus dad who was taking it.

Happy birthday my love!! Thanks for being so easy to please and for choosing to spend your big weekend with me!

36 Weeks

Here are a few pics at 36 weeks:

My family thought it would be fun to get a profile picture of me next to Paul to show how huge I am! :)
Everything is going so well!! I'm really tired and it's hard to get around, but overall I feel great and I'm so excited about it all!! Time is still flying by though which makes me nervous- I know that especially with the holidays this little girl is going to be here before I know it!

Baby Showers!

My cute friends and my amazing mom threw an incredible baby shower for me, as well as a mini-shower for the "roommates". The old group of us girls got together at Allison's condo for brownies & chatting like the good old days. It was great to see everyone! Here are a few pics:
Allison gave me adorable Italian shoes and then two great shirts- one that says i'm gonna grow up to be a tax accountant like mommy and one that says I'm one cute tax deduction- both perfect for the nerdy accountant in me!!

My mom is the most talented hostess I've ever seen- she knows how to plan a completely perfect event!! She spent days getting food and decorations ready for the shower- my favorite was the pink and brown cake that she made. It was her second time ever using fondant and it was incredible!! It looked better than my wedding cake! Pretty sure she could get paid the big bucks if she wanted to!

We had fun cooking some things together- I love doing anything with my mom who has become one of my best friends in the last few years!! She had the perfect idea of making cranberry muffins since they are my very favorite!

The girls in the family- my gorgeous sisters have been so supportive and excited through the pregnancy. I love seeing Alyssa & Cassidy often and just wish Jeanne & Kaitlyn could have been here for the shower! Jeanne has given me advice on a daily basis whenever I start to freak out about some aspect of labor or being a mom- I definitely would be lost without her!!

I love the diaper cake!!

Paul and I snuck a picture in before the shower started- he's been such a support through everything and is so patient with my emotions and my complaining and my tiredness!!

My supportive extended family made a huge effort to come even though some had to drive quite a bit!! My grandma, Aunt Joyce, and cousins Jill, Jennifer, & Kaisi were so fun to have there!! They have all been great examples to me and give me the energy to keep going when I get overwhelmed with the busyness of life!

My cute "roommate" friends! They all helped so much with the shower- the invites, games, decorations, etc. They thought it would be funny to take a pic with each of them touching my belly.

Alyssa & my mom spent hours sewing a darling pink and brown baby blanket- I love it and really appreciate their hard work!! They are so thoughful even though they are both extremely busy!

My mom gave me my blessing dress for Lyla to be blessed in- I'm so grateful that she saved it all this time!

My cousin Megan Sidwar has been a fun friend over the last few years and I've loved watching her cute family grow. It was fun to see her and I appreciated her help at the shower!! Paul's cute aunt Areta drive from Kaysville which was so sweet!! It was so much fun to see her and Paul's great Aunt Areta as well! They are both so supportive!

My mom has such sweet friends in her ward! Emily Hair, Colette Tervort, and Sarah Bradford are a few of the many who have made me feel welcome even though I'm not in the ward any more.

My amazing co-workers!! All of the girls I work with including Katie Rohbock, Candace Lish, and Katie Barnette have become such great friends!! I guess that's what happens when you spend 80+ hours in an office together some weeks!! We did recruiting at BYU together the day of the shower so they were wearing our EY shirts. I couldn't believe that they would go to the effort of coming to the shower- so sweet!! I'm really going to miss them when I'm on maternity leave!

I love the BYU ward we are going to and all of the sweet friends we have made!! These girls are all so amazing and I learn so much from them on a daily basis! I'm really going to be sad when we all separate in the next few months but it gives me hope of the amazing people I will find no matter where Paul and I end up!

Thank you to everyone who helped with the showers and who supported them by coming!! Where would we be in life without friends and family who constantly show their love and support? I have been feeling so grateful for the kindness of those around me and the many thoughtful things people do and say- it makes such a difference!!