24th weekend

We went down to Toquerville for the 24th of July weekend.  I love going there for the 24th.  I feel the parade is probably more Liam's speed since he is pretty timid about running in the street for candy.  He was getting the hang of it near the end of the parade.  That evening we ran up to Zion to play along the river.  It was so much fun to watch Liam with his cousins.  Also the big hit of the night was the fact that we found tadpoles in the river.  We had tried taking Liam to the creek in Toquerville the day before to find some but didn't see a single one.  I knew that Liam would think it was so cool so I was glad that we found some when we got up to Zion.  

Harrison seemed indifferent about the outing.

Poor tadpoles

Sundance

Jeff's company gave us free tickets to do the lift up at Sundance a week ago which we almost completely forgot about.  I am so glad we remembered and went up for the afternoon.  I hadn't been up to Sundance since before I met Jeff and I have never done the lifts or any hiking up there.  It was so beautiful...and hot, but beautiful.  Liam was terrified when we first showed him what we would be doing, but we have been really trying to get him used to trying new things.  So I was really happy when he did it even though he was afraid at first.  About half way up he finally released the death grip on our arms.  

 Iron man Liam flying at the top of the mountain.

 Such a gorgeous view

 We didn't really realize that there was hiking after the lift ride so we weren't super prepared, but we gave it a go anyway.  I hate that hiking with kids on edges stresses me out so much, but I managed to hold my breath and get through it.  I am always fine when it is just me, but man when my kid is on the edge I kind of become a nervous wreak.

 Harrison had such a great view with the blanket over his head

 Baby Solo is so good to tag along with us

 How you take a baby on a ski lift.  He was pretty happy.  Slept the whole way up and then was pretty happy til about halfway down.

My handsome husband.  He is such a good dad.

Liam said he had to have a picture while we were in the chair

Such an amazing view

Poor Jeff.  I made him try to do a cutesy foot picture with me.  Also shows that I was not prepared for hiking as I wore my cute shoes which were originally blue.  Liam is also wearing crocs that were too big.

Grotto Falls

We drove up Payson canyon a couple of weeks ago to do a little hike to Grotto Falls.  This is such a perfect hike for little kids.  It is short enough that no snacks are really required, has water to keep them entertained, lots of log bridges to cross, and a waterfall at the end.  There was a lot of people, but I think everyone has just discovered Utah now.  Seriously, everywhere I go there are people.  I grew up hiking and a lot of the hikes that I used to do you would never see another soul.  Now they are just full of people.  Anyway I digress.  I am excited to discover some of these hikes up in Northern Utah.  Since I grew up in Southern Utah I know all the hikes and things to do down there really well, but I feel like I haven't discovered all the hidden gems that must exist around Provo,

Harrison's Blessing Day

Here I am trying to play catch up on my blog.  We blessed Harrison Paul Walther on July 3rd when he was just one month old.  Kind of fortunate that we did because I actually don't think the blessing outfit would have fit him otherwise.  We had such a great weekend with family, and felt so loved.

Harrison Paul's Birth Story

I cant believe our Harrison is almost a month old!  I figured I better record his birth story before I forget.  Its so amazing how suddenly you go from a family of 3 to 4, but it just feels like this new person fits.  With all the hormones and emotions before he came I was so worried about this.  I had all those feelings of thinking I wasn't capable of loving another person the way I loved Liam, or that having another would change the way I felt about Liam. I guess it is true that you just grow another heart.

Getting this guy here was really stressful for me.  It doesn't really make sense, but I think I was just done...and I had been done for a while.  Originally thought he was breech like Liam so I was feeling ok and just accepting that it would be a c-section, but then he turned and it opened the possibility of a vbac.  We thought we would go to the 39 weeks and see if there were any signs of labor and then just go from there.  Each week I would go and I was always dialated to a 1 and I never ever was any different.  I tried every wive's tale, labor inducing method and nothing was working.  I made it to my 40 week appointment and nothing was changing, and since I would have been a vbac my doctor couldn't induce me or get things going with pitocin.  At this point I was mentally just done, I felt like I couldn't take it anymore.  My doctor looked at me and said "you don't want to be here another week do you?  Do you want to do this tomorrow".  I looked at him and knew I just needed it to be over and I agreed to the c-section the next morning.  I couldn't stand just sitting around doing nothing that day so we took Liam to the Thanksgiving Point and did the natural curiosity museum.  We had lots of fun and it was a great distraction.  I hate being stuck in the hospital so much and the thought of being held hostage there (lets face it you are pretty much a hostage) would just send me through the roof of just sheer panic.

I made it through the night to the next morning and we left to get all checked in at the hospital and left Liam with my mom.  This was the first night I had ever spent away from him believe it or not.  We go get all checked in and they send me to the labor room, and it is the biggest one with huge windows and I think "go figure I get the beautiful room that I only get to be in for a couple of minutes".  I get changed and walk as much as I can since during my pregnancy I developed pretty bad clausterphobia (has since pretty much gone away).  Anyway I had a very hard time laying in one spot.  The anesthesiologist comes in and says he wants to do a spinal instead of an epidural and we get ready and they just have me walk into the O.R.  I get my spinal, Jeff holds my hand and looks away as he has a hard time with needles.  I was glad my doctor stood in front of me and pushed my shoulders down so I was in the right position and talked me through it.  The anesthesiologist did a great job and it really wasn't that bad.  Then they introduced me to the doctor who would be assisting and funnily enough it was the doctor that did my c-section with Liam.  So the c-section was underway.  After a few minutes I hear them say one more push and they will have the baby out, and then I hear my baby's beautiful cries.  I hear everyone say "show the mom, show the mom"...and no one did.  They swept him away along with Jeff and they ask me what baby's name is and I say "Harrison" and my doctor looks at me and says "My son and his wife are due next week and that's what they are naming their baby."  Go figure.  Anyway they finally bring him back and I get to meet him.  He was 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long.

After I'm in recovery for an hour while they do their thing with Harrison (even though they told me they wouldn't bathe him and stuff...apparently they did).  They bring him in and I nursed him, and man this kid knew how to eat right from the get go.  Then they wheel me down to the fourth floor to my room, and yeah not nearly as nice as upstairs. I think I had the smallest little closet room on the floor.  I did a lot of walking and saw other rooms and yeah mine was pretty small.  I also hated how all the chairs were in the corner behind me, so even if I had guests I couldn't see anybody.  Oh well thats why I wanted out.  

From the start all nurses asked me what my goals were and I pretty much said my goal is to get out of here as soon as humanly possible.  We had a little bit of trouble when I was ready to get up and walk and apparently I was bleeding through the dressing.  They let me get up and walk but then told me I had to stay down with this weighted sandbag on me and that i couldn't get up and that sent me into complete panic.  My doctor came in later and said that I didn't need to stay down but just when I was I needed to put the weight on the incision.  After that things were great recovery wise.  Very similar to Liam, hardly any pain.  I then found out that my doctor had done stitches rather than staples and that it would be possible if my doc gave the ok that I could go home the next day.  Oh I was so ready I was walking the halls all the time and I was tired of that same loop.  Also I was pretty much totally taking care of myself and my baby.  Pretty much the only thing they were doing was distributing my pills and lets face it I think I'm capable of doing that myself.  I dont know how people stay in the hospital...I just go crazy.  My doctor came in the next morning and I ask if I can go home today.  I was thinking I would have to fight but he just says "yeah that's fine", and just like that we were free.  We went home and Liam loved having us there.  And we were a family of four with our new addition of baby Harrison Paul.  

Baby get out!

Ugh seriously I am done with being pregnant.  Every night I go to bed to hypothetically sleep, but pretty much not and then I wake up and I'm still pregnant.  Baby boy is head down and should be ready to go.  He was breech like Liam for a long time, but I decided to try acupuncture to turn him (the only thing I didn't do last time) and he did go head down.  Whether or not it was the acupuncture or just coincidence I have no idea.  We were thinking at first if I hadn't gone into labor by last Wednesday we would just do the c-section, but at my appointment I kind of freaked out thinking about it and decided to wait another week.  Now its hard to think at this point I could have been coming home from the hospital.  So next week we will face the same decision again.  I really hope I just go into labor so I can do the vbac (because I'm vbac my doctor won't induce me with pitocin.  I have to go into labor naturally).  I don't know why I'm freaking out about a c-section this time.  Honestly my c-section with Liam was such a breeze, I guess I just feel like I cant get that lucky twice.  I hate thinking about being in the hospital for the 3 days, I would really like just to be able to go home.  This will also be my first night away from Liam.  We will see how he handles it.  Anyway come on baby just get out of there.