Nolan Asher Condie 6/8/2011

This is before all the drama.

The very last belly picture! :)

Boy do I look like I've been through heck! And I had!

Such a sweetie! 7 lb 8 oz, 20 inches long.

Everyone just adores him.

He is here! Much to my surprise he was born 5 days early! This was the first time I haven't had to watch the 40 week mark come and go. I must say that as much as I like that (my due date was today) the experience was not to my liking at all.

Here is the story: Tuesday night (6/7/11) Nate and I lay down to go to sleep around 11. Just as I was dozing off I feel this kind of gush, and I am wide awake. TMI ALERT: this post will be somewhat explicit so continue reading at your own risk :) So I get up and go into the bathroom to check my liner and it is full and pink. I start freaking out. Did my water just break??? I am in shock. I keep thinking I imagined it because I am only 39 weeks and 1 day. So I go back to bed thinking I will try and go to sleep and wait to see what happens. But of course my mind is racing and I can't sleep a wink. Finally I decide to wake Nate and see what he thinks we should do. I tell him that I think my water just broke and we both just stare at each other like "what do we do now???". So we discuss our options, stay at home and wait, or go to the hospital now. Knowing that my labors are usually short and a bit more gushing convinced us to call my dad to come over so we could go to the hospital.

So Nate packs the car and I get dressed. Luckily he has the presence of mind to put a towel in the car because by the time we get to the hospital I am drenched. So we get checked in, and get our room. I am still leaking a lot, but having short painless contractions. So we settle down to wait.

Side-note: I had earlier decided that I was going to do this delivery au naturale, because I barely got the epidural in time with Maddy and we were going to have to fork out 10% of the cost.

Ok, so I have these increasingly uncomfortable contractions from about 11:30-3:30 when I finally decide to wake Nate because I am getting to where I can't handle them anymore. As soon as I wake him and he joins me by the bed I start shaking uncontrollably. Not cold, just anxious I think. The contractions were very close together and getting unbearable. Nolan was face-up so I was having the most horrible back labor. Finally I ask him to tell the nurse I want an epidural. I felt like such a failure! I just couldn't take one more contraction. They were so hard and so close together that I could barely talk in between them. The Dr finally arrives and they get me to sit up. That was agony! I could barely sit, and I was shaking so bad I could hardly sit still enough to let him get the thing in. I kept telling myself, just one more, just one more. I wanted to be numb so bad! Let me just say that epidural took forever to kick in, and then it was only working on my right side, so I roll to my left to let gravity pull it down and true to form I feel the need to push. They checked me before the epidural and I was a 4, 30 minutes later, just after the epidural I was at a 10! That explained a lot. So they call the Dr. and then I start to feel better. When he arrives I am calm and can talk again. We start pushing and 13 minutes later Nolan arrives! :)

Sweet relief! There is no greater feeling than just after delivering a baby :) And I didn't even tear! He came out screaming his head off and with the crabbiest expression on his face. But none of that mattered to me. He was alive, and I was feeling great! I continued to shake for several hours after, weird. Nerves I think.

So this was the second time I barely got the epidural in time! I wonder if I can get it when I am only 3 cm next time??? This delivery left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Not at all what I was anticipating. And so much more painful than I remember! :( As of right now, 3 kids sounds perfect to me ;)

Nate's Birthday 2010

Nate turned 34 last year and we had a fun, small at home family gathering. He requested chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and strawberries on top. But the kids wanted them plain so I made some of each.

We always love a reason to have treats!

Look how happy he is to be 34! ;) Or maybe it is the yummy cupcakes?

Yep, must be the cupcakes.

We all enjoyed them.

The kids had fun choosing shirts for dad.

Can you guess who chose this one???

This one was pretty awesome too.

I bought him his favorite movies on DVD. It is about time!

He got some great workout clothes from my parents. He had a great birthday. I love you honey!

Summer fun!

So I am starting where I left off in January. Hopefully I can get all of last year done before teh baby comes, and then I can be current. So here are some posts for last summer.

Thanks to our friends the Crouch's my children were able to go on a tube ride for the first time ever! You can tell they are kind of nervous, but they eventually warmed up to it and loved it! I of course stayed safely in the boat away from the yucky lake water :)

Just look at how excited they are!

So much to CELEBRATE!!!

I am BACK! I took a little hiatus because school was seriously intense this semester (5 upper division classes, 14 books to read, many essays to write), but now it is ALL OVER. I almost can't believe it myself! I am a college graduate!!!!! I can't believe how long this journey has been, and how much I have grown in the process. It has been difficult for all four of us, but it was worth it.

I am so happy to be done. Every day I wake up and think "I could do anything today!". The only problem with that is that I am now 36 weeks pregnant and not as full of energy as I was. Not only that but this boy has dropped already, which makes it very hard to walk. So I am not quite as productive as I planned. Also, I need him to stay in there at least one more week so we won't have to worry about preemie troubles. I feel very content and proud of what I have done. And I am so excited to embark on the next phase of my life: mother of 3 here I come! :)

Gross and disturbing!

This post is not for the faint of heart, or weak of stomache. The pictures are graphic, but if you have seen them on facebook already you are prepared. One night after having put the kids to bed, Nathan and I were enjoying some quiet time in the living room. About 45 minutes after putting the kids to bed Madalyn comes out. Not crying, just wimpering, and I walk her back to her room. She is trying to tell me something that I am not understanding. Something about a light, and it coming out. When we finally get back to her room she walks over to the electrical outlet and tells me that she put a barrette in it and the light came out! She then tells me that her finger hurts. I run her to the bathroom and turn on the light to find her middle finger charred and black with a large crack down the middle. Yes a crack. Dry, and black. Not bleeding. Well, being the very calm and collected person I am...I immediately freak out, which leads to Madalyn realizing how bad the situation really is and she begins to cry :( Nathan comes and I explain what happened. So what do we do next? Ruch her to the emergency room? Oh no, Nathan has to call his ER friend and find out if we really need to take her. I call my dad and ask him to come over to be with Corbin while we go to the hospital. In my mind, there is no question, we are going to the hospital. When Nate finally gets off of the phone he isn't sure if we should or not, so I say better safe than sorry, let's go! We had given her some Motrin and she had calmed down again. So off we went. A couple of hours later, we were given a band-aid and some neosporin, a blanket, book, juice, yogurt and Cheetohs and sent on our way. That was the most expensive band-aid I have ever bought, but the peace of mind was priceless. We found out she had done th best possible thing in the situation. She had placed the open barrette simultaneously into both sides of the socket which meant that it was grounded, and so it only zapped out, instead of traveling through her body! Scary! But she was really fine, only some singe marks on her fingers and the open wound. By the next day the crack in her finger had filled in, as you will see shortly, and she was feeling all better. She also learned a valuable lesson about light sockets. We were just so happy that she was ok.

The offending barrette.

Corbin plays Tee-ball

Corbin finally got to play sports this year! We started him in Tee-ball and he loved it. Well, he loved it when both times each game he got to hit the ball, and when he would occasionally have the chance to catch it. We noticed pretty early that tee-ball is not his strongest suit. During the first few practices, he would watch the ball roll right past him on the ground :) But by the end of it he had caught on and was doing very well. The best part was that Nathan got to be one of the coaches.

Swing! Batter, batter, batter, ssswwwiiinnnggg!

The kids were so cute and so small! They all felt like the baseball diamond was the perfect sandbox, and took advantage of that frequently.

The most handsome coach I've ever seen! ;)

Great catch dude!

Corbin turns 5!

Well in ture Corbin fashion the 2 weeks leading up to his birthday were terrible! He was very naughty and difficult. So I determined that he would have to earn his birthday presents this year. My mother thought I was being terrible, but I knew there was a lesson to be learned, and by golly, he was going to learn it! So his birthday came and we talked about how he had been so naughty, and that he was going to have to be on his best behavior to be able to get his birthday presents. I explained that his behavior was unacceptable, and that I was not going to reward him for it. He understood, and over the next 5 days he worked really hard and was really good. So we invited our friends over and he got to finally open his presents.

I do not at all regret making him earn his presents. His behavior improved dramatically after this episode. He realized that there are real consequences for his actions, and he worked very hard on it afterwards. I think it really made us closer as a family. It is important to me that my children are grateful for what they have, respectful of others, and sincerely sorry when they make mistakes. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to teach him these things, and it really worked. I love my son, and these moments only make me love him all the more. He really valued his presents since he had to earn them. I am so proud of him and how far he has come. He is such a joy to us and we are so grateful to have him in our family.

Jumping Jax

When it is cold and wintry, what do you do? You take your kids to an indoor inflatable park where they can run themselves out! We had a great time! It was their first time in a place like this and it took Madalyn a while to feel comfortable and safe, but after I went with her a few times she was able to do it all by herself. Corbin of course took off right away and didn't need any help at all.

So this is why they call it Jumping Jax :)

Sorry, I am no good with moving shots. She took a while to do this, but once she did she loved it!

Pure unadulterated joy :]

Madalyn turns 3

It is amazing how time flies! I can't believe my baby is growing up. Madalyn's Birthday happened to fall on a Sunday this year. I bought her this dress to wear to church and to her party. She loved it. I even painted her nails a similar color. She felt like the princess she is.

Later after church we had Grandma and Papa over and we opened gifts. She got a Barbie movie with many of the songs featured in the Barbie movies she loves so much. This is a huge hit at our house. She loves to sing along with the songs and she expects me to know all the words as well.

Grandma and Papa got her this beautiful, sparkly Barbie which she loves. I love it too because the body suit is painted on. So no nakedness :)

We got her this video game to use on Corbin's Leapster. She was pretty excited that she was actually going to get to use the hallowed Leapster. Corbin wouldn't let her play with it really before he agreed to let her use it for her game.

This girl loves stickers and princesses, so wouldn't you know she was over the moon about hi gift. We sit and do it when Corbin is at school which makes it extra special.

Madalyn had been asking Grandma for months for a piggy bank. Corbin was jealous. He wanted one too. And this one happened to be his favorite color as well.

But the best present of the day was dress-ups! If there is one thing that both of my kids love to play more than anything, it is dress-up. So Grandma and I both got her an assortment of dressups clothes.

She kinda looks like a combination of Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood.

So pretty!

This one is meant to be like a mermaid, which she loves!

Happy Birthday to you!

Blow baby!

She actually enjoyed eating the frosting off of the candle more than eating the cupcake. Next year I will remember she doesn't like cake and get an ice cream cake instead. Overall it was a wonderful day full of love and excitement. We are so in love with this sweet girl and so glad she is a part of our lives and our family. She is a treasure.