One Month

I stole this idea from Randi but I think it is a good way to have a picture each month to see the growth and changes Denzil makes. Well, after one full month at home things are starting to be a bit more normal. I still am feeding him quite often which apparently is what happens for the first few months. He has been getting it down pretty well but we still have our moments or days. He is becoming more alert during his awake hours and starting to check himself out in the mirror above the swing. We haven't had any official smiles yet but hopefully soon. He is starting to fit better in the 0-3 month clothing. He's still a bit small but I guess that is why they are made to cover several months so that they can grow into them.
This is the one and only newborn size sleeper and it now fits him just right. I tried to put him in it the first week we were home and it was HUGE on him. I guess we'll have to have him wear it several times this week to get some use out of it before he gets too big.
He always does the cutest things with his hands. He is so sweet!
This is just to show that he has gotten bigger and filled out more. Check out the previous picture we took of him laying on this blanket. Keep up the good work Denzil!

Visitors

"I'm so cute!"

We were fortunate enough to have my mom come visit us and help us out about a week after Denzil was born. I felt bad because we didn't go and do too much but it was nice to chat and have someone else in the house with me while I figured things out. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of my mom with the baby but he loved to snuggle with her and to have her sing songs to him.

This is a picture of Denzil's first bath. He didn't really like it a whole lot but each time gets a little better for him.

The day after my mom left Kris' mom came out to visit for another week. We were so spoiled to have such help.

Since I was feeling much better by then we were able to get out a little bit more. We made a trip up to Mt. Airy (Mayberry) where Andy Griffith grew up. We went on Labor day so most of the stores weren't open but it was fun to walk around a bit and to eat a nice big ice cream cone. Denzil did great in the baby bjorn.

Today I took him to JC Penney and got some pictures taken of him. He did really well considering he hadn't eaten in about 3 hours. By the end he was a bit too cranky but we were able to get a couple of cute ones. Next photo shoot will be in his blessing outfit but I think it might be a bit big on him just yet. We'll have to see when the next fast Sunday is to decide when we want to have him blessed.

Denzil went to his first BYU football game when they played Oklahoma. We watched it over at the medical school in one of the lecture rooms because the school has access to ESPN360. He did really well and was able to sleep a little bit. I was surprised that he didn't get startled or upset when we cheered for the Cougs.

I just like this outfit. He is starting to fit into some of his clothes now. I have been pretty worried that he wasn't getting enough food even though I have a plethora of milk to go around, so yesterday I took him over to the hospital to the lactation people just to have him weighed. Just in case you forgot, when he was born he weighed 6 lbs 12.6 oz. When we left the hospital he weighed 6 lbs 7 oz. When we went for our first appt just a few days after leaving the hospital he weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and at his 2 week appt he was 7 lbs 10 oz. You may think I'm crazy thinking he wasn't getting enough but sometimes he doesn't seem to eat very much but what do I know. So yesterday he weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz so my fears/concerns were calmed and I'm realizing that he is getting bigger each day. Hopefully my muscles are too.

Our Birthing Story

Well, I know I have told some people how the labor/delivery of Denzil went but seeing as how I haven't written in my journal since last Thanksgiving and there isn't any record of me ever being pregnant in there I think I should at least write the story down so that one day I might be able to recall it again. So, on Friday August 21, 2009 my water broke at 2:30 in the morning. I hadn't experienced any big contractions or anything but I woke up before it broke and I knew something was going to happen. Anyway, I wasn't prepared at all. I hadn't packed a bag for the hospital yet and of course who can think straight at that time in the morning. Well, I woke Kris up and his comment was "are you sure, this isn't a joke is it?" After gathering a few things we were off to the hospital. Good think the night before we had taken a tour of the place so we knew right where to go and what to do. When we got to the labor and delivery floor the nurse wanted to make sure that my water had broken before they gave me a room and then we were taken to our room and the waiting began. The nurses tried 3 different times to put an IV in my arm and then they decided to call Anesthesia to have them do it. After 2 more times I was hooked up to the IV fluids and some penicillin because I had tested positive for Strep B at the beginning of the pregnancy. The first time they "checked" to see how dilated I was it was a 3. Several hours later (like 6 hours or more) I was at about a 3 or 3.5. After talking with the Dr. they ordered Pitocin to try to regulate the contractions and get things moving along. Shortly after they started the pitocin (around 1:30 pm or so) I got an epidural. It was fabulous. I had considered going natural but I didn't want to spend the money to take a lamaze class so I just opted for the medicine. It worked great. Around 6 pm a couple of ladies from work came by with some flowers and chatted for a little while. When I told them I thought I was going to be sick they quickly left and the nurse came in shortly after to see how I was progressing and finally she said I was ready and that the pushing would begin shortly. About 7:30 pm when the new nurses came on duty the pushing began. It was hard but mostly because every time I took a deep breath to push again my ribs hurt so bad. Finally at 8:50 pm little Denzil came out, with the help of Dad and the Doctor. It all went really well and the only thing that I can complain about was that I was STARVING! Note to anyone having a baby, eat something before you go to the hospital because water and popsicles don't do much on a hungry belly. I will try to post more pictures soon. I'm just a bit lazy right now;)

The Man

The first week has been pretty good, he is a sweet kid and he (and mom) are figuring out the feeding business. My mom came Friday to stay and help, and our friends here have been wonderful. His first pediatrician appointment went well, he said that he is doing great.
Just hanging out on a blanket.

I think he looks pretty big in this one.

You talkin' to me?

More Denzil

Denzil

Mid August Update

39 Weeks and counting...doing greatA few pictures of our "garden" that we have growing on our upstairs deck. It is looking a little sad, but the peppers and tomatoes are doing well.

This is the baby's half of the spare bedroom. We have some pretty nice borrowed stuff, from even nicer friends. Thanks go to the Jackson's and the Kinlaw's. Airplanes is the main theme, we think it turned out great.

Mt. Sterling

David and I went backpacking. We have both been wanting to go to the Great Smoky Mountain NP. So we left after work last Friday and hiked until midnight, woke up early and this was the view from the tower on top of Mt. Sterling. The picture does not really do it justice. 17 miles and some good times. We are planning the next adventure.

4th of July Weekend

Since both Kris and I had July 3rd off from work we decided to take a little road trip to a place called Highlands about 70+ miles south of Asheville. We had been told it was pretty so after a bit of research we decided it would be a great place for some hiking. It took about 4 hours for us to drive there. We originally thought we might try to stay over night but when we arrived and saw how busy it was we decided that we'd probably just drive home in the evening. This first waterfall we stopped at is called Bridal Veil Falls. It doesn't really compare with the one in Provo but it was pretty and kind of cool that you can drive under it.
Our first hike was Whiteside Mountain. It is a landmark along the eastern continental divide. It was a 2 mile look and you wouldn't believe how many funny looks I got for being out hiking with this baby in my tummy. I heard several say "oh my gosh" and "did you see that pregnant girl?" etc. It was fun and the mountains were quite pretty. This isn't quite into the Smokey Mountain National Park but they do consider it as part of the Smokey Mountain area.

Then we went on a little jaunt to the Whitewater Falls. It was 1/2 a mile from the parking lot to this view point. This waterfall is the highest east of the Mississippi River at 411 feet tall.
We had a nice little family take our picture after going down some 100+ stairs to this next view point. The little girl in this picture said to me "you look like you are going to have a baby." To this I replied "your right, I am." Then she wanted to be in our picture so of course we let her. Who wouldn't want to be in our picture;).

She also wanted to continue hiking with us. Her dad said no and of course she was very disappointed until her dad said they were going to the boat. Well, needless to say, I didn't think that 1/2 a mile was far enough of a hike since we had come all this way so we decided to hike down to the river bottom, a "strenuous" 1 mile.

It was kind of steep and there were quite a few roots and some stairs along the way but it wasn't bad going down. We were told to remember that we had to come back up though.

At the river there were other stares but it was sure nice to put my feet in the nice cold water. The hike back to the top wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. I just went slow and steady and it only took us about 35 minutes to get back to the top, even with stopping a couple of times for water. It was well worth the effort.

This was called Dry Falls. It was right off the road. Here's another belly shot for those who like that sort of thing. I was 32 weeks and 2 days here.

Back in Winston there was an Independence Day flag football game where families were invited to come watch. This group of guys gets together every Saturday to play. This was Kris' first time going and he got some pretty good battle wounds. Afterwards we went to our friend's house and had a barbecue. Kris made good ole Sanpete turkey barbecue. It was tastylicious.

Our final destination was Lewisville for the fireworks. There were a bunch of people from our ward who met there so we joined them. You can't tell from the picture but we had a giant tree blocking our view at first. It's to the left of this firework. All in all it was a great weekend.

Winston-Salem Dash

Well, what summer is complete without a little baseball. We decided to go to the Dash game even though the forecast said there was a 20% chance of rain. 20% isn't that bad right?

We got to the game about the 3rd or 4th inning and our new team was really having a great night. The score got to 12-1 I think.
Then in the top of the 7th inning, just moments after they did a "no rain" dance...
Fortunately everyone decided to leave when they saw the dark clouds so we were able to get under the spot where we wouldn't get wet to see about waiting it out. Well, it only got worse so we left too. We didn't own umbrellas at the time so we got a bit wet heading to the car but it was a good time and we might consider going again.

Salem Lake

A few weeks back we were looking for something fun to do but not too far away so we ventured out to Salem Lake again. You can rent canoes there for $4 an hour so we thought that would be fun. It was a beautiful day. I just thought this bridge was cool.

It was fun to be in the front, I didn't have to work as hard as Kris to keep us going straight;). This was shortly before I got him pretty wet.
I guess the only bad thing was that the lifejackets were a bit dirty and so my white shirt (already previously stained) was stained from the "brown" stuff on the lifejacket. Oh well, that's why I picked that shirt and not a nicer one.

Utah part 2

Here are just a few of my cute nieces and nephews. I think that they really like the camera.

This is me and Carver.

Carver making faces.
Maddie & Carver
Russ and Oliver
New baby Nicalee (p.s.-I made the blanket she is laying on)
Maddie
We spent one night down in Provo up at South Fork park and had a delicious dutch oven dinner and peach cobbler. Here is Jason & Josh.
We also got to go to "Treasure Island" at the Hale Center Theatre because they decided to add an extra row of seats at the top. My cousin Skyler had one of the main rolls. It was awesome!
Here is a shot of the back side of Timp and Deer Creek reservoir taken from the car while we were out and about enjoying the beauties of Utah.
We had a great time at home and I'm glad that we could come. It's never long enough when you go somewhere to visit. Sorry for not being able to visit with everyone and seeing others longer than we did. I guess we'll just have to come back again sometime.