Summer Fun

Besides having a baby, we've had a lot of fun times this summer here in Pittsburgh.

We were able to take Lucy to her first parade on Memorial Day and see my niece, Sharon, who is a Majorette in the marching band. It was really hot but it was fun to see the bands and everyone and Lucy seemed to enjoy herself. She really enjoyed messing with Jared's glasses, too, which I believe is why he is making a funny face in this picture.

This is from one of the first days we were back at home with Timmy. Lucy thought he was something really cool, but I'm not sure if she realized he was human yet. He was so small!

Jared came home every weekend this summer to see us, and I have to say my favorite pictures of both Lucy and Timmy are when he takes naps with them. Lucy refuses to do that now, but when she was little I'd always take these pictures. Those are my two cute boys.

Johanna and Katie were in Pittsburgh when I came home from the hospital and their kids were great with Timmy. This is Johanna's daughter, Netta, holding Timmy. They sure mastered the "gentle" rule a long time ago. Too bad Lucy hasn't gotten quite there yet. She is good about it, but she has her moments. I'm pretty sure her hugs are going to kill him one day.

 Lucy is finally starting to figure out forks and spoons. YAY!!!! It's a little messy as of yet, but the fork seems to be the winner and she is getting really good at using one.

Ever since Timmy was born Lucy has become quite the mother to her doll and stuffed animals. She LOVES pushing the stroller around and does NOT need help.

There is a playground just down the road at the elementary school we went to as kids and we frequent it fairly often (isn't that what frequent means? is that redundant?). My niece, Sarah, babysits the girl across the street sometimes so they would come with us.

The neighbors also invited us to go swimming whenever Sarah was babysitting there which was awesome. Timmy is more of a sunbather for now (well, really a shade-bather) but Lucy LOVED it.

The pool was definitely cold every day but honestly as long as you jump in you get over it fairly quick. Lucy is getting really good at kicking her feet and swimming with her arms as long as you hold her tight :)

Her face here kills me. I just love it! She also let us put her in an intertube for the first time and she even let go of my hands. What a brave girl! Too bad I was in the pool and don't have a picture of it.

This is just to prove that Timmy is huge. We just had his two month appointment. He is 15 lbs 7 oz and 24 inches long. He is huge! and SO CUTE!

Here are a few beach pics too that I didnt' get up earlier. Lucy LOVED the pool.

Jared championed the boogie board as usual. I have to admit, I am really jealous I never got to boogie board while there.  I was tempted too before I had the baby, but I'm pretty sure it would have been a terrible idea especially with how big my belly was.

Here is Lucy the beach bum.

I LOVE this picture of Lucy and Jared. Just thought I'd add it in :)

This is the doll house we used to play with as kids. We washed it off and ran all the pieces through the dishwasher and it has been the BEST toy in the world. Lucy loves to play with it. This house is living proof that the old toys we had are just as entertaining, if not more, than the crazy technical crap they make for kids today.

 Lucy has a little pool she swims in, but sadly she hasn't learned that swimming clothes are different from normal clothes. But boy does she LOVE pools (or baths as she calls them).

 Lucy LOVES to help Timmy with his pacifer.

Here are her mothering instincts kicking in again. She insisted on carrying her doll around in the baby carrier. She made me do all the buckles and everything.

This is just the cutest picture ever and sums up Timmy's summer. Lounging.

 This is the super cute dress my dad got Lucy from his work trip to Mexico. And is also illustrates her obsession with touching the TV. We will have a wall mounted TV for this very reason.

This is the play mat and toys that my mom's friend Judy got Timmy. They both LOVE it. Lucy likes to play with everything. Timmy is just amazed by all the bright colors.

I baked a lot of treats while I've been home. I found that experimenting with new recipes was an enjoyable way to use my time and keep Lucy from nagging me about going outside in the super hot weather. She loved to help. She is the messiest cook ever but it is fun to watch how serious she takes it all.

She also has an obsession with cameras and loves to play with them and say "Cheeeese" like a hundred times. She is in this phase where she repeats the same word a million times any time she wants to say something. She also has full on conversations and says whole sentences with intonation curves and everything that only she understands. We catch a word here and there but that's about it.

Last weekend Jared stayed in DC to visit some friends and so we went to New York to see family. We got to see Helen and also my Grandpa and Aunt and Uncle but sadly I forgot to take pictures. I was too busy keeping Lucy from breaking everything in their homes :)

We also visited the Hill Cumorah and got to see my mission president and his wife. I LOVE them. I am so glad we were able to spend time with them. And kudos to my dad for coming along with us on the trip so I didn't have to try to do it all by myself!

The baby!

So we have a baby boy, in case you didn't already know. We went down to DC the first weekend in June to pick up Jared on our way to Virginia Beach and spent some time seeing his office and touring the Capitol. It was awesome and Jared is a great tour guide :) We got to go to the temple on Saturday which was much needed. I can't express how glad I am we went. It was exactly what I needed. I hope I can be better about going to the temple regularly, especially when we are back in Utah and it is minutes away. I need it in my life.

my niece Sarah, was the first of the family to hold the baby :)

So we drove from the temple to Virginia Beach and spent lots of time swimming and playing in sand and just relaxing and enjoying ourselves. It was seriously awesome. I LOVE that vacation . . . thanks mom and dad :) Monday I spent literally all day in the pool. After Lucy woke up she always wanted to go in the pool (she calls it the bath) and so I played with her and just relaxed in the pool most of the day. Nothing feels better when you are pregnant than floating in water.  I highly recommend it.

Lucy in my recovery room

Well, I don't remember all the details of the day but I do remember coming in around 3 or 4 to eat food and get ready for Lincoln's (Sarah's son) baby blessing. We were going to go over to the church at 6 pm (I think?) and have the baby blessing since almost all the family was together. Well, after I got something to eat I sat down by Jared to watch some TV and was just not comfortable. So I just walked around for a while and then decided to take a shower and get ready. I still felt kind of off but wasn't sure what was up and just tried to ignore it. I figured it was just some random contractions or something that would go away soon.



Timmy had to stay in the NICU for 10 days because he was having a hard time getting enough oxygen in his blood. He was on oxygen and a feeding tube until his oxygen assistance was low enough that he could eat on his own. Then we just waited while they weaned him off the oxygen.

To my credit, with Lucy I would have contractions for about an hour once or twice a week starting around 36 weeks and I figured that's all it was. Well, by the time we were getting in the car to go to the baby blessing it hurt so bad to sit down that I told Jared there was no way I could sit in the car. I seriously had no idea I was in labor, I just kept thinking something was wrong with the baby so Jared found out where the nearest hospital was and we went there to check out what was going on.

off the oxygen! wahoo!

Well, once we finally got to labor and delivery it was about 6:30 and  I was at 9.5 cm. I definitely was in pain and was finally convinced this baby was going to be born that day. Haha. First they asked me to fill out papers (Really?) which was not happening so Jared did all that for me. Then they made me lay down on the bed to check how far along I was and that was AWFUL. Walking was the only thing that made the pain manageable so I was NOT excited to be in a bed. But they convinced me the baby was coming so I sucked it up.

just lounging and waiting to be cleared to go home

Jared helped for a few minutes but then realized he needed to go move the car from the emergency room entrance. Luckily we had given our neice, Sarah, a ride and so she was there to help with Lucy. She was super awesome and entertained Lucy for the 30 minutes I was in labor. Jared came back and by 7 pm I was pushing and the baby (Timothy Isaac Aitken) was born at 7:08 pm. Crazy, I know.

As crazy as this all was, it really was perfect. Jared was there with me, which wouldn't have been possible if I had the baby in Pittsburgh. Timothy ended up being 38 weeks along (we thought I was only 36 weeks) so he wasn't too early, and I was able to deliver naturally which is what I really wanted this time.

Apparently I spent a significant part of labor in the pool which I can attest is helpful (I didn't even know I was in labor) and after that, walking around was SO helpful in managing the pain. It is good to know all those things I read about coping with the pain actually work.  And I can definitely attest to the fact that laying down in a bed for all of labor is the worst thing you can do to manage the pain AND putting the monitors on is TERRIBLE. I seriously almost yelled at the nurse when she put them on. Luckily it was only for 30 minutes :)

passing his hearing test

I have to say, I don't know if it is because it was my second baby or the fact that I had no drugs to help with the pain, but I am really glad I was able to have this baby naturally. It was definitely painful but it was manageable and everything afterwards was so much better.  I feel like I recovered better, I had so much more energy after, and I just really felt great compared to when I had Lucy. 



Timmy is ready to drive home finally!

I talked with my mom and her friend, Beth Nicholson, about having a baby when they'd have their visiting teaching visits it was amazing to speak to these women about how normal it is to give birth. I really feel like the world doesn't see birth now as something normal that our bodies know how to do and it is kind of tragic. I don't fault anyone for having birth in a hospital bed with drugs to help because I can definitely agree that epidurals are AMAZING, but now that I've done it both ways I just feel like everything went so much better spending most of my laboring time at home and coping with the pain by NOT laying down in a bed. Anyways, enough of my soapbox.

I read a lot while I was pregnant about natural birth and the women always said it was empowering and I have to agree. I feel great knowing I was able to do something difficult/painful and I feel like I can accomplish anything now. The whole experience was positive in so many ways and I"m so glad it went the way it did. It was all just perfect.



I know it is dark but I LOVE this picture. This is my happy little family. Aren't they so cute :)

Catching Up . . .

I've decided (1) I need to be better at blogging and (2) I am quitting facebook, so if you want to keep stalking our family, you won't find us on facebook anymore but I promise to be better about posting on here :)

I can't believe the last time I updated this thing was in November! What a mess. Well, I guess I'll give a quick overview of the past and then post something more exciting about this summer. Let's see . . . in October Lucy had her first birthday which was fun and we moved into a new apartment that we REALLY liked. It was so wonderful and it had a bathtub! I never knew how important those were til we had a baby. Who knew?

Lucy and her "cousin" James (he's Jared's cousin's son, that's a cousin, right?)

In November we found out we were expecting another baby (Yay!) and then during Thanksgiving break we got to spend a lot of time with my sister and her kids who were visiting her husband's family. We ran a 5k on Thanksgiving which was fun and we went to the aquarium and to a bounce house. It was fun to start taking Lucy to different places and see how she reacted. She mostly liked running around the aquarium and only the penguins really held her attention but it was still fun. She was terrified of the bounce house place at first but we think it was mostly the noise the air blowers made that really scared her. Eventually she was convinced it was fun and she had a blast.

In December my dad came to visit which is always nice (I think it was december . . . ) and then we left Christmas day to go spend the rest of our break in Texas with my sisters and their families and my mom and dad. It was really fun to be down there and super nice to be warm for a week. We also got to visit with Jared's brother, Spencer, which is always pleasant. He is always fun to catch up with and I love watching him and Jared joke around with each other.

our first christmas tree! (utah)

January was obviously the start of a new semester and since the class I was teaching was cancelled due to budget issues I went back to interpreting at BYU and in the community as well. I have to admit, as much as I loved teaching, I LOVE interpreting college classes so it was an enjoyable change. Jared starting working at Target early in the mornings over Christmas and has enjoyed that as well (minus the waking up super early part, I'm sure).  At the end of the month we felt like we should move in with his parents to save some extra money for the summer so we said goodbye to our great ward and great apartment and moved up to American Fork. We actually really enjoyed living with Jared's parents so we are glad it all worked out so well. I always hear people say negative things about living with in-laws but I guess I'm lucky because we have no complaints. It was great!

Lucy at Aunt Cheryl's with some super cute glasses they have

In February we found out were expecting a baby boy (Wahoo!) and sometime between Feb and March my dad came to visit again. We love when he stops by for the weekend after a work trip. It is so fun to see him and Lucy loves when he visits. Jared also found out that he would be interning again with Senator Hatch this summer but this time he was offered  paid internship in Washington, D.C. which was really exciting. He loved his internship last summer and so he was really looking forward to this summer as well.

Once we survived finals and worked for a few weeks we packed up and moved to Pennsylvania so Lucy and I could live with my parents. Lucy was so well-behaved while we drove for two days straight, I couldn't believe how well she did. It was a HUGE blessing. I was so scared she was just going to cry for two days straight stuck in a car but she actually was really mellow which was awesome.

We spent a week together relaxing and then drove Jared down to DC and moved him into his apartment. Lucy and I stayed for the weekend with him and we got to walk around a little bit with him and go to church with him on mother's day before we left. It was great to be in DC, I seriously LOVE going there, and it was fun to see my friend Patrese who lives there now. She is pretty much my favorite friend to visit with and I love when she comes to Utah so I'm glad we finally got to visit her in DC. We found out that there is a really inexpensive (and not shady) bus that Jared can take home every weekend to visit us which is awesome because there was no place for him to leave the car in the city, so we drove the car home and now he comes home every weekend to see us. I'm sure when the summer is over he will never want to see those busses again, but I am SO grateful he sticks it out each weekend and comes to see us!

Well, this is the boring blog post mostly for my benefit since I am a terrible journal writer and haven't written in months, but hopefully it isn't TOO boring :) I added some pictures for all you readers who really just want to see our cute kids :) The next post will be about the baby so that's more exciting!

Summer 2011

This summer was great. Jared worked a million hours so it was sad not seeing him as much as during the school year, but we still did lots of fun things. One thing I love about living in Utah is the canyon. I would go there every day in the summer if I could.We hiked Stewart Falls probably 3 or 4 times and drove through the Alpine Loop at least twice.

 

Lucy and I got to spend a LOT of time at the park this summer which was awesome. She became the queen of the jungle gym and got really good at crawling across bridges and up stairs and what not. And by the end of the summer she was attempting to WALK all over the playground. Where did my little baby go!

Look at those cute little teeth! She still only has 2, but this week we noticed 4 teeth coming in up top and a molar on the bottom. Poor girl!

Of course we can't forget Lucy's love for the swings. That girl owns them. And she LOVES to sing while she is swinging. It is just too cute.

At the end of the summer my sister Katie and I had graduation. Wahoo! The masters program is finished! It was a somewhat painful process getting it all done but it got done. No more school for me! My parents were able to visit and we were able to do a service project at Jared's work where we packaged food to be sent to countries who need it. It was really fun and we got to wear funny hair nets. Doesn't get much better than that :)

A few weeks after graduation Jared and Lucy and I got to go home to Pennsylvania to see family. We got to spend lots of time with my mom because she had broken her foot and was home with us all day which was awesome. My sister Katie was home visiting too which was also really cool.

While we were there we went up to Rochester, NY to see my grandpa and aunt and uncle. I LOVE going there. We got to go to Palmyra while we were there too which was awesome. I love going there. It is one of my most favorite places on the earth. Really. It is so peaceful and beautiful and I can always feel God's love for me there. It definitely has a special place in my heart. I also LOVE visiting my family in Rochester.They are amazing.

Jared and Lucy in the Sacred Grove followed by me and Lucy there as well. It's a beautiful place.

Grandpa's dog Buddy had a tough time getting Lucy to go away, and Lucy sure loved to crawl around the house chasing him. This picture cracks me up. It looks like we had 2 puppies in the house. Too cute.

I love this next picture. One, I love my grandpa and I'm glad we got a picture with him, and two, Lucy would not look up, she would only look at Buddy. What a goofy girl.

And here's Lucy with Grandpa of course...

While we were in Pittsburgh my dad and I took Jared on a quick trip downtown to ride the Incline and to see some of Station Square.  I love that city. It is so beautiful and so fun to explore. It never gets old showing people around town. Jared wants to go to law school one day and I am slowing working on convincing him that when the time comes, he should seriously consider Pitt. That would be AMAZING..... Anyways, here are some fun pictures from the city: Jared and Lucy on the incline and then my dad feeding Lucy his ice cream at the shop on Mt Washington. She gets so spoiled, that lucky girl :)

All in all, our summer was awesome. Jared really liked his internship with Senator Hatch's Provo office and most likely will get to go to Washington DC for his internship next summer (WAHOO!!!). He liked his other job well enough and once my thesis was done I'd say we really got to enjoy the summer as a family.

I LOVE having a family. I still don't feel like a mom (does that feeling ever come?) but I love Lucy and I love Jared and we have lots of fun together. Every day I look at Jared and think about how grateful I am for him and all he does, and then I look at Lucy and think of how stinkin cute she is and wonder how in the world she got so big!

I'm learning how to be a mom . . . I spend a lot of time at home and have realized that I can be REALLY lazy and accomplish nothing with a full day . . . and that makes me feel really crappy to be honest. However, now that I've come to that realization I've found lots of good things I can do with my time and this week I'm trying to implement them :) We'll see how it goes! Today was at least half way better than last week... :)

Life is crazy, it feels like every time we've got it figured out something goes "wrong" (or just not as we expected). But after I finish all my worrying, I realize how blessed we are. Every time I feel like our life has taken an unexpected turn it never fails that some blessing comes our way that is the perfect solution to my worries. They say happiness is a choice, not a destiny, and I totally agree. Life is good, we can't complain :)

I have no doubt in my mind that God exists and that He answers prayers. There is no way He doesn't. There are too many instances in my life where miracles show up at the perfect time. And they most often are things I would have never expected or thought of myself. God lives and loves us. And I am so grateful for a knowledge of that.