Alivia's Blessing

Yesterday, we blessed Alivia. Okay, Kade did it, but it makes me feel better to say "we" did it. She looked absolutely beautiful in her white blessing dress. It was crocheted by my Great Grandma Summers years and years ago, and is the same dress that I wore when I was blessed. Kade did an amazing job. I am always so amazed by the power of the priesthood and feel so grateful to have a wonderful husband who can bless our children. (I was also very proud that my dad was able to stand in the circle for the first time. Go, Dad!) It was a very emotional day, and I'm afraid that I've already forgotten a lot of things Kade blessed her with. But here were a few that I remember:
-A strong healthy body
-A love for the gospel and a desire to seek it out
-Patience for her older brother as he does his best to love her and do what's right for her
-The ability to look to her father to know how her eternal companion should treat her
-A temple marriage
-To be an example of Christ to those around her

I'm sure there were so many more beautiful things that Kade said, but I was distracted by my tears and the overwhelming Spirit I felt. And also, Alivia was true to herself and screamed the entire time she was being blessed :) I wouldn't have expected anything else.

There was something very different about blessing Alivia. A girl wears 3 white dresses in her life, and I couldn't help feel so blessed and grateful for her life as I dressed her in the 1st white dress and thought about the other 2 times that I will get to do that with her. Sometimes I can't help but stare at her (and E, too) and wonder who she will be when she's my age. I have no doubt that whoever she is, she will be a woman of worth and a source of great pride for her family.

My testimony of Eternal Families has grown so much in the short time Alivia has joined us. It's strange how each child reaffirms and contributes to your testimony in his or her own way. It's a comfort to me to know that I will never truly be separated from my husband and children--the great loves of my life. I'm so grateful for the grand design of Heavenly Father's plan.

When we decided to change the spelling of her name from Olivia to Alivia, my oldest sister, Rachel, said something that has been sticking in my mind lately. She said "It reminds me of "Alive". Funny how a single letter can change the meaning of her name so much, but I'm glad that she has a name that reminds people she's ALIVE. And she is :) So alive. And as Mary Poppins would say, she's "practically perfect in every way."

In other news, this is my 100th post! In other, other news, Lou went to the doctor today and she weighs 9 lbs 7 oz and measured 22.5 inches. Her height is average, but weight is fairly low (14%) but she's growing and happy and we're not concerned about her. She had her first shots and was a real trooper. I think it's because she had a spectacular Big Brother with her to help her be brave. *Sigh* It's a wonder my heart doesn't explode with love and joy.

20 Questions with E

For Easton's birthday each year, I intend to ask him the same 20 questions and see how his answers change. When I'm really ambitious, I'll print them up and put them in a book with a birthday photo. Since his birthday is Thursday and I have a tiny moment of spare time, I'm doing it a little early.
1. What is your favorite color? --White (I think it's really orange, but whatever :))
2. What is your favorite food? --Ice Cream (He happens to be eating ice cream at the moment)
3.What is your favorite toy?-- Airplane Trios (blocks)
4. What is your favorite fruit?--Strawberry
5. What is your favorite TV show?--Little Einsteins
6. What is your favorite movie?--"Bout the dogs" He means Lady and the Tramp which he hasn't even really seen, but we got it from the library this week. His real favorites are Lion King, Madagascar, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Kung Fu Panda.
7. What is your favorite song?--Itsy Bitsy
8. Who is your best friend?--Oakley (our neighbor)
9. What is your favorite drink?--He pointed to my water, but really he drinks 90 cups of chocolate milk every day.
10. What is your favorite thing to do outside??-- "My bike"
11. What is your favorite animal? --A zebra
12. What is your favorite book? "One with the dinosaurs!" He means the Dinosaur ABC book we got at the library this week.
13. What is your favorite holiday? --Halloween
14. What do you want to be when you grow up? --"Jesus!"....Priceless...
15. What is your favorite cereal?--"Chocoooolate"
16. What is your favorite breakfast?--Pancakes and bacon
17. What do you want to have for dinner on your birthday?--hot dogs
18. What is your favorite snack?-- Cake
19. What is your favorite game? --Memory
20. What is your favorite sport?--baseball (making his daddy SO proud)

Lou's Birth Story

My Livvy Lou will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and I figure it's about time I wrote down the story of her birth.

I suppose the story starts on Dec. 1, 2011. It was supposed to be my last dr. appt. All I had to do was be dilated to 2 cm so I could be induced on that Sunday (the 4th). It had been the plan from the beginnning...(You see, I don't exactly LOVE being pregnant). Sadly for me, my body didn't seem up to the task yet and it hadn't budged from 1 cm. I'll admit it. I cried. Right there in front of the doctor. I'm sure it was really mature. Anyhow, she stripped my membranes and sent me home. We rescheduled for Monday and held our hopes high that my body would get on board. The weekend passed slowly. Kade made me exercise and do everything I could to get our little babe OUT. Finally, Monday came and so did our good news! I had made it to 2+ cm over the weekend and could finally be scheduled for induction the next day.

December 6th, 2011:
The day started very early at 530 am. We had to call the hospital at 6 am to see when I could come up to be started. We got up and ate some breakfast before we called. When I called the nurse told me to be ready to go by 7 am, but she doubted I would get a call before 9 or 10 am. We woke up Easton and drove him to stay with Grandma Stock while we were in the hospital. And then we waited...and waited....and waited. Finally, 5 minutes to 10 am they called and said it was time for me to come up. It was really hard for me to leave Easton knowing that the next time I saw him, he wouldn't be my baby anymore. Not much happened for a while after that. We got to the hospital, checked in, and got set up in our room. They hooked up my IV, antibiotics, and pitocin. I spent the next few hours breathing through contractions and eating popsicles- hoping I was making progress. My body was still being stubborn and after hours of contractions 2 minutes apart, I was still sitting at a 2+. They broke my water (ouch) and I tried to brave the pain for as long as I possibly could. I decided after a couple more hours to get my epidural while the anethesiolgist was on the floor. After that, my body jumped to 4 cm and a few hours later to 6 cm. That's about when things started to get interesting. I started to have a very strange sensation in my right hip. I can't explain it other than my leg felt restless. I wanted to move it so bad, but of course, couldn't. I started to feel panicky and claustrophobic and my heart rate was going up. After tossing and turning (with Kade's help) with no relief, the finally turned me on my side and elevated my leg with a stirrup. She massaged my back through contractions which seemed to help. Luckily, I was the only woman in L&D at the time, so I got all the attention I needed. The nurse thought that the sensation I was feeling meant that my body was transitioning and that things would move quickly. She was right. Soon I was at 8 cm, and then about 10 minutes later, I was complete and ready to push. My doctor came quickly (even though it was about 9 pm when they called her). The room was set in motion preparing for our daughter to arrive. I started to push at about 9:25 pm. I couldn't feel the urge to push as strongly as I could with I was in labor with Easton, so I wasn't sure if I was pushing the right way. I must have been doing fine, because on the second set of pushing, the doctor said she thought it would be over after the next push. That's about the time that reality set it. I was so ready for my girl to be born, but suddenly I was terrified of her! It was too late to go back. She was coming NOW. One more push and my baby girl was there. They laid her on my chest and she was the most absolutely gorgeous thing I had ever seen. Alivia was born at 9:33 pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs 9 oz of beauty and 20 inches of sweetness. It was a lot of work to get her here and she's been a lot of work since, but she's worth every moment and I am so happy to have my sweet Lou.

Just for comparisons....

Since so many people have noticed the similarities between Easton and Alivia, here's a comparison photo. They are both 1 day old in their photos.

Kinda scary, isn't it?

Introducing....

Alivia Rose Gardner
Born December 6, 2011 at 9:33 pm
6 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches
We are SO in love.

A peek inside our lives

Here's a little peek at what we've been up to since the weather turned cool....

Carving "punkins". Easton was very good at scooping out the guts. Except, he kept trying to eat them. I don't understand why he'll eat slimy pumpkin goo, but he won't eat the delicious meals I cook....

Dressing up for the annual family Halloween party. E was very excited to look "spooky" and scare everyone. He also thought it was his job to entertain everyone and used the microphone every chance he got.

Baking cookies. This is what happens when E sneaks too many of the caramels while we bake...

Playing in the leaves...

Checking out the Pumpkin Walk. *My camera died after one photo so this adventure was very undocumented...

Dragging Kade to Thriller....

Picking pumpkins from the patch...

Going for lots of pretty drives and walks in the fall scenery

In other news, Livvy is *scheduled* to arrive on December 4. That means we have 6 more weeks or less until our little sweetie comes. E is very excited to meet "Baby Livia". I hope everyone else is enjoying fall as much as we are. I hope it sticks around for a few more weeks, at least.

Downward slope!

So here we are! 23 weeks down and 17 to go until we meet our precious baby girl. Easton has finally decided that it's his sister in my belly and not a baby giraffe like he thought for most of the pregnancy. I'm very proud of my special little guy and I have no doubt that he is going to be the best big brother. He's developed a little bit of a soft spot for the girl next door. Last week in nursery, she was upset and he tried everything he could to try to make her happy again (Later in the day he even told me that he wanted to kiss her! Uh-oh!). If he's that sweet to his friends, he'll be over the moon for his little sis. We're very happy to have a few weeks of summer still left to enjoy. I'm finally finished with summer classes and couldn't be more relieved. I even managed to get fairly good grades (2 B+'s) in my classes despite my lack of motivation to work.

In other news around the house, we've finally settled on a name for Baby Girl. And you'll probably all be surprised to hear that it's not Kadynce OR Charlotte. Her name is...*drumroll*...Olivia! We LOVE it. I hadn't ever given the name a second thought or loved it until I was reading names outloud to Kade and Olivia was one of them. He said "Livvy Lou!" and that was it. We were sold. So, Little Miss Livvy she is. The bad news for Miss Livvy is that I apparently stink at growing umbilical cords. At our 20 week ultrasound, they learned that Liv's cord only has one artery and one vein instead of the usual 2 arteries and one vein. This can lead to problems with kidneys and such for her, but she appears to have a clean bill of health and looks very good. So, worst case scenario for her, she may not grow as much as we would hope for. If that's the case, I'll be induced at 37 weeks. However, my doctor has assured me that many people with single artery cords are able to carry full term without any problems. We're hoping that's the case for us as well. As miserable as the end of pregnancy can be, I would hate for Livvy to have to come early and be at risk for any complications.
As for our sweet Easton, he's growing before my eyes. If it's possible to fall in love with him any more than I have, he makes sure I do everyday. He talks my ear off all day and is always coming up with the silliest things. I love his energy and I live to hear him tell me how much he loves me. I can't even begin to count all of the new things he learns everyday. His vocabulary blows me away sometimes. He counts to 14, knows so many songs I can't keep up, and is really starting to develop an imagination. His favorite thing to do is ride his bike outside and play Angry Birds (don't judge me). We're working really hard on learning colors. He knows all the color names, but can't quite grasp which is which yet.
That's about all that's been happening around the Gardner home lately. We'll be sure to keep you posted on Livvys' progress :)