Schedule, What Schedule???

I guess it was wishful thinking or something, but before I had Lucas I kept thinking of all the things I was going to get done at home once I was on Maternity leave. What was I thinking? I have been so used to just having the girls. They can pretty much take care of themselves, entertain themselves, feed themselves, etc. Well, now that we have our sweet baby Lucas things just don't work out as planned. Before I could get everyone up, dressed, fed, house cleaned, etc before 7:15 in the morning when we had to be out the door. Now I'm lucky if that is all done by 10:oo am. Then by the time I get all of that done, I am so exhausted I can't do anything else but hold my baby and watch a movie. Maybe one of these days I will get back on schedule, but for right now, there is no schedule!! And that's okay.

Baby Lucas

Last week my sister Tabi was here with her camera and she took some really cute pictures of Lucas. Thanks Tab. They turned out Great!!

Thank Goodness

Thank goodness for my mom who came down last week to help out with the new baby and mostly to entertain the girls. We loved having her here. She is so creative. She made these fun chocolate dipped pretzels with the girls and they had so much fun. My sisters Hannah and Tabi also came up from St. George to visit. Yay for family!!

He's Here...

On Thursday night, February 5th we were in Levan and I started having contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart. By the time we got home they had slowed way down and I decided it was probably false labor and I went to bed. Friday morning around 4:30 I woke up with contractions again, but they were really strong and they were about 4 minutes apart. I didn't want to get my hopes up so I got up and took a shower and got the girls up and ready for the day. Around 6:30 the contractions hadn't slowed down so we decided we would go to the hospital and get everything checked out. We took the girls to my friend Dani's house and we went over to the hospital. They got me hooked up to the monitors and then the nurse came in a talked to me. She said my dr. was out of town on a skiing trip and that the on call dr. would probably want then to stop my contractions and send me home. Then I could visit with my dr. this week.

Well, that is the last thing I wanted to hear, but I did want my own dr. to deliver the baby so I agreed that they could stop my labor and send me home again. I said a little prayer and then about 8:30 my dr. came in. I was suprised, shocked, excited. I knew he was supposed to be out of town. He said that technically he wasn't supposed to be there, but he wasn't leaving to go skiing until the afternoon and he said "let's go ahead and get this baby delivered." I was so excited and nervous.

They got me already and into the operating room. The baby was born via Cesarian.

Lucas Jared Mangelson was born on 02/06/2009 at 9:47 am. He was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 1/2" long.

Everyone was shocked to see how big he was. He is so sweet and a handsome boy and we are so happy that he has finally joined our family.

Lucas before his bath
Jared and baby Lucas

Our first family picture with Lucas

Lucas enjoying some tummy time at home.

We were able to come home on Sunday. The dr. said that normally after a cesarian that women stay 3-4 days, but I was ready to come and we were both doing so well. It was nice to come home a little early.

Smile!!

We had a friend of mine take our pictures on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and she did a such an awesome job. We decided to have pictures taken before the baby, and we will get more after the baby. Part of the reason, is that I have some nice pictures of me when I'm pregnant with Paige. In one of the pictures it's just me and MaKady, Paige loves that picture and at her request, she wanted a picture with her and my belly for this time. I think the pictures turned out great. Now I have checked everything off of my list of things to do before the baby gets here, so we are just sitting around waiting. The dr. said everything is looking good.

Crafts, Cookies, & Contractions...

CRAFTS: We decided that since the weather was gloomy we just wanted to stay home this weekend. So the girls and I got our creativity flowing and we got to work. Saturday afternoon the girls made these cute flower valentines.

COOKIES: On Sunday after church we made sugar cookies. We have a really fast, really yummy recipe that we use that doesn't make a million cookies. They had so much fun cutting them out and decorating them. We love weekends like this when the t.v. isn't on 24/7, because if you know me, you know that I despise when the t.v. is on. It's just such a waste of time.

CONTRACTIONS: On Saturday after the girls finished with their flower crafts I started having contractions. This is not unusual for me, so I took some tylenol and started making dinner. Well and hour later I was still having the contractions every 5 minutes, but at that point I figured I could finish making dinner and we could eat before we did anything. Another hour later I was still having contractions every 3-5 minutes and we had eaten dinner and cleaned up. I called my friend Dani and we drove to Orem to drop the kids off with her and head to the hospital. We got to the hospital, went straight to labor and delivery and then got set up in the room. The baby's heart rate was good, but the contractions were coming strong and fast. The nurse called my dr. and he said he really didn't want me to have the baby that early. Thus resulting in me getting 3 shots. Finally 4 hours later the contractions stopped and we headed home.

I let myself get excited for a minute, but then I remembered how bad it could be if I had him that early, so I am thankful that they were able to stop my labor and send me home. I had a dr. appointment today and he said everything looks good. I haven't had any more contractions, and I am finally 36 weeks. The dr. said if I go into labor now they won't try to stop the labor they will just deliver the baby. I'm hoping/praying to make it at least 1 more week.

It's That Time...

It's time for Girl Scout Cookies in Utah (it's different for each state). If you are one of the lucky ones that happen to live close to us, this darling girl will be ringing your door bell in the next week or so. If you don't live close to us you can go to the cookie website here or the Girl Scouts of Utah website here and find a troop or a booth near you. Support your local Girl Scout!!!

And just for your information, the following are the cookies available this year:





Trefoil - shortbread cookies are shaped like the Girl Scout Trefoil design








Thin Mints - round, mint-flavored cookies covered with dark chocolate







Tagalongs - round cookies with a layer of peanut butter on top, and covered in chocolate









Sugar Free Chocolate Chip








Samoas - covered in caramel and toasted coconut, and then striped with chocolate






Do-Si-Dos - oatmeal cookie top and bottom surrounds a peanut butter-flavored layer inside




Lemon Chalet Cream - sandwich cookie has a touch of cinnamon-ginger spice with lemon frosting center







Dulce - De - Leche - New for 2009 - milk caramel chips and stripes

Engagement

This weekend my sister and her fiance came up so I could take some engagement pictures for them. They were so much fun to work with. We wanted to take the pictures in ST. George where they both live, but due to my current condition they came up to me. It was freezing, but they were awesome and we got some really great pictures.

Starting Fresh

So if any of you are like me, you like to start the new year with a clean house. You take down all your Christmas decorations and start cleaning out closets, etc. One of the other things I do is to make sure my house smells good. I love scentsy, and its very convenient for me because my sister Mary sells it. So if you are interested here is a link to her website.

Ring in the New Year

We had a really great holiday season. The girls got what they wanted for Christmas. MaKady got a Nintendo DS and Paige got her Barbie car. It was really nice just to spend so much time at home with the girls. Jared and I both had a lot of time off of work.

We were able to visit with Jared's family on Christmas eve and then we went to my parents house the day after Christmas.

For New Years we just stayed at home. We got the baby's room all ready and we took the girls bowling. It's one of their favorite activities. (Sorry for the blurry pictures).

Candy

Me & My sister Mary

My sister and I spent Saturday afternoon and evening baking cookies and making candy. It was so much fun. It's been a couple of years since I have done it, so I wanted to do it this year. We made Pinwheel cookies, toffee, caramels, & peanut butter truffles. Yea for baking. It really helped me get into the Christmas spirit (as weird as that may sound).

Birthday party

Trinity, Paige & MaKady

My sister Mary and her daughter Trinity came down for the weekend. We celebrated Paiges birthday with some homemade pizza, cake, and a trip to Jumpin Jacks. The girls had a blast. Paige picked out the topping for her cake. She is still at that age where she thinks it's fun to mix Christmas and her birthday. I'm sure that will change.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today Paige is 6 years old. I can't believe how the time has flown. Six years ago today, it was a Thursday, I had just finished finals on December 15 and I was on my Christmas break. MaKady had her Kindergarten Christmas concert, and my brother Shane was due to fly in from Alaska for the holidays. I didn't feel well during the concert, but I wasn't due to have Paige until the middle of January. So I sat uncomfortably for 2 hours. Then we all congratulated MaKady on how well she did. I asked my parents to take MaKady home for a sleepover and Jared and I headed for the hospital. I was having contractions, they were very painful but they weren't regular. I thought they would just check me and send me home, but we got to the hospital and the contractions kept coming. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions and that didn't work. They gave me the shot twice more and still nothing. I never dialated past a 2, but my dr. came in and said they would do a c-section anyway. So around 10:30 we had our little Paige. I was so nervous because she was so early but even 4 weeks early she was a 6 lb, healthy little girl. She has brought such a great spirit to our family. She is full of jokes and always has something funny to say. This morning she woke up and said "guess what, I'm 6 today and I looked in the mirror and I grew, I am so tall." Happy Birthday Bunny!!!

Dance & Trains

Last night the girls had their winter dance recital. They have both improved so much since their last recital. They did great and it was fun to watch all of the girls perform.

We have a family tradition of making candy trains every year. I use to make them with my mom when I was little and then when MaKady started school we started making them. This is her last year in Elementary, but she has decided that she can still do it every year. The only difference will be that we will only have to make a few of them for her friends instead of 30 for her whole class. Paige isn't sure she wants in on this tradition just yet, but maybe we can convince her to do it next year.

Update

Here is the belly at 30 weeks. And here is the update: The dr. says I am out of room. I know that I am. I can't sit, stand, or lay down in any comfortable position. This is what happened with both of the girls. I will be lucky to make it to 36 or 37 weeks. I've been having contractions since about 27 weeks. Also very normal for me. But everything is going good. We are still cleaning out the office to make room for baby and we have a list of about 15 names. Sometimes we sit around and toss out names. MaKady likes names like Edward and Noah. Paige wants us to name him something off of the t.v. shows she watches. She votes for Freddy (from ICarly) and Manny (from Handy Manny). The other day I mentioned the name "Nash" and Paige said "why don't we just call him hash brown, it rhymes with Nash." I couldn't stop laughing. I'm glad to have these little girls to point out the horrible things that kids could tease him with at school because of his name, so to say the least "Nash" is off the table. We will just keep thinking of names. I'm sure we won't decide until we see his face.

Christmas Parties

Friday we had our ward Christmas party. We had a nice dinner and then Santa surprised the kids by showing up. MaKady thought she was too big to sit on Santa's lap, but still had to tell him what she wanted. Paige and her friend Hannah went together. Paige said they were brave.

Paige & Hannah

Saturday we had a family Christmas party. My aunt made all the kids these cute drums and the kids sang "Little Drummer Boy".

Paige and my mom

My dad is so cute. He is always making faces at the kids.

Busy...

We , like most of you have been extremely busy. Here are a few of the things we have done the last 2 weeks.
1. Spend Thanksgiving Day watching the Macy's Parade on t.v. in the morning, then we went to Levan to grandma Mangelson's for yummy food.
2. Friday after thanksgiving we went to Brigham City to have another Thanksgiving feast with my family. Jared deep fried the turkey. Then my dad and Jared took the kids swimming at Crystal Hot Springs (it's a natural hot spring and it's open all year long - so much fun)
3. We got out all of the Christmas decorations. Jared put up the lights outside while the girls and I put up the tree and the decorations inside.
4. We went to the light parade in Santaquin. It was a lot of fun. We put a blanket out on the sidewalk by the bank on main street and we all cuddled together. Then we went home and had lots of hot chocolate with marshmellows. (Our little family loves hot chocolate. We go through tons of it this time of year)
5. We've been watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music
6. The girls have started their Christmas countdown. It's a paper nativity. They each got their own to color and cut out, then each night we read a story or something and they tape another piece of the nativity to the wall in their bedrooms. Here is a link to the nativity if anyone wants a copy.
7. We have been playing tons of games as a family, Dora Candyland, Uno, Matching, and the girls really love playing High School Musical Singstar.
8. We have done a few craft projects, including pomanders. (I didn't know they actually had a name, but it's where you take an orange and stick cloves into it to form a pattern.) We used small oranges and tied ribbon around them to hang on the tree.
That's how the past two weeks have gone. We have some Christmas parties coming up and we are so excited for Christmas.

Thankful

In light of Thanksgiving and the coming holiday season, we decided that we would make our list of things that we are thankful for. So here it goes:

1. First and foremost our family

2. A baby on the way, it is truly a blessing

3. A warm house to live in

4. Cars that run (they aren't the nicest things, but they are paid for and they run)

5. The fact that Jared and I still have jobs

6. Food in our cubards, fridge, freezers, and food storage

7. Good friends and neighbors, and especially our great ward

8. Awesome babysitters, I don't know what I would do without Jessica, Kelsey and Julie, they are like 2nd moms to the girls.

9. Living close enough to our families that it only takes a little while to drive and visit

10. Church callings

11. The weather - I know it's a pain sometimes, but it is fun to live in a place with all 4 seasons

12. Turkey -deep fried - it's the only way to go, and to Jared for having the patience to stand out in the cold and cook the thing

13. Banana cream pie

14. Thanksgiving

15. Christmas

16. People that put up Christmas lights, it just adds to the holiday enjoyment

17. Christmas movies

18. Hot Chocolate

19. Fun parties

20. My Dad's homemade rootbeer

21. Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Here is our list so far, it may be a list in progress because we have so much to be grateful for. We wish you all a lovely Thanksgiving!

Holiday Kickoff...

It's no secret that this time of year is my very favorite. Starting about now through Christmas, our weekends are full of fun stuff. This weekend to start it off we took the girls to one of our favorite restaurants "Red Lobster". It was so good. Jared always gets an enormous plate of crab legs and I usually get some kind of fish, but considering my condition, I opted for the cajun chicken linguini alfredo. It was so yummy. Of course the best part of Red Lobster are the garlic cheese rolls that they bring out. I could eat those all day long. After lunch we took the girls to ToysRus, just to look (we didn't buy anything) but this way we get a good idea of what they are into and they can start writing their letters to Santa. It was so much fun.