Archie: A Birth Story

My friend, Jen, had a beautiful baby girl a couple of weeks after Archer was born.  After exchanging birth stories, she told me that she “collects birth stories”.  I like how she worded that.  It’s amazing that even though everyone around me seems to be having babies, no two stories of their arrivals are the same.  I love hearing birth stories. Complicated and smooth, medicated and natural, planned and unplanned c-sections. I love them all. If you love them too, here’s one for your collection:

My due date was July 29^th.  Being pregnant until that date seemed less than ideal.  My sister, Carrie was flying to California to help me on July 19^th, Jonny was supposed to fly to Dallas for business the 22^nd-26^th, and our house was being tented for termites the very beginning of August.  I just wanted him out!

I had an appointment on July 17^th, in which I discovered I was dilated to a 2 (not that it really means anything).  I told my Dr. about all the upcoming events and she offered to do a membrane sweep.  I told her I was scared because all these women online wrote about how badly it hurts and how they were screaming and crying.  My doctor’s reply was, “Oh please, Tracie.  Only the crazies write things online.” That’s why I love my doctor.  She’s real like that.  After the sweep she said, “I’m on call tomorrow… so I did a pretty good one! If your body isn’t ready though, nothing will happen and I’ll see you next week.”

Well I felt crampy all day, but nothing to write home about.  I fell asleep watching a show on the iPad with Jonny at around 10:30.  A little before 3:00 AM I woke up feeling hot (no A/C) and still crampy.  I couldn’t really sleep so I just laid in bed until I realized, “Wait a second! This stomach ache is coming and going… hmm… maybe they are contractions!” I timed them and they were about 8-9 minutes apart.  I woke up Jonny around 3:30, but still wasn’t really convinced I was in true labor.  It didn’t hurt enough and still just felt like the cramps I had all day.  Even if it was labor, I figured it would still be hours and hours until anything exciting happened.  

At about 4:00 AM, I got in the bathtub to try to relax and get sleepy again, but by the time I got out 20-30 minutes later, my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and a little more intense.  There was a lady from our church who was supposed to be on call in the middle of the night to come stay with Scarlett because she was “a really light sleeper and would always hear her phone.”  I don’t know if she had a rough day or took a sleeping pill or something, because she most definitely slept through more than an hour of Jonny calling her cell and house phone.  At about 5:30 AM we were getting desperate (and we still didn’t know anyone here in Southern California) so Jonny called a co-worker of his and asked if he could come sleep on our couch until we could get a hold of this lady, or at least until Scarlett woke up and could go play with his wife and daughter.  He was a lifesaver and was here in 10 minutes.  

Going home!

We got to the hospital around 6:00 AM and went to the ER because that’s what we thought you were supposed to do if it was really early or really late.  They didn’t see me come in, and the front desk was really tall so it took them a little while to realize a.) Why we were there. b.) That this was not my first baby. And c.) That my contractions that I thought were 3 minutes apart were really a little less than 1 minute apart.  After being scolded for not coming earlier, they quickly transferred me to L&D where I was sent to triage. 

When I was checked into triage, I was a 10.  I couldn’t believe it. I knew the 2^nd baby would come faster, but not that fast!! At this point it was around 6:30 and my doctor, whom I love, wouldn’t be at the hospital for another hour or so.  The contractions were super intense and strong at this point and I was moaning really loudly with each one. As soon as they stopped though, I would laugh because I was embarrassed from the moaning.  One nurse said, "Wow! She's still laughing!" Also, I told the nurse “Wait! I think I want an epidural!” To which she replied, “We’ll see what we can do.” I told her, “I know what that means!! It means it’s too late!!” Luckily for me, the baby was still really high, and they have the fastest anesthesiologist around. They quickly started an IV, had me sign away my life, and laid me on my side to wait for him. In no time at all he was there and got that needle in my back in between contractions.  Ahhhhh… 

A little photo shoot I did with Archer at home

   Some of you are thinking, “Why would you get an epidural at that point, dummy?!” Well, with Scarlett I pushed for an hour and was stitched up for an hour (and almost needed a blood transfusion).  I knew if that were to happen again, I wanted to be numb for it.  

 My nurse was sort of annoying.  She gave me this pep talk about how the baby didn’t like the contractions and how the Dr. might need to use a vacuum or “other matters” (read: C-section) to get him out quickly.  At about 7:45, Dr. VanBlaricom waltzed in and checked me. I said, “That was a good sweep!” The nurse filled her in on the apparent urgency and she replied, “He’s doing just fine! He likes me.  He must remember me from when I touched his head yesterday.” Oh, I love her.  

From there, she put on her gown, had me push two big pushes and one little push, and out came our beautiful baby boy on July 18^th, at 8:00 AM on the dot.  8 lbs, 2 oz. Up until that exact second I had the clichéd feeling that it would be impossible to love another baby as much as I love Scarlett, and a worry that I wouldn’t be able to bond with him.  As soon she laid him on my chest, that intense motherly love flowed through me and all my fears were gone.  I thought, “Of course I love you! Our souls remember each other. You are mine.”

Archer’s birth was perfect.  I want every birth to be as perfect as his. It was fast.  Jonny was a seasoned champ and was really encouraging, helpful, and calm this round.  Archer was so healthy.  I didn’t tear (I highly recommend that. Recovery is amazing).  What more could you ask for?! It took us a couple of days to lock in a name, which apparently drives everyone crazy. Archer/Archie was on our short list and just seemed to fit his sweet little face and perfect dark, faux-hawk head of hair.  His middle name was picked before his first name.  We wanted it to be a tribute to his Grandma, my mom, who passed away six months before his birth. Debra and Jean didn’t work for obvious reasons, so instead we used her maiden name, Shaw.

And that’s it. It was great.  His birth made me want 10 more babies (until he was 2 weeks old, my sister was gone, and I was really tired). Archer is such a wonderful addition to our family. Time is flying this time. He’s 7 weeks old tomorrow and already weighs 12 lbs 14 oz.

*PS- I haven't used blogger for a year and a half and don't remember how to use it.  Forgive my formatting.  

One Year

Scarlett turned 1 on May 13th. She is quickly changing from a baby to a little girl which is very bittersweet. I have been getting weekly emails from babycenter.com since she was born that say things like, "Your baby: 4 months 1week", and "Your baby: 9 months 3 weeks". The email I got from them the week of her birthday said, "Your toddler: 1 year". I maybe cried a little. She's a toddler... it's true! Here are a few things about Scarlett at 1 year:

 Day 1

Year 1

- Loves fruit, especially oranges. We were driving back from Trader Joe's the other day and she somehow got a mango out of the bag and had gnawed through almost half of it by the time we got home. 

- Still loves to nurse, but is starting to explore cow's milk as well. 

- Not walking yet but getting closer. She loves to push around her little walker and has improved so much already since her birthday. It's only a matter of time! 

- She's so busy. She gets into everything! Her favorite activities include putting trash in the recycling and vice versa, pulling all her clothes out of her drawers, taking all the books and movies off of our shelves, setting surprise alarms on the clock in our bedroom, etc.)

- Loves babies. She kisses/licks their heads, pats their tummies and backs, and hugs her dollies so tight.

- She likes to blow raspberries on on her mom and dad's cheeks, arms, legs, wherever she can.

- She really likes to swing at the park, and to be outside in general. She giggles when the door opens and bolts to it and cries when it closes. 

- Her favorite toys are cars or anything else she can push around.

- She's a pro at going up our stairs and is starting to figuring out how to come back down. 

- She likes to give a really cheesy smile where her eyes squint shut, her nose crinkles, and her little teeth show.

-Ah her teeth! She's got 12. That last little molar just poked through!

- She likes to fling herself onto pillows, our padded ottoman, and her mom and dad. She puts her hands high in the air and then collapses down over and over. She did this the other day on an exercise ball and went flying backward!

-Scarlett is so sweet and good natured that she makes our job easy, but has just enough sass that she's not boring. 

- She loves being around other kids. At the store, park, and church she wiggles away from me and crawls away to the nearest child. Once she gets to them she just watches what they do and eventually climbs up on them to give them a hug.

Trying out her birthday present for the first time. 

Potpourri

Considering my daughter's age has doubled since my last post, I guess I'm about due for another one (post that is… not another daughter).  On Jeopardy, they have a category called 'potpourri'. It's basically a hodge podge of random stuff that doesn't fit into one distinct category. So that's what this post is. Potpourri of the last few months. My apologies to those of you who don't like these types of posts (I'm looking at you Stephanie Erin). I'll try to keep my words as short as possible and let the pictures do a lot of the talking. 

October: 

- On October 10th my Grandpa Vince passed away. He would have turned 94 in March. He died the day before his 70th wedding anniversary. He was the sweetest, ornery man in the world (I guess you would have to know him to understand) with a great head of hair. The funeral was very nice and it was fun to see so many aunts, uncles, and cousins that I don't see very often. One thing you may not know about me is that I'm not much of a crier. I take that back… I'm not much of an even crier. I'm sort of like a fire hydrant. Most the time the water is locked inside and I'm dry as a bone. Well, my sister Carrie and I were asked to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at the funeral, and our sister Julie accompanied us. We practiced long and hard for the event. Practicing in the church before the service, we sounded great (if I do say so myself). We got up to sing, and it all started out fine. Then Carrie started to cry, and a semi truck ran into that fire hydrant in me. Oh well. It's the thought that counts I guess. Good thing Julie held strong and had a beautiful piano solo.

- Scarlett was a cow for her first Halloween. We were in Idaho, so we tagged along trick-or-treating with Julie's kids. Don't worry, I'm not one of those people who collects candy for my baby, who can't eat it, just so I can eat it myself later (Although, I witnessed many mom's of this nature while passing out my parent's candy). She did get a board book from our friend and neighbor Gail Browning though! My brother's dog was a lobster. Scarlett and Farfel together were 'the surf and turf special'.

-Scarlett got her first two teeth somewhere in there (I think around the 19th)

November:

- Clint and Julie had their 5th baby! William Beck Schnoor. He goes by Beck. He's a doll and may be the only blue-eyed kid in his family if they stay that way. 

-We celebrated 'Fakesgiving' with the Buttars side a couple of weeks early because Carrie and Jude were in town for Beck's birth… but missed it by a day. 

-We celebrated real Thanksgiving with the Lindseys. 

-Scarlett's 6 month appointment: weight- 18 lbs, height- 26 in, head-18 in 

December:

-Scarlett had her 6 month pictures taken, only I was a month late getting on the ball so they are technically 7 month pictures.

- Baby's 1st Christmas!! Christmas was a lot of fun. We stayed down in Mapleton with the Lindsey's for the weekend. We only live about 30 minutes away, but we didn't want to miss out on any of the action. Jonny's sister Michelle and her husband Nate were here from Washington DC. His littlest sister Jenae was there, and Lisa, Dave, and family stuck around this year, too! On Christmas day, Ben and Sydney came down from her parents house in Kaysville so we got to all party together. The highlight of my day was watching Jonny's dad dance to Britney Spears on the Wii "Just Dance" game. It.was.awesome. I sort of feel bad about one thing though. Jonny's mom plays the organ at church. I halfway jokingly said a few days before Christmas that we better be singing my favorite, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", on Christmas day in church. Well we weren't- but she called the chorister changed it because of me. Longfellow's lyrics to that song are beautiful and moving and have a wonderful Christmas message. It's my mom's favorite, too.

First present!

Jenae, Michelle, Scarlett, and I after church.

Christmas Eve at the Brobergs

- The day after Christmas, Scarlett and I packed up and bummed a ride to Twin Falls with my brother Ryan and sister-in-law Chelsea because Jonny had to work all week. He met up with us on New Year's Eve and we partied with the Buttars side. We sang karaoke, lit off ariel fireworks twice (10:00 for the kids and 12:00 for the adults and Jack), played games, and ate lots and lots of treats. Carrie and I had this brilliant plan for a kid's Chinese New Year's party, even though it wasn't really the actual Chinese New Year. They played pin the tail on the dragon since 2012 is the year of the dragon. They had to guess which Chinese characters said their names, and which beanie babies represented their year of birth. We had 3 little rabbits born last year in the year of the rabbit. We also had a piñata. So I guess it was a Chinese/Mexican New Year. Scarlett's first act in the New Year was to wake up January 1st with a new tooth (her top left). The top right next to it is probably popping out as I write this… I'm hoping. The pesky thing has been close for days.

All 9 Buttars grandkids and Farfel in their Christmas jammies.

What's new with Lettie-Lou:

- Scarlett is getting so big and so smart. She's 8 months old today! If you hold her and say, "Scarlett, do you want a shoulder ride?" she'll turn around, stick her arms out, and get in position for one. If I say, "Give me kisses," she buries her cheek into my mouth or eats my face. She can't crawl yet, but can scootch backwards. This frustrates her because she is trying to get closer to me and ends up farther away. She also tries to push off the floor and stand up and ends up diving forwards. The last couple of days she started getting herself into a push up plank position. I think that's quite an amazing trick considering her head to body ratio and the voluptuousness of her little body! I sort of think she might skip crawling and just walk instead. Scarlett is a little Mama's girl. I love this 95% of the time. She lights up every time she sees me. She dives to me from other people's arms. It's precious. She also gets nervous and cries every time I leave the room or put her down to do anything for too long. That's the 5% downside. Scarlett is still a great eater. She still nurses on demand most of the time, but we have started to feed her fruit, vegetables, and puffs (the peach ones are delicious. One for Scarlett.. one for Mama… one for Scarlett… one for Mama). 

At Grandma and Grandpa's apartment in SLC (more on that later). Scarlett got these new jammies after pooping all over her clothes. Good thing Gma and Gpa live above a mall right now!!

Oh! One last thing. Let me explain myself. You may have… or may in the future see pictures of me floating around. I am not a model!! Well, technically I am, but not in the way that you are thinking! My brother-in-law Dave sells stock photography on the side of his regular job and uses his family and friends as 'models'. What is stock photography? Next time you are driving down the freeway or flipping through a brochure, take a look at the billboards and pictures you see. That smiling Asian woman drinking coffee and chatting with her attractive black and blond/blue-eyed best friends were not hired by the company for their advertisement! That is a stock photo. Dave uploads the pictures onto websites, then companies pay him to download the file for their various needs. A while back (like a year and a half ago) Dave decided to do a little photo shoot with my Jonny's sisters Michelle and Jenae and me. Our job: show up to Rock Canyon park in exercise clothes. Most of the time, we don't know where these pictures show up. I do know the three of us were in a magazine in North Carolina. All of us are also currently in a Weight Watchers ad in Fitness magazine. I have been in Alaska airlines in-flight magazine, an Isagenix catalog, listening to my i-pod on Shape.com's website, and stretching before a good run on the Biggest Loser website. If you see me pop up anywhere else, let me know. It's pretty funny. What do I get out of all of this? Mostly free pictures! I have high quality edited pictures from Scarlett's blessing, Christmas card pictures, maternity pictures, Cancun trip pictures, etc. And occasionally Dave buys us dinner! 

Weight Watchers ad

Shape.com

Biggest Loser :)

Light the Night

September is National Leukemia and Lymphoma Awareness Month. Every year the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society sponsors a fundraiser called "Light the Night". Over 200 communities nationwide walk to raise awareness, raise money, and support victims and families of blood related cancers. Last Saturday our little family walked in Salt Lake City's walk at Sugar House Park in honor of my mom. It was a lot of fun and so touching to connect with other people whose lives have been affected by this horrible disease. Every participant was given an illuminated balloon: red for supporters, white for patients and survivors, and gold in memory of loved ones who fought to the end. I hope to make this a family tradition every September!

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma's support color is lime green!

Thank you so much to all our dear friends and family who donated to the society. Our team raised $175.

Together, At Last!

   One year ago, right now, Carrie flew to Utah for a special family event. I took a day off work, and we hit the mall together. In the middle of the mall Carrie spilled the beans that she was pregnant. I was shocked. I asked, "When are you due?" She replyed, "May 12th (it later got moved to the 17th). Why are you pregnant, or something?" I nodded, "yes." Carrie shrieked, right there in the middle of the mall. I told her I was due May 17th.
   Carrie and I are convinced that Scarlett and Jude were best friends in Heaven. Why else would they come to Earth less than a day apart? Jude came 20 hours before her so she wouldn't be so scared, but then she missed her little friend and came right down.
   Well, Scarlett and Jude finally got to see each other again. Carrie and Jason came to town for Jason's little brother's wedding. S and J really are twin cousins. They both have easy temperaments, both loved sleeping by each other in their swaddles (hers pink, his green), and they have matching car seats and strollers. It was so fun to finally see them together.

We didn't get great pictures. Maybe next time. We were having too much fun (and I think Jude threw up on his shirt)

Also, Jonny and I went to Twin Falls a couple of weeks ago and got to go to the good ol' county fair. Jonny had never been to one (oh city folk). We ate lots of greasy food and had lots of fun with Grandma Debbie, Grandpa Cleve, Ryan, and Chelsea.

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Scarlett loves her Uncle Ryan

This pig was 1,200 lbs or something ridiculous like that. I think his testicles alone were about 100 lbs.

And last, but not least, Scarlett's 4 month stats:

Weight- 15 lbs 15 oz
Height- 25 in.
Head- 17 in.

Her height and weight are somewhere in the 80s as far as percentile, and her head is almost 95%. "It's like Sputnik!" She was very brave at the drs and only cried for a minute. She cheered right up when I sang her favorite song, Rainbow Connection.

Buttars Punnett Square

   Growing up, I never really liked my ears. It's not that I cried over them, hid them behind my hair, or thought, "woe is me," but I was always a little bit self-concious of them. For one reason, my ears are upside-down. What I mean is that they are bigger on the bottom than on the top instead of the other way around. Another reason is that my ears have a folded over flap of skin at the top. It didn't help that my best friend had perfectly round, tiny ears.

   It wasn't until the last couple of years that I noticed that my ears weren't as unique as I thought. They looked exactly like my dad's ears, which look just like his dad's ears. That made me like my ears a little better. I was talking to my Grandma Della last weekend and she told me that the first thing she asked when each of her kids were born is, "are their ears folded?" I thought this was funny because the first thing I asked Jonny when Scarlett was born is, "does she have my ears?"

   It turned out she did... and now I don't think I could love my ears more.

Grandpa Vince (I wonder who his ears came from)

My dad

My ear (attached lobes come from Mom)

Scarlett's perfect little ear

Three Monther

Scarlett turned three months old last Saturday. She is such a sweet little thing. Here are some facts about Scarlett at three months:

- Smiles, giggles, kicks, and talks all the time
- Can roll from her tummy to back in about 5 seconds
- Weighs about 13.75 lbs according to the "weigh yourself, then weigh yourself with baby" method
- Sleeps in her cradle from about 9:30 PM to 9:00 AM with a short little breakfast at about 7 AM
- Naps in her big girl crib during the day (naps are starting to have a pattern as well)
- Ratio of throwing up on Dad to Mom is about 5:1 even though she's with me more throughout the day (I've   trained her well!)
- Is liking her car seat less and less, but still can't stay awake in it
- Loves going on walks and looking all around facing out in the Baby Bjorn
- Watches the pages of her books intently when you read to her
- Doesn't hate pooping any more as long as I don't eat curry or other spicy things
- Sometimes sucks her thumb
- Has her dad's nose, eyes, and square head
- Has her mom's ears, chin, and square mouth
- Has about 3 times more hair on the right side of her head than anywhere else (and looks like friar tuck from the back)
- Is called about 25 different nicknames a day including: Pumpkin, Turkey, Lettie, Angel, Pickle, and "insert any word"__________ -Pie
-Has her dad's easy-going temperment

Post blessing photo-shoot in the living room (more on that great day later)

4 Generations at Grandma Ann's 90th birthday party. Scarlett is falling asleep.

At the movies. Haha.

The whole family (oh yeah.. I cut my hair off!)