Grandma & Grandpa Estes

The week before Christmas Jared's parents came up from the Phoenix area to visit for about a week. They got to see Delilah for the first time and Addison was so super excited to see them.

For a little while it didn't seem like they were ever going to get here. They broke their necks trying to come see us...LITERALLY! Well, my father in law did anyway. They were in a really bad car accident near Nephi that totaled their car, broke my father in law's neck and banged my mother in law up pretty bad. It was quite scary when we got the call late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. Jared went to the Provo hospital where his dad was taken to get his parents. He and his mom headed to the impound yard to get all of their possessions out of their car and then back to the hospital to get his dad once he was released. On the way back to our house they got a flat tire on the freeway so Jared had to pull off in the snow to change it. After that they were finally on their way. Luckily the accident was not their fault, and considering the severity of it their injuries could have been much worse.

We had a lot of fun visiting with them. I didn't get to hold Delilah all that much with Grandma being around, but since this is my first baby that she doesn't get to live by I had to oblige! Why is it that grandmas are so good with babies? Both of the grandmas are like infant sleeping pills. They can always get my babies to sleep even if they've been fussy for me. What's up with that? Addison & Urban loved having them around and getting some extra attention too. There were lots of loves & cuddles.
We did some shopping (grandma's favorite past time), visited Temple Square, watched Max & Ruby and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (the kids thought the name was funny so they wanted to watch it), played silly car games, made casseroles in our mouths (thanks for that by the way, we still use it to get Addison to eat better), sang songs & read books.

Jared and I had not even started our Christmas shopping by the time they got here so two nights after the kids went to bed we headed out to get it all done. It was so nice to be able to go out alone together. Otherwise we would have either had to take turns going or take the kids and try to hide things in the cart while distracting them.

My mother in law finished re-upholstering my chaise. She started it last year when they came to visit. I was supposed to finish it, but to be quite honest I never even attempted it because the task was a bit overwhelming for me. I knew I would mess it up somehow. I felt bad putting her to work, but she did a great job, it looks professional.

My father in law got me addicted to the General Tso's chicken in Wal-mart's deli. It is so yummy. I want it all the time now.

I feel so bad that their trip started out the way that it did, but I am so thankful that they're both okay. We had a wonderful week with them, it went by too fast. Although I was glad to get our bed back. The air mattress we were sleeping on kept losing air during the night, we kept waking up on the floor. Oh well, I'd do it again any time. We already miss you guys so much. Thanks for coming to visit. You are welcome any time. We love you. Take care of yourselves and get better soon!

This Christmas

December is almost over and I haven't posted a thing about this Christmas season. This month seemed to just fly by. I feel like I barely got all of the decorations put up and now it's time to take them down.

I love Christmas time. Faith strengthening experiences always seem to present themselves and this year was no exception.

We had a wonderful first Christmas with Delilah. It's always fun to celebrate the "firsts". We didn't take her to see Santa which I'm kind of sad about but she's still so young & little to be around a lot of people with so much sickness going around. Jared took Addison & Urban to our ward Christmas party though and they were able to sit on Santa's lap there. I knew Addi would be fine, but I wasn't sure about the Urbster. He's very temperamental these days. But Jared said that he did really well with Santa. I'm sure the fact that he had candy to give out had something to do with it.

Here are the kiddos on Christmas eve after we got home from our annual appetizer dinner at Aunt Heather's house.

We always let the kids open one present on Christmas eve and it's always cute pajamas to wear that night (I think everyone has this same tradition!).

This year their Aunt Julie & Uncle Jason sent pajamas up for them and they were adorable. They did such a good job picking out exactly what each of the kids are into. Addison & Urban were super excited. THANK YOU SO MUCH! We love you guys.

Opening presents Christmas morning.

Well what do you know, he got some super hero dress up stuff. Doesn't he look cute as Spider man? Hopefully now he'll stay away from the Snow White dress. Probably not though. After all of the presents were opened we found Urban playing with the Barbie stuff Addison got and Addison was playing with the G.I. Joe stuff Urban got. They seem to be a bit confused.

I love these two pictures. They really do love each other...and sometimes they even act like it!

Daddy multi-tasking. =)

And of course I didn't get a single picture of the entire family but don't you worry your pretty little heads, I'll be putting my sister to work very soon.

I don't like it!

Nope, not one little bit. Delilah's hips are displaced so she has to wear leg braces that spread her knees out and pushes them up in order to force the ball into the socket. The contraption is more like a full body harness. It goes up over her shoulders and around her chest. It probably doesn't bother her nearly as much as it bothers me (babies are pretty limber) but it just looks so uncomfortable. It makes every little tiny task like changing her diaper, dressing her or nursing her much harder than it needs to be. It is also much more difficult to snuggle and cuddle her close because of the position of her legs, which is by far the worst part. Oh yeah, did I mention that she hasn't slept more than 30 minutes at a time since the braces were put on her Monday morning? We're all just a wee bit exhausted around here. I know that in the whole scheme of things this really is not a big deal at all. Considering all things that could be wrong this is truly a minor issue with a simple fix. I know I should not be complaining but I am tired and feeling whiny so you all get to listen to me! =)

She reminds me a little bit of a marionette doll. Her little brace looks like strings that I could just tug on and make her dance. Oh well, even in her new little get up she's still absolutely adorable (at least to her mother). At least it's not like Forrest Gump's metal leg braces! That's what I kept picturing when they first told me she needed leg braces. Oh my crazy imagination.

Hmmm...

I think this boy will be getting some super hero dress up stuff for Christmas. And perhaps a brother would be nice too!

'NUFF SAID!

More pictures

My fabulous photographer sister has my maternity, birth story & newborn pictures set up on a website if you would like to see them. I absolutely love them. It brought tears to my eyes to watch the slideshow. Each moment is portrayed perfectly. I am so glad to have these moments captured in photos to remind me of how peaceful & angelic my sweet baby girl is. Thank you Heather, you're the best. We love you!

To view the gallery go to:
collages.net

username:
Hollie's story

password:
28042

It will also ask you for your e-mail & first name as verification.

Hope you enjoy, I sure did.

Baby Tiny!

I'm way behind on posting and probably will be for awhile. But I wanted to get some pictures up before Delilah's a teenager! She's 3 weeks old today and already seems so different. It goes by so fast, especially those precious intervals of sleep in the middle of the night between feedings. Oh well, what do you do?

Here we are on our way out the door to the hospital. By the way, why didn't anyone tell me how chubby my face had gotten? Anyway, I was scheduled for a c-section on Nov. 20th but went into labor on the 10th. I started having what I thought were contractions but I wasn't completely sure. After all, I've always had c-sections, I didn't really know what contractions felt like. I was debating going to the hospital when they started getting worse and Jared told me I didn't have a choice, he was taking me. Anyone who knows me knows that I am stubborn when it comes to going to the doctor. I HATE feeling like a hypo. I do not go unless I know for sure that something is definitely wrong. I didn't want to go when I went into labor with Urban either because I wasn't sure that's what was happening, but Jared made me and sure enough he was ready to come out. Well it's a good thing we went when we did this time too. They hooked me up to all of the monitors and every time I had a contraction Delilah's heart rate would drop way low, like below 60, for about 30 seconds to a minute at a time. The nurse got my doctor on the phone to tell him the baby was in distress then all of the sudden about 5 nurses came rushing into the room. They flipped me over and started prepping me for an emergency c-section. All at once they were starting an IV, inserting a catheter, hooking me up to oxygen and whatever else they do. I started shaking uncontrollably, I was so worried that something would happen. They told me that everything would be fine as long as they got her out of me as soon as possible. And luckily everything was just fine. She is healthy and beautiful and just perfect!

Here's daddy holding her at the hospital. She's already got him wrapped around her little finger just like Addison. Somehow I don't have any pictures of me holding her at the hospital, hopefully my sister got one.

Addison and Urban's first look at their new baby sister. I was so sad because with all of the sicknesses going around, the hospital was not allowing any kids as visitors, so Addi & Urbi didn't get to come visit us in the hospital. I understand why they have that rule, it was just hard not seeing them for 3 days. I was so excited for them to meet her.

Addison could not wait to hold Lilah and Urban got busy reading her a book right away (that's one of his favorite things to do). Urban calls her baby tiny which I think is absolutely adorable. She does seem so tiny too, especially compared to my little monster man.

She is such a sweet baby. We are all really enjoying having her in our family. The kids just love her. They're adjusting pretty well. Addison's needing some extra daddy time and Urban needs alone time with mommy so we're doing our best to make them feel included and special. They love to be mommy's little helpers. They want to try to help change diapers, give baths & feed her, which is interesting since I'm nursing. We've had many discussions on what mommy's chest is for and they both seem to think it's fun to wear nursing pads.

We've had so much help it has been wonderful. My mom came up for about a week to help out and take care of the kiddos while I was in the hospital which the kids loved. My sister checks on me pretty much everyday to see what she can do. She's also been my personal photographer. I'll post some of her pics later. And our ward is amazing, we had 4 delicious dinners brought to us.

At first the hospital was only allowing two visitors, and they had to be the same two, you couldn't rotate. Of course Jared was one and my mom was the other. After all, grandma always gets first dibs! She is so good with babies too, I love watching her hold her grandchildren. So Heather was really bummed that she wasn't going to get to see us in the hospital and take pics. Well on the last night before we were discharged a nurse told us that they changed the rule and they were allowing two visitors in addition to the husband. Apparently there had been some brawls between mothers and mothers-in-law to decide who would get to see their grand baby first. This kind of made me giggle. Since my mother-in-law wasn't here this wasn't an issue for us. Too bad, that would have been fun to watch. JUST KIDDING!!!