Girl's St. George Trip

July 7-11, my sisters and I packed up all our things and 8 kids and headed to St. George.  We have always done this trip in the past, but this year everyone was able to come. 

Sunday, July 7, 2013
We were finally ready to leave Orem, Utah around 4:30p.m.  It was a lot of hard work packing, especially now that I have to pack for 2.  My oldest sister, Amy, drove her Suburban with Stacy, Canyon, Lydia, Landon, Parker and Ashely, while I drove our van down with Myrn, Meg, Mason, Oakley, and Mabel (mom and Lin couldn't stay the whole time so they were coming down tomorrow). 
We stopped in Beaver for a quick bathroom break and to let the kids run around and release a little bit of energy.  Beaver was so windy.  By the time we got back into the cars, we all had little black specks of dirt all over us. 

 

We finally made it to St.George around 10:00p.m.  We had some pretty tired kiddies by then. 

 

Monday, July 8, 2013

Since there were so many of us, we ended up having to stay at 2 different condos.  Our car stayed at my grandma and grandpa's condo, while the other car stayed at Claire's condo (Amy's mother-in-law's condo).  We woke up early and headed right to Wal-Mart where we bought all the food, snacks, and treats you can think of. 

After splurging at Wal-Mart we headed over to Claire's condo, ate breakfast, then quickly put on our swimming suits for our first swim of the trip.   

 Thank you Lydia for helping put sunscreen on Ashley!!

Myrn, Meg, and I took Mason and Mabel back to our condo for naps.  After they woke up we headed back to the other condo for another swim. 

That night we went and got Cafe' Rio for dinner.  After eating dinner mom and Lin arrived.  Myrn, Meg, Mason, and Mabel went back to our condo to sleep. 

 

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

After we woke up and got ready for the day, we headed over to the other condo.  We were surprised to see them all still in bed at 9:45 in the morning!  After they woke up, we made a plan that those who wanted to go shopping could go shopping this morning while those who didn't want to go shopping could take the kiddies swimming. 

Lin, Meg, Myrn, Mabel, and Mason ended up going shopping.  We went to Christensen's and the outlet mall.  

Shopping in 110 degree weather can get very hot and tyring so we stopped and got snow cones.   

 

After our shopping trip, Myrn, Meg, and I took the babies home for naps.  Then it was back to the pool for an afternoon swim. 

That night for dinner we went to Poncho and Lefty's Mexican restaurant, got drinks at Swigs, and frozen custard ice cream at Nelson's Custard for dessert.  Then it was back to our condo again to get some shut eye. 

Wednesday, July 10, 2013
We woke up, got ready for the day, then headed to the other condo.  We got one last swim in before Lin and mom had to head home. 

That night, after mom and Lin headed out, we took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and then went to the park.  The kids had so much fun making new friends (little Hispanic boy) and playing on all the park toys. 

Thursday, July 11, 2013
Today was our last day in St. George.  We woke up, cleaned our condo, then headed over to the other condo for one last swim.  During our last swim it started pouring rain.  We got out of the pool for a little bit and waited for it to stop.  It stopped just for a few minutes so we hurried and jumped in one last time.   

  After our last swim we went back to Claire's condo and helped get everything packed up and ready to go. 

On our way home we stopped at McDonald's so the kids could play around on the play place. 

We arrived home around 8:30p.m.  Casey sure was happy to see his little family!!
We had such a fun time in St. George.  We are so sad it's already over, but we're already looking forward to next years girls trip. 



Baby Bond

**Disclaimer:  I have nothing against those who nurse their babies!!
I had made the decision that I wanted to bottle feed Mason before he was even born, so when the nurse handed me this darling baby and asked if I wanted to try nursing I quickly said no thank you.  The nurse was very understanding of the decision I had made. 
Throughout my hospital stay I was told by many of the countless benefits of nursing a baby.  I'm not a selfish person, but I continued to stick to the decision I had previously made of bottle feeding my baby. 

Towards the end of my stay a Utah Valley University nurse in training was helping out the nurse who was in charge that day.  When they entered my room and assisted me with the things I needed the Utah Valley University nurse asked the head nurse if she could take to me in private.  The head nurse left the room.  The UVU nurse proceeded to ask me my reasoning behind not wanting to nurse by baby.  I gave her my reasons.  She then gave me her reasons to why I should nurse my little baby.  She told me I was making a horrible decision and that she had 6 kids where she nursed all of them.  She began to tell me of all the benefits, that I had already heard, to nursing a baby and ending with, "If you don't nurse your baby, you will NEVER have that special bond between you and your baby." 
After she left the room, I broke down in tears.  This nurse had no right to tell me what was best for my baby!  The head nurse came back into the room and asked if everything was okay.  I proceeded to tell her what happened.  She calmed me down and told me that my decision to bottle feed my baby was not a bad decision.  She had 6 kids and she bottle fed all of them. 

I've never regretted my decision to bottle feed my little Mason.  Although there are benefits to nursing your baby, I believe there are just as many benefits to bottle feeding.  So, I'd like to say one thing to the UVU nurse that told me that the horrible decision I was making was going to effect my baby's life forever:

Dear UVU Nurse,

At 1:30 this morning (disregard the miracle with his sleeping that I mentioned in my last post, he's woken up every night, at least twice, for the past 5 days.) as I was asleep in bed I was awoken by my little Mason who was starting to fuss.  His fuss soon became a cry.  I walked across the hall to his bedroom where I picked him up, gave him his bink and blank, and sat in the rocking chair to rock him back to sleep.  He looked at me and raised his hand toward my face, as if he felt safe again in my arms.  As I reached for his hand he grabbed mine, squeezed it, and held onto it.  I sat and rocked my precious baby boy for the next hour enjoying every minute of him squeezing and holding onto my hand. 

It was at this moment that I remembered what you said to me when my little Mason was just a new born, "If you don't nurse your baby, you will NEVER have that special bond between you and your baby."  Just so you know, I have created a special bond with my little Mason.  You were wrong!

Mason is 10 Months Old

Today Mason is 10 months old.  I can't believe that just 10 short months ago we were just meeting this little guy for the first time, now I can't imagine life without our happy little Mason.  Here is a little update of Mason at 10 months old. 
Teeth--Mason now has 6 teeth 2 on the top and 4 on the bottom.  This past month Mason got his first toothbrush and we now brush Mason's 6 teeth each morning and night. 
Sleeping--A miracle happened this last month and Mason is finally sleeping through the night, most of the time.  I had literally tried everything including:  bathing him at night, keeping him on a schedule, feeding him extra at night, playing music in his room at night, a nightlight, changing table pad to keep him from rolling around in his crib at night, reading him a bed time story, not letting him nap as long during the day, and the list could go on and on.  We have no idea what it was that finally got our little guy sleeping through the night, so he has quite the night time ritual--but hey we'll do anything to get this guy to sleep!!

Talking--We don't understand a lot this little guy says, besides dada and mama.  Although, we don't understand a word he is saying this guy sure can strike up a conversation with anyone or anything.   
Eating--Mason is venturing into tasting a few table foods.  Besides his baby food, which he seems to love, we have now started giving him a few table foods.  Mason has tried:  spaghetti--not a fan, cheese--loved it, bread--couldn't get enough of it, and jello--loved it. 

Movement--Mason has still not learned how to crawl, but I'm guessing it will be any day now.  When sitting up he can go to the mermaid position, but that's about it.  I guess his chunky little thighs just can't hold up his body weight yet.  He still rolls around and scoots (only backwards) to get around.  Who needs crawling when you can just roll:). 
Other--Mason's personality just lights up the room.  He is seriously the happiest baby I have ever seen.  It doesn't take much to get this little guy laughing so hard he can't stop.  We've noticed he is very ticklish, not matter where he is tickled he always laughs.  Mason is happiest when someone is playing with him or taking to him.  He also loves it when daddy comes home from work--he gets this huge smile on his face and wiggles his arms and legs.  He'll want dad to hold him for 10 seconds then it's back to mom. 

Hair--Mason, according to Casey's mom, has Casey's hair.  No matter what we try to do with it, it ends up poofy by the end of the day.  His hair is also RED, who would of thought a blond and a brunette could make a red head. 

We are so incredibly in love and totally smitten by this little man of ours.  Happy 10 month birthday Mason!!
P.S.  We're celebrating Mason's 10 month birthday by taking him to the pool with some cousins:)

4th of July--My Favorite Holiday

The 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday and this year didn't disappoint because...

1.  A couple days before the 4th we had a sisters GNO and painted our toes and nails.

2.  Case participated in the annual Freedom Festival 5K.  He had so much fun I think he'll make it a tradition. 

3.  I got to dress this little guy in his cute 4th of July outfit.  I even got him baby TOMS to match:)  

4.  Thanks to a few family members, who woke up at 4:00 a.m. to save seats for the parade, we had great shaded seats for the parade.  Mason ended up falling asleep through most of the parade.  Maybe he'll enjoy it more next year.  



5.  On our way home from the parade we stopped and got a delicious sno cone.  

6.  We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July at the traditional Crandall family 4th of July BBQ.  



7.  We continued our tradition of tying quilts for Primary Children's Hospital.  

 8.  We ended the night with an exciting, intense show of fireworks at Amy and Jared's house.  Mason slept through all the noise and excitement. 

 9.  Because some of the family ran in the Freedom Festival 5K we didn' make it to the balloons that morning.  So we decided to carry on our celebrating to the next day and go see the balloons. 

 We had a great 4th of July, as always.  We're so sad it's over. 

Mason's Birth Story--9 Months Later

I've never been a big fan about writing down birth stories, but as our little Mason gets older so does the memory of when he was born.  I decided to write down the story of our little Mason being born so I can always remember it. 
At 20 weeks, on April 30, 2012, we found out that we were having a baby boy.  I thought for  sure I was going to have a girl, so when we found out it was a boy we were so surprised and shocked.  We had fun telling our families that we were having a baby boy by decorating sugar cookies with blue frosting. 
I had a doctors appointment the following Monday.  I was excited to hear the doctors report on the ultra sounds that were taken just a week prior.  He said everything looked great, but that baby was measuring about 3-4 weeks smaller then where he should be. Another follow-up ultra sound would be needed around 28 weeks. 
At 28 weeks we went in for our follow-up ultra sound.  We were happy to hear that we were still having a boy, but again he was measuring now close to 4-5 weeks smaller then where he should be.  With a little concern from my doctor, he decided to send me to an Perinatologist at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.  My doctor said the Perinatologist would be able to do a more intensive ultra sound to make sure that everything was okay with our little baby. 
At 32 weeks I was scheduled for an ultra sound with the Perinatologist.  After a more intensive ultra sound, they still came to the conclusion that baby was still measuring 3-4 weeks off, everything else looked good in the ultra sound besides baby's size.  The Perinatologist reviewed the due date with me and after much debating, decided to keep my due date at September 16, 2012. 
At 34 weeks I had another appointment with my doctor.  He said that I was still measuring between 3-5 weeks small and his concern lead to his decision to have a non-stress test performed on the baby once a week until the baby arrived along with another ultra sound with the Perinatologist at 38 weeks.  Starting at 34 weeks I began having a non-stress test once a week. 
At 38 weeks I had my final ultra sound.  The baby was still measuring 3-5 weeks small, but the Perinatologist had very little concern considering all the tests they had done before.  He continued to say that babies come in all shapes and sizes and this baby was just going to be smaller than others.  I continued with the non-stress tests up until my due date. 
At 39 weeks I had my last appointment with my doctor.  He again measured my tummy and said again that this baby was just going to be small.  We scheduled an appointment for the next week and said for me to plan on not having this baby early.  If anything, plan on having this baby at least a week late. 
On Saturday, September, 15, 2012 we had spent the day at the Mecham's celebrating September birthdays.  I hadn't felt our little guy move, but didn't think much of it.  That night after going home, I still hadn't felt our little guy move for awhile.  Case and I played a few games of XBOX Kinect and then decided to call the hospital to see what to do, by this time it was about 11:30p.m..  After calling the hospital the friendly nurse convinced me to come in and quickly get things checked out.
I thought our trip to the hospital would be a quick non-stress test and then we could go home and get some sleep.  But when we got to the hospital they had me dress into a gown, at this point I knew something was up. 
The nurses hooked me up to the monitors and was quickly able to see that our little guy was just sleeping (probably resting up for his big debut).  Although the baby was just fine, my blood pressure, on the other hand, was not.  My blood pressure was so high and concerning that they decided they wanted to call my doctor before they released me from the hospital. 
After talking to the on call doctor, she decided to keep me awhile longer to see if my blood pressure would ever go down. 
At about 5:00a.m. the on call doctor decided that my blood pressure was too big of a risk to send me home, and that since I was full term, they would induce me today (Septmeber 16, 2012).  At this point they decided to check to see how far along I was.  I couldn't believe they said I was already at a 5.  I hadn't felt anything at this point.  Case went home to grab my bags and things while I tried too rest, but was way to nervous. 
They hooked me up to an IV, which took the nurse 4 tries before calling the anaesthesiologist to  put it in, and started a Pitocin drip to get things moving along a little faster.  At 6:30 we finally called family to let them know what was going on. 
I decided to get the epidural around 8:00.  I figured sooner or later I would start feeling something and I wanted to get the pain under control before it got too bad.  The anaesthesiologist came back into the room and gave me the epidural. 
At around 10:00 I started feeling EVERYTHING.  Everyone kept telling me that the epidural is amazing and I wouldn't feel a thing after getting it.  I kept pressing the button for more medicine and still nothing, I could still feel EVERTHING.  We called for the anaesthesiologist to come in about 4 times.  He would give me a boost which would help me feel a little better. 
By 1:00 our little guy was ready to enter into this world and by 1:29 our little Mason was born.  I can't even describe the emotions that were going on inside me.  It was the most spiritual experience I had ever experienced. 

After they cleaned our little Mason off, tested him, and weighed him I was able to hold this precious new born baby for the first time.

 

 Our little Mason was a little small, he only weighed 5lbs. 8oz. and was only 17" long.  Because of this, he was given the title of SGA (small for gestational age).  This means his weight was below the 10% percentile.  I was honestly shocked when I found out he was only 5lbs. 8oz. especially when he arrived right on his due date.         
     

Because Mason was so small, he had to have a car seat test done.  He had to sit in his car seat for about 2 hours so doctors could monitor his oxygen levels.  At the last 20 minutes of the test, Mason's oxygen levels plummeted.  Mason didn't pass his car seat test:(.  Our pediatrician advised us not to have Mason in his car seat for long periods of time until he was 2 months old. 
I absolutely loved this time when we had to stay home because Mason couldn't ride in his car seat.    **Mason has hated his car seat ever since he was about 2 months old.  I have come to the conclusion that the reason he hates it so much is because he never got the chance to really get used to it.   

So many people came to show their love and support for us and Mason during our hospital stay.  This picture isn't even everyone that came.  We are so grateful for family and the love they showed to us during this time.   

 

On Tuesday, September 18, 2012 we were able to take Mason home from the hospital.  We had him all packed up in the car seat and ready to leave the hospital, when the doctor request they take my blood pressure one more time.  As luck would have it, my blood pressure was again high and the doctor would not release me from the hospital until it went down.  After another 2 hours of resting and 2 more drinks of the delicious hospital grape juice, I was finally released from the hospital. 

 

Although our lives have been turned upside down in the past 9 months, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I absolutely love being a mom, it's the best job I could ever ask for!!



9 Months

 

I can't believe our little Mason is already 9 months old.  Where has the time gone?  We took him to the doctor for his nine month check up.  Here is the doctors report:

Weight-19lbs.-- 40th percentile

Height- 28 inches--30th percentile

Head Size- 18 inches--80th percentile

Teeth--Mason has 4 teeth, his 2 front ones on the bottom and his 2 front ones on the top that are just making their way in. 

Sleeping--Mason takes 2 napes during the day and is still not sleeping through the night, in fact he is usually awake from about 12:30-4:00 a.m.!!  The doctor gave us some ideas on what we could do to help him sleep better.  Hopefully his ideas will work:)

Talking--I'm not sure if it's on purpose, but Mason has started saying Dada (sure did make Casey happy to have Mason say Dada before Mama).  Mason also says all kinds of gibberish all day. 

Eating--Mason eats pretty much anything I give him.  Although, he's not a real big fan of anything cold. 

Movement--Mason finally learned how to sit up at about 8 1/2 months old.  He scoots (only backwards) and rolls around like crazy to get around.  He's still not crawling or pulling himself up on things to stand up, but I'm sure it'll happen sooner then I know it. 

Other--Within the last couple of weeks Mason has learned to reach for people.  If you put your hands out, if he wants to go to you, then he'll reach out for you.  Casey gets so mad when he comes home from work and picks up Mason and he just reaches back for me.  I personally love it!! 

 



We love our little Mister Mason!! 

Summer

You know summer is officially here when...

1.  You get to go to the Dairy Keen in Heber City for an orange sherbet ice cream cone.  









2.  You get to cook hot dogs over an open fire and take trailer rides that are being pulled by the tractor.  





















3.  You get to go swimming.



 4.  You get to plant flowers in your yard.















5.  You get to have late nights at Grandma's house.

6.  You get to go to end of school year dance festivals.

 

7.  You get to eat delicious popsicles when it's so roasty toasty outside. 

 

 

 8.  You get to go to trampoline parks and spend all night.

We love summer!