"Greetings from Seal Beach!"
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
My Grass is Pretty Green
Recently I was reading another girl's labor story and it made me reflect on my own. When someone asks how it was I usually say, "Terrible. Awful. Horrendous. 22 hours of painful labor with no pain meds just to get cut open." They ask why I got a c-section and I tell them because just about everything that could go wrong did: failure to progress, baby facing the wrong way, baby's head pushing on the cervix and both the head and cervix swelling up, baby passing meconium. I think about being pregnant again, and then I think again- I was not a fan of the nausea, the total lack of energy, not being able to do all the things I am used to and all the weird things your body does.
But when I think about her delivery and post- delivery, I suddenly feel very ungrateful and ignorant. Yes, I had a painful labor and wasn't able to deliver naturally like I wanted to. But my life was never once in danger, and as frustrating as some of it was, it was mostly all normal delivery stuff. Yes, my baby had to go to NICU for monitoring for aspiration pneumonia and I didn't get to see her for her first 3 hours, but she was completely healthy and it was only 3 hours. No, I didn't have the easiest pregnancy, but I can have another child again, anytime I want to.
This has been an awesome reminder to me to be grateful for what I am given- and I have SO MUCH to be grateful for.
But when I think about her delivery and post- delivery, I suddenly feel very ungrateful and ignorant. Yes, I had a painful labor and wasn't able to deliver naturally like I wanted to. But my life was never once in danger, and as frustrating as some of it was, it was mostly all normal delivery stuff. Yes, my baby had to go to NICU for monitoring for aspiration pneumonia and I didn't get to see her for her first 3 hours, but she was completely healthy and it was only 3 hours. No, I didn't have the easiest pregnancy, but I can have another child again, anytime I want to.
This has been an awesome reminder to me to be grateful for what I am given- and I have SO MUCH to be grateful for.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Cousins Day
Last Friday we took advantage of the Veterans' Day holiday and had a fun cousins day! Did you know that there is a zoo in Irvine called the Orange County Zoo? Apparently it's Orange County's best kept secret. It's in the middle of Irvine Regional Park and perfect for little kids. It's small (there aren't too many animals there but you probably won't lose your kids) and only costs 2 bucks to get in. Plus there is a petting zoo inside. The whole park is great- on top of the zoo and acres of grass and trees,
they have a train,
pony rides,
and bikes and paddle boats you can rent.
So, Penny got to spend the day there with her cousins on the Dimick side for her first official Cousins Day. This was really exciting to me because I don't have any cousins my age and have always been jealous of people who do. Siblings are great and I love mine, but there's something about cousins. I am lucky enough to have adopted a few through the Smith family!
The kids had the funnest time, and the adults had a great time too.
After everyone rode the train, we saw a cute little photo spot- some pumpkins and bales of hay setup. So we decided to take some pictures of the kids there. We started herding them over when I noticed that Penny needed a diaper change, and then I noticed she needed an outfit change. So I started changing her when my sister- in- law called my name. I looked and some man was loading the pumpkins into his truck! He didn't care that there were kids playing on them and parents trying to take pictures. So I started changing her faster and then ran her over. Once I got there I saw that Sam and Trenton were sitting nicely, but they were sitting amongst some random kids. Now the random kids were very nice looking, but we didn't know them and didn't particularly care to have them in the photo, so we had to beg and bribe the kids to move to a different corner of the pumpkin patch. Once we got them there and gave them the baby, we saw that Travis was out cold. His mom laid him down on the pumpkins, where he woke up unhappily, trying to figure out where the heck he was. For some reason Rosalynn wanted only her back to be in the picture, and then Penny started crying. Lilly was probably the best one, even though she wasn't always looking at the camera. And in addition to all this, the random kids are climbing all over our corner, and the guy is still picking up pumpkins around kids and loading them in his truck. These are the beauts we got:
They're not exactly what I had in mind but they do accurately capture what our lives with these guys are like!
This sweetheart loves his cousin (and she loves him too):
Can't wait for the next Cousins Day!
they have a train,
pony rides,
and bikes and paddle boats you can rent.
So, Penny got to spend the day there with her cousins on the Dimick side for her first official Cousins Day. This was really exciting to me because I don't have any cousins my age and have always been jealous of people who do. Siblings are great and I love mine, but there's something about cousins. I am lucky enough to have adopted a few through the Smith family!
The kids had the funnest time, and the adults had a great time too.
After everyone rode the train, we saw a cute little photo spot- some pumpkins and bales of hay setup. So we decided to take some pictures of the kids there. We started herding them over when I noticed that Penny needed a diaper change, and then I noticed she needed an outfit change. So I started changing her when my sister- in- law called my name. I looked and some man was loading the pumpkins into his truck! He didn't care that there were kids playing on them and parents trying to take pictures. So I started changing her faster and then ran her over. Once I got there I saw that Sam and Trenton were sitting nicely, but they were sitting amongst some random kids. Now the random kids were very nice looking, but we didn't know them and didn't particularly care to have them in the photo, so we had to beg and bribe the kids to move to a different corner of the pumpkin patch. Once we got them there and gave them the baby, we saw that Travis was out cold. His mom laid him down on the pumpkins, where he woke up unhappily, trying to figure out where the heck he was. For some reason Rosalynn wanted only her back to be in the picture, and then Penny started crying. Lilly was probably the best one, even though she wasn't always looking at the camera. And in addition to all this, the random kids are climbing all over our corner, and the guy is still picking up pumpkins around kids and loading them in his truck. These are the beauts we got:
They're not exactly what I had in mind but they do accurately capture what our lives with these guys are like!
This sweetheart loves his cousin (and she loves him too):
Can't wait for the next Cousins Day!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Dreams Realized
Anyone who knows Scott knows that one of his dreams is to help design video games. And anyone who knows him knows the video game industry needs him. He is so creative, an excellent artist, and he looks at video games the way some people look at art. He sees every part as a separate element, and can tell you just about anything about any video game.
This week he reached a milestone in that dream. For the past 4 months Scott has been working for Activision in the Technical Requirements Group (if you want to know what that is, ask him. It's a good job but not super exciting). His group has been working on Modern Warfare 3, which was released this week. If you happened to be one of the 6.5 million people who bought the game (in the first day alone) you can look at the credits and see:
"Scott Smith"!! Yes, it is a very common name, but this is referring to Scott Michael Smith of Lakewood, California. This may not be quite his dream of designing games and characters for games, but it is one step toward that dream, and I know that one day he'll be there. We are all so proud of Scott!
This week he reached a milestone in that dream. For the past 4 months Scott has been working for Activision in the Technical Requirements Group (if you want to know what that is, ask him. It's a good job but not super exciting). His group has been working on Modern Warfare 3, which was released this week. If you happened to be one of the 6.5 million people who bought the game (in the first day alone) you can look at the credits and see:
"Scott Smith"!! Yes, it is a very common name, but this is referring to Scott Michael Smith of Lakewood, California. This may not be quite his dream of designing games and characters for games, but it is one step toward that dream, and I know that one day he'll be there. We are all so proud of Scott!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
6 Weeks Old and Loving Life!
Today Penny had her first real smile! Luckily my phone was nearby so I caught a picture of it.
It's blurry because she was wiggling around, having a good ol' time.
She is a good baby, we've only had a couple of stumbling blocks, but we have figured them out pretty quick. She eats well and doesn't cry much. The only time she does cry is when she's hungry or lonely. She does not like to be left alone at all. In fact, her favorite way to sleep is cuddled up with Mommy or Daddy, or somewhere where there are lots of people talking (Grandma and Grandpa's with the cousins there or my Young Women class both work great). Really the only way to get her to sleep in her own bed is to get her good and asleep on one of us and then put her in her bed. But I don't complain much, because at least I have a way to get her to sleep.
She is the NOISIEST baby. Just call me when I'm feeding her. She eats loud, poops loud, sleeps loud and just makes noises when she's not doing anything. I LOVE those little noises.
Being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But it is also the BEST thing by far. I wouldn't give it up for anything, and I'm so grateful Heavenly Father has entrusted me with this responsibility.
In other news...
I have no idea how long she was sleeping like this before we found her. We are bad parents.
It's blurry because she was wiggling around, having a good ol' time.She is a good baby, we've only had a couple of stumbling blocks, but we have figured them out pretty quick. She eats well and doesn't cry much. The only time she does cry is when she's hungry or lonely. She does not like to be left alone at all. In fact, her favorite way to sleep is cuddled up with Mommy or Daddy, or somewhere where there are lots of people talking (Grandma and Grandpa's with the cousins there or my Young Women class both work great). Really the only way to get her to sleep in her own bed is to get her good and asleep on one of us and then put her in her bed. But I don't complain much, because at least I have a way to get her to sleep.
She is the NOISIEST baby. Just call me when I'm feeding her. She eats loud, poops loud, sleeps loud and just makes noises when she's not doing anything. I LOVE those little noises.
Being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But it is also the BEST thing by far. I wouldn't give it up for anything, and I'm so grateful Heavenly Father has entrusted me with this responsibility.
In other news...
I have no idea how long she was sleeping like this before we found her. We are bad parents.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Halloween 2011
This year for Halloween Penny dressed up as a...
...chicken! We were the farmers.
We went to our ward Halloween party, where we ran into this guy:
And on Halloween, we went Trick or Treating with some family and friends.
She got to see her boyfriend, Austin:
Penny slept through it all but she did still get some candy (I tried not to but the guy seriously chased us to the next house until we took a handful of candy for the babies) and overall it was a successful first Halloween.
Have you ever seen a cuter chicken? :)
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