Welcome, Baby Megan!!

Well, our sweet baby girl finally arrived on Tuesday! Here are her stats: she was born June 30, 2009 at 11:10 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces and is 19 inches long. The general consensus is that she has REDDISH hair. :) Here's a brief rundown of that morning's events: - at 7:15 we arrived at Huntsville Hospital - by 8:00 we were in our room - at about 8:30 I was hooked up to the hydrating IV drip and the pitosin - at 8:50 the doctor broke my water - at about 9:30 I got the epidural - at around 11:05 it was time to push (just a couple of pushes) - at 11:10 our tiny Megan was born The nurse held her up for a photo op. Megan's got a good set of lungs. Danny holding her for the first time.

I held her right after she was born, but this is the first time holding her after being all cleaned up. Isn't she sweet? Grandma brought Emily and Dallin to the hospital that afternoon. Dallin was very curious and was so sweet with her. He loved all Megan's tiny body parts, especially her toes.

This was taken on Wednesday, when Emily did a much better job welcoming her baby sister to our family.

We brought Megan home from the hospital on Thursday.

So far, Megan is a really good sleeper. So good in fact that she's hard to wake up to feed and keep awake while she's nursing. We rarely see her eyes, so it's a treat when they're open. She is just a cutie and is a very mellow kid so far. She hardly ever makes a peep. We are so happy to have her finally here. There is something indescribably sweet about having a brand new baby in the home. I love rocking her, putting my cheek on her fuzzy head, holding her against me, and smelling that unique newborn smell. We're just hoping for a smooth transition into being the parents of three. Danny's been wonderful at playing with Dallin and Emily. My mom's been so helpful with the kids and especially doing all the rest things like cooking and cleaning. Scary to think that what now takes three of us to do in order to keep life running smoothly, will soon be all on my shoulders. I try not to think about that part. :)

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Today Emily turned FOUR years old! We tried to make the day special for her. The front room was decorated with balloons and other things, AND she got to have cold cereal for breakfast - which she was thrilled about. Yesterday I told her we were going to a fun place this morning for her birthday, but that it was a surprise. She didn't know where we were going until we pulled into our parking spot.

That "fun place" was Chuck E Cheese's and when she saw the sign from the car, she was SO excited. I wish I could've gotten a picture of her face beaming.

As for the presents, she wasn't all that thrilled about a lot of them when she got them opened. I was getting worried that they would all be busts, but she really liked this princess nightgown from Grandma Burnham.

And this dress up stuff.

And this beautiful quilt made by Grandma Dixon.

For her birthday dinner she surprisingly requested french toast, which we thought was odd. She was really happy about the strawberry syrup I bought to eat with it.

After baths, she fianally got to dig into her PINK cake. She picked out the strawberry cake mix, the strawberry frosting, and the rainbow sprinkles a couple of weeks ago. She's been so looking forward to it every since.

Happy birthday, Sweet Pea! I love you and I hope you had a fun day.

**A quick little addition documenting Saturday, June 27th:

In connection with Emily's birthday we took the kids to the movies for the first time! We saw the movie "Up" in 3D. I was skeptical how Dallin would do, especially with the glasses. This kid was a champ and wore his huge glasses the entire time. He watched the whole movie. I hope I can keep forever in my mind the image of him sitting there on Daddy's lap watching very intently with those glasses on. It was so, so cute. Emily, on the other hand, did not last through it and she nearly had a complete melt-down with about 30 minutes left. Fortunately, we were able to settle her down enough to get through the rest of the movie.

12 Days and Counting

My doctor said the other day that he'll induce me on the 30th, at 39 weeks! For those of you who have delivered your babies early (or even on time), you have no concept of how awesome this is. You may not know that Emily was three days late, and Dallin was 8 days late and weighed 8 lbs., 12 oz. I had to be induced with both. My doctor said that there's no need for me to go 41 weeks or deliver such a huge baby. So, there you have it! Our baby will be here in 12 days! Here are some of the "prego" things that I'm SO looking forward to being done with - early!

• Using the bathroom all the time, including during the night, due to a squished bladder.
• Having everything about me being BIG; belly, ankles, hands, thighs, and pretty much the rest of me. I just feel so meaty and fleshy. Not too long ago the kids and I were reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and came to the part that reads something like, "Now he wasn't hungry anymore. And he wasn't a little caterpillar anymore. He was a big, fat caterpillar." And Emily says, "Just like you, Mom!" Nice.
• The nearly incessant heartburn. I only get it during pregnancy and it's awful. Half the time I get it when I haven't eaten anything for a long time, but it's especially bad when I lay on my right side.
• The lovely pelvic exams at the doctor's office.
• Only having two positions to lay in: on my left side or on my right side. And sometimes the right side isn't an option because of the heartburn.
• My painful ligaments. With every pregnancy, I've had terrible pain in the ligaments in my inner thighs due to the stretching that happens as my belly grows. It's come earlier and has been more painful with each pregnancy. It kills all the time, especially when I move, and makes normal things nearly impossible to do because of the pain. Walking, getting up, any lifting of my legs (shaving and putting pants on is awful), sitting in any position too long, laying in one position too long. The VERY worst is rolling over in bed. The pain nearly brings me to tears. It literally catches and makes a popping sound. I swear one of these days it'll just stay popped out of place. I remember getting the epidurals when laboring with Emily and Dallin was totally worth it just to be able to move my legs around and not have searing pain in them.
• Having only two shirts and one pair of pants that fit anymore.
• Hemorrhoids. Need I say more??
• Not being able to bend over or snuggle with my kids. It'll be great not to have this huge belly in the way.

ONLY 12 DAYS TO GO!! WOO HOO!!

Chattanooga

We squoze in another thing/place on our to-do list yesterday: visit Chattanooga, TN. This time it was even extra special because we met up with our old friends Leo and Amber Ebbert, and their cute family. The Ebberts moved into our Mesa ward exactly four years ago (Amber reminded me that I was "pregnant with Emily and about to pop." Funny how I'm in the same boat this time around too!). Then they moved to Knoxville, TN a little over two years ago and when we moved here, we thought it'd be fun to get together with them somehow. The Ebberts and we decided on Chattanooga because it's the halfway point between us and they have a cool aquarium there. We were glad to go because we've been wanting to go to Chattanooga before the baby comes anyway. The day started out rocky due to our own blunders and unpreparedness: we didn't set an alarm and woke up a little late, I chose a hairstyle for Emily that took much longer to do than we had time for, we waited until the last minute to mapquest directions and found out it takes two hours to get there instead of 1 1/2, on our way out of town we took the slower Hwy. 72 instead of the interstate. Duh! The biggest problem we had that neither we or the Ebberts anticipated was that Chattanooga is in the Eastern time zone (we are in central), so we botched our plan to meet at 10:00 when we arrived over an hour late. We felt like total idiots for overlooking that, but Amber and Leo were totally cool about it. Thank heavens for good people! Inspite of the tough start to the day, we had a really great time catching up with them and visiting the aquarium.

With the Ebberts: Leo, Amber, Summer, Tyler, Bridget, and Tyson. They are such a great family and we're so glad it worked out to get together. The aquarium has two separate parts: the freshwater building and the saltwater building. We started out in the freshwater exhibit.A little alligator. They had a neat butterfly exhibit. There exists a species called the "common mormon". I thought that was odd.

Daddy and Dallin.

A parrot named "Amy". I felt so honored.

A cool spotted stingray.

Some big gross-looking fish. Dallin touching a fish.

The cute kiddos.

Emily getting her snake-touching fix.

And they got to touch a possum.

We took a lunch break before we headed over to the saltwater part. Here are the kids. Penguins. Emily with a statue penguin.

Some neat jellyfish.

All the kids in a shark cage.

Emily and Dallin looking at some jellyfish. Can you tell Emily's sick of getting her picture taken?

What a fun day! Thank you, Amber and Leo for making the effort to come! We had a great time!

The Beach

Who knew there are beaches here in Alabama? There's not a lot of Alabama coastline, but what there is was totally awesome and blows the California beaches I've been to out of the water. When we were in Tucson, Danny had a co-worker who grew up in Alabama and when she learned we'd be moving here, she told us of her all-time favorite beach vacation spot: Gulf Shores, Alabama. We immediately put it on our "Things to do in Alabama" list and had planned on going before this baby comes. We were able to work it in this past week from Wednesday night to Saturday and we were not disappointed at all. The beach was clean and beautiful, with really fine white sand and warm water. The trip went just exactly as we'd hoped - no rain, lots of beach time, stress-free. Both of the full days we had on the beach went as followed: We went out to the beach as soon as breakfast was over, and everyone was swimsuited up and lathered with sunscreen. We played out there for a few hours till lunch. Then we went back up to the condo for lunch and naps. Then we headed out to the beach again for a couple of hours till dinner. Then it was baths, dinner, and bed time. It was perfect. We rented a little two-bedroom condo right on the beach. It was just right for us. Emily's first moments on the beach. From the beginning she was ready to get wet, build sand castles, and dig in the sand.

Dallin's first moments on the beach. At first, he was pretty afraid of the water, but got used to it quickly and really loved it.

They were very excited to be there.

During the night, the tide came up high enough to a little dip in the sand that created sort of a river or mote that every kid on the beach loved playing in. It was warm and shallow, and even had little minnows in it. Daddy would try and catch them with our little net. Here they are looking at one.

Mommy and the kids sitting so the water would wash up and get our feet. They thought it was a really fun game because sometimes it would reach our feet and sometimes it wouldn't. Danny and Emily did this for hours: catching little sea creatures as the waves rolled in. Emily absolutely loved it and was totally into it. She'd bring whatever was caught in her bare hands to the bucket that was up by me. They caught a lot of sand fleas, minnows, a sand crab, and a hermit crab.

We went to Lambert's Cafe for dinner. Danny had heard of this place and they're famous for literally throwing their piping hot rolls from across the room to anyone who wants one. This was my catch and they were very tasty. Our second morning was cloudy and cooler, but the rain never came and we had a great time out there. Here are the kids playing in the "river".

Playing in the "river".

Since I can barely bend over these days, I sat in the beach chair a lot and took walks along the beach with the kids. I left the bending and digging and such to Danny. This is the view I had a lot of the time and I think they look cute.

I also thought this shot was cool. Some condo time. Dallin was finishing up lunch. They loved sitting on these stools and the fact that there were so many different colors to choose from.

At Emily's request, Daddy's taking her in "deep" to lift her over the waves. This little "river" was seriously the best for little kids.

After dinner on Saturday we went to The Warf to ride this ferris wheel, the tallest in the South. Emily was so excited she could hardly contain herself.

Getting ready to ride it.

So that other passengers could also ride, we happened to get stopped for a few moments at the very top. Emily thought it was the greatest.

Danny and Dallin.

In looking into things to do down in Gulf Shores, I found this place and we thought the kids would enjoy it. It was on the way home, so we stopped there after checking out of the condo on Saturday morning. It was very cool.

This place has over 200 alligators of various ages and sizes. Most of them have been brought here for being "problem" alligators. Some of them are in enclosures like this. The big dudes are in this huge swamp.

We followed a guide along this pathway over the swamp to see a lot of them. This is their most famous, world record-holding alligator: Captain Crunch. Pretty impressive stats!

Then we went to some bleachers to watch feeding time.

The guide, Wes, went into the enclosure to feed the alligators dead chickens. The gators also knew it was time to eat and 15-20 big ones came up out of the river right near him.

After they were fed, some stayed on the bank and others went back into the water.

Then it was time for the alligator encounter. The first one to hold this little guy was a kid of about 12 years old. When Wes offered the other littler boys ahead of us a chance, they were all too scared. Emily was totally fearless as she marched up to take her turn. She thought it was great. Dallin also wanted a turn.

Danny and I couldn't pass up the chance to hold the little guy either.

It was very cool to actually hold one. Then we walked over to the giant snake exhibit. They have a whole bunch of huge snakes in cages for you to see, only species that grow to 20+ feet. We saw anacondas, boa constrictors, and pythons, etc. Then they took out one of the smaller, safer ones for people to handle. I thought the kids would be satisfied to just touch it.

But Emily wanted to hold it like everyone else.

For that matter, so did I.

And so did Danny.

As if that weren't enough, Emily still wanted more and asked to touch its head. That made me a little nervous because, hello the teeth, but the guy said he'd hold the head to keep it from biting.

And then Dallin wanted to touch its head too.

Then they brought out a bigger snake and invited everyone to touch it too.

Again, Emily was all for it.

We laughed because Dallin liked to gently squeeze it over and over again. They let all the kids help carry it back to its cage.

We then began our 6-hour drive home, completely satisfied with a really great trip.

Grandpa and Uncle Beaner

We had a terrific weekend because we had family in town!! Grandpa Dixon was already in Nashville on business, but when that was done he came down on Thursday afternoon and stayed with us for a couple of days. Even better was that Uncle Ben (aka Uncle Beaner, a name given by Emily a while back) also came to visit from Memphis on Friday evening. We did a few fun things to make sure Grandpa and Ben had a good time here. On Friday morning we took Grandpa to the beautiful outdoor mall.

We met Daddy there for lunch.

The kids got to play at the water area there. Too bad it was, cloudy, breezy, and not quite 70 degrees. They nearly froze, but loved it. I forgot to bring good water shoes, so it was pretty slippery. Both Emily and Dallin slipped and bumped their heads on the concrete. Nothing serious, but that was enough for Dallin. Emily stayed in a lot longer and just giggled and giggled.

Later that afternoon we went off on a very special errand: to get Emily a sparkly, fancy, pink bike for her upcoming birthday. The bike is from Grandpa and Grandma Dixon, so we all thought it a great idea for Grandpa to take Emily and buy it while he was here since they won't be here for her big day. She got to ride it for a little while for Grandpa before it gets put up till her actual birthday. She LOVES the bike in all it's frilly glory!

That evening Ben arrived, and when the kids went to bed we put in a movie. Unfortunately, it was really lame and no one but Danny saw the whole thing (Ben and Grandpa fell asleep, and I went to off bed in the middle of it). The pluses of the evening inspite of the movie: Danny's delicious air-popped popcorn and home made rootbeer freezes. Mmmmmm.

Saturday was just as fun. We started it off by going to one of our favorite restaurants for breakfast: The Blue Plate Cafe. The food is just so good. We even ordered their Cocoa Biscuits (a regular biscuit with chocolate gravy on it), a true Southern dish.

Then it was off to Cathedral Caverns and this is where Uncle Beaner gets major props for being the best uncle in the entire family. Not only did he let Emily be his little buddy who almost never left his side the whole time he was here, he pushed the stroller with both kids in it the entire way through the cave - not an easy task with all the ups and downs on the paths, the crowds of people to maneuver around in the dark, the stopping and going during the tour. You're awesome, Ben! Waiting for the tour to begin. Emily and Uncle Beaner Walking into the world's largest opening to a cave.

The view from the inside looking out of the cave's mouth.

It was incredible in there. Here are some shots of stalagtites and stalagmites we thought were pretty amazing.

A photo op on the way out.

I learned a lesson the hard way: Don't wear white pants and flip flops into a place where mud can get flipped and flopped up onto your pants. Dang it!

After a relaxing afternoon and dinner, Grandpa took us to Bruster's for ice cream. And yes, it was our second time going there since his arrival. And yes, it was just as delicious the second time. The kids were in heaven.

Thanks again for coming, Grandpa and Ben!! We loved having you here!

Hot Air Balloons

We crossed another thing off our "Things to do in Alabama" list today: going to the annual Alabama Jubilee, the whole point being getting to see all the hot air balloons. We've looked forward to taking Dallin and Emily to this for months, knowing they'd love seeing the balloons. The highly unfortunate part is that due to the weather, no one was allowed to launch their balloons and do the balloon race. We were bummed! On the positive side, a few people inflated them so in the end we got to be right up close to hot air balloons. While we were waiting for that, though, there were other things to do. Emily and Dallin saw a little ride and immediately wanted to try it. They loved it. Danny said seeing Emily's face and hearing her laugh during the ride was totally worth how much we paid for them to ride it. I, of course, couldn't ride it, but I could see from where I was that both kids were having a great time on it. Emily chose to ride it again while Dallin rode a pony. They did some finger painting, and we all enjoyed some pizza and a snow cone. It turned out to be a good a time as we'd hoped, especially since the rain stopped when we arrived and started up again when we were leaving, a definite tender mercy.