Vienne Rose ~ May 23, 2011

Vienne has come! Here's her story:

Sunday, May 15, I made DJ come home from work early (he was working nights) because I was certain I was in labor. Right before my ob appointment that morning my contractions stopped.

Tuesday, May 17, I had an acupuncture appointment. The goal was to help the body prime for labor, shortening the length and intensity of labor.

Sunday, May 22, went on an hour and a half walk with DJ and Christian.

Monday, May 23, woke up to mild contractions. Didn't think anything of it because they were at least 10 minutes apart. Went for another long walk before my ob appointment that morning. Contractions began to hurt a bit, but were still pretty far apart.

11 am ob appointment. Found out I was dilated to 4cm. Water broke while my midwife, Sherri Russell was checking baby's position. I was definitely in labor!

We went in to the hospital around 2pm. Mom needed to take care of a few things before she could watch Christian and I wanted to wait till I started to get the good, strong labor contractions. I was at a 6 when we arrived and very excited at how quickly I was progressing. Two hours later I was still at a 6. I didn't want to get up and walk because my foot was swollen and hurt (the stupid "screwed" up one, haha). It also hurt too bad to be in bed. With my first labor I stalled for 8 hours after getting to the hospital, needing pitocin to kick start labor again. This time I decided to use a light epidural because I had to stay in bed. Well it worked. I got the epi around 5 and was ready to push by 6:30. Apparently Vienne was very ready to be born because it only took a small push to bring her head forward. My midwife made me stop pushing because she was not ready to deliver her yet. So we waited till the next contractions and she just slid out right at 6:40 according to the monitor. She was completely covered in vernix, but was still very cute. I was very surprised to find out she was 8 lbs, 3 oz and 20 inches long for being 1 to 2 weeks early. Christian was only 6 lbs 14 oz born the day before his due date.

My Mom and Kim went home to get Christian and bring him up to see Vienne that evening. He loved her. His whole face light up when DJ brought her over to him.

La Vie En Rose

Did any of you see the movie La Vie En Rose? It was a small independent film in French with English subtitles. It was about a French singer named Edith Piaf who was really popular in the 50's I believe. It starred Marion Cotillard. The title means Life in Rose. I had the chance to watch it when I worked at the theatre in Pullman. Because the population there is concentrated with Professors, we actually had an audience for small, artsy films. The movie was kind of depressing, but the music was fantastic.

Here are two versions of the song by the same title.

Edith Piaf singing the song in full French.

Louis Armstrong's cover, which is really good.

The poster is pretty cool as well. I kept a poster. The title of the movie is why we're naming our little girl Vienne Rose. Coincidentally, she'll also be named after her Great Grandma, DJ's mom's mom (Rose), who we both think is pretty cool. She'll be joining us sometime in late May or early June. I'm excited to have a girl in Spring. I was born in the Spring and I just think its a good time for girls. This little girl has gone through a lot with me, so I feel a bond with her already. I honestly didn't start feeling that with Christian until I was close to being ready to pop.

Now back to Christian. DJ's work had a Christmas party for everyone's kids at the bowling alley about a week before Christmas. It was on a Sunday, but we decided to go so Christian could see Santa and get his present. We weren't going to be able to bowl anyways so there was no temptation there. (My foot was still in the boot and Christian is just too little still). They had a photographer there taking pictures of the kids. Christian's expression is so him. He was in complete awe of the situation. No tears, he didn't even come close. He just had to study everything that was going on.


DJ and I at the REC Christmas party just for adults. We just got these which is why I'm finally posting them. We are very excited for Valentine's day. DJ's birthday is February 15th, so its a two day party for us. DJ just so happens to have the next two days off as well. He's my perfect match, I honestly could not ask for better. I have never met a more patient, considerate, thoughtful, or fun person. And then he became a Dad a blew me away again. I'm about to brag, but he is one of those Dad's who could be a great single parent if he had to. He just knows what to do, often times more then me. I had a really high bar set for the guy I was going to marry and he cleared it easily. Happy Valentines Day and happy Birthday to my love.

Quirks

Christian has the funniest quirks. He has to watch every single car insurance commercial on TV. His favorites are Progressive and State Farm. He loves to watch Tosh.O, he knows when to laugh. He loves to kick the ball his cousin Ashton gave him for his birthday. He walks most of the day now, when he does crawl its to get somewhere really fast. He puts his heads down and takes off. He leaps after the bread during sacrament meeting. He is a show off. The family sitting behind us during church this last Sunday did not pay attention at all to the meeting because Christian was showing them all his tricks. He will sit down and spend time with a toy. He's starting to figure out what the buttons do, and shows purpose with his play instead of just randomly pushing buttons. He loves to hide in little places, like Mom's lazy susan. Right now he's had a runny nose, so he's been a bit more cuddly. He likes to sit on my lap facing me and nestle his face in. Because he wasn't interested in me right after my surgery, I'm enjoying our re bonding time, and I think he is too. His Dad is still his favorite person. Last night Christian got cold and woke up around 3:30 so I brought him into bed. He was fine cuddling with me until he noticed his Dad. He then had to cuddle with him. DJ left for work at 6 and was able to sneak out. Around 6:30 Christian woke up, realized his Dad was gone, and burst into tears. He was inconsolable for about 5 minutes. I know DJ really enjoys the bond he has with his little boy. A couple days ago we were downstairs with him, and my parents were upstairs. Christian heard them so he went to the bottom of the stairs to wait for them to come down. DJ looked over and said, "He is ridiculously cute." I know everyone feels the same way about their 1 years olds but I really do think I have the best little boy.

Christmas pictures -Thanks Stace!

Christian took his first multi-child bath on Christmas. Evalie and Jayda were very nice to let Christian join them. They were good about letting him splash them and he got his fair share of splashes. It was a huge success.








Christian LOVES to be near other kids. He would get so excited when Charlie would come play with his new toys. Here they are checking out the laptop DJ and I got him. Its a little old for him, but he needed a toy with buttons that made noise. Plus he loves to open and shut things, so he loves it.












Christian's Grandma and Grandpa Berezay also got him a little laptop, but its a little different. It has a lot of shapes, and sings a lot of songs. His favorite is the drum button.










Grandma and Grandpa Redford got Christian a little book that reads to him. He loves opening it up and hearing the songs and sounds. That's me helping him, our only picture together.


















Kim and Trent had our family for Christmas. They got Christian a cute little Tonka truck. He's still figuring out how to push it around without tripping. I think this summer he'll got nuts when I let him play in the dirt with it.

Welcome 2011

First a quick catch up of December. Christian had his first Birthday on Dec. 19th. All 3 chargers to all 3 of our cameras somehow got buried underneath all of our stuff in storage so my friend Natalie brought over her camera so we could get pictures. She's been gone for the holidays so hopefully I'll get those soon. Also waiting for Christmas pictures from my sister Stacey. Christian got everything he could have wished for had he known he was getting presents. He opened them like a pro and has been having a lot of fun exploring his new blocks, babies, trucks, boxes, and shapes.

DJ's promotion and pay raise started in December, which has been awesome. It is so relieving to pay all your bills and have money left over to save. We call 2010 our poor year, because it was the first year we lived off one paycheck. But we learned a lot of very good lessons about budgeting, sacrificing, and patience. DJ was so sick of working so much and not being able to do what we want with it that he decided we deserved a great Christmas. He worked a lot of overtime to buy himself a new Xbox, to buy me new maternity clothes (I had the same budget, but find it almost impossible to spend that much on clothes), and give the gifts we really wanted to. I needed new clothes, but when you're used to not spending money, that was a hard one. Thankfully, Motherhood Maternity was having a restaurant gift card reward so we earned almost as much in gift cards as I spent so I didn't feel guilty when we left.

We had an ultrasound on the 21st. We we're able to find out what we're having because the little baby was not cooperating. We also decided to move the due date back a week. Since I know when conception occurred (I know everything about September due to the accident) the new date makes more sense. We have another ultrasound on the 25th to get a better look and hopefully to find out this time.

I had my final appointment with the Podiatrist on the 28th. I didn't know this would be my last appointment with him when I went in. I had another round of Xrays. Well my foot looked solid. The bones were completely healed, the screws were tight, and my joint was stable. He manipulated my foot, let me know I didn't need physical therapy because it was doing so well, which was more good news. He said once I got a new pair of shoes, I could stop using the walking boot. I have to wear Podiatrist approved shoes from now on, and all the time. He said maybe up to an hour barefoot a day would be ok, but to really limit it. But at least I'm walking normally now and I even drove to the store, the first time in 3 1/2 months. The shoes I got are cute, extremely comfortable, and not a bad price, just about $80 bucks more then I ever would have spent before. So we'll slowly build back up my shoe collection. BTW, anyone who wears a size 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 and needs some shoes call me up. I have to get rid of all of my old shoes.

DJ and my parents are very happy to have me back at full speed and doing everything I used to. Now we just have to find a place and move again. Ug.

First word?

Christian loves to play in drawers. He was rummaging through Grandma's Tupperware drawer. He licks everything then puts it back. FYI we don't rewash so if you're grossed out by Christian spit don't eat leftovers at Grandma's right now.

DJ walks in and says, "Christian, are you playing in the drawer?"

"Yes!"

To make sure we heard him right DJ asks again, "Christian, are you playing in the drawer?"

"Yeayea."

It was probably a coincidence but we both swear he said it clear as a bell. He also waves now, its pretty cute.

What a kid

So I wanted to document Christian's personality. He is very vocal. He does not hide his mood. All day the house is full of happy gabbering, giggling, grunts of frustrations, yells of frustration, and when he's really had enough or got hurt (physically or emotionally) he cries. He is never silent. His favorite person right now is his Dad. He cries when Dad leaves for work at night and when Dad works days, he rushes to the door to meet him. His next favorite people are those working in the kitchen. If you are by the oven or the fridge, he wants to see what your getting, and if you're sharing it with him. Because I'm sitting a lot, he just comes to me for his bottle when he's ready to go to sleep.

He really is a dream. He loves to be the center of attention and he LOVES other kids. During sacrament meeting he makes all the little kids around him giggle. He wants everyone to be his friend. His little cousin Charlie gets a lot of hugs and kisses. Christian can hardly sit still when Charlie is around. He wants to be right by him.

His emotional development has been very noticeable lately. He recognizes when he is being ignored and when another little child doesn't want to play with him. It breaks his heart. He breaks down in tears. He has learned to play some games. His favorites are, "Let's shake our heads together", "I'm going to get you", and just recently he'll try to hide when he gets caught playing with something he's not supposed to.

He's on the verge of walking. He spends all day exploring, mostly through the kitchen drawers. I just hope I can help him keep this personality because he really is a pleasant little person to be around.