Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
December 2010
This month was awesome. My mom came for 2 weeks to spend time and help out while Nate started back in school and at work. She was a lifesaver. She cleaned our house, ran errands, loved on Parker, and helped keep Abby entertained and gave her the extra attention she needed.
We celebrated Nate's 35th birthday by going to Macaroni Grill in Shreveport. It was fun, and our first big outing with 2 little ones. He's such a great husband, father and friend.
We got spoiled again when Nate's parents, and his brother Brandon and his family came to visit for a week just after Christmas. It was so much fun. We had a full house, but we loved every minute of it. We were able to bless Parker and celebrate the New Year together and take his parents to one of favorite places in Louisiana - Natchitoches. With her cousins and their dog here, Abby was in heaven :)
We celebrated Nate's 35th birthday by going to Macaroni Grill in Shreveport. It was fun, and our first big outing with 2 little ones. He's such a great husband, father and friend.
We got spoiled again when Nate's parents, and his brother Brandon and his family came to visit for a week just after Christmas. It was so much fun. We had a full house, but we loved every minute of it. We were able to bless Parker and celebrate the New Year together and take his parents to one of favorite places in Louisiana - Natchitoches. With her cousins and their dog here, Abby was in heaven :)
December 2010
We unfortunately lost pics during December - February 2011, so I'll try to fill in the blanks.
December:
Nate turned 35, and we went to the Macaroni Grill and the Boardwalk in Shreveport to celebrate. It was fun and a bit scary, being our first outing with 2 kids!
Christmas was great, our first one alone, poor Nate was sick, and Abigail loved opening presents for her and Parker. Nate's parents came to visit the night after Christmas, and Brandon, Julie, and their 2 little girls and dog came a few days later. It was a full house with 1 bathroom, but it was so much fun. We all took a trip south to Natchitoches to see the Christmas lights but ended up losing our debit card and getting a flat tire with no tools in the trunk. It turned out to be quite an adventure! We blessed Parker on January 2nd and were so glad to have family there for it.
December:
Nate turned 35, and we went to the Macaroni Grill and the Boardwalk in Shreveport to celebrate. It was fun and a bit scary, being our first outing with 2 kids!
Christmas was great, our first one alone, poor Nate was sick, and Abigail loved opening presents for her and Parker. Nate's parents came to visit the night after Christmas, and Brandon, Julie, and their 2 little girls and dog came a few days later. It was a full house with 1 bathroom, but it was so much fun. We all took a trip south to Natchitoches to see the Christmas lights but ended up losing our debit card and getting a flat tire with no tools in the trunk. It turned out to be quite an adventure! We blessed Parker on January 2nd and were so glad to have family there for it.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Time to Catch Up...
...on the entire last year. Unfortunately we lost pretty much ALL of our pics from the time Abby was a tiny thing, up until the month of February. We are still attempting to recover them, so until then, I'll try to fill in the blanks without pics for those months:
November:
Being a bit of a germaphobe, I was terrified to have a new baby come home to a house where the carpets weren't super cleaned, so the weekend Nate ended classes for the Thanksgiving break, we cleaned almost every inch of carpet in our house. It's amazing what an 8 1/2 month pregnant lady can do when 'nesting.' It also helped get my body going, since Parker was born only 4 days later.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at the hospital, thanks to Nate's homemade tasty turkey sandwiches. While I was at the hospital with Parker, he was getting his first big dose of a single dad lifestyle with taking care of Abby. He did a great job, but hopefully we'll be closer to family for the next baby :)
It was so fun and a bit scary to bring home a newborn to our cold, drafty home. It's always funny - that moment you're in your car, leaving the hospital, thinking 'they're letting us take him home?'
And it felt so strange to have 2 kids in the back seat!
Abby was in heaven with 'Baby Punker', wanting to love on him and give him toys, not understanding why he wasn't ready to play with her yet.
Birth Story :
I was absolutely convinced that with this delivery that I was going to go as natural as possible. No epidural, no pitocin. I'm a strong, brave woman, and if others have gone without that epidural, so could I.
On Tuesday I had a doctors appointment and was a bit surprised to hear that I was dilated to a 5. My Dr wanted to admit me, but since I was going to have to cancel our Thanksgiving Day plans with friends, I was NOT going to miss our pre-Thanksgiving dessert night with another friend that same night. I convinced the Dr that I would come get checked again the next day and be admitted if anything changed. I was mildly contracting the rest of the day, but got to enjoy our dessert night.
The next day, I was dilated to a 6, and got settled in to our nice, cozy, and sterile feeling room (I'd been concerned about that). Being that I wasn't contracting much, we decided to start with a low dose of pitocin to get things going. The pain wasn't too bad, and I was still sure I wouldn't need the epidural. 3 hours later, we agreed to break my water, and then all hell broke loose. Nate was sweet, attentive and understanding, but I was MISERABLE. They aren't kidding when they say that pitocin can be a terrible thing. I was begging for an epidural, and feeling as though I was the weakest thing on the planet- I was one of those crazy ladies you see in labor on TV, saying things that both embarrassed and entertained Nate and the nurses. Luckily they were able to give me an epidural quickly, but before I could even lay back down, Parker was descending. Even when he was crowning I was certain that I wouldn't be able to continue. I made sure everyone knew it so that they could figure out another way to get him out - and of course at the time, this rationalizing made perfect sense. So almost exactly 15 minutes after I received my epidural, our sweet little man was born. And from that moment on, all that misery has been worth it to have him in my life.
Needless to say, I will NEVER go without an epidural again!!
November:
Being a bit of a germaphobe, I was terrified to have a new baby come home to a house where the carpets weren't super cleaned, so the weekend Nate ended classes for the Thanksgiving break, we cleaned almost every inch of carpet in our house. It's amazing what an 8 1/2 month pregnant lady can do when 'nesting.' It also helped get my body going, since Parker was born only 4 days later.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at the hospital, thanks to Nate's homemade tasty turkey sandwiches. While I was at the hospital with Parker, he was getting his first big dose of a single dad lifestyle with taking care of Abby. He did a great job, but hopefully we'll be closer to family for the next baby :)
It was so fun and a bit scary to bring home a newborn to our cold, drafty home. It's always funny - that moment you're in your car, leaving the hospital, thinking 'they're letting us take him home?'
And it felt so strange to have 2 kids in the back seat!
Abby was in heaven with 'Baby Punker', wanting to love on him and give him toys, not understanding why he wasn't ready to play with her yet.
Birth Story :
I was absolutely convinced that with this delivery that I was going to go as natural as possible. No epidural, no pitocin. I'm a strong, brave woman, and if others have gone without that epidural, so could I.
On Tuesday I had a doctors appointment and was a bit surprised to hear that I was dilated to a 5. My Dr wanted to admit me, but since I was going to have to cancel our Thanksgiving Day plans with friends, I was NOT going to miss our pre-Thanksgiving dessert night with another friend that same night. I convinced the Dr that I would come get checked again the next day and be admitted if anything changed. I was mildly contracting the rest of the day, but got to enjoy our dessert night.
The next day, I was dilated to a 6, and got settled in to our nice, cozy, and sterile feeling room (I'd been concerned about that). Being that I wasn't contracting much, we decided to start with a low dose of pitocin to get things going. The pain wasn't too bad, and I was still sure I wouldn't need the epidural. 3 hours later, we agreed to break my water, and then all hell broke loose. Nate was sweet, attentive and understanding, but I was MISERABLE. They aren't kidding when they say that pitocin can be a terrible thing. I was begging for an epidural, and feeling as though I was the weakest thing on the planet- I was one of those crazy ladies you see in labor on TV, saying things that both embarrassed and entertained Nate and the nurses. Luckily they were able to give me an epidural quickly, but before I could even lay back down, Parker was descending. Even when he was crowning I was certain that I wouldn't be able to continue. I made sure everyone knew it so that they could figure out another way to get him out - and of course at the time, this rationalizing made perfect sense. So almost exactly 15 minutes after I received my epidural, our sweet little man was born. And from that moment on, all that misery has been worth it to have him in my life.
Needless to say, I will NEVER go without an epidural again!!
Parker Nathan Sewell
We had a huge Thanksgiving blessing this year.
Parker Nathan Sewell was born on November 24th at 6:56 p.m., weighing 7lbs 15oz, and 19 1/2 inches. He's a sweet, cuddly, snuggle bug and we're so happy to have him join our family :)
Monday, November 29, 2010
September and October 2010
It wasn't easy coming back to the intense (as my friend calls it...) Louisi'sauna' weather. Although Abby would cry to go "home" on occasion for the first few weeks, it was nice to be in our own home again. Nate had to work 2x a week, but otherwise still had a week off from school, so we were very lazy and loved it :) Once he started back though, Abby and I got back into our routine of keeping busy. We hit the zoo, a museum, the local parks, and thrift stores for "treasures." We also babysat quite a bit, which Abby loved.
The 30th was our 5 year anniversary, for which Nate and I planned a get-a-way to Natchitoches. We stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast on the river, and spent an afternoon touring an old plantation. It was great, and I find myself just falling more and more in love with this man. :)
In October, while we were out treasure hunting in the thrift stores, I picked up a little job working at one for store credit. It was sooo much fun! The boss was fabulous, hilarious, sweet and fun to work for, and I'd sort, clean and hang baby clothes while Abby ran around me, playing and discovering. We both loved "going to work" and it was great for me to get out at 7 + months along. :)
Abby had her first visit to the dentist. She was so brave and it was fun to see her as such a 'big girl.'
Halloween was a blast this year. We had two big events, the downtown trick-o-treating and dog show one night, and our ward's trunk-or-treat the next, so we dressed Abby up as a pirate for one, and a pink kitty cat for the next. It was so fun to dress her up, she's growing so fast!!!
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| Target Shooting at the Bass Pro Shop in Shreveport :) |
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| Trying to keep cool at the zoo |
In October, while we were out treasure hunting in the thrift stores, I picked up a little job working at one for store credit. It was sooo much fun! The boss was fabulous, hilarious, sweet and fun to work for, and I'd sort, clean and hang baby clothes while Abby ran around me, playing and discovering. We both loved "going to work" and it was great for me to get out at 7 + months along. :)
Abby had her first visit to the dentist. She was so brave and it was fun to see her as such a 'big girl.'
Halloween was a blast this year. We had two big events, the downtown trick-o-treating and dog show one night, and our ward's trunk-or-treat the next, so we dressed Abby up as a pirate for one, and a pink kitty cat for the next. It was so fun to dress her up, she's growing so fast!!!
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| Ready for the dentist |
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| She was so brave :) |
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| Already wanting to wear my clothes ;) |
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| Our cute little kitty |
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| She was in total awe with this freaky Dracula :) |
Saturday, November 13, 2010
August In Utah!!!
I'll admit that Louisiana has really grown on us (more so Abby and I since we get out and enjoy it, and Nate's constantly indoors) but it's really hard to remember that we like it when it's consistent 90+ days with 80%+ humidity. Needless to say, we'd been counting down the days to go to Utah for the previous 5 months, not only to see our loved ones, but to regain our sanity :)
Abby and I went 2 weeks earlier than Nate this time, so we could have more time to visit and do some traveling with my mom to see family. It was the busiest, nonstop and funnest 2 weeks of my life!!
We immediately hit the pools. Abby's a little fish and it was so fun to go with her cousins, we had a great time!!
A few days after flying in, my mom and I drove her truck and trailer 8 hours north to McCall, ID for a huge 3 day family reunion. It was so much fun!!! Here are a few of our favorite pics:
The day after returning to Orem with the trailer, we flew to Seattle to visit my sister and her cute family for a few days that hadn't made it to the reunion. We had a great time, went on some adventures, and were sad to say goodbye.
The day after we returned, Nate flew in, we took a couple days to relax, then headed up to the Uintahs to go camping with his family for 5 days. It was so much fun, and all his immediate family were able to go, including a few Aunts and Uncles. It was great, and we loved getting to just relax and visit with them :) Abby loves camping, so she especially had a great time getting to go twice in 3 weeks!!
For the last week, we just relaxed, spent quality time, and crossed things off our list that we'd wanted to do in Utah. It was so great to see family, completely get away from school for a while, and feel like we were "home." (We're a bit proud of our western state home!)
Abby and I went 2 weeks earlier than Nate this time, so we could have more time to visit and do some traveling with my mom to see family. It was the busiest, nonstop and funnest 2 weeks of my life!!
We immediately hit the pools. Abby's a little fish and it was so fun to go with her cousins, we had a great time!!
A few days after flying in, my mom and I drove her truck and trailer 8 hours north to McCall, ID for a huge 3 day family reunion. It was so much fun!!! Here are a few of our favorite pics:
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| Two of my amazing siblings :) |
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| Abby's already a natural with camping |
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| These 3 kept us very entertained... |
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| I love the intent expressions as they colored away :) |
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| "Ring Around the Rosies" was a Huge hit :) |
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| On our flight to Seattle |
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| My cute sister Angie and her family |
We had such a fun time, got to visit a lot, and were sad to go.
The day after we returned, Nate flew in, we took a couple days to relax, then headed up to the Uintahs to go camping with his family for 5 days. It was so much fun, and all his immediate family were able to go, including a few Aunts and Uncles. It was great, and we loved getting to just relax and visit with them :) Abby loves camping, so she especially had a great time getting to go twice in 3 weeks!!
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| Abby and her Sewell cousins |
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| Our little adventurer |
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| Nate loved getting back in touch with his pyro side |
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| Big bites were mandatory for this girl :) |
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| One of Abby's favorite spots :) |
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| There's nothing like Farr's ice cream to wrap up a great week!! |
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| We loved getting to see Nate's Grandparents, the Sewells... |
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| ... and the Shafers :) |
For the last week, we just relaxed, spent quality time, and crossed things off our list that we'd wanted to do in Utah. It was so great to see family, completely get away from school for a while, and feel like we were "home." (We're a bit proud of our western state home!)
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