Seing is believing

Ok, I know that this title is false. However, I just wish I could put into words how cute our little men are, and videos are really the best way to explain. I could only figure out how to put all three videos into one so here they are:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

1. Sunday dance party. He was being a dance machine, but got a little shy when he saw the camera.

2. Hyrum talking and giving Noah a piggy back ride. So, the piggy back ride might seem strange, but for some reason Hyrum LOVES playing this game with Noah. He'll climb up onto the couch and tell me to put Noah on his back. It's funny. We watched the video just afterward and Hyrum said all of the words before his 'video self' said them, and he made the lion noise. . . he always gets camera shy.

3. Dad getting Hyrum ready for bed. . . or something:)

Dates to Remember

Happy Pi Day on March 14th! We celebrated the glorious 3.14 by making an apple pie. The greatest pi day quote from my mathematically inclined sister, Michelle:
Pi is like a pregnant women: Irrational but well rounded.
Thanks Mic! (Can't wait for your little guy to come)

Over the weekend Brett's parents came into town. I was dumb enough to forget to put the memory card back into my camera after blogging last week! Sadly, you'll miss out on Brick Oven pictures and the grandparents. Just know, we had fun and it was great having a breather with them here.

So, I put a handful of chopped dried dates on the table for Hyrums snack the other day. He was munching away happily so I went downstairs to switch the laundry. I came back upstairs to hear a series of 4 or 5 sneezes. When Hyrum finished his sneeze fest he put his finger up his nose and signed for more. I thought he was asking for more sneezes. I asked him if that's what he wanted and he just put his finger up his nose again and signed for more and this time he had a concerned look on his face. I told him that I didn't understand what he wanted. He contemplated for a moment and then put his finger up his nose and this time said "stu" which means stuck. I made the connection and realized that he had put some dates up his nose. I got him to blow one out in a kleenex and then over the next half hour he sneezed out two more!!! Brett didn't see much humor in this event when I was telling him, but I can't help but think of how funny it will be when we tell him about this at his 16th birthday.

Together at last

Noah has an ear infection. . . for anyone who's had a baby with an ear infection you know what it's like. Let's just say it's not fun, and we had a couple of really tough nights. The drugs seem to be doing there job now though. Last night he was back on his 4 hr and 3 hr stretch of sleeping.

I've been trying for the past three weeks to find a good opportunity to take a picture of the boys together. But, in all honesty, we keep them apart as much as possible for the safety of Noah. We got a picture last week of Hyrum lying next to him (with Brett and I ready to pounce if needed). Today Hyrum was being so good that I thought I would try and put them together again. When I would take Noah away, Hyrum would sign for more and it was just so cute. These are the results:Later tonight Hyrum was playing in the room where Noah's pack-n-play is. He was just content playing with his toys and not paying any attention to Noah, so I left for one minute to grab a diaper. I literally walked in the other room and walked back. As soon as I stepped in the room Hyrum had a mischievious grin on his face and he was running to Noah's bed with two balls in hand. After throwing them in he ran off. It was SOOOO funny. It was like he had this premeditated plan and was anxiously awaiting me to leave so he could execute. As soon as Hyrum ran off I grabbed the camera to document what I saw:

Our Teether and our Newborn

Noah is now 2 weeks old and doing great. He finally passed his bilirubin test on Tuesday. He was fighting a little bit of jaundice and had to go to the lab to get 'pricked' every day or two since we left the hospital. It was great news to find out that we wouldn't have to go back again.
Night times are never fun with newborns, but I must say that overall Noah's been a dream (no pun intended). He doesn't cry very often, and so at night we just wake up to grunting noises. It's kind of cute. He has been getting at least one 3 hour stretch in every night, and often does a 4 hour stretch. There was even a fluke night of 6 hours of sleep! Let's just hope he stays on this route. . . or improves.Hyrum is still being a great big brother. He doesn't quite understand his own strength or Noah's fragile little body, but his heart is in the right place. We're still working on it with him, but one upside is that Noah will be one tough little boy. Hyrum has been struggling with his molars coming in and so we've had a couple of nights that were not very fun. Hyrum would wake up in the middle of one of Noah's 'long' stretches of sleep, screaming and needing more drugs. We look forward to a mouth full of teeth. . .If we time it right Hyrum will have all his teeth the same time that Noah sleeps 8+ hours at night. Woudn't that be awesome?!
Anyway, I just love having my two little men. They're so cute together and will only get cuter as they get older.P.S. We'll be closing on our house in a little over a week!!! We're so excited!

1st Time-2nd Timers

I know this is a long post with lots of text, so I've just divided it up by topics. Since this is our family journal as well I didn't want to miss anything.

The Departure:

I hear that the more kids you have, and the older they get the more you'll appreciate time away from them. I'm not saying parents love them less, but they're just smart enough to recognize that the kids will be with them forever so alone time is good to enjoy. I haven't really reached that point. One of the saddest and happiest moments of my life happened on February 20th. We went to take Hyrum over to play with his cousins while I went to the hospital. I knew he would enjoy it, because he always loves being over at Ryan and Jennifer's (by the way, thank you again!!!!), but this time I knew that this drop off would mean that I would be away from home and him (other than visits) for 2-4 days. Let's just say I was a bit hysterical. Brett took him inside so that I could stay in the car and cry. I was so excited and happy to be having Noah, but I just wish it didn't mean being away from home for so long. the news I received was that Hyrum had a lot of fun and did just fine with out me there. . . although he missed me horribly and couldn't wait till I got home. It wasn't fun being away from Hyrum, but I made it through and Hyrum is still alive. He has been a little extra clingy since I've been home, but I think it will get better when he relizes that I'm not leaving again for that long in quite a while.

The Delivery:

No, I'm not going into gruesome detail, but for those who were curious I thought I would just state here what happened. Hyrum's delivery was a necessary c-section because of a large cyst blocking my birth canal. I was hoping to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarian) with Noah. Hyrum came a little over 2 weeks early, and so I was kind of planning and hoping on Noah doing the same. VBAC's have risks and complications that I was made aware of in the beginning of the pregnancy. Brett and I made a few decisions in the beginning that would have us aiming for a VBAC. We also knew that when things came to a certain point the risk of complication would increase and then we would opt for the c-section. Well, one of the increased risks of complications occurs once you reach your due date if the baby hasn't been born yet. With that said, I went to my 39th week appointment to find that I was only dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. This was a shock and disappointment to us because I had a few nights of regular contractions and also a night of food poisoning that had me throwing up a dozen times (if that doesn't put someone into labor, I don't know what will). We went ahead and scheduled the c-section for the 20th, in hopes that I still would go into labor before then, but it didn't happen. If, by the 20th, I had dilated to a 3 or more my Dr said that she could break my water to try and get me to go into labor (VBAC's can't be induced). The 20th came, nothing changed, and my cervix was 'too far back' anyway (whatever that means). So, the c-section was the answer. I'm just so happy for the medical advancements today and that we will still be able to have a bundle of kids.

The Recovery:

I feel great! I really wasn't sure what to expect. Hyrum's surgery was a double surgery, and I went into shock halfway through, so they pumped me soooo full of drugs. My recovery with him took a while and I sadly really don't remember much of anything the first few days after he was born. It took me a week before I could walk without being hunched over and 2 weeks before I got off Percocet. I was really worried that it would be the same way again. Luckily it wasn't even close! I'm not saying that I'm back to normal yet, but my recovery has progressed so much better than I expected. I was able to walk to the bathroom on day 2 and on day 4 when I was released from the hospital I was able to walk around the house (minimally) with out any problems. Yesterday I went on a walk with my mom and the boys and played with Hyrum in the backyard. The only thing that has been really hard for me is not being able to pick up and hold Hyrum. I can't lift anything other than Noah for 6 weeks (but I'm going to talk to my doctor to see if that's negotiable). It really breaks my heart to not be able to carry him down for his nap, or pick him up when he falls. This is the one thing I look most forward too in my recovery.

The New Kid on the Block:

Noah is doing pretty well. He's a bit Jaundice-y, and so his skin has a yellow tint. It hasn't gotten to a point where he needs to be under the lights. We do have to keep taking him in to get tested in the lab. He had a really tough time nursing, but is finally starting to get a hang of things.

The Big Brother

Hyrum has been doing really well with the adjustment so far. He does have a little jealousy sometimes, and so I have to put both boys on my lap at the same time, but it's not that bad. He's actually been really cute about it. He's given Noah his pacifier a couple of times and even tried to share a sucked on conversation heart with him. . . yah, we have to keep a close eye on them when they're together. Today he was 'talking' on my moms cell phone and then put it up to Noah's ear for him to talk. It was so funny, he tried to put it in Noah's hand and got a little frusterated because Noah wouldn't hold on to it. I'm really excited to see them play together as they get older. I think they'll be great little buddies.

The Grandma

Last, but definitely not least I have to give a huge thanks to my Momma!! My mom got here on the 20th to be my right hand. . . and left. . . and everything in between. She was able to schedule us in for two weeks. It has been great to have her take care of all the cooking and cleaning so that I can focus on being mommy exclusively for a little while. Thanks Mom! Here are a few more pictures. Above is Hyrum's first introduction to Noah. . .he was busy on an important call most of the time he was there. Below is Grandma's visit and also Noah all packed up to go home. Can you believe how little he looks?!? I'd forgotten how little babies are.

Noah Clyde Partridge

February 20th, 2009 - 1:26pm
8 lbs 3 oz
21.5 in

It is written in Moses 8:27 that "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord; for Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation; and he walked with God." Our little Noah has just left his "walk" with our Father in Heaven and joined our family and we are so glad that he did! Although I can't claim that our little guy's generations (parents) are perfect, we do the best we can and are just so grateful for this new blessing in our life! Below are a few pictures of the day's events. Hyrum has not yet been to hospital to see Mom and baby Noah, but once he does we'll put some of those pictures up too. Also I'll be posting a ton of pictures (beware some are right after birth) later tonight on our family website.

This is just minutes after he was born.

Wide eyed and ready to start rockin' and rollin'

It's okay buddy, I don't like it when people make me bathe either :)

All dressed up with no where to go (actually it's time to go find mommy)!
Ahhhh, there's mom!

I'm getting used to this "Monkey Suit" that dads wear in the O.R. :)

A house for Valentines!

It was a great day for us with really happy news! We found out that the owners of the house we love in Cedar Hills accepted our offer! It really came as a shock to us and our realtor, because we were expecting a counter-offer, and we wanted to have room to negotiate. We were ecstatic when we got a yes and a signed contract for 3-4% lower than asking price. There are now 30 days of them moving out, us getting the house inspected and appraised, loan approved, and closing. . . . and then we're in! It's going to be a little crazy but hopefully everything will go smoothly. Anyway, here are a few pictures:

They made a really cute playroom that connects with the area under the stairs and we just fell in love with the space. It's so cute and has a little peak window and half door:

This is going to be Hyrum's room. I love the red stripe:This is a picture of the dining and kitchen area. I'd like to refinish the cabinetry someday, but it's a cute space with 2 pantries.Now in honor of the "Day of Love" I had to put a picture of these beautiful flowers from Brett: