welcome, baby Harper!

They say to sleep while the baby sleeps, so I really should be sleeping (or cleaning the kitchen!) right now. But it's about time I posted Harper's birth story, so here I am. Feel free to jump to the condensed timeline version of the story at the end of this very long post.

The story really starts back in December, when a crucial detail took place.  We signed up for a supplemental health insurance option that covers hospitalization - basically a guaranteed payout when you have a baby. Several friends and family members clued us in to this insurance and we signed up on the 22 of December.  In order for the payout to occur, however, it had to be active for 10 months before we could claim any money.  No problem.  We were thinking we'd have our first baby around January of 2011.

As the new year rolled around we started getting more and more antsy for kids, so we decided to abandon the birth control at the end of January.  It wasn't until I got pregnant and we figured the due date out that we realized we were cutting it pretty close as far as our insurance was concerned!  We would have to have our baby after October 22. The due date was Nov. 3, so as long as she wasn't more than 12 days early we'd be fine.

When October 22 rolled around we were relieved that we had made it!  We told our baby that she could come at any time - but I honestly figured she'd be late, as many first-timers are.  That evening we went to dinner and a movie with McKay's parents.  McKay and I opted to walk the half-mile from the theater to the restaurant, haf-joking that it might induce labor.  After our fun-filled evening we went back home to finish our Friday night.  All during the movie and dinner I was pretty uncomfortable.  My lower back hurt, my muscles ached and I was burning through tums. But there were no contractions - just uncomfortable end of pregnancy stuff.  At home I fell asleep on the couch while McKay finished up some work stuff.  At 1 am we headed up to bed - our last night as a family of 2!

Around 4 am I was having a dream about giving birth and breastfeeding.  My eyes popped open as I felt two small gushes happening down south.

"What!? Was that my water breaking!?!"

Quickly I checked the time. 4:03.

COAT . . . color, odor, amount, time. I rehearsed the acronym of water breakage stats as I headed to the bathroom.

Sure enough, this was it.

I shook McKay awake.  "I think my water just broke".

He hopped out of bed.

"Okay, what do we do first?" he asked, alert.

"You install the car seat, I'll shower and get my stuff together."

About 40 minutes later we were on our way to the hospital, bags packed, and munching on dry cereal and string cheese.  Excited, nervous, yet calm and comfortable.

We checked in and I climbed aboard the wheelchair bound for labor and delivery.  I stripped down and put on my loose, flowy robe. We checked in right at a shift change so we went through a handful of nurses before our team was set. We had the best experience with our nurse, Katy and our midwife, Claudia and the whole crew at Timpanogos Hospital.

Because I had tested positive for Group B Strep I was hooked up to an antibiotic to make sure Harper didn't get any infections once out of her protective sack!  Because my water broke first, before I was in serious labor, and because I had this strep thing and was being pumped with antibiotics (every 4 hours), time was of the essence.  Claudia suggested we get going on pitocin to move labor along.  I was initially anti-pitocin because I wanted my labor to progress naturally until I was really in labor - at which point I'd get an epidural and finish up medicated.  But, after weighing the pros and cons, and realizing that getting Harper here before a third dose of antibiotics were administered would be ideal for both baby and me, we went for it.

The nurse anesthetist came in and got the epidural in. The pitocin was started and my legs started falling asleep. It was such a funny and weird feeling not being able to move my legs or wiggle my toes!  Especially because my right side was completely numb right away, but my left side had a tiny bit of feeling through most of labor.  I was able to tell when contractions were hitting - on my left side - but it wasn't bad.  In fact, I watched some Office episodes, played Tetris and dozed in and out of sleep until it was time to push!

At about 1:00 Katy came in to check me.  I was only dilated to about a 6, but I was all effaced and Harper was descending into the birth canal a bit more.  Hopefully things would pick up soon!  About 45 minutes later Claudia decided to check me again.  This time?  Dilated to 9 3/4.  Alright!  It would soon be time to push.

Claudia, Katy, McKay and a student nurse helped me push and when Harper started crowning, McKay put gloves on and helped Claudia with the delivery.  As Harper's head and shoulder came out, McKay was right there helping her make her entrance into the world!  When her top half was out, Claudia had me reach down and together McKay and I pulled Harper the rest of the way out and up on to me.  They got her all cleaned up as McKay and I held out new baby girl!  What an incredible moment!

she's healthy and happy

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur of breastfeeding, visitors, various vital sign checkups for both Harper and me, and lots of emotions!

already going for the thumb!

The whole staff were champs and we really had a great experience.  We love our baby girl.  It's difficult to describe the emotions I'm experiencing as a mom, but it really does give me a new perspective on parenting, and life in general.

We are so happy.  More to come!

our sweet girl

Labor & Delivery Timeline

4am- water broke

5am- arrived at hospital

6am- first dose of antibiotics

stats: 80% effaced, dilated to about a 4.

8am- midwife Erica off duty, Claudia on duty

We discuss pitocin, decide to get going with epidural and pitocin

10:00am- second dose of antibiotics

epidural in, pitocin pumping, catheter taking care of business

11:30am- stats: fully effaced, only dilated to about a 5.5

nap, play, text, Office, chat with McKay, as labor progresses

1:00pm- stats: dilated to a 6, fully effaced, baby at station 0

1:45pm- stats: dilated to a 9 3/4!  Baby at station 1.  Time to push in 15 minutes!

2:00pm- McKay, Katy, Claudia and a student nurse help me start pushing.

2:20ish- Harper starts crowning, McKay puts on gloves, gets instructions from Claudia and delivers Harper!

2:32pm- Harper's head and upper half are out, Claudia has me reach down and McKay and I pull Harper the rest of the way out, and right onto me!  They get her cleaned up as I'm holding her.

Our little family of three!

a smoothie story

Lately I feel like the only things going on around here are baby-related! Hence, the baby blog has gotten more attention than this one. So I decided that while McKay is cuddled up for his Sunday nap I'll toss a post up here from his new gift to himself/us... an iPad. We're having fun with the new gadget, although we're becoming bigger apple-geeks by the day. A wall charger in all major rooms, wi-fi tethering from our phones to our MacBook and iPad... I married a fan-boy.

A few days ago McKay had a little dose of "the junk". Sore throat, achy. So, being a good wife I decided to pick up juice and smoothies on my way home from my afternoon doctor's appointment. There's a great smoothie place called Roxberry Juice in Highland, 15 minutes or so east of our house. They have a tasty peanut butter smoothie that I was hankering for, and a delightful citrusy number that won McKay over. I had seen another one just a few days before- in American Fork, I thought. Because my appointment was there I figured I'd easily find it on my way home.

Once orange juice was retrieved from Macey's I headed down State Street looking for Roxberry signs. When I realized that it was not where I thought I had left it, I pulled up my maps and found that it was just a couple miles away. Perfect. I headed down the purple path, following the blue blinking dot. I thought the route seemed oddly residential, but trusting in Google, I followed obediently anyway. After about 10 minutes I arrived at the red dot, labeled Roxberry Juice... Only it was the home of an American Fork resident. Not delicious smoothies.

Slightly perturbed, I backtracked through houses and quiet streets, past the cemetery and back to state street. A nice side-effect to this detour was the beautiful mountain scenery I was able to see. The leaves were gorgeous, the clouds were low and wispy from the day's rainfall, and the first dustings of snow lay on the mountain peaks.

Back on my smoothie mission, I called McKay to apprise him of my delay. No worries, he said. Just pick up some burgers too and all would be well. I headed to in-n-out, just down the road, and while waiting in line searched my maps for any smoothie solution. Conveniently, I found that Emerald City Smoothie was right across the street! With burgers in the bag I navigated through the thickening traffic to the complex across the street, parked at the smoothie joint and walked up... to the locked doors. The bare countertops and "enter to win a gold's gym membership" display were the only remains of a once open business.

Okay. Next option. There was a Paradise Bakery in the same complex. Figuring it would be just like Kneaders (with smoothies) I popped inside, only to find cappuccinos and frappes on their drink menu. And nothing else.

The next closest smoothie place on my map was just one exit away- and on the way home! It was no peanut butter goodness, but it would have to do. I jumped back in the car and sped there. Minutes later I finally had my two smoothies in hand, burgers getting cold, and a couple hundred ounces of vitamin-C packed orange juice. Mission accomplished!

On my way out of the parking lot, I saw it.

Roxberry Juice. Just a few doors down.

At least now I know where it is.

Recipes with Rachel, September edition

Rach and I decided to cut our weekly recipe adventure down to two per month. Cheaper and more realistic! September’s recipes were Miso soup and granola.

I already blogged about the Miso soup (cause I only blog about soup these days . . .) so we'll move on to the granola!

Chunky date, coconut and almond granola was enjoyed by all this past week. It was fantastic! I’ve made it twice in the last few days. We had a Fallidays family soup night on Friday and enjoyed the granola with fresh peaches and vanilla ice cream for dessert! On Sunday I made a double batch – just used up the rest of the nuts and dates and had more oats than chunks – to share with my visiting teaching sisters. We’re in love with the granola, although we are still trying to get the perfect balance of the spices. McKay thought the first batch had too much cinnamon, and I think this one has too much allspice! But we’ll definitely keep making this one and I’m sure we’ll get it down.

fall fun

So all my posts seem to be about soup lately . . . and I promise this is the last mention I'll make of it for a while (hopefully!).

This past Friday we had Fallidays Soup Night with our family in the area. It was a total blast with delicious soups and great company. The kiddos stayed for one of our famous sleepovers.

This particular sleepover was great parent prep! With school in full swing the kids are pretty wiped out by Friday night. This manifest itself differently with each kid. The older ones got ultra hyper right around bed time (with some help from McKay - a kid at heart) and the younger ones started having meltdowns, with tears. Sweet Abbie couldn't handle the noise from the older, sugar blasted kids and went upstairs to our room to sleep. Spencer, the youngest somehow made it to the sleepover without pajamas and . . . his pull-up. Fortunately for me, I had just purchased the water-proof mattress protector for our crib, so I resourcefully covered the couch with it and put him in the smallest pair of my shorts I could find. With the drawstring cinched to the max, and my alarm set for a middle of the night potty-run, we finally got everyone to sleep.

When the midnight potty run came, I discovered that Spencer doesn't really wake up in the middle of the night very easily. Even when I helped him get to his feet he plopped back to the couch, never opening his eyes. Tired myself, and not super fit for carrying a five-year old to the pot, I just threw in the towel. I figured he'd be fine.

At 5:30 am there he was, with older cousin in tow, crying by my bed. He wanted daddy. And he was all wet. By some miracle he had rolled off the couch to the floor, taking the mattress protector with him before he watered himself. With no damage to the couch OR the floor I happily tossed his clothes and blanket in the washer, and tucked him back in bed.

Everything was peaceful for the rest of the night. We enjoyed Kung Fu Panda, german pancakes and scrambled eggs before trucking the kiddies back home for Spencer's birthday party.

All in all it was a great weekend, with some great stories to go along with it!

soup week round-up

Here's just a quick follow-up post on our final days of soup week.

First, this will definitely become a Fallidays tradition! It was so much fun trying out new recipes and eating delicious, hot meals each night for dinner. Some nights we didn't eat until ten! And other days I was able to make some stuff in the afternoon so the process wasn't so long once we both got home in the evening.

Here are the soup ratings:

#1 TOP FAVORITE SOUP- Butternut Squash with Red Pepper Puree

this soup was amazing! The soup by itself isn't anything to write home about. But dash in the pepper puree and you have something magical. Because it was the winning soup, I'll include the recipe below, including my tweaks.

Second Favorite Soup- Tortilla soup with chicken and lime

this was flavorful and delicious. By using chicken broth instead of water, adding a can of corn and black beans and then topping with avocado and sour cream, we turned this soup into a delectable feast. And it was even better as leftovers!

#3 soup- A toss-up. The minestrone, the potato broccoli, and the clam chowder were all delicious. The clam chowder needed a tiny bit of tweaking - fewer and smaller clams mainly, but the flavor was incredible.

The Miso definitely took last place, but not because it wasn't good. Mostly because it was an experimental soup with a lot of changes that we would make to it next time. But I'm glad I know how to make a tasty miso soup base, and I have plenty of miso paste for future use (and wonton wrappers . . . now for a good wonton recipe).

This week was a blast! We are hosting a family soup night next weekend and I'm planning on making the butternut squash soup for it. Yum!

Butternut Squash Soup with Red Pepper Puree

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 1/4 cups chopped onions
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 2 1/2-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 5 1/2 cups (or more) vegetable broth

• 3 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

*I roasted the butternut squash first. I followed this girls helpful instructions on how to roast it, then I continued with the recipe

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions; sauté until tender, about 12 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Add squash and 5 1/2 cups broth; bring to boil (I would start with a little less broth and add more later if you want the soup thinner).

Reduce heat; cover and simmer until squash is soft, about 40 minutes (doesn't take this long if you roast the squash first).

Cool slightly.

Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return puree to pot. Add 1 teaspoon thyme and orange peel. Thin soup with more broth if desired. Simmer 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Cover and chill. Rewarm before serving, thinning with more broth if desired.)

Ladle soup into bowls. Swirl 1 tablespoon Roasted Red Pepper Puree into soup in each bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 2 teaspoons thyme and serve with puree:

Roasted Red Pepper Puree

1 cup coarsely chopped drained roasted red peppers from jar

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Puree all ingredients in processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Bring to room temperature before using.)

I ended up seasoning the soup with a bit more orange and thyme - but I'm telling you - the puree makes all the difference. You'll taste the base soup and wonder what it's missing. Then you'll add the pepper and be in heaven. Get a hearty bread to enjoy with this soup and love your life!

soup week!

(New England Clam Chowder, via Epicurious)

In honor of Fall, this past week has been soup week at our house. I have made a different soup each night of the week and it has been delicious and fun to try out new recipes! Some fun highlights include: my first experience using cooking wine, and somehow setting the pan on fire that contained the wine the first night using it! Big flames, no damage, pretty cool! Because there are only two of us, we have been chowing soup for lunches and snacks as well as dinner. Good thing we love soup!

So far we've enjoyed:

Potato Broccoli Soup (recipe below)

New England Clam Chowder

Tortilla Soup with Chicken and Lime

and Minestrone with Basil

(check out the reviews on all of these - most have some minor tweaks that add flavor - typically using chicken/veggie broth instead of water)

So far all have been wonderful, but the tortilla has been the favorite. We have two soups left - probably the most unique and experimental of the group!

A Butternut Squash soup and a Miso soup. We'll see how they go.

Potato Broccoli Soup

3 cups cubed peeled potato (about 1 pound)

1 cup fresh broccoli

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1/2 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

1 can (14.5 ounce) chicken broth

1.5 cups milk

3 Tbs all-purpose flour

6 ounces light Velveeta, cubed

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes

2. Combine milk and flour, stirring until smooth. Add milk mixture and cheese to vegetable mixture in pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until cheese melts and mixture thickens.

Cozy up with a bowl of one of these delightful concoctions! Happy Fall!

wild woman

I survived my 3.5 day camping excursion with flying colors! We had a really great time . . . but I don't know if I could have done another night on that small air mattress.

Our adventure started on Wednesday night when we met up at McKay's parents house to pack all our stuff. You should know that McKay's mom, Monta, is a legit backpacker. As in all your equipment (tent, sleeping bag, food, stove, cooking gear, water purifier, chair, etc.) is packed on your back as you hike from campsite to campsite for days and days. She even brings her own sprouting containers so she can sprout greens for her meals along the way. Intense! So this trip was lux living for her. We drove to the Uintas on Friday evening and walked a mile in to our campsite. My pack was about 20 pounds - not too bad. And I looked super hard core! The hike wasn't bad - but I was getting tired by the end of the mile!

Our campsite was gorgeous! We stayed at a lake surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery. The first couple nights were comfortable and not too cold. McKay took the cousins rock climbing all day both days, which was a blast. I sat and read and dipped my feet in the cold lake and snapped pics while the rest of the crew scaled the rock faces.

Preparing the ropes

Jumping off the rocks into the lake

Monta found the most incredible giant marshmallows - like three times the normal size - which we used to make enormous and gooey s'mores.

We had freeze-dried dinners (lightweight to pack, and actually not bad tasting!). I even dug holes behind trees when I needed to do my business. It was the real deal!

The second day we were there a big group of hikers came passing through and stopped at the lake for a while. As I looked closer at our new friends, I realized that I recognized everyone! Three families from my hometown/high school/children's choir were on a trip together! So I caught up a bit with the Bradley's, Clare's and Darling's. What are the odds, right? Seeing people I haven't seen in 5+ years in all my wilderness glory (crazy hair/make-up) was pretty fun! And later that day, Rob (McKay's dad) taught me how to skip rocks - and I did it!! I've never been able to, and it seems like all boys are born skipping rocks. Well, that day has come for me. I was a huge success!!

The last night camping was freezing cold! McKay left his meal tin soaking . . . and the next morning . . .

The freezing wind wouldn't die down so we packed as fast as we could and headed out. We stopped for lunch at Dick's - the perfect small-town burger joint in Kamas and a Uintas tradition - and pounded burgers, fries and shakes.

It was a weekend to be remembered! And, our shower and bed has never looked as good as it did on Monday afternoon when we returned home, tired, sunburned and dirty. Good memories.