Halloween

We had a fun, laid back Halloween.  Nate and I didn’t dress up but Peter was a pumpkin, just like his mom and his dad were for their first Halloween.  Nate picked out the costume, he was very particular about which one we got.

He was pretty sleepy, the pumpkin sleeper was nice and warm.

But he woke up eventually and has started to give us smiles right after he wakes up (when he’s not hungry).

This is a happy face, I promise.  We get the one-eyed look a lot from him.

He looks kind of bald here, doesn’t he?  He’s not bald, he’s just blond!

Peter’s favorite position to take a nap is with his arms over his head.  I put him down and his arms immediately go up.  Surprisingly, he doesn’t mind sleeping “burritoed” up in his blanket at night but when he wakes up to eat I know he’s awake by his grunting trying to get his arms out.  It’s better than crying :)  He sleeps pretty well, at least I think so.  He usually is sleepy on and off after 8pm and will go down for good around midnight, then wake up between 3am and 4am to eat and then again at 8am when he wants to eat and be awake for a while.  Honestly, I’m going to bed and waking up around the same time more consistantly than when I was working with working a semi-swing shift and being on call.  Don’t get me wrong, I really like my job.  I’m just also really liking maternity leave, too :)

Nate and I also carved pumpkins, though they weren’t quite as extreme as last year.  We were going to have three, but I only had time to make one for Peter: a cute little monster.  Nate’s turned out really well.  The pictures he took were with the flash, I tried to make it a little darker because it looked like daylight (I’m surprised at how well the flash works…I guess I shouldn’t be, it wasn’t the cheapest thing I’ve ever bought).  I took the picture of Peter’s pumpkin just last night before we threw it away, so it’s a little wilted.

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

Lately

I was informed that I need to post more pictures of Peter, so here they are.  I took these when Peter was 4 days old.  Tessa is doing a project for her art class that involves drawing people’s hands and she wanted to draw Peter’s hands for her next piece.  So I broke out the handy macro lens.  I made a birth announcement (that I finally printed out) with the first picture.  I have it saved on my laptop so I will post it later.  I’ll probably email it out to the addresses I have and if you want a physical copy, just let me know.

We took this picture on Sunday, almost two weeks old.  He’s already changed so much!  When we went home from the hospital Peter had dropped to 6 lbs 9 oz (which is normal) but by his two week check up he had surpassed his birth weight and was 7 lbs 12 oz.  He’s still swimming in anything but newborn sized clothes but his cheeks are getting chubby!  I can’t believe how fast these little guys change.  He was so relaxed right before we took this picture.  Nate put him on his arm, belly down, and he just lay there all limp, looking at us.

Photo shoot with Aunt Tessa

My sister, Tessa, needed to take some pictures for a school project and decided to take some of Peter.  Who wouldn’t want to take pictures of our little cutie?!  She got some great shots and of course I had fun editing them.

Peter

I think you are all going to have to get used to me posting excessive pictures of our little boy if you read our blog now.  I was picture person before, but I’m sure it’s only going to get worse : )  Well, here’s Peter’s story for all who have been asking.  For those who don’t care to read all about my experience with the human birthing process, there are pictures after all the words.

I went to my doctor’s appointment on Monday only to learn that I hadn’t made much progress from the week before.  I still hadn’t dilated any but I was a little bit more thinned out.  Little disappointing but we still had time.  About 4 am the next morning I woke up having contractions that were so uncomfortable and frequent I couldn’t lay in bed through them.  I was sure I they were just pre-labor pains because of what my doctor said at the appointment.  My pain tolerance is pretty low.  I know it, I admit it, I try really hard not to whine and just deal with it.  Working at the hospital I see women come in all the time thinking they’re in labor only to be sent home.  I really didn’t want to go in, have them tell me I was a wuss, and get sent home.

I hydrated myself, took a shower, and they still weren’t going away.  So I woke Nate up and we started to time the contractions.  They were 2-3 minutes apart.  I hadn’t packed a hospital bag yet because I didn’t want to have to look at it everyday and make myself more antsy for Peter to come.  I had planned to pack it that morning  before going to work.  Nate and I threw together a bag, I tried to eat something, and we headed off to the hospital.

The nurse checked me when we got there sometime after 8am and lo and behold I was dilated to a 4.  Holy cow, I couldn’t believe it and at the same time was happy that these were real contractions (that were strong enough to dilate me so quickly) and I wasn’t just being a wuss.  They admitted me and took me to the really nice room (big, beautiful view…they saved it for me when I called in earlier…I love working at the hospital).  The anesthesiologist was already there preparing for several inductions scheduled that day and gave me my epidural I think around 9:30 or 10.  The pain wasn’t as unbearable as I thought it would be but it was enough that I couldn’t relax myself so the drugs were nice; not going natural with this one.

At noon my nurse came to start some pitocin to get my contractions stronger and closer together.  She checked my progress first and said, “You’re not going to believe this.  You’re complete.”  Wow, that was unexpected to me and all the staff.  My doctor likes the “rest and descend” school of thought and after hearing stories from the nurses (and now my own story) I’m also a big fan.  Dr. Judd came in after lunch and I got all prepped.  They broke my water and he asked if he could use forceps to help things along a little.  All the nurses I spoke with when I was checking out all the docs said he was a “master” of forceps so I said he could.  He pulled a bit and I felt quite a bit of pressure.  I asked if I should push and he said not yet.  A few seconds later he said, “Hey, there’s a head!  Don’t push!”  Wow, that was another surprise.  A few seconds of suctioning later, Peter made his appearance at 1:31 pm.

I still can’t believe how fast it all went.  I was sure I’d be in labor for hours and hours because it was my first.  The doctor told me I was a baby delivering machine and I’ll need to watch out with my subsequent pregnancies.  I also can’t believe I didn’t push.  I feel like I cheated or something.  I’ll get over it.

And now, the real reason people keep checking the blog for updates, pictures of our little guy.  We think he is the cutest baby ever and are so in love with him.

First bath

The second night we were at the hospital there was a rainbow right in front of Timpanogos (told you we had a good view).

Daddy and Peter are buddies

Going home

Peter is here!

Peter Nathan Hall

October 13, 2009  13:31

7 lbs 4 oz, 20 inches

Military Ball

Nate and I went to the MI ball tonight.  It’s not every day you get to dress up so we had fun with it.  They had dinner catered and Comedy Sportz provided the entertainment.  Neither was the best ever, but good.  Nate had to wear a “modified Class A” uniform so a white shirt instead of green and a bow tie instead of a straight one.  Now, if you know anything about Nate and ties it’s that he takes them very seriously.  There was to be no pre-tied clip on for him.  Oh no.  We bought a real one and he learned how to tie it.  Pretty sweet, eh?

We didn’t take our camera with us to the dinner so we took pictures when we got home.  Our attempt at taking one of us together didn’t work out too well.  Man, my belly is getting big, isn’t it?  I don’t think I realize just how big it is.  I think I’m as big as I was about as a month ago but…yeah, baby is definitely bigger.  35 weeks – only 5 more to go!  Oh, and his name is Peter.

I smell like beer

is what I thought as we left Rio Tinto Stadium last night.  Nate and I went to the US vs El Salvador world cup qualifier match last night with some friends.  It was a lot of fun to see the national team play.  The game was decently close but in the end, we won! And, yes, to all of those who know my love of American football…I did miss BYU’s season opener.  But they won, too!  All in all, it was a good day to be an American BYU-ian.

I made sure to look at the restrictions of what we could take into the stadium and didn’t see a thing about cameras, so of course I brought my nicer camera.  Apparently, though it says nothing on their website, you’re not allowed to bring “professional” cameras to matches.  I told them mine was in no way professional.  They told me the lens was longer than 2 inches so I couldn’t bring it in.  Huh.  I have a professional camera.  Yeah.

They also had restrictions on my empty water bottle.  “I’m pregnant,” I told the security guy.  “Do you really expect me to buy water every five minutes?”  The guy said I still couldn’t bring it in.  Water was $4 a bottle inside the stadium.  Nate really wanted a horn and bought one off some guy on the way to the stadium.  Couldn’t bring that in, either.  Good grief, it’s not like the seats weren’t expensive enough.

And there was beer.  Holy cow, I guess I’m just too used to going to things at BYU, but there was a constant stream of people going up and down the stairs to get beer.  And the people behind us thought themselves funnier and funnier as the game went on.  And they spilled their cups so it pooled all under our seats and feet.  Sorry, fermented beverage is just not my favorite smell.  I assume it’s not cool to drink beer through a straw.  So either it’s equally not as cool or people just don’t think to put a lid on the clear plastic cup for the trip down the stairs and over people back to your seat.  I think mostly it’s so people will spill so much they aren’t satisfied with what they ended up with and have to go back for more.  They had my $4 water beat by 7 whole dollars.  Hopefully that’s a good cup ‘o beer.

Good thing it was a good game.

And because I still had to take pictures here they are, in all my phone’s glory.

Chocolate bread and more pictures from Korea

For some reason when I get my kitchen perfectly clean and organized it makes me want to cook something.  Which means it gets messy again.  It’s a vicious cycle.  I had some pretty yucky bananas that were practically begging me to bake them into bread, especially after I found a new favorite cooking blog last week.  Seriously, you should check out Joy the Baker.  But not while you’re at work because it will make you very, very hungry.  I love that she likes photography as well so there are awesome pictures to go with every recipe.  And she seems to share my same unexplainable, absolute love for pancakes.  Sounds like I’m advertising for her, doesn’t it?  Well, I’m just happy to pass along good things, and this is a good thing.  It was 100 degrees outside on Saturday and I still turned on my gas oven and heated up my kitchen to make Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.  Oh…yum.

It was wonderful warm out of the oven, and two days later it is still wonderful.  It also cooked beautifully and I will definitely use the insulated baking sheet trick again.  I was so surprised the top didn’t fall when I took it out of the oven to put tinfoil over it halfway through baking.  Seriously, you can’t beat a beautiful loaf of bread (if you really can call this bread…).  I would have taken a picture of the whole loaf, but the lighting in the apartment is horrible for pictures at night.  I don’t normally like to use bittersweet chocolate when I bake but thought I should follow the recipe the first time making it.  It was really good, though I might try semi-sweet next time because Nate likes it better (actually, he likes the milk chocolate better, but the bread needs some chocolate bitterness to it).

I got to chat with Nate Saturday night (his Sunday morning) and he sent me lots of pictures.  I should make him post an update, but he’ll just have to deal with my selection of pictures.

“The mountain that we climbed was Beokansang (I think that is how you spell it.)  The Korean that I met was named Hoon and owns his own wedding ring company.  You would love some of the places that I have gone to eat, the food is family style and I had some great fish and bacon (I know wouldn’t expect bacon would you : )  last night.  Yes, the mountain was very humid,…there were some great climbs on the adjacent peak with rock climbers going up it.  Made we want to come here on a climbing trip.”  These pictures are from a Buddhist temple at the base of the mountain.  The first is two of the temple guardians and the second is Nate “in front of the dragon fish with a cool bell behind it.”  The temple is very old, Nate remembers hearing it was built around 140AD.

You can see the Seoul Tower in the background.

Have I mentioned how much Nate likes the food?  Or how jealous I am that he gets to try so many new things?  They ate Korean pork ribs one night that he really liked and then the next night went to another place and tried more pork ribs that were “20 times better.”  And this is why I have no guilt about baking chocolate banana bread while he’s gone.

Pictures from Korea

Nate sent me some pictures of his adventures in Korea and I thought I would share some of them.  He’s having a great time and absolutely loves the food.

He got to do a session in the Soeul, Korea temple.  I somehow forgot there was a temple there and am really glad he got to go.  The grounds look beautiful.

They got to hike a mountain, not sure which one, but the view is amazing!  And just look at their shirts, it sure looks humid and hot.

From his email: “The hike today was fun, I met a Korean guy on the mountain and started to talk to him and he ended up giving me his business card, cool huh.  I can’t spell his name and don’t have the card on me so…I will tell you later.  The mountain had rough stairs all the way up it and there were a ton of people going up the mountain.”

Dear Provo City, I really dislike you

I remember my mom teaching me that “hate” is a very strong word and there are only a handful of times when it is appropriate to hate something.  Provo, you’re getting close.

I work a lot of late nights, coming home at 2 in the morning and taking call so I often get called back to work just after falling asleep.  Because of my late  night/early morning commute, I’ve been able to witness the progress (or lack thereof) in the “hey, let’s repave the entire surface of I-15 in Provo” project over the past few weeks.  It has made me late going back to the hospital on call many times.  This, I can handle.  Several times, my freeway exit to home has been closed without any warning before I get to it.  That’s pretty inconvenient.  But this project doesn’t seem to end.  They rip up the road and then several weeks later, it’s still not paved.  Surely there has to be a more efficient way to repave the freeway.

So today I was going home from work from my day shift, and the freeway was really backed up.  I have a decent handle on the construction schedule so I know they don’t start closing down the freeway until 9:30 and it was around 6:30.  I figured it must be a nasty accident, I’ll wait it out and go back later.  So I took the next exit and mooched dinner off of my parents and got to talk to Tanner and Tessa about their first day back to school.  Nice.  I leave at 8:00 to go home and the freeway is pretty clear…until right after it’s too late to get off for a very long time.  Someone thought it was a good idea to close 2 lanes of traffic during the week, in the evening right after rush hour “finished.”  Gah!  It took me an hour to drive the 5 miles home!

I sat by the University Parkway on ramp for a good 20 minutes and saw at least 10 cars backing up the on ramp to get off the freeway.  That seemed to stop after I noticed a police car at the freeway entrance.  And here’s some free advice, if you see some arrows ahead telling you to merge right, you should merge right.  If everyone keeps moving as they merge and are merged into, the freeway will keep moving.  This arrow, contrary to popular belief, does not mean get as far ahead of everyone else as you can and force everyone to stop as you cut your way in because somehow everyone cares about your car more than you do.

Alright, I’ll end my whiny post now.  I’m pregnant, so that means I can legally complain for another 2 1/2 months and Nate’s not here to complain to.  Hey, you didn’t have to read it.

And, Provo, I have a very large rock chip in my windshield that you are responsible for.