Latest Pictures

Here are some fun pictures of Abigail from the past week. We are having so much fun with her. She is a great baby!!


This is Abigail sucking her thumb for the first time, a little bit different from your average thumb sucker :)

No, she doesn't normally sleep naked, but it was a hot afternoon without air conditioning. This is how I found her when I went in to get her up. Reminds me of the scene from Annie where she scares off the boys in the ally to save the dog, Sandy. Lori- you know what I'm talking about, the face that Chloe does so well...

Chillin in her bathrobe

Again, no- we don't normally nap with her, but this is how I found her and Charles during some good daddy-daughter time. They were both out cold!

this is how I found her during another nap- I think she's so cute the way she sleeps sometimes!!

Photo Shoot

Today I had some fun with Abigail during one of her very alert wake times. She was very cooperative and I had a lot of fun playing around with her. She is such a happy baby, I can't believe it! She is doing great at night and is a joy during the day :) Thank you to Emily for introducing us to Babywise~ it has been a life saver and we LOVE it!! I can't wait to see when she starts sleeping through the night as she gets a little older, but so far- its working like a charm!

Some video of Abi

K, here are some videos of Abigail. We realized today that we aren't taking much video so we are going to try to change that. The first one is of her waking up. She normally makes some pretty funny faces and a little streching routine that we wanted to catch on film.



The second video is her sucking her thumb for the first time.

Bye Bye Mimi :(

It has been SOOO great to have my mom here with us the past couple of weeks. Her original plan was to come out for 2 weeks to help with things and be here for the delivery. Well, after waiting 2 weeks for little Abigail to arrive, she extended her stay another week so that she could help us out while we were getting adjusted to things. It has been a huge blessing having her here and so fun to get to spend some time with her one on one. I can't remember ever having so much time to spend with just her and I and it was a whole lot of fun. She helped out so much, even staying up with me during one of the rough nights to help calm Abigail down so I didn't lose my mind. We will miss her tons and can't wait to see her again soon!! Love you Mom!!! Abi misses her Mimi already :)

Pictures and Story

I have been meaning to post all week, but as you all can guess- things are finally a little busy around here :) I thought I would share a little bit of how things went for us on Monday. For a little preface, I had been having really bad "Braxton Hicks" contractions for about 5 days. We had already taken one trip to the hospital on Saturday night because the baby failed her kick count. When we went in on Saturday, I was still not dilated at all. So Monday morning I woke up at about 5:00 having bad contractions again. I woke Charles up about 45 minutes later because I was feeling them really close together and a lot more intense. We timed them for a couple of hours and they were consistently about 2-3 minutes apart, but occasionally there would be 5-7 minutes between. By about 8 o'clock, I was in a lot of pain and doubled over the toilet so we rounded up the troops and headed for the hospital- and I was NOT coming home without a baby.
When we got to the hospital, I was at a 2 1/2, so they had me walk around the hospital for an hour and see if my cervix changed at all. I was a little more effaced after the hour, so they admitted me and planned on getting some pitocin going to speed things up. By about 1:30 my doctor came to check me, and I was only at a 3. He broke my water then and told me when I got to a 4, I could have my epidural. My contractions were really close together, and really intense, giving me only about 15-20 seconds to recover from some of them. Around 2, the nurses switched shifts and my new nurse came in. About this time, a friend of the Himmer's and anesthesiologist who was on at the hospital came to check on us. After the nurse saw me go through one contraction, she said- he's here now, if you aren't at a 4, we are calling it a 4- lets get this taken care of. So I got the epidural then and it was like a magic potion. 6 hours later we had our Abigail. The epidural started wearing off towards the end of transition, which was really fun. They tried giving me a higher dosage, but the doctor came back in to check our progress and was shocked at how close we were and told me to get ready to push. She was in a posterior position which was not exciting to hear. My doctor told me, ok Heather, the girl in the room next to you just had the same thing and pushed for 3 hours and ended in a c-section, you have to do better than that. So I was determined :) I started pushing, and things happened fast. The nurse had to have me stop pushing 2 times before the doctor came because she was afraid he wouldn't get there in time. She turned right around into the position she needed to be in and things went great from there.
What an incredible experience it is to have a baby. Its definitely a challenge adjusting to things and getting enough rest, but I think I'll get the hang of all of that soon enough. She is a GREAT baby. She has been really easy and mellow so far, so I hope it continues. Here are some more pictures from our first few days at home.

Some pictures

So our little girl is not quite a day old and tired. We need to feed her but can't get her to wake up. Here are some pictures of how tired she is.






I uploaded the rest of the photos from the delivery on facebook. You can view the photos by using this link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33422&l=425d0&id=724736823

The Agony Continues

Hello fellow readers,

This is Charles. Heather couldn't bring herself to make this post but I figured some our die hard readers would want an update. It is true our precious little girl is over a week over due. Its a good thing we love her otherwise she would already be in trouble :).

Heather is still having regular, but very mild contractions. We've been taking this as a sign that things are happening soon, but we don't what soon means.

Anyways, we will make sure to post any updates as soon as they happen.

What do you all think?

We are holding a competition. Everybody guess when you think the baby will be born, the weight, and the height. The winner gets to name the baby. Just joking, they get some major props!

So far the guesses are as follows. If you want to guess post a comment with your estimations and please follow the outlined format.

Heather - Tuesday (07/15) - 7lbs 4oz - 20in
Charles - Wednesday (07/16) - 7lbs 20z - 19in
Mama John - Monday (07/14) - 7lbs 3oz - 21in
Kyle John - Thursday (07/17) - 6lbs 4oz - 19in
Alissa John - Sunday (07/13) - 8lbs 7oz - 20.5in

p.s. Heather said if your guess is above 10lbs or later than this week, she suggested you keep your guess to yourself ;)

About to Pop :)

Well, once again I am getting hounded to take pictures and post them while I still can. I kept waiting for a day I felt cute again, but let's face it... I'd be waiting for a while :) So I made Charles go take pictures of me tonight, the one behind the tree was inspired by Emily I believe. If I remember right, she took one like that when she was pregnant and I thought it was hilarious, so I had to do one. Charles had fun with one of them in photoshop- I bet you'll never guess which one... Super Mom?? Thats right... So here there are, probably the last pictures I will have with the belly :) She is due in FOUR DAYS!! I can't believe it. I could have a baby by the end of the week!! I'm so excited!

Tribute to Kyle... a Day Late

I wanted to get this done yesterday on Kyle's actual birthday, but I didn't have my laptop with me and therefore, had no pictures. If I had a scanner- I could make this a real doozy with some of this pictures I found while I was unpacking, but I'll do the best I can with pictures from recent years.

Probably most of you reading this know my brother, but for those of you who do not- he is the man. Kyle is the kind of guy that is just fun to be around all the time. I love when Charles and him get together because they are unstoppable. We were so lucky to be so close to them when we were in Provo and are missing them a lot now. Kyle is a great example to everyone that he comes in contact with. He is a great husband and father- and a great big brother. I can remember Kyle chasing off many punk boys in high school who were "not worthy of my time." He is extremely hard working and driven. Charles is constantly going to him for suggestions on good books- Kyle is always looking for ways to learn and grow. Anyway- he had a big birthday yesterday and we didn't get to share it with him so I thought I would pay a little tribute to a great brother! We love you Kyle!!

Empathy Belly

Charles and I have been going to a child birthing class for the last 3 weeks at the hospital. It isn't a lamaze (I have no idea how to spell that) class, it is more about teaching all the different stages of labor, and learning techniques for helping out if things don't go as planned. The class has been REALLY good- we have both learned a lot. I was kind of hesitant to take it, thinking it would just be kind of dumb, but it has proved to be very helpful already, just with things we have come across with the baby's position. Anyway, this week in class, Charles got to strap on the "empathy belly." It is a 35 pound belly, as you can see, that straps onto your body to try to reflect what it feels like to be pregnant. Granted... there is no way they can know what this feels like. Example: Halfway through the time he was wearing it, Charles said, why don't you just lean forward more so that it takes the pressure off everything? Hmm... doesn't quite work that way when it is a part of you :) Anyway- here are the pictures a girl in the class took for us. Hopefully you can get a good laugh out of it.

This is Charles in the fitting rooms at Motherhood Maternity- He wanted to try out the bellies they have for you there, in case you would like to be even bigger than you are :)

Charles getting all strapped up with the "empathy belly"

This is me placing the "bladder pouch" - its a pouch that goes on the inside so that it can put pressure on the bladder in just the right place ;)

Belly to belly...Now if that isn't charming, I don't know what is

Happy Birthday Charles!!

Today is Charles' 24th birthday!! WOOHOO!! I found this picture of his birthday 2 years ago blowing out the candles on the cake I made him- trying to woo him into marrying me ;) I guess it worked! I can't believe how much better my life is with him in it. I don't want to be super cheesy~ mostly because let's face it, I'm over eight months pregnant, and VERY emotional- haha. Some of my favorite things about Charles are:

~ His ability to laugh at anything, and help me when I should be able to laugh at myself
~ His innocence and humility
~ How he helps me be a better person just by being himself
~ He is one of a kind ;) and anyone who knows him knows I am not just saying that
~ He is a hard worker and passionate about whatever he does
~ His personality. There is so much more to it than that... but it is impossible to explain all the aspects of Charles that make him who he is
~ The way he reacts when he says something wrong and I let him know about it (note the countless stories documented in the blogs)
~ The way he can make me feel like a beauty queen, even when I'm in the state I am right now
~ His passion for learning and improving

There is no way I can tell you all the great things about Charles~ but I am sure lucky I found him! Happy Birthday Babe!!

Calling all Moms!!

Ok, we are getting down to crunch time here and I still have lots of things I need to decide on! I have been looking at stroller/car seat travel systems trying to pick one, but I am having a hard time deciding between all the options and don't know what to get! Does anyone have a stroller and car seat system that they really liked and would recommend? Another question about strollers- is it better to get one that is more neutral colored so that it will work for boys and girls, or do you wear them out pretty quick so go ahead and get a girl specific one? I just don't know... and for those of you who know my mind- these decisions are unreasonably hard for me to make, haha. So- any input or suggestions for strollers? OR any "must have" baby items that I probably don't know about? Bring on the comments, PLEASE!!!

One more for the day...

Ok, after my post earlier today, I have to add one more event from our evening. Charles and I were just outside doing a few things before it gets dark. He was sweeping off the driveway (so we don't get any more nails in our tires) and I was putting away the garbage can. Down the street I saw a dad on a walk with his three young kids. I was excited to meet them because we haven't met any of our neighbors yet so I was waiting for them to come up past our house. When they got to the top of the driveway, Charles spoke up first: "Oh wow, are these grandkids?" My heart skipped a beat... I knew the answer to that question. Sometimes I wish that husband and wife could communicate some other way so that we could screen things like that... I've given up on that wish though. The dad just kind of hesitated-"uh..haha... no, these are our kids- this one is 2 and a half and then the twins are 13 months." It was fun to hear Charles back pedal from that one. As soon as they walked away I just started to laugh. Charles looked at me and just said, "What?" As if he had to ask. He then defended himself with, "Well, he looked old enough to me" Haha... I just had to share because it made me laugh really hard. Oh well, there will be other kids for our children to play with, right? Haha What a day! :)

Accentuate the Positive!

Today has been a good day so far... despite a few kinks in the day. It actually makes me giggle a little to think about it, so I thought I would share another day in the life of Charles and Heather.
First of all, for a little background, our house uses propane as its main heating source (and yes, even though it is JUNE, we are still using heat) the propane tank that was here when we moved in is really old, and the gauge on it... well, it isn't attached, so we have had it 50% full for a while- until we finally realized what the problem was. Well, we called to get a new tank and switch to a cheaper gas company, but the soonest they could come do the swap wasn't until tomorrow (I called 2 weeks ago). Normally, they pump the gas out of the old tank, into the new one, but since they have no way of knowing how much is in there, they can't pump it. This was a big deal to Charles. He has been huffing and puffing about us having to buy 500 gallons of propane just because they don't know how much is in there. Well... this morning Charles turned on the shower, and let it run for a long time... the water wasn't getting hot. He went and checked the thermostat and realized, the house was at 60 degrees. He was THRILLED!!! We ran out of propane! Haha... He was like- Heather, aren't they coming tomorrow? GREAT!! He was so excited that we weren't going to have to give away any gas. Haha... it was really funny how something that would normally be really annoying, like not having hot water for two days- was suddenly a good thing thanks to my positive husband.
The next exciting part of my day was when I arrived at the Tacoma Mall (trying to be sneaky and get away to shop for Charles' birthday without him knowing) and right as I pull into the parking lot, I could tell I had a flat. It was as flat as it could be. What is more fun than changing a tire when you are 8 months pregnant, in the cold rain?? I'll tell you what... having a grandpa in wranglers and red boots... WITH FLAMES... change your tire for you! As I stood there staring at the tire deciding how to attack it, this grandpa and his grandson came over and said- "Ma'am, can we give you some help?" Can't turn that down! So the grandpa got at it after saying, "Man, I don't know nothing about these funny looking cars, that's why I drive a truck!" It brightened my day- mostly because there were two nice gentleman willing to help me when I was a little frustrated.
Well, thats all for now, I just had to share my two bits of happy things today. Hopefully it gets a grin out of y'all :)