Church

Well we made it to all three meetings today for the first time since we had the baby!!!! =) It felt sooo good to be back in Relief Society, I just love it there, such a sweet spirit you can't find anywhere else! And I taught Sunday School, the lesson went fairly well I thought, and then Sacrament Meeting. I love taking the sacrament...Ian loves it too! Today he hurried and took two pieces of bread before we could stop him =) Sneaky little guy! Also we said the prayers in sacrament meeting and I said the opening prayer. So I went up on the stand and said the prayer and when I was done I opened my eyes and Ian was standing right next to me on the stand... It surprised me because I didn't even hear him come up. I picked him up and headed back to our seats and he cried because he wanted to stay up there. =) I love going to church! Not going for the past few weeks has really made me appreciate it more and really realize how much I'm going to miss the ward we are in right now! Hopefully we can love our ward in Arizona as much as we love this ward!

Miranda Update

Miranda now weighs 8 lbs 13 oz, and is 22 inches long!!!!! She is growing like crazy! I took her to the Dr. today because she has been soooo miserable the last week and a half, I just knew something was going on! So when he saw how much she had gained since her last appointment he calculated that she was gaining about 1 3/4 ounces a day and they like them to gain only 1 ounce a day. So he thinks that she is eating too much... not that she is overweight, but you know at thanksgiving (or for me all the time) when you eat too much and then feel sick, well he thinks she is doing that every time she eats and that is why she is sooo uncomfortable and fussy all the time! So she is on a diet! He is having me feed her every two hours on the dot so she is eating more frequently and not getting as hungry, but then I'm going to feed her less too! So hopefully this works!

We got a house!

Yeah! My uncle was finally able to get a house under contract!! I don't have a picture of the front (but take my word for it, it's very cute!) but here are some pictures of the inside! We are going to be moving down there the end of July (right when it's really HOT, hopefully I can adjust to the heat quickly!) and we are soooo excited to get started with this part of our lives!

The best part about this 3 bedroom 2.5 bathroom house is that it is going to be cheaper than renting a 2 bedroom apartment!!! It's crazy down there, the houses are soooo cheap! This house originally was a $235,000 house and my Uncle got it for less than half that! (Thanks guys!) It will be so nice renting from them because we know them and we know the house isn't going to go into forclosure so we can plan on living there for all four years!

That will be the longest Nik and I have ever lived somewhere! We have been married for almost four years and have lived in 7 different houses/apartments/condos... the longest we have lived in one place is about 9 months! =) It will be nice to be in the same ward for that long too! HOWEVER... I love the ward we're in right now and I'm going to be soooo sad to leave it!

Well this is our house and we are soooo excited!

Anti-Gas

Thank you INFANT ANTI-GAS!!! Miranda has been having problems with lots of little bubbles in her tummy and we weren't getting ANY sleep!! After night two of only 3 hours of sleep total... I took matters into my own hands! I made Nik bring home some infant anti-gas medicine! Best $11 we ever spent! =) She has been so happy and sleeping so much better!! I reccomend it to any baby that has problems with bubbles in their tummy!!!!!!!!!!

10 things that make me happy!

At the request of my friend Julie, here are 10 things that make me happy! (in no particular order)

1. Watching Ian jump on the trampoline
2. Being able to sleep for three hours in a row =)
3. Waking up next to someone who loves me a lot!
4. When Ian spontaneously says "I love you mommy"
5. Kisses and hugs from my two favorite boys, and now my sweet girl!
6. My friends, I seriously have the BEST friends!
7. Sitting out on the deck, and just... sitting!
8. Breakfast in bed
9. An uninterrupted shower or bath (believe me these are hard to come by)
10. Seeing those I love happy!

She's Not Too Big!

Ian finally decided Miranda is not too big!

He finally wanted to hold her...and he loved it! He was giving her kisses and hugs,

and he just kept looking at her...it was so cute!

Daddy, Ian and Miranda being silly!

It is so fun having two! It definately is a big adjustment, but I have been lucky because Nik is out of school so he can help a lot! It will get a little easier when I'm feeling better too! Ian is such a good helper and likes to run little errands for us! He sure loves Miranda and that helps a lot too! I love my cute little family and wouldn't trade this for anything in the world!

Miranda Ann Spendlove

Yeah! Today is the day! This is us just waiting in the Hospital! They started me on the ptosin about 7:30am.

Still waiting! Nik and my mom and my sister all ate yummy smelling food in front of me...I wasn't too mad though, but I was starting to get hungry!

I got my epidural around 11:30am and the Dr. was going to come over on his lunch and break my water... well we waited and waited and waited some more, but he never came. The nurse finally got to talk to him and he just couldn't get over there, but they were going to have one of the other Dr. break my water if they had to come to the hospital.. nobody came. So my Dr. finally made it there around 4:30pm and broke my water, by then I was dilated to a 4... by 5:30pm I was complete and they started getting me ready to deliver! If only he had been able to break my water sooner... =)

So the nurse started having me push and then another nurse came in and told her my Dr. didn't want me pushing yet because he had two more patients to see at the clinic... so we hung around for about 45 min and then when he was on his way I started pushing again. I delivered at 6:21pm!

Miranda weighed in at 6 lbs 11 oz, 20 inches long. She has a ton of dark dark hair! We of course instantly loved her and Nik was soooo excited!

I absolutely love my Dr. (even though we had to wait forever for him).

Nik's parents brought Ian up to the hospital right after we had her... he was so cute, before he could come in we could hear him out in the hall yelling "daddo, daddo"

He was so excited to come and see us.

BUT... he wasn't so sure about my IV, the blood pressure cuff, or the baby! He didn't want to touch her or sit by her. He wanted Nik to hold her and he wanted me to hold him at first, but then he just wanted Nik's mom to hold him. He wouldn't call the baby Miranda, it was "the baby" It was so funny! But then he started warming up and would at least look at her without crying! He has since taken up kissing and hugging all over her and he has held her a couple of times. He always wants her with us and sometimes he won't let anybody but me hold her. He is already a protective big brother!

These are my two sweet sisters...they were in the room when Miranda was born!

The next morning when they brought her to me they had done her hair sooo cute... I am so excited for girl hair and bows! =)

The best thing I did was get Ian this little baby inside a backpack! (If anyone is wondering I got it at walmart for like $5) Ian absolutely LOVED the baby and he thought the backpack was pretty cool too! It was perfect because he could take care of his baby while I was taking care of my baby! It came with a little bottle (and it did have clothes on at first) so he could feed his baby when I'm feeding mine!

We love having her home! She is such a sweet little thing! She eats really good, she sleeps OK too! She started throwing up a few days after I brought her home, but I realized if I don't drink milk she doesn't throw up anymore! I guess I can live without milk for a while! =) She hasn't thrown up for two or three days now!

We think she is pretty much the most beautiful baby and we love her sooooo much! It's amazing how much peace and love and happiness come with them! Nik has been so good helping with Ian and Miranda. He has been sleeping in the family room however...it works out better that way! He gets enough sleep and then he is happier and has more energy during the day to take care of us all! =) We also get along better when he gets his sleep, so it is worth it for now! =)

Ian's last day as an only child!

So today I had a list of things I wanted/needed to do before we have the baby tomorrow, BUT then we woke up and decided to go to the ZOO!!! I figured since it was Ian's last day alone with us he should have some good quality FUN! So we got ready, packed a lunch and headed out. We had a blast... Ian was funny, he would see an animal (such as an elephant) and want to stay there forever and watch it, sometimes he would cry when we tried to go see another animal, but then we would get to the next one and he would want to watch that one forever! It was soooo funny!

It was so nice just having a day to be us! Ian has really needed some daddy time, and some time to be with both of us together so today was PERFECT!

When we asked Ian if he wanted to ride the train he got so excited!!

So we rode the train and he loved it!

At the end of the day when he was so tired he could barely smile we decided to go home (2:30pm) we were walking out and he saw that big black ball that spins in the water... he was in heaven! He played with that ball for a long time... he was wet and very happy when we left!

I think Ian had a very good last day as an only child! We are so excited to welcome Miranda into our lives tomorrow. Even Ian can't wait to hold her and give her a hug! He is always kissing my tummy and saying "hello in there" to her! It will be fun to finally see them together!

The baby schedule!

So we are scheduled to have Miranda on Wednesday! We can't wait to welcome this little angel into our family. Tonight we were telling Ian that Miranda was coming soon and he got so excited. He was kissing my belly and telling her that he loves her. It was so sweet and I can't wait for him to meet her! He will be such a good big brother! I will put pictures of our sweet baby girl on as soon as I feel up to it (which is hopefully soon after =)! Keep us in your prayers!

Baby Shower

My dear friend Heidi threw me a baby shower this past weekend (thanks again) and it was so much fun! I loved seeing everyone and having some girl time!

We played this game where everyone had a piece of construction paper and they had to put it behind their backs and rip out the best baby they could. You should have seen what most of them ended up looking like... it was hilarious! Nicole Bradford was the winner of that game!

We also played a game where everyone had to cut a piece of yarn however long they thought I was around at the widest part of my tummy! Lindsey was the winner of this game... she was about 5 or 6 inches too big! So the real measurement is 39 1/2 inches at 37.5 weeks!

I feel like I am going to POP any time, and I just might! I am so ready to have this baby girl, but I guess I'll wait till she decides to come! =) I am dilated 2-3cm and am really uncomfortable so hopefully I don't have to wait too much longer!

Nik went to Arizona this last weekend to find us a house to live in! We will be renting from my Uncle and Nik narrowed it down to his top 4 houses that he likes! We are so excited to move and start that part of our lives! I feel so blessed to be where we are right now with such exciting things ahead of us!

We can't wait to have little Miranda in our lives, and Ian is such a good boy... he brings so much Joy and Happiness to our lives already! He will be the best big brother and is so excited to meet our new baby!

Thanks again to all my friends I love you all!