Blessing Day!

We had a great day yesterday! Lots of family and food! We had Cafe Rio style burritos for lunch after church, fruit w/my favorite cream cheese/mallow dip, chips & salsa, and some yummy desserts brought by my sister in laws!!

Here is Hunter all ready for church!

And Aspen in her dress. I had bought her some tights to wear, they said 0-12 months size, but they didn't even get close to fitting on her feet! They probably would have fit her thighs perfect but I didn't even try, so she got socks instead.

Talee, Aspen, and Hunter. Brandi and her family went back to her ward for church, but Talee HAD to stay with us. Hunter dragged her into nursery with him, literally. And when I told him that she wasn't going to stay in there with him he had a totally come apart and threw himself on the floor screaming! What a monster.... So my parents decided they would take Talee home after the luncheon. Her and Hunter played for quite a while after the luncheon, until we decide Hunter was out of control (he kept throwing tantrums if anyone even looked at him.) So we laid him down for a nap.

Aspen was so good all day! She sat in this chair (in between people holding and snuggling her) and kept going in and out of sleep as we all talked and ate around her! She also slept through the blessing, which Ben was very grateful for!

She kept grabbing the front ruffly stuff on her dress, so cute!

Here we all are! Ben hadn't realized I wanted a picture of all of us and the second we walked in the door took of his church clothes. Hunter played with his hair during church so it doesn't really look done anymore. I guess that's what I get for taking the pics after church.

2 months!

Aspen is now 2 months old! Wow it goes by so fast! We had her doctors appointment yesterday and she weighs 10 lbs 11 oz and was 21 in long! She starting to get chubby, and she is very smiley! She also loves to talk (coo) at me and loves when I do all the noises back!

I love these smiles!!

And she now LOVES her baths! Even if she is ready to eat and crying, the second I put her in the bath she instantly stops crying!

Hunter is getting so big, when he's laying down he almost reaches both ends of the tub!

My uncle got married on the 13th and had a way cute reception. Instead of a sign in book they had a photo booth with dress up stuff, after you had your pictures taken they would glue a copy of them in a book and you would write your message next to the picture, and they also gave everyone in the picture a copy of the picture to take home. So fun! Here is my parents picture.

And all of us sisters.

My dad thought they needed a picture of Aspen, he couldn't convince me or Kira to do it again, so he took her. There was a TV screen on the outside so everyone not in the booth can see whats going on, it was pretty funny. The guy running the booth told him he needed to sit down and get in the picture, but he didn't want to be in it (that's why there is only one that you can see him in, the guy had just told him to sit.)

Ben and Hunter were at Fathers and sons this weekend so they didn't get to come, but they had a good time camping! Hunter did come back with a nice cut on his head though, they didn't hook the bungee cords under the bed of the tent trailer and Hunter was playing on the bed and fell through. He hit his head on the tongue of the trailer, it was a good sized cut and in his hair so we went and got some New Skin Liquid Bandage to try to seal it. It got stuck in his hair and he pulled on it to where his hair was sticking straight out of the side of his head Sunday morning! It looked so funny I had him soak in the tub for like a half hour but I still couldn't get it to go all the way down for church! I wish I would have remembered to get a picture.

Afternoon nap.

This was after an afternoon of playing at the park, they have rubber stuff instead of wood chips, and apparently it was quite dirty, cuz he had black stuff all over him!

Stretch... and fall back to sleep.

Ben slid twice in his softball game and got this. It was finally starting to heal up and last night he slid and opened it up again! Also notice Hunter's toes, he decided Grandma's stamp pad was meant to color his toes.

Our porch, I had swept it off the day before, Hunter put the dirt pile on their, and all the black things are:

Earwigs. They are horrible this year! We just got sprayed 2 weeks ago and everyday our porch looks like this! And we got quite a few in the house to, I hate them! Birds have started coming onto our porch to eat them, so we get a lot of bird poop on our porch to. It's disgusting, I hope this doesn't last all summer!

Twins??

I sure don't remember having twins... But they sure look like it!! See if you can guess which is which:

Ok the hair is a definite give away, but if you couldn't tell the top is Aspen and bottom Hunter!

Easter and more

I think I am just destined for long posts... or maybe I should just stop waiting so long in between posts, anyways sorry here's another big one! All my pictures are backwards too, but since there are so many I wasn't going to even attempt to fix them, so here they are:

One of Hunter's favorite sayings is "Mom, what doing mom?" It was way cute at first but has gotten really old really fast, he says it probably at least 20 times a day. He will ask us anytime he gets bored, so it could have been a few seconds ago that he asked, he's the worst about it in the car. At least one of the times he asked me he did this cute pose too!!

We went to Kanab for Easter weekend, which also happened to be the weekend they moved my Grandma to the nursing home there. This was Hunter's entertainment at one of our visits.

He needed a turn to ride too! So silly!

Easter egg hunt at Ben's parents. They saved some eggs for him so he got to have a very long Easter this year. He had the egg hunt at the Kanab park on Saturday, then at my parents Easter morning, then at Ben's parents Monday night. He loved it!!

He was playing outside at my parents then all of a sudden came running screaming into the house. As far as we can tell by what he's telling us it sounds like he fell of the slide and hit his face. We aren't really sure though cuz I had looked out at him like a minute before this happened and he was already headed back to the house from the slide not screaming, so who knows. His eye got much worse looking after a few days, this was the night it happened.

His Easter egg hunt at my parents.

Finding his basket.

He found Aspen's basket first and instead of finding his, he got everything out and showed it all to her before he would go looking for his! What a sweet big brother!

Waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to get up so that he could do his egg and basket hunt, does he look excited or what!

His hands after dyeing eggs. He didn't want a picture, he just wanted to wash his hands!

Cheese! I found a really cool dye set this year, it was little rollers and a paint tray, so we had the regular dye and would also roll on other colors with the rollers. He has one in his hand, he thought that was pretty fun.

The whole crew dyeing eggs. Grandma and Grandpa Crosby just came over to say Hi, they had perfect timing we had just started dyeing the eggs. Grandpa though Hunter was so funny, he just kept laughing the whole time! And thank goodness for Grandma, Aspen of course decided she needed in on the action and all of our hands were already covered in dye!

Dyeing the eggs before using the rollers.

All his eggs that he got at Kanab's Easter egg hunt! I didn't realize that he had done so good until we were leaving and heard a couple kids say they only got 1 or 2. It kind of made me feel bad. The day before the egg hunt I had told Ben that I didn't know if Hunter would even know what to do, so apparently when he was trying to get him to sleep and during breakfast in the morning he was getting him all prepped for it.... He told him to go get all the eggs he could find, not to stop, and even if another kid was going to grab the egg to still go get it faster, and Hunter totally listened! I was so embarrassed cuz I was in there with him trying to get him to leave some of the eggs there for the other kids and he's grabbing them and running to the next, now I know why! (Ben was proud.)

Grandpa and Dad watching from outside the tennis courts.

Showing me his basket and eggs, it was SO cold!

Waiting outside the door to go in the tennis courts for the egg hunt. He was second in line and there was an egg right inside the door that he kept telling us was his egg and we kept reminding him he couldn't take it yet. Well when they finally said go some of the older kids started rushing up to the softball fields right by the tennis courts for their hunt and Hunter started following them! So he ended up being one of the last ones in because of it and another kid was already picking up "his" egg by the time he turned back around. I was very proud he didn't yell at him or anything just moved on to find another egg (I guess this was part of Ben's advise to, if someone got an egg to hurry to the next one!)

Hunter "helped" me change the battery in my scale a few weeks ago and all of a sudden decided it needed to be changed again. So he went and found a battery and brought it in to the bathroom, when we told him no to go put it back he got distracted by the movie we had on. We were all watching it and all of a sudden he kind of whimpered and said "Ow, this hurts!" I knew exactly what had happened and could not stop laughing to tell Ben what was going on! Ben tried to get him to put his tongue on the battery again and the smart boy wouldn't!

Aspen's first bath, she didn't love it. She likes it a lot more know, and I must say she looks quite a bit bigger than this already!

Hunter loves his sister and we love these two cute kids!!

New, New, New

(Sorry about the spacing on this it looked normal when typing it but for some weird reason when I posted it there are big random gaps in between lines.) Where to begin... I have so many new things to post about! These all should have been separate posts but I'm slacking. So here we go:

It's a Girl!!

First things first, I'm sure you all have either heard or guessed that we had our baby. We ended up having Aspen Malee (pronounced m-a-lee or M'lee) on April 1st. It took us forever to pick her middle name, but finally came up with that cuz my initials are MLE so it's that just spelled out. At my 37 week check up everything was pretty much the same... so my doctor decided it would be better for her to stay in there for a while longer. When he said that me and Ben looked at each other with "you've got to be kidding" looks on our faces. And on the drive home I did even cry a little (just a few tears), I couldn't help it. I set up my 38 week appointment for the 29th and figured even if he ended up telling us we could be started since it was that close to April I was going to wait a couple more days and get my April birthday that I wanted. I didn't want her to be born on April Fool's so I decided we would have her on Monday April 4th cuz I figured they probably wouldn't start me over the weekend. After another week of bed rest I came to my senses and listened to Ben's telling me to have her on April 1st. That would get me my April birthday, Ben wouldn't have to take off as much time since it was on a Friday, and it was conference weekend so we would have just been sitting around anyways! On our 38 week check up our doctor looked at us and said so are you ready to be started (duh!!!) we told him our plans and he got us set up to be induced on Friday!

Friday came and at 6:00 a.m. we got called in to the hospital. Once my mom got her to be with Hunter we headed right over. They got me all hooked up and started the pitocin at about 8:00 a.m. (so far pretty much exactly like how it happened with Hunter) I already knew that I was probably going to get the epidural cuz I had a mole that he said he would remove after I had the baby if I wanted. With Hunter I was terrified of the epidural so I was in labor for 10 hours before I finally got it, with Aspen since I knew I was getting it I got it a lot sooner. I still waited a while cuz with Hunter since I was that far along and in that much pain I didn't feel a thing and then I was still able to kind of move my legs since I only had it for 2 hours, it was great! Not the case this time. I gave in after about 5-6 hours and decided to get it. It killed!!! The numbing that he did before starting the epidural didn't hit the right spot or something cuz I could feel it, and since I'm so short he was having a hard time finding the right spot so he was moving the needle all around in my back. Since I could feel the pain and he wasn't finding the spot he took it out, did another shot of numbing stuff and started again, I could still feel it but not anywhere near like the first try. Then we didn't have her until 6:30 so I had the epidural for a lot longer so I couldn't move my legs at all. And it took several hours to wear off, last time was only about an hour before I was back to normal. So I didn't love the epidural this time, definitely nice not to have the pain of the contractions, but I will for sure wait longer next time so hopefully it can be more like it was with Hunter.

Another thing that was different with Aspen was the after birth cramps, wow!! I didn't have those at all with Hunter and I kept thinking the nurses were being so weird for asking if I needed medicine for pain, now I know why!

With Hunter I felt pretty crappy after having him and it took about a week before I felt like I could move normal. I had an episiotomy with him, but didn't need it with Aspen, so I felt great! I walked out of the hospital, no wheelchair for me! So all in all I would take Hunter's labor and delivery and Aspen's recovery, funny how different it can be!

New Computer!

Last Saturday I was trying to get on our home computer to work (I had borrowed my mom's laptop while I was on bed rest) and we found that it had a ton of virus's on it.... So we got us a new computer! We have been wanting and needing one for a while but I just couldn't justify it when I could use our old one. This has been well worth it! It is a lot faster so I am able to get more work done! I love it!!

Trail Blazer!

The day before we had Aspen we sold our Jeep. So we were down to our 2 door Toyota Celica... Not so fun with 2 car seats. Also Aspen's car seat is bigger than Hunter's was so my seat didn't fully lock into place with her in there. We made it work though. We had been looking for a new SUV for probably a few months and last Saturday (the first thing Ben did with our new computer was get on KSL to look for a vehicle) we saw an awesome deal and it was even in St. George instead of Salt Lake, we thought it was too good to be true! We couldn't get ahold of the guy selling it at first so we thought he had for sure already sold it, then he finally e-mailed back and said that he would try to call us the next day so we could come test drive it! So Sunday afternoon we borrowed Ben's parents car (We managed to pop our tire on our car when Ben was coming home from his meetings to get me and the kids for church, so Monday we had to get a new tire too, that wasn't a fun new like the rest of our new things) and headed to St. George. It was perfect! I have to be honest, I'm in love with it!!! We finally got everything worked out for a loan and we got to pick up our new Trail Blazer on Thursday! I have to say Paul and Jaylene you guys have excellent taste in vehicles!

Lots of Leaks

This story is too funny not to share. A few days ago Hunter had woken in the middle of the night and ended up in our bed. After Ben went to work he snuggled next to me instead... Next thing I new I was wet. He had leaked through his diaper and it was getting all over me! I got him changed into dry diaper and dry PJ's, then Aspen woke up ready to eat. I sat down to nurse her (I was out and ready) and realized she had done the same thing!! So I just set her down on got her changed and everything. Well remember how I said I was out and ready... After I got her dressed I realized my lap was all wet too, I had leaked milk all over myself! After I got her fed me and Hunter went and had breakfast even though it was way earlier than usual since changing him fully woke him up. After breakfast me and him went to take a shower, he was in the bathroom taking his clothes off while I was getting us clean clothes. Then I hear him say look mom I peed, we always have him try to go to the bathroom before he takes his bath so I thought that's what he did. Nope, he had peed on the bathroom rug! He's never done that before, so I was quite shocked! We had lots of laundry that day!!

Now the moment I'm sure you have all been waiting for.... Pictures of our cute little girl!

Aspen Malee Ewell 6 lbs 11 oz 19 inches long

Her first bath at the hospital

Ready to go home!

Her first ride in the car

Hunter getting to meet his new sister for the first time.

Taking a nap with Dad

This is what I found when I got out of the shower, and no Hunter didn't do it.

She loves her hands by her head

And that cute big brother that we love!

Funny Baby!

We had another check this Wednesday and everything is still looking good. I was dilated to a 2 and 65% effaced. I think I was either a 2 or 3 and 70% effaced when they started me with Hunter, so I figured I was doing pretty good! My doctor was out of town for spring break so his PA (I think that's what she is) did the check, but nobody knew for sure what his plans were as far as starting me. He had told me several weeks ago that if we got to 37 weeks he would probably start me, and I will be 37 weeks on Monday so it could be soon! Our ultrasound was so funny! The baby had it's legs crossed and was bent in half! I took a pic of my pic of the ultrasound so hopefully you can tell. The pic is a profile of the baby and you can see it's little toes touching it's forehead! I was trying hard not to laugh so I wouldn't bounce her equipment around but I couldn't help it! Here's the pic see if you can tell:

I'm Ready!

It's official I'm ready! It's been 3 1/2 weeks since they put me on bed rest and I have been doing pretty good at staying down. I think I've had enough though! I'm in a nesting mood but I'm not supposed to get up how is that supposed to work! I have been able to get some of the stuff done, with the help of family of course! I finally got my vinyl put on my wall (with the help of my little sister) and finally got our family pictures on the wall (Ben hung them after me and Kira decided where to put them) and we finally got our TV put on the desk (Ben's brother came and helped with that) I LOVE how my living room looks now! The saddest part is that I have had the desk for about a year, we got the pictures done in August, and the vinyl has been ready somewhere in between those two! I was really stressed that we weren't going to get the family pictures up til after the baby came and by the time I actually did it, we may have new pictures! So luckily I have my family that helped me do it cuz if I waited for me to do it on my own it might never have happened!

We had another weekly doctors appt on Wednesday. I now have them set at times that Ben can come with me since we aren't having to work around my work schedule anymore. And can I say I'm and so glad! They ended up checking me a week early! I would hate to have one of those visits without him! It seems like ever time I go in now they end up doing something extra to me, we had the same ultrasound, stress test, and listening to the heart beat that they did last week. Then they also did a strep test (which they didn't have me do with Hunter, yuck!) and he checked me and I'm pretty sure he stripped my membranes. He didn't say but I have never had a check hurt, it's just always uncomfortable, but this time it KILLED! I kept bringing my hand up to slap the doctor away but managed to control myself, that would have been pretty embarrassing if I ended up hitting him :) All in all everything is still going pretty good, my blood pressure was high again when I got there but they had me lay down and it was even lower than it ever has been lately! And there is plenty of fluid for the baby, and the stress test has showed the baby is doing great both weeks! Now it's just getting me through the next 2 weeks or so! Ben has had to tell me to go lay down several times in the last couple days! The warmer weather has finally started to get my feet to swell a little bit (no where near what they were with Hunter! I didn't have ankles!) so probably the worst time that I could stop being good about laying down! We will make it though, just a little longer then we will have our baby. YAY!

It has taken me the entire pregnancy to finally pick a car seat. We were in our accident with the one we had for Hunter and you aren't supposed to use them once they have been in an accident, Hunter only had a little longer til he was going to be in an upright car seat so we still used it for him. And it was totally a boy car seat anyways, so I had to find a car seat that would work for either!

Hunter has decided it's his new seat! He keeps sitting in it and I keep reminding him that it's the babies so hopefully he won't get sad when there is someone else sitting in it!

The box that it came in is also his! He has been so funny with it, he put a ton of toys in it, a huge blanket, and a pillow and still managed to squeeze in there with everything! It has also become a slide cuz when he gets on top it bends in and he slides on down!

And here is the scary monster! He is so funny!