Getting the Nursery Ready for our Baby Girl's Arrival

To contact us Click HERE

My New Video Blog Series starting this Week Subscribe for the Latest

In this video I show you our messy spare bedroom which will be transformed into a beautiful nursery for our new baby girl. She is our tax day baby, due on April 15, 2012! It is a mess! I have my work cut out for me as we try to clean it up, paint, and decorate it. I am somewhat of an artist, so I plan to paint a cool mural in there.

Do you have any good ideas for a Mural in my little girl's room?

I NEED YOUR SUGGESTIONS, please submit your idea in a comment to this post, and thanks :)

I was thinking rolling hills with fun trees, blue sky with puffy clouds and a smiling sun setting, with animals, birds, and sleeping moon with a nightcap in the distance faintly showing in the sky with the sparkling stars coming out. I thought since the sun is setting the black sky will start to show towards the upper part of the wall and that could continue onto the ceiling. It would be really cool with glow in the dark stars for decorations.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions
~Justin

Shop CornerStorkBabyGifts.com

26 Weeks Pregnant - Painting Baby's Room!

To contact us Click HERE
We thought very carefully on what color we wanted our Baby Girl's Room to be, and after long deliberation, actually my wife Nikki just decided for us :), we went with "Violet Eclipse." Nikki loves purple and this is me painting it on:


Baby Girl - Pregnancy - Nesting - Painting Baby's Room

My wife is now 26 weeks pregnant today. My baby girl is now 14 inches long, as big as a English hothouse cucumber! She now weighs 1-2/3 pounds she is really starting to make my wife's belly move when she moves! The nerves in her ear have grown to be more intricate now so they say she can hear conversations and she is getting used to the sound of our voices.

Also, her lungs are preparing for breathing by her actually inhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid into the developing air sacs in her lungs. She does this to practice and strengthen her chest muscles so when she emerges into the air she can take a gulp of air and continue through the rest of her life.

This week we're really starting the nesting process. I'm finishing painting the baby's room tonight and we will be starting a 6 week long Lamaze class in a couple weeks. Things are really coming along :) This week we've been busy reading and watching movies and I'd like to make a couple of recommendations to help with the process toward being a mother and father...

Recommended Movie:

This week we also watched a movie which I highly recommend! It's "In the Womb," a National Geographic Movie that uses revolutionary 3D and 4D scans to follow a birth from the moment of conception to the day the baby is born. It's so interesting and very educational for Mom and Dad to be.

Recommended Book for Dad:

My wife found a wonderful book which I'm reading, it's "The Expectant Father" - Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads to Be by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash
It's a great read so far and has a lot of helpful insight for real dads to be during each stage of the pregnancy.

Sympathy Weight Update: Wow, finally lost a couple pounds, I'm now 205 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 20 lbs so far! This is probably due to how much work around the house I've been doing. Maybe "Honey Do" lists aren't that bad...

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will be as big as a Head of Cauliflower, believe it or not!

See How My Baby's Growing at 26 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now it's a English Hothouse Cucumber!

Shop CornerStorkBabyGifts.com

Kyla's 21st Birthday!

To contact us Click HERE
April 27, 2011! Even though Ben and I were busy with school and work and church, we still had some fabulous Birthday celebrations! I have this sewing machine, but no table to put it on. Ben bought me a table and chair for our extra room. Now I have a sewing table (HORRAY!!!). 

Then, for dinner we went to Pita Pit. Small and simple Birthday, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Honor's Graduation!!!

To contact us Click HERE
Ben has been working so hard at school. He is finishing up his last semester in his Senior year and moving onto a Concurrent Masters program next year. He has been in the Honor's program and has just completed it. For those of you who don't know what Honor's is...I'll explain a little. It's pretty much doing extra work in about 1 class a semester. This not only gives Ben more experience in the classes he is working on, but also helps him create relationships with the Professors and expand his horizons.

Mechanical Engineering is already a really time consuming and difficult program at Utah State, but doing Honors on top of that adds a lot of pressure. The people in the Honor's office were surprised to see that Ben was still in Honors at this point. They said they couldn't remember another Mechanical Engineering student who had not dropped out of Honors by their Junior year. So...not only is doing Honors a difficult thing, but it is almost impossible in the Mechanical Engineering program to graduate with Honors. Ben has stuck to it and really done a great job.

Last week (Wednesday April 18th) was Honors graduation. This was a night to honor those all those at the University who graduated or will be graduating with Honors from Fall 2011-Summer 2012. They had a really yummy dinner, a slide show presentation highlighting the accomplishments of each Honor student, and awards.

Here are some pictures from the evening:



Ben is WAAAAAAAAYYYY in the back. (Sometimes he forgets he's a little bit shorter than his older brother Joe. Haha) 

One of the ladies who works in Honors even remembered that we were having a baby boy in June. She gave us a special gift of a little newborn onesie. This shirt has a little bit of a background story. Utah State has some game day shirts that say "We are HURD" In the "U" the is the word "State" for Utah State. The Honors department decided to make a little spoof off of these shirts for their students. These shirts say "We are NURD" This little onsie says "NURD in training" haha! We love it! 

Here is Ben with his Honors Diploma and his medal that he gets to wear when he walks for graduation.


Way to go Ben!!!! I am so proud of all the hard work you are always doing! Way to stick through the program and graduate as one of the only Mechanical Engineering students to graduate with Honors from Utah State!

Family pictures

To contact us Click HERE
A year ago, I altered a bridesmaid's dress for a photographer in exchange for a family photo session. We finally got it done last month--only it clouded over and began raining mid-shoot! Despite the weather, I still love how they turned out.








.                                                                                                                                                            .                     

26 Weeks Pregnant - Painting Baby's Room!

To contact us Click HERE
We thought very carefully on what color we wanted our Baby Girl's Room to be, and after long deliberation, actually my wife Nikki just decided for us :), we went with "Violet Eclipse." Nikki loves purple and this is me painting it on:


Baby Girl - Pregnancy - Nesting - Painting Baby's Room

My wife is now 26 weeks pregnant today. My baby girl is now 14 inches long, as big as a English hothouse cucumber! She now weighs 1-2/3 pounds she is really starting to make my wife's belly move when she moves! The nerves in her ear have grown to be more intricate now so they say she can hear conversations and she is getting used to the sound of our voices.

Also, her lungs are preparing for breathing by her actually inhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid into the developing air sacs in her lungs. She does this to practice and strengthen her chest muscles so when she emerges into the air she can take a gulp of air and continue through the rest of her life.

This week we're really starting the nesting process. I'm finishing painting the baby's room tonight and we will be starting a 6 week long Lamaze class in a couple weeks. Things are really coming along :) This week we've been busy reading and watching movies and I'd like to make a couple of recommendations to help with the process toward being a mother and father...

Recommended Movie:

This week we also watched a movie which I highly recommend! It's "In the Womb," a National Geographic Movie that uses revolutionary 3D and 4D scans to follow a birth from the moment of conception to the day the baby is born. It's so interesting and very educational for Mom and Dad to be.

Recommended Book for Dad:

My wife found a wonderful book which I'm reading, it's "The Expectant Father" - Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads to Be by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash
It's a great read so far and has a lot of helpful insight for real dads to be during each stage of the pregnancy.

Sympathy Weight Update: Wow, finally lost a couple pounds, I'm now 205 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 20 lbs so far! This is probably due to how much work around the house I've been doing. Maybe "Honey Do" lists aren't that bad...

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will be as big as a Head of Cauliflower, believe it or not!

See How My Baby's Growing at 26 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now it's a English Hothouse Cucumber!

Shop CornerStorkBabyGifts.com

Kyla's 21st Birthday!

To contact us Click HERE
April 27, 2011! Even though Ben and I were busy with school and work and church, we still had some fabulous Birthday celebrations! I have this sewing machine, but no table to put it on. Ben bought me a table and chair for our extra room. Now I have a sewing table (HORRAY!!!). 

Then, for dinner we went to Pita Pit. Small and simple Birthday, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Honor's Graduation!!!

To contact us Click HERE
Ben has been working so hard at school. He is finishing up his last semester in his Senior year and moving onto a Concurrent Masters program next year. He has been in the Honor's program and has just completed it. For those of you who don't know what Honor's is...I'll explain a little. It's pretty much doing extra work in about 1 class a semester. This not only gives Ben more experience in the classes he is working on, but also helps him create relationships with the Professors and expand his horizons.

Mechanical Engineering is already a really time consuming and difficult program at Utah State, but doing Honors on top of that adds a lot of pressure. The people in the Honor's office were surprised to see that Ben was still in Honors at this point. They said they couldn't remember another Mechanical Engineering student who had not dropped out of Honors by their Junior year. So...not only is doing Honors a difficult thing, but it is almost impossible in the Mechanical Engineering program to graduate with Honors. Ben has stuck to it and really done a great job.

Last week (Wednesday April 18th) was Honors graduation. This was a night to honor those all those at the University who graduated or will be graduating with Honors from Fall 2011-Summer 2012. They had a really yummy dinner, a slide show presentation highlighting the accomplishments of each Honor student, and awards.

Here are some pictures from the evening:



Ben is WAAAAAAAAYYYY in the back. (Sometimes he forgets he's a little bit shorter than his older brother Joe. Haha) 

One of the ladies who works in Honors even remembered that we were having a baby boy in June. She gave us a special gift of a little newborn onesie. This shirt has a little bit of a background story. Utah State has some game day shirts that say "We are HURD" In the "U" the is the word "State" for Utah State. The Honors department decided to make a little spoof off of these shirts for their students. These shirts say "We are NURD" This little onsie says "NURD in training" haha! We love it! 

Here is Ben with his Honors Diploma and his medal that he gets to wear when he walks for graduation.


Way to go Ben!!!! I am so proud of all the hard work you are always doing! Way to stick through the program and graduate as one of the only Mechanical Engineering students to graduate with Honors from Utah State!

Support Mother Health International on Kveller

To contact us Click HERE
Want to support Mother Health International? It's easy--just click on www.kveller.com and vote! The winning organization receives $5,000 from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. You can vote once every day (and more often if you have other email addresses). Voting ends November 30th.

Mother Health International is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping pregnant women and children in areas facing natural disaster, war, or extreme poverty. It currently operates birth centers in Haiti and Uganda and is opening a third in Senegal.

Birth Center in northern Uganda

Birth Center in Jacmel, Haiti

Vote now!.

What they don't tell you about Newborns

To contact us Click HERE
What they don't tell U about Newborns?

1. Suck blisters from thumb sucking,
2. Baby girls can have periods in their pee,
3. Immature Reflex system and startle system seems like baby is having seizures,
4. U may be able to see their pulse in their soft spot(s),
5. If baby is overdue it's skin gets pickled in amniotic fluid & vernix coating which looks like huge dandruff flakes has to be removed with a washcloth for a week or so.
6. They can look cross-eyed sometimes because Vision isn't fully developed.
7. Hairy backs incl. Swollen genitals and baby breasts due to hormones in both   genders,
8. Coughing up stuff like amniotic fluid few hrs after birth,
9. Overly long and weird shaped fingernails,
10. Babies can be born with Teeth,
11. Babies can pop a blood vessel in their eye due to pressure and tightness in birth canal,
12. The first poops are black and sticky like tar.
13. Uric crystals! they are an orangy pink substance that form in the diaper just after birth. It is amniotic fluid crystalizing in the kidneys and coming out in the urine and it is nothing to worry about,
14. Both boys and girls can have breast milk for the first couple days,
15. Some babies have "grunting baby syndrome". They think they need to push their bowel movements out so they're constantly straining and grunting, it lasts first 3 months,
16. Blocked tear duct in the eye for the first few days it can cause oozing eye, squirting some breast-milk into it and washing with a warm cloth towel helps,
17. If you breastfeed your baby will have poop free days. It can be normal up to 10 days for them not to poop,

IMPORTANT NOTES;
Fluid leftover in the lungs can lead to uneven breathing problems in newborns & eventually pneumonia, get that checked thoroughly!
The web all the way till the bottom of the tongue won't allow the baby to suck on anything, doc may need to check and cut if extra.
If the baby holds his/her breath, just gently blow into their face and they will take a gulp of air and start breathing again.
-If your baby lays on one side of their head too much, it can become flattened. Sometimes you have to prop their head with a pillow/blanket so it can be "rotated" and rounded back out. Happened with my first, her head became flat on one side.
-If baby wont burp, gently lay him/her down on their back (on your lap while holding them), and then lift them back up to your shoulder (in one swift motion) and try again, you can also gently bounce them on your knee.
Oh and another one...'I called the nurse and the bundled him up tightly and put him on my chest and moved his body up until his head was tucked right into my neck and chin area...voila,.....he didnt cry anymore! He was just used to being tight in the womb and having his head tucked in the birth canal.'

A ton of Chamomile in your diet to avoid acid reflux in babies,
No one told me that wiping with a warm wipe can stimulate their rear end and make them poop again... on the spot... in your hand...
Newborns don't need to be bathed every day, but be sure to take a wet wipe during diaper changes and wipe under their neck folds. They accumulate stuff there like crazy, and it can get all crusty and make their skin bleed from irritations.

The above are some scary notes and pointers collected from various websites and contributed mostly by moms on babycentre.

Getting the Nursery Ready for our Baby Girl's Arrival

To contact us Click HERE

My New Video Blog Series starting this Week Subscribe for the Latest

In this video I show you our messy spare bedroom which will be transformed into a beautiful nursery for our new baby girl. She is our tax day baby, due on April 15, 2012! It is a mess! I have my work cut out for me as we try to clean it up, paint, and decorate it. I am somewhat of an artist, so I plan to paint a cool mural in there.

Do you have any good ideas for a Mural in my little girl's room?

I NEED YOUR SUGGESTIONS, please submit your idea in a comment to this post, and thanks :)

I was thinking rolling hills with fun trees, blue sky with puffy clouds and a smiling sun setting, with animals, birds, and sleeping moon with a nightcap in the distance faintly showing in the sky with the sparkling stars coming out. I thought since the sun is setting the black sky will start to show towards the upper part of the wall and that could continue onto the ceiling. It would be really cool with glow in the dark stars for decorations.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions
~Justin

Shop CornerStorkBabyGifts.com

What they don't tell you about Newborns

To contact us Click HERE
What they don't tell U about Newborns?

1. Suck blisters from thumb sucking,
2. Baby girls can have periods in their pee,
3. Immature Reflex system and startle system seems like baby is having seizures,
4. U may be able to see their pulse in their soft spot(s),
5. If baby is overdue it's skin gets pickled in amniotic fluid & vernix coating which looks like huge dandruff flakes has to be removed with a washcloth for a week or so.
6. They can look cross-eyed sometimes because Vision isn't fully developed.
7. Hairy backs incl. Swollen genitals and baby breasts due to hormones in both   genders,
8. Coughing up stuff like amniotic fluid few hrs after birth,
9. Overly long and weird shaped fingernails,
10. Babies can be born with Teeth,
11. Babies can pop a blood vessel in their eye due to pressure and tightness in birth canal,
12. The first poops are black and sticky like tar.
13. Uric crystals! they are an orangy pink substance that form in the diaper just after birth. It is amniotic fluid crystalizing in the kidneys and coming out in the urine and it is nothing to worry about,
14. Both boys and girls can have breast milk for the first couple days,
15. Some babies have "grunting baby syndrome". They think they need to push their bowel movements out so they're constantly straining and grunting, it lasts first 3 months,
16. Blocked tear duct in the eye for the first few days it can cause oozing eye, squirting some breast-milk into it and washing with a warm cloth towel helps,
17. If you breastfeed your baby will have poop free days. It can be normal up to 10 days for them not to poop,

IMPORTANT NOTES;
Fluid leftover in the lungs can lead to uneven breathing problems in newborns & eventually pneumonia, get that checked thoroughly!
The web all the way till the bottom of the tongue won't allow the baby to suck on anything, doc may need to check and cut if extra.
If the baby holds his/her breath, just gently blow into their face and they will take a gulp of air and start breathing again.
-If your baby lays on one side of their head too much, it can become flattened. Sometimes you have to prop their head with a pillow/blanket so it can be "rotated" and rounded back out. Happened with my first, her head became flat on one side.
-If baby wont burp, gently lay him/her down on their back (on your lap while holding them), and then lift them back up to your shoulder (in one swift motion) and try again, you can also gently bounce them on your knee.
Oh and another one...'I called the nurse and the bundled him up tightly and put him on my chest and moved his body up until his head was tucked right into my neck and chin area...voila,.....he didnt cry anymore! He was just used to being tight in the womb and having his head tucked in the birth canal.'

A ton of Chamomile in your diet to avoid acid reflux in babies,
No one told me that wiping with a warm wipe can stimulate their rear end and make them poop again... on the spot... in your hand...
Newborns don't need to be bathed every day, but be sure to take a wet wipe during diaper changes and wipe under their neck folds. They accumulate stuff there like crazy, and it can get all crusty and make their skin bleed from irritations.

The above are some scary notes and pointers collected from various websites and contributed mostly by moms on babycentre.

Kyla's 21st Birthday!

To contact us Click HERE
April 27, 2011! Even though Ben and I were busy with school and work and church, we still had some fabulous Birthday celebrations! I have this sewing machine, but no table to put it on. Ben bought me a table and chair for our extra room. Now I have a sewing table (HORRAY!!!). 

Then, for dinner we went to Pita Pit. Small and simple Birthday, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Honor's Graduation!!!

To contact us Click HERE
Ben has been working so hard at school. He is finishing up his last semester in his Senior year and moving onto a Concurrent Masters program next year. He has been in the Honor's program and has just completed it. For those of you who don't know what Honor's is...I'll explain a little. It's pretty much doing extra work in about 1 class a semester. This not only gives Ben more experience in the classes he is working on, but also helps him create relationships with the Professors and expand his horizons.

Mechanical Engineering is already a really time consuming and difficult program at Utah State, but doing Honors on top of that adds a lot of pressure. The people in the Honor's office were surprised to see that Ben was still in Honors at this point. They said they couldn't remember another Mechanical Engineering student who had not dropped out of Honors by their Junior year. So...not only is doing Honors a difficult thing, but it is almost impossible in the Mechanical Engineering program to graduate with Honors. Ben has stuck to it and really done a great job.

Last week (Wednesday April 18th) was Honors graduation. This was a night to honor those all those at the University who graduated or will be graduating with Honors from Fall 2011-Summer 2012. They had a really yummy dinner, a slide show presentation highlighting the accomplishments of each Honor student, and awards.

Here are some pictures from the evening:



Ben is WAAAAAAAAYYYY in the back. (Sometimes he forgets he's a little bit shorter than his older brother Joe. Haha) 

One of the ladies who works in Honors even remembered that we were having a baby boy in June. She gave us a special gift of a little newborn onesie. This shirt has a little bit of a background story. Utah State has some game day shirts that say "We are HURD" In the "U" the is the word "State" for Utah State. The Honors department decided to make a little spoof off of these shirts for their students. These shirts say "We are NURD" This little onsie says "NURD in training" haha! We love it! 

Here is Ben with his Honors Diploma and his medal that he gets to wear when he walks for graduation.


Way to go Ben!!!! I am so proud of all the hard work you are always doing! Way to stick through the program and graduate as one of the only Mechanical Engineering students to graduate with Honors from Utah State!

20 Weeks Pregnant - IT'S A GIRL!

To contact us Click HERE




Click Here to See the before and after of our Sex Determining Ultrasound on 11/22/2011!

That's right, it is a girl!!! We got the sex determining ultrasound a week and a half ago but I had to refrain from posting the results because we were waiting to tell our family and my mother has seen my blog. Hi mom, love you!

We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy that we are having a little baby girl. It was simply amazing seeing the sex determining ultrasound and how she was moving and even shaking her head at one point. It's hard to tell from this ultrasound picture (she looks a bit more like a creature than a baby here) but she looked absolutely beautiful and they showed us her growing limbs, fingers, bones, organs, brain, and they even zoomed in the heart beating with the four chambers clearly pumping away. The heartbeat was a little faster than normal, 168 beats per minute.

So, my wife is relieved. In her family they have all girls. She is the middle of 3. She has 2 cousins that are girls, and her sister had 2. In fact the last male in the family to be born was Bob and he's 50! On the other hand, I am one of 5 boys in my family so they are overjoyed to have another girl.

We told them with a riddle poem that has the answer of whether it was a boy or a girl hidden vertically in the first letter of each line. She's so creative!

Baby Gender Riddle
by Nikki

I know you’re all wondering what will it be?
Time & this riddle will tell, you’ll see!
So will it be a historical event, where the men will have joy-
As it is rare in this family to have a boy?
Growing baby, should we buy you dolls & pearls?
If only our family isn’t tired of so many girls!
Rejoice on tax day either way,
Let’s celebrate that a baby has seen its first day!

I showed the first letter's bold for display but if you're going to use this obviously don't make them bold and using a really fancy handwriting helps to mask the answer!

It was a great idea, this could be customized for anyone's family for a baby gender reveal idea and it was really fun for them to figure out, her family really likes puzzles too so it was more interesting than other ideas like cupcakes with colored frosting inside.

We have been thinking of names, but those are still secret for now. Let's just say we're thinking traditional names are making a comeback!

Looking for Free, Legitimate Ways to Make Money Online and Telecommute from home? Click Here

Shop CornerStorkBabyGifts.com

Getting the Nursery Ready for our Baby Girl's Arrival

To contact us Click HERE

My New Video Blog Series starting this Week Subscribe for the Latest

In this video I show you our messy spare bedroom which will be transformed into a beautiful nursery for our new baby girl. She is our tax day baby, due on April 15, 2012! It is a mess! I have my work cut out for me as we try to clean it up, paint, and decorate it. I am somewhat of an artist, so I plan to paint a cool mural in there.

Do you have any good ideas for a Mural in my little girl's room?

I NEED YOUR SUGGESTIONS, please submit your idea in a comment to this post, and thanks :)

I was thinking rolling hills with fun trees, blue sky with puffy clouds and a smiling sun setting, with animals, birds, and sleeping moon with a nightcap in the distance faintly showing in the sky with the sparkling stars coming out. I thought since the sun is setting the black sky will start to show towards the upper part of the wall and that could continue onto the ceiling. It would be really cool with glow in the dark stars for decorations.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions
~Justin

Shop CornerStorkBabyGifts.com

26 Weeks Pregnant - Painting Baby's Room!

To contact us Click HERE
We thought very carefully on what color we wanted our Baby Girl's Room to be, and after long deliberation, actually my wife Nikki just decided for us :), we went with "Violet Eclipse." Nikki loves purple and this is me painting it on:


Baby Girl - Pregnancy - Nesting - Painting Baby's Room

My wife is now 26 weeks pregnant today. My baby girl is now 14 inches long, as big as a English hothouse cucumber! She now weighs 1-2/3 pounds she is really starting to make my wife's belly move when she moves! The nerves in her ear have grown to be more intricate now so they say she can hear conversations and she is getting used to the sound of our voices.

Also, her lungs are preparing for breathing by her actually inhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid into the developing air sacs in her lungs. She does this to practice and strengthen her chest muscles so when she emerges into the air she can take a gulp of air and continue through the rest of her life.

This week we're really starting the nesting process. I'm finishing painting the baby's room tonight and we will be starting a 6 week long Lamaze class in a couple weeks. Things are really coming along :) This week we've been busy reading and watching movies and I'd like to make a couple of recommendations to help with the process toward being a mother and father...

Recommended Movie:

This week we also watched a movie which I highly recommend! It's "In the Womb," a National Geographic Movie that uses revolutionary 3D and 4D scans to follow a birth from the moment of conception to the day the baby is born. It's so interesting and very educational for Mom and Dad to be.

Recommended Book for Dad:

My wife found a wonderful book which I'm reading, it's "The Expectant Father" - Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads to Be by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash
It's a great read so far and has a lot of helpful insight for real dads to be during each stage of the pregnancy.

Sympathy Weight Update: Wow, finally lost a couple pounds, I'm now 205 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 20 lbs so far! This is probably due to how much work around the house I've been doing. Maybe "Honey Do" lists aren't that bad...

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will be as big as a Head of Cauliflower, believe it or not!

See How My Baby's Growing at 26 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now it's a English Hothouse Cucumber!

Shop CornerStorkBabyGifts.com

Kyla's 21st Birthday!

To contact us Click HERE
April 27, 2011! Even though Ben and I were busy with school and work and church, we still had some fabulous Birthday celebrations! I have this sewing machine, but no table to put it on. Ben bought me a table and chair for our extra room. Now I have a sewing table (HORRAY!!!). 

Then, for dinner we went to Pita Pit. Small and simple Birthday, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Honor's Graduation!!!

To contact us Click HERE
Ben has been working so hard at school. He is finishing up his last semester in his Senior year and moving onto a Concurrent Masters program next year. He has been in the Honor's program and has just completed it. For those of you who don't know what Honor's is...I'll explain a little. It's pretty much doing extra work in about 1 class a semester. This not only gives Ben more experience in the classes he is working on, but also helps him create relationships with the Professors and expand his horizons.

Mechanical Engineering is already a really time consuming and difficult program at Utah State, but doing Honors on top of that adds a lot of pressure. The people in the Honor's office were surprised to see that Ben was still in Honors at this point. They said they couldn't remember another Mechanical Engineering student who had not dropped out of Honors by their Junior year. So...not only is doing Honors a difficult thing, but it is almost impossible in the Mechanical Engineering program to graduate with Honors. Ben has stuck to it and really done a great job.

Last week (Wednesday April 18th) was Honors graduation. This was a night to honor those all those at the University who graduated or will be graduating with Honors from Fall 2011-Summer 2012. They had a really yummy dinner, a slide show presentation highlighting the accomplishments of each Honor student, and awards.

Here are some pictures from the evening:



Ben is WAAAAAAAAYYYY in the back. (Sometimes he forgets he's a little bit shorter than his older brother Joe. Haha) 

One of the ladies who works in Honors even remembered that we were having a baby boy in June. She gave us a special gift of a little newborn onesie. This shirt has a little bit of a background story. Utah State has some game day shirts that say "We are HURD" In the "U" the is the word "State" for Utah State. The Honors department decided to make a little spoof off of these shirts for their students. These shirts say "We are NURD" This little onsie says "NURD in training" haha! We love it! 

Here is Ben with his Honors Diploma and his medal that he gets to wear when he walks for graduation.


Way to go Ben!!!! I am so proud of all the hard work you are always doing! Way to stick through the program and graduate as one of the only Mechanical Engineering students to graduate with Honors from Utah State!

5 Months Old

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Eating
Mandy is a fantastic eater.  She has loved all the food I have given her....except Green Beans.   Then she made horrible faces, gagged and spit it out.  Understandable...the stuff was gross, I tried it.  I am moving her up to stage 2 foods now since she is doing so well.   Mandy will eat a whole tub of stage 1 and want more.   She eats it twice a day.     Little Emily is still not interested.

Sleep
Both girls go to bed between 6-7.  They both are laid down awake and put themselves to sleep.  Mandy gets up once at 4am for a bottle and then goes right back down.  Emily still gets up twice.   I figure this is because she is still so small.   She is a bit over 11lbs with clothes on.  They both nap 3 times a day.

Milestones
Both are putting weight on their legs.  Mandy has rolled from back to tummy twice but nothing recently.   I'm thinking by Christmas Mandy will be sitting on her own without support....she is a strong girl.    Emily has stranger anxiety.   She just wants me to hold her.   She will cry even if Nana or Grandma hold her, just wants her Mom.  Mandy....Pfft, that girl is happy with anyone but she does keep an eagle eye on me if someone is holding her. 

Weight 
Mandy is 16 lbs
Emily is 11 lbs.  A tiny peanut but she has more than tripled her birthweight!!

They are the total definition of Franternal Twins.   So different. 

They are so much fun.  Things seem to be getting busier with them because they want to be entertained more, thats great with me I just try to fit some one on one time with Cassie in there but sometimes its hard.  The days fly by.

  I often think how EASY one baby would be.   One healthy baby....piece of cake.    Two is hard.  When you are by yourself and there are only arms for one baby, and if they are both crying and need comfort ...ugh.  One gets my arms the other a swing, bouncer or a cartoon!!   Bath nights can poop me out.   More time to wash 2 babies than 1.  Going anywhere with 2 car seats is work.  I just can't pick up the car seat and take Cassie to story time at the library, I HAVE to bring the huge double stroller.   At storytime if 1 baby were to cry I could pick her up and sooth her but 2?    SO....we don't do storytime with the twins.  BUT, I am used to it now.  Its still busy, it still can be crazy and insane but now I often think if I were to only have 1 baby I would be bored!!   I can't imagine not having either one of these girls.  They keep me busier than I ever thought but they are a blessing I am forever thankful for.  

Opening Remarks of the Heads Up! Breech Conference

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I'll be posting each session of the 3rd International Breech Conference separately. Please pardon any typos or awkward wording; I'm trying to get these session summaries up quickly!

Day 1: Opening Remarks by Robin Guy
Robin Guy, one of the founders of the Coalition for Breech Birth (CBB), welcomed us all and told the stories of her two children’s births. Her first was an easy homebirth. During her 2nd pregnancy, her daughter was breech and she looked desperately to find a care provider after trying everything to get her to turn. She even did ECV 4 times with 2 different care providers. This was before the 2009 SOGC guidelines reopening vaginal breech birth as an option. There were 2 “closeted” OBs in all of Ottawa that would catch a breech if she walked in late in labor and refused a cesarean. They were on call on different days and she had the misfortune of going into labor at the wrong time. The OB on call did not feel she could safely provide a vaginal breech, so she was forced to consent to a cesarean.

Our care providers need to know that women exist after their 6-week visit. 6+ years later, Robin still can’t get through her birth story. This long-term trauma is not unusual for women who experience violations of their autonomy. She still flashbacks, not to the surgery, but to the fighting beforehand. The problem wasn’t the surgery; the problem was the removal of her rights and of her bodily autonomy. She experienced this as assault. Legally, women aren’t protected from assault in a hospital, and there is no legal ground for recourse.

After this birth, Robin got angry and wrote lots of letters, sending them to every hospital in Ottawa. She and two other women got together in a park and came up with the idea of the CBB. They said nobody is fixing this; I guess it’s up to us! They communicated their concerns via a petition to the Society of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC), which helped influence the 2009 protocols. Now, the CBB has 8 formal chapters in 5 countries and over 1,500 members. They have a two-pronged approach: exerting pressure from consumers and training providers.

In Ottawa, 3 of the 4 hospitals now support vaginal breech birth (VBB) attended by obstetricians. It still isn't offered; women have to tell their OB they want a VBB. What about the midwives? In Ontario, it’s within their scope of practice but is discouraged from taking place at home. However, the hospitals don’t tend to respect that scope of practice and mandate a transfer of care from the midwife to the hospital physicians. In other words, you can go in with someone like Betty-Anne Daviss, who has extensive experience in VBB, and you’re still obliged to transfer to someone of lesser skill. They’re still working on getting hospitals to allow experienced midwives to attend VBB.

There’s a private breech catcher group at LinkedIn that Robin moderates. It’s a safe space for breech-friendly birth professionals to talk to each other. Please join if you’re a midwife or physician interested in or currently catching breech babies.

Other ways to contact CBB:
robin@ breechbirth.ca
www.breechbirth.ca
Twitter: @breechconf
coalitionforbreechbirth@groups.facebook.com
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Evolution of Breech Birth: Heads Up! Breech Conference

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Day 1: 
Betty-Anne Daviss:The Evolution of Breech Birth: Why We Need the Wisdom of Our Ancestors & Other Cultures
She’s interested in breech birth from an anthropological perspective. Her presentation covered 3 main topics:
1. The history of breech birth: sorting through the myths and realities
2. The Noble Lie & human rights: why practitioners need to stop pretending and women need to become less gullible
3. Boundary crossing and elements that create change

Playing “make believe” allows children to deal with fears in a safe setting. Plato referred to a concept of “the Noble Lie”—that politicians need to lie to create myths that comfort and cohere a population. This is an adult form of "make believe." What is the greatest Noble Lie our culture tells about Childbirth? Women need to be saved most of the time.

Betty-Anne trained with traditional midwives in Guatemala several decades ago. She keeps going back to what they taught her, finding their insights to keep proving true. She also strongly reveres the black Granny Midwives, whom she worked with in the 1980s.

Next, Betty-Anne gave a brief overview of the history of obstetrics in its cultural and historical context. Some of the things she touched on:

• The work of Eric Bracht, known for the Bracht maneuver. She tried to mimic what would naturally happen in a gravity-positive position and created obstetrical maneuvers to simulate those movements with the mother on her back. 
• Reduction of maternal mortality fell drastically in the 1930s and 40s due to antibiotics, safe anesthetics, and blood transfusion. Starting in the 1950s, cesarean sections became increasingly safer. 
• Overview of cesarean rates in the last several decades. 
• Why is Bracht so important? He began making...but failed..to complete the link between gravity & breech birth. 
• Final interpretation of the Term Breech Trial (TBT) found that the risk is very minimized if: the baby is not IUGR, labor is spontaneous, good labor progress, shorter second stage, & experienced practitioner present.
• Recent discoveries on importance of vaginal birth in colonizing the baby with the mother’s gut bacteria 
• Referred to economist Daniel H. Pink’s book A Whole New Mind. 
• European observational studies of breech that we’ll be looking at during this conference: Scandinavia, PREMODA, 2006 French study. 
• Agnes Gereb and human rights issues in childbirth 

Betty-Anne just had a meeting this week with Montfort Hospital in Ottawa. They just waived the requirement to have an obstetrician present at all breech births. It’s now the first hospital in North America to allow midwives to attend breech births as the primary caregiver!

She lamented that ACOG is not present at this conference, despite intensive efforts from many organizers and physicians. In contrast, the SOGC has been involved in breech activism for several years now.

We need to carefully study women and contemplate what they need, what they know, and what they are capable of. “I don’t believe in compromise; I never have,”  she commented. She ended her presentation with this observation: We need collaboration, not compromise or co-optation.
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Kyla's 21st Birthday!

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April 27, 2011! Even though Ben and I were busy with school and work and church, we still had some fabulous Birthday celebrations! I have this sewing machine, but no table to put it on. Ben bought me a table and chair for our extra room. Now I have a sewing table (HORRAY!!!). 

Then, for dinner we went to Pita Pit. Small and simple Birthday, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Honor's Graduation!!!

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Ben has been working so hard at school. He is finishing up his last semester in his Senior year and moving onto a Concurrent Masters program next year. He has been in the Honor's program and has just completed it. For those of you who don't know what Honor's is...I'll explain a little. It's pretty much doing extra work in about 1 class a semester. This not only gives Ben more experience in the classes he is working on, but also helps him create relationships with the Professors and expand his horizons.

Mechanical Engineering is already a really time consuming and difficult program at Utah State, but doing Honors on top of that adds a lot of pressure. The people in the Honor's office were surprised to see that Ben was still in Honors at this point. They said they couldn't remember another Mechanical Engineering student who had not dropped out of Honors by their Junior year. So...not only is doing Honors a difficult thing, but it is almost impossible in the Mechanical Engineering program to graduate with Honors. Ben has stuck to it and really done a great job.

Last week (Wednesday April 18th) was Honors graduation. This was a night to honor those all those at the University who graduated or will be graduating with Honors from Fall 2011-Summer 2012. They had a really yummy dinner, a slide show presentation highlighting the accomplishments of each Honor student, and awards.

Here are some pictures from the evening:



Ben is WAAAAAAAAYYYY in the back. (Sometimes he forgets he's a little bit shorter than his older brother Joe. Haha) 

One of the ladies who works in Honors even remembered that we were having a baby boy in June. She gave us a special gift of a little newborn onesie. This shirt has a little bit of a background story. Utah State has some game day shirts that say "We are HURD" In the "U" the is the word "State" for Utah State. The Honors department decided to make a little spoof off of these shirts for their students. These shirts say "We are NURD" This little onsie says "NURD in training" haha! We love it! 

Here is Ben with his Honors Diploma and his medal that he gets to wear when he walks for graduation.


Way to go Ben!!!! I am so proud of all the hard work you are always doing! Way to stick through the program and graduate as one of the only Mechanical Engineering students to graduate with Honors from Utah State!

Thanksgiving at the ER

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This Thanksgiving I hosted for the first time ever.   I got the turkey ready in the morning and popped it in the oven around noon.  We planned on eating around 4:00.   It was around 3:30 that time got away from me.   I was feeding a baby and realized what time it was.   Handed the baby off to someone, grabbed the turkey out of the oven, set the table, peeled potatoes and started them boiling..... 

Matt came down with a cold on Thanksgiving.   So...he was not much help when it came to taking care of babies while I tried to get dinner ready.   And men are such babies when they are sick....at least mine is.   I have a hard time with showing sympathy when he is moaning and groaning, I have to try not to roll my eyes.  

Dinner turned out OK.   Next year I will buy a bigger turkey and I didn't make nearly enough gravy.  I don't know what I was thinking.   I will blame it on the twins and sleep deprivation.   BUT now I know what I will do differently next year.

Later in the evening I had Mandy and Emily on the floor.  I was getting them ready for PJ's but I let them have some "naked" time for a while.  I happened to be feeling Emily's toes and felt a ball of something.  It turned out to be some of my hair wrapped around her toe.   I tried getting it off, it just got tighter.  Matt tried getting off....it got tighter.   It was starting to dig into her skin like wire.  Her toe was bleeding, she was crying and then her toe started turning red/purple because it wasn't getting any blood.   I told Matt we had to take her to the ER, so off we went.   I told the nurse what was happening and they directed us to a room.   The doctors were trying to cut it off and they couldn't get it either as it was so tight, at one point the doctor asked if it was carpet fiber and I said No, its my hair....I must have bionic hair. They ended up numbing her toe so she wouldn't feel pain from the knifes by her skin,  she was crying so hard her eyes were glazing over so they gave her a break and waited for the other ER doctor to arrive for his shift to see if he had any other ideas to remove it.  When he arrived he took a knife and actually cut a slit into her skin to remove the hair.   What she had is called a Hair Tourniquet.   We were not the first case of this the ER has seen either.  It does become an emergency situation because if its not found in time the toe could have to be amputated because of no blood flow.  SO....it was an interesting end to Thanksgiving.

Picture of a Hair Tourniquet

Transition to a Father's Mind

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My mind is rapidly changing now, evolving into a father's mind. I don't believe one can easily define what it means to be a father. It is complex and the change takes place over many years and with many stages. I'm just entering the first stage which is first acceptance, and coming to terms with my pending fatherhood. Right now I'm learning. I'm learning it's not about me anymore. My needs are quickly becoming secondary. I'm starting to imagine what my baby's face will look like. I haven't had any dreams yet but I think I will soon. It makes me deeply content to know I will be a father soon. To me there is no bigger aspiration as an adult male and to strive to be a good father is a privileged I am happy to enjoy.

20 Weeks Pregnant - IT'S A GIRL!

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Click Here to See the before and after of our Sex Determining Ultrasound on 11/22/2011!

That's right, it is a girl!!! We got the sex determining ultrasound a week and a half ago but I had to refrain from posting the results because we were waiting to tell our family and my mother has seen my blog. Hi mom, love you!

We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy that we are having a little baby girl. It was simply amazing seeing the sex determining ultrasound and how she was moving and even shaking her head at one point. It's hard to tell from this ultrasound picture (she looks a bit more like a creature than a baby here) but she looked absolutely beautiful and they showed us her growing limbs, fingers, bones, organs, brain, and they even zoomed in the heart beating with the four chambers clearly pumping away. The heartbeat was a little faster than normal, 168 beats per minute.

So, my wife is relieved. In her family they have all girls. She is the middle of 3. She has 2 cousins that are girls, and her sister had 2. In fact the last male in the family to be born was Bob and he's 50! On the other hand, I am one of 5 boys in my family so they are overjoyed to have another girl.

We told them with a riddle poem that has the answer of whether it was a boy or a girl hidden vertically in the first letter of each line. She's so creative!

Baby Gender Riddle
by Nikki

I know you’re all wondering what will it be?
Time & this riddle will tell, you’ll see!
So will it be a historical event, where the men will have joy-
As it is rare in this family to have a boy?
Growing baby, should we buy you dolls & pearls?
If only our family isn’t tired of so many girls!
Rejoice on tax day either way,
Let’s celebrate that a baby has seen its first day!

I showed the first letter's bold for display but if you're going to use this obviously don't make them bold and using a really fancy handwriting helps to mask the answer!

It was a great idea, this could be customized for anyone's family for a baby gender reveal idea and it was really fun for them to figure out, her family really likes puzzles too so it was more interesting than other ideas like cupcakes with colored frosting inside.

We have been thinking of names, but those are still secret for now. Let's just say we're thinking traditional names are making a comeback!

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Getting the Nursery Ready for our Baby Girl's Arrival

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In this video I show you our messy spare bedroom which will be transformed into a beautiful nursery for our new baby girl. She is our tax day baby, due on April 15, 2012! It is a mess! I have my work cut out for me as we try to clean it up, paint, and decorate it. I am somewhat of an artist, so I plan to paint a cool mural in there.

Do you have any good ideas for a Mural in my little girl's room?

I NEED YOUR SUGGESTIONS, please submit your idea in a comment to this post, and thanks :)

I was thinking rolling hills with fun trees, blue sky with puffy clouds and a smiling sun setting, with animals, birds, and sleeping moon with a nightcap in the distance faintly showing in the sky with the sparkling stars coming out. I thought since the sun is setting the black sky will start to show towards the upper part of the wall and that could continue onto the ceiling. It would be really cool with glow in the dark stars for decorations.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions
~Justin

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