Baby Shower

Last weekend I threw a baby shower for my sisters-in-law Rachel and Sarah. I am so excited for them. They are both expecting their first child this year. Finally Parker will have some cousins and they will be around the same age as Tommy. Around 80 people came, which means I had crazy amounts of food to prepare. I thought it was fun and hope Rachel and Sarah had fun too!

So at first, I got all ambitious and wanted to throw the most beautiful magnificent party ever...and then I came back to reality. I remembered that I have a newborn baby and a small budget. But let me tell ya, if I had never had to sleep and had unlimited amounts of money, it would have been the most marvelous baby shower ever seen by man (and woman). So I cut out the fresh flowers and cute party favors and this is what I ended up with:

The guests of honor, Sarah & Rachel

Food, glorious food

Of course, I had to dedicate an entire table to dessert.

Brownies, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, and cheesecake!

It takes a long time to bake hundreds of treats!

Guess the baby game.

Can you guess who A is (the first on the bottom row)?

If you said Katie Holmes, you were right!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Budd with Tommy

Thanks to the guests for all the wonderful gifts!

And another picture of Tommy 'cause he's so darn cute!

New arrival!!

Thomas Alexander was born on February 24th at 2:49 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and was 20 inches long. He is perfectly healthy and so am I. It is true what they say. Giving birth the second time around is much easier.

Everything goes faster the second time around. Like twice as fast. At my 36 week appointment, I was already 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced and I progressed every week. Since Parker was pretty big, late, and painful to get out, I decided to set a date to be induced 2 days before my due date which, ironically, was the same day as the science fair which I've been working on all school year.

I never went into labor like everyone predicted I would. I think my body just gets ready soon and does nothing about it until late. February 24th came and I was waiting for a phone call to tell me to come to the hospital. I was 6th on the list and the nurse said it would be around 10:00. I slept in to about 7:30 or 8:00, but couldn't sleep any longer, so I got ready. I couldn't handle just sitting around the house, so I decided to visit the school to see how the set up was going and to get a look at my students' final displays. Everyone at work thought I was crazy for coming in, but I was glad to help out a little right before I was going to abandon them for several weeks. I finally got the phone call and went to the hospital at 10:45. After I checked in, the nurse gave me pitocin (to strengthen the contractions) at 11:30. My doctor was going to break my water, but I decided I wanted the epidural before the contractions started hurting. Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist was busy, so I had to wait to 1:00 to get the epidural and the doctor broke my water around 1:30. That really got the contractions going and I quickly progressed to a 10 by 2:30ish and started pushing. I only had to push through 3 contractions and then another extra push to get him out. The pushed lasted around 15 minutes I would say (I had to push for over 3 hours to have Parker).

Everyone was surprised at how big he was. He was 3 oz heavier than Parker and a .5 in shorter. This surprised me because he was a week earlier. My doctor says I'm just programmed to have big babies. My mom had big babies too. In fact, I (the first) was 2 weeks late and weight 9 lbs. 6 oz. and was born through C section. The rest were all induced and I think that is what I'm going to be doing.

Little Tommy is so sweet. He doesn't cry much and he sleeps pretty well for only being a week old. He has huge feet and some dark hair, but not nearly as much hair as Parker. It will be interesting to see what color his hair will be in the end since Parker's hair color has changed so much.

Parker loves Tommy. He is always giving him kisses and trying to share toys. He calls him Thomas. I think he thinks he was named after Thomas the train. It has been hard for him to adjust to sharing his mommy. He now carries a blanket around and wants me to hold him while he is wrapped in it. He also wants to wear disposable diapers (I'm not using cloth on Tommy yet since he is so small and needs to be changed over 10 times a day) and Parker also doesn't want to wear pants, I guess because Tommy doesn't have pants on a lot. I think he is adjusting and that I am adjusting because at first Parker would cry if he wanted my attention, and say mama, and try to climb on top of me when I was feeding Tommy. Now Parker knows to wait until I'm done and I will give him my full attention. It has been more difficult than I thought it would be for Parker.

I feel so blessed to have these two precious boys. I love being a mom!

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Wow. Christmas is so much more fun with children. This was the first year Parker understood what was going on and it brought me back to my childhood a little. In fact, I was so excited for Christmas this year that I could sleep Christmas eve. I woke up around 1 am and didn't get back to sleep until around 4. Well, part of that was excitement, the other part was anxiety. I woke up having braxton-hicks contractions every 5 minutes. How terrible would it be to go to the hospital on Christmas eve? It would ruin Christmas. I ate a little something and took a nice warm bath and finally they slowed down after about an hour.

I was a little stressed because my family was all coming over for a big Christmas Breakfast, then we were meeting up with Matt's family to go sledding, and then a big Christmas dinner party that evening with them at my house (not to mention I hosted another Christmas dinner at my house just days earlier). It was a big, busy and wonderful day.

Parker loved all his presents. He is such a spoiled boy, being the only grandchild on both sides of the family.

The breakfast was delicious. I made this french toast, but added homemade orange syrup (recipe from Amanda). There were no leftovers.

Then we took Parker sledding for the first time up Big Cottonwood Canyon. He LOVED it. He also discovered the joy of snowballs. He would pick up a handfull of snow and yell "SNOWBALL!" as he threw the chunk at us. Then Matt decided to go down a bigger hill and snow flew all over poor Parker's little face. Matt tried to take him down that hill again, and Parker just looked back at me with his arm extended and said "mama" as if asking me to save his life. Poor kid is always tortured by his daddy.

Here are some fun Christmassy things we did this year:

• Made an advent calendar and counted down 'till Christmas
• Went to a live nativity with Grandparents
• Went to temple square
• Made an ornament to represent our year
• Did a service project for those less fortunate
• Had french toast for breakfast on Christmas morning
• Went sledding
• Sat in Santa's lap
• Made gingerbread houses
• Listened to lots of Christmas music and drank lots of hot cocoa

Top 50 moments of 2010

This year wasn't as "adventurous" as 2009, but there sure were a lot of changes and things to keep us busy.

1. Helping my students dominate the Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair
2. Fixing up our condo...just to sell it (Why did we wait so long to finish it?)
3. Selling our condo after living there for 3 years...a great 3 years!
4. Moving in with my parents for 3 months while our house was being built (Where, I might add, there was no room for us)
5. Feeling like my life is in chaos while we live at my parent's house (My clothes were in boxes the entire time)
6. Discovering Parker's talent for singing
7. Learning about the stress and fun involved in have a house built
8. Parker finally getting to go to nursery & LOVING it (& his parents loving it even more than he does)
9. Parker learning how to hit a baseball
10. My sister-in-law Rachel marrying Spencer
11. Going to Youth Conference with the Bluffdale 1st ward as "Goodly Parents"
12. Winning free Bosch kitchen appliances ($7000 value) from the Home Expo
13. Learning that "Sprinkler World" is completely incompetent in designing a sprinkler system AFTER we installed the whole system and then having to redesign it ourselves so it would work. I'm a little bitter.
14. Painting all the doors, trim, and accent wall in our new house
15. Matt graduating with a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Phoenix (and having the student loans to prove it)
16. Quitting my job
17. My brother Casey marrying Sheralee
18. Parker learning his ABCs
19. Finally moving into my brand new house
20. Matt and I running the Ragnar Relay
21. Hydroseeding our yard and watering it a bit too much. Who knew that grass could grow mold?
22. Expecting baby boy #2!!!
23. Unpacking all of our books and office furniture and finding out the next week that I was pregnant and needing to pack it all up again and move it to the basement and needing to move all the baby stuff upstairs into that same room
24. Decorating my new house - work in progress
25. Getting a fancy shmancy smart phone - at least fancy for me.
26. Taking a lot of naps - that first trimester is a killer
27. The principal convincing me to keep my job (under my conditions)
28. Starting to potty train Parker and then getting lazy about it
29. Experiencing the scariest thing in my life when Parker had a seizure
30. Riding in an ambulance for the first time ever
31. Paying a ridiculously large hospital bill for sitting in an emergency room for 20 minutes and a dose of Tylenol
32. Continuing our tradition of sharing a Cafe Rio Pork Salad
33. Taking a 4 day break from life to read the "Hunger Games" series
34. Participating in the first ever "Great Lakes Relay" from the Great Salt Lake to Utah Lake. Our team took 2nd place (out of two teams)!
35. Being called to the Young Women Presidency again
36. Fun vacation visiting Sarah & Eric in Cedar City to see their new house
37. Parker turning 2 and discovering that it isn't terrible at all
38. Matt attending Grad School for his MBA
39. Practicing making the best chocolate chips ever (and gaining a few pounds in the process)
40. Matt becoming superman and starting to finish the basement along with going to school and juggling a busy career (it should be done before the baby comes)
41. Parker discovering Buzz Lightyear
42. Watching "Arrested Development"
43. Taking Parker Trick or Treating for the first time
44. Learning how to make homemade rolls
45. Parker learning how to dunk a basketball
46. Hosting 2 Christmas parties at my house within 2 days of each other -- it almost put me into labor.
47. Matt winning the ugly sweater contest
48. Having Christmas in my new house and making new Christmas traditions
49. Going sledding on Christmas day. Parker LOVED it when snow wasn't flying in his face (thanks daddy)
50. Going home early and going to sleep well before midnight on New Years Eve. I'm getting old...or boring...or both.

Overall, this year was one of change and gratitude. Matt and I are both so grateful for everything we have been blessed with. Here are some things to look forward to in 2011:

Having a baby boy
The basement being finished
Reading more books
Completing P90X and being in the best shape of my life
Matt running a marathon
Getting my PR for a 5K
Lots and Lots of rock climbing
Finishing our yard
Vacationing with our families
Starting a garden
Parker learning how to read
Saving lots of money
Having tons and tons of fun!

Keeping the Romance Alive

I don't know about you, but sometimes (and by that I mean always) it is hard to think of things to do with Matt without spending a gazillion dollars. That's why I'm so excited that I discovered a new blog called "The Dating Divas." Seriously. They've given me tons of fun date ideas. I personally know two of the "divas" and they are awesome. Plus, this week they have a giveaway every single day. I would encourage you to check it out.

Christmas at my house

I'm a big boy now!

Parker keeps life interesting. It is both sad and adorable that he is turning into such a big boy instead of the baby boy he once was.

He LOVES buzz lightyear. He found a little Buzz at my parents' house from when my little brother was small, back to the time of the first Toy Story and he hasn't let go since. He needs Buzz when we go in the car, when we go to church, and when he goes to bed. Funny thing is that he didn't even watch Toy Story when he became attached to the little buzz. When Matt and I showed him the movies, he went crazy. He loves them.

Parker also loves his kitty cat, the one he got for Halloween in 2009 from one of my students. He needs kitty every time he goes to bed. He has gotten so good at make believe. He pretends that the kitty meows and tucks him into bed. So cute!

Parker loves his friends. He especially loves Xander and Brayden - probably because they are boys, but he also loves his friends Sarah, Addi, and Cassidy. He gets so excited when the doorbell rings and immediately stops whatever he is doing and frantically runs to the door and looks out the window. I think he is looking for his friends.

Parker knows practically all his letters and is now learning their sounds. He does still get confused between N and M and some of the lowercase letters. We try not to watch too much TV, but his favorite TV show is Super Why. I think he learns a lot watching it. It is usually on when I am taking a shower. Thank goodness, or else I would probably be a lot smellier than I should be.

He is also learning to count things. He can recite his numbers up to ten really well and is now trying to go to twenty, but he gets stuck in the teens not knowing what is next. He loves 5 little monkey's jumping on the bed. I made little figures of the monkeys and it has really helped him learn how to count objects.

He is so loving and kisses and hugs Matt and I constantly. I know it is far away, but I will be so sad the day he stops kissing me and is too embarrassed to hug me. He will come up to me when I am doing something and ask "Whatcha doin'?" So cute. He also loves his aunts, uncles, and especially Grandpa (papa) and grandma.

He is such a good little boy. One time the nursery leaders came into Sunday school very concerned. They told me that he was crying and they didn't know why. They kept saying, "He never cries." He was just having a bad day because of an ear infection, but it is good to hear how well he does in nursery. He usually just runs into the room right after sacrament meeting. He loves it.

I could go on and on because I want to remember him at this age forever, but maybe I'll save it for my journal rather than bore all of you with the little things I find so cute