Aiden Carlton Lokey

He's Here!!!

 Here he is about an hour before going into the NICU. I have pictures of him in there, but they're on my phone.

We have a beautiful new baby boy. Seriously beautiful. I went into labor on Friday the 16th & he was born at 9:07 p.m. Everything went absolutely perfectly (except he has a 15" head - ouch, and when he was born he re-broke my tailbone - OUCH!!!) but we're so excited to finally have him here. On Saturday morning our nurse came in and said she thought he was breathing really fast & looked kind of dusky, so she took him to the NICU. Ben and I were not happy. The only other time we've had to experience an ICU of any kind was with Adam and that was a major, long ordeal. So when she said she was taking him in, it really scared us. But, it turns out it was a really good thing. Apparently when he was born he aspirated a bit of fluid into his lungs (luckily there was no meconium though) so now we've been in the NICU with him since Saturday morning. He's doing SO much better though. They took him off of his IV this afternoon and he's just about off of his oxygen. There's a small chance we'll have to bring him home on a little bit of oxygen though because I guess in cases like his babies usually have a hard time letting go of that last little bit and breathing room air. He's at .7% right now though so we're hoping that by this afternoon he'll be able to be off of it altogether. Keep your fingers crossed (and your prayers said :)  

 This is Aiden with Grandma about an hour after he was born. He looks a lot like Adam and Ben. Very handsome. :)

Other than all of that though, he is such a sweet baby. He rarely cries - for now - and we've even gotten a few smiles while he's been awake. The hardest part about all of this is that our other kids haven't even had a chance to see him yet. They've been so excited and patient for a baby brother and they haven't even met him. I've had to spend 99% of my time with him since I'm nursing and since I can't get around very well on my own thanks to the broken tailbone, I've really relied on Ben to be my legs. My mom has had our kids for the past few days and we're so thankful that she's been available and willing to help. She's doing a great job keeping the kids optimistic and accepting. Luckily we have amazing children and they're not a single bit jealous, just excited to finally meet their baby brother. We've been so blessed with great family and friends that have felt like family. I'll keep you updated and let you know when the little guy gets to come home. (For the 3 people that still read my blog. :) It shouldn't be too long!

What a Week!

We've been busy! Well, it feels like a lot has happened anyway. My brother and his wife (actually - just all Karina!) had their baby this last Tuesday. She's a doll! I haven't seen her in person, but the pictures are adorable. From what I've heard, she sneezes very cute. :) Anyways, they named her Natalie and were able to come home from the hospital on Wednesday. My parents came up to visit us on Thursday for Abby's birthday this weekend (more on that later) and got here around 6:00. Just in time for dinner! Well, around 10:00 Tyler called and said they had Natalie in the NICU at American Fork hospital because she had stopped breathing, so off my parents go! That's a long drive for dinner and to deliver a birthday present! They had to life flight Natalie to Primary Children's (because they can't transport newborns via ambulance apparently - good to know!) and kept her there until yesterday afternoon for observation. As far as I understand, they never did quite figure out what was wrong with her, but treated her for a few possibilities. She's doing much better now and was able to come home. How scary! It's always scary to have a child in the hospital. An interesting little tidbit: all of my siblings have had their second child in the hospital when they're close to newborn. Including us. Tennille and Chet were in there for about 12 days (?) with Nichole for RSV, we were in there for about a month with Adam for botulism and Tyler and Karina were in there with Natalie. Hmmm. There's something about those second kids! :)

It's a little fuzzy, but here's Natalie!

Amber found out about 4 days ago that her first tooth was loose. Maybe 5 days. She was so excited! She wiggled the snot out of that poor tooth until finally yesterday morning it fell out. Wow. She's usually full of energy and jumping beans, but when she gets that excited - watch out! She couldn't wait for the tooth fairy to come visit her and had to get up in the middle of the night to let us know that she couldn't find her tooth but she found a dollar! She says the tooth fairy only gave her $1 because the tooth still had a little root on it. I told her that the tooth fairy always only gives a dollar unless it's Christmas or a birthday and then she pays double (which we have done.) Either way, she got a visit and was SO happy about it.

Amber's new lost tooth. She loves to stick her tongue through the hole! :) Who doesn't though?

Today is Abby's 10th birthday. I can't believe she's that old! For her birthday Ben and I decided to let her get her ears pierced. We'd originally agreed on 12 years old, but I just felt like Abby needed a little extra "something" and I knew that she would be so happy, so Ben finally agreed. :) She had a volleyball tournament yesterday afternoon and we told her we were going to take her to Idaho Falls for a dinner date afterward. Just us and her. She didn't have a clue about getting her ears done. So I made her a card and in the car on the way down I gave it to her and at the bottom I put "p.s. now ask me where we're going". And she said, "Well, I already know we're going to Idaho Falls." so I handed her another note that said, "We're going to get your ears pierced!" You should have seen the look on her face! I wish I would have recorded it. It was priceless! She was so excited and so nervous the whole way down. And they don't do it the same way they did when I was a kid. They used to use an earring gun and shoot the earring in, but at this place they just used a little hand-held pincher thingy. Apparently it hurt because after the first ear she looked at me and said, "That HURT!" After all my telling her that it just pinches a little. Oops. But she's so, so, so happy and she feels so beautiful. She's such a sweet, kind girl and I don't tell her often enough how proud I am of her and how much I love her. We're so lucky to have her in our family! We'll be celebrating the rest of her birthday after church today, but she's already said that this is the best birthday she's ever had. I'm so glad.

Abby right after getting her ears done. She was still a little in shock I think.

We had a wonderful Easter last weekend. Tennille and her family were supposed to come up to visit but they found out that Chet had to work at the last minute so they weren't able to. We still made the best of the weekend though (even though it snowed about a foot!) The Easter Bunny left the kids' baskets and the eggs to hide in a big basket on the table for Ben and I to hide. He didn't want the dogs to find them in the middle of the night. What a nice, smart bunny to look out for our animals. :) We absolutely loved listening to Conference on Easter. I thought it was so fitting & I didn't want it to end. They should plan Conference for Easter Sunday all the time!

Here's the beginning of the snow. I didn't get a picture of all of it, but in total there was about a foot. It's melted now though!

The kids in their cute Easter clothes this morning. I think they're such good looking kids!

As for me and the baby situation, it's progressing. I'm still really, really swollen and puffy, but everything is looking okay as far as my blood pressure goes. I'm kind of hoping for him to be born on Friday, but he'll for sure be here by the 21st. I'm not going a day longer than I have to with this one. It's been painful!!! But we're really excited and can't wait to have him here. So, the next post will probably be to tell you about our new little baby boy! Wish us luck!!!

"That" point

So, I was looking at our family picture that is our header just a few minutes ago & I got really sad. I've realized that I'm not that person anymore. Physically or mentally. This pregnancy has been hard. Hard on my body & hard on my attitude and sanity. I don't feel like I'm a natural complainer - unless I'm pregnant. Then that's all I do! And I'm tired of it! I've reached the point (long ago actually) that I'm done. D-O-N-E done. Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited to have this baby. I guess I've reached the point that I'm ready to have him here. I feel like he belongs here instead of "in there". The kids are so excited to hold him and love him. Abby is even excited to listen to him cry. Allie is constantly "hugging the baby" or "laying on the baby" and sometime it hurts! Ben is almost more impatient than I am! I still have at 4 weeks left! Come on!

Two weeks ago I went in for a Dr.'s appt and he was concerned about my blood pressure, there was a little protein (in the pee :) ) and I've been swelling and having headaches. So he said I'd be on bedrest for the rest of my pregnancy and we'd deliver at 37 weeks. I went through the same thing with Abby (does anyone remember how HUGE my ankles were?!?!?) so I know what to expect. So, I made arrangements. I decided to finish preschool that week and not worry about teaching after the baby was born (after all - I needed to keep my blood pressure down, so get rid of stress!) I made arrangements for my mom or mother-in-law to come up and help with the kids (Thank you for being flexible!) and I called the Primary President to make arrangements to have a substitute fill in until after the baby came. Well, I went back to the doctor the next week and saw a different doctor. He said my blood pressure was great (even though it was a little higher than the week before?), there was no protein, the swelling was fine (of course - I'd been on bedrest for a week!) and I'd probably go until 39 weeks and then I can make the decision to be induced or not. He still said I need to stay down and be careful. Basically - "you know what to look for, just be careful". I was disappointed to say the least. I want a healthy baby and a healthy pregnancy, but as anyone who has been pregnant knows, when you're told that you're going to be pregnant for 2 (or 3) weeks less than expected, despite the bedrest, I was pretty stoked! Anyway, I don't know why it's bothered me so much. I know he needs to stay in there for a while longer & he'll be born when it's time, but I was given a little taste of getting back to the "real" me 2 weeks ahead of schedule. So, there's my complaint. Thanks for listening. Wish me luck for the next 4 weeks. I can do it!!!

p.s. I really do like my doctor - he's great - I'm just ready to be done. :)

Here I am! Not the best picture, oh well! He's ALL out front!

The Baby's Room!!!

 

We finished the baby's room!!!

For one reason or another, we've never been able to have a "nursery" for any of our babies. We've always wanted one, but we've never been in a situation to do it. Well, this time around we have the space and (had) the tax money, and since we had to buy pretty much all new stuff anyways (since we got rid of ALL of our baby stuff), we decided to just redo the baby's room. Not to mention we're having a boy and the room was pink before. Boys just can't sleep in a pink room! :) It's the smallest bedroom in the house, so it didn't take all that much money, just time.

 

So, here's one of the "before" pictures. You can see the chair rail and pink and white paint. We never got around to finishing the base and trim in the room, so yes, it looked like this when Allie was sleeping in here. I also never put curtains up for some reason, so she always had this blanket on her window. How sad! That's her old bed and some blankets stacked up against the wall, buy you get the picture.

 

This should give you an idea of just how small the room is! That's the bed again on the right & the closet on the left & the same old, ugly, faded blanket over the window. Again, sad. The room is too small to get a really good shot of the whole thing, so just use your imagination. :)

 

This is from the doorway looking in. There's a glider rocker in the bottom corner of the picture, just in front of the closet doors (which you can't see) and new curtains! And they're blackout curtains - very dark! I think it turned out really cute. It's a lot cuter when you're actually standing in the room. It's very warm and welcoming and it's DONE!!! I'm really excited. So, now we just have to get through the next 9 weeks, or however long it takes for him to be done baking. I usually like all of my food a little on the doughy side though, so hopefully he'll follow suit & get here a couple weeks early. I'd sure appreciate it! If anyone wants to stop by & have a peek at the room - feel free! 

More pictures

Our bedroom. It's clean! And it's stayed clean for 2 weeks now. This is a big deal.

The bathroom floor. I know, it's what you wanted to see. :) I'm so excited it's so clean!

The "new" kitchen. The bar/island doesn't have a back on it yet & the counters don't match, but it more than doubled our counter space! Now I just have to keep it cleared off! When we're done with the kitchen I'll put more pictures on, but that probably won't be for a year or so with all of the projects we've got lined up!

Allie wanted to take a picture of the baby so she kept taking pictures of me! You can kind of see my belly here. Kind of. I promise I'll post at least one huge belly picture before it's all over. Trust me though, it's getting big!

Nesting??? & my awesome parents!

So, Ben and I went to Memphis. He got sick. Really, really knock you down, 104 degree fever sick. I was so glad I was there to take care of him. He literally couldn't function let alone take his medicine when he was supposed to. So, we got him some Tamiflu, lots of Advil & Tylenol and even more sleep. And he's mostly better now. It's so scary and sad to see such a strong man get so sick. Luckily three of the guys Ben works with (out of the 300+) are members of the Church, so two of them were able to come and give him a blessing while we were in the hotel. They blessed him that he'd be able to rest well and travel home comfortably the next day. Well, that's about all he could do. We got home & he crashed! But we made it. Thank heaven for the priesthood!

While we were gone my mom came and took care of our kids. She was wonderful! She scrubbed my bathroom floors. I mean scrubbed. On her hands & knees with a scrub brush. Now, I had just mopped them a few days before, but I can't get down on my hands & knees and scrub. And in my bathroom we use hairspray and we have a white floor. It was gross. I took a picture of how clean it is now. Fortunately I don't have a before picture! Who would want to see that? :) And she did all of the laundry. And got it put away - which I can never seem to get to. While she was doing that my dad put a bar/island in the kitchen. Our kitchen had so little counter space it was ridiculous. It doesn't match - but who cares? We can fix that! And he swapped out stoves so we have one that works better and is a bit newer and matches the rest of the appliances. And since he can't have anything that isn't in perfect working condition :) he fixed a couple of squeaky chairs & fixed the hot water in the faucet. So, I have now officially entered the nesting phase a bit early. I'm not going to let this clean house go to waste! Since we've been home we've cleaned every room in the house, taken 3 full Yukon loads to DI, and one load to the dump. I'm so excited! We should have the baby's room done within the next two weeks too, so I'll post before/after pictures of that when it's done. It's amazing what a clean house can do! It just seems like everything is running more smoothly. It's really hard to keep up with things while I'm pregnant & I feel like I was just given a huge jump-start. I can do it now!

For some reason I can't upload more than one picture, so hopefully I'll figure it out & put more on. Blasted Blogger! So, this is sick Ben in our hotel in Memphis. I promise there were other pictures. I tried. :)

Christmas and...stuff

I think I have the most uneventful/eventful life ever! I swear I feel like I'm always busy & something is always going on, but I never have anything to blog about. So, here goes nothing!

Christmas was great! And fast! We spent Christmas morning here at home & then headed down to Utah later in the day. It was so nice to have Christmas Eve and morning at home as a family. The kids were very happy and surprised even though they really didn't get anything that they had asked for. Oops! :) We had the Christmas party with my family later that day & the next day we went to Fat Catz & had Christmas with Ben's family. The kids loved bowling!!! I didn't realize that we never take them until we had to explain to them how to bowl. It was a lot of fun! We staying in Utah until New Year's Eve then came home to a freezing house! Our furnace went out while we were gone & it was 40 degrees in our house when we got home. Cold!!! And since it was a "holiday" (New Year's Eve - come on!) we had to pay the HVAC guy time & a half to come fix it. But, it's now up and running with no more problems (as of yesterday - finally!) What a blessing it is to have heat!

At the beginning of December we found out that we're having another boy. We're so excited! But I think we're in for it because this little guy is kicking like crazy already! I'm only 25 wks along & he's already kicking my ribs and I don't sleep well. Oh boy! I'm having a lot of problems with my back & tailbone and I can't really walk all that well already, so exercising is out. Consequently, weight gain is in! I'm ready to be done just so I'll stop gaining weight! But, I know I'll lose it after a while. I really can't complain though (even though I do). I have been so blessed to be able to have beautiful, healthy babies. I know so many people that have a hard time having children and it's never been a problem for us. We're lucky.

Ben and I are headed to Memphis this weekend. He has training meetings so I'll be hanging out in the hotel room by myself for about 3 days. I'm so excited! I haven't had much time to myself lately so I'm going to take some yummy smelling bubble bath & a couple of good books and some earplugs and relax! Memphis isn't my favorite city (it's kind of scary!) so I won't be going anywhere by myself but I'm really looking forward to having some time totally alone. And the best BBQ in the world!

So that's about it! I have another ultrasound at the end of the month to see if I still have to have a c-section. I've never had one before so I think it would definitely be something to experience, but I think I'd be as nervous about having this little guy as I was with my first. We'll have to see. I hope you're all doing well!