One Week

Adalie is now a week old! One week ago today they were breaking my water right about now. I was propped up in bed in my little hospital gown surrounded by loved ones as we tried to patiently await Adi's arrival. Our lives were about to change forever and even just after the short time she has been with us I cannot imagine our lives without her. She is so familiar and such a beautiful and perfect addition.

We chose the name Adalie as I was looking for something French. Ellianne is also French and was named after a wonderful lady I met in Liege while serving in Belgium. Adalie is also French and means "of divinity". There was nothing more perfect for our little girl knowing that she was coming straight to us from above! Once I read, said and understood this name I knew it was the one for our little girl. She is yet another miracle in our lives given all of the odds being against her arrival!

Her middle name Elizabeth is after my dear friend Liz who recently moved back to Canada. Liz is yet another friend that I will carry with me across space and time. I cannot recount the countless times she has been there for me, helped me, comforted me and supported me even when she didn't understand or necessarily agree. Liz, If you are reading this you have no idea how much I miss you! We hope and pray that our little one possesses and develops many of the special characteristics that make you who you are.

I love the the cuddle time. I love the little granny legs all pulld up tight. I love all of the little noises and squeaks. I love the soft feel of her skin. I love the little kissy lips. I love the little froggy no-butt. I love her eyes as they dart around and doze off. I love her hands that she cuddles up to her face just as she did in the ultrasound. Everything about her is so easy to love!!

The other kids have really been good. Mark has kept them busy this week and everyone seems to be adjusting well. They all love to see her, to hold her and to help care for her. Dayton has been rocking his CPAP machine and will start 1st grade on Tuesday. Ellie has had a few emotional break downs but loves to help and is excited to spend time at home before she starts Kindergarten in September. Kayla isn't here much but apparently has been wearing her "Big Sis" shirt every night at her Mom's.

On the B Side: It's been really nice to have Mark home. It has been an adjustment as normally he works so much but now that I have really gotten use to having him here it's just about time for him to start back to work! At least we have had some quality time together as a family. I want to freeze time at this moment but since it's just not realistic I'll just appreciate what is and smile remembering.

Nothing But Love

Adi is this amazing little blessing in our lives! She is such a good little baby and absolutely beautiful to look at and yes, I realize I am completely and utterly partial!!! I'm okay with that!

I wish I could freeze time and keep her small and cuddly forever! I love this stage where they are constantly balled up with their arms and legs in tight. I would snuggle her forever! The time is already going way too fast.

Given that today is Pioneer Day (state holiday, weird I know) the kids are going with Mark to his brother's for a BBQ and fireworks. I am going to stay home, keep our baby isolated and enjoy the cuddle time!

Here are some pics of our pretty little baby doll!

Our precious little one sleeps

Ellie had a really hard time falling to sleep last night so finally after many tears I had her come up and sleep by Adalie. This is also where she sets up camp to nap each day!
Ellie and Dayton dog piled on Mark while he holds Adi

Jazz and Micci brought us a delicious dinner and spent some time cuddling!

Big Sis cuddles our littlest Sis!

Grandma Sugar cuddles with Adi while the Big Sisters linger nearby

Grandma Mikey and Dayton strike a pose

Big Brother wraps his arms around Adi!

Our three girls!

Here she is the day we brought her home from the hospital!

Thanks for the cute threads, Kristin!

On the B Side: I couldn't be any happier! Our little Adalie Elizabeth is absolutely precious and very well loved! We've been super fortunate to have the love and support of so many both during and after her birth. I can't believe we get to keep her!!!!!!!

Our Bean Cake

Ellie is a funny little girl! Here are some things she has spouted off lately!

To Dayton when he was misbehaving she said, "That's not acceptable!"

After Micci and Jazz dropped off a lasagna dinner she later proclaimed, "Wow, I really love Aunt Micci's Basagna"

At the hospital today in reference to the cafeteria she stated "Remember we went to the bacteria and you burped really loud Dayton?"

After dripping an orange push pop on her white shirt she removed it and asked me to accompany her down stairs to find a clean white one with a "pretty bow" on the front for her to wear on her dinner date with Batman she (who was shirtless) said, "My nickels are cold. Now they're crying" I have no idea what that means but I laughed my ars off!) Note in the pic that she had to wear her fancy "black tap shoes"!

Today after laughing at Sponge Bob she said "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

To the phlebotomist at the hospital she said, "This is my sister Adi. She has beauuuutiful blue eyes." and then when she was later holding her at home when Adi opened her eyes I heard Elles exclaim, "There's those beauties again".

Earlier I was changing Adi's little poopy diaper and she leans in and says, "That really stinks. You should go into the bathroom and turn the fan on to do that."

Before she held Adi this morning she looked at me and said, "Mom, I need some samimitizer" It took me a moment to understand and assist but we got her hands clean ;)

At bed tome tonight she was framing an arguement to get something else to eat which was really just a stall tactic. Through her tears she cried, "but Mom I'm hungry so bad. I pooped out all of the food in my tummy and now it hurts."

On the B Side: I love our little Ellianne so much! She is so creative and quite original. She picks up on the littlest things and whether we like it or not she is able to use them on her own!

From Clancy's Wednesday Jar pull...

What is your principle occupation and what circumstances led to it?
*Please refer to Clancy's blog and feel free to join in on the fun!

Currently I am on maternity leave enjoying my real job as a Mom! It's by far the most challenging and easily the most rewarding! I am very much enjoying my time away from the office but will admit that I am still logging in and checking on things at the office daily from my laptop. The bottom line is that I would be a stay at home Mom in a heart beat but it just hasn't ever been in my cards so I've always tried to make the best of it, make the most of it and enjoy (notice I did not say I was good at this!).

When I was 17 my brother and I were obsessed with AOL Online and had a blast with it. The internet was pretty new to us in 1994 so it was quite a novely that consumed a crazy amount of time and money. I made a friendonline named Akbar from Pakistan. "Apple Jacks" and I remained friends across space and time. He's an amazing person with an incredible series of stories that make up his life. He's one of those special friends in my life that I will always cherish and carry with me. I love these kind of friendships!

In 2005 I quit my job working in the IT Department at St. Mark's Hospital. I was on call and it was too much for me as a newly single Mom with a 1 and a 2 year old. My Apple Jacks made me aware of some openings at his company. He lives in CA but there was/is an office in the SLC area. I applied, was offered a position and officially began work at Siebel. Siebel was acquired by Oracle shortly there after and hence I currently work for Oracle in the OnDemand Customer Care org for their Customer Relationship Management application as the Solutions Release Manager on the Advanced Resolution team. Say that three times fast and then know that it doesn't make me important!

I started out supporting the application and have evolved into various postions given my performance/advancements (Support Engineer Level I and then II, Queue Manger, Aging SR Analyst, Escalations Manager). I now manage all of the knowledge objects on our internal Knowledge Base and also our customer interfacing resource as well. I liason with various groups around the world (Tech Support, Product Marketing, Hosting, Operations, Training, Customer Advocacy, etc) and also work with our off shore support groups in Romania, China and India.

For me this involves technical writing, analyzing, updating and publishing content. Initially this was a little overwhelming as it was literally starting from ground zero but I have absolutely loved figuring things out, asking questions, defining/documenting processes, working through bugs and providing accurate information to both our internal and external customers. I love that I can measure my progress and have really enjoyed kicking the crap out of deadlines!

I have had the benefit of working from home and the flexability has been invalueable. My boss is in Cali and I really enjoy working under him as he is extremely knowledgeable and very much a perfectionist. I love my work, the people that I work with and the challenges that it presents. In that respect it is extremely satisfying (as satisfying as life gets outside of being with your family).

I will be honest and tell you that I miss the crud out of my kids and as much as I love my job it never gets any easier to be away from my them. Dayton starts 1st grade next week and Ellie starts full day Kindergarten after Labor Day. That puts them both in full time school BUT the very thought of leaving my new baby girl puts me in instant tears :(

On the B Side: I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to pursue a formal education after HS. While it wasn't easy it was definitely worth it (and I could have never done it without Amanda and Krystal!). I love knowing that I am able to support my family and am thankful to be gainfully employed and find it so rewarding. I am determined that if I must be away from my children that I am going to bust my butt and make it count!

I'm also really grateful for precious friends such as my Apple Jacks!

Adi's Story Part I

Before I forget or jumble up the details I want to get this information out of my head! Adi was my most difficult pregnancy for several reasons but interestingly enough she was my easiest delivery. She weighed the least of my children at birth and also measured the longest of my children at birth. She is mostly bald, has really pretty petite facial features and a perfectly shaped head! She's super healthy and doesn't even suffer much jaundice! Here are the details of her special day...

Given my weight loss, diabetes, decrease in fetal movement, her lack of growth and the cessation of contractions the end of this pregnancy involved a few trips to L&D and also a medical induction. Amazingly enough she arrived within minutes and without event. The doctor immediately let me hold her which was different than my experiences in the past and really special for the Baby, Mark and myself.

Clancy drove in at the from Idaho Falls and arrived shortly before 2 AM. How is that for a true friend? I honestly can't tell you how blessed I am to have her and how much it meant to me to have her with us. She sacrificed quality time with her family on a weekend and drove to SLC in the middle of the night to be here with us during this special time. She was a great coach and we were honored to have her with us. She and I were up early chatting when the hospital called and confirmed we were scheduled at 8 AM.

I WAS SO EXCITED! She, Mark and myself went to the new IHC facility; IMC. The nurse started my antibiotics. After four hours they did another round of antibiotics and started the pitocin to begin inducing labor. The contractions started up and after the doc broke my water (with a really long/crazy crochet looking hook) they really started to frighten me as I had no idea how long we would be in labor.

My Mom, Mike and Michelle joined us in the delivery room as we waited. I begged for an epidural and labor progressed very quickly from this point. I thought I had to use the rest room but it turns out that the baby was just ready to join us! Following Sarah's inspiration we had Clancy, my Mom and Shell join us for the actual birth.

Shell had one leg, Clancy had the other, the nurse was following the contractions and telling me when to push while the Doc busied himeslf with the details. Mark was able to remain up by my head and stroked and kissed my forehead as he quietly reassured me that I could do it. I know it was really hard for him to watch me struggle (I could see his eyes well up during my most painful moments of the day and know what a helpless feeling that must have been) so it was nice to have others manage everything else so that he could just concentrate on me and the babe.

After five strong pushes Adi quickly arrived. We were waiting for her to cry but Shell beat her to it! I immediately got ot hold her and was able to bond with her while the Doc took care of everything else. Mark did get to cut the cord and stayed right by my side as I held our Adi for the first time. She has already brought so much joy into our lives!

Dayton and Ellie were there in perfect timing. They arrived at around 5 PM, came into the room to hug me quickly and were back in the room just moments after Adi was born at 5:15 PM. They have been super excited and so sweet with her. They had their 'Big Bro' and 'Big Sis' shirts on that a friend of mine from work and his wife made for them.

Kayla arrived while the everyone else was in the cafeteria so she was able to spend some quiet time acquainting herself with her new little sister. K hopped up in my bed and we placed Adi in her lap. Kayla wouldn't look at her and refused to touch or kiss her! I think she was just nervous/excited/unsure. She warmed up and quickly put on her 'Big Sis' shirt as well!

I can't believe she is already 3 days old. I want to keep her little forever! She is absolutely perfect! It all feels so surreal now even just mere days later. The day was filled with laughter and fun (which actually made the contractsions easier to bear!). Shell gave up a cool fanny float with her pals to join us. She made special CD's, brought movies and bought magazines for the big day! She was a huge help with the kids and kept me laughing throughout the day! It was good to be surrounded and supported by the people that I love the most!

On the B Side: I am so grateful that Adi is healthy! It was such a relief to have her and I still can't get over how absolutely perfect she is (I'm so partial and I so don't care!). Do I really get to keep her???

Introducing Adi Cakes!

Mom, Adi, Big Bro and 2 Big Sis's
Auntie Mic, Uncle Jazz and Adalie

Daddy, Adi and Mo Mo Grandpa Mikey and Adi

Mom, Adi, Ellie and DD

Adi Cakes

Little skinky feet!

Fresh out of the gate...Dad cuts the cord!

Dayton, Ellie and Mom

On the B Side: We're so excited that she is here! She weighed in at 7 lbs and 7 oz. This makes her my smallest baby! She was almost 22 inches in length making her my longest baby. She is super sweet and doesn't cry. She has a perfectly round little face and we avoided a cone head. Her temperature, heart rate and blood sugar have consistently been perfect and we feel so incredibly blessed!