Christmas

We started the morning off sleeping in till 9:00 am which was the best Christmas present Sam and I received from our 2 little girls. Then after feedings and diaper changes we trekked on out to the tree where we found this...

Santa and family members were way too good to Bailey this year.

Her initial run was to the plate of cookies. Not to see if Santa had come and eaten them, but rather to see if he had left any for her. Unfortunately he had so we nipped that really quick and pulled out some yogurt for the hungry kid.
And she happily ate till it was gone. Then we moved onto stockings...
It took some coaxing for her to reach in there and find her toys. She found a slinky first and then she was done with her stocking and just wanted to play with it and the rest of her already opened toys.
She got a race car ramp set, a rocking horse from Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim, a baby from Grandma and Grandpa, and some awesome fruit from Uncle David and Aunt Sage and that was all she cared about.
Pretty sure the rest of her presents sat wrapped under the tree and she slowly opened them over the next 4 DAYS! I guess she really likes to extend her holidays.
She played and played and jumped from one thing to the next until Sam started opening his presents. That grabbed her attention really quick...
His favorite hazelnut piroulines. It is a toss up on who loves them more.
I think they're gross. I'll just stick to loving this little hazelnut.
She is so quiet all the time we sometimes forget she is here. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating dinner with Aunt Connie and Uncle Brandon, decorating some more sugar cookies and then ending the evening skyping with our families.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent being lazy. We sat around the house the entire day watching movies and playing with toys. However, once it got dark we decided to make Santa some freshly baked sugar cookies to ensure that he left us some good presents. Bailey started out interested...

but quickly decided that stealing the cookie cutters and turning them into bracelets was much more fun. Another thing that is fun to do? Grabbing your little sisters arm so you can shake her hand and tell her that it is nice to meet her. Oh boy. Poor Hazel.
Rolling out the stockings, christmas trees, snowmen, candy canes and gingerbread men...

Bailey was definitely on board for the decorating. Mostly because we gave her a little bowl of marshmallows, chocolate chips, m&m's, and smarties to decorate her cookies.

And by decorate her cookies I mean I frosted them and then shoved on the treats and she hurriedly and picked them off so she could eat them and then lick the frosting off those chubby fingers of hers.

That is a smile that is high on sugar. Who doesn't love pumping their 1 year old full of candy and sweets right before you put them to bed?

Poor Santa's cookies were full of Bailey bites, finger pokes, and missing decorations.

Not to mention the plate was shy a few cookies.
Merry Christmas Eve!

Cheerios

Like we don't have enough pictures of this little monster eating...

since we ran out of her usual morning breakfast of yogurt she got a bowl of cheerios.
And I am pretty sure her bowl was bigger than mine
and she ate it all.

Sick Week

Oh boy what a week we had. Bailey contracted some kind of nasty virus. We took her to the doctor after she spent Sunday night with a nasty cough, horrible gurgling breathing noises and a fever. The good news is that after a chest x-ray pneumonia was ruled out, but that meant it was just a virus which means there is nothing you can do but wait it out and try to keep the germs as far away from the newborn as possible. This meant washing hands till they felt dried and cracked and having two different outfits every day. A germ filled Bailey outfit and a germ free Hazel one. Changing clothes a million times a day is the worst.

Bailey got to roam the house excluding our bedroom
and Hazel got to stay in our room for the entire week.
We watched a lot of Toy Story 1,2, and 3 and I am pretty sure Sam will die if he ever has to see Woody or Buzz Lightyear ever again.
We also played with lots of toys and pretty much never changed out of our pajamas.
And of course we did our best to keep the temper tantrums at bay. I thought we had six more months before the terrible twos would start. Luckily the little monster has fully recovered and the remaining three of us managed to escape the sickness altogether. Hallelujah! Maybe one day we will look back on this event and laugh, but I am pretty sure that is years away.

Grandma & Grandpa Galeria

My parent's flew out Sunday evening to help us get through finals week. We pretty much would not have survived without them.

They cooked all of our meals, cleaned up our disgusting house, took Bailey on lots of adventures, and helped everything to stay functional while Sam did his best to study.
Bailey was in heaven considering she got a new present almost every day (Tangled action figures and a new baby complete with a stroller and crib). Not to mention that she loves Grandma and Grandpa to pieces.
Grandma with Baby Hazel.
And Grandpa holding his little girls.

Thanks so much for coming out Mom and Dad. We couldn't have done it without you. Love you.

Hazel's First Bath

Hazel got her first bath Sunday evening.

She has a full head of hair so that got a good scrubbing.
She was not a fan of getting undressed and wet,
but that is the price you must pay to smell good.

Hazel's Story...

We had big plans for December 10. Sam was planning on spending the morning on campus studying for his upcoming finals, and nap time in the cadaver lab brushing up on his anatomy while Bailey and I finished up the last minute gift wrapping and shopping. Hazel had some different plans for us.
My contractions started around 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning and hurt like the dickens, but stayed about 10 minutes apart, never closer, occasionally further apart. After about an hour sleep was pretty much out of the equation so I got in the shower and told Sam to get ready to wake up one of our siblings and make them drive out to watch Bailey. Sam kept procrastinating the call (lucky for Quinn and Connie) and before I knew it (not really I was watching the clock like a sleep deprived pregnant lady in labor) it was 1:00 in the afternoon with basically the same story. We called Connie and she came out to hang out with Bailey while Sam kind of studied at home and I sat around holding my breath and squeezing Sam's fingers off every ten minutes or so.
By 5:00 they got a couple minutes closer together. I was pretty much ready for my epidural so I told Sam to take me to the hospital. Bailey headed out for a night on the town with Connie and Brando walking around temple square to look at the lights and eat dinner at the Lion House. She could care less that we weren't with her. We got to the hospital and I felt like I could barely walk to the maternity ward on the 2nd floor. We eventually found where to go and after what felt like an eternity I was laying in a bed answering a bunch of questions and being told to breathe a lot. I was dilated to a 3 so the mid wife told me to go and walk around the hospital for an hour or so to progress my labor. I kind of wanted to punch her in the face considering it took everything I had to walk there from the car, but Sam was hungry so he convinced me to walk to the candy machine for a Twix and peanut butter M&M's. I begrudgingly went and was cursing the nurse the whole way because by the time we made it to the machine (like a 100 yard walk) I knew there was no way I was going to be walking back. I sat down while Sam went to find me a wheel chair and by the time I made it back to my room I was ready to pass out. After what felt like an eternity waiting for the mid wife to return and check my progress (blasted shift change) she finally found her way to my room and told me I was to a 7. She then told me that if I didn't get the epidural I could probably have the baby within the hour. Sorry, but definitely not worth it to me. Progressing 4 cm in 30 minutes without an epidural was torture enough. I'm pretty sure I killed about 4 members of their staff in my head several times after them getting really close to my face and telling me to breathe through it and that I was doing great, or answering a phone call and looking for its recipient while I sat in the wheelchair waiting to be taken to the delivery room.
Luckily everyone made it out of the experience alive. I eventually got my epidural and then after a million questions and about an hour later Hazel came out nice and pink and way smaller than her big sister ever was. She got washed up, I got a thousand stitches, nobody passed out this time (go me!) and then we were off to our recovery room where I only left my bed to pee (and take a shower of course) for two days straight.
And once again I feel like I never want to do that again. We shall see if that feeling sticks around longer this time. Too bad she is the cutest thing since her big sister.