Ella is TWO!

Weight: 27 pounds (70th percentile)

Height: 36 inches (94th percentile)

Clothes: She wears 2t in pretty much everything. She can still fit into a lot of 18 month clothing, but I've bought all of her fall/winter clothes in 2t so she has some room to grow instead of starting to grow out of them. She has to have 2t in dresses or they're too short on her. Size 4 diapers

Sleeping: She used to be a great sleeper... and then we took her bottle away at the end of July. Now she usually wakes up at least once a night and wants me to sit in their room until she falls back asleep. She sleeps on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed while Hudson sleeps on the top. She does great at sleeping in the same room as him, and by that I mean that she doesn't usually wake him up on purpose like we thought would happen. She has to have her blanky, her pink tractor pillow pet, and a drink to go to sleep. She goes down for a nap by 1 at the latest and rarely sleeps more than 2 hours. We start getting the kids ready for bed at 7, and then she is up for the day by 7:30.

Eating: Ella is a great eater. We don't ever have a problem getting her to eat, but even if we randomly do it's not a battle I choose to fight. Her favorites include: yogurt, cheese(namely shredded colby jack and string cheese), spaghetti (spu-get-nee as she calls it), pizza, fruit, black olives, and apple juice. She doesn't like milk-plain or chocolate.

Milestones: She follows directions really well, builds towers of block, talks in at least 3-4 word sentences, drinks from a cup and uses utensils really well, and anything else a 2 year old should be doing haha.

Language: Ella talks really well. She can say pretty much anything she wants and has a huge vocabulary. It is getting to be more and more often that she talks in 6-7 word sentences. She told me the other day to "go away!" so sometimes her language skills aren't a good thing haha. She does a good job at saying prayers.

Likes: Anything and everything Hudson likes, backpacks, books/reading- especially lift the flap books, dinosaurs, music/singing, the color pink, balloons, bike rides with dad and Hudson, baby dolls, the nursery class at church, Moana, Rapunzel, Paw Patrol, and Minnie Mouse.

Dislikes: Dad trying to help her at night, Hudson beating her up, not getting her way, getting her hair washed during baths,

Personality: Ella is as sassy as they come. She knows exactly what she wants and she's not afraid to get it however it takes. She spends a whole lot of time in time out these days because of the sass. She seems to love being a big sister and is usually willing to help do anything we need for Avery. She doesn't really like people. We've said that since she was really young, and it is still very true today. She copies everything Hudson does, and she has loves playing with him (as long as they're getting along).

The SASS.

Life wouldn't be the same without you, Ella!

Avery's Birth Story

Avery's birth story really starts are the 38 week check up (which was actually one day before I was 39 weeks). At this appointment she checked my cervix to find out that I was dilated to a 4 and 70% effaced. I was excited to hear this news because any progress meant that I could choose to be induced. I had wicked hip problems the whole pregnancy and plenty of other variables that made an induction the best decision for our family. We scheduled the induction for two days later, but I was told she wouldn't be surprised at all if I went into labor before then.

My midwife warned me that I could have some cramping and discomfort from the cervix check, and that was definitely the case for me. After leaving the office contractions never really stopped. They weren't regular or consistent whatsoever, but they were definitely happening. They were uncomfortable, slightly painful, but nothing hard to work through. Time kept ticking on, and by Wednesday afternoon we had accepted that we wouldn't be having the baby until I was induced the next morning.

One last bump picture.

We got to the hospital at 6, got checked in, and then were escorted to our room. I had two nurses again this time- Tammie and Kori. Kori was the nurse that was training, but she was my main nurse. I LOVED her. I might be willing to go through a million more labors and births if I get to have Kori as my nurse every time. She was funny, thoughtful, and caring. All of that being said, she missed my vein on my left hand when doing the IV which meant a retry on my right hand. She got it in that time which was so good because in the mean time my blood pressure had tanked and I was super light headed. It took a little bit of time and nurse Tammie spoon feeding me some ice chips while nurse Kori finished the IV for everything to return to normal and then pitocin was started. Apparently, IVs are not my friend because out of the last four I've gotten, I've almost passed out with three of them.

I was told I could get an epidural whenever I wanted, but I was the only one in labor and the anesthesiologist had to stay at the hospital until the baby was born to ensure everything was well with it. I really didn't want to make him come in too early, but I knew that I wanted an epidural before my water was broken. Kori told me not to worry about it, and she would call him in since it always takes a little while for them to get to the hospital anyway. After the anesthesiologist arrived we discussed the spinal headache complication I had with Ella, went through all of the questions, and got to work. Kori was super awesome and helpful during the process. She could tell that I was nervous, and did everything she could to calm my nerves. The epidural went in great, and I feel like it wasn't as bad as I remembered it being nor did it take as long as I remembered.

The next hour or so was spent battling low blood pressure and light headedness. I'd be fine for a few minutes, then my blood pressure would drop, return to normal, and repeat the cycle again and again. I also started to get a bit nauseous during this time. The anesthesiologist gave me some anti nausea medicine and a little while later gave me some sort of blood pressure medicine. We discovered that part of the blood pressure issues was the blood pressure cuff being ever so slightly too small. We finally seemed to have the problem resolved, and just in time because it was honestly wearing me out..

My midwife, Natalie Taylor, came in just after 9 to break my water. It was right about that time that we realized my water had already partially broken on its own. I had been feeling something, but I didn't register that it was my water leaking. Apparently, I would have gone into labor that day with or without being induced! She broke it the rest of the way, and checked to see that I was at a 5. Natalie commented about how much water there was, and my nurse made the same comments as she had to change the pads multiple time before Avery was born.

The epidural started to wear off a bit around 10, so he administered another dose. I didn't have another cervix check until 10:40. We learned I was at an 8, and getting so close to having this baby! I started to get pretty itchy around this time (a side effect from the epidural or the other medicine I was given), but being where I was so close we decided not to do anything about it. Instead, I was left to itch my arms and my chest until it wore off.

At 11:15 I was still leaking water (how I have no idea haha), but we discovered that it was go time. Kori went off to call Natalie and tell the anesthesiologist so he could come make one last game plan. He decided to administer one last dose, and then the everyone was focused on getting the bed and room ready for delivery.

A random picture Taylor took, but the time stamp on the picture is 11:27.

It's so crazy to me that everything is normal here, and then I had a baby 9 minutes later.

Kori came in at 11:28 and told me she had a bet going that I would have the baby by 11:38. I remember thinking she was crazy and that wouldn't be happening considering we hadn't even gotten the bed switched yet let alone started pushing and my midwife wasn't even in the room yet.

Well, one contraction and three pushes later we had a baby girl born at 11:36 AM. After her head was out Natalie made the comment that she had a lot of hair. The only thing I could think was "I don't make babies with hair." Much to my surprise and delight, she really did have quite a bit of dark hair. I couldn't believe that she came so quick and that Kori was right with her bet. Kori also guessed Avery's weight within an ounce, so I was impressed.

Avery was so very perfect! She was born with a small bump on her tongue that they think is harmless and will eventually go away, but otherwise she was healthy as could be. She barely even cried right after she was born, and as soon as they got her dressed and wrapped up in a blanket she became calm as could be.

Nurse Kori :) 

If you ever have a baby at Mountain View Hospital, do everything you can to have Kori as your nurse! You won't regret it.

Apparently, I was the first patient to ask to take a picture with her.

She was so excited and sweet about it.

Taylor's mom brought Hudson and Ella in with her after Ella woke up from her nap.

They were excited to be in a new place and see a little baby, but they didn't last too long at the hospital.

Hudson didn't want to hold her when they came in, but I made sure to grab some pictures the next morning when he did decide to hold her for the first time.

The highlight for Hudson and Ella was the crane and construction that was right outside my hospital room. Hudson loved getting to watch all of the equipment at work.

Taylor had to go home to be with Hudson and Ella at 6 so his mom could make the drive back to Grace, so Avery and I were on our own for the rest of the night. Construction noise below my room kept me up most of the night, but once they switched my room at 4 in the morning I managed to get an hour or two of sleep.. I didn't realize I was the only one who could hear it or I definitely would have said something to the nurse before it got so late.

Avery and I were discharged exactly 24 hours after she was born and just like that we were off to take on life as a family of five.

Hudson's birth story can be found here.

Ella's birth story can be found here.

Avery Mae Lloyd

Introducing....

Avery Mae Lloyd

Born September 6th 2018

11:36 AM

6 pounds 13 ounces

19 and 3/4 inches long

April

April kicked off with Easter weekend.

It also happened to be General Conference weekend.

I don't love when General Conference and Easter fall on the same weekend, but I do love any good excuse to make homemade cinnamon rolls so I won't complain too much.

We started the festivities off with an egg hunt in the Bush's backyard.

The kids got tons of eggs, it lasted longer than 5 seconds, and they didn't have to stand out in the cold for forever while waiting for it to start.

Definitely the way to go!

Hudson was super into finding all the eggs he could.

Ella on the other hand didn't really care about it haha.

I did convince her to pick up a couple eggs.

I like to think that we keep things fairly simple for Easter baskets, but this pictures makes it look bigger than I remember...

We ended up returning the little kitchen sink and getting Ella a pet unicorn thing that you can "walk" instead.

The funniest moment of the whole day.

After biting off both ends of his hollow chocolate bunny, Hudson decided to use it like a telescope. 

We all laughed so hard when he turned around and had chocolate around his eyes from playing with it.

The great hail storm of April 2018......

Mention it to anyone in Idaho Falls, and they will know exactly what you are talking about.

I was running into one last store real quick before we headed home to hopefully beat the storm.

Well, as I walked out of Hobby Lobby the hail started coming down. The hail only last 5-10 minutes, but it packed a punch. We were in poor Taylor's truck which ended up with 7,000ish dollars worth of damage, and our house now needs its roof replaced, the shed roof replaced, and a few other minor things fixed all due to the storm.

Thank goodness for insurance!

Our zoo membership expired at the end of April, so we made sure we went plenty of times before it ended.

Ella had her 18 month check up.

18 months meant that Ella started going to the nursery class at church.

I got put in as a nursery helper a few weeks after Ella started going, so it has been fun to watch her learn and grow.

For our 5 year anniversary we went to Jackson Hole for a day while Taylor's parents hung out with the kids.

We ate at a pizza place for lunch, stopped at a few stores, drove around to look at some of the scenery, got ice cream on the way home, and enjoyed the time without kids.

We got back to Idaho Falls early enough that we decided to run to Sams Club while we were kid free to pick up a couple things. The time away was nice, and it was nice to return home to our sweet kiddos who didn't really seem to miss us at all.

Huge thank you to Taylor's parents for making that day possible!

Ella came down with pink eye late one Sunday afternoon.

We contemplated taking her in that Sunday, but just weren't sure that it actually was pink eye because here eye wasn't all that red/pink. We ended up deciding to wait until the morning and see how it was doing, and she woke up with it in both eyes so total parent fail on our part. 

Thankfully after a quick visit to her pediatrician, a prescription, and a few treatments later she was doing much better.

One day we had some crazy winds all day long.

I opened our mudroom door just after 4:15, looked around, and quickly realized something was different. Our cloth shed was missing! I looked around the backyard and then ran to look out the dining room window to see it across the street in the neighbors front yard. I threw on a jacket and a pair of sandals and ran to get it before it damaged the neighbors house. I dragged it back across the street and realized that there was no way I could get it over our fence. 

I called Taylor and filled him in with what was happening. He quickly left work, but it would still take him 15ish minutes to get home. I had no choice but to stand there and hold onto the shed so it wouldn't blow away again while I waited for Taylor. At this point our old man neighbor, Bob, decided to come over and try to help. What an 80 year old man was going to be able to do was beyond me. As he was standing by the shed a big gust of wind came and shifted the shed knocking Bob the the ground and hurting his knee. He went to the doctors after the incident, so that made us feel great.

Hudson went back inside during all of this, but Ella insisted on staying with me in the cold with no shoes or jacket on..

Our friend/neighbor, Will, showed up just a few minutes before Taylor and helped us out.

The shed got put back over the fence, weighed down, and all was well in the end.

A short while later we staked the shed down realllllll good, so that won't ever happen to us again.