I love the temple

Mike and I had the chance to go to the temple yesterday and I so enjoyed my time there. Every time I go, my testimony is strengthened. This week I heard a line in a song say something like "if there's a heaven, I'll give you a kiss when we get there?" and also I on Extreme Makeover Home Edition the husband had said in a letter to his wife, "if there's a heaven, I'll wait for you at the gate." It made me feel so grateful to know that there is life after this and I felt that so strongly in the temple. I am so thankful for the gospel in my life and the knowledge that it brings. Life would truly be sad without it.

Baby Tag

1- Where were you when you first found out you were pregnant?
At home with both
2- Who was with you?
Michael with both

3- How did you find out that you were pregnant?
Pregnancy test with both, but I was late, so I was pretty sure both times.

4- What was your first reaction to finding out you were pregnant?
So excited with both

5- Your Husbands reaction?
Excited

6- Who was the first person you told?
Our moms with both

7-Did you plan to get pregnant?
Yes with both
8-Was everybody happy for you?
Of course

9- Did you go out and celebrate?
I don't think we did.

10- Did you want to find out the sex?
Yes!

11- What was the sex?
Whitney: girl
Wilson: boy

12-Did anyone throw you a baby shower?
Whitney: Yes
Wilson: Yes

13- If yes, who?
Whitney: I had 3 showers--My mom threw one, Geraldine threw one, and I had one at work
Wilson: Shawnee, Geraldine & April, and my mom planned a surprise shower in Washington too.

14- Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you just knew you weren't going to put on your baby?
I think so...

15- How much weight did you gain?
Whitney: 36 pounds
Wilson: about 45 pounds

16- Did you loose all of the weight that you gained?
Whitney: Yes and more
Wilson: I'm working on it--I've lost about 24 of it so far :)

17- Did you get a lot of stretch marks?
Whitney: nope
Wilson: I have a couple on my sides, but none on my belly

18- What did you crave the most?
I didn't have any cravings with either of them

19- Did you crave anything crazy?
Nope

20- Who or what got on your nerves the most?
I had terrible trouble with my sciatic nerve with Whitney--I couldn't walk for a couple of days.
With Wilson, I had some trouble with my sciatic nerve, but it went away and I had a pinched nerve down the front of my leg. It made walking difficult.

21- Were you married at the time?
Yes to both

22- Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?
With Whitney my blood pressure went up at my last doctor's appointment so I was supposed to start laying down on my side for an hour 3 times a day, but I had her the next day, so I never did that.
No complications with Wilson.


23- Where were you when you went into labor?
Whitney: In bed, my water broke at 6:15 in the morning
Wilson: I started having contractions in the car on the way to Billings, but my labor really started when I was in bed and my water broke at 7:10 in the morning.

24- Did your water break?
Yes with both.

25?

26- Did you go early or late?
Whitney: 4 days early
Wilson: 1 day early

27- Who was in the room with you when you gave birth?
With both: Mike, Dr., my mom, my mother-in-law, 2 nurses

28- Was it video taped?
No thanks

29- Did you have any drugs for the pain?
Whitney: I had some IV meds at first, then an epidural around 5 cm
Wilson: Had the epidural at 6 cm

30-Did you go vaginal or have a c-section?
vaginally with both

31- What was your first reaction after giving birth?
I was so happy and amazed and in love with both of them.

32- How big was the baby(s)?
Whitney: 8 lbs. 1 oz.
Wilson: 7 lbs. 4.5 oz.

33- Did your Husband cry?
Not immediately, but I think he got teary with Whitney

34- What did you name the baby(s)?
Whitney Nicole
Wilson Michael

35-Did the name have any significance to you?
We really just liked the name Whitney, but obviously her middle name is after me
Wilson is my dad's middle name and it was also my grandma's maiden name, his middle name is after his daddy

36-Does the baby's name fit?
I think so

37- Did the baby(s) have any complications?
Whitney was colicky and had an umbilical hernia, but she's okay now.
Wilson seems to be colicky too.
I was off dairy when nursing Whitney and I'm trying that with him too.

38- How old is your baby today?
Whitney: 1 year 10 months 1 week & 3 days
Wilson: 2 weeks & 5 days

39- When is the next one(s) coming?
Not for at least a couple of years!

40- If you could would you do it all over again?
Absolutely

It's okay to eat the yellow snow!

Last night for Family Home Evening we went to our friends' house and made homemade tamales. That was our activity for mutual last week, but I didn't go, so my friend who's also in the YW Presidency taught me! We had fun making them--everyone got involved. They were really good and pretty easy.

The real fun was the dessert. This summer Paula Deen made snow ice cream on one of her shows, and I thought it was so neat that I hurried and typed up the recipe. I remembered it yesterday and since we had a nice dumping of snow on Sunday, it was the perfect chance to try it out. It was so good! Everyone loved it and we can't wait to try it again!

Here's the recipe:
~A big bowl of snow--we used a popcorn bowl filled about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way full. Paula Deen says 8 cups. We didn't measure, just scooped a bunch from the backyard.
~1 can of sweetened condensed milk--you may need a little more if you fill the bowl too full
~Vanilla
**All you do is add the sweetened condensed milk to the snow and mix it up until is starts to resemble ice cream. Add vanilla to taste.

We were thinking that using other flavorings like peppermint or root beer would be yummy too! The snow ice cream has a nice crunch to it--kind of like how the ice cream gets in a rootbeer float. It was so fun to make and definitely cheaper than buying a gallon of ice cream. Be careful; this causes brain freeze faster than regular ice cream.

2 weeks!

First pair of shoes

Wilson is already 2 1/2 weeks old! I can hardly believe it. I took him to his check up on Friday and he now weighs 8 lbs. 12 oz. and is 22 inches long! We're porking him up. I swear I should sell this milk :) Whitney just loves him and says "Hi, boy" to him all the time. She wants to hold him at least a couple of times a day. He is all boy already, after he eats he puts his hands up behind his head and stretches and grunts. I think he's trying to loosen his diaper. He's starting to be awake more during the day and looking around a little. Unfortunately, it seems that he is starting to be colicky. The past few nights have been exhausting trying to get him to sleep. We get a couple hours of crying, but he's sleeping in 2-3 hour spurts after we finally get him down. We'll get through it though--we've already done colic once. I'm feeling great, working on getting the weight off. I wore a skirt with a real waist yesterday!

Pinchy-Pinch

Whitney has a strange habit that started when she was nursing: when she is tired she likes to pinch necks. She prefers to pinch the neck of whoever is holding her, but will pinch her own too. We tell her to "pinchy pinch" when she's cranky and trying to get her to settle down. When I was taking a few pictures of the two of them the other day, she held Wilson's hand up to her neck and said, "pinchy pinch."

First Bath

Not a happy camper

Whitney shushing Wilson while he cries

Bathtime for Daddy--this was the first time this happened. I'm sure not the last.

Clean!

Funny story...

Warning...really long post...to help us remember! Feel free to skim.

My mom came in on Monday night last week to be here when Wilson was born. Thinking that things would go similarly to Whitney's birth, we hoped she would have about a week with the new baby...Well, I went to the doctor on Monday and I was dilated 2-3cm so I made another appointment for Wednesday. When I went in on Wednesday there had been no change since Monday. Frustration! I was in tears on the way home. It really didn't seem like anything was happening, since I wasn't even having contractions. I had a few that afternoon, but we made a reservation for my mom to fly home and planned on her going to work for a couple of days then coming back.

So we loaded up and started driving to Billings. About 20 minutes into the drive, I started having contractions more regularly. They continued the whole way coming about 5 minutes apart. We drove all the way to the airport and decided to get out and see if they continued. They did. Mom decided she was going back with us because it seemed like something was finally happening. I called the hospital to see what they recommend for coming in and they said I could go ahead and come in. Then they asked if I was in Lovell and just about died when I said I was in Billings. I think they were really worried I was going to have him on the road. I wasn't in any pain, just a little uncomfortable, so I wasn't worried. We made it home, got our bags, dropped off Whitney and headed to the hospital. We checked in around 9:40, got all hooked up to the machines and got checked, of course, there was still no change. They said we could either try walking around for an hour and check again or go home. We opted to go home and try to get some sleep.

I woke up around 5:30 on Thursday morning having painful contractions, which led to my water breaking around 7:00. I knew it was time to go to the hospital. So after showering, we loaded up and headed off once again. We got to the hospital just after 8. I was dilated to a 5! I breathed my way through many contractions, finally got the epidural at 9:30ish. I was still having a shooting pain in my left side, so I got a booster for the epidural just before 11 I think. Around 11:10?I told my mom I was feeling kind of lightheaded like my blood sugar was low and wondered if I could have some 7up or something. The nurse said that feeling sometimes means things are happening, so she checked me and said I was complete! I think we were all surprised. They wheeled the cart of supplies in at 11:18 and the nurse told the other nurse we would have this baby by 11:20, to which the other said, she meant noon. The doctor came in. He had me try pushing a little, told me to stop so he could get his gloves on. Then I pushed a couple more times and he was out within a couple of minutes. 11:24!

I was amazed at how well this delivery went. I pushed for 2 hours with Whitney, so this was great. I didn't feel anything because I had just barely had the booster for the epidural. My legs were numb most of the day, but I was up and moving that afternoon. I was pretty much determined to only stay one night at the hospital. My white blood cell count was up, so we had to wait a while on Friday, so I could have my blood drawn again. The count had gone down, we were free! The same thing happened with Whitney, but I had to have an IV of antibiotics before we could leave. We checked out around 2:30 Friday!

It is so nice to be at home. Unfortunately my mom had to go home on Sunday :( Darn those jobs...We've just been relaxing and settling in. Whitney is doing amazingly well. She came to the hospital Thursday evening. She was a little unsure when she first got there. She sat with me on the bed and opened her little present. There were some treats in there which helped her to perk up. After a little while, she looked over and saw that Mike was holding Wilson and got the biggest smile on her face. She wanted down immediately and went right over and wanted to hold him. She likes to announce when he's crying, say "bless you" to him when he sneezes, shush him when he's crying, and give him kisses. She's been interested enough, but still likes to do her own thing. There hasn't been too much jealousy. It's wonderful.

I feel truly blessed to be a mom. I am so grateful for two healthy, beautiful children. Life is a miracle.

Wilson is here!

Wilson Michael Hendershot
Born January 8th at 11:24 am
7 lbs. 4.5 oz 19.5 inches

Reading

Whitney loves to sit down with a book or magazine and "read" it. She will go on and on and on. It's so cute! Of course we can't understand her stories, but I'm glad to know that she gets that books have meaning. Sorry the pics are blurry...

Projects complete...no baby...

Baby's changing table that Mike built. The vinyl in the picture frames is the theme for all of the baby's things.

Whitney's new quilt & pillowcase. This was my first quilt I did all by myself (except for the quilting that I had done by a couple in town).

Baby quilt--the shapes match the vinyl in the picture frames.

Well, it's looking like the doctor was wrong. My appointment is tomorrow, and I'm not feeling like we're going to have this baby in the next 24 hours. I'm thinking Tuesday...we'll see. On the other hand, I was able to get a lot accomplished this week. Call it nesting if you want, but I got the baby's quilt done, a new quilt and pillowcase for Whitney, the nursery put together, baby clothes washed, errands run, house cleaned...Geraldine says I'm too organized so we're never going to have this baby. :) It definitely feels good to have everything done.