And then there were FOUR!

(Don't mind me...just a little swollen from being on an IV all day!)

I can't believe it, but I am now a mother of two and in a family of FOUR! My C-section was scheduled for Wednesday at 12:30pm, but after a few bumps in the schedule we got taken up to the O.R. around 2:30pm and things got underway around 3:15pm. The anesthesiologist was really cool and talked to Nick & I a lot throughout the surgery. Due to that, or the fact that we had the barrier a LOT higher, Nick wasn't able to see any of the surgery and was able to keep a clear head. No passing out this time around... The whole surgery went very quickly, and our daughter, Emerson Carol Famulak, made her arrival at 3:31pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 20 inches in length. We named her Emerson because I love that name (and I only recently discovered it a couple months ago) and I think Emmy or Em as nicknames are ADORABLE! Carol comes from Nick's maternal grandma who passed away a few years ago.

It was pretty interesting for me to compare this birth with Nixon's and how a lot of it was very similar. The spinal freezing happened very quickly again, so they countered it with some blood pressure medicine that made my head throb and made me feel like I was going to pass out. It was such a terrible feeling and I felt so wierd. I was glad that the fluctuations from the medicine happened fairly quickly and for most of the surgery I felt good, just numb. The main difference this time around was that when they were delivering Emerson, I did feel a lot of pressure as they pushed on my stomach and pulled her out. Even though we knew she was going to be a girl from the ultrasound, when they confirmed that she was in fact a girl I got a little emotional just thinking about how excited I was to meet her and have her join our family. I couldn't help but to shed a few tears. Nick watched as they cleaned her up a little, and the anesthesiologist wiped away my tears ;) so sweet. Nick brought her over to meet me and we were able to just sit and visit and look at her for a few minutes. Then Nick went with her to get examined and I got to spend some time in recovery.

Since the delivery was so late in the day, we had a pretty low key evening and just Nick's immediate family and Nixon came to visit us. Nixon was pretty curious as to who this wiggly little person was and tried to poke her head and feel her hair. But after that he was pretty oblivious to Emerson and just wanted me to hold him or to explore the room. I can't believe how HUGE Nixon seems now! He is definitely a little boy and no longer my baby that's for sure! Our first night in the hospital was pretty tiring since I was in a semi-private room and my roommates were so LOUD and I'll just say...interesting. On Thursday we had quite a few visitors and were also upgraded to a private room. YAY! It was so much nicer to have our own space, and for Nick to be able to stay the night with me and Emerson. (Nixon stayed with Nick's parents). We were discharged from the hospital just before noon on Friday, and have just been enjoying our time at home.

First family photo of Emerson

I'm not sure why these pictures ended up sideways and upside down...

She's already mastered the perfect pouty lip!

A proud mama with her baby girl!

Emerson with Grandpa Neil & Grandma Teressa

Just enjoying some cuddles with Daddy :)

Gotta love the purple bow!

Going home (SO teeny in her car seat!)

From this or the hospital pictures you might think Emerson is a little chubby, but in fact she is quite scrawny. Here are a few pictures to prove it:

check out that looong foot with looong toes

love her bony little arms with long piano fingers!

a picture with her eyes open... (sorry it's blurry)

Me & my kiddos. Doesn't Nixon look so grown up!?!

Nixon's new fashion wear.... my nursing cover.... haha!

This has been SUCH an exciting week of babies for us. My cousin Kara had her little boy on Monday, we had Emerson on Wednesday, my sister in law Jennica had her daughter on Friday and my friend Kay had her little girl on Saturday. So congratulations everyone - I am SO excited to meet all the babies :)

Spring Baby!

The baby is almost here, and so is spring FINALLY! I can't believe how long winter stuck around this year, I was going crazy! Then it was dreary and rainy for what seemed like months..... Finally now that it is May, we have been having some nice sunny days and I took the opportunity to plant a few little flowers in the dirt/weed patch in front of our house. If I would have realized how long the initial weeding was going to take before I bought my flowers, I probably would have canned the whole idea! But gladly I didn't, and I am really happy with the results now that it is done. You should have seen me though - a nice round 7 1/2 months pregnant lady hunched over weeding and planting and sweating like a pig. Sooo hot (me. not the weather. obviously). I planted the flowers the day before I left for a week long visit to Cardston, and I was SO excited that by the time I got home they were already flowering. Yay! I also hung a few baskets by our front entrance and I love the color that they bring in contrast to our dreary/dirty cream colored house. (We are hoping to paint it in the near future....)

I love petunias! (the little white petals
had blown in from the flowering trees nearby)

Don't mind the bare spot without flowers... I had just turned the baskets around
so that this side could get more sun and bloom as fully as the other side.

A close up of one of the back sides so you can see how full
and round the hanging baskets are getting :)

The crab apple tree in our backyard is the bane of my existence 90% of the year,
but for a few weeks in the spring I love how beautiful it looks when
it's flowers are in full bloom and there are no apples in sight.

Like I said, my other spring news is that our baby girl is ALMOST here! For the most part I like to say that I feel pretty good, but I think I'm actually just lying to myself in order to make it through each day. When did I turn into such a wimp? Here's the truth: My acid reflux/heartburn is WAY worse this time around so anytime I bend over to pick something up I feel like I'm going to barf. And if you saw the kinds of messes Nixon makes everyday with his toys you would understand how often in a day I feel that way. I can't seem to get a decent night's sleep. Ever. I wake up to pee once or twice and then multiple more times just to move around and try to find a comfortable position. So needless to say I am always tired/borderline exhausted. I also wake up often with killer leg cramps that make me feel like I'm going to die. It's so frustrating! My ankles are constantly swollen now and I hate feeling like I have sausage feet. Luckily for me I am getting a delightful pedicure this week - and I can't wait to have my feet rubbed :) Nixon is making things a little easier on me though since he is finally settling into a new routine that includes sleeping well at night and taking one good 2-3 hour nap each afternoon. I love him. He is also learning to walk!(pictures in the near future hopefully...) And Nick (who HATES to do any kind of back/foot massaging) has been kind enough to rub my sore muscles and swollen feet quite often lately. In fact he currently owes me a previously promised foot & back massage. I think I just might have to cash in on that promise tonight! Anyways, back to the pregnancy. I can't believe how much more this baby moves around! I love the constant assurance that she is there and everything is okay, but sometimes I feel like my stomach is going to explode! My Doctor booked my C-section for June 22nd so as of today I am almost 35 weeks along and only have 23 days left! I have a list a mile long of things I want to get done before then, so wish me luck.

I haven't been one for taking very many prego pictures this time around (#1-the novelty has worn off, #2-I am unfortunately much bigger this time around, #3-I hate having to nag Nick to take a picture that ultimately ends up looking really bad anyways). But I figured I would regret not having any, so when I was down in Cardston visiting my family, I had my cousin Ashley quickly snap a few in her basement studio. Considering they were taken at about 9:30pm after a very long and tiring day, I am quite pleased with how they turned out. Thanks again, Ash! Here is one more picture (at 33 weeks) for your viewing pleasure:

Look who's ONE!

I wasn't planning on doing anything too big or extravagant for Nixon's 1st birthday, but somehow we ended up having two parties (with another to come in Cardston) with about 30 guests between the two shindigs! May 11th was his actual birthday so we decided to celebrate all day long. Grandma Teressa came over to play with Nixon in the morning and help me get the last few things ready for the day. A few of my girlfriends came over with their kids for a lunchtime party and we had lots of fun just chatting and watching the kids play. Nixon had his first skor cake and dug right into it. After the first taste he didn't seem too interested (maybe he's like Nick and doesn't like chocolate???) but he still loved making a mess of it and smearing it all over the tray and himself.

Party guests: L-R: Bennett, Megan, Kay, Erin D., Nixon & I, Parley, Christa, Erin C. and Zach.

Quinn was sleeping during the group photo so I had to get an

individual one before she left. What a sweetheart!

Olivia & Cairo also came over to party and we LOVED seeing them again!

Playing with the boys and the new balls from Megan :)

Showing off his crawling skills - what a big boy!

With a couple hours of break in between parties, we were able to clean up, finish the 2nd cake and relax a bit (Nixon even crashed and had a good 2 hour nap) before our next slew of guests arrived. (Thanks again to Erin & Ben C. who helped majorly with the cleaning - it honestly made my day. I truly appreciate you.) We had a dinner with all of Nick's family that lives close by and Nixon was again showered with love, presents, cake and fun. Thanks everyone for coming out and making it such a fabulous day!

Nick & Nixon with all his presents :)

Nixon loved playing with all of his new toys.

Seriously though - can't you tell? He is grinning so big!

Round 2 of birthday cake: for the family party we had a bit of a farm animal

theme going on, and I had so much fun making a creative cake.

As you can tell from these cupcake pictures,

Nixon apparently loves Cherry Chip cake the best!

With hands full of cake and icing, I guess he felt it was necessary

to just go right ahead and eat off the tray with just his mouth! ha ha

After a much needed bath, a sugar high and jumping on the bed with Jaylin,

Nixon soon crashed and went to bed without a peep. It was a fun but busy day

for this little boy and we were more than happy to have NO plans the next day.

Hello again!

I have really turned into quite the lacklustre blogger lately only averaging one post per month for the last 2 or 3 months. Oops. The next couple weeks are jam packed with fun stuff to keep me busy, so I figured I better play catch up and update you on the goings on of our life lately. At the end of January I decided I needed to beautify myself. Since I feel like I am in a never ending pregnancy and my body is going by the wayside I wanted to change what I could. So, I started lightening up my hair and getting my nails done! Yay :) It really does make such a big difference in how I feel each day. You will see my hair get lighter and lighter throughout the span of these pictures, and the ones to come. I figure what better time than summer to go back to being BLONDE! I may even decide to bite the bullet and chop it off again after a couple years of growing it out. We shall see...

We went down to Cardston at the start of February for a visit, and to spend my birthday with the fam. I hadn't been down there on my actual birthday in 7 years! Pretty crazy, huh. It was so nice to just relax and spend quality time with all the Schows.

Happy 27th Birthday to me.

Poor Nixon chose that weekend to get a double ear & chest infection and
had his first two teeth break through the gums. He was miserable :(

My parents came up to our house during the Family Day break and we loved having them around. It was fun to celebrate my Mom's birthday with her, and get to just hang out and go shopping. Dad & Nick kept very busy as they framed and insulated all the exterior walls in our basement. We are excited to be making some progress down there and hope to have another usable living room in the near future :) (Sorry no pics of that).

Nicholas turned 29 this year and we had lots of fun celebrating his birthday over the span of 4 or 5 days. We had an extended family dinner, a friends party, ate out with his immediate family, and on his actual birthday Nick got to go to an Oilers hockey game with his friend Mike. As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to attempt some sewing skills and make Nick a quilt for his birthday gift. I think it turned out really good, and boy was he ever surprised! The only problem now, is that he thinks I am a master seamstress and can sew anything. I think not!

In case you failed to notice, Nixon also got his top two front teeth in
and puts them to good use with some ridiculously cheesy grins!

Nick and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on April 7th. Grandma Teressa was kind enough to babysit for us (as she does WAY too often :) ) and Nick and I had a great day and evening. We did some shopping at South Common, ate an early dinner at my favorite restaurant, Joeys, and went to a movie. A perfect date in my eyes.

27 weeks pregnant

Our little man has been growing and changing so fast I can hardly believe it! On April 1st he decided that he'd had enough of dragging himself around army crawl/mer-man style and taught himself how to crawl properly. He LOVES getting into anything and everything and making all sorts of messes. He prefers to chew paper and plastic bags, so we have to watch him like a hawk! Now that he has 5 teeth he has turned into quite the biter, and he bites HARD. Toes and knees are his favorite targets, though once he did come up behind me when I was sitting on a stool and bit my butt! Seriously it hurt so bad! We haven't cut Nixon's hair in a few months and so we discovered that he has some seriously cute little blonde curls. Fresh out of the bath is the best and we love it. Nixon also decided that he is SOOO over taking two naps a day, and we are currently trying to figure out a new schedule for him. At 11 months, he continues to sleep great at night (zonking out at around 7:30pm) but on average he likes to wake up around 6:30 or 7am and then only take one 1 1/2 hour nap throughout the whole day! Boy do I miss his 2 hour naps twice daily.....

Sometimes when crawling he'd just stop and take a break to lay there
and smile at us. What a poser! ha ha

I never thought I'd see him fall asleep in the highchair but I guess
all it took was a reduction in length and frequency of naps...

Who needs toys when you can swim through a pile of dvds???

Just getting around... (zoom in to fully appreciate the bedhead)

For Easter, we didn't want to do too much or buy Nixon a bunch of treats since he can't really eat most of them (or shouldn't...) but I still wanted to get him something he could be excited about. So we let him pose with his basket (full of treats that Nick & I ate - ha ha) and we bought him this awesome brown bunny that sings and dances. To say that he LOVES it would be an understatement. I have never seen him get so excited over a toy, and whenever we turn it on he smiles so big and waves his arms around. So cute.

Happy Easter Nixon, we love you!

Don't mind my pastiness..

Just tasting the chocolate bunny that Great Auntie Elaine gave him.
I guess he likes it?

And last but certainly not least, I had a FABULOUS Mother's Day. Nick got up with Nixon when he woke up at 6:30am, then later he surprised me with breakfast in bed. We had a relaxing morning and then after church Nick took Nixon to visit his parents so I could have a nap. We went back over there for dinner, where Nick and his Dad barbequed dinner and even cleaned up. Nick's Mom gave me a beautiful bouquet of tulips (my favorite!) and Nick even changed every single poopy diaper. Thanks hun, for making it the best day ever! I love you.

The mothers on mother's day:
Grandma Mena, me and Nick's mom, Teressa

My two favorite boys ~ I love you.