Paternity Leave

There are few things that are as important to me as having a loving, kind, caring and fun father for my children. I certainly have that in Scott. We are lucky enough to have two weeks paid paternity leave for him when we have a baby. With Ava we took one week now and we'll take another one later. Paternity leave ended yesterday and today is my first day home alone with a newborn and a toddler. So far, so good.

During Scott's week of paternity leave he took good care of me, Ava and Brielle. He and Brie had so much fun! I know they are both missing each other today. I'm missing Scott being here today too. I wanted to share some pictures of their paternity leave week of fun together. Thank you to Scott for being such a great daddy!

Scott and Brie built a "castle house" out of the stereo box. Brie was so excited to hide in it and open the door and look out the windows.

Scott even made Brie a pretend phone for her house. Here she is talking to grandma, as usual.

Scott read books to Brie every night before bed. She loved having so many books read instead of just the usual bed time one.

We got these cool soda bottle holders free (can you believe it?) with the pizza we ordered. Scott put them on Brie's ankles like leg warmers and she did some jazzercise. Doesn't she look like she belongs in Flashdance or Fame?

Warming up. This is the first time I've attempted a pony tail in her hair.

Stretch!

Yesterday morning Scott took Brie to the state fair. She had the best time of her life. I wish I could have been there so bad. This is the daddy and daughter as they were headed out the door to see the animals.

Brie petting the goats.

An Allred Hog Farm! Who knew? Maybe that is where we can have our next Allred family reunion.Brie was fascinated by the mommy pig and all of her baby "piggies".

Bunnies!!!Brie came home talking all about how she saw a cow get a bath.

Cows!!!

Brie and daddy rode on a BIG yellow slide and then they got to go play at "Little Hands on The Farm". This is the cutest thing. Brie got to collect eggs from the hens, pick apples from the tree, plant seeds, etc. At the end they get paid a dollar for their work on the farm and they get to choose a treat.

She also got to go on a pony ride. I think that was her absolute favorite.

Brie has been having her own fun with baby Ava. Here is the snack that she gave her last night. I'm sure Ava will love cherry tomatoes just like Brie does.

Bringing Home Baby Ava

I'm back. It is so good to be home and back to Scott and Brielle and our house and my blog. Thank you so much to all of you who left us comments about the birth of little Ava. It was so nice to read all of them and feel your love and excitement for us. Thank you. Thank you.

This experience of having another little girl has definitely been amazing. It's such a miracle. I must say though that the birth of Brielle was way easier! My water broke, I went to the hospital, they couldn't tell me to go home, they gave me an epidural and I didn't feel much of anything at all. Well, this time around I was not so lucky! I know all of you who have teased me are smiling right now. Man! It hurt!! Bad! I started having contractions at 5:30am and they fluctuated through the day at about 7 - 30 minutes apart. They finally were taken care of with an epidural at 9:00pm! Thank heaven! It was such a long and hard and painful and frustrating day to be hurting so bad, but not knowing if the labor was real or not. We spent the day driving to Fred and Rama's to drop Brie off, back to our house, to the hospital, back to Fred and Rama's, back to the hospital (didn't go in, walked around the mall instead to see what was happening), back to Fred and Rama's and then finally to the hospital again. I was beyond THRILLED when they said I had dilated to a 5 and they would keep me. I was even more excited when the nurse said, "Would you like your epidural now?".

I was in total awe when they put little Ava on me just after being delivered. She was gorgeous! She looked chubby to me. She has little rolls. She didn't look like Brie to me, but is looking more and more like her I think. She has been so good. She is a great sleeper and a great eater. She is wide awake and alert more than Brie was. We are so excited about her and I can't wait to get to know her. She's absolutely perfect!

We got to leave the hospital Friday night at 10pm (48 hours after delivery). It was crazy to be bringing another little girl home. On the drive I was thinking this little baby was so safe in a warm, cozy, watery home and now she's strapped into a car seat flying down the freeway at 70 mph. Poor thing. She's been through a lot.

Ava kept us up most of that first night. I think mostly because her little noises were new to us, so we heard every one. She slept ALL day her first day though. It was all I could do to get her to wake up and feed her. Yesterday was our first day home. Here are some pictures of our day.

Baby Ava sleeping on Uncle Bryce. Bryce came up from BYU and spent the day with us. It was great to have him here to play with Brie and nap with Ava.

Brie is excited about all of the new baby stuff that is coming out of storage.

Bryce and Ava napping in preparation for the BYU football game.

Scott took Brielle to Build A Bear for her first time. Scott thought it would be fun for her to have something fun and new. He had high hopes that she would choose to make the monkey or the turtle. He was very disappointed when from the moment they walked in she wanted a big, fluffy, pink bear. That is what she came home with and she LOVES this new bear!

Brielle and daddy giving the new bear a bath.

Brielle and her new Build A Bear.

Scott took care of everything for me yesterday. He even strapped Brielle and the new pink fluffy bear onto his back (she was so excited) while he mowed the lawn.

My mom can't be here for the new baby (she's in Germany), but somehow when mom can't be around there are siblings that can be when a baby is born. We are so lucky that Landon came to town from Virginia and that Bryce could come up from Provo. Yesterday they set up two TVs and a surround sound stereo system so that they could watch the BYU and Utah games at the same time. Nice huh? This was Scott's heaven. Here they are with lasagna dinner.

Happy Anniversary and Brielle meets Ava

Alicia had booked reservations for a lovely Anniversary dinner at Log Haven in Millcreek Canyon. However with Ava coming early, I picked up dinner from Noodles and Company and brought it to the hospital.

Our best attempt at flashing our 4 year gang signs!

Grandma, Papa and Brie meet Ava for the first time.
Brie holding Ava. Notice the bonk on her nose she got climbing on daddy!

When we went to the mall before being admitted to the hospital. Alicia picked a Sees butterscotch sucker and I bought a Chocolate Seegar for celebrating.

Introducing Ava Elizabeth Buchanan!

After a long day of contractions that started at 5:30 am, being sent home from the Hospital at 1:30 pm after an hour with no contractions, then being admitted at 7:30 with an epidural in place by 9:00. Baby Ava was born at 10:18pm weighing in at 7lbs 5 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. I bathed her, watched her get blood drawn a few times for pre-cautionary measures and didn't see Alicia again until about 1:25 am. Ava and Alicia are both doing well!

Final Days

Here are the pictures of me and little baby Ava in our final days before she enters this world. We are so excited to meet her and have her in our home and part of our family.
I went to the doctor this morning. He checked me and said that I am 3 cm dilated, almost all the way thinned out, her head is down very low and it looks like she will be here very soon. He said he isn't on call this weekend, but gave me his cell phone number to call him when we head to the hospital so he can meet us there. BUT, he said he doesn't even think I'll make it to this weekend!!! Wow. He did ask me not to come after him with a weapon if I do make it to my next doctor's appointment, but he doesn't think so. He said everything looks good and it looks like she'll be here any time. I am so excited!

So, now I will sit and wait for little Ava to make her arrival. I'm a little nervous about when it will happen and getting Brielle to grandma's house and us to the hospital, but other than that I feel quite calm and ready. I just made reservations for our anniversary dinner on Thursday, but who knows if we'll make it or if we'll be eating hospital food on our anniversary.

We'll let you know when she's here and ready to be introduced.

Me at the same point of pregnancy when Brielle was born.

My sister Teresa's water broke two weeks ago when she was walking around the zoo with her boys. She started taking them to the car so they could get to the hospital to have the baby. They were very sad that they were missing the kangaroos. So, last Saturday we went to the zoo to walk around to see if the same thing would happen. Here I am with the kangaroos. We made it to the kangaroos and through the whole zoo and nothing!

Me yesterday in the kitchen while my mom made brownies.

Drivin Back to Cali

My family just left my house to drive back to California after their Labor Day weekend visit. It was a great weekend! We did a lot of fun things and I am sorry to say that I didn't take a picture of any of it. I just kept forgetting or not having the camera. So sad.

My parents and Krista arrived Friday afternoon and we were sooooooooo excited that they were finally here. We've been wanting to show them our new house. I made a list last week of all that I wanted to be finished with the house by the time they got here and by the time the new baby got here. We worked hard and got almost all of it done. So, for their arrival the pictures were hung, curtains were hung, guest room was finished, etc. etc.

Friday afternoon we went to Swiss Days in Midway, Utah. This is always fun. We ate huge scones, walked through all of the craft booths, grandpa chased Brielle and we had a very nice dinner. Saturday morning we spent at my grandma's house until all those with tickets headed to Provo for BYU's first football game. Mom and Dad sat in an air conditioned box seat at the stadium and ate delicious food, Krista and Bryce sat in the hot 95 degree heat on the bleachers and Scott and I watched the game from our air conditioned house on our comfy couch! It was perfect!

Sunday we all went to church and everyone enjoyed our new ward. It really is a great ward. After church we made a big meal and invited Scott's parents and grandma to join us. The picture above is our Sunday meal. Mom copied a recipe she had at a restaurant and it turned out awesome!! We ate and ate and it was all delicious. We then stayed up late (again) talking.

Monday, Labor Day, we woke up and drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon for breakfast at the Silver Fork Lodge. We all had a good breakfast except that they ran out of hash browns so they served us sliced tomato instead. There was one person in the group who was not at all happy about that. I won't mention any names. After breakfast we went for a walk around Silver Fork Lake and it was beautiful! It was a perfect "mountain hike" for a 20 month old, a man with a heart condition and a 9 month pregnant girl. Later that evening we all went to Tracy and Lauren's house for a huge Chinese food feast that Tracy cooked. The food was incredible and everyone had a great time playing RAGE afterward.

So, a fun weekend was had by all. Now my parents head home to fly to Germany and Italy. I hope they have a great time with the Hughes family there. I can't wait until they come back here again.