The Month in Pictures (thus far)

This was the first year since we've been married that we didn't spend Thanksgiving with our families in Idaho. We had just had Enoch and didn't want to do any traveling. We have the most amazing home teachers and one of them, the Andersons, invited us to their house for Thanksgiving. This family is absolutely amazing. They're the kind of couple that we feel like we've known forever even though we've only actually known them since August. They have six kids and they all adore ours. In fact when I went into labor with Enoch they watched Ethan and Kiari for us.
Thanksgiving was an absolute blast. There were so many of us, dinner was wonderful, the kids had a lot of fun playing together, we played cards after dinner, and just had a great time.
WE LOVE YOU JOEL AND NATALIE!! (and of course all of your amazing kids!)

This was my Thanksgiving contribution.
The darling place setting that the kids made.
The Monday after Thanksgiving we had our first real snow fall and when the kids woke up and saw it the first thing they wanted to do was go outside and play in it. They were so excited. I LOVE this picture.
Enoch the Peanut.



I wish I had more pictures of the week after Thanksgiving but it was CRAZY! My Mom came and stayed with us for the week and the timing couldn't have been better. The routine with 3 that felt so natural was totally shaken up with things that Trent needed my help with that week and I was SO grateful to have my Mom here to help. And of course Ethan and Kiari were absolutely thrilled to have their Nana here.
When I was little my Mom used to always braid my hair, so of course she couldn't resist.

My sister-in-law Sara made this tutu for Kiari before she made her entrance. This little girl cracks me up. She loves all things girly, especially playing dress up. But she can totally get into playing dragons and swords with her big brother.
My Mom left Saturday the 4th and the next day Grandma and Grandpa came to see us! It was fun to have them meet Enoch for the first time and Ethan and Kiari loved having them here. There was much Wii playing with Grandpa and book reading with Grandma.


We've been house hunting the past few months. A couple weeks ago when we were out walking through some homes Ethan took my camera and help take pictures inside the houses and the next three pictures are part of that helpfulness.

Turtle check!! (gotta love the booger)
The peanut. Hard to believe he's 6 weeks old already.
Miss Kiari turned 2 last week on the 12th. Hard to believe, I know!!
Throughout the day we'd ask her how old she was and she'd say 1 so we'd have to correct her. There were a couple of times though that we'd ask and she'd say 5. Not sure why but it was cute. By the end of the day she had it down that she's two.

Sadly my camera battery died right after I took this picture but we got some great video of gift opening. Her birthday was on a Sunday this year so we had a nice little party after dinner with just the 5 of us. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIKI!!


We're really loving Denver and are so incredibly grateful for the great job that Trent has. We're really excited that we get to go home to Idaho for Christmas and look forward to time with ALL our families. :o)
Life is pretty darn good.

Hope everyone has an amazing Christmas holiday!!

Week 1

Does he sleep? Oh yes. In his bassinet during the night so that I can sleep in my own bed? Not quite as much as I would like him too. However, sleeping in the rocking chair isn't nearly as uncomfortable as it was the first couple nights.
Enoch reminds me a lot of Ethan when he was a baby, really really mellow, only cries when he's needing something. When he's awake he's super alert and looking all around. We're anxious for him to start making eye contact and interacting with us.
This morning's first diaper change was less than smooth with pee in the face (his, not mine) and poop on the blanket. So Enoch started off the day with a nice sponge bath.
I just can't get enough of his little face! I love putting his cheek next to mine every time I pick him up and I'm constantly kissing him.

I forgot to mention something in my last post....
so Trent spent Sunday night at home with the kids while I stayed in the hospital with Enoch. He was home with them for the first part of the day Monday before they came to pick us up. When I came home Trent had cleaned the whole house, right down to scrubbing the shower (something I kept telling myself I wanted to have done before the baby came). It was so sweet and wonderful to come home to a clean and organized house and I hope I adequately expressed my gratitude to him for having taken the time to do it for me.

It has really been fun to see the way that Ethan and Kiari have taken to Enoch. Ethan just loves him to pieces and it's so sweet to hear the way that he'll talk to him. Kiari has been super sweet with him too. She'll ask to hold him, pat his head, and give him kisses. And Trent of course is a proud new papa and is loving having another little boy in the house. He really is a perfect fit for our little family and we're so grateful to have him.

The News

Friday night's false alarm didn't do much to ease my anxiousness and I was ever hopeful that I would have the baby over the weekend. All day Saturday I kept telling Trent that I wanted to go on a good and rigorous walk to see if I couldn't get things moving. It didn't happen until early evening but while Trent and Ethan went out for a little bit of guy time I put Kiari in the stroller and walked a loop around the neighborhood a few times. There were a few contractions but nothing that I felt was super significant.
Bathed the kids and got them to bed then headed off to bed about 9, having not slept well the night before due to all the contractions I was anxious to get a good night's sleep. About an hour later however any hope of that was dashed to pieces. I'm pretty sure I had fallen asleep or was at least close to it when I felt the surety of oncoming labor.... my water broke. About 30 seconds later Trent came into the room and I told him. He rushed in to wake up the kids to get them ready to go while I called the sweet ward member who had offered to watch them for us when the time came. By the time we got everyone's bags together and all of us out the door it was after 11. The Anderson's (who had offered to watch the kids) had just had an early Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of family so it was quite the gathering at their house when we stopped by to drop off the kids. I didn't even get a chance to say good-bye to Ethan, he disappeared with some of the kids shortly after we got there. Brother Anderson took Kiari and was able to quickly rock her back to sleep, and we were off.
We checked into the hospital at midnight but before being admitted they wanted to make sure that my water had in fact broken and that I was officially in labor. By the time those diagnostics were done and we were settled into our room it was nearly 2 a.m. Even though my water had broken my contractions were very strong at all so the first few hours we were both able to rest. About 5ish they started me on pitosin to get my contractions moving so that I could actually start to dilate past a 2. Around 6 I went ahead and got my epidural going, I was planning on getting one so I figured why wait.
We had a really sweet nurse when the night started and then we got a new nurse at 5 and she was absolutely wonderful. She was older and originally from Scotland so she had this great accent and was so incredibly sweet, I loved her. She took really great care of all of us.
Finally, around 11/11:30 I was dilated to a 7 and Sonia (our nurse) figured my body was finally taking over and that the baby would be out around 1. Even though I was dilating and thinning out he still was dropping like he needed to so she had me start giving little pushes to help him down. It worked and the doctor was called. The doctor actually had to tell me to stop pushing because the baby was almost out and he didn't have all his gear on. Then at 1 o'clock our little man made his entrance. He was totally holding his breath which was actually a good thing because he had all sorts of stuff in his mouth that he would have otherwise inhaled. So after a few minutes of cleaning and assessment I was finally able to hold and nurse him for the first time. We knew he was going to be a good eater when he latched on right away and started to nurse. He was perfect and Trent and I were/are thrilled that he decided to come as early as he did. We've both been feeling very ready for him to join our family.
A couple hours later we were situated in our post delivery room and once we got word from the Anderson's that Kiari had woken up from her nap, Trent left to get the kids. At this point no one in our families knew that the baby had been born, it was really important to Trent that Ethan and Kiari get to meet him before we started making calls and spreading the news. Ethan was all smiles and kept asking if he could hold the baby. Kiari was a little sick and so we wanted her to wear a mask if she wanted to hold him. She wasn't interested in the mask but didn't seem too crushed when we said she couldn't hold the baby without it. I suppose she thought he was pretty neat but she wasn't nearly as enthralled as Ethan was at the time.
Every Sunday night we have a family conference call with Trent's family. Each sibling will take a turn giving any updates and then the parents will do the same. It was fun to hear everyone's reaction when Trent said that he was holding a brand new baby boy. Given that Enoch was just under 2 weeks early no one was expecting that kind of an update! Trent's dad kept saying, "well that was unexpected!"
Shortly after getting off of the family call Trent gathered up the kids and then headed home to get everyone to bed. The three of them came back the next day when it was time to bring me and baby Enoch home. I think it was closer to 3 o'clock on Monday that we left the hospital and it felt so great to have the 5 of us back at home together.
Hard to believe its already been nearly a week since our little man made his arrival. If he had decided to wait until the actual due date I would still be pregnant. Needless to say I'm grateful that he seemed about as anxious as we were. It has been a wonderful week in so many ways. I'm so grateful for how well Ethan and Kiari (especially Kiari) have adjusted to having a baby in the house. I knew that Ethan would do really well but I didn't quite know what to expect from Kiari. What's interesting is that her temperment almost seems better than it was before. Both the kids have been really great little helpers and they both love holding him. Kiari looooooves to kiss his head and Ethan will talk to him about all sorts of things. In fact, when Ethan first met Enoch at the hospital he was up on the bed with me and leaned in really close to tell Enoch something that was obviously pretty important. All of a sudden I hear Ethan say, "We have a Father up in heaven, His name is Heavenly Father and we have a brother, His name is Jesus." Sooooo sweet.
So all is well in the VanderSloot house here in Denver. I'm doing great. Enoch's doing great (man does this kid eat!). Big brother and sister are great. Trent's actually dealing with a really obnoxious cold but other than that is great. He's one proud papa.
Life is pretty much beautiful.
And did I mention that we have an amazing ward? We feel so incredibly blessed and very well taken care of.



Enoch (middle name here) VanderSloot
Sunday, November 7, 2010 1 pm
7lbs 10oz, 20in

False Alarm

So I totally thought last night or today would be it, that he would be here.
I headed out to the grocery store yesterday about 5/5:30 and the entire time I was there I was contracting consistently. When I came home they kept on coming, consistent contractions less than a minute long every 5-10 minutes. With Ethan I was induced and with Kiari my water broke at home so there was not second guessing or wondering. With this one it's just a waiting game.... I have no idea how or when this labor is going to decide to kick in.
So last night's contractions lasted up until midnight with a handful between 12 and 4. About 4:15 Kiari decided to wake up... que contractions... and then from 4:30 to 6 I hardly slept. From 6 to 8 however I slept beautifully.
Today I've had hardly any contractions, discomfort there's been plenty, but not so many contractions and I'm forced to once again be patient.
*sigh* the entire pregnancy up until this point seems like a blur and now it's moving at a snail's pace. This little dude is as squirmy as can be and I've gotta think that he's ready for a little bit more wiggle room OUT HERE.
What's been super cute is how excited/anxious Trent is for him to get here. In them morning when he leaves for work I'll say, "love you. Have a good day." and he'll say, "love you. Have a baby."
Even more than being done with being pregnant, I'm feeling very ready for the transition and changes that will come when this little guy decides to join us.
I'm very hopeful that I won't go the full 40 weeks but who knows.
Patience.
A virtue, right?

Babes and Bellies

For the most part of this pregnancy I've been concerned about how Kiari will respond the baby once he's here. But over the last few weeks she continues to help ease those concerns. She seems to quite fully understand that there's a baby in mommy's tummy, that he will be coming out very soon, and that he will be here to stay. Yesterday we went to see a friend of mine that recently had a baby, Kiari would look at him and then turn to me and say, "baby in mommy's tummy." And the way she responds to other babies when I'm holding them or giving them attention has changed. She used to get really fussy and want me to pick her up and put the other baby down and things like that. But lately she's pretty ok with it. I've really been trying to help prep her for the changes to come. She's really grown a lot over the past few months. She seems to have mellowed out quite a bit and isn't nearly as high maintenance/dramatic as she used to be.
Good things continue to happen here in our little family and everyone's anxious and excited for this little guy to arrive. I'm 38 weeks as of yesterday and I'm very hopeful that I don't have to wait another full 2 weeks.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Not that I have any pictures of it but Trent's office had some trick or treating available for the employees kids so we were able to spend part of the day with Trent at his office. He works with some really great people so it was fun to hang out for a bit and join them for their pot luck.
When my Mom and I took the kids to WDW back in June my Mom was so excited to buy a princess outfit for Kiari and we ended up getting her a Tinkerbell dress. Ta-da! Instant Halloween costume, makes no difference to her. For Ethan however we went through a few choices. Ultimately he decided he wanted to be Super Mario! He loves playing Mario Brothers/Mario Kart with me and Trent and got really excited when I showed him pictures from a couple years ago when we dressed him up as Mario. That time around he had no idea who Mario was but this year he knew exactly who he was! So he was really excited. And naturally he wanted Daddy to join him in being a Super Mario Brother.

Our ward had a Halloween Spooktacular party last night along with a trunk or treat and it was a lot of fun. This was the first year since we've been married that I didn't have an actual costume idea for myself so I decided last year's can of pink hairspray would suffice. And of course when Kiari saw it she wanted pink hair too. So we had a pink haired Tinkerbell.

I'm 37 weeks pregnant.... can you tell?
Trent and Ethan won the prize for best family costume.







If the bathroom door is closed and your makeup was left out and accessible you just might find something like this. After getting caught she walked around saying, "I so pretty!" My girlie girl.


This year was our first actual trunk or treating experience and I've gotta say that the kids walked away with quite the load of treats. Some of the ward members went all out decorating their trunks, it was a lot of fun to see. I love our ward.
I made sure to not let the kids have any candy when we got home so they were down for the count by about 9:30. Thank goodness. It felt like it had been a really long day. Then again.... at this point in my pregnancy just about everyday feels like a really long day. 19 days to go!!!!

I dreamed about my baby last night. There he was, all swaddled up and perfect. Eyes wide open staring up at me, the sweetest smile on his face.
I am officially beside myself.... I cannot wait to meet him.
Less than 5 weeks to go!!

late night reflections and contemplations

My kids went to bed without fuss or a fight... Trent headed to bed shortly after the kids were down... the kitchen didn't take long to tidy up and put back together... so here I am with a little me time. Some nights I find that I totally stall going to bed for no reason in particular. A few weeks ago I stumbled onto a So You Think You Can Dance routine that I absolutely fell in love with, then I found two others that were equally amazing. One of them was choreographed to a song by Sara Bareilles that I had never heard so tonight I found the full version on youtube. "Gravity." Although the lyrics aren't applicable to me I think it's absolutely beautiful both lyrically and musically. This song along with the the SYTYCD routines that I could watch over and over again.... make me ache to do things that I use to do so well, that I loved so much, things that some days I miss so badly. Of course timing has played a large part in my not being able to do those things and I can honestly say that not one part of me resents having not been able to do those things. I love my life. Our life. We're so blessed. The Lord has spoiled me in so many areas of my life, particularly when he led me to Trent. That being said, I look very much forward to our lives being at a point that allows for me to exercise some of my talents in the ways that I used to.

As of tomorrow I'll be 34 weeks pregnant. Crazy. When I first found out that I was pregnant it took me a long time to wrap my mind around the idea of #3. I was definitely pregnant, my body wasn't letting me forget that, but mentally it just blew my mind a little bit to think of 3. Lately I've had moments where I'm just so done being pregnant that I'm anxious for #3 to hurry up and be here. Tonight however, I had a bit of a "well duh" kind of moment that reminded me of the amount of change that's going to take place as soon as we bring this little guy home. I'm not worried in the least bit about Ethan. He's so excited about the baby and I know he's going to be an amazing little helper. I still worry about Kiari though. Her little world's going to be pretty well turned upside down in 6 weeks or less. We talk to her a lot about the baby and she seems to understand that there's a baby in mommy's tummy and that baby's going to come out. She loves babies, that's not the problem... it's as soon as I pick a baby up that her anxiety levels rise. Granted that's other people's babies... will she respond differently to OUR baby? I hope so.

So tonight my train of thought has changed from, "I hope I go into early labor" to "I want to take advantage of the time left with my 2, our current routine, everything." I feel ready for 3.... but I've decided that I'm ok with being pregnant for another 6 weeks or so. I do however look very much forward to reclaiming my body. :o)

Better Birthday Pics

He's 4!!!!!!

I am officially the mother of a four year old. This year's birthday has been different for a few reasons....
as part of our daily learning time at home we have calendar time. It's one of those giant desk top dry erase calendars so in addition to numbering the days I'll draw pictures on certain days to help us remember what's going on and what's coming up in the month. And of course with this month's the 22nd day had a picture of a cupcake to indicate that it was Ethan's birthday. I think he pretty well grasped the concept of his birthday last year, but nothing like this year. He's been talking about it all month and somewhat counting down the days. He knew today was all about him, it was HIS birthday, and he was now 4 years old. As a result of this he was in a bit of a rare mood all day, not in a bad way, just a little bit more wirey than usual.
Something else that made his birthday different this year was the absence of Trent. Monday afternoon we dropped Trent off at the airport, his company was sending him to LA for a week long training. So Trent came home after a half day at work to spend some time with us before he had to go. We had an early/mini birthday celebration with Ethan where Trent would be gone today and we thought it would be fun to take him out to lunch. When we asked him what he wanted for lunch he said, "chicken nuggets and fries!" so off to McDonald's we went. Ethan and Kiari had a great time playing on the indoor playground and Ethan was thrilled with his happy meal toy.
Back at home and shortly before we had to leave for the airport Ethan had a birthday present come in the mail. Trent had ordered him an ant farm. When Trent first started talking about it I was pretty skeptical.... I mean.... they're ants. But its actually been pretty cool to watch them go to work. After Trent got the little "farm" all set and put the ants inside Ethan started saying, "I have a real pet!" needless to say you can just imagine how he'll feel when we bring home a puppy one day.
Because Trent was going to be gone for a week I asked my Mom if she'd like to come spend a few days with me and the kids while he was gone and she flew in this afternoon. Ethan has been saying that he "invited Nana to come for his birthday party." pretty cute. on the way home from the airport Mom and I were ready for dinner so I gps'd directions to a restaurant that I had heard about on Food Network called Cherry Cricket... and let me tell you I think it was one of the best burgers I've had. And I'm pretty sure Ethan's hot dog was longer than his forearm. Lucky for us, just around the corner from the Cherry Cricket was a little Italian shop with some deliciously yummy gelato. After that we were pretty well stuffed so we made our way home.
I had made Ethan's cake the night before and decided that instead of going to town on it like I did last year, I would make up some frosting, let Ethan pick out some colors, and then have Ethan and Kiari decorate the cake. I got some cute videos of the two of them working on it but I've never been able to get my videos to post... and the still pictures are on my mom's camera so I'm sure I'll get them up sooner or later. When they were done with the cake we sang and had him blow out the candles, then Ethan was finally able to open the presents that Nana had brought (he was seriously one patient kid, from the time we picked up my Mom to the time he actually got to open the gifts he had waited a long time and never once whined or complained about having to wait).
So today has been a little crazy and definitely a different kind of birthday, but we were able to end it by Skyping with Trent and I think all in all Ethan had a pretty great day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN, WE LOVE YOU!!!!