Thursday, June 16, 2011

Welcome Baby Eilley!!!!

We welcomed our first baby girl, Eilley Nicole Baker, on Saturday, June 11th, 2011 at 9:43 AM. Eilley (pronounced Eye-lee) is our 3rd child but our first girl so we’ve been very excited about how the addition of a little girl will affect our little family. Wait! Actually, now we’re a family of 5. Whoa!!! That’s not so little anymore!

I had Braxton hicks contractions throughout the last half of my pregnancy. They started to get a little stronger about a week before she came and we knew that she could be coming soon. Dave’s birthday is on the 9th of June, our anniversary is the 10th of June, but Eilley didn’t want to share her special day with any other special occasion so she, thankfully, waited until the 11th so that she could keep the party going. So back to the 10th of June, our anniversary. It was that evening when my contractions started getting to be the real thing. Dave and I dropped Jesse and Benson off at Grandma Kocherhans’ house so that we could go out to dinner. Grandma and Aaron were planning on taking the boys over to the Orem Summerfest to ride some rides while we were at dinner.

It was just before and while we were at dinner, we were trying a new place, Sushi Ya, for the first time, that I started having a few contractions. We picked the boys up at the summerfest after dinner and watched them ride a few more rides and I had a few more over there. I knew it could be soon but I had had contractions for about 3 days like that with Benson so I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

When we got home that night I did feel the need to get things ready to go to the hospital just in case but went to bed and only had 3 or 4 more contractions that night. I woke up at 4 AM and was unable to get back to sleep. I was just restless and my mind was racing. I laid in bed listening to my Hypnobirthing relaxation tracks trying to get back to sleep, but I never did. I started having some more contractions at 7 AM and they were starting to get more intense but they were still far apart. 20 mins, 15 mins, back to 20, etc.

Just before 8 AM I had a couple that were 10 mins apart and decided to get up and get ready just in case. I went into the bathroom to shower but pretty much as soon as I got up my contractions started coming right on top of each other and were VERY intense! I told Dave it was time to get up and get ready. I texted my Mom to start getting ready to come over. The plan was to have her come watch the boys when we went to the hospital. After a couple contractions though I texted her again and told her to hurry over ASAP!!! I knew I’d better forget the shower and just get some clothes on and go but I was so nauseous I didn’t dare leave the bathroom. Also, I couldn’t do anything but lay there while I was having contractions and I only had a few seconds between contractions.

I was lying on the bathroom floor trying to get through contractions when I opened the door to tell Dave that we needed to hustle. I will never forget his reaction! He commented that he needed to text a lady in our ward about subbing for him at primary music tomorrow. Ya, Dave’s the new primary chorister in our ward and it’s a calling that he has taken very seriously and that has added a great amount of stress and anxiety in his life. But still….I’m lying there thinking, “You have got to be kidding me!!! This is not the time to be worrying about that!!!!” :)

It was a slow process but somehow between clinging to the body pillow on our bed through contractions and having those few seconds in between I managed to get clothes on and get out the door just as my Mom was getting there. It’s funny how I never use that body pillow but during this time it was my everything!!! I didn’t want to let it go. I hugged it all the way down the stairs, into the car, on the way to the hospital, and as Dave pushed me in the wheelchair up to labor and delivery.

Once again I managed to get into the hospital gown between contractions. When the nurse came in and checked me she told me that we needed to get right into delivery because I was at a 9 plus. They called the Doctor (Dr. Allen) and told him to hurry over. They wheeled me into the delivery room on the same bed and I basically just tried to wait for the Dr. to get there. It was hard though because I felt like I needed to push. Just before the Dr. got there they even grabbed a midwife that was there and told her to just come deliver but the Dr. got there just before she got started.

This was my first un-medicated birth (maybe my last). J I was actually wanting to go natural with Eilley and had done some hypnobirthing study to prepare myself. It’s a good thing that I was planning on no epidural because I wouldn’t have had a choice. Everything happened so fast. Dave had told the nurse that I was doing the hypnobirthing method and she kept telling me how impressed she was with how it was working for me. I really couldn’t talk and I had my eyes closed so it must of looked like I was in hypnobirthing mode but most of the time what I remember thinking is, “lady….hypnobirthing went out the window a long time ago, I’m in survival mode.”

The Dr. broke my water and it was time to push. It was weird because after he broke my water my contractions actually slowed down so I remember waiting a while between contractions and I wanted them to come faster so that I could push. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting the pushing to be the most painful part, but it was. There was a moment while I was pushing that I started thinking, “Wait!…No! Go back in! I don’t want to do this anymore!” Basically after 3 contractions and about 10 or 15 mins she was here!!

I’m sad to admit that when she arrived and they put her up on my chest I kind of didn’t want her yet. I was still in pain and out of it and didn’t realize what was going on. Ya, that makes me sad and for that reason I might not be up for another un-medicated birth again. I really enjoyed that moment so much with Jesse and Benson. Dave was very emotional when she arrived. He said that you could just sense the veil being very thin at that moment. Again, I was sad that I was too out of it to recognize that, But it didn’t take too long before I came to and was excited to be cuddling our new, beautiful, tiny daughter. She really was a girl….that was one of the first things I checked. :) Eilley was 6 lbs 14 oz and 18.5 inches. Our biggest and shortest baby so far. We’re anxious to get to know this sweet little girl as we go from here.

Her brothers already are in love with her! It’s going to be “fun” protecting her from Benson’s love. It was very fulfilling as a parent to watch Jesse interact with her for the first time. He just had this maturity about him as he realized that he was her big brother and was going to need to help and protect her. He was very conscientious and sweet, and gentle with her.


We’re so grateful to our Heavenly Father for giving us this opportunity to be Eilley’s parents and helping her come to our family safely and in good health.









Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Fireman’s Breakfast

The PG fire department does a fundraiser by putting serving breakfast while displaying their cool fire trucks and ambulances. I’d never heard of this before this year but it was really fun!! Especially for the boys. What little boy doesn’t love a firetruck??




I Made a Quilt!!!!

That’s right. I Rachel Nicole Kocherhans Baker who is soooooooo not good at this sort of stuff made a quilt. NO!! I’m not kidding!! Well it was just a little baby quilt, but still…. I quilted!! It really ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be. I really can’t give myself too much credit. I owe a big thanks to my beautiful and talented friend Brittany Slesk for guiding me every step of the way. Brittany is the nicest person you’ll ever meet and she’s an incredible seamstress! She had faith that I could do this and somehow it happened. It’s been fun getting ready for a baby girl!! :)




Jesse’s Dance Concert


This was a really good day for Jesse! He did such a great job on his dance. Especially considering the rehearsal earlier that week when he totally shut down and wouldn’t participate. It made me really nervous for what was going to happen at his concert. His bedtime stories after that failed rehearsal and prior to his concert consisted of 2 contrasting stories: a little boy named Jesse who didn’t pull through for his class and teacher who ended up making himself and others feel sad, and the little boy named Jesse who tried his best at his concert, made everyone happy and proud of him, and got to go out for ice cream afterwards. The brainwashing worked because he participated and did his very best at his performance. It was also my birthday that day and that was about the best birthday gift he could have given me!!

Here's his little dance his class did for the concert. Sorry, I have no idea how to turn it the right way
(unless you're watching on your phone)so if you care to watch, you'll have to tilt your head sideways.


This is Jesse with his teacher Ms. Miriam. The awesome thing about this is that Miriam was my teacher when I was 5 …oh some 23 years ago. Crazy huh!!! Miriam is one of the many reasons I love BYU children’s creative dance. Do I want Jesse to be a dancer? No! I’d actually prefer he not be a dancer, (although I definitely wouldn’t mind if some of that dance experience gave him a leg up with his basketball skills someday J), but I love the things that they learn in this program and wanted Jesse to take part. I figured it was an education that would do him more good than an extra year of pre-school this year….and it was! Jesse loved going to dance every week and he loved his teacher!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Jesse and Benson – May 2011

I took these pictures of the boys so we could have some to give to their grandma’s for mother’s day. I thought this would be a good opportunity to give the latest on these two little guys.

Jesse

Singing – Jesse loves, loves, loves to sing!!! He is obsessed with the song “Baby” by Justin Bieber and sings it very passionately. He’s also known for out-singing the whole primary. They’re learning “Praise to the Man” and he especially loves and is especially loud on that one. I’ve had to talk to him about using his beautiful singing voice instead of his loud voice. I’m still trying to feel this one out because I definitely don’t want to do anything that will make him feel embarrassed about his singing, but I also don’t want him singing so loud that he drowns out the primary. Jesse is also pretty good at taking a song and making up his own words to it. That’s something he gets from me so if you’re ever over you might pathetically get to witness Jesse and I having a conversation in song. I know…werid.


Favorite shows – Dave and I signed up for Netflix so now we have an endless amount of kids shows for Jesse to watch. He’s kind of taken to the super hero shows though like the animated Spiderman and Ironman. Another show that Jesse loves is Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the Disney Channel.

Pastimes – Jesse loves to be outside playing with friends. He loves to ride bikes around our little park. He loves to do both foot and bike races although he’s overly competitive which can cause melt downs when he doesn’t win. Right now he’s really into baseball and he’s pretty good at making contact with the ball. He doesn’t exactly have the best form on his swing but don’t try to tell him that.

Funny man – Jesse lives to entertain!!! He loves making people laugh! He knows how to cater to his audience, whether they be Benson or friends his age or adults, and will change it up depending on what’s funny to them. If he does something that makes Dave and I laugh he’ll usually get so excited and do it over and over again until we have to get serious and tell him to knock it off. Lately he’s been into making silly faces whenever we try to take his picture. Ya…that doesn’t get old.

Obsessions - Jesse has an obsessive little personality. When he finds something he likes he wants to just do that one things and is happy doing it over and over and over again for hours on end. His obsession right now is Easter egg hunts. That’s what he always wants to play. He also always wants to play computer games or games on Dad’s phone but he only gets to play those as a reward for going poop in the potty.

Loves to Learn – Jesse has been working on reading and spelling 3 letter words. He really loves working on these and finding words that rhyme. He’s also started showing interest in numbers and adding them together. Jesse loves learning new songs. Every once in a while I’ll sing a new song for him and if he likes it he’ll constantly ask me to keep singing it until he’s got it down.

Brothers – I don’t really get these two sometimes. They can be the best of friends and play so well together, and they can annoy and hurt each other as all get out. Sometimes Jesse is so patient with Benson and sometimes he has no patience at all. Often I’ll catch Jesse giving Bence a quick hug and kiss and other times I’ll catch him trying to push him down or trip or kick Bence for what seems to be that he wants to make him cry just for fun. Benson doesn’t take everything lying down either. He screams and tattles and hits back. Despite how mean they can be to each other, for some reason they still love each other. Jesse will always come give Bence a big hug and kiss when he wakes up from his nap…just of his own choosing and he’ll give Benson compliments and how big he’s getting, how fast he is, how well he ate his meal, etc. If Jesse’s not there when I get Benson up from his nap that’s usually the first thing he asks about. “Yay Yay??” That’s what he calls Jesse. It will probably be a lot the same as they get older I would expect. I’m hoping for a little more love than hate.

Benson

Singing – There is just lots of singing constantly going on at hour house. Benson also loves to sing. Mostly that same Justin Bieber song that Jesse likes to sing too. Bence is constantly singing that and gets very serious about it. He also always asks to listen to that when we’re driving in the car. “Mahm….Baybay….Pweese!!” He gets pretty upset if he can’t listen to it. He also just go around in his own little world singing his own syllables to songs like Bingo, Jingle Bells, Do a Deer, and Praise to the Man. It’s funny to hear what he picks up on from Jesse. Some of his favorite words are “Doo bee doo bee doo.”


Huh? – If you say anything to Benson be prepared for him to ask you “huh?” about 20 times.

Hide and seek – You just have to watch the video to get this one. It’s just funny. Our little Bence is quite the character.


Pastimes – Benson loves playing with cars and will make the car sounds as he plays with them. He loves scooting around on his little bike outside. He loves trying to shoot baskets in our little toy hoop. He loves throwing balls and playing catch. Well at least he likes you to try to catch his throws. He’s always hearing when cars and trucks are driving in and out outside or when airplanes are flying over and always wants to go see.

Talking – I’m not so sure that Benson is that great at talking but he’s definitely good at communicating. His words aren’t pronounced very clearly but at least he tries to use words. Here are a few examples of Benson translation: Yayay = Jesse, Beebee = binky, his soffie blankie, or a baby, gwuck = truck, dwee = treat or drink, kukay = pancake or cake, cahcar = car, owhaee = outside, wahwon = another one,

Binky and Blankies – This little guy loves his little comforts. He still takes a binky to bed and will usually find a way to get one during the day although we’d like him to only have it at bedtime. He also has a little blankie with a rhino on it and a bigger blue blankie. He would prefer to go through life with all 3 items attached to him at all times, but does just fine without them too. Except for night time. They’re all kind of a necessity for bed.

Nursery – Benson started out his nursery career like a champ. They let us bring him in a few times a little early due to both Dave and I subbing or what not during church and he did great. However, when he turned 18 mos all the sudden he didn’t want to go to nursery anymore. He’s doing better now but still gets really sad when we drop him off.

Likes to be silly – I don’t know what it is about our boys but Benson also thrives on being entertaining. He likes to make you laugh. I’m sure he’s just trying to be like his big brother.

Throws stuff off our balcony – One of his latest things that I have to watch out for is Benson throwing stuff off our balcony. I was out there cutting Jesse’s hair once and Benson was going out and in. I finally realized (3 shoes later) that he’d been going in, getting a shoe, coming out, and throwing it off our 3rd story balcony. Watch out below!!

Never could get enough treats – Benson is extremely passionate and intense about his treats. That’s a request he is constantly making and he goes from asking calmly to screaming for them if he doesn’t get one if about 5 seconds. Patience is not one of his top attributes.