Coming back up for air after 6 weeks!

Awe! Little Liza Smiling!
Kaite and Liza with their matching sheep blankets a friend gave them

She looks so big to me!!! I Can't stand it.


I have a picture of Kaitlyn doing this exact same face-go figure!

Holloween was obviously a HUGE production (note the sarcasm). Notice how Kaitlyn has bunny ears on her hat, I had to slip them on with out her knowing because she REFUSED to wear her costume. I on the other hand was glad to sport my favorite wig because when you haven't showered, this look is quite a nice change. :)

Hello All, I am back among the living... atleast the majority of the time, woo hoo! Week 3 was the low point for me, lots of crying and very little accomplished, but then I learned to embrace my lack of productivity and now we all in a much healthier place. It also helps that both girls aren't sick anymore. Since Liza's been born we've gone to the doctor 8 times. Yuck! We've been doctor free for a couple weeks now so I'm back to my HAPPY PLACE!

O.K. here's my best story TO DATE:

After visiting the DR. 3 times for Liza's mysterious diaper rash problem, we were told a treatment to try. this was NO ordinary diaper rash. It was much closer to a 2nd degree burn, like I'd dipped Liza's tush in a pot of boiling water. I had been given 2 diferent diagnosis, done the treatment for both and after 2 weeks was back into the dr's office to ask what next. The poor kid would bleed when I changed her diaper, wipes were too harsh and she would just shake and cry! (This was probably the biggest contributer to the 3 week meltdown.) So, a nurse had told me it DEFINATLY sounded like a yeast infection that was being passed back and forth between us when I fed her-even though I had no symptoms and Liza had no oral symptoms. Gentian Violet was the treatment recommendation. This stuff is a dark purple/blue solution that dye's EVERYTHING it touches. I was desparate and would try anything. I put it on myself and when Liza eats, she gets it in her system as well and it kills all yeast. Sounds like a good plan. So I strip down and strip Liza down and put towels around me to catch any spit-up. I was only going to put a little on but Zach wanted his moneys worth and said not to be stingy... great plan Zach. We quickly realized the flaw in our plan... The 1st law of parenting: it is absolutely impossible to keep a baby from getting messy when you want them to stay clean. In the process of latching on, Liza successfully rubbed the violet dye ALL over her face. REMEMBER: IT DOESN'T COME OFF. After she got on, things went better until Kaitlyn strolled into the room. She doesn't pay too much attention to Liza, but thinks the milk thing is pretty cool and likes to comment on it when Liza's eating. With this in mind, she stolls over to give me her play-by-play commentary about how Liza's drinking milk-not noticing the blue part yet. At that moment, Liza chokes and pulls off to cough exposing her blue face. Kaitlyn looks at Liza, then looks at me and... starts to dry heave. I wasn't ready for her reaction and started to laugh but was still trying to get her to STOP so she didn't puke all over. Luckily Zach was close and removed her from the scene. I was still laughing while she left thinking about what must be going through her head. A few minutes later, I was burping Liza and Kaitlyn wandered back into the room cautiously. She stopped at the door and I was explaining that it was blue medicine and this was good for Liza. Kaite looked like she processed it well and was "keeping it down" fine. Then without notice, Liza spit up tons of milk... BLUE MILK. Poor Kaitlyn was glued to her spot in the doorway staring with wide eyes when the dry heaving started again. This time I didn't have anyone around to get Kaitlyn to leave and it was like she couldn't take her eyes off what was making her so sick. I couldn't get up bacause I was covered in spit up and worse then that, I was laughing so hard I couldn't call loud enough to get help. I finally composed myself to tell Kaite to turn around and leave which she thankfully did. My 2 year old dry heaving was just too funny. To this day, 3 weeks later, she still comes over everytime I feel Liza to shake her finger and say "No more blue", still traumatized by the experience. FYI: in the end, there was no yeast infection afterall. Liza, can't tolerate desitin diaper ointment, which I was ofcourse smothering all over her. After I stopped the desitin, she healed right up. Yikes! But, as a reminder of our experience had a blue mouth for 5 days. :)

Liza's 2 weeks old

Well, 2 weeks later, we are all still surviving. My mother-in-law just left us this morning and I haven't found out yet if we'll make it on our own because sesame street has been on the whole time. :) We'll see! The last 2 weeks haven't been without adventure. We've already endured really bad yeast infections on both girls and Kaitlyn was diagnosed with hand/foot/mouth yesterday. FANTASTIC. Lots of hand washing and hopefully Liza won't have to get it too. I still promise that I'll add the labor and delivery experience when I get a chance for your entertainment and enjoyment. But for now the peace has left us and I should help these girls.

picking a pumkin last week

Elizabeth Ivie Williams has Arrived!!!

Liza came Sunday Night, October 5th at 11:42 pm after 7 hours of labor. That is a 17 hour improvement over Kaitlyn's delivery!!! HURRAY! There is another whole blog regarding my delivery experience but I don't have tons of time, so we're skipping details for now.

WEIGHT: 6 lb 14 oz, LENGTH: 18 in. She has been so sweet and it feels like she's been around for so much more than 1 week. She can wake the dead with her crying when she wants to but it actually just cracks me up because Kaitlyn was very quiet. Kaitlyn looks so much like Zach and suprise, surprise I looked a lot like this when I was born. Brown hair and all. She's a Bentley! Here's some pics.

Home for 2 days and she looks so old already!!!
Dad is VERY proud
Kaitlyn's first time seeing Liza at the hospital... "I'm not so sure Mom"
This is right after Kaityn kissed her on the head... So cute!
What she looks like RIGHT NOW, let's hope it sticks long enough for a shower. Love you all and I'll do more later!

Hey! Where's the Baby???

What do you do when your Due Date arrives and there is no baby to speak of??? By all means, GET A NEW HAIR CUT I SAY! This could be a risky move, to be sure, in case the cut goes south but I really like it and let's be honest, I was so far gone anything is an improvement. So for your viewing enjoyment, here are some post-cut photos.

"Mom, what are you doing?"
The ackward side shot. similar in nature to the extremely ackward passport photo.
"I want to be in the pictures!!!"
I've noticed that almost all of my pictures show my baby belly covered up completely, so here you go! And YES, my daughter is in a belly shirt, a diaper, and boots. CLASSIC! I won't deny it, she looked like this for atleast 2 hours and we both enjoyed it.

Also: I've been anxiously awaiting what would happen when my baby timer on the side hit "0 days till baby comes" to see what it would do and to my horror, it's adding on more time. That little glitch could really be improved. :) Can't complain though, I feel fine and let's just remind ourselves that I'm not sleep deprived or heavily medicated yet so that's a bonus. :)

My 40 Week Prego Party

Last weeks theme was having a good time every day. We did some really fun things and I can honestly say I totally enjoyed it. Here's a glimspe at some of our activities.

Zach and Kaite at the beach for our final summer bash. This was the first time Kaite was really good at playing in the sand!
There is no stopping Kaitlyn when it comes to the water. She would walk right in and drown without blinking an eye, smiling the whole time. It's a little tricky to keep an eye on her but it's so much fun to watch her play and be so happy.
We hit the playground a few times which always brings sure happiness. The weather has been so nice all week it was a huge boost.
Kaite just cracks me up and I can't help but put her hair in little piggy's.
Don't worry, I only tried this manuver 1 time before realizing it was a poor choice at 40 weeks. Smiling at the top, wide eyed at the bottom!

On Saturday we went to an apple picking farm and had such a great time. The apples were low enough for Kaitlyn to pick herself. We forgot the camera but will go back in a couple weeks (maybe not me) to pick pumpkins as well. Now I've got a basket of apples to keep me occupied for the next few days. The only downer of the apple experience is that I sustained a back injury from pushing Kaitlyn in the stroller that had me in complete pain for 2 days with muscle cramps and spasms. Not a good thing when you are going into labor soon! I am so grateful that I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints because Zach was able to give me a Priesthood blessing and I've been sore but fine ever since and I know it's a small but profound miracle for me right now. I'm grateful for the ways the Lord blesses me and I see his hand in my life. The gospel is the foundation of our home and our marriage and it's the most important thing we have to treasure and to share. I'm planning on just being really grateful this week. I'll let you know how it pans out! :)

Our 1st Canadian Summer

Thoughts at 39 weeks Prego

I have had a change of heart... thanks to all the advise from you great friends and realizing my window is closing for 1 on 1 time with Kaite. I am going to enjoy every day before Liza comes along. THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, we are naming her Elizabeth Ivey Williams and calling her Liza. That's the final plan and I'm 99.9% sure it's sticking but if you see a post announcing her birth and her name is Fredricka, well-that would be the .01% that I can't control. :) Plus, added insurance is that Kaitlyn can say Liza so it's too darn cute to pass up.
I am also practicing hypnobirthing techniques to prepare me for relaxing through labor, and it REALLY helps. It mostly just makes me feel empowered to help myself when I go into labor. With Kaitlyn I had no way to help myself relax through any of it and had such a hard time! (that was just relaxing to a 3 so I could get an epidural!!!) Yeah, I'm excited to have a MUCH better experience and I totally recommend reading the hypnobirthing material if you plan to go natural or not because it's a great resource.
So I've been on this energy high for the last 3 weeks or so, buzzing around the house organizing every closet, making meals for myself, and generally just NESTING like crazy. Yesterday it all came to an abrupt halt and I felt like Forest Gump when he decides he's finally done running across the country and that he's tired. It just seemed to dawn on me that I was tired and wanted a nap. PREGNANCY can be STRANGE. We're just happy to be here and excited to tell everyone about Liza when she shows up. Thanks for the great advice and PLEASE keep it coming. Everyone has advice to share, even if you don't have kids yet.
OH-I ALMOST FORGOT: My advise to all of YOU! It is imperative that you get a spa treatment when you are 39 weeks prego! I was in HEAVEN. A manicure and a pedicure was JUST what the dr. ordered!!! Bless the Vietnamese and their fast fingers.