What do you think...

So, I know to really do this well I need a picture of Jon as a baby but I only had this one on hand...Paisley definitely has more hair than me, and much darker at that. We're thinking she may have my nose and lips but other than that, she is ALL Jon...and so cute. What do you think?

Sleeping through the night...?

Soo...Paisley slept through the night last night and I'm not really sure what to do.  I'm nearly positive it was a fluke accident because she's been in a weird funk the last couple of days, but I'm just still in shock.  I went to bed at 10:30 and woke up at 6:00 to her saying good morning.  She even fell back asleep when I fed her after that until 8:00!  weird.  I worry about her sleeping through the night because it's supposed to up the risk of SIDS, but at the same time, I certainly don't want to discourage it.  Like I said, I don't know what to say about the whole thing.  It was nice to get some sleep, but its really not that bad getting up for 10 min to feed her every couple hours either.  As far as the weird funk goes, she was up the entire day on Wednesday, no naps, no nothing with her Daddy.  I was at a district meeting in Vegas all day and didn't get back until late and she was still up!  She slept and ate normally that night and then was sad and fussy almost all day yesterday, but took her naps like normal.  I think she may have eaten one more time though, and was up a bit later that usual, but other than the added fussiness I don't feel like she had a huge reason to make it through the night.  I'm overanalyzing.  I'm worried something is wrong with her or she's sick.  I hope not.  She's still stuffy, and I'm just worried that it finally moved into her ears and thats why she's fussier.  I hope not-ear infections are the worst.  Anyway, work is bittersweet.  I have the funnest job in the world, and I love it, but it sure is hard to leave my baby.  Our district meeting in Vegas was so cool because I got to meet a whole bunch of other store managers and learn a lot from them.  The business end of retail is a lot to learn!  Oh, and to answer all of your questions-yes I am still breast-feeding.  I am going to breast-feed as long as I possibly can.  The first question anyone asks me is "Are you still breast-feeding?"  Yes.  I pump all day at work and switch off with Jon.  Why everyone is so concerned about how I feed my baby kills me.  It's hard, but its free and much better for my baby and I'm going to do whatever I can to make it continue to work!  so there.  So yes, Paisley is doing good and getting big WAY too fast and we love her so much.  The only way I can really compare is having her and being away from her is like that first crush in Junior High.  They are all you can think about, talk about, blog about, dream about, and you just yearn to be with them and hold their hand...

Baked Apples.

So I bought a bunch of delicious Utah grown apples a while ago and I have been craving baked apples.  I got really brave and decided to make up my own recipe so here it is:

April's Made up Baked Apple Recipe

3 Tbsp Butter

1/4 C Brown Sugar

1/4 C White Sugar

1/4 C Oatmeal

Generous Sprinkling of Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Lemon Juice

1 C Target's Cranberry Trail Mix (Dried Cranberries, White Chocolate Chips, Pecans and Almonds), chopped

4 Apples

Pre-heat oven to 375°.  Core Apples.  Spray 8x8 pan with no-stick spray.  Mush butter, sugars and oatmeal with fork.  Add spices, vanilla, and lemon juice, mush and add trail mix.  Generously stuff apples and then dump remaining over apples and in pan.  Add 1/2 cup water to bottom of pan as well and bake for 45-55 min at 375°.  Apples are done when tender and fork easily slides through, but not mushy.  Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream or Homemade Whipped Cream.

Disclaimer:  I think these measurements are correct but I can't be sure...I just threw stuff in.  Good luck!

A new sling...

It's official, I love slings.  I really do.  A friend of ours gave me this new one today and it has been so much fun!  It's really cool, and it goes out or towards or cradle position.  Paisley is really liking facing out right now-she's like her mama.  My mom couldn't get me to face in...

Our Blessing

I'm the only one paying attention to the camera...

For some reason I like the ones where we're looking at the other camera.  Thank you to everyone that came!  It was so fun to see so much family and such a neat thing to bless our little girl.  Jon is just glad it's over and that she is blessed-it was a lot of pressure on him.  We love you all!

I got the Job!

It's official...I will be taking over as Co-manager at Bath & Body Works here in St George and I start on Monday.  Jon will be taking over as a stay at home dad, which he has been doing really well so far.  I am sad to be leaving my little munch-kin, but excited to be able to pay our bills.  And if I have to work at least I get to do something I love.  In other news, a very long six weeks ended on Thursday when I had my six week check up.  I won't go into details, but we're glad that's past.  And Paisley will be 7 weeks old on Monday!  I can't believe it!  It is so weird because I can't remember life without her, but at the same time I've completely forgotten being pregnant-it's like it never happened.  I had a small flashback seeing my friends belly yesterday-her stretch marks are starting to burn and she has a rash and I hurt for her when I saw it.  I don't miss that last month at all-it was long and rough.  Paisley has started to smile!  It has been so fun to see what we can do to get her to smile.  She smiled at Jon first of course, but I'm catching up-I almost got her to laugh kind of.  At least that's what I'd like to think.  We still spend lots of time doing chores with her sling...we'll work on getting a decent picture...

Baby Blessing

We will be blessing Paisley on Oct 11 at 1:00 pm here in St George for anyone that wants to come!  We would love to have everyone there!

Sneak Peek...

Here is a sneak peek of Paisley's pictures...I chose this one because it has a dialogue with it.  It goes something like this:

"Oh, did you want me to be asleep for this picture?  Would that be more convenient for you?  Well, then of course I'm going to be wide, wide awake..."

A drink of blue...

So I went ahead and put this in my car yesterday and just let it play and oh, it is so delicious...I love weezer.  And with the blue album there is no skipping around and listening only to favorites-they are all favorites.  I love it.  In other news, being a Mom is hard.  Yep, surprise.  They all tell you this over and over, but it really is.  Things have gotten better the last 2 nights, but last weekend up until then was rough.  Paisley has been sick and Saturday night I got really sick too.  She's super congested and it is terrifying to hear her gag and cough and be congested all night.  Needless to say I was up with her non stop for a couple nights in a row and it was really tough.  It is really hard to lose that much sleep-you really do turn into a zombie.  I actually had the thought as I was wondering around Wal-mart to get nasal spray "Are all these people real?  Am I dreaming or am I really here?"  Probably shouldn't have been allowed to drive...but she's feeling better and I'm learning what to do and what not to do in the middle of the night to keep her sleeping.  Hopefully it continues to work...

Game On!

Oooh, April has a photography business, well look at these pictures that I took, I win.

Some Pictures...

Today Paisley and I got our chores done while she was in her sling.  We're both deciding whether or not we like it.  She was actually pretty happy up until I started flashing her with the camera...
You'll notice that they have almost the same facial expression-Jon's is just covered with his beard and hat and glasses...
One of the best pictures taken of Jon in a long time-he is usually frowning...
I got to see my brother this last weekend.  He has been gone for the last 2 years on a mission to New Zealand and we're glad to have him back.
Grandma Clark and Baby Paisley...
She looks like she is actually smiling!
She likes to sleep on her tummy, which of course freaks me out so I let her do it sometimes during the day when I can watch her continue to breathe...
And she doesn't much like having bows or flowers on her head, but she sure does look cute!

I have to brag...

I have to brag just a little bit...just a little bit.  I weighed myself yesterday and I am now down to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Yep.  And Paisley will be 2 weeks old tomorrow.  Now, it really isn't fair because I still look like a deflated balloon and I was overweight to begin with, but it was quite a shock to see the number on the scale.  Breast-feeding is awesome for burning calories, I will tell you that.  I'm done bragging, I just had to record this for posterity because normally losing weight is a very painful uphill battle for me, so this has been so cool.  In other news, Paisley is doing awesome.  She has been kind enough to give me a 4 hour break from feeding each night, so I at least get a slightly longer nap.  Normally she's every 3 hours or so, sometimes every 2, so 4 is wonderful.   This last week has been a difficult transition for me.  Monday was a huge shock because I was officially left alone-no Mom, no Jon here at home with me and it was really hard.  I freaked out.  And Tuesday was really hard.  Wednesday I headed over to a friends for the day and just camped on her couch.  It was wonderful.  I needed adult interaction and someone to tell me it was going to be ok.  I don't know how so many moms before me have survived without books and the internet to consult every time she makes a weird noise or freaks out.  I had no idea I would be so obsessed with checking to see if she is breathing every moment of every day.  As I was walking around the store I had to look at all the other children and reassure myself-they are all alive, and most likely, Paisley is going to live as well and be totally fine.  But everyday has gotten a little easier, I've gotten a little more confident, and my body is adjusting to the sleep schedule.  I am no longer afraid of the dark-the more tired you are, the more that goes away.  My mind used to instantly wander to scary things in the middle of the night and it just doesn't anymore.  If it does, I'm too tired to worry about them, so it's not as bad.    It worries me because I can already feel myself forgetting...it really does happen.  Details from Paisley's birthday are slowly starting to fade and I'm sure it just gets worse-I just want to hold on to her in this moment when she is my snuggly little newborn and I know it's going to be gone so fast.  Time is already starting to speed up... and it scares me.

My sweet baby girl...

I cannot believe it was a week ago today that I was in labor...it has gone so fast.  I know that Jon wrote the run down of what happened, but for journaling sake I thought I would add some.  Childbirth is painful.  There really isn't any way around it.  For the most part I was able to keep it together while I was in the shower on my ball, but the minute that they needed me to get out and monitor me I would lose it.  I got the privilege of seeing how much strength Jon really has-he kept me together when I wasn't in the shower and made the last stretch before the epidural possible.  The worst was wanting to cry so badly because of the pain and not being able to-I would try and sob and I just couldn't.  It was hard to watch Jon do everything he could not to cry also.  When she checked me and said I was at a 6 I said good, let's do the epidural.  I had a goal of going natural, but mostly just wanted to see how I could handle everything.  The childbirth education classes that we downloaded recommended trying to put off pain meds until at at least a 5 so making it to a 6 was good enough for me.  I'm so glad I got an epidural.  I went from a 6 to a 9 in an hour-which could have been because of the pain relief, but either way I don't know that I wanted to feel that.  That was really my conclusion about the whole thing as well-I kept asking myself if I could do this and the answer was mostly yes, but really did I want to do this without pain relief?  That's what made the decision for me.  I didn't want to.  It hurt a lot.  Anyway my only complaint about getting the epidural is that I feel like I was emotionally numb as well as physically.  It really could be the shock of everything that was going on but after she came everyone was really emotional and teary-eyed and I didn't feel a lot.  I mostly just wanted to sleep.  It was so wonderful having her laid on my chest immediately after she was born-she didn't cry and settled herself right in, safe and happy as can be.  Jon cut the cord-he wasn't sure that he could but he did and he said it wasn't so bad.  I also feel very lucky because Paisley got the hang of nursing down fairly quickly.  We have our struggles sometimes now, but those first few days she did really well.  The hospital was wonderful to us.  My nurse through delivery was amazing and very supportive of what I wanted to do.  I feel so blessed to have had everything go so well and to see that Paisley is so healthy.  I have turned into everything I promised I wouldn't.  I don't want to put her down, I have a hard time being in another room, and I wake up every 5 minutes because I'm not sure if she's breathing.  Jon and I went to target the day after we came home to grab a couple things and we left her with my mom...the entire time we were there I was on the verge of tears-every squeak and cry we heard sent me looking for her.  Jon is beginning to believe I'm a crazy person.  I am.  I have a feeling this journey is only going to get more exhausting...but we sure do love her.

It's a girl! (duh...)

So here's the story...

Sunday night April was having random contractions and wasn't feeling great, and went to bed. She woke up several times during the night. She woke up at three having pretty strong contractions, she had a bowl of cereal at 4am, and went back to bed. At 4:55am after a cork popping, April jumped jumped right out of bed and stood there as her water gushed onto the carpet. I was awake for this and witnessed the whole event. Got our stuff together and went to the hospital around six. Went right from triage to our room because her water was definitely broken. With a goal of going natural, she used getting in and out of the shower and her yoga ball to make it to a six, but decided that it was time for an epidural (I was also ready for her to get an epidural). Within an hour of the epidural April progressed to a nine, and at noon began pushing. I was holding her left leg and could see the top of Paisley's hairy head. April pushed so well that the nurse had to stop her (with the top of Paisley's head sticking out) so our child wouldn't be born before the doctor got there. He showed up, and with very little effort, Paisley popped out at 1:09pm August 17th. She weighed 7lbs 10oz, and was 20 inches long. She and April are both doing great. Paisley has been nursing well, and is a very calm and snuggly baby (which is awesome - because she will be replacing the cat which is neither of those things for me). We are accepting visitors with gifts, hours are from 8 to 8. We will be gone tomorrow, so hurry!

Paisley Mae Davis (about three minutes old)

The weigh-in...

Daddy and Paisley Cakes...

Sleepy Paisley...

Paisley mid squeak

Paisley has Daddy's furrowed brows...

Sleepy sleepy Paisley...

A few announcements...

• I am still pregnant.
• Today is my due date.
• Aubree (who was due after me) had her baby yesterday and I cried in jealousy.
• Jon would not let me go on any of the carnival rides at the Fair yesterday because of my "condition."
• I'm tired of having a "condition"
• People look at me funny when I tell them that I would like to be in the hospital anytime in the near future.
• And even with my condition, I managed to be in the parade this morning with the halloween store-pink wig and all.

I will post again when things are looking a bit brighter...