Other Stuff Going On

 So as if having a baby isn't enough, we have been making grand progress on our yard these last few weeks as well. We were really booking it (and by "we", I really mean Robert) bringing in over 25 dump truck loads of dirt, scraping off the top layers of almost entirely rock, smoothing out the brought in dirt, etc. Then we hit a wall: we have to have a sidewalk or the county can revoke our occupancy permit and even take our house.

 But we are so grateful to have been told this BEFORE we put in sprinklers and grass. And, the person who informed us of this has been awesome at helping us know what to do and even donated his time and two dump truck loads of gravel to help us get the ground prepped for the sidewalk and driveway. Then he pulled his weight with the concrete company to get them to come do the work right away instead of making us wait the three to four weeks they had told us.

 So these are a few pictures of the progression.

And right now we are waiting for the concrete to finishing curing (2 more days and I can park in the garage again!!) and then it's back to work pushing around dirt to get everything just so for the sprinklers to be pulled. Then we get to put all the heads on and bury them. Then we are ready to plant our grass. We just really hope things keep falling in to place quickly enough that we can still plant our grass and have it get a good start this year. Keeping our fingers crossed!!

Last Group of Pic's

 On Grandma and Grandpa's last day visiting we all went to a little amusement park we have here in Rigby called Squealers. There were big and little bumper boats, big and little go-karts, climbing walls, bouncy houses, and mini golf. Above is Sam seriously driving the mini go-karts. Below is a pic of Amy riding with Robert, but you can't even see her little head she was that small! :)

 Here the kids are in the little bumper boats. You had to grab two handles and row the boat yourself and both kids did awesome with this!! The pool was only a foot or two deep.

 Then later that night we went to our stake's Pioneer Day celebration where we did the dunking booth, rode the little horses and enjoyed the snow cones and cotton candy. Amy was so thrilled to finally get to ride a horsey, can you tell?

 And while we were sitting on the grass finishing our snow cones, Amy found herself some "monkey baas" (monkey bars), which is anything she can swing from going "ee-ee, oo-oo, ahh" like the little monkey that she is!

Took this pic the other day. Amy was down for a nap, so I felt it safe to let Mark have a little floor time. I left the room for a minute and he started to fuss and I came back in to find this sight. Yes, he posed for the picture, but this is exactly what he was doing to his brother to help soothe him when I came back in. I love the bond these two have already!

More Pictures

 Most adorable sight ever: how he was after finishing eating

 World's tiniest bun we did for the Smith family picnic

 Because it was 93 degrees outside, I had the ceiling fan going and Sam felt he was cold enough to need a blanket while he read. Silly kid!

 With the uncles enjoying a yummy breakfast

 With the namesakes

 Don't ask me why I didn't think to hop in this picture

 A very blurry, crappy family picture - but our first all together

 Four generations

 Those who participated in the blessing minus one uncle who had to go

Mark wearing "the blessing outfit". Made by Robert's mom for her boys with fabric left over from her wedding dress; the tradition continues as each grandson is now blessed in it, too. So Robert, Sam, and Mark have all been blessed in this!!

 Chillin' out with Grandpa

 A quart-sized Mason jar full of soda was finally a cup worthy of my big man :)

 Robert literally called this hamburger the best he has ever had!! I think a double hamburger with two thick slices of beef brisket and all the fixin's. The place? A little restaurant in Rexburg called The Hickory. They also had one of the best cobb salads I have ever tried. I think we might be going again :)

 This little guy did great at graduation

 Uncle Jake getting his diploma cover

Sporting his tie dye onesie. We made one for everybody to do family pictures in right after he came (for the 4th of July), but of course we never got around to it. Still a fun shirt!

More Pic's

 Mark had to be on the bili blanket from the Saturday after he was born until the next Thursday because his bilirubin was just too high. This is such an amazing invention and we are grateful for it that it allowed us the freedom to still be at home. It was a rectangular, flat plastic thing hooked to a hose, which plugged in to a box, which plugged in to the wall. He was supposed to be on it for 23 of the 24 hrs every day, so we were somewhat tied down. We called him our little glow worm and you can see why. It felt like we had the Northern Lights in our bedroom at night :)

 Amy loves her baby brother - so far!

 Catching a little sun at the end of the day on a pleasant evening.

 Isn't that a gorgeous sunset and wonderful view? This is from our porch.

 

 Again found the thumb when the binky was lost

 Riding the carousel in Rexburg after playing at the Splash Park with our friends

 I love little outfits!!

He rolled over!! This was when he was 12 days old; I put him on his back and found him on his tummy a little while later. Don't worry, I flipped him back to his back after taking the pic.

Life Now

Life since having Mark has been ok, but rather fast-paced and crazy. We usually can't get going before 9:00, usually more like 10:00, each morning, but we do get going and we do still go places. The kids like to go to the free lunch each day to see their friends and play at the park. I like to go so I don't have to fix and then clean up from lunch. Grandma was able to stay for a week to help out and then flew home. We had a week to ourselves to start adjusting and then everyone came up for Mark's blessing and for Uncle Jake's graduation from BYU-Idaho. Oma and Opa and the boys were able to come up for a quick visit just long enough to meet Mark and bless him and then they had to head back home. But we were so grateful they were able to come! Robert's family was able to stay a few days longer and we had fun spending time with them going to Jake's graduation, boating at the lake and then going to Squealers for the first time. Now everyone is gone again and we are trying to sort out the new normal and get back into our routines.
One thing I didn't write about when Mark was born (because there was already so much to write about) was my baby present. When Amy was born, Robert bought the bedroom set we had been wanting along with new mattresses, sheets, etc and had it all moved in and set up when I came home. This time around it was an iPhone! It is something that had sounded nice, but I hadn't really asked for because it cost so much and really was just something that would be fun to have, not something that I NEEDED. But that didn't matter to Robert. He not only got the phone, but had it all set up and had bought a case for it, too so I could use it right away. So I have been having a blast using all the cool features of the iPhone, including Siri and the sweet camera and posting things like crazy on FB. So now I will end (since Mark is ready to eat and so are the kidlets) with posting a sampling of what has appeared on FB over the last three weeks. Enjoy!!

 Mark next to our friend's baby, Allison, who is just a couple weeks older

 Found his thumb early on, but we are trying our darndest to keep him with the binky

 Going home!

 Proud big brother!

 One of the first smiles from our glow worm!

 Everyone has been tired lately

Adding a Third to the Mix

 Well, here I am finally posting about adding our next little Skousen to the family. Less than a month later is doing ok, right? Things have seriously been crazy since little guy joined us, so be patient with me and eventually I will get caught up and then keep up. Hopefully.

Little Mark Roland Skousen joined the family right on his due date, July 3, 2013 at 11:58pm. Barely not a fourth of July baby. It was quite the long haul to get him here. Now I am going to go in to detail and vent all that jazz, so for you guys and those not wanting to know all the drama, move on to the other posts I am going to (hopefully) put up today.
A little background to the story: I really wanted to try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after C-section), but because I have had two C-sections, I ran into a LOT of resistance from those around me. Thankfully I had decided to have my friend, Heidi, be my doula (she is studying to become one and has to do 3 births in order to certify, I was her first!) and she was my main supporter and "rah rah" person to keep me pushing for what I wanted. Everything went great throughout the pregnancy except I was rather hot and uncomfortable at the end, but really who isn't by that time? The last week was the hardest. I really wanted him to come just a titch early so everything could work out the way I wanted it to, but he stayed in there. Because we were trying for a VBAC, I needed to go into labor on my own, or we would induce at exactly 40 weeks because waiting any longer really increases your chances of complications. So when I went in for my appointment on the 40 week mark, I basically told my doctor that I was having my baby that day. Thankfully (and wisely) he agreed. And the hospital wasn't busy, so we were able to go right over from the dr's office to be induced - hooray!!
So we start the IV and drugs and sit back and wait. I was at 2 cm at my appointment, which was at 9:00 am. By noon/one-ish I was still only at 3 cm. They broke my water and waited for things to get going. I got to 4 cm and then stayed stuck there for seven, nearly eight hours. It was so frustrating!! And I was getting really stressed/worried that the dr would call off the VBAC. But, luck was on our side. I had a great doctor who was willing to keep going as long as the baby was doing well and as long as I was game. I had some little issues (seemed huge at the time) like my IV being in a horrible spot and hurting, I had to stay on my right side the entire time or else baby would start dropping his heart rate, I had to get a second epidural because the first came out, the catheter they placed wasn't taped in place at first, so was being tugged = lots of pain, I started throwing up after the second epidural was placed.....stuff like that. But I knew that as long as baby was behaving, I could put up with anything.
Finally I started to progress!! In an hour and a half I went from a 4 to a 6. And then an hour later I was at a 10!! This was going to happen! Also a blessing in disguise is because I had been taking so long to dilate, I had a new nurse when it actually came time to deliver and the second nurse was AMAZING!!! SO glad I had her! The doctor was called about 11:30 and we started pushing around 11:45 or so. I thought there was no way this baby was going to come before midnight, but after four pushes I was resting and the contraction pushed baby boy the rest of the way out! Mark Roland Skousen was born at 11:58pm on July 3. He was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 21 1/4 inches long. We opted to wait until the umbilical cord stopped pulsating before cutting, so the above picture is of me holding him on my chest, bonding for a few minutes before he was whisked away to be cleaned up more.
I cannot describe the amazing difference between a vaginal birth and a C-section delivery. I got to HOLD my baby immediately. After the cord was cut and him cleaned up, we were able to breastfeed right away and boy could he eat!! With Amy it was such a struggle to coax her to eat, but this guy came out hungry and knew just what to do. Even now three weeks later I am amazed at how easy and fast the process is compared to how it was with Amy!!
Because Mark came so fast, I did have to have stitches, but other than that, I felt amazing!! I did get sore nipples at first because he nursed so well. But by the time I left the hospital (first thing on Friday morning), I was barely taking Ibuprofen for the discomfort, I wouldn't even call it pain. Such a huge difference!!!
Mark is a wonderful baby and the cutest little guy! Sam has really taken a liking to his new baby brother and loves to help soothe him when he fusses and wipe his face when he spits up. It is so touching to watch the tenderness Sam can show to both his brother and his sister. There are times when I am so tired and get frustrated with Amy and Sam will come up and comfort his sister and make everything all better. It melts my heart. And Amy now recognizes any time she is holding "baby boy" as picture time :) They are both starting to really adjust well.

 Our doula, Heidi, holding Mark just after he was born.

 Mark Roland Skousen

Everyone came to visit and meet the latest model the next morning