Summer Fun

Summer has come and gone, and we have kept very busy. We are long overdue for a blogging update, so here I am playing catch-up while Mekhi naps and I feed the baby :).

Free ferris wheel and carousel rides on the last day of the Western Idaho Fair warranted a second trip for us! We met up with cousins Josiah, Ruthie and Daria, Aunt Renee and her Mother&Sister-in-law for some good old-fashioned State fair fun! Phoebe even got to accompany us for her first carousel ride! (But she wasn't allowed on the ferris wheel).





On September 3rd we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of the day we met by soaring on cloud nine in a hot air balloon! It was an amazing adventure that we can now cross off of our "things I've always wanted to do" list :

After our first attempt at a camping trip was failed by thunderstorms and hail, we managed to get one fun family camping trip in at Bruneau Dunes State Park. Renee and her kids accompanied us, as well as her sister-in-law Vicky. The kids all had fun climbing the dunes, swimming in the lake, and playing around the campground with eachother and the other kids they met.

Mekhi is getting so big... we had to go buy Boys' clothes for him as he is now officially to big for the Toddler section! He now wears 4/5 in boys' clothes. We went to the Boise Art Museum with playgroup for Toddler Wednesday, where Mekhi completed his first watercolor masterpiece :)

Phoebe is just a big bundle of joy for all of us. She loves to show off her adorable toothless smile and babble about all of her baby thoughts :) She makes all of our days brighter!

8 weeks old already!

It has been 8 weeks since our last post. 8 weeks since Phoebe Lynn joined our family! We've been spending so much time enjoying her that we haven't taken the time to blog! She is doing great, and getting big already! Her next check-up is on September 14th, and we are excited to find out just how much she has grown! At her 2-week check-up she weighed in at 9lbs 8oz and was 22-1/2" long, which put her around 95th% for both weight and height for a 2-week-old! She is a great little eater and is growing so fast! I'm pretty sure she's at least 13lbs now. She has been sleeping through the night pretty conistently for the last couple of weeks. Her personal sleeping record is from about 11pm to 6:17 am.

Big brother Mekhi is so great with his baby sister! He absolutely adores her! He loves giving her kisses, and he is such a good helper. He's a great fetcher if we need a binki or a wipe. His entire face lights up when he is around her! He has been so patient waiting for us to have time to play with him when we are in the middle of feeding or changing... which happens a lot!

Daddy got to have the first 4 weeks off of work for paternity leave, and we had lots of fun together as a family of 4! Now that Daddy is back to work Mommy is getting braver about going out with both kids. We usually go to playgroup once or twice a week, and have even gone grocery shopping without Daddy, which was a big accomplishment! :)
4 more weeks of maternity leave until Mommy goes back to work, very part-time. The minimum requirements for my position are just 16 hours per month so that I can keep my nursing skills fresh and still be a full-time mom, which is where my priority is right now! So twice a month Daddy will get to be full-time dad while I take care of other people's kids at work instead of my own :) We haven't quite figured out what shift would work out best, but at least I have lots of options since the hospital is open around the clock.
We will try to be better about updating our blog. And we'll post another one soon about some of the adventures we've been on lately! :)

Born: Phoebe Lynn Dorrell

More photos of Phoebe, mom, & family here. God has blessed us & everyone is doing quite well.

She’s 8lbs 9oz, 21 1/4 inches long, and was born at 11:50am.

Still waiting for our princess...

Just 3 days until our due date! We were convinced that we would have our baby girl by now, since I was already starting to dilate and efface 2 weeks ago... but that just goes to show that you cannot predict these things! But the good news is, it can't be long now! In fact, we scheduled an induction for Tuesday July 14th in case she decides that she doesn't want to come out on her own after all. So in 6 days we will definately have our little girl!My Mom (Grandma Shari) and my sister Valerie arrived from Portland on the 6th. They were afraid they wouldn't make it in time for Phoebe's birth, but now we are all waiting (as patiently as we can) for little miss Phoebe to make her appearance so they can actually spend some time with her before they head back on the 16th! Yesterday we did a lot of brisk walking... around the store, to the park, around the park, to TCBY... no more than a couple of contractions resulted from that... along with a sore back and feet! I guess she is not ready to be convinced to come out just yet! In the mean time we are enjoying some fun time with the family, making the best of our baby-less days :)

38-1/2 week update

As of my appointment yesterday... Phoebe has dropped a little more... to a Zero station now. For those who aren't up on the childbirth lingo: An imaginary line is drawn between the two bones in the pelvis (known as ischial spines). This is the "zero" line, and when the baby reaches this line it is considered to be in "zero station." When the baby is above this imaginary line it is in a minus station. When the baby is below, it is in a "plus" station. Stations are measured from -5 at the pelvic inlet to +4 at the pelvic outlet.
I'm a definate 2cm dilated now (instead of "almost 2" last week) and now 75% effaced. My appointment was with the nurse practitioner yesterday. She said that now that I am almost completely effaced (which is the thinning of the cerix) it could be "any day now." But I still haven't started to have any regular contractions, usually just about one an hour. But both my Dr. and NP agree that since she is low to begin with, once labor starts it shouldn't take too long. They also both have commented on how long Phoebe seems to be. My belly is definately all baby! We will know soon enough just how much! :)
Everything is going as planned, as far as blood pressure and all other risks still looking good, so we'll just see how long she wants to hang out inside before she's ready to explore the rest of the world!

First Anniversary Staycation

It's official, we are no longer newlyweds! My how this year has flown by! I guess the fact that 9 months of it was partially consumed with the pregnancy may have helped the time fly by :)

Being just days away from our due date, a weekend "away" was out of the question. Instead, we went on a "staycation," right here in Boise. It was a blast! We had so much fun spending the entire weekend with just the two of us, in a hotel downtown. We started off the weekend at Julia Davis park sitting in the shade drinking some iced tea until it was time to go get some lunch. For lunch we tried out the new Idaho Fry Company where they have any kind of french fry you could imagine, with creative dippers like blueberry ketchup!

After lunch we toured the Idaho Historical Museum. I've lived in Boise 3+ years, and Wade several more, but neither of us had been here before. We even stopped at the gift shop on the way out for an Idaho Spud candy bar, just to say we'd tried one :)

Next we headed over to the hotel (Hampton Inn & Suites) to check in. Our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we sat in the nice cool lobby for a while and got consumed by a reality show on food network :) Then we went up to the room for a little R&R before dinner. We relaxed in a whirlpool tub right in our room (A much more comfortable option than the hotel hot tub at 9 months pregnant)!

Then we headed to Happy Fish sushi and martini bar for a delicious dinner that still left room for our first trip to Boise's new Ben & Jerry's! So, with our milkshakes in hand we walked back to the hotel to assemble a belly cast. Wade did an awesome job plastering me up while I just sat there and looked pregnant :) We're looking forward to painting and decorating the piece of art to display as a memoir of my pregnancy!

Then it was feet up for the rest of the evening. My feet had had about enough walking for one day!

We slept in until almost 9 am Sunday morning, a true vacation that made it! For breakfast we walked over to Goldie's- locally famous for great breakfast and a long waiting list! After a delicious breakfast we walked over to Julia Davis Park again to start our paddle boat adventure! Good thing we got the paddling in in the am, because it turned out to be a hot day! Lunchtime, but still full from breakfast, we decided to go relax some more at the hotel. We then made our way over to Bittercreek for a yummy salad and sandwich lunch. After lunch we went up for a little feet up time. We took a little nap, then went to a movie. We saw 'Year One' with Jack Black, which we were sure would be hilarious, but were a little disappointed. It wasn't as funny as we thought it would be, and had some pretty gross parts, too! Oh well, it was still a movie, which we don't get to do very often!

After the movie it was time for our highlight date for our anniersary dinner at the Melting Pot. Our first out-to-dinner date 2-1/2 years ago was at this restaurant. :) We had the new super-yummy spinach and artichoke cheese fondue this time, along with the Signature Selection Entree for two. Yummy!

Back at the hotel we took another soak in the tub, opened a bottle of champagne that was gifted to us, and made a toast. I had a sip - yummy... and Wade did his best not to waste the rest of the bottle :)

We then tried out our specially frozen wedding cake... not too bad for being a year old, the press and seal worked pretty well, but the fondant was a little mushy. We called it a night after that, and when Monday morning rolled around we took adantage of the free breakfast in the lobby- there were even omelettes! And then made our way back home for Wade to head to work and for me to pick up our sweet 3 year old that was greatly missed!

What a blessing it is to be married to my best friend! Every moment together brings us so much joy! It is exciting that we will have the rest of our lives to spend together!

Progressing towards labor...

I had another prenatal appointment yesterday. These appointments are once a week now, since I am in my 9th month. At 37 weeks and 5 days yesterday, my doctor "checked" me for the first time, to see if I was making any progress. She said I am "almost 2cm" dilated and about 50% effaced, and that the head is really low (at a -1 station). Dr. Young predicts at least another week until I go into active labor. And because she is in a low position already, she said I should have an "easy labor." Of course "easy" isn't actually "easy," but it was still good news to hear! :) My labor with Mekhi lasted just 6 hours from start to finish, being induced with prostaglandins. I have very good memories of how everything went, and I was able to get through the labor without even needing an IV or any medications, with support and distractions from my sister Renee and dear friend, Jessica. My worry this time (up until now) was that since I'm not planning on being induced, that I would be one of those women who are in labor for 24+ hours (or 42 like one of the women in our birhting class told us)! So it was reassuring to know that things are starting to progress already, before I am even in labor. It is reassuring to know that when I do go into labor in a week or two, some of the work will already be done! It is also exciting that Wade and I will get to go through the experience together this time. He is such an amazing and supportive husband, I am really looking forward to sharing such a profound experience with him!

My mom and sister fly in from Oregon on the 6th, so they are really hoping that Phoebe waits for their arrival before making hers! Mom is really looking forward to being present for her birth... so we'll just have to see how God plays it all out! Either way, they will get to be the first family to visit and meet the new addition to our family! Mom and Valerie will be here from the 6th through the 16th, and then they'll head back home to attend a family wedding. So hopefully Phoebe does come just a few days early so that they will get to spend more time with her!

We are expecting the Dorrell side of the family a week later. James and Carrie will be arriving by airplane from Seattle on the 23rd, and the rest of the family (Jack, Barbara, Melissa and Heather) will be driving down together from Coeur d'Alene. Now that the previous guest room became the nursery, we will be getting creative with sleeping arrangements so that we can all share this special time together!

My other sister Renee and her family live here in Boise, so in her first month of life Phoebe will get to meet all 3 grandparents, 5 aunts, 2 uncles, and 3 cousins (and Grandpa Jerry will have the best view of all, I am sure, from heaven).

I turned in my preadmission form to the hospital last week, put the infant car seat in my car, packed the hospital bag and diaper bag yesterday, and our babysitters (Auntie Renee and Uncle Zach) will be home from camp in a few hours, so everything is ready... that should buy us another week, right? Now I can relax and enjoy a weekend of leisure with my husband to celebrate our first wedding anniversary! Needless to say, I will not be fitting into my wedding dress this year! But we are looking forward to enjoying our wedding cake that we saved in the freezer :)

Preparing for Phoebe

Phoebe Lynn Dorrell is due on July 11th... just over 3 weeks from now! We have been busy getting prepared, and I think it's now safe to say that if she decided to come early, we would be ready!

Wade put in a new laminate wood floor in the nursery to replace the carpet that he had torn out when he bought the house (cat damage). We found a few steals on Craig's list that helped us fill the room, and Wade painted the changing table to match the crib.

We went with a pretty girly decor this time, and I have to say, it was very fun to decorate it. I've been busy preparing meals to freeze so that we can have more time to spend together as a family, and less worry about who/how will we make dinner with the new baby requiring so much of our time. We're ready when you are Phoebe!

Early Morning Snuggles

Mekhi stayed up pretty late last night, since we were babysitting his 3 cousins in the evening, and there was way too much fun being had to enforce the usual bedtime. Usually he is in bed at 8:00pm, but last night it was close to 9:30 before he was tucked in. This morning he didn't come into our room until almost 8am, instead of his usual 6:30-7am waking time.

Most often when he wakes up he follows a routine called "pillow-time." He's been doing pillow-time for several months now, but we didn't know it had a title until he recently used that term to refer to it. A standard pillow-time morning consists of him waking up, immediately coming to our room to open the door and let Bayley (our 10 year old beagle) out of our room. Then he usually shuts the door again and gets several pillows off the couch, and usually either a blanket off of the couch, or his favorite "blue blanket" that he's had since he was an infant. He places the pillows and blanket in the little hallway by our bedroom door and since our door is closed we don't actually see what he does out there, we can hear him playing, and talking or singing until we get up. Then when we come out we see the evidence of pillow-time, which usually includes a few toys and occasionally a few kitchen utensils. He's very good at self-entertaining while we grab a few extra winks before we gather the energy to get up and join him.

This morning, however, there was no pillow-time. Mekhi came in at almost 8am, climbed up into bed next to me, and snuggled. Now that is the perfect way for a mom to start a day... with snuggles from her favorite 3 year-old :) He snuggled for a good solid 5 minutes before he very softly said "Mommy, can you get me some oatmeal?" So we got up and had some breakfast.
It's amazing what 5 minutes of snuggle time can do for my motivation to start the day! I hope that we have more snuggle time mornings in the future. Especially with little sister Phoebe due to join us so soon, the more snuggles I can get from my sweet boy, the better!

Getting Started!

Friends have told me I need to start up a blog before I get too busy with the new little one and lose my opportunity for free time :) Well, that makes sense. I'll start adding stuff now and in about a month we'll have somewhere to post all our adorable baby pictures and stories about how Mekhi is adjusting to being the big brother!