Brighton our day

Update on the newest member of the Garret family. Brighton has so far been a decent sleeper, usually 5-8hrs a night (most nights closer to 8hrs).  She has been not as fussy as we originally thought she would be (Suzy went off chocolate, which seems to have made a difference).  She's started to smile pretty regularly as well.  She still has her hair (more than can be said for her dad).  Jace is still a little sweetheart with her (sometimes too sweet as he constantly wants to hug, hold or kiss her).  Occasionally she won't cry in her car seat as well. She's gained a couple of pounds so far, and seems to be a pretty good eater.  We lover her! She was blessed today in Church as well and looked very pretty in her beautiful white dress (she borrowed Kate's).

Maternal instincts

I think this speaks for itself...

Part 2: Burping

Kate's Journal Entry

Translation:
Last Wednesday mommy had a baby. I watched mom have the baby. her name is Brighton. I love her. There was lots of blood and a lot of love. It was the best day ever.  Nothing was how I imagined it. it was cool.  She cried and cried and cried. She was very cute. Mom wears PJs all day. The PJs have holes in them *Brief Aside: They're nursing PJs*.  The baby cried a lot.

Elf on the Shelf

For those who don't know about the Elf on the Shelf, he's a little guy who watches the children during the day and at night goes back and reports on the "niceness" of the children to Santa.  The Children can't touch him or else he'll lose his magic that day.  He moves around to different places each night.

He's been a tradition in our family for 2 years (this will be the third). When Kate was 4 she named him McGiggle, and that's been his name ever since.
Elf on the Shelf Link

He just appeared this morning on a window ledge. The kids were VERY excited to see him this morning.  After breakfast I heard them talking.

Faith, "Do you think Mommy put him up there?."
Kate, "I don't think so, Mommy's always so tired, and Daddy doesn't like to get up."
Faith, "He doesn't look real, he looks like a doll."
Kate (sounding a bit exasperated at her not quite completely believing sister), "That's how he's supposed to look to children."
Faith, "I don't see him breathing. I wonder how he holds his breath that long,?"
Kate, "He probably just breathes through his nose."
Faith, "But I don't hear him?" (as she noisily breathes through her own nose to show how it sounds)
Kate, "He's probably just like the toys on Toy Story."
Faith, "Okay" (She seems pretty satisfied with that response, thank you Pixar!)
Kate (with all the sincerity and earnestness in the world in her voice) "I believe in him, I do believe. And I believe in Santa too."

Things kids say

Well that didn't plan out  "Faith"

Mom vs Dad, Faith style

So we were riding home last night from the Tingey's when we saw a bunch of Christmas lights on some houses.  Faith asked, "How come we don't have our Christmas lights up?"
Suzy replied, "I don't think we'll be doing Christmas lights this year."
Faith, "Why not?"
Me (Mike), "Because your mom just had a baby, that's why."
Faith (thinking creatively to solve this problem), "Well, How about Dad ....watches the baby while you put up the lights mommy?"

We had a good laugh about that one. Boy does she know her dad.

The Baby Story IV: The Brighton Version

Well, we were getting quite anxious.  Baby X (we hadn't decided upon a name yet) was due on Nov 9th and it was all the way on the 14th with no sign of a baby yet.   Suzy was having some light contractions, but they were somewhat regular so early Wednesday morning (about 4 am) she decided to drive to the Hospital (St. Alphonsus) and get checked out just in case. About 5 am she called to let  me know that even though she wasn't really in labor yet they decided to go ahead and induce her (she was due to be induced on Friday anyway).  She had tried to convince the Dr to induce early, but St. Al's said they wouldn't be able to fit her in, so we were happy with the result.

I took Jace and Faith to Suzy's Brother's house (Greg and Jacqui) where Jacqui and Laurie (who was staying at Paula's and drove over to help) agreed to watch the kids.  Then Kate came with me to the hospital (we got there about 11:30 am or so).  Paula was already there at this point.

She wasn't progressing very fast even though she was on pitocin. They increased the dosage 1 mL/hr or so. I remember seeing her at about 7.5 mL/hr when I arrived and up to 15 or so at the end.

Kate was great! Grandma helped a ton (as did the iPad).  Suzy got an epidural around 1:30 because that's when the  nurse anesthetist could fit her in. Apparently it was a busy day in Labor and Delivery (go Idaho's baby factory!).

A little after 5 or so I took Kate to get something to eat at the cafeteria (Kate had to tell me the way, she'd been there couple of times with Grandma already).  We had some marginal food (the fries were good, as was the fry sauce). Then we headed back down, at which point I got a phone call from my wife to HURRY UP!  Her water had finally broken (when she rolled over) and she was progressing rapidly. It was about 5:40 at this point.  The Dr arrived about 5:50 or so, got ready and then asked Suzy to push if she felt like it. After a couple of good pushes, out came the baby at 6:08 (officially).

Kate got to see the whole thing, and absolutely loved it! I'll try to post some video later.
Some highlights:
Kate's expression as she saw the hair (as the baby was crowning).  The Dr pointed out it was sort of like a grapefruit with hair on it.
Kate's expression as she saw are the fluids coming out (ewwww! gross).
Kate's reaction as the baby came out and she was the 2nd person to hold her ("This is the best day of my life" said though tears).
Dr Lovelace telling us that it was one of his favorite births because of Kate.
Kate telling us "the umbilical cord wasn't how I imagined it".

Her journal entry is also priceless, I'll try to scan it in and add it later.

We initially settled on Violet Paula as a name, but later with some discussion on Brighton Paula Garrett was decided upon as the final name.

It's been 10 days now, and she's been a great baby so far. She nurses very well, even from a bottle.  She had her first projectile bowel movement this morning on the changing table (about 6 ft or so, it got on the wall).  She may be our best burper thus far.  She's still not walking, although she does wink occasionally.

Jace is handling it okay all things considered.  Jace and I have been bonding a lot as we do lots of things together. I go back to work on Thursday, so we'll have to see how he does with me gone.  The girls have been great with the baby and are super excited about their little baby sister.

New Baby Brighton Pictures

Here are some pictures of new baby Brighton with various siblings.

The Glad Game

Suzy has been helping the girls be more positive by teaching them about the glad game. It comes from a movie called Pollyanna. She's some kind of super positive girl who changes lives and stuff.  It involves always looking for the positive even in bad situations.

Anyway, on the way to school this morning Suzy was listening to the radio and on the news was a story about a lady who was pregnant whose husband had a heart attack. He was taken to the hospital, had a couple of stints put in his heart. After a few days he was starting to stabilize so his wife came home. Where her water promptly broke. She went back to the hospital, had a baby and the next day brought the baby up to see her Dad who was doing much better.

A few minutes after this story, Kate pops out with:
"You know what, I think there's one good thing if that happened to Daddy."
Suzy (it had been about 10 minutes apparently since the story had played on the radio), "er...if what happened to your dad?"
Kate, "You know, if he had a heart attack."
Suzy, "Oh, okay, what would be the good thing?"
Kate, "You could name the baby whatever you wanted to!"

I'm glad to know Kate is always looking on the bright side of things.

Other Yellowstone pictures

Wouldn't this make a great addition to any room! 

There's my little Indian boy.

Kate thought this was cool, until she saw the face. Then she said "That really creeps me out!"

Faith had a wonderful time, unless she had to walk somewhere and/or was cold. Which was only 67.4% of the time.  

Spasm geyser 

Lots of cool looking Zombie landscape. Those aren't Zombies, they're actually my family.  

Beautiful! The scenery is nice too.

Kate wanted you all to notice how the steam is coming right out of her ear.  Oh yeah, mad photography skills. 

Kate said this was the best day of her life. Emphatically, several times.  She loves this kind of stuff.  It helped that that day started out with some swimming in an awesome pool that we had all to ourselves (Jace was in the 1ft kiddie section which was nice and fenced off). Faith loved that part also.  Suzy tried to get them to do the Junior Ranger activities so they could get their Jr Ranger Badge, but they lost interest in that after about 20 minutes.  Plus Jace kept ripping up their papers, and his papers. It was downright fun (yes, I know you're shocked to hear that from me, but it was only one day and my kids loved it). 

Elk, Wolves and Bears! Oh my.

Well, I think I got my share of wildlife in for the year. We saw Elk, Moose and Bison in Yellowstone and wolves and bears at the Wolf and Grizzly center.  

Here's an Elk.  Tasty. (okay, so probably not super tasty, but lots of meat). 

We're all for letting our kids play with wild animals. As long as they're bronzed. 

These ones were all from the Wolf/Bear habitat. 

Bison. Now these are Tasty! (from what I hear, of course)

YellowStone- Old Faithful

Here was Old Faithful. We had a fun time waiting, except for Faith who was pretty chilly and not liking it.  Jace was having fun, and was of course oblivious to all others around. They had nice benches set up, and could predict the eruption within 10 minutes. We hit the 1:43 showing (it went off at 1:47).  Also, it was more impressive in person.

True Love

From a friend of Suzy's

"I wanted to tell you that yesterday River came home and said that he and Kate were playing at recess and some of the kids said I dare you to kiss.  River said he walked over to Kate and said “Kate I do love you, but I am not going to kiss you because it is too early.”  Kate said “ Yeah WAY to early!”  I told River that was good not to give in to peer pressure and they are right it is WAY too early!  I guess we can be proud we are raising kids who can be strong enough to tell other kids to buzz off!  Yeah Us"

I don't know about you, but my favorite part was the "Kate, I do love you, but" Hello! These kids are 6! Luckily they're keeping their wits about them.

Farmer's Market

Suzy and I took a trip to the Boise Farmer's market yesterday morning. It was fun just walking around while the kid were at Grandma's. I did notice a few things, for example, you can get a TWIG for only $2! if you can believe it! (Top left on the sign)

Nothing says delicious like peas, and nothing says SUPER delicious like poo + peas!

Yeah, that bike is covered in a hand knitted sleeve.

gotta love Boise! We also got some Brioche bread that is simply delicious (too bad it's not poo-Brioche, then it could be Super delicious). 

They had other fun things, like Elk meat, buffalo and lots of fruits and veggies. And fungus.  

Baptism

In the car ride home from Church today, Kate informed us that she can't wait to be baptized. She even has  a plan. When she's baptized she wants Mom to tell her every time before she starts to do something wrong so that way she'll have a whole day where she's "pure" (her words).

Suzy asked if she learned about baptism or something in Class, but apparently she decided this when a newly baptized 8 yr old was being sung to in Primary.

She also bore her testimony the other week about prayer and the bullfrog (the bullfrog got out of the bucket in the back of the Pilot and Suzy and them thought it was a gonner, but later found it after saying a prayer).  She's a special little girl.

Cousin's and Prince and Princess Academy

The cousin's are here! Kate and Faith were at first bummed that they'd be missing Princess Academy (some girls in our ward put it on every year for 4-6 year old girls as a way to raise money).  They do fun things and get to act like princesses.  

Well, luckily they have a nice Grandma who decided to not let Kate and Faith be disappointed for long. Since we have 90% girl kids (on both sides), it works out pretty well. However, in order not to exclude, this is Prince AND Princess Academy. You'll notice Jace down below participating in the tea party, although (*Thankfully??) looking a bit lost.  The girls obviously had a blast (they got to wear makeup. Why is that so special anyway? Who knows.).

Faith, Maddie, Anberlin, Brinly, Alison (in the back) and Kate

2 of something please

What the heck, how come there's no ball for me to play with. 

I guess I'll have what they're drinking.

I think Pink is mostly the color of princesses. And Black. 

Cousins in the pool!

Notice 6 week old baby Reese on the end in this one! 

Luckily Jace didn't push her in despite his Angry Look.

Jacers

Jace is quite the little handful right now. When he's happy he's the cutest darn boy in the world. When he's not happy he is at the extreme opposite of the spectrum.  What makes him happy?

1) Balls of any sort (even Pink ones)
2) Frisbee's
3) Ow-side (outside)
4) Ice Cream
5) Swings
6) His Binkie (Nani)
7) Suzy's Ipad
8) Brushing teeth
9) The trampoline

It used to be that when we didn't hear or see Jace, he was usually in a bathroom somewhere clogging up a toilet with toilet paper, squirting lotion or toothpaste all over (often all over himself) or especially writing on things that shouldn't be written on.
Now, however, when we can't find Jace it's usually because he's found Suzy's iPad and is playing on it. He knows how to turn it on and go to his favorite Apps! Ah, kids and technology these days.

#4 on the above list.

#9 + Domination!

He doesn't quite know what to think of swimming yet, but at least he has 2 of #1 above.

Swimming!

Pinewood Derby

So, tomorrow is the Tingey Family reunion first annual pinewood derby.  Suzy won it at a local church auction.  It was actually a potato derby, where we'll make pinewood derby cars out of potatoes and place them on a car base to race.  However, since the Tingeys (and now the Garretts) are really into pinewood derby cars, and the offical track will already be there and set up, why not race? I think we'll have at least 4 new cars racing, plus some of our old standbys.  

My newest creation....The Widowmaker...Da Da Dannnnn (those last three onomatopoeias are to be read with ominous music in the background, our your head, or whatever).

I think the widowmaker will only be the second or even third fastest car (yes, the pink lady is pretty fast).  We will see! This is why you race them, right?  The bottom picture is my last car, Suzy's car and my latest creation.   

Things to remember

Kate –I wonder how you get a Taxi to come?

 [Does a weird lunge with her arm out]

Suzy explains   that you can call one, or whistle or wave

Faith – How do you get a helicopter to come?

Suzy – I’m not sure.

Faith – I know! You waive a knife around and yell, over here!

Easter Bunny Kevin.

If you recall from a few years ago when Kevin was dressed as the Easter Bunny at a party the girls went to and ever since they've firmly believed that he is the Easter Bunny. As in the one that goes all over the world to deliver goodies to families on Easter Morn. http://garrettfamilia.blogspot.com/2010/04/easter.html  - 

You can see the below notes that the girls wrote to the Easter Bunny.  They were very impressed with their baskets this year (Thanks Kevin!), especially the Cheetos (how did you know!).

Just click to see larger sized:

Kate's Translation - Easter Bunny Kevin. I hope you will have a good time at Dental School. From Kate. 

Faith's Translation: Dear Easter Bunny. I hope that...[distraction, decides to go a different direction with it] Can you   [here she gets discouraged and decides to enlist Suzy's help] tell me what I have?

Bark at the Moon

Marshall somewhat recently gave Kate and Faith the pictured two wolves.  He is the originator of the famous Snarls the Wolf stories which our girls love! (Snarly haaaachooo! for any who recognize the signature Snarls the Wolf sound bite). 

Kate named the dark one "Snarls the Wolf" after the aforementioned hero.  Faith named hers "Wolfie Wedding".  Plus I wanted to show the below picture which shows Jace trying to copy his sister's sideways head pose.