Baby Zach

Zachary Charles Lively was born Monday, October 15 at 7:46 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs, 13 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. Everyone keeps commenting on what a big boy he is! Welcome to our family little Zach!

Zach and I are both doing well. The delivery went really smoothly despite the fact that he was so big! My water broke at 10:30 Sunday night and he was born at 7:46 Monday morning. I was able to get the epidural before I started feeling the contractions much and I got an extra dose right before delivery so that wasn't hardly painful at all. And I only pushed for 20 minutes! Makes up for the rough pregnancy.

Here's kind of a cool story. My doctor said he would induce me on Monday if I wanted. Matt and I were trying to decide on Sunday night whether or not to do that. I had mixed feelings about it, so we were praying about it Sunday night. Right after our prayer, my water broke, and I said, "Well, it looks like we don't have to make a decision." I love how prayers are answered sometimes. :)

He has been really good so far, and I'm so grateful for that. It has really been a blessing. The doctors were a little concerned because I had some infections and a fever during labor, and they were concerned that I passed it on to him. But he is totally fine and healthy. We love you little Zach!

Pumpkin Patch

It wouldn't be October without a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out some "Cumpkins" as Emmy would say.

She has become obsessed with her "dunny" and has to take it everywhere.

Dunny had to go for a ride in the wheelbarrow and look at the pumpkins too.

She really wanted to put her own pumpkin in the wheelbarrow.

And push it back to the car.

It was a great time at the pumpkin patch, and later Emmy and I put up the Halloween decorations. She loved it! Now I just need to get some silver hairspray for my costume and finish the baby's costume and we are set!

Friday Night Date

Last week we took a family date to the zoo. Em loves the zoo, and she is finally old enough to enjoy it and fulfill my dream of taking a small child to the zoo.

This baby giraffe was only 3 weeks old, and it was still as tall as me! It was really cute.

Emmy kept asking to see the cheetahs. Well, the Hogle Zoo doesn't have any cheetahs so we showed her the leopard and told her it was a cheetah. Great plan, huh? Well, then she asked to see the leopards. Hmmm. So we showed her the snow leopards. She seemed satisfied with that.

She really wanted to ride on the carousel so we let her. What did she choose to ride on? A cheetah of course.

After our fun day at the zoo, we went to the Spaghetti Factory for a yummy dinner. Guess who loved her ice cream?

Anyway, it was really fun to have this little family date night.

Granny Alta

My Great-Granny Alta passed away recently. She was 98. Except for a period of about a month last summer, she has been in great health and has lived by herself for as long as I can remember. Whenever we would come to visit, she would constantly be getting us a snack or telling us about this or that. It was always fun to visit Granny Alta.

She was a very vibrant and spunky lady. She was quite independent, and didn't hesitate to tell anyone what she thought. For example, the bishop asked her to give a talk in church and she said that she didn't talk in church. The bishop asked again, and she said, "Bishop, when you play the organ in church, I will give a talk." Ha! I love that story. (She played the organ in church for 75 years!) A few years ago, she was the Grand Marshall in the 4th of July parade!

She was very loving and spent her days serving others. She loved to crochet and was always making hangers and blankets, and would always have something to give me when I came to visit. She also donated a lot of her handmade things to hospitals and other charities. I remember when she was about 92, she decided not to renew her drivers' license. She said that she wanted to give it up voluntarily and not have it taken away from her. Before that she would drive all the old ladies in Fairview to the Manti Temple every week! She remembered birthdays and other important events in all of our lives and made us feel special.

The last time we went to visit Granny Alta was in August. She was sitting out on her porch as usual watching "the outfits" head up the mountain. Emmy loved to go see the sheep "hiding in the barn" and get cookies from Granny. Whenever we ran into random people from Fairview, they all knew Granny and had something amazing to say about her.

Even though she was 98, when I heard the news that she had passed away, I was shocked! The day before she died, she had gone to lunch with some family members and seemed to be doing just fine. We really thought she'd live to be 100. Even though I will miss visiting her and learning from her, I am happy for her. 98 years is a long time. Especially since the last 26 years have been spent alone--without my great-grandpa. However, I will always admire her for living a full life, right up to the very last day.

She loved music, and her funeral was basically a musical tribute of all her favorite songs.

When I told Emmy that Granny Alta went to heaven to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus, she said (pointing to the casket), "But she's right there sleeping in her bed."

We love you Granny Alta! Thanks for being such an example of an amazing woman. We will miss you!

Big Girl

My little Emmy is getting to be such a big girl. We pulled out the toddler bed this week, and she absolutely LOVES her new "Minnie Mouse" bed. It was her Auntie Allison's bed from when she was a toddler. Her first night after Grandma and Grandpa brought it over, she was so excited to sleep in it, she laid right down on it and told us to turn out the light. We were afraid she'd get scared in the night or fall out, but she did great!

Here she is in the morning after her first night in her new bed.

Her first nap in the new bed was a different story, however. I kept hearing A LOT of rustling around in there for A LONG time. I decided just to leave her in there and see how it went. She finally went to sleep and when I went in to check on her this is what I found...

She had gotten out all her toys, books, diapers, socks, wipes, etc. She even took the changing pad off the table. And see that big, white wad by her pillow? Yeah, that's about 1/2 a box worth of wipes she took out.

The second day, she did much better. I moved the changing table out of her room so she would not waste all those wipes again, and I told her she needed to stay in her bed. And she did great! And she's been doing great for both nighttime and naps ever since. When we tell her it's time for bed or a nap, she'll run and go get in her "Minnie Mouse" bed and lay right down. We moved her crib out yesterday, and I have to admit I was a little sad about it.

I have been kind of surprised at how well she has been adjusting to me moving things out of her room and getting ready for baby brother. And I am so grateful for that. Let's hope it sticks after he gets here. She is so cute helping me put his things away, etc. And she's always talking about baby brother's blankets, or baby brother's toys, or his seat or his bathtub or his diapers or whatever. It's really quite cute.

Every time she sees the camera out she asks me to take a picture. And she makes a "silly face".

She has also gotten pretty good at playing by herself, which has been such a lifesaver when I just really need a small break. She loves her dollhouse, and is always saying things like, "The sister is getting cookies out of the fridge." or "The Daddy needs to go upstairs and take a bath." or "Should the mommy cook some dinner?" It's really quite cute.

But she LOVES to play dollhouse with her Daddy. She always will bring one of the dolls up to him and say, "What should the sister do?" or whatever. She sure does love her daddy.

And we sure do love our Emmy.

Why I am a wuss

I have realized in the past few weeks that I really am a wuss. I have been pretty miserable throughout this whole pregnancy, and have probably not been a very nice person to be around.

Sure I have been dealing with lots of nausea, pain, loss of strength in my hands, numbness, swelling, sleepless nights, heartburn, shoes not fitting, etc. but at least it's only temporary. And then I thought of the people who have to deal with this kind of stuff on a regular, permanent basis. Like Matt's grandma who always has to wear compression sleeves on her arms and legs to keep swelling down. Or my mom who has been losing strength in her hands and other muscles for years. Or Matt, whose feet have a bone that's too long in them and so they hurt all the time, and he can never find shoes that fit. And I hardly ever hear a complaint out of them.

So I need to have a better attitude and be more like them and try to just suck it up and deal with it. And so I'm going to get over my vanity and paranoia about being so blown up like a hot air balloon and take a preggo picture. I figure Baby Boy deserves at least one. Here's to almost 38 weeks....