McCall and Neil's Super Fun Blog: July 2015

July 30, 2015

Last week, we got the baby swing out of storage. I don't know what took us so long to get it out, she loves it! And I love it because she'll stay in the swing long enough (usually) for me to get a few things done with two hands! Win-Win!

I just love these kids :)

I say this all the time, but Bear really is the absolute best brother. He's always getting her binky for her and trying to calm her down if she's fussy. They are lucky to have each other.

July 28, 2015

I'm Baaack

On Saturday I went back to the gym and did my first class in almost 2 months! I quit going to the gym at 39 weeks thinking (hoping) I'd be going into labor at any time, but since I didn't have her til 41 weeks and then I waited til she was almost 6 weeks to go back, it was a long break. I went a few days before and just did the elliptical with my friend Nicole and when that went okay, I thought I could try a class. I went to pump and just kept my weights light. It was awesome to be back, see lots of my friends, and get a bit of exercise too!

Now I have to figure out how I can keep going on a regular basis without having to take Eden to the daycare there...

July 26, 2015

Poor Pops

My parents went up to Burley, Idaho this weekend to participate in the Spudman Triathlon. While my dad was doing the bike ride, he got a flat tire and as he was getting off the road, another rider's bike touched his back wheel causing both riders to crash hard. When my dad fell, he broke his collarbone. It's broken all the way through and he can feel the bones sliding against each other when he moves. OUCH!

This was after they'd gotten back from the hospital and were getting ready to drive home. He also has a HUGE black bruise on his side. They thought that might be a ruptured spleen, but a scan showed his spleen was fine, luckily!

It's broken on the same side as his broken shoulder 5 years ago.
http://callsandneils.blogspot.com/2010/12/long-story.html

We've had a few bad bike crashes in our family in the 5 last years.
http://www.callsandneils.blogspot.com/2010/06/bear-lake.html
http://callsandneils.blogspot.com/2011/06/family-curse-continues.html

We got two huge packages delivered last week and when I opened them, they were gifts for Eden from Neil's boss. He sent a great big gift basket filled with lots of cute stuff like burp rags, bibs, etc. My favorite part of the gift was this cute picture (? I don't know what to call it) with her name and birth info on it. Such a nice surprise!

I also loved that she just happened to be wearing her elephant outfit/jammies when it arrived.

It was also quite a rare treat that she was sleeping on the blanket and I could use both of my arms for a short period.

July 24, 2015

Baby Friends

Eden got to meet her new buddy Weston the other night. He is our friends Jason and Heather's 4th(!) child. He's about 6 weeks older than her and as you can see, quite a bit bigger. He was a 9+ pound baby and she's still not even 9 pounds!

They were both kind of stretching.

You can see with their legs stretched out a little more how much longer he is than her too!

It reminds me of when Barrett, Eli, and Zeek were all first born and we took these pictures http://www.callsandneils.blogspot.com/2012/02/1st-play-date.html I couldn't believe how much bigger Bear was then the other two at the time, but they just grow so quickly!

July 20, 2015

Bear Lake

We spent last week with my family up at our cabin in Bear Lake. None of these pictures are in order and I just don't care to fix them, so...

Nick and Bear on the paddle board.

Bear and Tay. Pretty sure Bear was doing some Karate on Taylor.

Barrett loves Cheetos. I mean, who doesn't though!?

My cousin's daughter Olive, was there with us for a few days. She and Bear had fun in the kiddie pool.

I think this was the first time in Bear's life that he hasn't slept in a crib, pack n play, or his toddler bed. I wasn't sure how it would go, but he did pretty well sleeping in his new Lightning McQueen sleeping bag.

SO much tv time!

Jeff brought up his calligraphy ink and pen and let a few of us try it. It was really fun but pretty hard!

It took me several tries before I could write anything!

Barrett really loves his baby sister and is so good to her.

Bear and Lindsay at the beach.

Bear, Daddy, and Eden.

This was before we left for the lake, but we set up his new Lightening McQueen tent in the house to play in.

Berrie and Eden.

Pops at the beach.

Sean, Jeff, Pops, Tay.

Can you tell who's who? I can 99% of the time, but I do get tricked occasionally.

Neil was the designated jet ski chauffeur for the kids. We had lots of fun with that. I wish I would've had more time at the beach to ride it!

Neil and Nick.

That's Pops and LaLa going out for a ride, my mom was terrified!

Reagan and Ollie reading.

That's talent!

Tay, Jill, Berrie, Shelley doing s'mores. One of my very favorite foods!

At the end of the week, we stopped at La Beau's for some dinner and a raspberry brownie shake.

July 19, 2015

1 Month

This tiny girl is 1 month old! (I'm a tad late posting it)

A little about her right now...

She spits up A LOT. She also cries A LOT.

She eats about every 3 hours.

She will not sleep during the day unless she's being held. Interestingly, she sleeps really well at night in her own bed and will sleep for 3-4 hours before waking to eat. Last night was a treat though and she slept almost 6 hours before getting up!!

She's a major scratcher. If she doesn't constantly have socks on her hands (we've discovered that socks stay on better than those little mittens), her face (and my chest) gets torn up!

She weighs about 7.5 lbs. That's not super accurate, that's just from me weighing myself holding her and then again without her, but it's a good estimate.

Visitors are always telling me that she's smaller in person than she looks in pictures.

We just barely went up to size 1 diapers. She could've stayed in the newborn size, but I ran out and didn't want to buy another box.

She's been exclusively wearing newborn size clothes until today when I figured I'd better start putting her in some 0-3 clothes or she'll never get to wear them. They're still a bit big for her, but oh so cute.

She is losing her hair big time! But only on the top so far, going for the "old man" look I guess.

She is heaven sent and we're all just a little obsessed with her.

July 18, 2015

July Birthdays

Our family has 5 birthdays at the beginning of July. Ethan, Alex, and Lindsay's is first. They turned 8!

Taylor's bday is second, but even though we have seen him a couple times recently (which is pretty rare), we haven't actually celebrated his yet.
My mom's is the last of the bunch.
All the kids were outside playing when we were going to sing Happy Birthday, so we got a picture of just the adults. I was doing a "Barrett face" because he always gets so grumpy if he doesn't get to blow out candles.

Lala with all 13 grandkids.

July 14, 2015

Birth Announcement

July 13, 2015

Recovery

I wanted to write down a few things regarding my recovery with this c section. Mostly because I don’t remember it being this hard the first time, so in case I ever do this again, I can compare notes/know a little more what to expect I guess.

I’m 4 weeks post partum now and starting to feel a little better now (finally). The first 3-4 days home from the hospital, I had to sleep in the recliner/on the couch sitting up because I could not get out of bed otherwise. I still have no ab strength whatsoever and have to roll out of bed. I was surprised when my doctor told me not to do any ab exercises for 3 months!

I hate wearing any type of pants/shorts besides sweats because for one thing, I’m way too fat to fit in anything and for another thing, everything else still hurts my incision. My incision looks quite good, but it still often burns and pinches. I saw my doctor at 3 weeks and he said everything looked really good though, so I don’t know!

It took me at least 2 weeks until I could stand up straight. My back was killing me from being hunched over nonstop. My bathroom countertop is exactly the same height as my incision, so every time I reach/bend over the counter, it hits me. Somehow I forget that that’s going to happen every time!

Lifting Barrett was impossible until more recently, granted, he is a pretty big boy- I think he weighs 36 lbs. Holding Eden has obviously been fine except if I would hold her and kind of rest her on my stomach- that would hurt.

I have had no desire whatsoever to get out of the house simply because I don’t want to run into people I know. I’m super embarrassed to be looking like this when I feel like everyone else I know has a baby and goes back to their normal bodies so fast!

For the first 2 ½ weeks probably, my bladder was hurting me too. Not like, burning or anything like an infection, but just painful. It was weird. My dr thinks that it was just kind of traumatized from being shoved around during the c section. My tailbone has been killing me too- it started hurting when I was still pregnant and Dr. Seale thought it would go away when there wasn’t the pressure of the baby there, but it still hasn’t. That happened with Barrett too actually. My tailbone was like broken or bruised or something for over a year!
I got 2 breast infections in the first 3 weeks, but haven't had one since.

*Update* Even at 6 weeks postpartum, it’s still uncomfortable to cough and sneeze- I always feel like I have to brace my stomach for it. I still have very weak abs and have to push or pull myself rather than using my abs to sit up or whatever; it’s a SLOW recovery. AND I’ve only lost half the baby weight at this point, so that sucks.
Also, I went to see my general physician after 2 weeks regarding the abdominal pain I'd had so bad during my pregnancy (and was continuing to have after I had her). He thought it was going to either be a problem with my gallbladder or an ulcer. I had an ultrasound done of my entire abdomen and everything looked fine, so I went on a medication used to treat ulcers and I haven't had the pain since!

July 8, 2015

Every Heart Beats True For the Red, White, and Blue

We started a new tradition a couple years ago to play baseball and kickball on the 4th of July instead of going to the Kaysville parade, which we've been doing for the past 6 or 7 years. It's A LOT more fun!

Max

Reagan

Bear

Mom

Eden and I didn't go this year. Maybe next year!

After the ball games, Neil took Liv, Reagan, and Barrett to the Layton parade. Me, Neil and Bear went to it last year and it was so much more relaxed and "home towny" compared to Kaysville, we loved it. Plus, I grew up going to that parade and was in it several times in jr. high and highs school. We're going back to my roots!

My mom stayed home with Eden, while me and my Dad went down to the parade for a while. It was SO hot!

Kelsey, Alex, Tyce, and Rylee were in town to be with family, so they stopped by to meet Eden and visit with us. We miss living close to them! I can't wait to see their new baby when she's born in September!

Rylee will be a great big sister.

My little cuties.

My friend Kacey gave her this cute 4th of July onesie and bib.

I had to get a good shot of the patriotic onesie- plus I just love this picture of her big eyes.

After our family bbq, we went out and did a few fireworks that Neil had brought home. It was really windy but we figured out a way to light the fireworks anyway.

The kids all had a ton of fun until one of the fireworks shot into Liv's hair and burned it! Luckily, it didn't burn her skin or clothes and it just got some "underneath" hair, so no one will see it. Poor girl, it was scary!