THE WOOD PILE

Update on Abby:
Abby is.......... Abby.
Abby is so many different things that contradict themselves. She's lovable, cuddly, sweet, sensative, energetic, easy-going, determined, fiesty, tenacious, stubborn, fearless, lively, decisive, forgiving, focused (on things SHE wants to be focused on haha), persistent, sympathetic, sincere, etc., etc., etc.! She has a way of melting hearts and driving you crazy at the same time. Not sure how she does it.
She loves Katie and gets so worked up when Katie is crying. Abby loves being a girly girl. Her dresses for church HAVE to be "spinning dresses" so she can twirl around in them. She loves dress up, brushing her hair (BY HERSELF) and anything pink! The other night we were getting ready to say prayers and read scritpures and we told her to come sit on the couch. She went up to the vent that was blowing air, put the backside of her head up to it and said "I'm not ready! I need to blow-dry my hair!"
Abby is so excited to be a Sunbeam! She loves nursery, her teacher and all the toys, so we'll see what she thinks of being a Sunbeam when she truly realizes that those things are NOT in her Sunbeam class!

With my surge of blog updating, I'm enjoying each little picture of my 3 little monkeys. Mckenzie and Abby were absolute terrors when they got home from Colorado. There was so much change in such a small time frame (new baby, jet lag, etc.) that it took a while to readjust. We're so thankful for all the sweet friends and family who helped with meals, babysitting and just visiting us. We are truly blessed!

This picture was taken the day Katie came home from the hospital.

While Mckenzie and Abby were playing in Colorado, I not only cuddled Katie TONS, but I also took LOADS of pictures! Katie is so precious and she's SUCH A GOOD BABY!!!! Here are LOT'S of pictures (mostly because family was bugging us about not posting anything on our blog. So here's tons for them to look at). I know, Katie is SOOOOO cute :D

I've been a little pre-occupied lately. WHY????? Because of this cute little thing:

Our little Katherine Michelle Wood was born on October 21, 2010 at 11:01 am. She weighed 9 lbs and was 19.5 inches long. Big baby, I know! It was a scheduled c-section and it went soooo smoothly. We couldn't believe how nice and calm having a baby could be. With Mckenzie and Abby, things were so crazy and both ended in emergency c-sections. With Katie, it was completely different. She was even full term!

This is her birth story:

My pregnancy went rather well. For the first 5 months I felt faint all the time. Not fun. I had my typical headaches, but I was used to that from my other two girls. Finding out she was a girl was super exciting and although Dan really was hoping for a boy, he was nervous, but excited for a sweet little girl to come into our family. The last little while was so painful. Katie "dropped" at around 36 weeks and she sat soooo low it hurt to walk, lie down, and sit. Throughout the pregnancy, my dr. thought that I'd have her early, but that didn't happen. He even tried to get me scheduled earlier for a c-section, see a perinatologist (long story), but apparently, it wasn't meant to be. Much to everyone's surprise, she arrived on her scheduled delivery date.

The day of her birth was wonderful. I loved everyone involved in the delivery (which says a lot because I'm way too picky about my doctors and nurses). The anestisologist was incredible, the nurses were awesome and of course I had my amazing obgyn.

I'll never forget my dr. saying that the "water is now broken" and that I'd start to feel pressure (something that is NOT comfortable) and almost immediately I heard my dr. say something to the extent of "ohhh, there she is... she just popped out".

Note: I know this picture my gross you out, but isn't it cool!?! (Not sure if Dan will want me to take this picture off the blog. We'll see. haha)

(That's my Dr. on the left. He's pretty awesome!)

They took Katie to the warming table to clean her off and the nurses kept commenting on how alert she was. Apparently, she had her eyes open and was "looking" around everywhere.

They cleaned her off, weighed her (my chunky monkey), wrapped her up and then to my excitement, they brought her over and Dan was able to hold her for the duration of the time my dr. was sewing me up! It was something that we hadn't been able to do with Mckenzie and Abby. I'll never forget the time we spent with her. I know it's a common thing to hold your baby right after he/she is born, but it was new to us. It was special for me to see Dan snuggling his baby girl in those first minutes of her life. She had such a chubby face and although she looked a lot like Abby (who is BEAUTIFUL), I was thrilled that I could see a little of me in her cute little face.

Jessica's mom and sister were AMAZING! They flew out as a surprise about a week and a half before the scheduled c-section (because my dr. thought we might be able to squeeze me in to the operating room... again, long story). Anyway, they ended up spending a week with us and it was WONDERFUL! We were able to get everything ready, my mom made EVERY meal for me, cleaned my house, and took care of me! Nothing like a mom taking care of her "baby". Even if I'm 30! Anyway, after a week of being here, my mom had to go home and she left my sister here. Bree is a tremendous help and the girls absolutely LOVE their Aunt Bree. When Katie FINALLY arrived, Bree was there to help with Mckenzie and Abby. She also spent a night in the hospital with me and was able to cuddle her new niece! I had Katie on a Thursday and my mom was able to come back that following Monday, pick up Bree and both Mckenzie and Abby and fly back to Colorado that night! The girls stayed in Colorado and had WAY too much fun for 10 days! It was wonderful to be able to have that time to recupperate and spend time cuddling my new little baby girl. I spent hours on end cuddling Katie. I am so grateful for my mom and Bree and what they did for us! We are so spoiled and so blessed! Their help was greatly appreciated and much needed! I LOVE YOU!

I'm sure there will be a day soon when I'll make some awesome posts. Until then, you'll just have to wait. Afterall, I'm waiting and waiting and waiting for this baby to come out, so you'll have to, too. :D

My brother max just got home from serving a LDS church mission in Vina Del Mar, Chile. He came to visit us for a few days before he starts school and it was so much fun! He's grown up a lot, but has the fun personality he always had. Mckenzie and Abby loved having him here and they fought for who got to sit right next to Max every time we sat down to eat dinner! We're excited for Christmas when we can see him again!