Blake William

 August 12

I woke up feeling so sick!! I couldn't keep anything down. Elsa took care of me all day. When I had to throw up Elsa would come lay on my back or put her head on my shoulder. She is such a sweet heart! I pretty much laid on the couch all day and Elsa sat or snuggled right next to me. She was so good at playing with her toys and of course we watched lots of movies. 

9:30pm Baby Blake did a roundhouse kick and broke my water. At the time I wasn't sure what had happened since it wasn't the gush of water you expect. (This is the first time my water broke before labor started and not in the hospital) 

A few minutes later Blake and I went to bed. That's when the cramping/contractions started. I laid in bed just seeing if they would stop. They were pretty constant so I got out of bed and started timing them. The next hour they went from 5 min to 2-3 min apart and getting stronger. That's when I woke Blake up. Let's say it took him a few minutes to comprehend what was going on. 

11:00pm We call Aunt Ashley so she can come stay with Elsa. We call the midwife to let her know what is happening and she suggest to head to the hospital. We quickly pack. Yes, I know I was very unprepared. We decided not to wait for Ashley and got the neighbor to sit in until she arrived.

11:30 We get to the hospital. Contractions are stronger. As they wheel me down the hallway I feel like I have to vomit  again. The nurse grabs the first thing she can find... someone's old milk shake cup. By the time I get dressed and in a bed the midwife is there. I'm dilated to a 7. Blake is doing a great job getting me through the contractions.
11:55 I'm dilated to a 10. Little Blake is ready to come out! Three good contractions full of pushes...
August 13
12:00:30 Little Blake is here!!
Blake predicted two months ago that baby Blake would come between the 13 and the 15 of August. No lie!

Blake William Thackeray

August 13, 2011

7lbs 8oz

20 Inches

I am so grateful for such a quick labor!! I was planning on trying out the natural way but I honestly didn't have a choice this time around. They didn't even have time to hook me up to an IV, which I am also so grateful for! IVs are worse than contractions! It always takes 10 sticks before they can get it in.

My beautiful baby boy!!

Some of our visitors!

Elsa is a big sister! 

The baby was the first thing she pointed out when she came into the room. She was excited to sit on mommy's lap to get a closer look.

Kisses for the camera!

Being soft.

Our family is getting so big!

What do you do with this again?

Big and Little Blake!

Can you get any more precious?

Daddy being silly.

I don't know why we have a Mountain Dew picture with all of our kids.

 Daddy's favorite pose with his boys!

 Something about hospitals make me look horrible... eek!

 Going home!!!

We are so blessed to welcome little Blake to our family!
We are so grateful to Aunt Ashley and TT, Grandpa Wayne, Grandma Susan, Uncles Owen, Dalin and Evan for helping out with Elsa!! 

Seventeen

Life here doesn't want to slow down.

In July we had to find a new place to live. As much as we love living with Ramona, she decided to sell her house. We found ourselves a little duplex in south Provo and that weekend we had everything moved in.
With all the business we've had to re-energize with...

  Jamba Juice

 Mountain Dew

In the midst of packing and unpacking we came across all the baby toys and decided to leave them out since we will be needing them soon!

Elsa also had to try on all baby Blake's hats and socks.

I've had a lot of mixed comments on having my babies 17 months apart, but honestly I'm not worried all. Elsa is such a good girl and the only thing I'm afraid of is that she won't get all the lovin' she deserves. She's started to point and my belly and say baby*. I have no doubt she'll be a good big sister!

I don't know why we always have to move when Im 7-8 months pregnant. It only took 3 days to get our life in boxes but it felt like it took forever to get out of boxes. I have to say it wore me out fast and Elsa now knows what a movie* is and asks for it often.

We've had some major thunder storms this month and one of our favorite things to do is sit* on the front step, watch the wawa* (water) and listen to the thunder. This is Elsa's reaction to the thunder!

Elsa is such a silly goose and I have no idea where she picks some things up but lately she's been our little hunchback, Quasimodo. She'll just hunch over and walk around.

Getting interested in the potty?

Cousin Pepper came over to play as her parents packed up their house to move away from us. They sure did have a blast playing with hair bows, books, animals, baby lotion and baby wipes. They even snuggled on the floor together! We will miss our Pepper!

Grandma Thackeray bought Elsa a pretty dress and Elsa loved to spin in it!

She's at least got the head part of the spinning down.

Blake has had a busy summer training for a half marathon and a 64 mile bike ride.

So far he's ran a 5k, and a 10k. He runs his half marathon on August 13.

I unfortunately have not been a very good wife and we didn't get to see him cross any of his finish lines. You can go here to see pictures of his 10k and here to see pictures of the ULCER bike ride

We are glad to be some what settled in our new place and are excited for the adventures to come!! Whither we are ready or not!

*means these are words Elsa loves to say!

Sweet Sixteen

 Elsa loves her cousin Pepper!! We are so sad they will moving at the end of the summer.

But until then we will enjoy them!!

The cousins are due two months apart.

This picture was taken the day before little cousin Lincoln was born.

Our new little cousin!! 

What a beautiful family!!

 

We got to celebrate Pepper's two year birthday!!

 

 Pool time is their favorite!!

We got to make ice cream!! Homemade ice cream is one of my favorite treats! Elsa seemed to enjoy it as well!

Aunt Ashley got married! We were so happy to have so much of our family here!

What a good excuse to have a family picture taken!

Wedding pictures always take forever but Elsa did a pretty good job chilling between shots.

Daddy helped in on the fun!

Blake and Slade worked hard that week and made the cupcake tree for Ashley's wedding cake and cupcakes.

I got to make Ashley's wedding cake and all 200 cupcakes.

I'm obviously rusty on my fondant skills but I'm hoping nobody noticed.

Cousin Sawyer taught Elsa how to climb.

We loved playing with all our cousins!! We wish there was more play and less work when everybody was here but we're glade Ashley's big day turned out as beautiful as she was!

Mommy loves the Fourth of July!! Fireworks are so pretty!! With the view we had you could see millions of  fireworks going off!

Elsa enjoying mommy's birthday lunch at Tucanos!!

We had a fun month with all our family!!

Unfortunately it won't slow down any for a while.

Fifteen

A little late... better than never!

The Eensy Weensy Spider is Elsa's new favorite song...

Elsa has mastered the stairs! With Jim and Romona coming home and all their guests up stairs, Elsa makes almost an hourly visit to them. Thank goodness we haven't had any big tumbles yet and hopefully we wont have to experience that!

Elsa is an official walker!! The last three weeks she has learned to stand up all by herself and walks all over the place. She loves to be outside!! From the moment she wakes up until I do as she asks, she always saying "side" for outside. She'll even run to the garage door to make her point stronger.
Our routine everyday after naps is a popsicle with a walk...


Then Elsa gets to play outside until mommy gets too hot or its time to put on more sunscreen...
Elsa loves to push her stroller around.

 Bubbles!!

Elsa and cousin Pepper playing at the park!!

 Elsa sure does keep me busy...


and daddy busy...

We did get to go on a date this month!
We thought it would be fun to visit all the different temples close to us...
remembering to take a picture is the hard part.


 We love our Elsa!! She brings such joy to our family! She is growing up to be a sweet little toddler... not saying she doesn't have her moments but smiles dominate our home.

Update on baby Blake:
We are 31 weeks and he's an active little guy! I've never felt some of the flips he does with Duncan or Elsa. Some of those flips lands him on my sciatic nerve, which is a jolt of pleasure... umm, not. Other than that and getting huge... I've been feeling great physically! Which is a great blessing so I can keep up with Elsa!