LILIANA ELIZABETH TIPPETTS

SHE'S HERE!! Liliana (Lily) Elizabeth Tippetts arrived at 02:22 AM October 2, 2010. She is just perfect and beautiful (i'm sure we'll look back later and she won't be as cute but newborns are all weird looking). She weighed 7 pounds and 14 ounces and is 19 inches long - so short and chubby. She has a little brown hair (lighter than Luke's was) and little elf ears (what is with my children not being able to grow ears)

Here's the story: I went into my Midwife (MW) Friday and had her check me. I was at a 3 and 70% effaced. We discussed our options since I was getting tired (I had been having contractions on and off for a week.) We decided to strip my membranes to see if that helped anything. So I went home and nothing changed, contractions were still there but nothing crazy. So I went to work (3 PM). Typically my contractions then decided to become more painful. By about 6:00PM I decided that this might actually be it and something might change so I went home - that drive was fun :).

I live about 45 mins from the hospital so we got Luke into bed and left around 7:30 PM. My contractions were 3 mins apart and getting more and more painful. We arrived at the hospital and they put me on the monitor (for only 15 mins, it was exciting) and they could see my contractions but not much had changed I was a 3-4 and 90 % effaced. My MW came to see me again and she restripped my membranes... 20 mins later my water broke (10:30 PM).

The contractions immediately got A LOT worse. It surprised me how quickley they changed between them popping and the next contractions. Unfourtunely for me they were all in my back.

I spent most of the next 3 hours on the birthing ball. I found that Paul counting out loud as I bounced really helped me control the pain and helped me focus. Lily was posterior (hence the back labour) and so the MW suggested I lay half up on my left side in the bed. THAT WAS HORRIBLE. Laying down hurt really bad and I had to REALLY focus. Paul was an angel and spent most of the time rubbing my back and counting.

There were two things, other than Paul, that really helped me. At one point Paul said, "Amy we know you can do it" and I heard my Nana (she died this past June) say, "We know you can do it Hinny". It made me feel so much better. The other thing - we were in a catholic hospital and so there was a cross on the wall. I was able to look at that cross (not something I usually like) and remember the savior. For some reason the thought that he knew what I was going through, had felt worse pain and loved me really helped. It allowed me to calm down and focus during my contractions.

Lily was still flipped and so the contractions were all in my back. Finally I decided to try using my TENS unit and as soon as we turned it on, Lily flipped over - i'm not sure if that was a coincidence or not but it made things a lot better.

I started pushing - I tried pushing on my hands and knees but since I have plates in my pelvis (from the accident when I was 15) it did not work, in fact it hurt worse than anything else so far. We tried squatting, same issue. We tried the birthing ball, didn't work. In the end I pushed in semi-sitting position with my Paul behind me and me feet up on the birthing bar. It worked and helped relieve the pain in my pelvis. I was surprised by this complication since I hadn't had a problem when I had Luke - but I suppose the Epidural with him stopped the pain from registering.

Lily arrived after about 6 hours of labour and an hour of pushing. She is prefect. It took her a little while to cry she sort of just looked at me but she did it and they gave her a 9 on her APGARS. I tore a little but only required a few stitches, they aren't too irritating thankfully.

THE BEST PARTS - I was up after 20 minutes (and in the bathroom). I had no IV or heplock, no pitocin, and no meds. We were able to nurse straight away and they didn't take her away to weigh her until I got up. She had a bath 4 hrs or so later and Lily never left me the entire 16 hrs we were in the hospital. I came home that Saturday evening and loved it.

The end.

Lily is an funny little girl. She has the Tippetts' temper and gets REALLY mad when you don't feed her fast enough or you change her diaper. She is sleeping okay, waking every 3 hours or so, but we hope that get better soon - sleep is good. Here are some pictures - she looks a lot like Luke did.

First Picture - still very slimy.

Huh?? What is going on?

Momma and Daddy

Proud Big Brother

:)

Coming Home Dress - this is what I came home from the hospital in

MAY!! Girls, fun and sun.

Wow I'm really behind on this, how on earth does everyone manage to post so often?? Anywho... let's see....

May was a fun month, I had my first ultrasound and we found out that the little one is a girl!!! YAY for girls.... Paul's mom and my mom are a little excited to say the least. In Paul's family there is only one other girl and 7 boys and so this girl is something to talk about. My brother's don't have any kids and so my mum is just excited to get to get stuff for babies again :)

Luke is still calling her "sock" but I think we may be able to convince him that another name may be more appropriate. He loves to blurt my belly and give his little sister kisses... he is such a sweet kid when he wants to be. He has also started to change his teddy's "diapers" - let's hope he's this helpful when this little one gets here in 4 months. Wow... i can't believe how much faster this pregnancy has gone in comparison to Luke's. I'm now 6 months along - i feel huge and can't find anything to wear - stupid maternity stores don't sell petite clothes.. .grr...

Here are a few of her Ultrasounds - she is a wiggley one so we don't have too many.

her hand - she waved though most of the ultrasound, open and closed ...

typical profile picture

Whole body - cute, cute.. i'm just excited she's all there. :)

What else other than baby girl Tippetts??? Oh Paul finished his first year in law school - YAY!!! I was so happy to have him home for a few weeks and Luke wouldn't let him out of his sight, I thought it was cute. Paul, not so much. Paul has now gone back to work for the first few weeks of the summer, he's working at a non-profit part of a medium size law firm here in Cleveland and really enjoying it. The plan is to then go and study at Oxford for the rest of the summer which means...

We're all going to ENGLAND!! I'm so excited. Paul and I got to go and visit a few years ago but it was such a fast visit that we didn't even get to London. Paul is going to be there for 5 weeks and I'm going a little later and will be there for 3 (stupid work). It's going to be a lot of fun and we're excited to see family and friends. It's also making the time feel like it's flying by - by the time I get home I'll only have about 8 weeks until our little bump is born :)

Summer in Cleveland is amazing.. i need to take more pictures - i'm horrible at charging the stupid camera - but i did get some from this weekend, i get Paul to upload them later. We've been able to go to the beach and a few parks over the last month and it's been awesome. Not too hot, not too cold, green and pretty. I'm happy. Luke is also likely being outside more and playing with his friends - our downstairs neighbour girl and a little boy across the street and then a few more a little further away. He has fun. He even knows everyone's name and surprised me this week by telling me all of his friends' parents' names... i was amazed. Smart kid.

Well that was our month - I'll try to get better at writing more and i'll find some cute pictures of Luke and pretty ones of Cleveland to put up...

Amy XX

February 2010

February was pretty fun. We were all sick of the cold and snowy weather but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Our playgroup had a Valentine's Party. The kids all decorated cookies. Luke got frustrated with me for taking pictures...
Luke got a little bored one of the days and decided to dress up in a hospital gown, take all the pillows of the couch and jump on the couches base. He had fun... I thought it was hilarious.
Couple more things we did to occupy our time...

Cooked Mince Pie....

Threw Tantrums


Did the Dishes

Put ourselves in TimeOut (it's a new past time)

Overall we had a fun month. Hopefully winter will be over soon (it's getting there) and we can play outside some.

Sorry Sorry... It's been a while

Okay... Let's see February and March...

Lots of things have happened over the last few months. The last week of January we found out that I am pregnant again. We're pretty excited about it. I'm due October 9th 2010. That means I'll be pregnant the entire summer... yuck. I told my friend Rachel last year that I thought that October/September was the worse due date since you're pregnant all summer - looks like Murphy got me there :-D This pregnancy has been more difficult than Luke 's - I've been extremely nauseous and tired. I can't figure out what to eat - it changes from one moment to the next. The weirdest one was wanting sour food - i found sour starbrusts and then I wanted sweet and sour chicken so we drove 25 minutes to get Panada Express. It was pretty funny. So far I've not gained any weight. I'm still in regular jeans which is really nice. I'm interested to see how that all goes. Luke has informed me that the baby is a "baby bruder". I think it's funny that he then told Paul that the baby is a "gil". We'll see in May.

We told our parents we were pregnant by getting Luke to wear a shirt (we sent pictures to Paul's parents and saw my parents in person) that said big brother in training... here's the picture.

Front...

And Back...

We went to Utah for Emily's (my 3rd youngest sister) baptism. It was great to see everyone. Luke had a blast with all the kids. He was wonderful on the planes. He spent most of the time playing with the armrest and tray table. Paul wasn't as impressed :-D The flight attendants were all really nice. They convinced the pilot to let us go in the cockpit when we got to the gate. We took some pictures..
Luke had a WONDERFUL birthday. He is now officially two even though he has been saying he's two for several months - hand gestures included. We got him a train set for his birthday and he's been playing with it none stop since Friday. It's cute. We had a party on Friday. That was a lot of fun. He thought it was awesome that everyone kept saying happy birthday. It was a tiring day. 7 two/three year olds is always crazy. :-D Luke also learned that he likes cupcakes... see pictures..

This is Luke's friend Stetson"giving him a hug"

Paul's mom gave Luke a bed set - it's pretty darn cute. He's pretty excited to be in a big boy bed too. I'm amazed how well he's done. He doesn't get up out of bed and stays in his room until either Paul or I tell him to get up... he's a great little boy. Here's the room pictures.

January

Nothing too interesting has been happening over the last few weeks. Paul has been doing more school work which leaves Luke and I to mess around the house - emphasis on mess. 

Luke's new catchphrase - "nooooo, no, no, no". It's quite funny. Especially when it is quickly followed or preceded by "yes". He has also found the joy of running around in circles until you're very dizzy. I love doing that so the 3 of us spent a lot of time running in circles. 

Like I said not much going on. 

Dayton/Columbus Trip

Paul had an interview with the Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corp on Friday. He has put in an application to be part of that organization and part of the application process is meeting with a Colonel. We drove down to Dayton, Ohio to the Wright-Patterson Base - which by the way is where the wright brothers grew up, and then spent the rest of the day in Columbus. The drive was an adventure in and of itself since old man winter had decided to visit Ohio and drop several inches of snow. Everything went smoothly on our 3.5 hour, 200 mile drive and we didn't have any accidents but there was a lot of snow and our car is no longer black, but white with salt.

While Paul was in his interview, Luke and Amy looked around the town and played in the snow. Luke loved it and also liked the artillary cannon that was beside the building Paul was in.

Here is Luke standing in about 6 inches of snow in front of the cannon. In the background is one of the historical sites from the Wright Brothers past.

After Dayton, we stayed in a hotel in Columbus, where we swam - sorry I forgot to take pictures - and Luke found that floating is fun. He also started laying on his stomach - with help of course- and kicking his feet and arms. The kid will probably be swimming this summer. He is a very athletic child, in fact he loves to run around, play ball and do anything that requires energy. It'll be interesting to see what he is like as he gets older. The reason we stayed in Columbus, is that is where our Temple is. Since it is a 2.5 hour drive normally, we thought that we should take advantage of being so close. Our friends, the Cowden's, came down with their 4 boys and watched Luke while we went to our session and then we watched the boys while they went in. The main thing Amy learned that day - she doesn't have the energy to have 5 boys :-D

This is our temple. It is one of the mini ones and has only 1 endowment room. It is beautiful and we are grateful that we don't have to drive the 6 hours to Washington, D.C.

Here are some funny pictures of Luke from our trip and then the aftermath of being in the car all day.

Showing us where his food went

Excited for Milk

This is Luke feeding daddy Icecream and then asking where the icecream went, and finding it in daddy's mouth. It was quite an adventure. Luke has started hiding things and then asking "where'd go" and then "finding" them. It's pretty cute.

this is his shirt and sweatshirt on his head

he left it there for 10 minutes.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

2009 was a great year for our family. Paul got into Case Western Law School, Amy graduated, Luke grew 4 inches, and the entire family moved to Ohio.  Overall, a pretty good year.

We hope the 2010 is just as great. Paul and I have nearly been married for 4 years now, we got engaged 4 years ago this past New Years. Crazy how time flies. Luke will turn 2 this year and is getting the 2-year-old temperament already. He is a little tyrant, who likes to throw things and push. Something we are all working on changing. 

This is an older picture... but he does look like a little thug..

And here is another one of him being "too cute" to punish - not that he needed it, but what do you do when he looks at you like that after emptying the entire box of cereal on the floor??

Paul and I didn't do much for New Years this year. It's hard when you have children to go to a party and we weren't up to much else. We stayed home, watched Monster Versus Aliens - a cute movie actually - and watched the ball drop, live for the first time. Then went to bed. The next day we saw Avatar, a AMAZING feat of animation, if not a little predictable. We did enjoy ourselves though. Paul goes back to school next week and I start back at work tomorrow - jan 4th. Winter break was fun.