Our Christmas Card...

The Wood Happenings in 2011

We have had a busy year filled with many travels, home projects, exciting news of a new baby and the not so exciting sickness that followed, the joys/want to pull your hair out at times of raising a 2-year-old and a little bit of work in between (for Eric, at least) to help pay for it all!

Eric is still a partner with Comfort Dental and things are going well for him there. It seems as if we will be in Denver for a while! It is crazy he has been out of dental school for 2.5 years already; it feels like he just graduated yesterday!

We moved into our new home late last year and have been busy all year long working on “projects” around the house. We have almost finished our backyard landscaping and added some to our front landscaping. We have “finished” Logan’s room, as well as the nursery. It seems like I always have project for Eric to work on. We have finished a lot, but still have a long list of things to work on. We never figured a brand new house would have some much to be done to it!

We have been loving where we moved - the neighborhood, the young families and the friends we have made. We truly feel like we made the right move – even if we are a little bit in the middle of nowhere and Eric has increased his commute time.

Logan is quite the big boy now. It is crazy how much he has “grown up” in the past year. He started talking a few months after his 2nd Birthday (we were worried there for a little while), and now we can’t get him to shut up. He moved out of his crib and into a big boy bed. He did really awesome and loves his new room. He also is potty trained and wearing big boy underwear – it wasn’t the easiest accomplishment, especially with me being pregnant, but we are so happy to have that out of the way! Logan loves anything to do with the movie Cars; he loves dinosaurs and knows almost all of their names; he loves to read books, play with his friends, take Rocco on walks and go swimming at the pool! Although, it isn’t always easy, we just love being able to be his parents and see him grow up!

We didn’t take any big trips this past year, but we still traveled a lot. We did the usual trips to Arizona, Utah and California to visit family, but we also took Logan to Disneyland for his first time; we played at the lake in Flaming Gorge, as well as in Scofield; Eric took a guy’s trip to Moab and I took a girl’s trip to San Francisco; and we also played at the beach in Santa Cruz and in the snow at Grand Targhee!

And last, but certainly not least, we found out in April that we are expecting another little one. My pregnancy has been quite different this time around and my suspicions were confirmed in August that it was a little girl causing all the problems! I am 37 weeks along right now and she is due December 26th, but we are hoping that she will make her appearance before Christmas (I am tentatively scheduled to be induced on the 20th).

We are so excited for this time of the year. We just love Christmas and all that it entails – friends, family and the birth of Jesus Christ. We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Stella's Birth...

Baby girl Stella was due on 12/26. We opted to have an elective induction on 12/20 to avoid the risk of being in the hospital on Christmas. It was all planned out - we had family coming in town to cover Logan and Eric had already arranged his schedule, so he could spend the entire time in the hospital with me. But as we all know, you can't really count on anything with a baby; they have plans of their own...

At my 37 week appointment, my B/P was slightly elevated. They decided they would just watch it and see what it did the next week. At my 38 week appointment, it was even more elevated. My urine sample was normal at the doctor's office, but they decided to do some stat blood work  on me and send me home with a 24-hour urine collection that I would start the following morning (let me tell you how fun that one was!). I started to get a little nervous sitting in the doctor's office as they were telling me everything they wanted to do. I had this funny feeling I wasn't going to make it until December 26th. My doctor called later that day to tell me my blood work came back normal and we would just wait and see what my urine showed. I didn't hear anything on Friday or Monday. By Tuesday, I was feeling better about things - I thought since I hadn't heard from them, then everything must be fine. Well, as I was out running errands, my doctor called at two in the afternoon to let me know I was in fact spilling protein into my urine - a sign of mild pre-eclampsia - and as a precautionary measure she wanted me to be induced the following morning. I kind of went into panic mode...it's weird how you know you are having a baby, but when the moment comes that you are actually going to have them it is a bit overwhelming! The rest of the afternoon and evening was consumed by arranging care of Logan and Rocco, changing my mom's flight, and packing bags for everyone. We went to bed around midnight and woke up the following morning at 4am.

For some reason, I woke up extremely nauseous and threw up before we even left the house. I thought maybe it was nerves at first, but it lasted the entire delivery and went away right when I delivered her. I am pretty sure it was a symptom of the pre-eclampsia, mixed with nerves and a lack of sleep. We checked into the hospital by 6am and pitocin was started at 7:30am. Over the next few hours they slowly increased the pitocin - luckily my body reacted to it a little less severely this time around and I wasn't overwhelmed with pain right away. In fact, I really wasn't feeling much of anything, but the doctor wanted to break my water and suggested I get an epidural before as my contractions/pain would increase significantly. Around 12:30pm I got my epidural and the doctor came around 2pm to break my water. Unfortunately, baby girl wasn't cooperating and he couldn't reach my bag of water. But at 2:30pm I felt warmth down below, and the nurse confirmed my suspicions that my water had broken on its own. By 4pm, I had only progressed to 4.5cm and I had a sinking feeling this would be a long delivery just like with Logan. But at 5pm I started feeling strong contractions and a lot of pressure. The nurse came to check me and I was complete and ready to push. Like last time, Eric had just left to get some food. I quickly called him back to the room. After 25 minutes of pushing, baby girl made her appearance into the world. Luckily this time, my baby was breathing and able to go right on me. She looked smaller than Logan and had a ton of hair! She was officially born at 5:56pm and weighed 8lbs and was 20.5 inches long. We named her Stella Noelle Wood. She was pretty mellow right from the beginning and the nurses couldn't even get her to cry enough to clear her lungs. She was our little angel baby right from the get go!

My delivery wasn't super smooth - it was complicated with throwing up that resulted in several doses of Zofran, low potassium with several potassium drinks and IV medications, and antibiotics for a fever at the end. I decided I can't just have a "normal" delivery. My body just doesn't handle the stress of it very well. After baby Stella was born, my B/P continued to be elevated. The doc decided I needed to go on IV Magnesium. Instead of going to the post partum unit, I was told I would stay in labor and delivery, I would have to get my foley put back in, and I would be on bed rest for 24 hours. Awesome - I had heard how awful IV Mag makes you feel, and all the rumors were right on. I felt completely out of it for the next day. Thankfully, they turned it off by 3pm the next day, and within hours I started feeling like a normal human being again. We were transferred to the post partum unit and I got to spend an extra day in the hospital - Wahoo! I know I am strange, but I would seriously stay in the hospital for a week if they let me!

Through all the chaos of me, Stella did great. She was much easier and more patient with nursing than Logan ever was. She didn't fuss much. She just slept and ate. We just fell in love with her right away! She is such a sweet baby; our biggest headache with her has been getting her to wake up and eat and to gain weight. But she is slowly coming around and I am sure she will turn into a lil' chow bug, just like Logan, soon enough!

We are so happy to have our little girl here; to have her healthy and to have myself healthy, as well. We really feel so blessed this Christmas season - you really can't ask for much more than a happy, healthy baby!!!

Introducing...

Stella Noelle Wood

Born 12/14/2011 at 5:56 pm, 8lbs, 20.5 inches long. More details on delivery to come...

Induction Tomorrow

I just found out this afternoon that I will be getting induced tomorrow at 6am. I have known my B/P has been high since my last appointment, but my lab results on my 24-hour urine collection just came back and I am showing signs of preeclampsia. The doctor doesn't want to risk waiting any longer. I guess this baby won't really be a Christmas baby after all! Will post pictures when she comes...

Stella's Nursery

Since it is looking like this lil' lady is going to come sooner than later, I wanted to get these pics up of her nursery. We painted the room pink, added bead board/chair rail/ crown molding, installed a fan and put in a new closet system. I got the bedding from Serena & Lily and my Mom made the quilt and curtains. We love the way it turned out...

Thanksgiving Week

My family was so kind to travel to us for Thanksgiving since I wasn't able to go anywhere (I was past 34 weeks). We mostly hung out and ate way too much food. We did manage to get out and do a few things. We took the kids to see Happy Feet 2 and we went swimming at an indoor pool. We also took them to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, mostly to see the dinosaur exhibit and the interactive T-Rex exhibit. The T-Rex, Triceratops and Velociraptors were actually quite real looking - Logan took one look at them and declared he was "all done."

We also went up to the Georgetown Loop and did the Polar Express ride again this year. Logan did much better and actually let Santa sit by him. He told Santa he wanted "Doc" from Cars for Christmas.

Thanks to everyone for such a great time!

I'm a Big Boy now!!!

That's right - Logan is officially potty trained. We have been working on it for quite some time. But he has been in big boy underwear for about a month and a half with only a few accidents. He still wears pull ups to bed, but other than that, it is all done on the toilet. He really started to do better when he could basically do it all on his own (unless he is wearing jeans). It was a pain at first, but it is really nice now. I feel like I can go out without having to bring anything for him - it is crazy! He is such a big boy! We are so proud!

(his latest cheesy smile)

(showing off his Mickey underwear)

Halloween

Halloween started out this year with a little girl get together, hosted by my friend, Regan. The food was adorable, as usual!!!

And the company wasn't anything to complain about either!!!

Next up was the ward Trunk or Treat. I decided Halloween is just so much more fun with kids, especially this year because Logan finally got the concept. It was so cute to hear him go around and say "trick or treat." He started off the night with a little chili and a lot of dessert...

And then continued the night with a whole lot of candy! After trunk or treating, Logan hopped in the back of the car with his besty, Brecken to start gorging on their goods!(Just a side note, Logan threw up a little bit in the bathtub later that night - I guess he really did eat too much candy!)

And for all of you wondering what my belly looks like these days, here I am at 32 weeks with my lil' cowboy...

Last up was Halloween night. Logan got to go trick or treating, with his cowboy in crime, Rocco. He scored pretty well - Eric had to keep taking candy out of his pumpkin and stuffing it in his pockets, because the pumpkin was getting too heavy for Logan to carry!

We ended the night with friends, gorging ourselves on yummy chili and corn bread. Then we added to all the sugar our kids had been eating and let them stuff their faces with sugar cookies! Almost everyday Logan asks if we can go trick or treating again...I wonder why???