Home from the hospital

My family (mom, dad, Ady, Jono, and baby Will) came to stay with and help us the first week after Blake was born (Friday, June 29 - Saturday, July 7).  It was fun having them here, and we really appreciated all their help!  Brad also stayed home from work that first week.  It was a party!

Saturday afternoon when we came home from the hospital, we opened the gifts my family brought for Blake.  They were very thoughtful and got Connor a few gifts too so he wouldn't feel left out.  It was a baby shower for Blake and a Big Brother Party for Connor.  Connor loved it (and so did I).

New bad and ball!

This is Connor's favorite thing he got.  He calls it "sticky ball."  And he's really good at it!

He also got snaps and M&Ms - his two other favorite things.

Cute cousins.

Love him!

Cute cousins.

Great big brother.

Sunday afternoon we did a big family dinner with my family and the Jeppsons.  So fun to have everyone together to celebrate our sweet new boy.

Great Grandpa Gotberg.

Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Brian with their 3 grandchildren - Connor (2.5 years), Alexis (7 months), Blake (newborn).

Adorable Alexis.

My little snuggle bug.  This is by far the best part of the newborn phase.  A warm little ball snuggled up and sleeping on your chest.

Blake and Papa, Blake's namesake (Paul).

Monday, July 2 was Blake's first doctor appointment.  The doctor wanted to see him so soon because he was Coombs positive at birth and she wanted to monitor his bilirubin count and jaundice.  His bilirubin count was 12 (up from 9 a few days before in the hospital) and he was looking a little yellow (down to his knees), but he was still only in the moderate-low risk zone so the doctor wasn't concerned.  She did a general check up and weighed him.  Here's his weight progression:

Birth (Thursday night) - 8 lb. 14 oz.
Leaving the hospital (Saturday morning) - 8 lb. 6 oz.
First doctor visit (Monday afternoon, July 2) - 8 lb. 15 oz. - already passed his birth weight!  In 2 days!! 
Second doctor visit (Friday afternoon, July 6) - 9 lb. 9 oz. - 10 ounces in 4 days!  What a chunker!

 Tuesday we hung out at home and gave Blake his first sponge bath.

Me and my 2 sweet boys.

Like I said - absolute best part.

Look!  They're communicating! :)

 Thanks for coming everyone!  We miss you already!

Jeppson Family Vacation - Southern Utah

This year's big Jeppson Family vacation was to southern Utah again June 2-8.  This year we went with Brenda's brother's family (Byron and Krista) and it was fun to have Brad's cousins and their kids there to play with.

The 4 parents (Brian, Brenda, Krista, and Byron) stayed at a camp site, and all the rest of us (about 13 older kids, and 5 babies) stayed at a rented house in Panguitch since most of us have young kids.  The house was about 30 minutes from the camp site.

It was a fun week riding dirt bikes and 4-wheelers, hiking Spooky and Peek-a-Boo slot canyons in Escalente, and driving thru Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon.  The one not-so-fun event was "the plague" that rolled thru the entire camp the first couple days we were there.  One of Brad's cousins was sick with a terrible flu-like disease on Sunday, 4 more people were sick on Monday, and about 10 more people were sick on Tuesday.  By Wednesday everyone else except for 2 people (Brian and Brad's cousin Nicole) were sick.  They were lucky and managed to escape it somehow.  Tuesday night is when Connor and I had it the worst.  Connor threw up 3 times, I threw up about 20 times.  Fortunately it was very short lived - only about 12-15 hours of feeling sick - but those hours were pretty miserable.  The worst part was there were only 2 bathrooms in the house so that was very valuable real estate for those couple days.  After everyone was over it, we got on with the fun.

I wasn't able to do very much since I was so pregnant (37 weeks) but I did go on a short 4-wheeler ride (on a smooth graded road) with Brad, and a short hike to a waterfall with some of the cousins.  Mostly, I just visited with stayed at camp and visited with everyone.  Even though I wasn't able to do much, it was still a fun trip, and Connor had a total blast!

I love this picture.  Connor's huge head/helmet is awesome.  Here he is getting ready to ride with Grandpa.  He really loves to ride.

This was taken right after the hike to the slot canyons (I didn't go because I wouldn't have fit thru the slots and the hike was way too long and hot for being 37 weeks pregnant).  Apparently all the older kids were complaining how hot it was so Brad's Aunt Krista asked (sarcastically) "Are we having fun yet?" and Connor shouted "YA!"  Apparently while everyone else thought it was too hot and just wanted the hike to be over, Connor was running thru the slots and having the time of his life.

Maternity Pictures

On May 28 (Memorial Day), we went down to the Jeppsons' to celebrate with Brad's family.  My sister-in-law Jen and I decided we really needed a girls' day so we left Alexis and Connor with the boys, got pedicures together in the morning, ate lunch at Wendy's, and then I got dressed up and she snapped some maternity pictures of me in the afternoon.  The pictures were taken at the Jordan River Temple because the landscaping is the prettiest in the area by Brad's parents' house.  It was a fun day, and I love the maternity pictures - Jen is a great photographer.  Thanks Jen!

This picture shows off my "baby jewelry."  I bought the pearl necklace with Brad in Hawaii while I was pregnant with Connor, and I bought the turquoise bracelet with Brad in Hawaii while pregnant with Baby #2.  I think I will keep up the tradition and buy a special piece of jewelry with every pregnancy (but the next few may or may not be bought in Hawaii).

These pictures were taken exactly 1 month before my induction date, June 28.  Getting excited for baby to come!

Easter

We were driving back from our family vacation in Arizona for most of Easter Sunday, but we were able to stop by Brad's parents' house on our way home for a nice Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt with Connor.  He got candy, a ball, new crayons, a toy motorcycle, and squirt guns in his Easter basket this year - he was very excited. It was low-key and it's always nice to be with family for holidays.

4 Generations of Jeppson

At one of the more recent Jeppson family get-togethers, I decided it was time to update our Jeppson 4-generation picture since Connor was only 2 months old for the last one.  Love these pictures.

Great-grandpa Trent Gene Jeppson (middle), Grandpa Brian Trent Jeppson (right), Dad Bradford Trent Jeppson (left), Connor Trent Jeppson (left).  All first born sons.

January and February

January was fairly low-key.  After New Year's, we spent most of January recovering from our Christmas vacations, and Connor and I took one small trip to Cedar City with Brenda and Cami (Brad's mom and sister) January 25-28 so Cami could take her nursing school exam. I didn't get any pictures, but it was a fun trip with a little bit of hiking in southern Utah.

February was a crazy month.  We did a lot of fun things, and a few not-so-fun things.

We started off the month - Sunday, February 5 - with Brandon and Jen's daughter's baby blessing.  Alexis was so beautiful in her blessing dress and was a champ during her blessing. (You can see the beginnings of a baby bump - this is me almost 19 weeks pregnant.)

Then we started celebrating Valentine's Day.  February 9 was a MOMS Club activity decorating  valentine boxes/bags and passing out valentines to our friends.

Valentine's Day was great. Connor and I visited Treehouse Museum while Brad was at work, and I made dinner and dessert for Brad that night - Malibu chicken, asparagus, and spinach salad with strawberries. Dessert was homemade chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, and rice crispy treats for dipping ("rice kiss-me treats" according to Connor). :)

Connor riding the bull at Treehouse.

Fun Valentine fact involving my kid(s) - it was on Valentine's Day 2009 that I found out I was pregnant with Connor, and Valentine's Day 2012 I was exactly 20 weeks pregnant (half way done!) with baby boy #2.This ultrasound was taken Feb. 13, 1 day short of 20 weeks.  The picture of me was taken on Valentine's Day.

20 weeks exactly on Valentine's Day!  Half way done!

A couple days later, we took another one of our frequent walks around the neighborhood. It was starting to get warm and it was BEAUTIFUL outside, so I had to take some pictures.  One of Connor's favorite toys - his lawn mower - that comes with us on all our walks.

Friday, Feb. 17, we met my cousin Alex and his wife and kids (Maryanne, Craig, and Brooke) at the Children's Museum in Salt Lake. We went to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen after. We all had a great time!  (Sorry, these are phone pictures.)

 

Saturday, Feb. 18, Connor went to his first friend birthday party! Jackson Trujillo lives across the street from us and we go to the park together all the time. He turned 4 and had a super-hero party with toys, presents, coloring, lunch (corn dogs and fruit), cake and ice cream. Connor had way too much fun, he didn't want to leave at the end.

Birthday boy Jackson, his brother Lincoln in the middle, their friend Alex at the left.

Their friend Josh (who meets us at the park frequently, too). How cute is he?!

Wednesday, February 29 we celebrated Leap Day by going to the last free admission day at Hogle Zoo for the winter (every last Wednesday of the month between October and February).


Then something not so fun...  When this first happened, I wasn't going to blog about it but now that it's been a few months and the sting is gone, I sort of want it on the record. It was quite at ordeal! On February 22, I got the scariest call you can get - Brad's boss, Phil, called me and told me Brad was injured at work! He told me Brad had been unconscious for a bit and had some "lacerations" on his face. He said they didn't know at that point what happened because no one was around when it happened, but Brad was conscious again and cracking jokes (that's my Brad :) ), and an ambulance was taking him to the hospital. I quickly dropped Connor off at a friend's house and headed straight for Ogden Regional Hospital while calling Brad's family to tell them he was in the hospital. Worst 25 minute drive ever.

It turns out he just passed out while working in the lab and after a battery of tests (CT scan, chest x-ray, blood draw, and EKG of his heart), the doctors determined there was no real reason why (he even ate a good breakfast that morning). They said it's just one of those things. I have actually done the same thing before and know several others that have too, but unfortunately the saying "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" is true. And Brad is big. He scraped his face up pretty bad (carpet burns), broke his nose, and got pretty bad whiplash. He ended up having to get surgery to reset the bones in his nose, and we joked together for a couple weeks that he broke his smolder (have you seen Tangled?). Near as we can tell, Brad did exactly what Flynn Rider did when he falls unconscious out of Rapunzel's closet (right on his face and then screeches along the floor 'til his body straightens out), but just didn't come out looking like this after:

Instead, he looked like this:

And 2 days later, like this:

Fortunately, 2 months, 1 nose surgery, and a $20 3-inch tube of Mederma Scar Cream later, his smolder grew back handsomely. I love you Braddy! I'm glad you're ok!

We finished off February with a trip to Hogle Zoo on Leap Day, Wednesday, Feb. 29.  It was the last free admission day for the winter (last Wednesday of every month between October and February).  We went with Brenda and Cami and had a great time, even though it was a little cold still.

This turkey walked right up to us.  I asked Connor what the turkey says and he said the usual "gobble, gobble."  Right then the turkey gobbled back really loud and startled him.  He did it again and the turkey gobbled back.  We laughed.