two weeks

7 pounds
19.5 inches long
She has grown so much in the past two weeks! Then I realized that most babies are born bigger than this.

Katie visits

We were thrilled to have Aunt Katie come up and visit for four days! We miss her already. She was so much help while here, I started thinking how I ever got by with out her. She definitely went above and beyond, and I hope she will visit again when I haven't just birthed a child! I promise I will be much more alive katie ;)

Her last night here, she turned my kitchen into a salon. Her friend Jesse came over for some pampering as well. Poor Zach really wanted Katie to bleach his hair like Justin Timberlake in 1998, but oh darn. we ran out of time.

Every time I had to stop to feed Emma, Katie and Jonah would have a little photo shoot. Jonah is getting really good at following commands.

Yes, Zach definitely had his hands full. . . This picture was taken seconds before Jonah tried to hit Emma. She will definitely be a tough girl. . . and why won't my son wear clothes!?

Anyways, we loved having Katie here. I hadn't seen her since her wedding day! She definitelty pampered me, and brought life back into my hair! If anyone wants a great stylist back in Utah! She is seriously awesome!

Thanks for EVERYTHING Katie! Jonah saw these pictures of you, and started to whimper. We all can't wait to see you again!

Now you think your feeling better, but you keep on getting wetter..

Jonah's new favorite phrase lately is, "It's stuck!!!"

For example. If the door is locked he yells, "The door is stuck! It's stuck!" and so on.

So earlier today, Zach and I were looking up the diarrhea song online. You know the diarrhea song? My sisters and I used to make up lines and think we were SO funny!! Anyway, as Zach and I are dying laughing, I look over to find Jonah obviously going number two in his diaper.

Me: "Jonah are you stinky? Are you making the poop face?"

Jonah: looking very uncomfertable "it's STUCK!"

Maybe it's because we were just singing a song about it, but we were dying.

life with two

It's definitely been an adjustment here..for all of us. I love being a mom of two yet I am not afraid to say, this is really hard. I know it should get easier in ways, especially once I get my energy back. Will my energy come back?

Zach has been so great since we have been home. He's up all night bringing Emma to me, and changing her diapers all night long. Jonah has been waking up twice a night for some reason and so Zach has been going back and forth between our room and his. This is for my mom, who is so worried about me eating well. I normally cook dinner around here so it was a little surprise for me to see how well Zach did making dinner last night. He even set the table! Notice he set the fork and knife on the opposite end, each with a napkin. I asked him to make a salad, and he even had a bowl of olives with ranch. I would have never thought of adding that.

The hardest part has been keeping Jonah happy, and away from the baby. I thought I would try putting the swing in the family room, but as you can see, it lasted about one minute.

He's just so rough and scary with her. It's all out of love, but he wants to clap her hands together like he does with his Handy Manny doll. I'm really scared for Zach to go back to work, and be left alone to nurse her. I know it's going to be a huge process of keeping the crazy monkey away.

On a positive note, Emma so far as been such a calm, sweet baby. She eats well, sleeps well, and poops very well. I can't wait to watch her grow and change each day. I also can't wait for my sister in law and mom to come!!

going home

Our celebration dinner before we were discharged. Mmm.. nothing like hospital food served on a table cloth.

Jonah Loved the movie Up and eating jello with his hands.

Strapping her in the car seat which is HUGE for her.

And here are my two children this morning.

Jonah...

Emma...

She is changing so much already.

And here is a little letter for Jonah.

Dear Jonah,
Thank you for throwing our camera across the room yesterday. I know we were upset but it was just the push I needed for daddy to buy me the Nikon I wanted. You must have known. Your such a smart little guy.. why didn't I think of that. Thanks for being so loving and sweet to your new baby sister. I know she really likes it when you give her kisses and poke at her face.
Love, Mommy

She's Here!!!

Please welcome..

Emma Susette Nalder

Born: 11/10/09 @ 5:02 p.m.

6 pounds 6 ounces

19 inches long

I can't believe she is really here! We love this girl so much already! Since I can hardly sleep, I decided I need to write down her story before I forget all the details. It's pretty long, so feel free to skip it and just enjoy the pics. ;) I have to do this for my posterity.

I went in to my midwife on Monday morning because I had been having really intense back pain. I couldn't sleep at all, and I didn't know if it was due to labor, pregnancy, or it was just my car accident back starting to get really irritated from the pregnancy. But it had definitely gotten worse in just the last week.

My midwife said that the baby just needed to come out. Since she knew I do hypno birthing, and was planning on going natural, she was worried that if it kept going on like I was, and my back pain kept getting worse, than my body was just going to get really worn out, and my labor would not go as I wanted it to. As much as I didn't want to force the baby out, I agreed that I wasn't sure I would last much longer, especially running on such little sleep and not being able to take any pain meds for my back.

So Zach and I came into the hospital yesterday morning at 7:30 for my midwife to break my water, and hopefully get things going!

i am huge! This is probably one out of three pictures of me this whole pregnancy. sad.

After they monitored me for a while, around 8 or 8:30 a.m I was dialated to a four, and she broke my water. Nothing significant really happened. I walked, or "speed walked" the halls and would have a good contraction here and there. I think around 11:30 or noon, my midwife came back to check my cervix and said there had been no change. Our last resort was pitocin.

The plan was to start up the IV, and then turn it off once I started having cervix dilation and could tell I was in active labor. Within 30 minutes, my contractions were coming every 5 minutes or so and with every contraction I could feel a shooting pain up my back, but nothing I couldn't handle. I thought I had totally had everything under control. I was amazed how easy this was when you have relief in between each contraction! With Jonah, I was in labor for 48 hours, with non stop pain for 24 hours. There was no reason I couldn't handle this!!

After a while the contractions started coming every two to three minutes and the pain intensity shot through the roof. With every one, a sharp pain would radiate up my back, also causing this strange shot of pain down my legs as well. No matter what position I tried, nothing seemed to help. I was hesitant to get in the tub because the pain was so strong through my back, with every contraction I had to lean forward and cling (more like choke) Zach's neck and shirt. After four hours, at around 4 p.m., my nurse said she could tell from watching me, the baby must had made some huge changes, so she better check me. It took everything I had just to lie down and be checked though the contractions. So.. After four hours of all that, I was STILL at a four. How was this possible!? My nurse said I was tensing up so much through through contractions, and if I could find a way to relax, the baby might move down faster. I broke down and sobbed. Why was this SO hard!!? How could I have back labor for 48 hours straight yet I couldn't handle this!? She wasn't even posterior! Through my snot and sobs, I realized it wasn't me, it was my bad back, and probably the pitocin. I had lost all focus. I was crying so hard, I knew physically and mentally I had lost it. I was so discouraged. All I could think about was how many more hours of pain I might have until my cervix would progress anymore.

I told my nurse to send in the anesthesiologist and get me that epidural.. fast!

I was told it would probably be about three more contractions until he was there, and so with each one, Zach would say, "it's your last one. You can do this!" I probably had about 15 more in the 20 minutes it took to get my epidural going. Thanks for being so positive honey!

The funny thing about this whole labor, is that my epidural didn't work on my left side..and in my butt.

As soon as he was done getting the epidural going, my nurse checked me again. I was dialated to an eight! I had gone from a four to an eight in about 20 minutes. Within minutes my midwife was all scrubbed up and I was pushing the baby out. Within 10- 15 minutes she was out! Zachary delivered her which was really special for him. It was such a different experience with my delivery this time. I was able to put Emma on my chest right away and kept her there as long as I wanted. She instantly pulled out her arm and grabbed onto my hand. I felt such an overwhelming love for this sweet little spirit who i had barely just met. Having a baby is such a testimony of our heavenly father's love. She is such a beautiful miracle. I'm so grateful to have such a healthy, happy baby.

Kelley came and watched Jonah through my whole labor. It was so great to have her there!

Thanks for everything Kelley!

Daddy and his little girl

Jonah was so sweet with her. He looked a little freaked out

when he first came into the room but he just wanted to hold her.

I swear he doubled in size as soon as he did! I totally forgot how TINY newborns are.

I can't believe I have TWO kids.. what was I thinking!? just kidding. 60/40

And thats all for now! Jonah just threw our camera and shattered the lense. (jealousy already begun?) So I made Zach run to buy a new one before we are released from the hospital tonight. Lots more to come!

will beg for candy

The only picture of Jonah and his fairy friend trick or treating.

I'm not going to pretend like I am sad halloween is over this year. I am so ready for pumpkins, spooky decorations, and candy to be gone! I feel sick today from eating so much candy that we never handed out. That's what we get for taking our own kid trick or treating. By the time we got home, no one else came to our door. Now we are stuck with SO much candy though Zach must have eaten most of it in bed last night. When I woke up this morning there were snickers wrappers all over our bed.. and he wonders why he feels so sick today.

Jonah loved trick or treating. The first two houses he opened the door and walked right inside.

The best part of the night was that we kept running into our neighbor's boy who was wearing the same bee costume (same age as Jonah). Every time we passed him on the side walk Jonah and he would stop, get right in each other's face and stare each other down. So farewell Halloween! I secretly wish we could skip Thanksgiving and put up our Christmas tree.