Monday, March 26, 2012

Our little Houdini

From birth Daphne has been quite the escape artist. She is a VERY wiggly baby, both when she is asleep as well as when she is awake. Every time we go to get her when she wakes from sleeping she has undressed herself to some extent. As she starts to stir towards the end of her sleep period she kicks and kicks and kicks and kicks...causing her clothes to slowly pull off her shoulders (even when she is wearing button-up sleepers!). On more than one occassion I have come into her room to find her only in her diaper. In the picture below (at about 3 weeks old) she is still somewhat dressed but you get the idea:) Just a few hours before she was tightly swaddled and fully clothed. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come!

St. Patty's Day

I had been looking forward to have a cute little girl to make a St. Patty's outfit for months before Daphne was even born (since I knew it would be her first holiday!). I had planned on making her a cute outfit but was a little naive as to how time consuming this cute little girl would be. A day or two before St. Patty's Day while on a run for wipes and formula, I found this cute onesie at walmart and decided I could handle a 3 dollar splurge and a reality check that making her outfit wasn't realistic. We celebrated the actual holiday by feeding, changing diapers, sleeping, and a ammetoure attempt at a photo shoot:)


3 Generations

When Daphne was almost two weeks old my mom and I went to a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law, Kamille. My dad babysat Daphne while we were at the shower. Afterwards our friends, Mary and Joy Deaton came to meet Daphne and took a few pictures of Daphne with my parents and I.

Grandma Black, Daphne, Me, and Grandpa Black
Daphne with Grandma Black

So sleepy!

Since we have been home....

This is going to be a VERY long post but since I have started printing my blog into books I want to include all the pictures I want printed for memory sake. Hopefully I get better at posting more often so the pictures won't be as much of an overload! But in the meantime....here is an overview of the past month:)

These are the cute flowers we found sitting on the doorstep from my boss when we came home from the hospital

Sleeping in her bouncer at about 3 days old


Our little baby burrito...she LOVES being swaddled. She was 3 or 4 days old here and it was one of the first times she was awake long enough to capture her eyes open on camera.

I took this picture right before Daphne and I went to Mckay at 6 days old to get some help with feeding her. Sad thing is, this outfit lasted all but 10 seconds. Right after I took this picture she had a blowout, I put her in another outfit which she then peed through on the way to the hospital:) If I remember right she also peed on me that morning too...all this happened while Dan was at church or else I hope she would've done it all for daddy instead!
On the ride to Mckay. She has been a binky addict since day one and I have to say I love the binky just as much!
One of the MANY funny faces she makes:) It is amazing at how quickly they change. Her eyes are so dark here compared to the light blue they now seem to be.
Meeting her Uncle Gabe for the first time. Well, or at least Gabe meeting her. She had her eyes closed the whole time Dan's family came to visit despite all the efforts to get her to open her cute little eyes!
Grandma Jasmer trying to get her to wake up. She was about a week old in these pictures. Dan's family was among the many that were so nice to drop by and bring us a meal. We sure were spoiled upon coming home and appreciate all the meals that were brought to us!
A little over a week after Daphne was born she got to meet her cousin Boston for the first time when he brought us dinner:) Boston is about 2.5 weeks older than Daphne.

Daphne's first visit to my parent's house at 12 days old. My dad babysat her while my mom and I went to my future sister-in-law's bridal shower. It was my first time away from Daphne to do something fun and it sure felt weird! Talk about separation anxiety!

After the shower she was able to meet Dana Cooper, my second mom growing up! I was so excited for her to get to meet Daphne. She has had lots of other visitors as well but I haven't been the best at always taking pictures.
This picture was taken later on that night. I just had to take a picture of her because this face cracks me up. She makes these face whenever she seems surprised...lol
Hanging out with daddy
Eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, or some meal in-between....I love how the bottles are all bigger than her head!
Our attempt at catching Daphne's smile on camera. Dan and I are way too amused by the laughs and smiles she makes while asleep!
Daphne playing by herself in her cute Zebra outfit.
Overall this past month has been great. It has definitely had its ups and downs but we sure do enjoy having Daphne in our home. I can't believe how much she is growing and changing. It seems like just yesterday she slept all day long (which I guess yesterday isn't too far off from the truth!) and now she just takes a few naps here and there during the day. I love how interactive she is becoming and I am loving this time I have to spend a few months with her before I have to go back to work. She's a keeper!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Hospital Pictures

Here are the pictures from the hospital that I meant to have go with the last post. Dan was able to bathe Daphne right after she was born and the grandparents all got to watch. My parents were there as well as Dans...but somehow we didn't get any pictures of them.



Daphne with Grandma & Grandpa Jasmer
Uncle Rueben & soon-to-be Aunt Kamille also came to visit


Daphne meeting her other Aunt Camille:)
All ready to go home!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Daphne Emma Crandall

Daphne Emma Crandall was born on Monday, February 27th, 2012. We are so happy to have her as a part of our family and love her more than we ever knew possible. The task of raising a child is so much more overwhelming than we ever realized it would be, but she is worth it. We feel honored that Heavenly Father trusted us enough to send us our little miracle baby.

Shortly after Dan and I got married I was diagnosed with PCOS and told by doctors that having kids could potentially be an impossible dream. Last year as I was getting close to graduating from college, Dan and I felt that it was time for us to try to start our family. Shortly after we made the decision, the stars aligned and my routine labs were in the normal range for the first time since I was diagnosed (meaning that there was a chance I could get pregnant on my own for the first time ever). It was such an amazing feeling to know that "with God all things are possible" and that us having children was an actual possibility. A few months later that possibility became a reality. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be pregnant and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Yes, there were tough moments, but overall I loved the bonding experience I had with Daphne prior to her arrival.

Now onto her birth story:) Let me first off start by saying we were shocked she was born on her due date! Everyone had been teasing us (and secretly hoping) that she would come two days late on leap day and we had begun to believe that she wanted to come on that date as well. I hadn't progressed much at previous appointments and the doctor believed she would be late as well.

Sunday night my family brought us dinner and stayed for a few hours to visit. I started having some irregular contractions while they were there, but didn't think much of it because of how many times I had started to have false labor symptoms over the past few weeks. After they left we got ready for bed and settled down for the night about 11 PM. I quickly realized that I wasn't going to get any sleep at all because my contractions were starting to become more regular. By 2 AM they were coming about every 5 minutes, so I woke Dan up and told him that I wanted to walk the neighborhood to make sure that they stayed consistent (I didn't want to get to the hospital and be sent home). So we bundled up and walked around our circle for about 45 minutes and sure enough they started getting closer together. We arrived at the hospital at 3am only to be sent home about 5am. Although, by that point my contractions were about 2 minutes apart I was not dilating. They said to come back when the got more intense and closer together (not sure the latter was really possible!). The funny part about the word "intense" is that you don't know what more intense is until you experience it...I remember thinking "how can they get more intense than this?".

After coming home, we spent a few hours trying to rest between contractions and then went on another long walk. My contractions were becoming much worse but kept on getting further and further apart (and more irregular). I had a doctor's appointment at 3:30 that day, but around 1:30 I had Dan call their office because I wasn't sure what to do. My contractions were HORRIBLE but so irregular. I didn't want to go to the hospital for a second time and get sent home again. They said for me to come in right away instead of waiting for my appointment time. We got to the doctor's office about 2 PM. By the time we got there I realized that I was definitely in active labor and should be at the hospital instead....and sure enough, I was!

The doctor said that I was far enough along that I could have an epidural as soon as I got to the hospital. He called ahead and had them get a room ready for me. There was quite a bit of traffic so we didn't get to the hospital until about 3:20 PM (his office is about 20 minutes north of our home...and the hospital is 20 minutes south). At this point everything just went by so fast I didn't really have time to process the fact that I was about to have a baby.

By about 4:30 I had been admitted, taken to my room, changed, had an IV placed, and got an epidural. Shortly thereafter the doctor came in and broke my water. At this point we finally settled down to fill out all the hospital paperwork. When all the paperwork was finished, we finally looked at each other and wondered what we would do for the rest of the night. We were SURE that we had several hours to kill before Daphne would arrive. We decided to read our scriptures first and then go from there...right as we started reading my doctor came back in to see how I was doing before he headed home for a few hours (he wanted an idea of what time he thought he might have to come back). To everyone's surprise it was time for Daphne to arrive!

My doctor and nurses got everything ready to go and then about 20 minutes later Daphne was born at 6:22 PM:) She came so fast that my brain was having a hard time processing the fact that she was finally here! I remember thinking earlier in the day, that some women are in the first stage of labor for days and that she probably wasn't coming on her due date. I had mentally prepared myself for that possibility, so when she came within 3 hours of us arriving at the hospital we were both shocked but so happy to have her here!

We had planned on updating everyone and calling our parents when we had an idea of how soon she would arrive (so they knew about what time to expect to come visit) but we had no time. So instead, we were able to make the fun phone calls about an hour after she was born surprising everyone that she had already made her debut. Shortly after we got checked into our room in postpartum, our family arrived. It was great to have them there. They were able to watch Dan give Daphne her first bath and visit for a little while. The CNA on shift happened to be my SIL, Natatlie's, close friend. It was fun to have someone we knew there to help us and teach Dan how to give Daphne a bath.

We stayed at the hospital until Wednesday afternoon. We had some fun visitors during our stay. Since we have been home, life has definitely been a little hectic but we have enjoyed the experience so much. Although sometimes the days (or more accurate...the nights!) can be long, we can't believe how quickly time has gone by! Our little baby girl is already 3 weeks old. It seems like just yesterday she was born, but at the same time like she has always been with us. It's hard to remember what life was like before her. She definitely has us, as well as the rest of the family, smitten. She is one sweet girl and brings a very special spirit to our home. We look forward to all the fun memories we will make with her in the future.

We have been so grateful for all the help and support we have been given since we came home. So many family and friends have spoiled us with meals and leftovers that today (2.5 weeks since we came home) is only the third I have had to figure out dinner on my own. I am so grateful as well for the help my mom has given me. She has spent many hours either helping out or giving advice and support over the phone. My Dad and my Mother-in-law have been great as well at helping watch Daphne when needed. Dan's schedule has been extremely busy between work, school, and his church calling so we have really appreciated all the extra helping hands.

I promise to add some pictures soon!