Laundry Leak

About a month ago, we discovered a very annoying problem in our house.... A leak. We'd had a soft spot of sorts in the drywall in the kitchen for a while, but it was getting worse. When we had a termite inspection done (because they'd been seen a lot around our neighborhood), the guy poked around a bit in that hole, found a pipe, and said we likely had a water leak.

So Justin cut a whole in the wall to check it out.

Sure enough, there was the drain pipe for our washing machine (Our laundry room is upstairs)

And once Justin pulled the stove away from the wall, we could peek behind the cabinets and see the water damage that had slowly been getting worse over the last 5 years since our house was built. Yuck.

We did some thinking, figuring, and Justin and my dad did some hunting in the neighborhood for a house under construction with our floor plan to get a feel for where the pipes were located amongst the framing. Then they measured, marked, and busted out a saw.

As you can see, they're not in the kitchen... The living room is on the other side of the wall from the kitchen and based on where they figured the leak was, it was easier to go in from the living room side than deal with working around the upper cabinets in the kitchen.

Sadly, the leak wasn't in the teeny spot they'd first thought it would be. So they ended up cutting out a piece of the wall about 6ft tall x 18in wide. My pictures are sparse considering the whole project, but they eventually had to pin up a sheet to protect the room from all the flying drywall dust blowing around. I can't believe I missed taking a picture of them once they came out from under that sheet... They looked like ghosts. My mom had to vacuum them off... ;)

They were finally able to find the source of the leak though! It appears that after the walls were all built, the cabinet people were hanging the cabinets in the kitchen. From the multiple holes in the drywall around the pipe, it looks like they were pounding around trying to find a stud to screw the cabinets into. They hit something solid, and drilled the cabinets into it... Our laundry drain pipe, NOT a stud! Another fun fact to add... All this work got started the evening before we were going to the hospital for Brigette to come.... What a mess!!!

Anyways, on Brigette's birthday, my dad stayed at our house, cut out the damaged section and replaced it with a new piece of pipe without holes ;) The funniest part though, was when my dad texted Justin (while I was in labor, remember?) and said he'd gotten the new pipe all in place, but when he went to put the particle board and drywall back in place, he held them up there, grabbed a nail and hammered... right into the new pipe!! Really?! It was hilarious and so unpredictable, we could only laugh.... So he had to start all over again....

Then we set out to find someone to help us patch the drywall and match the texture. We really didn't know where to start. So we asked friends on facebook. Lucky us, some friends in the ward had just learned how to do all of this as they were working on a project in their own house. The people who taught them said the only payment they needed was for these friends of ours to go help someone else. So in the last week, we've basically had daily visits from them as they fixed our wall for us!

Now we have to decide if we want to pay a professional to come paint that whole room (double tall ceilings) because I don't want to just patch up with the yucky off-white flat paint that the builders put on. Oh, and re-hang all those "ancestor wall" pictures... That'll be fun...

Anyways, I'm REALLY glad to have my laundry capabilities back! Between discovering the leak and finally getting it fixed, I had to do laundry twice at someone else's house, no fun! Thank goodness for modern conveniences!

One Week & Sneak Peek

Brigette is one week old already!! Crazy! Some things to remember about her first week....

-She pretty much sleeps all the time. If she's not eating, she's likely sleeping. She'll have maybe 10 minutes of awake time a day.

-Her days and nights are actually pretty straight right now. During the day, she'll eat every 2-3 hours, but at night she'll go every 4-5. It's awesome. Basically she eats when we go to bed, wakes up once in the night, and then by the time she wakes up again, it's time to get up for the day :)

-If she's fussy, she usually calms down pretty quickly to Carrie's "lullaby"... Lalalala etc. to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

-She's a fantastic nurser! I've never had a good nurser before, so I didn't know what to expect. It's so much more convenient than pumping and bottle feeding!

-She's so dang cute and little that I just want to hold her alllll day long! At the same time, I don't want to start the habit of her needing to be held all the time so I have to pace myself with cuddle time ;)

-As for me, I'm staying pretty on top of my back pain with Lortab once or twice a day and a heating pad at night; not so convenient for July in Arizona, but better than ending up in the ER. And the swelling in my feet are finally almost back to normal size, hallelujah! Cankles are not attractive!

Back to Brigette... We had a newborn photo shoot and I snagged a few shots with my own camera. I'm so excited to see the real pictures soon from our friend Kevin Beeson! Here's a sneak peek though!

They Grow Up So Fast!!

Six days old and already holding her own bottle!!

She's usually a great nurser! Earlier though, she was being finicky about latching on, but I was ready to feed her. So I grabbed a bottle and let her feeding run into the bottle. About 15 minutes later, she started chugging away with daddy. 2 ounces downed! And she held it all by herself like this for several minutes!

Cute Girls & A Day with Daddy

Yesterday, Brigette was laying on my chest sleeping, and Carrie wanted a turn... Of course, she had to fake sleep too

 Brigette taking a nap in the sunbathing pose ;)

Her first bath at home. She looks decently content here, but when we first put her in the water, she did NOT like it! Of course, she didn't like getting out either, but that I would have expected; getting out of the nice warm water?! No fun!

All snuggled up in a towel

Carrie was a great helper choosing Brigette's towel and washrag and helping me keep warm water on her tummy while she was in the tub.

And obviously, I didn't take these pictures by myself. Justin took the day off work today to help out at home. He deserves a day off too after the day he had yesterday! He had to jump the battery in his car twice, and on the way home from work, he got a flat tire. He's usually home around 3:30, but between the time it took to jump the car, change a flat, buy a new battery, and buy a new tire (because the old one was irreparable), he didn't get home til 5:00.... Yuck! Anyways, we're loving having him for the day!

Since Coming Home

Daddy and Brigette all ready to go home on Sunday morning

Cutie patootie who barely fits into her newborn sized clothes (the onesie is all bunched up inside her pants so it looks like it fits better) ;)

Snug in her carseat, with the straps as small as they'll go! Her discharge weight was 5lbs, 11oz, (down 5 oz from her birthweight)

She had eaten around 9:30, so by the time we got discharged and pulled in at home around noon, I expected her to be close to ready to eat. Not so.... little stinker decided to have a sleep-a-thon all day! We kept trying to wake her up and get her to eat, but nothing was working. I finally pumped a little around 2:00 and by 3:30, we were able to "force-feed" her 18ml! Woohoo!

Fortunately the crummy eater stage was short-lived. She's been a champion eater ever since!

When Carrie came home that night, she got to open her present from Brigette..... A jump rope! Lately, her favorite bedtime story has a character who has a jump rope. Every night when we read it to her she says, "I've always wanted a jump rope for forever!"... So Brigette got one for her!

She immediately jumped up to ooh and ahh and coo, "Thank you so much Brigette!"

And then it was time to try it out! With help from daddy, of course.

And a little example jumping

Ready, set, go!.... Alright... it'll take a little practice, but she's sure enjoying trying!

The jump rope can only tear her attention away from baby sister for so long though. Within minutes, she was back to say hi again

And ask if she could hold the baby. In this picture, Brigette had started to fuss, so Carrie's comfort-shushing her

Kisses make everything better

Carrie gathered several "baby toys" from her collection to give to Brigette. Doesn't she look like she's having fun playing? ;)

The first thing Carrie wanted to do this morning was help burp Brigette. Who's surprised?....

All dressed up and ready for the day! And even the smallest bows we have look humongous on her!

Awake! I LOVE seeing her pretty eyes!!

Looking around and checking out her new home

Naptime with daddy

Naptime with mommy

All the girls!

This morning was Brigette's newborn checkup. She weighed in at 5lbs, 10oz. But with her eating and sleeping habits, she should be packing on the weight in no time! (Hopefully I'll be doing the opposite) ;)

A couple random things I'd forgotten to mention before... All our kids have been born on Fridays so far.... Brigette's hair is highlighted, very similar to the way Carrie's was as a newborn, not quite visible by camera, but you can definitely see it in person. Brigette's ears are slightly pointed on the tip, just enough to be cute. ;) And we often reference a mouse when talking about her. Her overall teeny size, her teeny feet that socks will not stay on, and most of all, the teeny high pitched squeaky noise she makes when she cries.

As for my recovery, I'm feeling pretty good so far! My back is sore, but in trying to avoid repeating my post-Brigham ER episode, I'm staying on top of the pain with anti-inflammatories, a heating pad, and rest. My feet are a little swollen, so I'm trying to keep them up and stay hydrated. Otherwise, I'm doing great! Because the actual "birthing process" was so quick, I didn't tear or anything, which is a huge blessing, I'm discovering!

We're all a little tired, but doing our best to rest and take advantage of my mom being here for a couple days to help out. Justin went back to work today, and hopefully didn't fall asleep at his desk! ;) Carrie's been a super helper already and just can't get enough of her new baby sister! We're all doing great so far and are enjoying having our sweet baby girl home with us!

Sisters

Carrie came in with my parents last night to visit. She's been so excited to have a baby sister!

Meeting Brigette for the first time. The first thing she said to me was, "Oh my.... She's sooo tiny!"

 Carrie couldn't keep her hands to herself! And who could blame her?! She is a stinkin' cute baby sister!

And of course, she wanted to hold her. The whole time she kept whispering sweet little things like "You're so beautiful Brigette...." and "I'm your big sister"

"I think she likes me!"

Our first family photo.... Yes, Justin and I have bedhead, Carrie's not looking, and Brigette's crying.... Oh well ;)

Another shot of the Gilbert Temple as seen from my hospital window. (Different time of day=different lighting and a better picture)

So cute and snuggly

Justin caught this cute picture this morning. We're both actually sleeping, I didn't know he took this :)

We're getting ready to head home later today and start our adventure with two little girls at home!

Brigette's Here!!

We're proud to announce the arrival of:
Brigette Joely Greer
July 20, 2012... 6:59pm
6lbs, 0oz... 19inches

Brigette has finally joined our family! **Quick insert, Brigette shares a birthday with her cousin Liam now!!** I'll give you a quick rundown of our day. First of all, of course it was hard to sleep the night before; too much anticipation! This is about 6:40am on D-day! All prettied up and ready for induction! (I LOVE being induced, if for no other reason, than I get to be prettied up before I go in!)

The night before I'd decided that McDonalds sounded delicious for breakfast, so after a quick swing through the drive-through, we were on our way to the hospital!

All checked in, IV'd, and pitocin finally started at 10:30am. When I got admitted I was 2cm, 70%. Gotta start somewhere I guess...

And because labor is pretty boring in the sense of pictures, we didn't really take any! So here's some text only info on how my labor progressed.

At 12:45pm, I got my epidural to hopefully help me relax because although I was contracting pretty good, I was still only a 2, and Brigette was still pretty high.

By 2:15 when they checked me again, I was a 4, woohoo! But... Brigette had her hand up by her head... No good for delivery. Also no good for breaking my water. So we waited and hoped she would move it out of the way soon!

By 4:30, I was still only a 4-5, but Brigette had moved her hand out of the way (hallelujah!) and moved down enough that the doctor broke my water! And in the instant that she did that, I went to 5-6cm!

Finally around 6:50, I was feeling "the pressure" and when the nurse checked me, I was a 9-9 1/2! Since the nurse (who was fabulous, btw) had been with me all day, she was very excited to meet Brigette! But her shift ended at 7:00, so she "helped out" a little, stretched me to a 10 and said, "Let's call the doctor!"

When she found out I'd only pushed for 9 minutes with my last baby, she said, "We won't have you do any practice pushes then, we'll just wait for the doctor" And it was a GOOD THING too!! Once the doctor came and got her little table set up, I pushed for literally 40 seconds.... One contraction, 4 pushes! And Brigette was here! Just in time for our nurse to meet her; 6:59pm!!

I got to have her up on my belly, which was AWESOME. We didn't get to do that with Brigham! Justin was able to cut her cord too. (Which, by the way, had a TRUE KNOT... Just like Carrie! No wonder our kids are IUGR! They're tying knots in their cords!!) To hear her cry was like heaven.... We were all bawling!

She weighed in at 6lbs even and measured 19 inches. Our smallest yet :)

Once we turned down all the bright lights she was wide awake and looking around with those beautiful eyes!

Daddy carrying her back from getting weighed to come eat with Mommy

Daddy, Brigette, and Mommy

Mommy and Brigette with Mommy's awesome nurse, Maggie! She was fantastic! I'm so glad Brigette made her debut just in time to meet her before her shift ended!

Teeny baby footprint-inked feet

Getting her bath, and NOT liking it!

All cleaned up and relaxed. And drowning in a shirt whose tag says 6 months.... Really? Did someone confuse 6 months and 6 lbs? ;)

Ahhh, finally cuddling our sweet girlie

"That was a lot of hard work! I'm going to take a nap!"

Daddy snuggle time in our post-partum room

In the middle of the night, I caught her sleeping with her hand in her face. Anyone surprised? ;)

Not the best picture, but if you look closely, that's the Gilbert Temple! We can see it from our window :)

Cuddled and cozy

And of course, we had to put her bow in!

She was a great eater the first few times last night, and then after she ate at 12:30, she did NOT want to eat again for a while! I tried from 4-4:30.... She would wake up, but not eat. The nurse said I could give her another hour and try again since she wasn't acting low-blood-sugary yet. So 5:30 came around... Nothing again... We checked her blood sugar, and it was 49. Apparently, it's still OK until it's down to 35. So I pumped a few milliliters of colostrum and around 7, we were finally able to SLOWLY coax her to swallow it from a syringe.

It seems that's all she need though! By 8:30, she was wide awake and STARVING! She ate for 17 minutes and I thought for sure she'd be full and take a nap for a while. Nope! 10 minutes after she "finished", she was chomping down and slurping on her fist, so she went back for seconds! Another 12 minutes and she was finally content! Now she's been sleeping peacefully for 2 1/2 hours :) Hopefully, she'll keep up the trend of being a good eater!

We're so excited to finally have her here with us! Carrie will be coming in for a visit later this afternoon and I'm sure I'll have tons of new pictures to post after that!