I.Heart.Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I love all the food! I love being around family and friends! I love that it's the official start of the holiday season! And it means our anniversary is right around the corner!

Since we always spend this holiday with family, Matt and I have never our very own Thanksgiving. This year was our very first attempt and I think it's safe to say...it was a total success! We decided that in order to free up our oven, that we would rotisserie our turkey breast outside on the grill. It was the juiciest, yummiest turkey we have ever had! I totally recommend this cooking style to everyone! Matt was in charge of the turkey, which turned out fab. And I took care of the rest of the spread. I made apple pie, pumpkin pie, and parker house rolls completely from scratch! I also made stuffing (my mother-in-law's recipe), mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. My mom made the yummy yams! She let me take charge, since she knows how much I love to cook. This Thanksgiving was awesome!


While I was busy in the kitchen, my mom had all sorts of goodies to entertain Rian. They colored placemats for all 4 of us. And they made these apple and candy turkeys. When I was younger, those turkeys were always my job, so it was fun to have Rian take on that tradition. Aren't they cute!

Rian tried on of the turkey feathers (candy fruit slice). She took one bit and said "it's too sweet", and then spit it out :) What a good kid, huh?!

Rian loves to hold her baby brother! And she loves to play computer games with Bama Lois!

Miles turned one week old today. We bought him the cute little "First Thanksgiving" outfit hoping he would be here in time! So glad that he is! I love how the feet say little turkey!

I love this time of year and the way it gets me thinking about all of my many blessings. I truly am blessed and i am so grateful for all that i have. I'm going to attempt to make a list, but honestly it could go on and on.....so just to name a few in no particular order.....that our prayers have been answered and that miles arrived here happy and healthy. my loving, hard-working, caring, supportive husband whom I just adore! the opportunity Heavenly Father has given me to bear children and witness the miracle of delivery. my smart, beautiful, out-going daughter and my new baby boy who is so good. all my friends and family back home. the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. all the friends we have made here on guam. my calling as first counselor in relief society and the opportunity I have to serve the sisters here. matt's job and the fact that it gives me the chance to stay at home with my little ones. the priesthood and it's presence in our home. our health and happiness. the Spirit and my Savior Jesus Christ. our home. my parents who would do anything for me and constantly do. the temple and our sealing. skype. the power of fast and prayer. for my freedom. the holidays and the time it allows us to reflect and remember our many blessings and the birth of our Redeemer...these are just a few :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

BLISS

BLISS = supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment....this is how I feel!!!


Miles is one week old today. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by already!

Matt was burping Miles and my mom captured this on her camera. It's our favorite pic so far :)

Big Sister and Bama Lois holding Miles at the hospital

Rian has been adjusting pretty well considering the circumstances. At night, she gets a little more feisty and wants more attention, but for the most part, she is doing really great. She loves her baby brother and especially loves feeding him!

Helping feed again!

Daddy giving Miles his bath. The first bath (which I didn't capture on film) he didn't like so much. This time, he enjoyed it much more...although his face may not show it in this shot :)

The bath exhausted him!

Check out this calic....gotta love it!

Bama Lois and Miles. They just love each other! I am so grateful my mom is here. She is so awesome and I am so lucky to have her as my mom! About 2.5 weeks til my dad gets here :) Rian can't wait to see him....and neither can I!

Everyone thinks Miles looks just like Rian did as a baby. Here they are in the same outfit. She is about 5 days older than him in these pics. Rian is on the left, Miles on the right.

Miles is such a good baby. We really lucked out! All he does is sleep, sleep, feed, and sleep! Occasionally he will wake up and enjoys walking around the house. His bilirubin levels were higher than the Dr wanted, so we had to go in the day after we were discharged to check the numbers. He had lost quite a bit of weight and was not filling up his diaper like he should have been. He was dehydrated. Apparently, I wasn't producing much milk yet.....surprise, surprise...my milk never came in with Rian. I was so worried. But we went in the following day and his weight went way back up and his bilirubin numbers were great. Now all he does is fill up his diaper! In fact, last night before bed, Matt and I were laughing hysterically because Miles pooped and we seriously went through 4 diapers in just that one diaper change. He just kept going and going. It was quite comical! I love having a newborn in our home again. He sleeps so well at night and I'm getting enough sleep to function throughout the day. At least for now, maybe it will hit me in a few days.

Rian is doing pretty well considering. She really wants to be involved with Miles and she wants her own time with both Matt and I too. Totally understandable. It's a little bit of an adjustment for me, but I am trying to make her feel very special too. Any advice on what has worked for you is totally welcomed! She has her first dance recital coming up and I can't wait for it! She really loves her dance class and her teacher. She also loves her weekly tumbles class! She has been going on lots of playdates with her friends too. It's so fun to watch her play with her friends! Thank heavens my mom is here to help out with all of Rian's outings! Rian has also been doing so well with recognizing letters and learning how to write her letters too. She can even spell some words. She also loves to type names/words on the computer, as well as play educational games on the computer and ipod touch. She is such a good girl and I am grateful to have her in my life! Seriously, how did I get so lucky! :)

Introducing.....

the newest member of our family....Miles Matthew Pine!!!
Born on November 19th at 8:08pm local date/time, 7 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long.
Both stats are almost the exact same as Rian, she was 7 lbs 14 oz and 20.5 inches long.
The birth story is at the bottom of this post, if you are interested.

His first picture taken just minutes after his birth.

He is absolutely gorgeous and just as perfect as can be!

Just minutes old

With his eyes open

A very proud Mommy with her beautiful new baby boy!

How precious is he?!

Beautiful flowers from my mom and my whole family....thanks guys, I love them!

In his bassinet with his stats above his head.

I loved this "property of" shirt :)





Look how long and skinny he is :)

I went to the Dr on Monday for my 38 week appt. I was dilated to a 4/5 and the Dr stripped my membranes and swore I was going to be having the baby that night. I started contractions about 3 hours after my appt. They were kind of all over the place. 4 mins apart, 7 mins, 15 mins, 3 mins, 4 mins, 8 mins, etc. We put Rian to bed and told her that when she woke up in the morning her baby brother would be here.....we were way wrong! My contractions slowed way down around 9 and I suddenly became exhausted. Soon I was sound asleep. When Rian woke in the morning, she asked if Baby Miles was here, we sadly had to tell her no :)

Tuesday I woke up with a few small contractions, so we were thinking that soon they would become more regular and therefore Matt stayed home from work. We decided to get a few errands done and by 230 I was starting to have painful contractions about 2-3 mins apart for 40 mins straight. We decided it was time and we went home to get our hospital bags. A few minutes after I sat down in the car, the contractions slowed down and once again exhaustion took over. I fell asleep on the way home. Needless to say, it wasn't time.

Wednesday I sent Matt back to work. I figured once my contractions decided to stay regular, I would call him to come home. I had contractions off and on all day.

Thursday morning I decided to call the Dr again. I knew these contractions had to have made me dilate more. She told me to come in. Matt happened to be at his physical therapy appt at the hospital when she wanted me to come in. So he joined me for the appt. I was now dilated to a 6 and she said that I needed to go to MBU (mother baby unit) now. We headed home for our bags and we were admitted to MBU at 2 pm. After some blood work and monitoring, I was given my epidural at 345 pm. I was hardly having any contractions and when I did they were hardly regular, so they broke my water and started pitocin at 445 pm. I was still a 6, 90% effaced, and at a -3 station.

My mom and Rian showed up at the hospital at 7. At 740 we asked my mom to take Rian to the store to get Matt some cold medicine (great time to be getting sick, huh?). At 755, the Dr came in to check me. I was dilated to a 10, 100% effaced, and a +2 station. I was ready to push. My contractions were still irregular at this point. I had a contraction while he was checking me so he asked me to push to see where the baby was. I pushed the baby's head half way out! He shockingly said STOP! And quickly called his team to get ready for this baby and told me whatever I do, DO NOT PUSH!! I asked Matt if he had hair and Matt said yes! Within mins they were all ready to go, but I wasn't having any contractions. Finally after a few mins of everyone waiting on me, I had a small contraction at 805 and I pushed one time. We then lost baby's heartbeat (this had been happening all night because he was moving all over the place). The RN tried moving the monitor to find it and after about a min, the Dr said lets just push since he is right there. So without a contraction, I pushed one more time and Baby Miles was out at 808 pm.

My mom and Rian returned to the hospital and came walking into the room to a sound of a crying baby just a couple mins after he was born. Rian said look at him, he is so little. She was smiling so big! Unfortunately, she is also a little under the weather, so she can't get too close to Miles. Soon we'll have pics of big sister Rian holding her baby brother!

We are so grateful for all your thoughts and prayers. Miles is absolutely beautiful and perfect! I know Heavenly Father answered our prayers! We were discharged from the hospital today and are adjusting to life at home with 2 :)