Thursday, December 18, 2008

8 weeks


Ryan and I went to Kaylee's 8 week check up today. She is getting bigger... 11 lbs 3.5 oz. The doctor thought she looked great!
They had candy canes at the health center so Ryan and I thought we should start early with the sugar addiction...
We are really enjoying watching her smile more and hearing her coos. She is just so much fun!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Web Log = Blog :-)

So Ryan and I are finally all settled into Shauna and Kyle's house here in Taylorsville. Things have been crazy with a baby and moving and the holiday season and Ryan working on a project to project basis. Ironically now that we decided to move north all of the sudden most of Ryan's work has been taking place down in Provo. I keep asking myself if this was a mistake but at least I have been enjoying being closer to my family and working out with Shauna. I think the biggest benefit of moving is going to be how close I will be to my Salt Lake classes in January. I'm going to probably just have Ryan drop me off at the closest trax station and then trax will drop me off right at the BYU SLC campus. This will help us get around the car issue hopefully. (BYU pays for part of the trax pass too which will be nice)
I blogged long ago about the scooter Ryan bought and since then that scooter has broken down, been repaired (very expensively) and broken down again shortly there after. The second time it broke down it got towed and we had to pay to get it out. GROSS. Who knew that thing would rob us of so many funds!
We are just about finished with our holiday shopping and only have some small touches to add to a few presents. As you get older Christmas looses the joy and turns into stress. It's sad really how commercial and materialistic Christmas is. Melissa has designed a very cute Christmas card and baby announcement for me that I intend to print and send out to some family members this week. I'll post them now but if you do get one in the mail you have to promise to be surprised :-)...






















Kaylee is totally a daddy's girl! If she cry's I hand her to dad and he calms her. Maybe he is just more patient but she loves sleeping with him! I think I can guess her first word:-) I took a picture with my phone the other night to prove it...
I have another picture that is very similar from her first night away from the hospital... This is not a new thing.

On Saturday night we went to Bailee Russel's Wedding reception and she was beautiful and beaming as a bride should be. I forgot to take a picture but I'm sure she'll have some on facebook for me to steal soon :-)
We also went to the MTC Media Christmas party. There were some new faces but a lot of old ones too. In hindsight I now realize that I had it so good there. I loved that job and the people I worked with! They played a game where they asked questions about employees and were nice enough to include me... "What is Stacey's maiden name" A few people knew from face book but it is sad how a name that is such a part of you for 20 years can suddenly mean nothing to so many people! The other question was "what was Stacey's obsession in high school that she even had a web site for"... Nsync. Rob guessed Justin Timberlake as a joke and didn't realize he was close ;-) We played white elephant which was fun... Jessie got an amazing pair of 7x boxers...
This is the whole fam at the event... Sorry I'm hiding and Kaylee isn't looking but whatevs...

So I guess that's about it for now... I actually had a chance to write more than a few words and that's good :-)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Kaylee's Blessing

We blessed Kaylee on the 7th in our Springville ward. We gathered for a family luncheon after wards. Here are some pictures of the event.



Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Pictures!

We took family/newborn pictures on Saturday and I could not be more excited! I love them so much. Here are a few goodies from the disc...






You can see other pictures in that facebook album that I provided a link to a couple of posts ago...

Friday, November 14, 2008

Down and Groovy

As I mentioned once before, Ryan and I run Chelsie's official site.... www.ChelsieHightowerDance.com.
Well as of today you can now purchase all of Chelsie's clothing line on that site. (Currently there is only one shirt but they plan to release more)

We are offering free shipping to celebrate the release of our store!

Here is the Down and Groovy shirt that is available now...
PS If you really want the shirt and you are reading our blog, chances are we could give you the family rate so let us know if you seriously want one.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I know I'm so boring but I have an excuse...

Well as I have explained before, I don't have the best camera. We did buy a new one in honor of Kaylee because we knew we would have to capture her cuteness! It arrived the day I went to the hospital but it was malfunctioning so Ryan had to send it back. There is supposed to be a replacement coming but for the time being that is my excuse for having no new pictures of my baby girl even though she is more alert and cute these days and growing SO FAST! She is growing out of her newborn clothes at a frightening rate. My mom bought her some the other day and I haven't even seen them yet... hopefully I can get them before she outgrows them! I've been reading eclipse while I nurse and she eats so much that I'm already very far into the book. I'm eternally tired... THE END. Kaylee eats about every 2.5 hours like clock work. I really hate having my sleep interrupted. I die when I hear her crying. I have a bassinet in my room but with all the grunting she does I wasn't sleeping at all. I put her in her crib so that I wouldn't check on her unless she was actually hungry and not just making noises.

IN OTHER NEWS...
Ryan and I are moving... HUH? It's all happening very fast and I am terrified. Ryan is 100% freelance right now. He still has more work than any human being should attempt to accomplish but there is no guarantee that things will stay that way. Who needs a steady paycheck?
Ryan and I have been playing with the idea of moving in with my sister and renting out our place ever since he started working in Draper. The only problem is that the Draper job is also freelance so we have no idea how long there will be work for him there. That being said, renters just sort of landed on our door step and we both kept feeling like for some reason we needed to make this move even though we have no idea if it's the smartest move. Now all of the sudden it is this reality that is only a week and a half a way!
It is sad that I am leaving the Young Women even though I just got called. I'm also a little worried about the fact that Kaylee will be blessed here even though we won't live here.
The good news is that now I can take all my BYU classes for next semester in the Salt Lake center and Shauna and I can help each other out with the babies and the food and all that fun stuff.
Somehow I now have to find time to take care of baby and keep the house running and ... PACK... ewwww. If anyone feels inclined to assist, be my guest. All I really want to do is crawl into a hole and sleep!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pictures!

I'm adding pictures slowly to this facebook album. If you care to see the latest Kaylee pictures check this link periodically...
Click Here

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Kaylee... the whole labor story

Where to start? I have included all the details for anyone who wants to know and pictures for those who don't :-)








Warning this story is mostly me ranting about the stupidity that is the provo baby factory hospital.
Yes, baby Kaylee came exactly 2 weeks early to my surprise! It sure is a good thing I decided to quit at Thrive two weeks early.

On Tuesday night Ryan and I stayed at his mom's house so that we would be that much closer to his jobs and he wouldn't have to drive so much. Unfortunately I couldn't sleep very well because I was having minor contractions all night long. The thought crossed my mind that they could be contractions but I didn't want to get my hopes up so I assumed it was probably a bathroom problem of some sort for most of the night. As morning came they got pretty close together and I realized this was for real. I decided to go to the hospital because they were only 5-10 minutes apart as I lied there in the morning but when I got up to get ready they got further apart. We decided to drive home so that we could pack a hospital bag and get ready for the day. After that we drove to the hospital to see where I was at. They monitored me for an hour and then didn't see enough progress to warrant me staying. So we drove back home and tried to sleep a little. When the contractions got bad (6:30 pm ish) we headed back. Again they monitored me but decided to keep me there this time because I had progressed some.
I had some retarded nurses throughout my stay at the Utah Valley Hospital but I survived. people these days just don't give birth with out an epidural so they just didn't know what to do with me. My main nurse was like so why don't you want one. She tried to push it on me a little and that was annoying (more on her later.) The one time I really struggled was when I was at a 4 during one painful check and then still at a 4 during the next check. I was so over it! What saved me is the decision to take phentanyl at this point. It took the edge off the contractions just enough for me to survive them and it relaxed me enough for me to get some sleep and allow my body to progress. (Sorry if that bursts the bubble of all those who thought I had no pain killers at all.) I had 1 dose per hour for 4 hours. (About 12:30- 4:30 am ish) After you reach an 8 though they will not give you any more and it's effectiveness does wear off over time so you can't just take it all the time. All the nurses could care less about when I was having a contraction and wanted to be left alone because they are so accustomed to people not feeling anything. The real kicker is that at the end I progressed really fast from a 7 to 10. When my dumb nurse saw I was at a 7 she thought she had tons of time but the chart of my contractions showed otherwise. She came in and was like looking at my chart and was like what are you doing and I was like I need to push! She told me to breath through the need to push because I could tear. That was SO PAINFUL! Kayee was coming out and I was supposed to resist it. She came in and said well the shifts are changing so I'll get you a new nurse. She didn't check me and didn't wait for a new nurse to come be with me she just was done. Finally when I felt the baby coming out my mom went and grabbed a random nurse who came and checked me and said your ready. (I was so mad. How long had I been complete and "breathing through" the urge to push for no reason!) My doctor was not there because he had been assured I was only at a 7 despite not having my doctor or nurse be there yet I was crowning so the nurse there said it's okay to push honey. I litterally thanked her! I was pushing because it felt good I wasn't even thinking about getting the baby out. When the doctor got there and I was pushing I heard him say she's coming out this time and I was like seriously? I just started. She came out with the cord wrapped around her a bit, but she was good and strong! The only complication with Kaylee is that she had the marconium in there with her so they had to basically stick a second IV up inside of me to try and flush it out. That was not fun! I tore a little and again it was forgotten that I was without an epidural. The genius doctor just started sewing and I was like OWE! He was like hmmm I guess I should numb you. I got to feed her right away and she was HUNGRY! Then they quickly took her and my family away from me and whisked me off to my recovery room. I was left there all alone with no baby, husband, or family. Heck I didn't even have a nurse call button. (The one in my room disappeared and my mother in law was like WHAT THE HECK? why does she not have a call button and why has no one noticed?) When I did get a recovery nurse I liked her a lot. The only problem with her is when I first met her she was all about trying to give me as many pain killers as possible... do these people get commissions off pain killers or something? (yeah those ibuprofen that they charge $8 per pill)
So I hadn't mentioned but my doctor has been out of town which I am so sad about. In theory a doctor was supposed to check me before I left the hospital but everyone was too inconvenienced by me to do so! I was told that I had to get out of the hospital by 48 hours after my delivery. Yeah that mean 6:30 am was my checkout time. I decided to leave the night before because that is ridiculous.

I am just happy to be away from there and have my baby here!
She is a GOOD baby! Even when she is hungry she will keep quiet and let you know she is hungry but will still be patient if need be. Breastfeeding had it's own disasters for a while. At first she would only eat off one side and I was like COME ON KID! Then once she figured out that side, the side she liked got kind of plugged and engorged. OUCH. Most of the major problem have now been resolved and I am just in love with my little girl!

PS for those of you wondering why I went natural, I was inspired by my sister who has delivered both her kids without need of an epidural and a book called hypnobirthing.... You don't have to go natural but I think more woman should understand how labor works, understand the power of a woman's mind and body and learn to help labor, not hinder it!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

She's Here!

Kaylee Marie Hightower arrived this morning at 6:28 am, weighing 7 lbs. 9 oz. and measuring 19" long! After about 11 hrs. of labor (without an epidural!), both mom and baby are doing very well. And a whole two weeks early too! Congratulations, mom!



Mom and baby.



Dad and baby. (of course, she cries for me :)



Baby Kaylee getting after getting cleaned up.



Baby Kaylee posing for the camera.



Aaargh! I'm a pirate!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

BABY SHOWER!

Saturday was my baby shower so I did take pictures as requested. Sorry we weren't really thinking and never took a normal body shot belly picture. You will notive my new hair cut...
Shauna took a few pictures with my camera and didn't like them (my camera kind of sucks hence the fact that I do not use it) So she switched to melissa's cam and it had a fingerprint... oh well you get the idea.
The Hightowers all went in on a really nice baby swing for us which I set up on my day off on Monday. (So much harder to do with a giant stomach)

Mom gave me all the clothes she has been stock piling for ever. She can't pass up anything that is cute and a good deal so I benefit!

Kristi gave me this cute little octopus toy.

I was super excited about all the practical gifts I got such as diapers and wipes (can't get enough!)

All in all it was a great day. I was so grateful to everyone who made an appearance. I even had a few of my friends from Flagstaff come. (Well they are at BYU now)
Thanks for the shower sisters and mom!


Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Life

Well a lot has happened since I last posted anything so this is just going to be another boring catch up... As Usual I am very bad about taking pictures so I will steal them where I can to add interest.

We had and opportunity to go have dinner with Chelsie and watch her perform when the SYTYCD tour came through town. We also got to go back stage and meet all the dancers.
I also got a IV real sweatshirt for free which I am pretty excited about. (It's fun to have connections) It was a great evening but I definitely didn't make it to work on time the next day!

More recently they hired my replacement at work only to have her disappear after a few hours and never return. I laughed about it but really they are going to be in trouble when I leave!

My sisters and mom are throwing me a baby shower on Saturday
and I am getting my hair cut that morning. I can't wait. My cousin Taylor sent some pictures to use as inspiration and I decided to go for a look that is something like this
Ryan got a job offer on a project in Draper today. The company has done some really cool stuff and this job has a lot of potential for him. However because this is only temporary for now he has decided to keep working 30 hours a week at Thrive. Yes that means 70 hours of working... EWWWW! I figure I'll never see him but hopefully I'll live. We are going to stay at his moms house for the next 3 weeks till I'm done with work . It's going to be crazy but hopefully things will all work out for the best.
I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning and will continue to have them weekly until Kaylee arrives (Kaylee Marie has been our tentative name for a while now and since it's only a few weeks away now and nothing else has been discussed I think that will be her name!)
Oh yeah I can't remember if I mentioned it but My mom and I set up the baby's room over labor day weekend and it turned out really cute!

Well I think that's all for now...

Friday, September 19, 2008

Fight Poverty! Vote for Kiva

Kiva is a marvelous institution that is helping to fund micro-credit projects all around the world. I personally have an account with them through which i've been able to help fund a few micro credit loans. If you haven't looked at it yet, i suggest you do! http://kiva.org
In the meantime, vote for them using the link above if you have an american express card or spread the word to your friends!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Young Womens


I guess I forgot to mention... I am no longer teaching sunbeams with Ryan. I am the first counselor in the Young Womens...YAY! I just hope I can be as awesome as my leaders were :-)

Monday, August 25, 2008

Promotion... and other stuff

I was just made manager over the technical support department at work. As I am sure you can imagine I was quite surprised because, well, look at me (PREGO)...

None the less I was excited about the dollar raise (Even though I still think I'm making less than a lot of the people I will be managing but that's another story)and we were LONG OVERDUE for a manager in our department. I am excited because there are changes that really need to be made and I am ready to make those happen. Hopefully it doesn't add too much stress to my life (after all I did already forget a doctor's appt this morning which I am so mad at myself for.) Also I now get to work the best hours and I get the biggest desk... I secretly love the power too JK!

As a side note my ever busy husband decided to make an official website for Chelsie. If anyone cares to see it, go to www.ChelsieHightowerDance.com

Graduate!

Ryan is officially a college GRADUATE! YAY!!! He got his Bachelors in Spanish.

His graduation took 2 days... On the first day I was the only one there and I sat right behind him. Afterwards we took a bunch of dorky picture of him :-)...

We also took a normal one of us together... I look so chubby:-(
That night Melissa went into labor and early the next morning Damien Bruce Smith was born. (For those of you who don't remember Melissa's first was born on our wedding day... A little bit of irony for everyone) Here he is with Memi...
On Friday we all (only the girls came) got to watch him officially walk (Ryan, not the baby)...
It was weird because people kept stopping Chelsie to get pictures... sometimes I forget she's so well known now!
Afterwards we went out to eat at his favorite Salvadorian restaurant to celebrate.

Friday, August 8, 2008

American Idol

So my friend Heather and I decided it would be fun to audition for AI... It was an experience:-) We were like the last to audition in a group that was ... LARGE as you can see below...We got to the areena around 7 am the day of the audition and waited outside for about an hour and a half . Here we are outside...Once inside they took a bunch of crowd shots and Shots with Ryan and then got us all going on the auditions for producers. They set up 10 booths of producers and everyone auditioned 4 at a time...Since we were basically last to audition we got to watch basically everyone go through the line. Out of that whole arena of people, about 5% of the people passed through the first producers. Many of which only made it through because they were so awful. I saw two guys from vocal point (BYU's national champ a capella group) audition and get cut instantly. It was about then that I began to wonder why I was still in line. After around 11 hours of waiting we finally had our chance on the floor to sing for about 45 seconds. (I sang let's hear it for the boy) Then the judge said thanks for coming, you make this show great job but this is the end of the road for you all. We walked passed her and they cut off the wrist bands we were so proud to be wearing...

(sorry my camera takes very blurry pictures in low lighting...)
It was a fun experience and if I ever did it again I will have to make sure I am not 6 months pregnant! Hungry, tired, pregnant... ick.

Owls

Ryan's mom got tickets from her work to the Owls baseball game in Orem. It was fun to be with the family but the game itself was super lame! We got KILLED. We ended up leaving when we were behind by like 12 runs :-) The good news is we all got a bunch of free gum and even got some free dippin dots. I enjoyed a good ol' baseball hot dog (funny I've actually eaten a few hot dogs since I've been pregnant.) Any way here are some pictures of the event...


On the grass watching the game...