A whoo-whoo, two fountains and lots of flowers

The first Sunday of every month is called Fast Sunday in our church. This Sunday is set apart for members to fast two meals and give the money they would have used for those meals to the church to help people in the ward who may be in need of things.

Fast Sunday is also special for our family because we have made it a tradition to drive to the temple and let the kids walk around the temple grounds.

In preparation for Lizzie's baby blessing, we wanted to get some pictures of her to make an announcement. It was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun.

These two are such good friends (except when they are fighting).

The First Two Weeks

Here are some of the pictures from our first two weeks as a family of five (six when Tay is home).

Reading scriptures together.

He loves being a big brother.

We tried to act out the story of the birth of our Savior. It was pretty crazy but the kids loved it.

Daddy with all his munchkins.

Noah will ask to hold Liz and then after a few seconds he will look at Kyle or I and say "I'm all done."

Gabs adores her little sister. Most of the time unless she's crying a lot.

Pretty much sums it up what those first two weeks were like.

So cute and snuggly.

Coming Home

I really am sorry about not keeping this up to date. For some reason I haven't wanted anything to do with posting on the blog. But since I've been asked for more pictures, I'll try to do better.

Here are the pictures of Liz getting dressed to come home from the hospital. Kyle has dressed all of our children and gotten them ready to join our family at home. It's a fun tradition that he has because it gives him that special 'daddy' moment with them that he doesn't get too many of otherwise.

We had a specific outfit picked out for Liz to come home in but we weren't planning on the fact that she was going to be so small. Thankfully we had a super cute newborn sleeper that her Aunt Chelle sent us.

So little.

What the Heck?

No picture post today but just had to write this down so I don't forget about it. Lizzie had her first tummy time on Saturday night after the other kids went to bed. She took it for a little bit and then decided to flip herself onto her back. At 5 weeks old! Then she did the same thing last night while we were playing a family game.

Mommy Time

Gabbie had a really hard time with me in the hospital. She and Kyle had a few good talks after she broke down in tears. He decided to bring her up to the hospital Sunday after church so we could have some alone time.

She got her big sister present from Lizzie and loved it!

Silly girl. Those shoes are for your doll not the horse.

Taking over the bed and watching a movie while Mommy practiced her deep breathing.

Exhausted and ready for sleep but not ready to leave Mommy.

Thankfully I came home the day after. I don't know how she would have handled it if I was in the hospital much longer.

Meeting Family

Once I was out of recovery, everyone came up to the hospital to see me and meet Lizzie.

The kids were a little sad that I was in the bed but seemed to do okay. They really wanted to go see their sister so they were pretty sad that wasn't allowed.

Noah with his best bud, my sisters boyfriend, as they waited to see Mom and Lizzie.

Our cousin Brayden waiting so patiently.

These pictures are how I first got to meet my baby. After those first few minutes looking at her after surgery and then not seeing her at all, these pictures were such a gift. Thank you Taylor and Mom for taking them for me.

Unexpected Gift

A lot of you already know how difficult and different this pregnancy was for our family. The issues with antibodies seemed to take care of itself only to be replaced by other issues.

We went in for a routine fetal growth ultrasound around 30 weeks. Our baby girl was still breech and her measurements were pushing our due date back later in the month of January.

When I went in for my next appointment, my doctor was very honest with me and informed me that Lizzie had the cord wrapped around her neck and wasn't growing. The fluid around her was also decreasing each time I had an ultrasound. We decided to give her a few more weeks and do another ultrasound. When I hit 37 weeks, we did a final ultrasound on Friday afternoon, December 16. Our doctor said based on the results of that we would either have her by the latest on Monday or Tuesday or earliest on Friday if the results were terrible. The due date was later still and my fluid levels had gone down again. My doctor called us Saturday morning around 6:40am while we were at Bountiful Baskets and said he wanted to do a c-section that day and get her out of me.

We found a sitter for Gabbie and Noah until my parents, who were driving down to spend the week with us, arrived and headed off to the hospital for a c-section.

Getting his awesome shoes on before we headed into the operating room.

Kyle got to sit outside while I went in to prep. I can honestly say that I spent that whole time praying that everything would be okay. I had never had any kind of surgery and I was freaking out a little bit when I walked in the room and saw it all laid out for surgery. They administered the spinal and then asked me to try to move my legs and see if I could. I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I tried to move them and couldn't. It was either that or cry. The surgery part went very quickly. My doctor came in and said he was going to start then all the sudden I hear Lizzie crying.

Elizabeth Anne Christensen was born at 11:15 am on Saturday, December 17, 2011. She weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces and was 18 inches long.

Kyle said she literally looked like a blueberry when she came out. I'm grateful I didn't have to see all of that. She was put on oxygen and they took her over to the NICU because she was struggling to breathe.

I did get to see her before she left and we took a few pictures.

She was admitted to NICU shortly after birth while I was wheeled to recovery. As the drugs started to wear off, I started to itch like crazy. Kyle laughed at me because I asked him to help me itch parts of my body I couldn't reach while laying down. I was pretty mad at him at the time because he didn't help me. Apparently during my surgery, I lost some blood and ended up anemic so the first time I got up out of bed to use the bathroom post surgery, I blacked out on the toilet. Embarrassing memory. I was told as soon as I could get up and walk around I would be able to go to the NICU and see Lizzie. So I tried again a bit later in the day to sit up in a chair. I made it a bit longer but started to get dizzy and black out again so I got sent back to bed. I think the hardest part for me of recovering was not being able to see my baby. I got to see her for the few minutes after surgery and then didn't see her again until Monday. Not my favorite experience. I was released on Monday but we had to leave our little girl at the hospital for a day. More on that to come. I had some issues with uncontrollable shaking and pain in the first few days after I got home which we think was because of the meds I was taking.

I'm so grateful that things went as smoothly as they did. I know I was imagining the worst and am grateful for a worthy husband who could give me a blessing in the hospital when I was struggling the most. We are so blessed to have our sweet little girl in our family. Thank you to everyone for all your love and support during these past 9 months of pregnancy.

Sticker Fun

What would Gabs and Noah do with stickers?

They would share one with each person around and then put the rest all over their shirts. The entire pack. Crazy kiddos.

Never a dull moment with these two. They keep us on our toes and laughing all the time.

A trip to the zoo? I think so!

We knew we had to go on one final trip to the zoo before baby Lizzie was to be born. So we forgot about doing Saturday jobs and headed down to the zoo instead.

They love this tube. We would spend 20 minutes there if I would let them.

While everyone else was watching the elephants do tricks, Gabs wanted to get her picture standing on this elephant.

Three of my most favorite people!

I love when these two play together. They are so cute and get along very well, most of the time. Ha, who am I kidding. They fight all the time but get over it quickly.

Big bear hugs!

Apparently walking around the zoo was too much for Kyle.

Now they are hiding inside so the rain can't get them.

'I can't see.'
'Here Bubs let me point it in the right direction.'
'No Mom! I do it all self.'

Noah and I split off from Kyle and Gabs to go ride a turtle.

Then we found them again so we could ride swans together...

And peep out from a tunnel to find Mommy.