Santa Picture!

Emory is super proud of this picture, and because Mrs. Claus is holding her, she thinks that Mrs. Claus is the one in charge of presents etc. I think she's probably right about who's REALLY in charge of all the North Pole shenanigans and making sure that Christmas turns out okay!

Emory's Back!

My sweet little Emory is, well, sort-of back! She's still a two year old but she's being a lot better lately. I have a few stories that I want to share that made Cory and I pee our pants with laughter:
The Wise Men
As I was setting up our nativity of course my little helper/hurter, Emory, wanted to be right in the middle of it. While we were putting everything in it's place, I was telling her the story of Christ's birth. When I got to the wise men and told her they were bringing presents to baby Jesus for his birthday, she looked at the wise men (who are holding various containers, one looking like a pitcher) she said, and pointed to the guy holding the pitcher, "He's bringing Jesus 'spicy'!" Spicy around our house is also known as soda pop!

Super Why
If you haven't heard yet, my daughter is obsessed with Super Why. It's a PBS program that teaches kids their letters etc. I can't say enough good about it as Emory knows all her letters and most of the sounds that they make. Anyways, she has named everyone in our family a character from the show: Cory - Super Why, Rachel - Alpha Pig, Emory - Wonder Red, and Tessa - Princess Presto. She might call me mom one minute, the next she calls me Alpha Pig without any hesitation! A couple days ago, she runs into our room and yells "We have a super big problem . . . Super Why is missing!!" She knew he was at school, and still she launched a full investigation. We searched the whole house, checked the garage, looked outside, and then finally called him to see where he was. She made every movement just like the show! We even sang the "Hip-Hip Hooray" Song when we solved the problem! I was dying the whole time!

The true meaning of Christmas
Last Saturday we went to our Ward Christmas Party. They had a huge delicious breakfast and games and Santa came. As we were getting ready to go to the party, I told her that we were going to the church for a party and that she was going to get to sit on Santa's lap to tell him what she wanted for Christmas (semi-preparing her so she wouldn't freak). She looked over at me and said "No, mom, no . . . Jesus first!" It brought tears to my eyes, and made me feel like maybe I'm doing alright, as a mother.
PS She did great on Santa's lap, and we'll post the pictures soon.

Isn't this the most beautiful picture of the Salt Lake Temple that you've ever seen?!?! I may be biased since I'm from Salt Lake and that's where I was married, but . . . I've been wanting this forever and Cory brought it home last week as an early Christmas present. I LOVE IT! It's super big too, this little picture doesn't do it justice.

Anyways, life continues to be hectic around here. I bore my testimony in Sacrament Meeting last week and I guess I said something along the lines of "loving my children, but often times wanting to throw them out the window!" The next morning my visiting teacher came and took Emory away for the morning and then Emory went to her best friend Seneca's house today, while Tessa and I got some Christmas shopping done. So if your sick of your kids, threaten harm upon them in front of a congregation of 350 people and you'll get some relief! It's been nice for her to get out and do her own thing. Cory's been practicing for the 1st year vs 2nd year annual football game and is getting pretty excited about it. It's supposed to rain again this weekend so the girls and I might not get to go. Sad!

Skim boarding

Well, we had a ton of rain the last day and a half so our park across the street filled up with water. Since we moved here, Cory's wanted to skim board over there and finally he got to! The other videos are of Em and Tess singing and playing in Emory's bed.

I also forgot to say in the last blog that when I took them to the doctor last week, Em was underweight as usual, but Tessa weighed over 11 lbs.! I was in such shock I didn't pay attention to the ounce part. I'm so surprised because she's been a really fussy eater lately. She also started smiling back before Thanksgiving, and we're loving it! It's all she wants to do, sit up, look around, and cheese-it all day long!

Mountians and Tessa's Blessing

Thanksgiving and Tessa's Blessing

wow, time flies when your chasing a crazed toddler, constantly holding and feeding a baby, and helping out a husband; all while doing laundry, cooking dinner and keeping up with church callings! i never thought i could be such a proficient at typing with one hand, hence the non-capitalization!

our last few weeks have been eventful! after cory's mom and sister came to help, cory had a week of extreme finals that took a toll on all of us. his break seemed like it couldn't come soon enough. we enjoyed a week of relaxing and fun with the girls. emory basked in every moment of dad time that she could. she's definitely a "daddy's girl"!

my family drove down on the 20th and stayed till the 25th. emory was in absolute heaven! If someone even left the room for a minute, she was asking where they were - "mom, where's josh? where's animal (adam)?" etc. they loved all of her crazy two-year-old jibber jabber. we're especially fond of the fake sneezing when you try to get her to do something, aaaah aah ahhhh chooooo! everybody had a great time lovin' on tessa. she's especially fond of grandpa's shoulder, and kate could get a smile out of her better than anyone else. she's spoiled to death from being held so much, though. the boys golfed a couple times and i'm pretty sure they had a good time. emory got a cold the day before thanksgiving so we mostly stuck around the house. she's a real "treat" when she's sick! we had thanksgiving at a restaurant this year and it was fabulous! now prep or clean up and pretty good food, who could complain? we also went out to the "mountians", that's what they call them around here - they looked more like desert hills. the boys had fun throwing rocks at the cacti and especially were amazed by the teddy bear cholla or the jumping cactus. they're pretty wicked little things, they grab onto anything and everything and hurt like nobody's business - just ask kate!

the blessing was great except for the fact that tessa got the cold the day before. she was just miserable and looked so sad. she was quite the trooper, though. it was a beautiful blessing and she looked super cute in the dress my mom made her - GO MOM! (she's so talented and i'm glad she's mine!) the roundy's came and a few other family members and friends, but other than that it was just a small gathering, we had a good time. the christiansen's had to get up and go right after the blessing, unfortunately, and are back in chilly utah. we finally got our cool weather and i'm loving every minute of it. if i could just get these baby's feeling better, we'd be outside all day! the doctor said it's just a cold and that their chests were clear, so we'll be chillin' in our pj's for the next few days watching never ending kid shows and movies, lots of fun for me!

well, our count down begins for our trip home for christmas and we're looking forward to seeing friends and family!

Halloween and more!

Chupacabra!!!!

Well, I'm finally feeling like a human being!! It took 4 weeks, but I'm definitely going to make it. We're starting to get a little bit of a routine going, and that is helping my OCD a ton.

Tessa is turning into a fabulous "roly poly"! She's got the most awesome chipmunk cheeks. It's possible that they are there because she wants to nurse all day, everyday. I'm trying to feed her on demand, but I've started to try to push her to at least every 2 hours. She's super strong, too! She'll hold her head up forever, just lookin' around. Huge differences from my Emory baby days. Tessa will actually do "tummy time"! She was Sebastien for Halloween. I know, I know, that's a boy thing but we wanted her to go with Emory's costume. We went to Cory's school on Halloween. They do this really fun carnival, with games etc., and they let you trick-or-treat to all the faculty offices. We got way too much candy, but had a ton of fun. Everybody loved the girl's costumes, THANKS MOM!

Emory is still struggling. She's doing great with the actual baby, but just having a hard time adjusting to all the new routines etc. We're also having a very hard time disciplining her. Nothing works! She's simply out of control, when she wants to be, and an angel the next minutes! I pray for patience with her more than anything! She's such a cute little girl, though. Recently, she stared saying "It's too big hard!" when she's having a hard time with something. It cracks us up, all of the Emory-isms: Second-minutes, Push-it-out, Super-Why!, Cock-a-doodle-doo (she does this when she wants your attention, I think it's from Peter Pan) and the list goes on! She LOVES her baby Tessa and is very proud of her. We have to tell all the old ladies at the store about baby Tessa. She's a great big sister.

I, like I said before, am feeling semi-normal. We've showered and gotten dressed before 4:00 pm almost everyday this week! That's quite a feat for us! My "nip-ular" troubles seem to be a thing of the past! (Knock on wood!) Thanks to the great advice from friends and family and the wonders of the Internet, it seemed to be a latch on problem, that I fixed, and then it just took some time to heal. But all is well.

Cory is an official zombie. The poor kid is giving himself and ulcer! I think he's getting less sleep than me, and let's just say, that's not a whole lot! We didn't see him for about 48 hours straight, but the end is in sight. Tomorrow morning is the last test (HOORAY!) and he'll be off for two weeks.

We continue to have record heat in Phoenix. It's been 90+ degrees all week! I miss November sweater weather and we can't wait to come home to Utah at Christmas time. Our plans for the Holidays are as follows: Thanksgiving - We'll be down here. We decided to bless the baby on Sunday November 25th, so that made it convenient for my family to come for Thanksgiving. Christmas - Still no final plans but it looks like we'll come to Utah for the week between Christmas and New Year's. We're flying, so that'll be an adventure!

PS We've nick-named Tessa "Chupacabra"! It makes us laugh! Also, since the baby came not to much cooking has been going on, hence the Hot Pocket. I know, they're super gross, but sometimes you're so hungry and . . . oh well. This is a hilarious comedian talking about Hot Pockets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFFTwnYXI20

Emory riding her tricycle

She's a little weird about it, but we got her to ride her trike without having a heart attack for about 10 feet!

Holy Postpartum!

Well, it's official - I have no idea what I've gotten myself into! My mom abandoned us last Wednesday, and it's been sort-of down hill from there. The baby is doing really well. We've got a good sleep cycle down, she takes 2 or 3 good long naps a day and a hand full of cat naps. She goes to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 and sleeps till 2:30. She usually will get up one more time around 5:30 and then 8:30 is morning. Not too bad, I think. Feeding is still the struggle of my life! It just seems like it's one thing after another. I've always thought I had a pretty high pain threshold but this cracked nipple thing is killing me! I don't know how much longer I can stand it!
My biggest problem is definitely Emory. She has turned into a bi-polar, unreasonable toddler. It started while my mom was here, but has escalated since she left. We used to have a really good handle and what worked for punishment etc. and now nothing stops her once she gets "kickin'" - NOTHING! I even resorted to a swift swat on her rear, didn't even phase her. I hope this is just a phase, and that my sweet Emory will come back to me soon!
Cory's school is as vigorously hard as ever. He has 2 finals this week and 5 next week! Why did he want to become a doctor? After the finals though, he has a two week break, which I am looking forward to.
Like I said "holy postpartum"! I feel like it's the end of the world, pretty much all day long, and I hope it goes away soon. The problem is that I keep thinking that this is the second time I've done this, but it really isn't. Tessa is only 3 weeks old, I didn't even get Emory until she was 6 weeks! Everything is completely different, and my dang OCD is making it a lot harder than it needs to be! Thank heavens that Cory's mom is coming on Thursday for the weekend, and then I'll have Cory for the break. Pray for us! We need all the help we can get this next week and a half!
Sorry I've been bad about taking pictures, I'll try to get some stuff up soon.

What a week!

Who knew that life could get any crazier!!! I'm just kidding, it's actually been semi-calm around here. We are LOVING our new baby Tessa! She's a joy and a pleasure, and definitely keeps us on our toes. We went to the pediatrician on Monday, and she has a clean bill of health. She gained weight, 7 lbs. 12 oz., and just looked a little jaundiced, so she gets to sun bathe for 30 minutes a day. I love the doctor! She had 31 week triplets, so we're sort-of kindred spirits. I hate when doctors talk AT me and tell me what to do. I felt like she respected what I already know, from Emory, and that I know what is best for my child. She gave me some good pointers and we were out of there in 20 minutes. Tessa tricked me for a couple of days and slept for 6 hours straight! I couldn't believe it, because Emory didn't do anything like that for at least 4 months. I can't believe how different this mothering experience is from when Emory was born. It's night and day! There is one thing that is causing us (specifically me) pain.
Disclaimer: To anyone who doesn't want to hear about breastfeeding or the trauma therein, skip this next paragraph!
With Emory I pumped for 6 weeks and then she started nursing, so I was all "toughened up" by the time I actually fed her. This baby is a different story. Somehow, one "booby" is great and the other is not doing so hot. Let's just say there's bleeding and extreme tenderness, and that's putting it nicely! I've started calling Tessa "razor-blade lips", it's that bad. We're working on getting these things better, but if anyone has any advice, please feel free to share! I'm dying here!
Emory continues to be a two year old, and I truly can't ask much more of her. She has her good moments and her bad, and we're trying to help her realize that she'd be much happier if she'd simmer down.
Cory, well, we haven't seen him at all for the last week. He leaves before we wake up and gets home after we're asleep. Thank goodness my mom is here or I would be going crazy! Emory is so sad when a day goes by and she hasn't seen him. She'll look at us, stick out her bottom lip and say "I miss Cory". It just breaks your heart!
We're expecting visitors this week, Grandma and Grandpa Hulse are coming down with there friends to stay at a condo in Chandler. I think we'll see them for a few hours on Monday. Katelyn, my little sister, is coming tomorrow. She was dying to see her new and old niece, and since she is "off-track" she isn't missing school. It'll be fun to see family.
Thanks to all the well wishes and we hope to keep hearing from ya'll!

Tessa Elaine

Life with Tessa

Just a quickie here! Everything is going great. I think we'll keep her! It's definitely been and will continue to be an adjustment, but it's a sacrifice we're willing to make for Tessa. She's eating fabulously and my milk came in last night (ouch!). Emory's still unsure, but is doing okay. My mom has been amazing, and I don't know what I'd do if she wasn't here. Cory is stressed to the max with an upcoming "pharm" test, so I feel really bad for him. He wants to be here getting to know Tess and playing with Em. It's a hard life! Thanks to our awesome friends and family who've provided babysitting, entertainment, and food!
The video below is just about the cutest thing ever; after you see it you'll know why we love our girls so much!

Tessa Elaine Maughan

She's here, and we couldn't be happier! I went into the doctor on Tuesday and was only dilated to a 1 and 1/2. Dr. Erickson said that his best day for whole next week was Wednesday, the next day! I was surprised to say the least. He sent me home and said they'd call with the time that I was supposed to be there by that afternoon. I proceeded to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off, for the remainder of the day. No call. By 8 pm we thought that meant they didn't have room for me the next day, so we went to bed thinking that we'd have the baby on Thursday. Cory got up and went to school and I (by some miracle) slept in till 7 am when I received a phone call from Labor and Delivery asking why I wasn't there! There was a miscommunication between the Dr.'s office and the hospital, so I didn't get a call. Anyways, I proceeded to frantically finish getting ready, find Emory's sitter, worry about my mom flying in, and try to get Cory to the hospital. Thanks to some amazing help from Laura and Parker Thompson, and my mom (who was flying in as I was being induced) everything settled into place.
We got to the hospital at 9 am, and they started my epidural at 11:30 am. At 12:00 pm, Dr. Erickson stripped my membranes and broke my water. They started me on the tiniest drip of pitocin and by 3:00 pm, I was still only at 3 cm! I started to get nervous that this was going to take all night, because I didn't want the doctor to be at the hospital for ever. (When your attempting a VBAC the doctor has to be in the hospital the whole time you're in labor!) Dr. Erickson stretched me a little and by 6:00 pm I was at 7 cm, and and hour later I was 9+! The doctor said he'd run out and get the stuff for Cory and him ready. As soon as he left, I felt like I had a bowling ball between my legs! With every contraction I thought she was half way out! He came back a 1/2 an hour later and we did some practice pushes. I pushed 2 times, and he turned to Cory with a look of surprise and said, "Let's get dressed!" I was thinking I'd have to push for a while, but I was wrong. Cory and the doctor got dressed and a few pushes later Tessa Elaine Maughan was born, delivered by Cory. One of the best parts of this whole amazing experience was holding her right after she was born! That was the ultimate for me. She was 7 lbs. 7 oz. and 21 inches long. She has dark hair and eyes (hooray!) and you could see her hair a good 20 minutes before she was even born! My mom got to be there, which was awesome! The whole thing was just amazing and a 180 degree difference from my last child bearing experience.
Emory is not sure about all this, but I think she's doing well. She didn't want to have much to do with me or Tessa at the hospital, but since we've been home, she's wanted to help and hold etc. They look like complete opposites though, Tessa's dark and Emory's fair! We'll put up a super cute video of Em holding her in the next day or two, and some pictures from the hospital and delivery too! So, keep checkin' in on us!

One Centimeter, Arrrrggggghhhhhhh!

When I guess a centimeter is better than nothing. My doctor said that I have to stop thinking of this as a second pregnancy, because I've never been here before. With Emory, I never dilated or went into labor, although I consider the 4 weeks on bed rest in the hospital plenty of labor!
The plan is to wait until my cervix has "ripened" (guess it's a fruit or something?) and softened and I'm at least 4 centimeters. Then he'll admit me to the hospital, even if I haven't started into labor. He'll break my water and we'll all wait - literally. Dr. Erickson is such an amazing person! When a patient wants to VBAC he is required to be there the whole time, just in case the "something bad" happens. I can't believe how willing he is to help me do this. I'm so lucky I found him. Anyways, Cory has a some sort of "regimen" to make me have this baby on Monday - wish me luck!
Here's a quick, cute Emory story. We've been talking about Halloween lately, and she loves to look at the decorations at the store etc. We were walking by the display at Wal-Mart and there was this semi-scary looking lady, she wasn't even affected by her. As we looked at the lady we realized she was holding a tipped over man. We tilted him up and he had all this black hair in his face. Emory brushed the hair out of his face and almost died - literally! She didn't cry or scream, just convulsed. Violent shaking and pure terror! He was not super scary, just a ghoulish skeleton- looking man. She tipped him back over as fast as she could and began begging me to leave. As we walked away, she looked at me with the cutest eyes, put her hand over her chest and said, "Oh mommy! My heart hurts!" I absolutely died! I think that's the best description of how it feels to be scared, given by a two year old!
Pictured are: The new big girl bed, Emory finding "beads" in an apple, and the baby chain to my due date.

Quick update!

Well, here's a quick update. Cory's doing fabulously in school! He's been working his tail off and it seems to be paying off, because he is doing really well (compared to the averages) on all his tests so far. He's getting nervous as "D-Day" approaches because next week he has 3 major tests! He is determined to convince Dr. Erickson to induce me on Monday (the best day for him in the next week and a half) but it'll never happen. Dr. Erickson is very empathetic to Cory's situation, but there are extra risks in inducing when your trying for a VBAC. Poor Cory! Not like he has to give birth or anything like that!
The baby finally flipped over, all on her own! It's definitely a good/bad thing. Now I can try to deliver normally, but now I'm super uncomfortable. Waddling truly is the best way to walk. I go to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully I'll have dilated some more. I've been having some wicked contractions, and I'd hate for them to be all for not.
Emory continues to drive me crazy with this potty training. Some days she's a champ, other days it's like she totally forgot everything. I know I need to remember that it's a new thing for her and it'll take awhile. It's frustrating nonetheless.

Potty Time!

Well, it's been a fun filled week for me and Emory. I decided that it was time to give potty training a try. I'm not sure what I was thinking trying to do this nearly 8 1/2 months pregnant, I'm crazy! Anyways, the first day was a disaster. I think we went through 7 pairs of panties and was on my hands and knees, scrubbing the floor for most of the day. But, we kept going and really haven't had any significant accidents since day 1. She's still having a hard time during naps and at night, so I've been putting a pull-up on her. She also has a little issue with watching TV and movies. If the TV's on, she won't leave to go potty. If anyone has any suggestions, send them our way! She's definitely not independent yet, but I think we're making progress.
I went to the doctor (again!) and everything looks okay. Still breech, so we'll see what next week brings. I've been crawling and doing pelvic tilts and pretty much anything I can to get this girl to turn, with no success so far. I don't want to have to do the external version thing, because it means I have to be admitted to the hospital, and it's like an all day thing. But I'll do anything to not have a c-section again!
Cory did AMAZING on his last test, for Micro-Biology. We were so pleased! It's so nice when they spend all that time studying and it pays off. He's getting ready for his big Pharmacology test on Monday and then it's just test after test after test till the baby comes. He's such a trooper!
We're having a hard time naming this baby, so if you have any suggestions?!?

The Summer and Catching Up!

I've been trying my absolute hardest to get this thing going but it's still a work in progress. Both Cory's laptop and my computer are on "the fritz" and are not letting me download any new pictures. Hopefully I can figure out what's going on in the next few days. Anyways, I wanted to catch everyone up on our crazy summer and what we've been doing since we've been home!

Summer:
We started off the summer with Emory's 2nd birthday. We celebrated a week early with Grandma and Grandpa Hulse and Luke (or Nuke as Em calls him!) Cory went on his Guatemala trip and me and Em celebrated her birthday by with Luke. He's staying with us while he sells pest control in Phoenix this summer. After Cory got back we headed up to Utah the last day of June. It was an eventful trip because at the last minute my brother, Josh, decided to fly down and buy a motorcycle here in Phoenix! Cory and he had a blast (I think!) taking turns driving it up.
We started off in Logan, and went camping, watched fireworks for the 4th, and hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Hulse. Cory also started a million projects, as usual, to try and make their life a little easier around the house.
We went down to Salt Lake to stay with my family the next week and swam, had a family reunion, and all that jazz!
The next week Cory flew to Chicago for a medical conference and Emory and I stayed in Salt Lake.
After Cory got home, my mom and I went to Cedar City for the Shakespearean Festival and had an awesome and much needed "Girl's Getaway". Cory and Emory stayed in Salt Lake and golfed and swam and ate out every meal - sounds tough, eh?
We went back to Logan for about a week so Cory could finish his projects and to celebrate some Hulse birthdays. Emory's uncle Chase turned one, and she still talks about "Happy Birthday to Uncle Chase?"
Off to Bear Lake with the Radfords for a few days. It was fun, except that I am not allowed on boats (the prego thing!) but Emory loved the "rockets". It was great to have some fresh raspberry shakes too!
We went back to Salt Lake for our last week and finished up with my cousin Austin's wedding!
Interspersed throughout our stay were fun things like Lagoon, Seven Peaks, tons of golfing and all that fun stuff. Emory really turned into a fish and from the moment she woke up, was basically standing at my parents back door, begging to go swimming.

Catch Up:
Since we've been home it's been go, go, go! It was fabulous to have Cory around and all to ourselves for the two weeks before school started. We organized the house and garage, Emory changed rooms and got a new big girl bed, got the baby's room ready, etc.
Cory started school (BOOO!) and it's as terrible as ever. 26 credit hours and no relief in sight! He's taken his first test and did great, but the next one is on Monday so he's stressin' out this weekend.
I feel like I've been to the doctor 500 times since we got home. Not really, but I think I'm getting ready to have this baby outside of me. I had an ultrasound a couple weeks ago to check on her and estimate weight. She's still a little small but doing great, 4 lbs. 12 oz. She's still breech, and I was starting to get nervous about my plans of a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). My doctors is amazing though and said that he'll do an external cephalic version, flip her over from the outside, in two weeks if she hasn't done it herself. There's a 65% chance that it'll work and if it prevents me from having another c-section, I'm all for it!
Emory is doing great! She's learning and growing so fast, we don't know what to do with her. Her new favorite things are calling stuff "sexy" and saying "excuse me". I guess you take the good with the bad! She is so cute when Cory comes home from school, she just attacks him. Then she runs around like a chicken with it's head cut off, yelling "Rachel! Cory's home!" We're trying to prepare her for the baby and I think she's starting to get it, but I know that it'll be a whole different story when the baby comes. She's just excited because she knows her Grandmas are coming to visit in a few weeks.
Other than that, things are semi-starting to get back to normal.