What were we thinking?!?

When Paige was born with her club feet, we were so lucky to find Dr. Steve Santora at Shriner's Hospital. I have not run into many people who understand the amazing things that are performed there. Shriner's Hospital is run completely by private donations and the doctors there perform the orthopedic procedures necessary without all the taboo of insurance companies. Being there has made me so grateful that although Paige's feet are a big deal to us, they are relatively minor.

We always knew there was a possiblity that the serial castings Paige had at birth might not be sufficient to completely correct her feet. We have continued yearly follow-up care and were told last spring that it was time for something more. We thought we had carefully scheduled this surgery...Paige was off track and wouldn't miss much school, I would be on maternity leave from work and could stay home to care for her. However, as it got closer, I realized it was a BIG DEAL! Paige went into surgery Wednesday morning. Claire had slept over at her Aunt Valerie's because we had to be at the hospital at 6:30. The staff was amazing. They had gifts waiting for her on her bed and explained exactly what was going to happen. It reminded me a lot of last week's episode of Grey's Anatomy where George was dealing with the defiant child and finally just showed him everything and the boy wasn't scared anymore. Paige was most nervous about the stitches and getting a needle in her arm. She had some medication and a gas mask and was out long before the IV went in. The plan was to clip a muscle in the ball of her feet to help turn them out. However, once that was done, her foot placement still wasn't quite right, so Dr. Santora also did some tendon lengthening in her calves. So what we were told would be a 3 hour procedure turned into 4 and 1/2.

Paige slept so hard that we had to request her to come back from recovery. She was so excited the night before that she hardly slept, not to mention that she was woken up hours before normal that morning. She came out with hot pink casts and pretty loopy. I knew she wasn't all there when she didn't even notice Bode was there. She stayed until Thursday night, when they tried to give her Percocet and she decided to come home. Her recovery thus far has been trying to say the least. We are really trying to be patient but also teach her some manners in asking for help. The lessons seem to be going well since she really can't do much for herself. Bode seems to be the best medicine for her. Her first night home, they snuggled up together in our bed with her whispering in his ear, "You have the best big sister". She has a wheelchair that brings her a lot of attention, but she spends most of her days in bed. Which means, I have seen everything Disney ever made, TWICE, I am champion of Old Maid, and we have been through three boxes of crayons. This is bound to be a LONG six weeks!

Bode's Big Day

I can't believe nine months has flown by so quickly! It seems like just yesterday that I was having blood drawn at the lab to find out in front of all my work friends that I was PREGNANT!

Towards the end of my pregnancy, my doctor kept telling me, "This is a huge baby. There is no way we are going to make it into October." But every week, I would catch up in average size a little bit and my due date remained the same. He finally scheduled me for an induction on Friday, October 10, 2008. We took the girls for a sleepover with their cousins at my sister Marnie's the night before. However, Marnie was at work all night, so Uncle Rob got to brave the storm of the Vincent girls! Steve and I went to dinner at Tepanyaki (a place we would NEVER take our kids) and then decided to see a movie! It was nice, but I was having strong contractions every hour. We tried to get some sleep, but I was too excited to meet my baby boy! We got to the hospital around 7:15 and by 8:00 I was in bed with Pitocin and my first dose of Clindamycin (for my Group B Strep). Then we waited...in fact Steve looked over at me and said, "So, we have some time, what do you want to talk about?" I started to get a little uncomfortable around 10:30 when my doctor came in to break my water. He told me that he and anesthesia would be in a C-section from 12-1 so I should get my epidural now. I had no problem with that! The anesthesiologist came in around 11:15 and it is amazing how well those can work! I was instantly comfortable and ready for a nap. My dad stopped by and took Steve for a walk so I could nap (and they could eat!) My nurse checked me around 1:30 to find me at a 6. Ten minutes later I rolled over to my side because I was feeling a lot of pressure. Another nurse came in to adjust the monitors and found me "complete". Luckily, Steve and my dad walked in just then and my doctor wasn't too far behind.
This was by far the easiest delivery I have had. In one contraction I pushed 4 times and out came our bouncing baby boy! He weighed in at 8 lbs. 7.2 oz and 20 inches long. Our biggest baby yet! Maybe I don't remember very well, but it sure seemed like the nurse kept him over in the corner for an awfully long time. It turned out his glucose was low and they had to instantly feed him some formula to try and get it regulated.
I was lucky to have my dad there with me during the delivery. I know my mom was there in spirit too. However, this time was a little different...my stepmom Terry was also there. She made it just in the nick of time and ran in just as Bode was born. They are such amazing grandparents and neither could be more excited to have another grandson.
Paige was instantly in love with her new brother and Claire gave the reaction I thought she would, "I'm done. I don't want him anymore." She loves him to pieces now! Nearly all the cousins were there, so I think both of the girls were distracted.
After my epidural wore off, I developed a terrible headache and a pain between my shoulder blades. The only comfortable position was flat on my back in the dark. It lasted through the night into the next morning. It killed me to hold Bode for feedings, and I couldn't bend my neck to look down at him. I felt awful. Here I had carried this baby for nine long months and now I couldn't even enjoy him? As it turns out, I had a small nick in my epidural space causing the pain. My anesthesiologist had gone home at the end of his shift Saturday morning, but felt so badly about my pain came back to help his partner give me a blood patch. (It sure helps that my sister knows them all! I love special treatment!) One of the doctors went back into my epidural space while the other drew blood from my arm to inject into my back. It was worse than getting an epidural, but by the time I sat up I felt instantly better. I was so glad to feel better and have the rest of the day to snuggle my boy!

He has been great here at home! The girls can't get enough of him and I am wondering if I will ever get tired of holding him and looking at him! For now, I am just loving every minute of it!

It's A Boy!

This will be short and sweet (just like him), due mostly to lack of sleep and the heavy use of Percocet. However, we are thrilled to announce the arrival of Bode Stephen Vincent!

He was born on Friday, October 10 at 2:33 pm weighing in at 8 lbs., 7 oz., and 20 inches long.

Gone Fishin'

It has been so fun decorating our little boy nursery! When we bought the house, this room was already a "woodsy" theme, so it turned out perfectly that we were having a boy! Steve and I absolutely loved the log cabin awning they had built over the window, so we decided to run with it! It is a good thing I saved all my little nick-nacks from our West Jordan house where I was more of a "theme-ish" decorator. Our family room was kind of log cabin-y in that house, so I was able to pull out some old favorites that fit perfectly!

It turns out I am not great at picture taking since you can hardly see the paint on the wall. This was just the way we bought it. All walls are painted a light tan with a fat olive green stripe and a fatter brown stripe running vertically every few feet. Maybe hard to visualize, I suck at descriptions...but the stripes are big enough and far enough apart that it doesn't look "circus-y". Having a boy, I also got to try my hand at crib bedding again. After making Paige's I swore I would never do it...but this time seemed much easier. I picked out a brick red with a tiny olive stripe to make the inside of the bumpers and the bed skirt and then sewed an accent piece of chocolate brown ribbon with some olive rick-rack to the bottom of the skirt. The rest of the bumper is a mix of plaids (I think they call it madras?). Anyway...this time seemed much easier! I found some pre-made bumper foam at Jo-Ann's and just had to make the slipcovers, which were totally easy! Of course I had to make matching sheets too because all the ones we have are pink and all the new ones they sell are pastel! Even though I had done it before and used the same measurements, for some reason they turned out too small! I was pretty upset about the casualty, but forced them on anyway thinking I would make new ones before I actually put him in his crib since he will be in our room for a while.

So, now that I have the nursery ready, don't you think he should come out and join us, since he has his own fishing room to come home to? I'm sure that is all he has been waiting for. So until he does, you will find me in the rocking chair, waiting, reminding the waving bulge in my belly that this is all for him and I don't want it to go to waste!

Just a little proof

For anyone who has met our girls and witnessed the way they scream at each other, bite, hit, kick, call names, pull hair, among other modes of affection towards each other. I just happened to catch this sweet shot to prove that deep down, past REM sleep, they really do love each other!

tiny dancer

I swear this girl will never let me take a good picture of her! All summer, Claire has been dying to start Tiffany Dance Company, just like her big sister! When she got her postcard telling me her class date and time, she carried it around for weeks. I even found it in her bed.

She does act a little shy in class, but that is just Claire. She warms right up to you! Paige was so excited that Miss Tiffany rememebered her and thought she might accidently mix up the girls names.

We were so pleasantly surprised when we walked in the first day to find her cute friend Ali in class too! I had wanted them to sign up together, but Wednesday nights didn't work for them, so I was so excited when they were there!



So far, Claire seems to be having a great time. She looks back to me for approval after everything she does and is sure to help us get out the door for class so "Miss Tiffany doesn't miss her!"

6 Years Ago...

It is so hard for me to believe that just six years ago, I brought this sweet little baby home. It is so hard to believe that in those short six years, that baby grew up to learn to crawl and walk (a miracle I never thought I would see with her after all the trouble with her feet). She learned to talk and laugh. She became a big sister and learned to share (we're still working on that one). This baby learned to spell her name and to read, and just last week, I sent that baby to kindergarten! Now this baby is an energetic, beautiful six-year old girl. Her birthday this year was a week-long event! It all started last Sunday at a birthday party/dinner in her honor at Grandpa BigMac's with her cousins. Grandpa had his right knee replaced this week, so we celebrated early! Paige, Claire and I decided to experiment with dessert and ended up with a fun butterfly cake to share. The cousins seemed to love it!
Paige's actual birthday was Friday. She was able to take her favorite book, "Parts", to school and also took yellow sugar cookies to share with her class. She was able to talk on the phone with her "birthday twinner" (Paige and her cousin Katherine were born 4 hours apart). Later, we went on a family date to her restaurant of choice, Sweet Tomatoes. The birthday rolled over into Saturday where we invited 15 friends to the waterpark for lunch. Luckily it was warm, but pretty windy, so rather than play in the water, the kids mostly played on the playground in their swimsuits, while the boys caught caterpillars. But no one seemed to mind the lack of "waterpark" involved in the party. Paige got spoiled rotten with presents and we went home in Barbie Heaven! She got to spend the rest of the day playing with her cute little friend, Chailyn, who has moved too, so we rarely get to see her!
And then Sunday came, and the birthday still wasn't over. We had planned a Vincent picnic for the birthday twinners that ended up being rained out (or should I say FLOODED out). It started to pour just before the party was about to start, and of course Paige's mom and dad were too preoccupied with birthday that we forgot our cell phones when we got to the park. After eating alone in the rain, we went home to find that the party had been moved to Katherine's. So one of the guests of honor was two hours late for her own party, but still got cupcakes and ice cream and best of all, got to see Katherine! Paige seems a little down that her birthday is now over, but mommy is grateful! I am beyond sentimental about her turning six this year and ready to wait one more before birthday throws up on us again!