The Birth Story of Archer William Burnett

*****Disclosure***** This is a birth story, so it will be graphic-ish. Don't expect cute and fluffy. It will be the raw, unedited real deal!       

 I have been wanting to get this story written down for some time, but due craziness of the entire story, it has taken me some time to process everything, and put it into words. Archer's birth story is unique and very empowering for me. Enough with the intro though. Lets start at the beginning... ish...
      Imagine huge pregnant Kylee being a week over due. I was all sorts of miserable. No baby, feeling huge, trying so patiently to wait, and zero signs of baby coming any time soon. I asked my amazing friend and neighbor to do some foot zoning on me to help put me into labor. She came over on Friday, September 9th. She spent a couple hours working on me, and said that she felt like baby was close, but not quite ready yet, (but she also has a 48 hour "almost" guarantee to start labor). With that "almost guarantee" I figured Sunday would be the longest I would be pregnant. I certainly hoped anyway. Also, by this point, I had been losing pieces of mucus plug for the past 2 days, (for me this was weird, because with Jace I lost my plug while I was in labor. It all sort of happened at once). And to lose little pieces slowly was very different because I never knew quite how close I was to going into labor.
         Saturday, September 10th I woke up feeling just as normal as ever. I remember being slightly bummed that no baby came because Sue had worked on me, and I definitely wasn't in labor. The morning went like most Saturday mornings usually do. Paul mowed the lawn while Jace and I picked the garden and pulled some weeds. We came inside and had some breakfast/lunch when I started noticing a few contractions. I couldn't quite tell if they were real or Braxton Hicks because I had had so many BH contractions throughout my pregnancy. But I could tell that they were slowly starting to become consistent so Paul and I started to track them. I also asked Sue if she had some time to come work on my feet again, (with hopes that it would keep things going and help it progress). Paul had me text our midwife, Rachel, and let her know about the contractions. I didn't really think that I needed to, because I didn't think I was in labor, but I ended up sending Rachel a text with a heads up. She definitely thought that I was in labor. I refused to believe it because I felt WAY to good to be in labor. I just remember feeling miserable and puking with Jace. But she still seemed to think so.
       After we put Jace down for a nap, Sue came over to worked on my feet some more. I didn't really feel like contractions were picking up, (at this point they were inconsistently between 7 and 20 minutes apart but, but also not gaining any intensity), but they were definitely still going. We had a relaxing afternoon watching the office. I even tried to take a nap. 5:00 rolls around and still no baby.
       Our neighbors were having a party to watch the BYU vs UofU game which we had said we would attend if baby hadn't arrived yet. So we figured we would just head over, (it was literally 2 houses away), and if we needed to leave to come have a baby it would be a piece of cake. Contractions still hadn't picked up so I figured that we would maybe have a midnight baby or early Sunday morning baby so I wasn't too worried about getting things set up. Paul thought that we should at least inflate the birthing pool before we left, (yes we planned to have our baby at home), but I shrugged it off and said we would have plenty of time when we got home to set it up.
       The game starts and I'm still feeling same old same old. We have some snacks, and watch the game a little bit, but still no crazy increase in intensity or closeness of contractions. Rachel called and asked if anything had picked up. I said that it hadn't really picked up yet, (still thinking I'm not in labor). She suggested doing some movements to reposition the baby. She said he might just be mispositioned and thats why labor was somewhat stalled. I shared this information with my friend Meagan who suggested we go and do some rebozo to try to help coax babes into a better position. Meagan and I snuck away and walked back to her house to get her equipment, (by the way Meagan is an awesome doula so she is super knowledgeable about all of this stuff). Meagan had me lay on the floor almost in child's pose but with my butt sticking up in the air. I felt ridiculous, and I am sure I looked a little ridiculous as well, but she just pulled out her scarf and did her thing, and didn't even mention anything about how silly I felt. After about 10-15 ish minutes maybe less we decided to head back to the party.
       All the while I was continuing to track contractions. Once we got back to the party I noticed that my contractions started picking up a little bit. It was half time at this point so I was thinking Paul would for sure get through the game before we needed to head home. Slowly over the next few hours my contractions started to get closer and closer together as well as grow in intensity. The app on my phone told me probably every 3 contractions that it was time to go to the hospital. I just chuckled and didn't think much about it because 1, I feel like people go to the hospital way to early and just wait around doing nothing, and 2, I wasn't going to the hospital so I only needed 5 minutes to get home and I was good to go.
       All the wives were sitting in the kitchen chatting while our husbands were down the stairs watching the game. I remember sitting with the girls, just chatting, and then as soon as I felt a contraction come I would hit my timer. Then when the contraction would finish, I would hit my timer again. All the while just carrying on conversation and trying to keep myself distracted with what they were saying. As the football game progressed so did my contractions. Eventually they got to the point where I could not comfortably sit through a contraction, I needed to be standing up. This should have been my first sign that things were starting to progress. I think I was just recalling my labor with Jace, that even after contractions were close I was still pushing for several hours. I eventually texted my midwife to update her. I told her that they were getting more intense, and about 6 minutes apart. She said she would head out if I needed her, (she lives 40 minutes away). I replied that I wasn't sure, she would be a better judge if I was close enough or not. Rachel ended up calling me just after that text and told me that she would leave in about 10-15 minutes so as to arrive within an hour. At that moment I started having a contraction and continued to talk to Rachel on the phone through the contraction. She said, yeah, you should be fine, but I'll head out anyway.
       Now keep in mind this whole time, I was waiting for the moment when I could not talk through a contraction and I had to just stop and focus and breathe. Meagan said that that would be a good indicator that I was getting close. So being able to talk on the phone through a contraction was me thinking that I still had plenty of time left before I would be in transition. Meagan and Kaylene, (my amazing friends), were so great to talk with me, and encourage me, and even massage my back occasionally during a contraction. (They were pretty much awesome). And we still waited for my contractions to be too intense.
      The BYU game was basically over. Only 18 seconds left with no hope of BYU winning, so I told Paul that he needed to leave and go fill up the tub. I asked him to take Jace home with him and get the tub ready and I would be over. I started to collect my things and was headed out the door when I started to have another contraction. This time though, I started to feel a pressure as if I were just about ready to push. Not quite ready, but I certainly felt the pressure. I turned to say bye to my friends, then wobbled out the door. Halfway from Kaylene's house to mine I started having another contraction. Because of the pressure I had felt at Kaylene's I felt a sense of urgency to get home quickly, so I forced myself to walk through the contraction and get home. I came in the garage and headed down the stairs. I saw that Paul had the tub inflated and was in the process of filling it up. He was also frantically laying down plastic in the walk ways and such.
       I walked myself straight to the bathroom where I proceeded to undress. I was seriously SOOO hot at Kaylene's so all I wanted to do was strip out of my layers so I wouldn't be so hot. I switched into my sports bra and put on some basketball shorts then walked out to see how the tub was coming. (I really wanted to be sitting in the tub instead of standing in the hall). It wasn't even half full yet and I felt the urge to push. Along with this though I just knew I was going to poop because I totally hadn't pooped all day, (even though I had been trying so I wouldn't need to in labor. Like that would ever happen though right!). I told Paul that I needed some tissues right away. He handed me about 5 and I pushed, (and pooped) and grossly, caught the plopper in the tissues and wobbled back to the bathroom to flush it down the toilet, (and try to get some more out). Squatting in the bathroom I felt the urge to push, and I don't even remember pushing it just sort of happened, then a big pop came, and a huge gush of warm liquid splashed all over the floor in the bathroom. I yelled to Paul that my water broke and asked him to text the midwife letting her know that my water broke. I also sent a text to my friend Meagan, who I had asked to kind of doula/be a birth photographer letting her know my water broke.
       Paul ran in with Rachel on the phone, (he had texted her, and she called him back), telling Paul to get me off of the toilet and said be prepared because baby's head would probably start crowning soon, and obviously she wasn't going to make it to our birth in time. Paul pulled me up off the toilet, and held on to my legs because they were shaking like crazy. Right as Rachel said that baby would start crowning I said, "Paul, the baby is crowning."  Rachel heard and told Paul to reach his fingers up and make sure there was no umbilical cord around baby's neck. At this point Paul told Rachel that he needed to put her on speaker so he could use both hands. He set the phone down super fast, but before Paul could check and see if there was a cord around baby's neck, baby was sliding out and into Paul's arm. He was seriously holding me up with one arm and catching our baby with the other. Right after Paul caught babes, he looked and said, yeah, no cord around the neck. He quickly handed baby to me as our little guy took his first breaths and started crying. I was a little nervous at first because baby sounded gargly like there was a little bit of liquid in his lungs, but he was pink, and breathing, and I just felt really peaceful like everything was ok, so I stopped worrying and tried to take in the moment. I was also a little worried about hemorrhaging especially without a midwife there. But again, that peacefulness came over me and I didn't worry about it anymore.
         Ok, so keep in mind, that all of the above paragraph happened within a matter of minutes. Seconds almost. I have played it over and over in my head and it seems like it happened within the blink of an eye. Really it wasn't that fast, but seriously, two pushes basically and my baby was here. Now, Jace had rushed back to the bathroom with Paul, not sure of what was going on. He ended up getting to watch the birth of his brother. I hadn't fully decided if I wanted Jace there or not, but I guess there were other plans that had decided that he was going to be there. I hope he wasn't traumatized, but he seems ok right now.
       After Paul handed me baby, Rachel told him that I needed to lay or sit down and wait. Paul ran out of the room with Jace, took Jace upstairs to our sister in law, (who so graciously saved the day and watched Jace for the next 30-60 minutes), also yelled at Jess to turn the hose off upstairs because the pool was now about to overflow, and then rushed back to me in the bathroom carrying loads of towels. He gave me one to wrap around baby, (I was worried that he was going to be too cold), and put the rest on the floor to try and mop up the blood that was EVERYWHERE. Seriously, guys, white linoleum floors make red blood look really red! (thankfully I cleaned and disinfected the bathroom a few days ago on a whim). So here I am, laying on towels, my legs covered in blood, waiting for the midwives to show up. Paul is running back and forth trying to get everything sorted out (bless his heart), and baby and I are just chilling. I remember sitting there in disbelief that all of this had taken place so fast.
      Rachel's backup midwife, and apprentice showed up about 15 minutes after the birth. They started cleaning up some things, and checked me and baby to make sure that we were good, then set to work doing some more cleanup. I still hadn't delivered my placenta yet, nor had I felt the urge to push it out, so we were just chilling. 5-10 minutes later Rachel showed up. They pushed on my stomach to try to convince my uterus to contract and push out the placenta, but still nothing happened, then Rachel said, oh, its just sitting right here, give me a quick push Kylee. So as weird as it felt, I pushed, and out slid the placenta. Paul got to cut the cord which had long stopped pulsing at this point, and baby was free! I passed him off to Paul for a minute while the midwives stood me up and tried to clean up some of the blood that was coating my legs. I had wanted to take a shower, but there was no hot water left from filling up the tub, and they had already drained the tub so I couldn't get in it to rinse off. So I had a wet wipe bath for the time being.
       They got me cleaned up and walked me to my bed where I got to snuggle it up with cute babes. Paul brought Jace down to meet his baby brother, and we all spent a few minutes together just cuddling and snuggling. Then Paul took Jace and put him to bed. I was worried that with all the people and the commotion he wouldn't want to sleep, but he went down without a fuss, so that was really nice. I think the fact that he had spent the previous 4 hours running around with his friends, then got to bed 2 hours late really helped.
      Our baby was born at 9:38 pm. Not even joking you, he came 10 minutes or less after I got home from Kaylene's house. While I was 10 days over I fully expected to have a bigger sized babe. But our sweet boy weighed in at 7 lbs. 3 oz. It took Paul and me a good 12 hours to decide on a name for him. We had narrowed it down to 3, then to 2, and I felt like he could be named either, and I liked both equally. After prayer and thought, we decided on Archer. Archer William Burnett. William is a family name on my side of the family, and Paul's as well. We chose Archer because of the meaning behind it.  Archer means just that, a bowman. Someone who uses a bow and arrow. Even though Archer is going to be a younger brother I feel like his personality is going to be more of a protector, which, an archer would use his bow to protect. I also felt the connection to Nephi in the Book of Mormon, and the faithfulness that he had, despite his bow being broken, he was still able to provide for his family. It is hard to put in words the connection I felt to Archer's name, but there is my best effort. :)
      As I have pondered about our experience it has gone from a crazy whirlwind of emotion and memories,  to a spiritual and empowering experience for me. My biggest fear when asking Rachel to be my midwife was that she would not be there to attend my birth. It just worried me that she was so far away. But I also felt really good about choosing her to be our midwife. So despite my fears, we made the decision to choose her. I know, that while Rachel wasn't there for our birth, Paul and I were not alone in that bathroom. We had so many experienced hands helping us bring our sweet boy into the world. Even though they could not be seen, I know that they were there, each doing their part to keep me steady and on my feet,  directing Paul's hands where they needed to be, holding onto Jace while he stood there watching, and safely guiding baby here. I feel empowered because I know that I can do hard things. I am strong. And even though society thinks that women are inferior, I know we are not. Not that I would choose to deliver my next baby the same way we delivered Archer, I am so grateful for the acknowledgements I was able to make because of it.

These were the best pics we got of the night Archer was born. Jace looks so tired in this picture! But he was happy to hold his little brother. Poor Archer still has some blood on his head that hadn't been cleaned off quite yet. 

My sweet sweet boys! and look at me in the comfort of my own bed!! 

I see this picture and it reminds me that I don't have to be a "hot mess" to have a baby. Yes I don't look all dolled up or anything, but I don't look like what society thinks a mom looks like after they just have a baby. 

My sweet hubby holding our cute Archer. I told him that Skin to skin was the best thing, so I made him take his shirt off. :) 

     
     

Some Summer Catch Up

       We have been off on a lot of adventures this summer. Most of the bigger ones have their own post. But I didn't want to write a billion little ones for all the little things we have done, so I figured I would type them all up into one post, plus do a little bit of family catch up since the latest family update.
       We have been to the zoo multiple times. We have a season pass, so any chance we get we take a trip. Its been fun to see how Jace responds each time we go. He has favorite animals he always wants to see, and he has some that change up each time we go. One of my cousins from out of state got married in Utah in the spring and our family was able to go with several of my cousins from Montana to the zoo for a day. We had a lot of fun.

Jace and Brooklyn at the zoo hugging the giraffes. They both really like giraffes, and have stuffed giraffes that they are attached to, so I thought this picture was pretty cute.

Jace and dad checkin out the African safari animals

Jace doesn't ever want to sit in this nest by himself for a picture, but with Brooklyn here we actually convinced him to!

This trip was with Paul's parents. We don't get much one on one time with them, so it was really nice to have that time with them and Jace at the zoo. 

Jace and Grandma joined a drum circle for a little bit. 

While we were there they had a feed a giraffe event. We decided it was worth the $4 to let Jace feed a giraffe. It was super cute to see the giraffe stick out his tongue and take the lettuce out of Jace's hand. Jace wasn't even scared at all! He thought it was pretty neat. 

Since Paul got to help feed giraffes, I got to take Jace on the train. He almost smiled for me in the picture. Though he did smile in real life. 

       In June we went to Taylorsville dayszz. Jace got to ride some rides, and we wasn't sure how to think about them. He pretended to like the roller coaster. He had fun the first time it went around, then his expression changed from happy to terrified. Thankfully he was sitting with his cousin Sage, who sort of took him under his wing until the ride ended. He liked the train a lot more because it was slower. Jace also got to ride on the carousel. He wasn't much of a fan of that one either. Even with Paul standing with him he wasn't a super happy camper.

This is Jace's face the first time around on the roller coaster. It got progressively more terrified as the thing kept going and going. Sadly I didn't get a terrified picture of Jace, I tried, but they are all of other kids on the roller coaster not my own. 

This was Jace's reaction to the carousel. Not super happy. He got happier I think, as the ride progressed, but he wasn't super super impressed. 

This kid loved the train though. He was happy and dapper pretty much the entire time. 

Because of Jace's obsession with fire trucks lately we thought he would love to go see one and sit in one. Boy were we wrong! He likes fire trucks from a distance, but up close he was not happy. He refused to even get close by himself. Thats okay though. We tried. 

       Before the fourth of July, Paul's aunt that lives a few blocks from us had a pool party at her house. He has a cute little pool with a diving board. We didn't originally plan to swim because we had family coming over to hang out with us, but Paul and Jace ended up in the pool. Jace was actually a daring little kid and jumped off the diving board. Multiple times I might add. He has started to become more daring. He used to be the whimpiest whimp. Now Jace will actually try things even if they might seem a little bit scary.

Jace taking on of his diving jumps off the diving board. This kid loves to jump into water, but he more so belly flops than anything. If we could teach him how to turn that belly flop into a dive, he would probably go pro at some point ;) 

Just chillin after swimmin in the pool.

Paul had fun hanging with his brothers. I laughed at him because he was totally swimming in regular clothes, but I guess for a guy that isn't anything weird. 

Paul had me take a video of Jace jumping off the diving board in slow motion. It is kind of fun to watch. 

       On the actual fourth of July we had another pool party with Pauls other aunt on the other side of the family. We played water volley ball, and had a BBQ. Jace got to play with his cousins and swim, and play with cars. and go down the water slide, (another daring moment for him).  We all played hard and wore ourselves out so we could watch fireworks and go to bed. It was great though.

Pool party with all the cousins!!

Aunt Jessie and Jace playing in the pool. 

Since there was no diving board to jump off of, Paul would throw Jace up hi and let him splash in the pool. 

       Paul has a cousin that he is really close with that has moved to Arizona, but usually in the summer, his cousin Summer and her family will come stay here in Utah for a month or so. Summer has a daughter that is just a year older than Jace, and we discovered that they play so well together. Jace and Lily spent lots of time together at the splash pad, and just hanging out. He was always asking to play with her, and I guess she was always asking to play with him. We have had so much fun with Summer and Tyler here. We try to do game nights with them once a week, and we did fairly well with finding the time to meet up. Our last hurray game night was dinner at Texas Roadhouse and skittles bowling. Sadly, they had to go back to Arizona, but we look forward to seeing them again!!

Splash pad fun with Lily and Summer! This splash pad in South Jordan is awesome. Not only does it have the splashy stuff, it has a little lazy river type thing. Jace isn't a huge fan of all the splashing, but he loved to float boats with Lily down the little river. 

Cousin Lily is so nice to share with Jace. She had two boats, and let Jace play with his very own while we were at the splash pad. 

Jace and dad racing down the river

Jace really got like all up and into the water. 

This was the only picture I got of Jace where he is actually looking at me. Sadly there is a random kid in front of him, but hey, you can tell that Jace is looking this way. 

The end of the river where all the kids liked to sit and chill. 

Texas Road house party!! 

       Jace is growing up so fast. His vocabulary increases so much all the time. We recently got back from a trip to Montana with my side of the family. Paul and my siblings when on some Pokemon walks and Jace has learned how to "catch em." He loves to catch Pokemon and is always saying catch em dad? Or my favorite phrase is "catch Pokemon all day!" He also has recently told us, when we ask him what we should name baby brother, that his name is Pikachu! Some days he wants to name baby brother Pokemon, but usually its Pikachu. What a cute kid!
     I can't believe how much he understands either. He is talking in sentences and it just blows my mind! Jace has learned that he likes technology, but he doesn't like it when we take it away from him. I am very much so trying to keep his screen time to a minimum, but it makes it hard when there is seriously technology everywhere we go! He currently knows how to use his tablet better than I do. I am an iOS user and trying to learn the ropes on Android has been oh so fun. His current favorite movie is Zootopia. Literally loves it. He is always asking to watch it, (which I don't let him watch it all the time). He is also starting to take some interest in Horton Hears a who. I think its because its got animals in it, and for some reason he has taken a liking to animals. Jace also is very much into fire trucks, trains, and cars lately. He loves to see fire trucks and is always asking to see them in the car. He also loves trains. When ever he sees one he yells, "Train Mommy, train! All aboard!" Its so fun and seriously so cute. We have been to the zoo a few times this summer and taken Jace on the train, and almost the entire ride he is shouting, "All aboard." All the other people on the train always look back at us and tell us that its cute. Its good to know that he isn't driving everyone crazy.
       Jace is learning that he doesn't like time out. But he is also in the stage where pushing the limits and testing the boundaries is apparently what life is all about. Most of the time he learns pretty quickly, but things like not sharing, and not hitting, are frequent time out discussions at our house. Paul and I are trying really hard to make Jace think about why he is in time out. We don't just want to put him there. We usually wait till he calms down then have a discussion with him about what choices he made that put him there. At first we got a lot of wrong answers out of Jace because he was just saying whatever he wanted to say, but lately he is actually starting to think about his choices, and give us correct responses. For example he got upset and pushed a kitchen chair onto the floor and ended up cracking it. He sat in time out for a minute and we chatted about why he was there. He was able to tell me that he was in time out because, "Jace broke chair" It was so cute how he said it that I had to refrain from laughing. But he knew and understood that he was in trouble because he broke a chair. His responses continue to get better each time we discuss and practice with him. The hope is that he will think about his choices before he makes them rather than having to continuously review the aftermath of them.
       I don't know how we planned our summer so well, but it has been really nice. Paul has literally had time off of work almost every two weeks or so. We have had vacations planned and a few little short activities planned here and there, so having him home for a week, or a few days, then a few weeks at work, then home again has been awesome. Now that summer is coming to an end he is going to start slowly getting a little bit busier as busy season encroaches, but thats okay. We are looking forward to November when his firm takes all of the employees and their families to Disneyland. Its at least something to hold out for as Jace and I have to transition back into the normal everyday work life routine.

Jace got a strider bike for his birthday, and is finally cruising on it. He is getting so so fast, and always asks to ride it. I love that he has a desire to ride his bike. I love anything athletic and outdoors and it melts my heart that he likes some of the things that I enjoy as well. 

My Aunt brought over a few slices of chocolate cake and left them at our house. Jace was supposed to be eating breakfast in this picture, but he somehow found the cake and decided to eat that instead. What a stinker! But it was too cute to not get a picture of it. 

When mom is too busy with yard work to take Jace down the street to the rec center pool, we play in the sprinklers that Mimi and Papa gave Jace for his birthday. He wasn't so sure at first, but by the end he loved it and was sad we had to put the sprinklers away. 

Jace and his friends bike gang. I love that Jace is learning to socialize and connect with other children. I also love that he is growing up in a neighborhood with such amazing friends. We lucked out with our neighborhood. I am so grateful that we have the neighbors that we do, and that Jace gets to grow up with all these kids. 

Because I currently can't lay on my pregnant belly in the sun, I had Jace do it for me. The cute kid did just that. 

It took me a few minutes to get Jace to actually play in the pool because I just wanted to sit in the shade, but after some convincing he got in. 

Paul has an old coworker that him and his wife have become really awesome friends of ours. We hang out every month or so and do dinner. Today we did lunch at a Chinese Dim-Sum place (So so yummy), then we played an entire game of Majong. It took us about 6 hours to complete! Yes, they are Asian if you are wondering. Anyway, they missed Jace's birthday and were thoughtful enough to get him something. He got some pretty neat books from "Aunt Jessica and Uncle Wei" 

Jace used to despise trampolines, but has recently decided they aren't so bad. I had to snap a few pics at the neighbors house of him willingly jumping on the tramp. 

My basically BFF from 6th grade through high school decided it would be awesome to move 10 minutes away from me. It has actually been pretty neat. We took the kids swimming at her apartment complex, then went on a lunch picnic to Wheeler Farm. These two munchkins were too cute holding hands to not get a picture of it. Photo credit goes to Shanda for being quick thinking and getting her phone out quick enough to catch these priceless memories. Jace pulled his hand away at one point and Leila was pretty sad about it. 

These three were inthralled with the ducks. Pretty sure Shanda and I had to coax them away from the ducks to see some other animals on the farm. 

      I feel like I never have much of an update on Paul, but there usually isn't anything huge going on. He is still doing awesome at work. He is doing awesome at the whole dad thing as well. We recently took on the project of pouring a cement parking pad on the side of the house. He was out there some days with me, some days without me working on sprinklers, taking up sod, moving boulders, ect. I was out there when I could be, but with Jace, its not always easy to do everything. He has also taken over my job of mowing the lawn lately. I usually try and do it during the day because it gives me more time with Paul on the weekend if he doesn't have to do it, but being as pregnant as I am, and having hills in the front and back yard has made it a little bit tougher of a job for me. Paul can get front and back yard mowed in 45 minutes. It takes me seriously an hour and a half. Now, in all honesty, I am a little more particular about the pattern I make when I mow the lawn and Paul just takes the quickest route, so maybe I can attribute some of the time to the fact that I like the diagonal angles instead of just going straight across the grass. Or maybe my pregnant belly does just add too much to it for me to keep up with Paul.
      I am doing well. Just continuing to hang in there and wait for baby brother to make his debut. I am almost 38 weeks as I write this. I have had some contractions, nothing constant or serious though. Baby has dropped and is pretty much ready to go, other than the fact that I guess he isn't quite ready because he isn't here yet. I have stayed pretty active this pregnancy and just recently decided that I need to stop going to the muscle up classes I have been taking. They have been awesome because there isn't a ton of hard core cardio, but lately as my ligaments have started to loosen, I definitely feel like I am putting more strain on my body than I am doing good by going. I am finally starting to submit to the fact that its basically gotta be yoga, swimming, and walking for me for now.
        I haven't kept as good of track this pregnancy of my cravings and over all feelings as I did with Jace, but these are some things that I have noticed. I have been off and on with craving both sugary snacks, and ice cream. I have also had a lot of cravings for salty things like bacon and french fries. This little guy loves to be active at night. He used to be really good and never wiggle too much before bed, now I can't get him to stop wiggling between the hours of 9 and 11. Its fun to see him move, but he does make falling asleep a little more challenging. He loves to poke his butt or his foot out of my belly button. No joke, but my belly button only pops out because he is pushing up against it. And let me tell you, he does it ALL the time. I haven't had to deal with swelling hardly at all this pregnancy, but when I do its because I have been sitting down for too long. Most people swell from being up on their feet all day, but I swell from sitting down. Weird, I know. And it has made it hard to want to relax. But honestly, its been nice to go hiking, or on a walk, and not have to worry about turning into balloon legs and feet. I am too the point where I have about 2 pairs of shorts that fit me. I have some pants I could wear but with it being so BLAZING hot, I don't even want to attempt it. I just alternate between my two black pairs of shorts every day. My maternity shirts are all questionable at best. They fit ish. Because babe has dropped, they don't always fit all the way around my belly. But I guess the good thing about maternity pants going up to my boobs is that either way I'm covered.
      Paul recently had a few days off and we took Jace to the zoo. There was a moment where Jace was on his dads shoulders looking at the bears when I thought to myself, this is what it is all about. Moments like these. Father and son spending time together. But I also thought that Jace is going to move from the role of only child to big brother. I have to accept that he isn't going to be my one and only any more. Some how my heart has to grow to make room for this other little guy that will be with us soon. I love Jace so much, and its incredible to think that I can have that much love for more than one person. Don't get me wrong, I love our little Pikachu, but I know that when he is here, and a physical part of our family, my love for him is going to multiply ten fold. I am usually not a very emotional person, but I have definitely been thinking about a lot this past week. I have been able to let go of some emotional stuff holding me back, and I am excited to look forward to the future. A future with an amazing husband and two perfect little boys. Our family has been so very blessed. God is good!

Flathead Lake

       Usually my Dad's side of the family does a family reunion in Montana between the 24th of July and the beginning of August. This year, my mom thought it would be awesome to get her family in on a family reunion of sorts. We hardly ever get to see my mom's side of the family because they live in Washington, and since my grandparents passed away, there hasn't been as much push to go visit. Its sad for sure that we don't see them very much, but we LOVE when we actually get together. My mom found a rental house in Poulson Montana on Flathead Lake. The plan was to have her side of the family come for the first weekend, (Friday through Sunday ish), then my Dad's side of the family would come from Montana to Flathead for Thursday through Saturday. We would just end up staying the whole time.

This was the view from our rental. We were literally right on the lake. The road in front of us though was a highway so it was pretty busy. But if you could safely make it across the road we had a private dock and everything. 

     My Mom's siblings are a hoot. They love to stay up late and party and play games. Pretty sure that none of us got to bed earlier than midnight most nights, and we didn't wake up until 10 at the earliest. Those of us that were smart tried to get to bed at a decent hour, because we had to wake up with little kiddos. But thankfully for me, I have an awesome husband that loved to get up early with Jace to go on a Pokemon walk in the morning hehe. So yeah, Paul started playing Pokemon Go. Its a love hate relationship for me right now. I love that it gives him a desire to be up and about and moving and outside, (we have gone to the park more times in the month that Pokemon Go came out than we have all year). But I also get bugged when he wants to play it all the time. We are figuring out limits so that it doesn't become something that encroaches on our lives too much. Anyway, Paul would get up early with Jace and take him on a walk to the park in the morning while I slept in maybe 30 minutes longer, and while everyone else slept in 2 hours longer. 

Jace Loves his Papa. He also loves his cousin Baby Gabe. What a cool family we have!

Auntie Lena is pretty much awesome! She is always playing snapchat puppies with Jace. He loves it!

Here is Jace holding Baby Gabe. He was holding him so nicely this time around. That isn't always the case. Its been nice for him to have a cousin to practice holding so that when baby brother comes, he has had a little bit of practice. 

Lena got some awesome pictures of Jace and Gloria at the park. So glad she is picking up where I slack so that we have awesome memories of the kiddos growing up. 

Playing on the merry go round. They loved it. Jace would yell, "slow down" if you started going too fast. It was kind of funny. 

More fun at the park. 

       We pretty much just chilled while Pete and Dawn and their family where here. They had to leave on Sunday morning though. Chris and Kerri and their family planned to stay until Wednesday. Monday we all drove out to Glacier National Park. Paul and I went early in the morning with my brother Tanner, and Chris and Kerri and their kids while my parents slept in a little bit, (my mom was puking the day before and we weren't sure if she would be up for a hike). It was so awesome for us to go hang out with the Butlers. I LOVE them. They are some of my closest relatives on my mom's side, and I haven't gotten to see them in probably 3 years. And Paul had never met them. We hiked a decent hike at Logan Pass, did some Pokemon huntin/gym battling, got huckleberry Ice cream, shopped for souvenirs, and  played an awesome round of frolf. My parents managed to stop and buy some Flathead Lake Cherries (that are supposedly famous), and let me tell you, they were amazing. They were like nothing I have ever tasted cherry wise. YUM! Our day was packed. Needless to say, I was super tired after our crazy long day.  

Most of this hike, Paul Jace and I were just out of sight of the rest of the group. Jace would get distracted looking for rocks to throw, and then he would realize that his friends were leaving and would yell, "friends, leaving. Hurry fast!" and then he would run for a bit to catch up with them before getting distracted with the next rock. This was the first time we actually caught up with our group for long enough to take a picture. And I'm pretty sure they only waited because there was a mountain goat making its way down the mountain. I asked Logan to photo bomb our family picture just because she is so awesome. 

If you look closely behind me you can see the cute little goat. He got pretty close and eventually crossed the path to the other side. 

Tanner just being Tanner. 

Basically the best view of the hike. They had it roped off and wouldn't let you go much further because of bear sightings in the area. I didn't get to see one, but the boys did. Uncle Chris had binoculars and at least him and Paul got a glimpse of a few bears walking  across the river. 

The view without the peoples in it. 

I had to get a close up of the lake. The color of the water was seriously just beautiful!

We took some snap peas for Jace to eat on the trail, and he was obsessed with them. Cousin Devin asked him for some, and he wouldn't share with him, but he would offer them to the other cousins. It was kind of funny. 

Tanner and Uncle Chris. These two are such a hoot. 

Daddy and Jace chillin on the bridge. Jace was obsessed with the bridges. He loved being able to walk on them. 

Cousin Sidni! Sid is one of my closest cousins on my moms side. We were pen pals when we were younger. She was definitely much better at writing me than i was her though. It was so fun to get to hang out with her and catch up on life after not really seeing much of her for three years!!

Sid, and Logan! These two are seriously the cutest sisters ever. They have such a sweet relationship with one another, I just love it. 

I realized I don't have too many pictures of just Paul. I had to try and get a few of him. 

Jace and Lexi. Lexi is cousin Devin's cute girlfriend. Both of them were so awesome with Jace. It was super fun to watch them play with him. 

Trying to get Jace to smile while we use the selfie stick. Sometimes if we let Jace hold the stick he is more willing to smile. Didn't get much of one, but he is almost looking at the camera, so its a start. 

Jace with Uncle Chris. Chris is definitely one of my closest uncles. He and I go way back to my bratty childhood self. He put up with so much crap from me, but that created a strong relationship between us that I will never forget, (mostly because he won't let me). ;) I love this picture. I love that Jace is hanging out with Chris and developing a relationship with him, and I love how awesome Chris was with Jace. Definitely was a heartfelt moment for me seeing this. 

This is what half of our hike consisted of. Paul and me swinging Jace up the stairs trying to get him to move faster and not get distracted. 

But we also got tired after a while and had to convince him to walk for a little bit before wanting to be swung again. Usually we carry Jace in a hiking back pack for most of the way, but we couldn't fit it in the car this trip so it was something we sacrificed and left at home. This kid was a champ though to hike this hike with us. 

After a long morning of hiking this guy was tuckered out. He was so excited to leave so we could drive through the tunnel, but sadly he fell asleep before we got to the tunnel. 

We wanted to stop and play in the water, so we found a spot off the road and went to play in it. It was pretty chilly. Not gonna lie. But it was nice and refreshing after being all sweaty. Jace wasn't too sure about it because we was woken up from his nap to play in the water, but after he realized he could throw rocks, he perked up pretty quickly. This picture we decided could be a band cover for an album. Maybe we will make a cd one day or something so we can use it. 

Jace throwing rocks and being happy as a clam.

Eventually we convinced him to actually walk in the water. Before he refused to put his feet down. 

Close up of Jace. He is actually looking at the trail.

Jace and I held out with the frolf group for three or four holes before Jace was done and I was thinking I shouldn't over do it. So while everyone else finished the course, Jace and I went to play at the park. Jace was totally fine with it though because he got to ride on a firetruck at the park. He didn't want to do anything else except ride that cute little fire truck. He got off a few times to try the slide, but never went down it, and came right back to the truck. 

       We convinced the cousins to go swimming with us in the lake Tuesday night. It wasn't hard to get the boys to the park to swim because there were two poke stops and a gym all within walking distance. There was a super neat dock you jump off of into the lake, which of course all of us did, but even Jace wanted to!! I had Tallus take a video for me. 

Jace, Dad, and Papa just chilling on our private dock in front of the house. 

Papa took took Jace out to throw some rocks, and Paul and I decided to go join them. Jace had so much fun trying to throw rocks as far as the big boys. These guys though are just amazing. I love the relationship that all three of these guys have. 

This picture is at the other park. The one that is good for swimming. Kylee, Lena, and Logan are out in the water swimming, and if you look far into the back ground I'm pretty sure Jace and Paul had just jumped off the dock for the first time.

Jace and Paul swimming in from the dock

My cute sissy. She is so great. We weren't super close growing up, but I love that we have a pretty good relationship now. I hope that we keep strengthening it so that we are like best best friends :)

I asked Lena to snap a picture of Paul, Jace and I just sitting on the dock. It doesn't seem like much, but its moments like these that I live for. 

Our cute little feetsies. Just trying to relax and enjoy the sunset. 

The video of Jace Jumping off the dock. Tallus was filming while he was swinging so the video is a little shaky, but man Jace is such a dare devil stud!

      After our awesome Butler clan family had to leave on Wednesday, we relaxed and Geared up for the Blatters to show up. We had plans with them to rent some seadoos and also a boat and go tubing. Thursday we had the Seadoos for half a day, and Friday we had them for half a day. We also had a Boat for all of Friday. I was super nervous to ride really fast at first on the Seadoos, but eventually I figured it out and learned to love it. The thing that made me most nervous was being 35 weeks pregnant. If I hadn't been pregnant I wouldn't have worried, because falling off wouldn't have given me any reason to worry. Tubing was not as fun being super pregnant though. I only went once and decided I better be smart about it if I wanted my kid to survive the next 5 weeks. Jace came with us on the boat and was distraught when Paul fell of the tube. He kept yelling "Daddy fall off! Daddy fall off" and I had to reassure him that its okay, dad had on his life jacket just like Jace and we would go and pick him up. He felt much better when dad finally got back in the boat. Friday was a really long day. We were all out on the lake basically from 9 in the morning until 5 ish in the evening. I tried to stay out of the sun, but its not easy to do when you are boating and playing on the water. Jace stayed up all day with no nap, but as soon as I got him in the car to go, he fell asleep within the first 3 minutes I kid you not! He was so worn out. Poor kid, had a long hot day, and ended up with chaffed legs on top of it. He was not happy when we had to shower him and get him dressed. 

     Even though we spent a lot of time playing with the cousins, we still had some time to sit and chat with them as well. We stayed up and played some games, but we also all went to bed earlier than we normally would have because we were all so exhausted. 

Thursday morning after our first trip out on the seadoos.

My cute hot mama! She wasn't super sure about riding the seadoos with dad, but after he got her out there, she slowly, sorta, kinda warmed up to it. 

Jace doing his thing, finding rocks, while the other kidlets play in the water. 

Party on the seadoos. Jace really didn't love it. He got used to it, and slightly enjoyed it after a while, but he didn't like to go very fast or hit any bumps on the lake. He did especially like it though when daddy would let him drive the "boat"

Side view of the three of us. We had so much fun!

Tanner was so awesome with Jace this week. He was so willing to watch Jace so I could shower, or take the seadoos out for a minute, or something like that. I am so so grateful that he wanted to play with Jace here and there for me. Jace loves Tanner, so it was fun to see them playing together. 

We got the chance to take the seadoos out with out the babes. This is where we went crazy fast and hit as many waves as we could. 

Look at that big belly! Hopefully that baby decides to show up soon. 

Me with my awesome pops. This guy is such a stud! I look up to him so much! 

Little sister Kessla, or Auntie Lumpy as jace calls her, was so great with Jace also. He loves to play with her. 

Jace and Papa having a great time. 

Paul took Jace out and he really wasn't quite sure what to think. But they had fun. 

At the park again, playing with rocks, again.

We pulled out a frisbee and Jace and Brooklyn had a blast. 

This kid has such a great release, only it doesn't go the direction you thing its going to go. He can throw a frisbee pretty amazingly well, we just need it to go the way his release shows so people stop getting pegged in the head by a rogue frisbee!

More rocks, and water.

Spending some time together at the beach eating snacks in the shade.

Poor Tanner was all tuckered out after the long day of play that we had. 

    Saturday for the drive home I was not feeling well. I woke up super nauseous and worried I was going to be driving home 8 hours with the constant need to barf. My mom had the flu bug on Sunday, and then when the Blatter cousins showed up a few of them had it on Friday, so I figured my luck had run out and I was just going to be sick all the way home. Luckily I was either really blessed with not being super pukey, or I was just really dehydrated from the day before. I seemed to feel much better if I had food in my stomach, was drinking water, and was resting. I made it the whole way home without puking once, but I also didn't do much to help Paul with Jace the whole way home. We had pizza for dinner that night and Paul took Jace out to visit the neighbor friends. I went to sleep at 7 and basically didn't wake up until Sunday morning at 8. I felt soo much better the next day though. 

       Even though we had to drive 8 hours up and 8 hours back with lots of stops for this pregnant lady, our trip was really fun. It was so great to be able to reconnect with cousins and aunts and uncles and develop stronger relationships with them.