Penney Arrived

Hi Everyone, as most of you have probably heard Penney Ann Oswell arrived Sunday September 2, 2012 at 11:57 P.M weighing in at 6 lbs 15 oz and 19 inches long. She arrived in the CRAZIEST way! First, some background information. I had been having contractions for about a week I would have braxton hicks ALL time the monday before I even had steady contractions for 6 hours but then they just stopped. So I was used to have these mild contractions. Sunday morning I woke up and thought it was weird that I was having contractions in the morning because usually I was just having them at night. But once again they were not consistent and were not that painful. We went to church and I made dinner, we even talked to Jeff's parents until about 10 P.M.

While Jeff was on the phone with his parents I started having those mild annoying "false contractions" again. However, this time they were getting steady but because of the incident on Monday where I had contractions for 6 hours I didn't really think much of it! THEN the big contractions hit between 10:45 and 11 they were getting more painful. By 11:05 I had texted my friend Kristy telling her we may be dropping off Evelyn. By 11:15 I was screaming for Jeff and in so much pain I really couldn't move. He was running around like in the movies trying to grab every thing, because after being in labor for 33 hours with Evelyn I just assumed I would have time to grab the things before we needed to go! I finally told Jeff that we needed to leave NOW and I didn't care what we had, we had to go. My contractions went from 5 minutes apart to not being able to tell one from the other. I could barely get out to the car at 11:30.

Next, we were on our way to drop off Evelyn at our friends 5 minutes away I wasn't able to say much except, GO, speed, and DON'T stop!!!! While on our way there I felt a gush and my water had broken and now the contractions were even worse. I can't describe how intense the pain was but I was just trying not to push in the car, and yes I was breathing crazy and I think I let out a couple screams. We literally pulled into our friends drive way and they were waiting, Jeff gave them Evelyn and they could tell I wasn't doing good and we left. Now we were really speeding, Jeff only ran 2 stop lights I think because I was YELLING at him to! We get to the hospital and of course the main entrance is closed and so we spend 1 minute which in my eyes seemed like forever finding the emergency entrance. Jeff runs in and says my wife is having a baby NOW! They of course are like "sir calm down, calm down," Jeff basically ignored them grabbed a wheel chair and brought it out to me and once they saw me I guess they realized he was not messing around since I was in so much pain I couldn't talk. 

They tell Jeff to go park the car (which I was so annoyed about couldn't they have done that). They ran with me to labor and delivery. Literally she was out of breath by the time we got there. There was 5 nurses waiting there for me. They grabbed me and put a robe on me and checked and yep I was 10!!!! It was 11:48 at this point they are telling me that the baby is coming and I realize that I'm pushing with out an epidural and I had dilated to a 10 with out one either! I at this point have the urge to push because I know that I actually can now, I was trying not to push the WHOLE time in the car. However, Jeff still wasn't there and I wasn't pushing with out him. They prep me to have this baby, Jeff gets to the room and he realizes this baby is coming now! The nurses are shouting orders, and I'm SO scared, I'm worried about Penney and Me, considering how fast this all happened. 

The nurse keeps telling me not push trying to wait for a doctor but I told him I couldn't and I pushed once, and her head almost came out, one more time and her head was out and one more time and I got her shoulders and the rest of her out, at 11:57! She was healthy and I was shaking, relieved, grateful, and excited all at the same time. 

I had a baby naturally in literally an hour and a half of intense labor. The complete and total opposite of what happened with Evelyn! Penney is adorable and sleeps a lot just like Evelyn did. Evelyn loves her and loves helping. My mom is here and helping, and Vivian  (Jeff's mom) came right when we told them she was here. Which they couldn't believe when we called and told them because they had talked to us 2 hours before!  We are loving our family of 4 and we are doing really well.

Jeff started school on Tuesday, and is now a second year! We feel very blessed that every thing worked out the way it did I could have had Penney in the car, and if there was any complications they couldn't have stopped it because she came to fast we know how blessed we are. Thanks for the love and support! 

This last week!

We are doing good! This last week has been CRAZY. Jeff had a really intense test on Thursday and probably studied over 30 hours for it. Poor guy didn't even see Evelyn on Monday, by the time he got home Evelyn was sleeping.

Evelyn got flu a shot on Tuesday. She was a running a fever that night :( BOOOOOO. We'll see if she gets a flu shot next year. We did get to see Daddy that day just for dinner though!

Wednesday was a day with just Evelyn and I! She was pretty needy all day and just wanted to be held and she still wasn't feeling too well, she had a fever of about 102 but I guess that's pretty normal after the flu shot. Poor Evelyn and daddy did not get to see each other again on Wed. I don't think Jeff got home til 9:30. On Thursday she seemed to be doing pretty good but she had a rough time going down for her nap and she woke up shortly after and cried, cried, and cried. For 4 hours straight! I have a whole new appreciate for mothers who have colicky babies. I finally had the genius idea to go to the park because she LOVES being outside, and loves see dogs. That made her happy! Jeff came home that night and we enjoyed dinner together.

Jeff didn't have school on friday so he was able to work out and do some things for himself. We went to the park together as a family and then it was time to get ready for Trunk or treat. Evelyn didn't really understand it and there were a lot of people around, but she was so cute in her lady bug costume! She got a lot of candy and she loves anything Chocolate, but Reese's are her absolute favorite! She gets a piece of candy every day for dessert.

Saturday we went to a little pumpkin patch near our house. They had a lot of rides and activities. Evelyn was able to go through the petting zoo filled with roosters, goats, and bunnies. She of course loved it! Then she went on her first ride, it was miniature swings. She was able to go all by herself, she didn't like it or dislike it which I would consider a success. We were also able to go down the big bouncy slide, she really liked that!

Monday was Halloween! Evelyn and I had a good day and just played. When Daddy got home we had our Halloween themed dinner which included Mummy Dogs (hotdogs that look like mummies with crescent rolls) and dracula apples (Apples that look like teeth) and orange fries (sweet potato fries). It was a fun dinner and then we went trick or treating! Evelyn LOVED it and she totally understood. She would hold her pumpkin and go right up to the person and hold her pumpkin out for candy and then she would laugh and get so excited. She totally new what was going on! It was so fun to watch and probably my favorite halloween! Overall, we are doing well we love and miss you guys!

Grateful to be POOR!

Because I have a lot of time to sit and contemplation I recently realized I'm grateful to be poor! I'm poor so I stay at home and play with my daughter, and come up with creative activities to do and not just buy expensive toys. Evelyn is so young she doesn't know the difference. Luckily, most of my friends are poor so we are all in the same boat. I have realized the miracles that happen when you pay tithing. I am learning the art of couponing and price matching. I am grateful for our Honda Accords that each have over 200,000 miles on them. I am learning that life is just as much fun in target, forever 21, and old navy clothes, as it is in Nordstoms clothes (who knew?) :)! I cook delicious meals for my family instead of going out to eat. We spend time with family when we have time off instead of going on vacation (okay, I would LOVE to go on a vacation but I'm trying to look at the glass half full). I appreciate things a WHOLE lot more. When we finally have money I will actually know what it's like to not have any! Obviously we are not living on the streets and living off of a dollar a day, and I know that there are people WAY worse off then we are. I'm just grateful that I'm learning some valuable lessons, I think everybody should struggle some time in life. You realize that you can be happy no matter what!

Also you gain an incredible testimony on how the Lord will provide for you when you are doing what he would have you do. Having Evelyn was the scariest thing, I didn't know how I was going to finish school, didn't know how we were going to pay the bills, we didn't know anything. However, we did know that we were not supposed to postpone having children so we went forward with faith. The miracles have poured in ever since. One of those miracles is being poor but still having every thing I need and being happier than I have ever been! In the end FAMILY, FRIENDS, and knowing WHY you are here and WHO brought you here is what will bring you true eternal happiness... even if your poor.

I like to BONK!

Evelyn has a tooth! Enough that I can finally snap a picture of it. I love that she is getting teeth FINALLY. However, I don't like that she falls she always cuts her upper mouth, she bled twice today. NOT FUN! She is pretty tough though.

My daughter LOVES violence so I accidently bonked my head and she thought it was the funniest thing ever. So of course like any mother would do I kept doing it, and she kept laughing. Evelyn discovered that she could BONK her head too, and OH BOY she thought that was even funnier. I love her so much. Evelyn is the one person that can smile and ALWAYS make me smile back.

Life would be easier if....

Lately I have been thinking about how much easier life would be if I didn't CONSTANTLY compare. I am a compare-aholic. I compare every thing. My husband, my daughter, and don't even get me started on myself. Is it just me? Does every one else compare this much?

I need to give you examples so you realize how crazy this is for me. I compare not only what other girls my age look like, but their weight, their legs, their hair, what they wear, their husbands, their life. I want you to understand I don't do it because I want to be better then them. I don't dislike some one if they are prettier, skinnier, more fashionable...etc, etc, etc. But I kind of beat myself up over it. Like why can't I be like that? Is it just me?

My new goal for myself is stop! stop! stop! Stop comparing not just me but my family. Thanks for the inspiration Elder Uchtdorf. "Don't compare your weaknesses to other peoples strengths." I need to be happy NOW, which I am don't get me wrong I'm very happy but I think if I stopped comparing I could be EVEN happier.

Walking!!!!! Well.... pretty close.

Evelyn is going to be moving in NO time. I thought she was still my 5 pound baby who slept all the time. Please notice that she will ONLY walk to Mommy.

The whole month of August!

I am so far behind that I'm going to do condense the last month so I can just be caught up! Jeff's mom Vivian came to help us move from Orem, to Vegas she was a huge help watching Evelyn, cleaning, and helping with packing. Also she drove one of our cars down to Vegas. When we arrived in Vegas Jeff's dad and brother, T.J. came to help unpack! My cousins Jason and Jessica came to help too. We had every thing out of the truck in an hour or so! Jeff's family stayed for 2 days and were a huge help, moving furniture and watching Evelyn so I could actually organize!

Jeff's parents left and we spent the next couple of days getting the house in order and getting things done that needed to: getting our NV drivers license, setting up internet, cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Once we were all done with that we headed to California for a week and half long vacation! It was so nice to spend time with family. We spent a couple days at Jen's (Jeff's sister) we went to the beach a couple of times which Evelyn loved! We were also able to go to a couple of our close friend's weddings while we were in CA. The night before we left we had an early birthday party for Evelyn. Apparently she does not like cake!

Jeff had orientation the week before school started. It was a good way for him to meet the other guys in his class. There are a lot that came from Utah probably like 25 or so! There are a lot the students who have children and wives so I am sure we will become close friends. The school hosted a BBQ and I got to meet a lot of them!

Labor day weekend we had visitors! Our close friends Allan and Sandy came to visit from Provo. We went to the strip a couple of times and tried Serendipity! We looked at the casino's and enjoyed their company.

Finally, Jeff started school last Monday, it will be really hard, the first 2 years and especially this first year but Jeff is pretty confident that if he manages his time he will survive. He is taking like 14 classes which is like 25 credits or something ridiculous like that! Poor Jeff got sick on Saturday it was like a 24 hour stomach flu. We are just grateful that he got sick on the weekend and not during the actually week!

Well EVELYN IS 1!!! Her birthday was last Thursday and we had my aunt and uncle and my cousins over for her birthday I made her cookies and she wouldn't eat those either but she did eat a Chips A'hoy Cookie! She opened all her presents and was playing with them and had a great time! Evelyn has her first tooth, and she is now on formula! Going onto formula has been quite the process though. We tried whole milk every way imaginable chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, I added sugar, and even tried watering it down. None of it worked she would throw up or refuse to take it. So then I switched to formula which lasted for about a week and then she started throwing up every time she had it. When I say throw up, I mean throw up, not spit up! Finally we discovered Soy Formula and she is doing fine. We think her little body just can't handle it yet.

I have been staying busy cleaning this house! I also try and get out every day! I'm getting pretty good at knowing where things are around town. I have discovered that Las Vegas has incredible shopping. I just like to look! We are doing well and enjoying ourselves here!