Katie's Preschool Graduation

Katie's Preschool Graduation was May 24. Irma, Mom, Elayna, Ryan and I were all there. Plus Naomi and her younger kids. And Amanda and Jay. It was a fun event. They had 2 microphones that a few students gathered around for each song. Katie and Abby did "solos" on the same song. Here is Abby with her group:

And Katie with hers. They sang "Skidamarink-I Love You!" Those of us watching loved that both our girls were RIGHT in front of the microphone. It was very cute.

Dad, Mom, and Katie:

Sister! 

Grandmas: 

The Preschool had 3 different classes, and between those 3 classes, there were 7 cousins.


(left to right) Trey DeGraffenried, Waylon Francom, Noah DeGraffenried, Trey Huff, Abby, Katie, and Chase Degraffenried.

I'm so glad we put Katie in Preschool. She loved it so much, and the teachers did a wonderful job. After the graduation, all the kids got a trophy, a yearbook, a DVD of pictures from their class, and some miscellaneous toys.

I know she learned a lot from this class. I would never have been motivated to teach her myself, so this worked out great!

Thank you Miss Stacy and Miss Erin!

Katie's 5th Birthday celebrations

Katie's birthday was on Sunday this year. This is our pretty birthday girl dressed up for church, with streamers and balloons in the background:

She went to lunch with my parents to Tsing Tao-our favorite Chinese place. I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad were grateful to not have McDonald's, again. Then they took her shopping. This is the first year she has been able to pick out her present. She really wanted quite a few things, I guess. She even asked if she could have one thing now, and then another present when Mom and Dad saw her on her REAL birthday. Um, no such luck, cutie. This is the present she chose. A fairy costume with wings, and pink high heel shoes.

Katie also got to have a "friend" party this year. We have always had family parties before. This is the cake. I thought she wanted a Sleeping Beauty princess on top, so I assumed this cake topper I got from Amanda would suffice. After the party was over, I asked her if she liked the cake. She said that she liked it but it wasn't really what she wanted. Apparently she wanted the cake to be in the shape of Sleeping Beauty. Well, this is close enough. :)

These are the "friends" she invited. They are all family, except the girl to the right of Katie. She was a friend from Preschool. I had planned to have the girls come, play for a bit outside, then we would do cake and presents and send them home with a goodie bag. I guess other Moms are better party planners than me. Every single girl (including both of mine) came up and asked me when the party was going to start. I had to tell each of them that "This is the party". They all seemed disappointed. Oh well.

Katie had lots of fun opening her presents and having friends there. I actually think some of the cousins were a little offended that the friend (Megan) was there, and that THEY (the cousins) weren't the most important people in Katie's eyes at the moment, but I think they all had fun.

(from left to right) Kylie, Hannah, Abby, Elayna, Bekah, Megan and Katie:

At Irma and Jerry's house, Clarissa had made cupcakes for Katie's birthday:

Katie got a beautiful pink dress with matching ribbons from Irma and Jerry. They also gave her a ceramic tea set so she can have tea parties at home.

Elayna was playing with the animals and lining them all up in a row. It was very cute.

Matthew gave her some dice beads. Clarissa got her "Happy Birthday to You!" by Dr Seuss, some earrings and a bracelet.
Ryan and I got her a "Pinkalicious" sticker book, a bead set with thread, and a package of stickers, small notebooks, pens, a ruler, bookmark, misc items like that. I think she really was excited about them all.

We love our Katie. She loves to help around the house. She gives hugs when they are needed. She helps with Annalisa and Elayna. She makes sure everyone is happy. She is such a sweet girl; so loving, caring, helpful, beautiful, smart, obedient, etc.
Love you sweetie!

Annalisa Mae Bowman

I had my membranes stripped on May 5, and had lots of hard contractions the rest of the day. I was positive the baby would come that night. When I woke up and nothing had happened, I cried and was upset for a while. But then the girls needed me to get them breakfast and dress their Barbie dolls, so I had to get up and get going. Then, on Sunday, during sacrament meeting, I didn't feel well at all, and I had a contraction that lasted for 3 minutes or something. So I went home, made sure my bag was packed, and laid down to rest. No more contractions the rest of the day. Monday morning I woke up at 7:30 to hard contractions for about an hour or so, but they ranged from 5 mins apart to 17 mins apart. Oh well, we will just go over to the hospital and have them check me, and maybe they will keep me and induce me. Because I was at a 3 on May 5, so I had to have progressed since then, right? Well, we got the girls dressed and over to Irma's. Ryan gave me a priesthood blessing while we were there. The contractions stopped before we left our house. Nothing on the way to Irma's. Nothing while we were there. Nothing on the way to the hospital. So we came home and I put dishes away from the dishwasher and took a shower and I'm writing this now.
Oh, the reason I wanted to write stuff down. Katie, this morning, when I told her the baby might come today, so we were taking her to Irma's house. She said, "Mom, remember when we were on that trip, and the water was leaking at the hotel?"
Yes?
Well, i thought that is what it would be like when you had your baby.
Oh, when my water breaks?
Yeah.
Oh, sorry. It is a little different. :)

She's so funny.

My back hurts, and there is lots of pressure down there, so I guess maybe we will go over to the hospital and have them check. I just feel so wishy washy about it, that it must not really be time. But I don't want her to come before I have time to get to the hospital either!
Ryan is taking a nap, so I guess I'll go wake him up.

I had been having contractions for about 2 hours on Monday, May 9. They ranged from 3 minutes to 17 minutes apart. They weren't hurting tons, but we decided to drop the girls off at Irma's house at about 9:30 am. We started to drive to the hospital, and of course, the contractions stopped completely. So we went home and I cleaned the kitchen and straightened the house. Then Ryan was hungry, but I didn't feel like eating, so we went to Santaqueen, and Ryan made me get some food. He always knows when I need to eat, even if I say I'm not hungry. I ate all my food, and we decided to go to my OB's office to see if they would check me and see if there was any progression. At my last appointment, on May 5, he said I was at a 3. He checked and said I was dilated to a 4, and effaced to about 70%. He said I could go to the hospital and they could induce me then, or I could go home and probably come back in the middle of the night and then have the baby. We went over to the hospital at about 2:00 pm. Dr Crouch (my OB) broke my water at 4:45 and said I was at a 5 and 80%. Then I got the epidural, which slowed down the progression, but it so worth getting! I stayed at a 6 for about 1.5 hours, so they increased the Pitocin and I went to a 9 in half an hour.

Annalisa arrived at 8:39 pm on May 9. She weighed 9 lbs 3 oz, and was 20.5 inches long. She had some fluid in her stomach that they had to suction out, but otherwise, everything went really well. I think I pushed 5 times through one contraction, and she was here! When the doctor laid her on my belly, I was amazed that big baby had been in my tummy. She is so beautiful! 

Annalisa calmed down while holding Daddy's finger, just like her sisters.

Weighing in at 9 lbs, 3 oz, and 20.5 inches long

Her hair is curly when wet

We are so happy to have Annalisa here!

Happy parents

The hospital has a photographer that takes pictures of the babies, then wants you to buy prints. They cost $18 for one 8 X 10. We didn't get any prints, but this was the best picture they got. 

I left the hospital on May 12, and everyone has been taking really good care of me. I was blessed to have meals brought in by the ward, friends, and my loving family for 2 whole weeks! I've recovered pretty well. I feel almost normal at this point. 
Annalisa nurses really well, and she even takes a bottle easily. Ryan will normally give her a bottle at about midnight or 1 am before he goes to bed, which means I don't have to wake up to feed her until about 4 am. It is great.
Annalisa has a little bit of congestion, so she breathes noisily. She snorts and snores when she sleeps. It is pretty cute. She started recognizing when I was getting ready to feed her within about 4 days of being born. She will be fussy, and I lay her on my lap sideways, while I get ready to nurse, and she will quiet down. She tends to fill her diaper right as I put a new one on her, even if I've waited until I'm sure she is done. :)

Katie and Elayna love her. We had to keep reminding them of her name, and even now, they tend to just call her baby. It's okay, because I call her Elayna a lot. :) Katie likes to hold her, and wants to feed her and burp her and carry her around. Right now, she just holds her on her lap, and has fed her with a bottle once.

The other day, I saw Ryan yawning and stretching in bed. I realized that Annalisa yawns and stretches exactly like Ryan! It was so cute. I don't normally "see" characteristics of people in my children. That was the first time I have actually noticed a resemblance between my children and anyone else.

We are so thankful Annalisa arrived safely and that everything went well with the delivery. Living and breathing and giving life- I am so grateful Heavenly Father has blessed me and my family with these amazing miracles!!

Swinging and Playing Outside

My beautiful girls, all dressed up for Mother's Day:

Mother's Day-May 8

Part of my Mother's Day present-May 7-Irma edged the lawn, and Ryan mowed and took down Christmas lights and the girls helped sweep up the grass clippings. I just sat in a lawn chair and watched.

Ryan also got me LEGO Harry Potter for the xbox for Mother's Day. We have lots of fun playing the LEGO games together. We have already passed off LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman, and LEGO Indiana Jones. Ryan likes to buy them for me, because they are the only games I will play with him on the xbox.


 

Katie and Elayna really love to swing in our backyard, These are some of the "tricks" they were showing me one day:

Swinging on their tummies and letting their hair touch the ground:

Swinging while standing:


Flipping over and touching the ground with her head:


Swinging while standing up:


Katie was pushing Elayna. It was actually a little scary, but they both enjoyed it:


Holding hands while swinging:


These girls make me so happy! They love playing together and coming up with new and interesting things to show me. Such cuties!

End of April 2011

Pregnancy pic-May 2, 2011-38 weeks

I went to my OB doctor on April 22. He said everything looks good, and he will see me on May 5, because he is going on vacation for the week in between. I'm supposed to be seeing him weekly at this point.

This yellow tulip is from our yard. It was huge! The dark purple tulip is the size of a normal tulip. The yellow was about the size of a teacup. I love tulips.


I turned 32 this year. My parent's took me out to lunch, and my in-laws took me out to dinner. Ryan took me to dinner. I think I ate out for most of the week of my birthday, which was great. Ryan bought me the 5th book of Fablehaven. It is a series that we are reading together, and that is the next book! I'm excited to read it.

When Ryan took the girls shopping for my birthday, I guess he was asking them what they should get. Ryan says this is how the conversation went:
Ryan- What should we give Mom?
Katie-her cooking thing is broken (my mixer)
Ryan-no, too expensive
Katie-a new sewing machine? (I had said I wanted a new one around Christmas, then changed my mind)
Ryan-No...
Katie-I know! A piggy bank. So she can keep her money and special stuff in it!

So when they got home from shopping, Ryan texted me to go into the bedroom. Then I came out, and they were hiding from me in the stairway. They yelled, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Then Katie asked, in a loud whisper, "Can I tell her about the donuts?" Ryan said no. Then later, again in a loud whisper, "Can we give her the book now?" Ryan said "no" again. I had to pretend both times that I hadn't heard her. She is so cute. Katie and Elayna were both so excited it was my "happy birthday" and that Ryan put candles in the donuts and they got to sing Happy Birthday to me. Birthdays are a lot more fun when kids are involved.
My parents also gave me some money, which I used to partly pay for my quilt to be machine quilted. I will post pictures of the quilt later.  I'm really happy with how it turned out. I need to bind the edges together, and then it will completely finished.

For my birthday, Irma, Jerry, and Clarissa got me a gift certificate to a nail salon. I got my nails done in a French manicure:

And my toes got a cute little flower. It was really nice and relaxing. Surprising how something as simple as nail polish can make you feel pampered and special. :)



Elayna has cream that we put on her when she gets really dry or irritated skin. One night, Ryan came into her room (we thought she was asleep) and Elayna just held up her hands and said, "lotion" in a kind of depressed, worried sort of way. We had to get a picture, then we told her she was in trouble. It took quite a bit of paper towels and warm washcloths to get it mostly off.
You can see she got it all over her face, hands, arms, and legs.

Elayna, trying on her Daddy's shoes. She was so proud of herself.

Katie and Elayna wanted to play out in the rain. It was raining pretty hard.


A beautiful rainbow:



Irma had Katie and Elayna come stay the night at her house on April 22, in preparation for when the baby comes. The girls love it. In fact, they were both upset that they had to come home.  Ryan and I were both ready for them to come home. We were sitting in the front room, waiting for them. We both kept looking out the window, and looking at the clock, and wondering where they were. When they finally came, we went outside and helped get them out of the car, and gave them really big hugs. I think they were excited to see us, after Grandma and Grandpa went home.

GG had an Easter party at her house on April 23. There were treats, ice cream, cookies, etc. Then the kids went on an Easter egg hunt and got some candy. Then they broke open a pinata, with more candy inside. Lots of sugar, but lots of fun too. 





Easter dresses: (they actually got the dresses for Christmas, but they haven't worn them until now)

 The Easter bunny didn't come to our house this year. We figured the girls had enough candy to last them for a while, and Ryan and I don't need any more candy. This is probably the last year we will be able to just cancel the holiday like that. Katie will figure it out by next year.

The wind was blowing so hard that it knocked over one of my chairs. The chair hit my table, and shattered half of it. :(    Now we will have to use a board for the table top.