Picture Overload!!

My camera seems to be working overtime these days!! With a newborn around, there are many moments to be captured. I fear I had gotten lazy with capturing all of Alexa's moments and am trying to rectify that since Payton came. Anyways, here are some pictures to catch you all up on the happenings over the last 2 1/2 weeks since Payton joined our family.

Daddy's Little Girl - she already has Kevin wrapped around her itty bitty fingers!

I just thought this picture was so cute...look at those cheeks!!

Me and my girls...oh how I love them!

Alexa is so sweet with Payton.

She wants to be everywhere she is.

A tender moment with mommy.

Please...no more pictures!

Last Saturday, we took the girls and my mom for a picnic down by the river. It was a really pretty day and we all enjoyed getting out of the house for a little bit. And what was even better...my mom treated us to Graeter's ice cream afterwards!! Can't go wrong there!!

I just love this little peanut. She has been such a joy to have in our family and I can't imagine life without her!

More evidence of Alexa's love for her baby sister. She was so sweet one day and let Payton have her lovey's for a little while. Sure, she's had a couple moments of jealousy...but overall, she's been so loving and so willing to share. I'm soooo grateful that it's been such an easy adjustment for Alexa!

We've really enjoyed having my mom (aka Gramma Jenny) here to help out. Alexa especially has LOVED having pretty much 100% of Gramma's attention focused on her. They've played and played and played...on top of my mom cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, sewing and helping me out. Thanks mom for giving of your time to help me and my little family!

We love you Gramma Jenny!

I soooo wish this picture wasn't blurry! I think it's so adorable of Alexa. Such pure joy on her face. My fabulous friend, Brinn, made me this nursing cover and showed Alexa that it also works great as a cape. However, she figured out that it also makes a great skirt and got a kick out of me trying to capture a picture.

Anyways, that's about it so far - nothing too exciting...just adjusting to life as a family of four.

Story Time

Alexa is the greatest big sister. She loves Payton and wants to see her first thing in the morning and wants to know what she's doing at all times of the day. As I was trying to get a few things done, this is what Alexa decided to do...read to Payton. It was so sweet. She wants to sing to her or read to her or just be next to her giving her kisses and hugs all the time. I love it. I hope they'll grow up being the best of friends!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so blessed to be the mom to these two beautiful girls. My Heavenly Father has entrusted me to care for them and help them learn and grown in this life and I am so grateful for that opportunity. There was a time in my life when I thought I would not be able to have children and it was a very hard thing for me to accept as I'd always wanted to be a mom! But things worked out very differently than I thought they might and now I cannot imagine my life without these two sweet little ladies. My life is so much more complete and full of love with them in it. And what's even better...I get to share this amazing responsibility with a wonderful man. Thank you Kevin for standing beside me, supporting me, loving me, being the best daddy in the world...and for making my Mother's Day so great. I love you, Alexa and Payton with all my heart.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

And Happy Mother's Day to my own mom, my mother-in-law, my wonderful sisters and sisters-in-law, and all my fabulous mommy friends!

Ouchie!

Well, Payton is one week old and already we're having some excitement in our house! Kevin started his externship (AHEC) this week and shortly before he came home today, Alexa had been playing on/near the coffee table. We're not sure if she rolled off or just lost her footing next to the table, but the next thing my mom and I knew, she was crying on the floor. Now, we've had our fair share of bumps and bruises and normally, Alexa is over and done with the trauma within seconds. That wasn't the case this time. 45 minutes after it happened, when Kevin finally arrived home, Alexa was STILL crying and complaining about her left arm. She had let both my mom and I touch it and move it but she wouldn't move it herself. This wasn't like her at all. So...after several attempts to contact friends in the ward who might know how to help us, and other friends for advice...we finally decided to take her to the Kosair Children's Express at Norton Suburban Hospital. And because I'm nursing, I couldn't leave a 1 week old at home with my mom, so we all packed up and headed to the ER....and proceeded to spend the rest of the evening there. After having Alexa's arm manipulated once by the ER pediatrician, sent for x-rays, and manipulated a second time by the doctor...I was done. I just sat in the hallway outside the x-ray room and cried while Alexa screamed and then I cried like a baby again while the doctor looked at her arm the 2nd time. My little girl was hurting and I could do nothing about it.

Thankfully though, nothing was broken but they said it would take a few days to heal. We're grateful that our first ER visit with Alexa wasn't worse.

***Ouchie Update...it's now been a week and a half since she hurt her arm and she's pretty well back to full use. She still favors it from time to time and still says she has a "boo-boo" but for the most part it's behind us.

Friends are Chosen Family!!

I have made some amazing friends while living here in Louisville. Last night, just 6 days after Payton was born, a girls' night was arranged and since some of these fabulous ladies were/are moving, I decided to get out of the house for a couple of hours to bask in their company one last time. Thankfully, I had my mom to help and so she, Payton and I went to enjoy a milkshake at Steak'N'Shake. I am so grateful to these wonderful women (not everyone could be there unfortunately), for their love, support and friendship. They make living away from family a whole lot easier!

***My favorite part of the picture is the guy at the table behind us who wanted to be in the pic!!

Can you tell who is who???

Well, I'm pretty sure that I have the ability to clone myself. It's now happened not ONCE...but TWICE!! And to prove it...here are a three sets of photos for you to guess which is Alexa and which is Payton! Good luck and don't peek at the bottom of the post where I'll post the answers!

Set #1: Picture A

Picture B

Set #2: Picture A

Picture B

Set #3: Picture A

Picture B

Answers: Set #1: Picture A - Payton, Picture B - Alexa

Set #2: Picture A - Alexa, Picture B - Payton

Set #3: Picture A - Payton, Picture B - Alexa

The tradition continues...

When I was a little girl, I would make cinnamon rolls with my mom. In fact, it's one of my earliest memories. Well...while my mom has been here to help with Payton, she's also been spending a lot of time with Alexa (also a part of the plan!!)...and they decided to do some baking, including cinnamon rolls. Alexa had a blast and I thought it was fun that it was something I used to do with my mom. Now, I just need to learn how to make them so Alexa, Payton and I can continue the tradition!

Our Welcome Home!

The day we came home from the hospital with Payton, this was waiting for us. However, it rained shortly after and we didn't get a picture of the original, which included a lot of Alexa's original artwork! So Grandma and Alexa tried to re-create it but Alexa wasn't as interested as the first time!!

Payton's 1st Bath

As you can see...Payton REALLY enjoyed her first bath at home!! Poor Alexa was more traumatized though by Payton's crying. She kept saying "no more mom, no more" and "stop mom, stop"...like I could keep Payton from crying!! So I just kept telling her Payton was okay, she just wasn't used to taking a bath like Alexa was. It was so cute though to see how concerned she was for her little sister! She's definitely taken to her and always wants to know where she is and what she's doing. Payton is so lucky to have such a great big sister!

SiStErS!!

Alexa has taken to her "liddle sister" so well! She absolutely LOVES her. She wants to hold her all the time and "do it myself". She thinks Payton is "so cute" and is concerned every time she cries. My favorite is she tells me ALL the time "eewwwweeeee mom, taypon stinks", and that I need to change her bum. If Alexa had her way, we'd be going through a pack of diapers a day!

Anyways, I love that Alexa loves Payton and I hope it blossoms into a great friendship as they grow older! Aren't sisters great??!!

Introducing Payton Jae Mortenson!

Okay, so I finally have a minute to sit at the computer and share the story of Payton joining our family. Thanks Amanda for getting the initial information on the blog for us!! Here goes:

On Wednesday, April 29, 2009, I was scheduled to be induced and luckily when we called in at 5am, they actually had a bed available...so off we went to the hospital at 6:45 that morning. Here I am just before heading to the hospital. I was soooooo ready to have this baby!!

By 7:30am, I was hooked up to the pitocin, the doctor on call then broke my water at 8:20 and my contractions quickly became uncomfortable so by 9:30am, I had my epidural and then life was great! Kevin studied while I read magazines, talked on the phone or tried to get some rest. We were actually pleasantly surprised at about 1:30 when the nurse said I was already dilated to 8cm since I'd only been 4cm at the previous check. So they quickly got things ready and called my doctor. And at 2:22pm, after about 4 pushes, Payton joined our family.

Here is my fabulous doctor, Dr. Graves, and the wonderful delivery nurse we had, Mary Ann.

Since things went so well and I was feeling pretty good, Kevin went home at dinner time to get Alexa so she could meet her new baby sister.

She was so excited that she really didn't care about seeing me first thing, she just wanted to know where "Taypon" was.

And she loved her right off!

Here is Daddy with his girls!

I couldn't resist getting her dressed in something cute the next day! (Sorry about her giving the bird to the camera...apparently she has some pent up aggression!!) :-)

Me just being camera happy while Kevin was off taking 3 finals the morning after!!

My mom brought Alexa back the next morning to spend some time with mommy and her new baby sister.

On Friday, we came home from the hospital. Our little family of 3 is now a family of 4! We are so grateful that Payton is here and that she's healthy and strong.

It's crazy how small she is compared to her big sister!

Our Little Princess

Payton Jae Mortenson finally made her long-awaited appearance today. 

She arrived safely at 2:22 pm. She weighs 8 pounds and is 20 inches long. 

Everyone is healthy, happy and very excited to finally have her here.  We've been waiting for a long time! 

We will post more when we get home on Friday!

The end draweth nigh...

So for those of you who picked Wednesday, April 29th as the baby's arrival date...you have a pretty good shot at winning the prediction game. Winning what exactly has yet to be determined!! Anyways, I had my last doctor's appointment this morning. I am still at 1cm and the baby is sitting quite high still so my doctor didn't think the baby wanted to do this on her own anyways AND she thinks she's going to be a good size baby so she scheduled me to be induced this Wednesday, instead of waiting until Friday!!!

Yay!! That works out perfectly...my mom arrives in a couple hours and Kevin has his oral path final tomorrow afternoon and then the baby come on Wednesday! Kevin will still have to reschedule some finals on Wednesday and Thursday but it'll all be good! Anyways, we won't have a laptop or cell phone with internet access while we're at the hospital (we're just not that technologically advanced) :-) ...but we'll try and get information and pictures posted as soon as possible after baby Payton arrives! Stay tuned!