Welcome Tessa!

Since this is not only our blog, but also our family journal I'm going to include Tessa's birth story along with LOTS of pictures. Be warned, you are about to see lots of pictures of our little addition.

On Friday, May 21st Barrett and I headed the University of Utah Hospital at 7:30 a.m. to be induced. Once we arrived, they checked us in and took us to our room and had the IV and pitocin started by 8:00 a.m. I was dilated to a 2 and about an hour and half later I was having regular strong contractions so I had the epidural put in. My epidural did not work as well as it did with Luke but at least it took the edge off and made it so I wasn't in pain just a little uncomfortable. Anyway, at about 11:30 a.m. I was still dilated to a 2 so they came in and broke my water and they said that that should get things going and to expect to dilate about a cm an hour. They told me I should probably deliver in a few hours. I thought this was the perfect time for Barrett to run and grab some lunch so he headed down to the cafeteria. He had been gone for about ten minutes and all of a sudden I got a really strong contraction and felt like I needed to push. It didn't really register what was happening, I just thought my epidural wasn't working. Thank goodness about 5 minutes later Barrett walked through the door. He said he went down to the cafeteria to eat and was starving but nothing looked good so he came back to the room. By this time about 35 minutes had passed since they broke my water and the urge to push became stronger and stronger so I finally called the nurse. Well, our nurse had also gone to lunch so the charge nurse came in and when I told her I felt like I needed to push she gave me the courtesy "well lets check to see how far you are dilated" but you could tell she didn't think I was anywhere near ready to push. Well she checked me and said that the baby was right there and she was going to page my doctor. I had gone from a 2 to a 10 in about 20 minutes much to everyones surprise! My doctor was finishing up a surgery so they re dosed my epidural so that I could hold off pushing until he arrived. He got to our room at about 12:40, and after 4 pushes out she came! I couldn't believe it, it took me 4 hours of pushing to get Luke out! So Tessa Ruth Morley was born May 21st at 12:50 p.m. weighing 7 lbs exactly and 19 and 1/2 inches long. She came out screaming and screaming and we fell in love instantly!

A few things we have learned about little Tess in the past week since she joined our family:
*She does not like to be left alone, she wants to be held and snuggled ALL the time
*She is really patient when being smothered by her loving big brother
*She loves her Binky
*She is really mellow and quiet as long as she is being held
*She has won all 3 of us over, we are definitely in love with this little girl

Hospital Pics right after she was born

Big brother meeting little sister for the first time. He was so cute with her, he kept kissing her and saying "I can't believe she finally came out of your tummy mom"

Our first family picture

Luke hung out with us for awhile in our room, he thought it was pretty cool

Three days old

Luke had such a fun week playing with family and friends (a huge thank you to everyone that helped us out and took Luke for us throughout the week) that by the end of the week he was so tired he fell asleep at the dinner table. Barrett snuggled him for a few minutes on the couch, I can't believe how big and grown up Luke is getting.

One week old

Trying on a bow for the first time!

Such a good big brother, he wants to constantly help and take care of her

Just love these two, I am such a lucky mom!

Canyon Fun!

Yesterday Luke and I were out running some errands and it was such a beautiful day that I decided to drive up to Mueller Park Canyon and see if the snow had melted yet. Luke was so excited to be in the mountains! We hiked up the Elephant Rock trail until the trail was covered with snow (which ended up being a lot longer than I had anticipated, being 35 weeks pregnant I got pretty tired). Luke kept telling me that we were hiking in the forest and that it was so much fun. He was in heaven picking up sticks and throwing rocks. He would run ahead on the trail and then come back and check on me. It was such a beautiful day and felt so good to be out in nature. After our little hike we sat by the river and threw rocks. We had such a fun morning that we headed back up to roast hot dogs with friends for family night. Luke is definitely a fan of the mountains!

Showing me some tricks

Family Night

Easter Fun

We had a great Easter this year. We took a last minute trip with my sisters and one of my brothers families to my sister in law's, sisters cabin (confusing sentence). We had such a fun weekend. Luke didn't even mind the fact that he was the only boy because he got so much attention from his cousins. We did lots of fun things like coloring eggs....

Riding 4 wheelers....

setting out Easter baskets....

checking out what the Easter Bunny brought...

searching for eggs...

and showing off all the eggs they found...

What a great weekend!

New Hobby, First Try

So I decided to try my hand at a new hobby. Still need A LOT of practice, but I think it will be fun. I went to a party a couple of weeks ago for those cute pendant charms that are so popular right now and saw some really cute charms but they were so expensive. I decided they can't be that hard to make so I googled how to do it, ordered the supplies, designed the pictures in photoshop and gave it a try. I learned that the soldering part is way harder than you might think, but with some practice (and some great tips and instruction from Barrett) I know it will get easier (and look a lot better). Anyway, fun new hobby I thought I'd share!

The fronts
I started to get a hang of the soldering by the last one, the fleur de lis and laugh

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The backs (I cracked the glass on the joy one)

Why Luke Loves Sunday's:

Luke loves Sunday's. He loves to go to nursery and play with all of his friends. But most of all he loves hanging out with his dad. Barrett is such a great dad and spends most of his free time with Luke. Sunday's are a day free from distractions so they spend a good part of the day after church doing things that Luke wants to do. I sure love these boys!

Big Changes for the Big Boy!

This is a long over due post. Luke has been such a trooper going through some big changes over the past couple of months. The first big change was his graduation to "big boy" underwear and saying goodbye to diapers. He has been interested in going on the potty for several months but I just couldn't bring myself to start potty training him while I was still feeling so yucky due to this pregnancy. Well at the beginning of February a couple of his friends were starting potty training so I thought it was a great time to start him too. He did such a great job. It took him a couple of days to get the hang of it but he basically did it himself. After the first day of me asking him every half hour if he needed to go I could tell he was getting seriously annoyed and he told me he would just tell me when he needed to go. I didn't really trust him at first but sure enough he started telling me. He even woke up dry from the very first morning, so after a week of using pull ups at night I even packed those away. He has been such a champ. I'm sure my next one won't be so easy, but here's for hoping!

Luke in his Lightening McQueen big boy underwear

The other big change is Luke's move into a big boy bed. I was a little nervous about the change but he has done great and loves his new bed.

Nothing like being woken up from a nap by mom taking pictures of you!

I can't believe my boy is growing up so fast. Sometimes I wish he would just stop it but at the same time it is so fun to see the person that he is becoming. We just love him!

More Cabin and Snow Fun!

A couple of weeks ago our friends the Ashton's invited us to go with them to their cabin near Evanston. We had a great time relaxing and playing in the snow! Luke jumped at every chance he had to go outside and play in the snow.

Luke and Annie Kate

Henry, Annie Kate and Luke eating snow. That was one of their favorite activities

Luke going down the sledding hill with his dad

Then he decided it was time to go by himself

He went down by himself several times and this was how he did it every time, eyes closed and tongue hanging out. He loved it, especially flying off the jump at the bottom!

The kids took turns being pulled by the 4 wheelers
Ellie and Luke going for a ride. That is Luke beneath the goggles and bandanna (they were necessary for the rider in front to guard from all of the snow spray)

I love this boy!

Thanks Ashton's, we had a fantastic time!