The Wilhelmsen Botanical Blog

So, I just have to say once again how amazing the nurses at St. Mark’s Hospital and my doctor were during my labor & delivery.  Seriously I will never have anyone but an obgyn deliver any of my children AND if there is anyway in the world to stick with Dr. Nielson for all of my pregnancies and labors/deliveries then I will.  Now some of you may be wondering why I am bringing this up considering it was nearly a year ago and because I am not currently pregnant.  Let me just tell you why, since I had Aiden I have had several friends and family give birth to children of their own.  Three situations of which I would deem (in my opinion only of course) nightmares and each of which have made me more and more grateful for my entire situation with Aiden from conception to delivery. 

The first one situation involved a baby who needed a little bit extra care due to a heart problem, and they ended up starting pitocin, which got stopped and started several times, they also didn’t break the water right away so the mom ended up being labor over two-ish days (I don’t remember exactly) and when they finally decided to break her water the baby went into distress and need to be delivered c-section.  HELLO, they could have saved A LOT of time and energy if they had broken the water within 2-3 hours of starting the pitocin. 

In situation two the doctor allowed the mom to go 4 WEEKS OVERDUE because inducing increases chance of needing a c-section.  Well, I was going crazy because SO DOES HAVING A HUGE BABY and the baby gains 1/2 a pound a week starting at like week 36.  I was imaging a huge 9-10 pound baby.  Luckily, the baby wasn’t even 7 pounds when it was born and I think maybe the due date was off a little.  Who knows, the mother could just be blessed to have small babies.  😉

This last situation started out with the mom losing her mucous plug, she was having contractions and she waited to go into the hospital for a couple hours so that she could time the contractions.  Anyway, the mom went into the hospital around 1:00ish p.m. where they broke her water and the baby wasn’t born until 3:00 p.m. or so, THE NEXT DAY!  30 hours of labor!  She was at a 4 by 9:00 p.m.  a 5 by 4:00 a.m. and a 9 around 9:00 a.m.  She didn’t start pushing until noon and pushed for three hours.  My obgyn (and this is one thing I would change because I felt like he was jumping the gun a little) started talking c-section after I had been stuck at a 6 for 3+ hours.  Thankfully with a little help from gravity (and a smart nurse suggesting I roll from side to side to get the baby to rotate to where he needed to be for delivery) I went from a 6/7 to a 10 in 90 mins.  One of the nurses said the norm for dialating is about 1 cm. an hour.  So anyway, I am just very, very grateful to nurses who have clever ideas, a friendly obgyn who is very smart, for a doctor who broke my water early on in the induction process, for delivering 9 1/2 hours after my water was broken and for only having to push for 55 mins.  It was one of the best blessings from Heavenly that I have ever had and probably the only reason I can even consider starting to try for baby #2 instead of waiting or not having another one at all.  Hooray for the St. Mark’s Womens Center!!!

So, on Tuesday I sat in front of the T.V. most of the day watching various inauguration ceremonies so that I could catch a glimpse of the U of U marching band in the parade.  Well, about 3:00 I was starting to get really bored and antsy and decided to do other things but leave the T.V. on in case they happened to mention something about it.  Finally around 5:00 I caught a quick glimpse (not even 30 secs.) of the Utes in the parade.  Oi!  I do have to say that I had never seen the events of inauguration day before and it was neat to see all of the dignitaries and to watch what takes place when a president gets sworn into office.  I also was relieved to finally have someone in office other then a Clinton or a Bush because they have “reigned” (for lack of a better word because my brain doesn’t know of one) over us for the last 20 years.  Anyway…

It is important to note that I am neither a democrat or a republican.  I feel very strongly that we as citizens of the United States of America need to stop looking at party labels and start to look at the individual candidates themselves.  Incidentally I grew up with democratic/liberal parents and as a result I affiliated myself with that party as well.  But as I went to college, started to vote, and married a more conservative husband I started to form my own opinions and realize what my own beliefs are as an individual and that I should vote for the politicians that I see eye to eye with, regardless of party affiliation.  For me it all comes down to what are the facts and where can I find facts that haven’t been painted in a more liberal or conservative light?  Honestly I don’t believe there is such a place.

To be honest, during this most recent election I was not a fan of any of the original candidates and was only leaning toward Romney knowing that as a fellow Latter Day Saint his own life standards wouldn’t be too different from my own.  We learn in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that although we may lean on our parents testimony for a time while in our youth that it is important to gain a testimony of our own because we cannot live on “borrowed light.”  I would like to say the same of politics, while a child may think of themselves as a democrat or republican when they are young, it is expedient that they learn what issues matter to them the most and where they stand on those issues so that they can vote for the candidate whose opinions are most closely matched.  Ok, enough of that.

First off I would like to apologize for the lack of pictures this week and last week.  We are having technical difficulties with wordpress and the “add media” application.  We think it is simply because we are in need of an upgrade.  If we figure out what is going on before too many weeks go by then we will add pictures to previous weeks.  Otherwise, sorry. 

So Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. day and Brandon did not have work or school.  This allowed us to head up to Layton Surf and Swim to try out the wave pool.  Unfortunately when we arrived we found out the the waves would not be going due to mechanical problems.  Doh!  It was still less expensive then any of the closer pools so we stayed and swam anyway.  It was lots of fun and we got some videos of Aiden crawling in the shallow end of the pool (it goes from 0″ to 8 feet).  We also got the newest Indiana Jones from red box which was a lot of fun. 

Tuesday as I said was inauguration day.  Wednesday Lost returned to night time television!  Hooray!!!  The season came in with a bang!  I am excited to see how the season will progress.

Friday morning we took Aiden for his eleven month photos at Target.  We did a playing in the snow theme and they turned out cute.  We always have a difficult time deciding what photos to buy.  Next month we are going to do his birthday photos and some Valentine photos. 

Saturday I went to the Successful Mothering Convention at the South Towne Expo Center.  There were a lot of booths.  Some that I was familiar with like Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, FM100, Winder Dairy, Tupperware and Avon, others I am less familiar with like Scensty, Squeaky Shoes and Usborne books,  and still others I had never seen before like For Every Home, Real Hero Posters, and The Literate Mother.  I also attended a workshop and filled out as many contest forms as possible while I walked around!  🙂  After the convention I went to meet my mom at the movie theatre were we watched Bride Wars.  I thought it was a clever movie.  I originally thought that I was going to laugh through the whole movie and I did laugh some but there were also several moments of, “Oh my gosh did she really do that?”  I love Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway.  It was fun to see them in a movie together.  I am also really looking forward to Monsters versus Aliens, The Night at the Museum 2, He’s Just Not that into You, and Confessions of a Shop-a-holic.  (Which were some of the previews that I saw before Bride Wars.) 

I then went home to my two boys and we ended up renting Henry Poole Was Here.  It was a good movie.  Only rated PG and with a good theme to the movie.  What I got was that the theme was to have faith.  Anyway, I won’t spoil the plot or anything just take my word that it is a good movie.  Aiden also got to tasted an Eclair and a little cherry strudel bite.  Let me just tell you he is learning about the finer things in life at a young age!  😉

Today we went to church and enjoyed our last sunday in our adult classes.  Aiden was a bit wild but we caught little bits of things.  I really enjoyed my lesson in Relief Society which was based on the talk, “Concern for the one.”  From the most recent conference Ensign.  We talked about not judging others and listening to the holy ghost so that we can be instruments in the hand of God.  Next week we start to teach the sunbeams in primary.  Any ideas how to keep one year old Aiden from being too much of a distraction for the three year olds?  😉 

Oh and one last thing.  Sometime this week or last week I came across this REALLY AWESOME website called Gourmet Mom on the Go and it has a ton of fun and clever recipes.  I can’t wait to try a few like the flower quiche and black forest cookies.  Go check it out at http://www.gourmetmomonthego.blogspot.com/  I hope that everyone has a good week!  Thanks for reading…

And here we are yet again.  The above song lyric comes from a song called 2 year old attitude by Ryan Shupe.  If you read the lyrics, some of them are already applying to my not even one year old son.  His little attitude and tantrums for the most part crack me up.  However I do not appreciate when Aiden comes leaning in, his razor sharp teeth gleaming, for the bite.  Generally he favors trying to take a little nibble of our toes.  But seriously, he has been biting furniture, blankets, shoulders, the hair on his stuffed animals, the hinges on the doors (you know where the bolt goes), and pretty much anything else he can get his chompers on.  When he bites something we generally squeeze his little cheeks and say, “Don’t bite!”  When he grinds his teeth we stick our finger in his mouth and say, “Don’t grind your teeth!”  As a result Aiden has started to knit his eyebrows together, having seen us do it multiple times when we discipline him.  When he does it just makes me laugh.    Anyway…

So this week we enjoyed the return of 24!!!  The season started out with a bang and I can imagine it will only get better from here.  Brandon also started school on Monday and seems to enjoy all of his classes.  He certainly didn’t take a light load to finish out his schooling.  So far he has mentioned having to write a 14 page paper in one of his classes.  I can only imagine the homework load in his game production class and those are only two of his classes.  I think he will learn alot though and will be able to add even more design skills to his already impressive resume.

Tuesday was a typical day.  Wednesday my friends Katie and Richelle came over.  We made flower clips for hair, chatted and watched season 1 of 24 on dvd’s that she had rented from the library.  I think that I am glad that I didn’t start watching until season 4 because I didn’t appreciate the show content very much of season 1.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun to see them and to hold Katie’s little girl a bit.

Thursday I went over to help my grandma for awhile and we had a good time like always.  I also decided to finally watch, “Baby Signing Time.”  Which I had gotten from the library.  Aside from being a little cheesy for adults I LOVED it.  Aiden wasn’t captivated by it for very long but I think that it was made well and has a lot of good repetition to help the kids learn the signs.  Hopefully Aiden will start to catch on soon and I will be able to be more diligent in using the signs that we have learned (and that I already knew).  I highly recommend Baby Signing Time to EVERYONE!  I am going to do a segment with Aiden everyday each week and focus really stongly on reinforcing the signs from that segment throughout the week.  This week (until Thursday) we will be focusing on eating and drinking.  Then we will work on Mom and Dad.  Anyway, go reserve it at the library it is GREAT.  They also have Toddler Signing Time (or something similar) for kids a little bit older.

Friday was eventful, in the morning Brandon took our car in to have the rear brakes replaced.  Well, they did another diagnostic test and what would have probably been just brake shoes a month ago turned into brake drums and shoes.  We also needed the bushings on our sway bar replaced.  Well, it ended up needing to stay at the shop until 1:00 so I went to pick up Brandon and brought him home.  I also took him to work and as I was driving home they called to tell me the car was finished.  Thank goodness we didn’t have to go without it any longer then that.

In the evening Aiden and I went to my cousin-in-law’s baby shower.  It was a lot of fun but there were a TON of people and it was crazy.  While at the shower Aiden pushed around a doll stroller while standing (the closest thing to walking that he has done yet), climbed up a flight of stairs unsupervised and managed to be “rescued” upon arriving at the top and was looking down the stairs wondering what to do next, he also got his very first haircut!!!!  (Thanks again Lacey.)  It was cut pretty short, but now it ought to grow in evenly and I will be able to keep it a little longer in the future without worrying about it being longer on one side then the other.  It has been bugging me for months!  😉

This week we also thought we would try to start transitioning Aiden into having only one nap a day.  He has been taking crazy 45 min. naps and waking up.  So Saturday I waited until 1:00 to put Aiden down for his nap and he only slept until 2:00.  Let me just tell you, he has trouble going from 5:00 until bedtime at 9:30 and so he needed a second nap.  The same thing happened today as well.  Yesterday evening I went to help sell tickets at the door for my mom’s showcase at New Song Underground.  It was a lot of fun.  I saw my cousin on my mom’s side who I haven’t seen for a long while and it was fun to see her.  I wish I’d had the opportunity to spend a little time chatting with her.  Maybe another day.  Anyway, the show was AWESOME!  There were a couple of artists that I had never heard before and they blew me away.  I left before I got to hear all of the artists but it was a fun evening.

Today, Brandon and I spoke in church and then had brunch with my mom and dad.  We all got to talk for awhile and my mom was able to hang around for a bit without rushing off anywhere.  She hasn’t been able to do that in a long while.  We also got a calling today.  We have been called to team teach in primary.  We don’t know what age group yet but we will post it when we know.  It will be a good learning experience but I really like relief society and it is really hard to get to know the ladies in the ward when you are not in relief society.  🙁  Such is the life I suppose.  Well, I think that is all of our news for this week.  Thanks for reading…

Hello again!  As usual my memory is a wee bit foggy about the events of the week but I do remember a few highlights.  I may struggle to remember things once again because I have not purchased a new day planner and my old one ended with December 31st.  Anyway, here are the weeks highlights!

Thursday Aiden and I went to my grandma’s to scrapbook.  It was a lot of fun and a hustle bustle of activity.  I was able to get some stuff done while Aiden slept but once he woke up I ended up following him around to keep him out of trouble.  😉

Friday I finally got to watch the movie the I had been unable to pick up for viewing on New Years Eve.  It is called Ballet Shoes.  Emma Watson from Harry Potter was in it and it was super cute.  It is definitely a chick flick though so don’t try and convince your man to watch it with you.  The other major highlight of the day is that I found a good deal on flights to Florida and as such bought our plane tickets to go and visit my sister in March.  I am so stinking excited, I LOVE Disney World and I have been wanting so bad to see my sisters house!  I am sure Aiden will not really understand what is going on but will enjoy having so much to see and explore that he will not nap very well in his stroller while we are at the parks.  I am just going to have to recognize that it will be a crazy week and do my best to ecourage naps in order to keep Aiden from being grumpy. 

Saturday was the funnest day all week.  My mom got a gift card to Macy’s that she wanted to spend on me.  I ended up finding some really good deals and then found out they were even better when I got to the register.  On top of that I found this really cute black dress with white a white collar and white around the hem and sleeve holes.  It has purple flocking on it with crowns, teapots, clovers, hearts, and diamonds.  It made me so excited because it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland and I have always wanted an Alice in Wonderland dress.  If I can’t be Alice at least I can pretend sometimes.  😉  So there you have something you probably didn’t know about me.  It is very exciting to have a long time dream come true in a way.  Anyway, my mom and I had a lot of fun.  She is so busy these days that I don’t see her as often as I’d like and so it is super fun when I do get to see her.  We also went to lunch at Fazoli’s.  YUM! 

During the day Aiden started doing this funny breathing through his nose thing.  It cracked me up because it is something my sister used to do when she was little.  Luckily we caught it on film and will post it this week sometime.  He also has officially mastered the use of a straw.  He has only had water and juice through a straw but this will make things easier in the event that we forget a sippy cup.  So for those of you who are wondering about my blog title, Aiden learning to do things with his body is the reason I chose it.  He thinks it is so fun to try new things.

In the evening Brandon, Aiden, and I went to the home where my friend Katie has been staying while she visits from Nevada for a game night.  It was fun to see the gals that I haven’t seen for awhile and to get updates from the gals that I see fairly regularly.  I have been especially excited lately to be back in touch with my long lost friend Katie M.  She is always so cheerful and silly and it is a lot of fun.  I also found out that a friend of mine is pregnant with baby #3.  I am super excited for her!  I also received from the library and started to read, “Forever Princess.”  The last book in the Princess Diaries series.  I am glad to report that it ended happily but that these books are definitely not appropriate for teenage girls.  (By the series end all of the characters had been intimate and they are in HIGH SCHOOL!  OI!  Not to mention this last book had excerpts from the romance novel that Princess Mia had written and well romance novels tend to be very explicit.)  Anyway…

Sunday we ended up staying from church because Aiden was so late getting to bed and I wanted him to be able to sleep.  It was a relaxing day we straightened up the house because my dad came home from his trip last night and we watched a nice sunday appropriate film, “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything.”  Yes, yes, we are veggietale fans and Aiden isn’t even old enough to watch them.  Can you blame us?  They are so wholesome and silly that they just beg to be loved. 

Also, Aiden is now officially binkyless.  It wasn’t a very tough week and he seems to realize now that he won’t be getting it back.  There were no breakdowns or hours of crying.  Just a little longer to fall asleep, a few days of seperation anxiety, and that was it.  Phew.  I had prepared myself for much worse then that and didn’t expect it to be over so quickly.  Thank goodness.  (He does still have Rabbit and fuzzy blankey so I’ll bet that is what made the transition so smooth.)  He is growing so fast.

Well, thats our news for the week.  I promise to be more detailed next time.  Oh and hubby will be at school all week.  This is officially his LAST semester at the U of U!  HOORAY!  Oh and I’d like to note that he did pass all of his classes last semester so he is still on track to graduate in May.  So, until next time, thanks for reading… 

Well Happy New Year to everyone!  This time last year I was very uncomfortable as the last few weeks of my pregnancy were winding down.  It is crazy to think that my first born is nearly one year old.  Anyway, that is a whole other entry to be written about in a few weeks. 

So Monday we flew home from Arizona in the evening.  On our way to the airport we stopped at a place called Bass Pro Shop because Brandon’s mom wanted Aiden to see the fish.  He enjoyed it as is evident in the pictures below.  There was also a GIANT Christmas tree which can be viewed below as well.  We spent two hours in the airport which was ok because Aiden needed a nap and if we had arrived later Aiden wouldn’t have gotten as long of a nap.  As a result of said nap Aiden was awake the whole flight.  Luckily we got a complimentary infant seat again and so he had an entire seat to himself.  Look at how well he entertained himself. 😉

Tuesday was a day of many loads of laundry and unpacking.  Wednesday Aiden and I took Brandon to work and then ran a few errands on the way to our home for the night.  We decided to start our family New Year’s tradition this year and it went fairly well.  Our plan is to reserve the number of hotel rooms to fit the need of our family for the night of New Years Eve.  We will bring along our crock pots of meatballs, little smokies, dipping chocolate and various other finger foods as well as our dvd players, movies, and jammies and thenwe will spend the night in the hotel watching movies.  I will always make sure the hotel offers continental breakfast and has a year round indoor pool (so that we can burn those munchies calories).  It went well but every time we tried to put Aiden to sleep in his pack and play he thought it was a funny game.  He would stand up and giggle and be silly.  At night I finally had to throw a blanket over top and down the sides of the pack and play so he would sleep.  It took him an hour to calm down and finally fall asleep.  The turkey. ;p We watched Horton Hears a Who (we both liked it a lot, it was very clever) and enjoyed our treats, I barely made it to midnight. 

Thursday morning we ate our continental breakfast of waffles, cereal, juice, and other yummy things then we went swimming in the pool.  The water was as warm as bath water which was super nice on such a cold day.  I also enjoyed the hot tub a bit.  After swimming we packed up and headed home.  We had reserved 3 redbox movies and the one redbox was down so we couldn’t pick up our movie.  We tried three times and were not successful.  They haven’t gotten back to us and have charged us for a movie we did not get to watch!  Grr.  We did watch The Incredible Hulk Thursday evening before it had to be returned though.  Thank goodness.

Friday was more organizing, unpacking, and otherwise settling back into being home.  I had an upset stomach all night Thursday and half of the day Friday.  I was worried that I was getting the flu.  Thankfully everything has evened itself out and I am feeling back to normal.  I did make a grocery list and Aiden and I went grocery shopping with my dad. 

Saturday I went to a bridal show to help my mom run a booth.  She was showcasing her artists to book out as entertainment for weddings.  There were a lot of interested brides.  I had never been to a bridal show so I took a minute to walk around and see what it is all about.  It was a fun atmosphere to be in, as it well should be, a bunch of excited newly engaged girls and their friends/family making wedding plans.  It is one of the happiest times of life.  Anyway, I saw one of my longest known friends while I was there.  Her little sister is getting married.  We exchanged contact info. and hopefully I will see her again soon.   In the evening Brandon, Aiden, and I went to visit my grandma.  We had a lot of fun and Brandon and my grandpa had a lot to talk about. 

Today we attended church at our new time.  It will take a little bit of adjusting (mostly because Aiden has graduated to his new car seat and so we won’t be toting him around in a car seat anymore, thus naps will be a little more difficult).  The rest of today we have done housekeeping type things and have worked on cooking dinner.  We hope everyone has a good week.  Thanks for reading!