Charlotte

Here is Charlotte getting ready for her first bath at home. She's holding on tight to her binky just in case. I was so anxious to get rid of that mohawk they give them at the hospital.I love bathing them in fleece like this when they're brand new because they hardly notice they're getting wet.

I love these small windows of "awake time" when they look around and wiggle for a while before falling back asleep. I did try to put another bow in her hair but I didn't have Karo syrup or anything else sticky enough. Just so you know, honey doesn't work and it makes a sticky mess on your baby's head.

Lookin' at her mama.

My mom came up to visit and help out over the weekend. Thank you Mom!

RSV

Most mothers that have given birth during the winter months have heard of this nasty little virus called RSV. In adults, it manifests itself similarly to the common cold, but in infants it can be more serious. Well, tis the season and we've been hit!

The day before we brought Charlotte home from the hospital, both and Hazel and I started coughing and we both got sick. We took Hazel to the pediatrician immediately just to know what we were dealing with and she says, "Sorry, it's RSV." Needless to say, we've kept Charlotte as far away from everyone as possible. I think Hazel believes her baby sister has transformed into a little crying voice on a monitor. Since the virus is SO contagious, David has stayed home from work longer than anticipated to take care of Hazel as much as possible so that I could be with Charlotte. I wash my hands about every five minutes, disinfect, wear a mask at all times, and change my clothes every time I enter our room to feed Charlotte. We are EXHAUSTED!

But, on the brighter side, Charlotte is still doing well (we're praying she stays that way) and Hazel hasn't gotten worse, although she's still in the thick of it. David is back at work today and I actually got some sleep last night and feel a little better today. Sorry if it seems we've slipped off the planet, but we'll be staying inside for quite a while. We love you all and can't wait to have our friends over to see the baby---just know that it will be a few weeks before we can safely let you in our doors!

Here's a link about RSV for those of you who are unaware. Keep your little ones inside and wash wash wash. Remember that these germs can stay on clothes and hard surfaces for a few hours.
http://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html

Love you guys.

Janelle

P.S. thank you so much for all of your responses to our Charlotte post. We love hearing from you. I have more pictures of her coming soon. I love her dark hair, it's my favorite. And did we ever tell you? Her full name is Charlotte Patricia Phipps. I actually let David name this one since I named Hazel (although we both loved the two names we were choosing between--so I was safe either way). Charlotte is after my great-grandmother "Lottie" and Patricia is after David's favorite grandmother. She's got a lot to live up to.

She has arrived!

She's here! At about 3:30am my water broke and we headed to the hospital as soon as possible. By the time I was brought into the delivery room, my contractions were only a minute or two apart and I was dilated to an eight! They quickly administered the epidural (love that) and at 5:16 am we had a beautiful little girl in our arms! She weighs 7 lbs 9 oz and is a little over 20 inches long. She has a full head of black hair just like her mom did. We couldn't be more in love with our second little girl and Hazel is SO excited to be a big sister. Thanks for all your love and support and phone calls. We are all doing well.

At this point David votes for naming her "Tank"

My favorite is the mohawk they give her after her bath.

Hazel loves holding the baby and pointing to all of her features and saying them.- "nose", "mouth", "hair"

And there is no taking that little baby away from her. "NO!"

The Phipps ladies. I have now been completely outnumbered! -David


So, what is her name? Well it wasn't very easy, but we decided to name her...

Charlotte.

A Sneak Peak

January 18th, 2009

Any day now! I've been "nesting" like crazy the past couple of days, trying to get the house clean and ready for our new little baby.

(Front Room)
I only have pictures of the downstairs front rooms right now. More will come very soon.

Dining

I love our home!

Happy New Year to all. Thanks to all of our friends back down in Sugarhouse for a great party.

Leonard Family Reunion

The day after Christmas we headed down to Arizona for my grandparents' 50th Anniversary. I LOVE all of my cousins in the Leonard family and it was so fun to catch up with them. My camera died halfway through the Anniversary party, so I'll have to update this post once my mom sends me some of her pics. Hazel was out on the dance floor for most of the night with the smaller boy cousins showing off her Phipps moves. It was an awesome trip; we love you Leonard family.
On the left is my cousin Joshua whom I used to carry around everywhere on my hip when he was two and I was nine. I can't believe he's about to go on a mission! On the right is DJ, who also suddenly grew up before I knew it. Cute boys!

Here is my mom (far right) with all of her brothers and sisters.

Josh and I!

Christmas Morning

This was by far the best Christmas we've ever had. It was small and simple and the best part was watching Hazel get so excited about each present. We're so grateful for the little things that make Christmas special and simply the best day of the year!

Christmas Time Fun

We love Christmas time! David and Hazel made a snowman outside our house together after the first big snow. Hazel loves to EAT the snow more than anything else. There are two things that she asks for lately: snow and wipes. She's a little OCD (where does that come from?) and likes to always have a wipe on hand which she uses to clean her face or just keep in her hand for an hour or so (she also likes to take one to bed). As soon as she sees the snow out the window, she asks for "ice" constantly until we bring her in a snowball to eat.

So there's a great history behind these red pajamas. I remember running into David on campus before his mission and he was wearing these pj's with some basketball shorts over them (thank goodness; that would have definitely been breaking the honor code). He also wore them the Christmas before we were married (no shame) and gave me a picture of himself wearing them on Christmas morning. So, out of tradition, we got a shot of David in his famous red pj's and Hazel in her matching pair.

Eight months! Don't we have a beautiful Christmas tree?

Thanksgiving Vacation: Part Two

After our trip in Chowchilla, we rented a car and drove up to my mission and stayed with our bestest friends, Ben and Camille, in Pleasanton. Here's some highlights:

We went to San Fran to our favorite spot, the warf, to eat our favorite meal, crab. Here is Hazel checking out the sea lions.

(more pics with Ben and Camille coming soon...)


In San Fran we met up with my good friends from the mission, Brad and Jackie. After eating at the warf, we decided that we wanted to see China town and take a picture under the entrance. How hard could it be to find the entrance to China town? After about 1 hour in Brad and Jackie's car (seven of us in a five seater), we found it. This picture was a hard-earned feat.

Bradley took care of Hazel for most of our China town expedition...good practice Bradley!

Love this girl.

We visited some members from my mission and attended the Spanish branch that was formed at the end of my mission in Livermore. I love these people. It felt so good to be there.

Thanksgiving Vacation

This is definitely back-tracking a bit, but with the move, I've fallen a little behind on my blog. We had the AWESOME opportunity of flying out to California this Thanksgiving to spend some time with my Dad and grandparents in Chowchilla. I wouldn't be surprised if none of you have ever heard of Chowchilla because it's one of those small towns that takes about 10 minutes to drive through completely, about 30 min north of Fresno. I was SO grateful to have David with me this time since flying with Hazel on your lap at her age is quite a feat. Since my lap is nearly non-existent at this point, David did most of the work while I tried to snooze.

Here's a few quick laughs I want to remember about this flight:
~Dumping red pepper all over our pizza slices as we ran to the gate; by time we were seated, we had extrememly spicy cold pizza, a fussy daughter, and spilled water in my shoes.

~Having way too much stuff with us; jackets, stuffed animals, stroller, carseat, baby, diaper bag, blankies...and a partridge in a pear tree.

~Looking over at eachother as Hazel was screaming her head off and just laughing at ourselves, wondering why we ever agreed to fly at night with this girl.

~We had a lengthy layover in Vegas, where David showed Hazel how to work the machines...This was the point where she was so overtired that she started to get silly and then on that last flight, inconsolable. (We were actually asked to remove Hazel from the gambling area at this gate).




We spent a few days at my grandparent's new home in Chowchilla, ate great food, watched way too much TV and caught up with my beautiful sisters who are growing up way too fast!

Here's my cute grandparents with Hazel Jayne.

My sisters brought the new and improved Monopoly game where you swipe credit cards and Boardwalk cost $4 million instead of $400. What is the world coming to?

So so tired. Isn't this what Thanksgiving is all about? (well, that and the silk pajamas)

So, I've always wanted to make one of these weaved pie crusts but they looked like they were way too difficult for a "beginner" like me. I finally tried one with this blueberry pie and it was easy! I'm still so proud.

Hazel's showing her Grandpa how the walker works.

Brenna, who is ten, was Hazel's best friend the whole trip. They played forever on this exercise ball. Hazel loved it.




Isn't my sister Gianna beautiful??
I love taking pics of other people sleeping mostly because I could never do this!
Ah, the most beautiful couple in the world.

All the girls


My grandparents' backyard is bordered by this beautiful lake.
Seven months pregnant., whew! The best part about it is that David and I shared a twin bed this entire trip. At one point, David actually fell off the bed onto the floor. It still makes me laugh.

I know, I know; this is disgusting but I have no idea who took this picture (well, I could probably guess who) and I just thought it was hilarious. This is Lottie, the dog.


We took a little canoe out on the lake after Thanksgiving dinner. I think we were all a little heavier than we thought because we were pretty low in the water and any slight movement caused the whole thing to rock.


We had a wonderful time! Happy Thanksgiving!