The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I am glad this week is coming to a close. It has been a VERY long one.

The Good:
1) Bentley is 3 weeks old today!













2) I FINALLY got some Christmas shopping done. Alexis is pretty much finished, I may add some clothes and some games. Bentley will just need maybe one other toy and some clothes or some blankets.
3) I broke out my first bottle of Martinelli's for the season. :) I wasn't very good at sharing it though. Sparkling apple cider is a major part of my holiday.
4) Warm Fuzzies: Luther and I went to Ihop for Thanksgiving dinner this year. We left a 50% tip for the waitress. I had to go back in because we had left our "doggy bag" on the table. The waitress looked me straight in the eye and said, "thank you so much I really appreciate it (the tip). Really, I appreciate it a lot." I love that warm fuzzies feeling. :)
5) Beating my husband: Luther has started playing Zynga Texas Hold'em Poker. He asked me to play with him one night and I agreed. I won two huge pots against him. It was pretty fun. lol

The Bad:
1) Alexis' Temper: Alexis didn't have gymnastics OR dance this entire week. Without the extra activities to help her get rid of her extra energy she has been SO emotional. Luther and I asked her to wear pants on Thursday (simple request right?) and she threw a major tantrum. It took a good 30+ minutes to calm her down.
2) Luther's work schedule: Up until next week Luther's company has paid their employees 40 hours for their week off. (He works two full weeks on and has one week off then repeats.) So now we are in between a rock and a hard place. Do we lose out on 40 hours of pay and take the week off or does Luther work. Starting today Luther is going to work this first week off. I know it is something that he needs to do to keep us on track financially but I am going to miss him. I sure hope Saturday gets here soon.

The Ugly:
1) Sick Tummies: Both Luther and Alexis got stomach bugs this week. Thankfully I haven't caught it and neither has Bentley. Let's hope it stays that way.
2) Bodily functions: Since it has been 4.5 years since I had an infant to care for I need to relearn a lot of things. One things is that it is wise to place a clean diaper under the old one when you are changing a baby. Why? Well sometimes as soon as you remove the old diaper it signals the flood gates to open. This happened to me this week and I am not talking pee. Although, I still have to get used to Bentley peeing when his diaper comes off. I need to be more diligent about covering him with a wipe or something. lol

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

In my attempt to write more I am going to start a weekly update. This is it. :)

The Good:
1) Bentley has been added to our insurance. This may seem like a little win but when you have a 30 day window it is nice to have it done early.
2) Game night at Connie's. It was so nice to get out of the house, have a very tasty meal with friends, and best of all, letting Alexis play with kids. It was a much needed night.
3) Being able to watch Alexis' dances. I haven't been able to see Alexis practice yet this year since I am usually running the front desk at the studio. It was so nice to sit and watch her. Watching her brings a smile to my face.
4) Jessie's ability to get me to open up about what is wrong. It felt good to address what was bugging me with her. It brought it to light and now I can fix it.

The Bad:
1) Daisy has figured out how to open the garbage can lid. Thankfully she has been a pretty good listener and has kept it closed most of the time.
2) Bentley spit up down my shirt and in my hair. It was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess he chose sooner.

The Ugly:
1) This week the ugly award belongs to my temper. I have been short fused with Daisy and more depressingly, Alexis. The stress that comes with a new baby and the lack of sleep is starting to take its toll and I am not proud of it. In fact I am ashamed of it. I am making a promise to myself to stop yelling and start talking softly. (At least to Alexis, sorry Daisy I may still yell at you.) Looking back at this week I have only escalated the problem. I am going to be implementing time outs for little girls who like to talk back, hopefully I can get control of this situation. My temper has been ugly this week and I hope I can change that.

What we are doing...

Luther: Is still working for Halliburton fracing. He is one of the supervisors of his crew and is the growler specialist. He still enjoys his job most days but has been stressing lately about some changes management has made.
Angela: I am taking care of Alexis and Bentley first and foremost. I am the nursery chorister for our ward which means that I sing to the 18mo to 3yr olds. It is a fun calling the kids are so cute and loving. I am also teaching dance at a local dance studio. I had one class this semester and am choreographing a piece for our competition team. It is a fun job, I enjoying sharing my talents with the kids of Rock Springs.
Alexis: Is currently a sunbeam at church. She loves her teacher and her friends in class. Alexis is taking 2 dance classes and gymnastics. We hope to get her into swimming as well. She makes our schedule pretty full.
Bentley: Is doing all the newborn things. Nursing all the time and waking up at all hours of the night. :) He had his first real bath today and hated it. I have a few pics from his bath but Alexis was the photographer and they are out of focus. :( Guess we will have to try for pictures next time.

Introducing.... Bentley

The Weber family got a little larger this year. We are pleased to announce the arrival of Bentley Luther.
Bentley was born Sunday November 4th 2012 at 6:12am, and here is his story. :)
Luther and I went on a cruise to Mexico in March for our 6 year anniversary. We had a wonderful time (despite me being sea sick). When we got home Luther said that he thought it was time for us to have another baby. Well, with all the cruise planning and the stress that went along with it, I had been oblivious to the fact I was "late." When Luther brought up wanting another child I realized, I could already be pregnant. I took a test the next day and sure enough, I was pregnant! :) We found out I was due November 16th, 2012.
Thankfully my pregnancy was normal. He was growing well, I felt well. Nothing too eventful.
At my appointment on October 31st the doctor said I was 4.5cm but could easily be stretched to 5cm and that I was very thinned out. He said he would be very surprised to see me at my next appointment. This baby would be making his arrival soon.
My water broke around 2:30am Sunday morning. Luther was downstairs waiting to go to work. Thankfully he hadn't left yet. I ran around getting all the last minute things added to my bag. Luther woke up Alexis and got her ready to go. we loaded up into the car and we were on our way to have a baby!
Luther dropped me off at the hospital and then took Alexis to a friend's house. I got checked in and was wheeled down to labor and delivery. I changed into my gown, got hooked up to all the monitor, had an IV placed, and was "checked". I was 6cm and completely thinned out. I was so happy when Luther finally made it to the hospital. (He had a few things to do after dropping Alexis off.) We mostly just sat around wondering what was going to happen next, both holding our breaths that I wouldn't need another c-section.
After an hour or so, (I really didn't keep track of time) I need to use the restroom. When I got back my contractions became ruthless. I decided to stay standing because that took a little pain off my back. After two contractions that left me clinging onto Luther I asked for the epidural.
The nurse said, "ok, but we will have to check to see how far dilated you are first." She checked me and replied, "well, you can't get that epidural but it is time to have a baby, and that will help get rid of the pain too." She went out to get the doctor. (He wasn't my regular doctor but he had agreed to allow me to try for a vbac and that is all that mattered to me.) The doctor cam in, checked me, and said to call him back in when I felt it was time to push. I would say 5-6 contractions later I called him back in.
It was time to push and I was TERRIFIED. I was not ready to feel and fight through the pain. It took pushing through at least 10 contractions before I was focused enough to get that baby out. Once I was able to buckle down it took 3 more contractions worth of pushing and my handsome baby boy was born. :)
Luther cut the umbilical cord and they laid him on my chest. I was so proud of my accomplishment. Luther and I were parents again. Bentley was "sunny-side" up and caused me to have a second degree tear, but I will take it over being cut open for a c-section again. He was 7lbs 14ozs and 19in long.
When Alexis first met Bentley she was in awe of how small he was. She was a proud big sister from the beginning and is constantly loving up on him. She is still adjusting to the role of big sister but is doing well.
Bentley has been nursing like a champ. He is a good latch and is very content after each feeding.
We are very glad to have Bentley join our family. He fits well and fills our hearts with joy!!