The time is flying by and I have yet to write down anything about Leila’s birth. She is a month old now!
So here is Leila’s birth story.

My due date (September 4th/5th) came and went with no baby. This was a surprise because Tanner was born 9 days early, so I expected something along the same lines. My Doctors had offered months before to have a scheduled induction date (after 39 weeks) and I filed it in the back of my mind as a possibility. I decided on September 6th to go in to the Dr to ask about being induced; after all I had been dilated to 3cm for over a week and had false labor contractions a couple days before that led me to the hospital to see if I was going into labor. I was confident that they would say at the Dr’s that I was a favorable candidate to be induced.

And I was right! I was still 3cm dilated and %70 effaced. We marked our calendars for September 8th, 6:00am!

My friend Tisha (bless her) came over to our house at 5:40am so Tanner could keep sleeping while we went to the hospital. When he woke up he was happy as a clam to see her and go back to her house and hang out. The combined efforts of the Gibby’s and the Salomons’ took care of Tanner for the morning while Lincoln and I were at the hospital. We were relaxed and able to enjoy our experience knowing Tanner was well cared for!

Back to the hospital. We got checked in and up to our room at 6:30am and the nurses got me all set up, put in an IV and filled out paper work etc. We hung out and waited for Dr. Rodriguez. 8:30am the Dr comes. She says I have not progressed any further from the previous visit and breaks my water. Turns out Leila had passed meconium (her first bowel movement). So the Dr used a catheter and some saline solution to try to clean it up and prevent complications at birth. And as an added measure of precaution she set up a neonatal specialist to attend the birth. Contractions progress a little bit after that, but at 9:15am I receive a low dose of pitocin. Contractions get more intense so I order the epidural. After a few zaps down my left inner thigh (ouch, but Lincoln is there to help distract me) epidural is done and it is 10:00am. Bliss. I just doze, so relaxed and happy for the next hour. At 11:00am when the nurse checks me I am 10cm dilated and ready to go.

The troops were rallied, which took 30 minutes and eventually we started pushing. I had a mirror this time to watch- so cool! I definitely recommend it. I push (feels like doing a few crunches), and she is born at 11:50am. The Dr quickly cuts the chord and they make sure Leila does not aspirate fluid. She looks great and checks out just fine! She has dark hair! 8lbs 1 oz, 21 inches long. We are so happy and blessed!

Lincoln skyped the immediate post birth happenings with his parents. So they got to see Leila get cleaned and checked out. Yep, he has brilliant ideas every day. How cool.

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Some close friends and I got together last week for a quaint baby shower. It was relaxing and so fun! I am lucky to have wonderful, dear friends who care enough about me to plan an evening of great food, conversation and celebration. I came home feeling like this baby really is going to come…cute outfits, bows, etc are now hanging in Tanner’s closet and it is so exciting!

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I wish I were better about “journaling” about Tanner. So I thought I’d take the chance to write down some things about Tanner as he just turned 2 on Sunday.

Tanner is still a mommy’s boy. This can be frustrating at times, but I think it also makes me feel happy that I can always be the one to make him feel happy.

He is definitely more socially aware these days and is learning how to enjoy playing with/around other kids. He is good at sharing (but not perfect!) and is a nice play mate.

Tanner likes to tickle other kids/grown ups that he likes. I saw a lot of this with Joey and Ruby while we were in Ohio this month:)

Tanner is great in nursery, but this might have to do with the fact that I am there with him. We will see what happens once I am released and he has that time away from me. But for now, Tanner is a good example and really enjoys singing time and is really good at doing the motions for all the songs. He still doesn’t try to sing the songs though.

Tanner is very good at saying “thank you, mommy/dada” and is usually good at saying “please” although sometimes it comes after I remind him not to whine and to ask nicely.

Tanner is a good eater. This may come as a surprise because for much of his life all he would eat is fruit (or at least that is the way it felt). At his 2 year check up he had progressed from the 3rd percentile in weight to the 10th percentile! And he is still in the 55th for height.

Healthy things Tanner likes to eat include…tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, beans, avocado, salad/lettuce, green smoothies, PBJ, apples, bananas, blueberries, grapes, pretty much any fruit, cheese, hummus with pita or any veggie, pasta with red sauce, cereal, potatoes, french toast, pancakes, yogurt, cashews, raisins, yogurt covered raisins. He can be picky about meat, but sometimes he will eat hamburger or chicken nuggets if we are traveling, and some chicken at home…but it usually isn’t very much. Oh and he recently had his first hot dog with Lincoln after a morning on the golf course!

Tanner had a hard time transitioning from nursing to cow’s milk. So it happened slowly to the pediatrician’s disappointment but he will now drink whole milk with his cereal and he will usually have a cup with lunch and or dinner. He likes and has always liked almond milk. And he likes juice but he likes water probably more. If someone has soda he will have some.

Unhealthy things Tanner likes to eat include…gummy snacks, ice cream, popsicles, most candy, cookies (every time we go to the grocery store), chocolate.

Tanner loves the playground and asks to go there a lot.

He also asks to play tennis or golf with Dada and Dillon all the time. He enjoys hitting the ball in both sports, and watching Dad and Dillon but he also likes running around or walking the course in the midst of it all.

Tanner is talented in sports! He is great at hitting the tennis ball- with timing and form. He has really good hand-eye coordination with golf and understands how to softly “putt” the ball in the hole. He hits a baseball off of the “T” with a full swing, and he knows where to stand in order to hit the ball in a particular direction. He is great at dribbling a soccer ball, and at bouncing the sky ball with his foot to make it go higher. He can also catch and throw well. We don’t have a basketball hoop, but he is pretty good a dribbling a ball several times with his hands, basketball style.

He likes tractors and big trucks.

He likes anything he can “dump”, like cups of water, sand or bins of toys.

He LOVES to play chase.

He loves music and to dance.

He loves to be thrown in the air and swung around.

He loves to push anything with wheels, especially now his scooter and motorcycle toys.

He loves books, especially ones with lift flaps, or pieces that remove and can be put back.

He loves to watch videos of himself and of family members on the iphone or on the computer. He also likes to play games on the ipad.

When he says “Grandma” or “Grandpa” it sounds like “mama” and “bampa” and when we hang up phone calls or skype with them he always looks at me and says “please! bampa, mama!” and motions with his hands for “more”

He loves the pool and squirt guns.

Here are some pictures from his birthday. Happy Birthday Tanner!

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Last month the BYUh tennis team came for the division 2 nationals. We headed down with Grandma to see the team, and Grandpa. It was fun to see them and to watch some tennis. We also had time to feed the alligators (when in florida…) and we survived yet another few nights in a hotel with Tanner.

Also, here are some pics from this morning. I lost my iphone so I had to get out the real camera. Tanner reading a book, hanging in the garage, and playing with friends. And to round it out, here is a preg pic snapped by my friend this morning. Figured I should get a couple pics on file before the end of the summer:)

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This is old news…but baby #2 is a GIRL:) I just wanted to post the ultrasound, incase you want to take a look. The tech uses the arrows to point out that she is a girl at about minute 4, but it is pretty obvious from the start. We are excited! Due date is Sept 4th, or 5th.

Tanner got his 2nd hair cut, compliments of Daddy. I didn’t realize how long his hair had grown until we cut it off:) Also, a few pictures from Easter. I wish I had taken the picture at the table with Link, Dill and Tanner around it but oh well. We had a pretty traditional dinner and it was tasty. And Tanner had a great time doing his egg hunt. I eventually had to empty all of the candy from the eggs into a bowl while he wasn’t looking because he would have eaten candy all day I think.

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Tanner playing with dad, yummy dessert sushi I made for my friend’s daughter’s baptism, the ladies visiting Michelle after the birth of her baby girl, Tanner being a tennis star, and this morning at the beach. I guess most of my pictures these days are via the iphone. It was good to get the good old camera out again.

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Tanner is learning very fast! For instance I read him a book about shapes the other night and right away he knew many of his shapes. He does well at remembering some letters when we play with his foam letters in the bath tub. And he is really great at doing the hand motions when we sing songs. Tanner can recognize and point out most animals and objects in his books. And he loves to imitate animal and transportation noises. And in addition to all of that he can run, jump and has fabulous coordination. He loves to pull my flags off my uniform on flag football night. I guess it makes sense that he knows all of this stuff, but it still surprises me how he picks up on what is going on around him. Now if only we could improve on his patience, whining and tantrums…

Some more variations of the family. What a great bunch!

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We had some time to take family pictures over Christmas. The photo shoot was as smooth as it could be with 4 grandkids! Here are a couple of pics, but there are more I hope to share later of the entire Porter/Bekker/Nielsen crew.

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