Cinderella Saturday

Under the direction of the evil step-mother...me... we cleaned, cooked, dusted and scrubbed all day Saturday. We did the dishes! And the washing! We were running running running 'till we got dizzy dizzy dizzy. Night and day, day and night with Cinderelly! Ahem, lapsed into song there, sorry. We organized! We swept!

Sariah cheated and lounged around a bit, being the wicked step sister, but Cameron, River and I slaved away the whole day.

And then, as the clock struck five, (and this is the best part of Cinderella Saturday) something magical happened. Our clothes were transformed into sparkly ball gowns and our shoes into glass slippers. Cameron became Prince Charming and a shiny white Kia pulled up in front of our house to whisk us away for dinner and icecream!

All thanks to our Fairy Godmother... Grandma Giles!

We arrived home just before our car turned back into a pumpkin, put the girls to bed, and lived happily ever after.

Although, I am still looking for a missing glass slipper...

(I'm sure this is a tradition we will keep doing now that we have two girls. Next time I'm going to let River watch the Cinderella movie when she's done with her chores, and maybe buy her a little princess crown to wear to dinner. She didn't like to be called Cinderella all day though. The funniest look would come over her face and she would shout, "No, I'm River!" )

Dang it man! I'm a doctor, not a physicist!

Memorial Day was a beautiful day! We went to Beaver Island State Park to picnic and play at the beach. The water was too cold to swim, but River was practically swimming in the sand and loving it anyways. She was crawling along the beach, flinging sand every which way. Who needs water? And she made a friend, Julia, who had sweet sand buckets and shovels with which to frolic.

The Beach

The Marina

The Big Fish

And!

Cameron and I went on a date to see the new Star Trek movie. It was so good! I want to watch it again already. The actors were top notch and the cinematography/graphics blew my mind. Spock was my favorite character...and Kirk. Oh, and Scotty. Okay, and Dr. McCoy. Anyways, even if you don't know much about Star Trek, you should definitely see this movie anyway. You'll like it, I swear. Ah, I love Sci-Fi.

Six Things

First...

Happy 50th Anniversary and Mission Homecoming (Mesa AZ Visitors Center Mission) to my Grandpa and Grandma Hicken! These are the pictures of all the family at their farewell 18 months ago. We really wanted to be at their homecoming, but because Sariah is so little her doctor discouraged us from putting her on a airplane. The anniversary/homecoming party was decorated with lots of pictures of my grandparents, including this old one of my Grandpa. Isn't it great? I can't wait to see all of their mission pics.

Second...

Sariah is now one month old. Look how much she has changed!

One day old:

One month old:

Third... A lot of people have been asking who Sariah looks like, and well...she looks like River! Can you guess which picture is River and which one is Sariah?

Exhibit A

Exhibit B Fourth...

River's hair looks like this every morning when she wakes up, and it is not fun to come through.

Fifth...in case you were wondering where Sariah's middle name, Elphena, came from, it is Cameron's great grandmother's name: Elphena Marie Christensen. We have a family-history book with pictures, letters and stories of Elphena. When Sariah gets older it's going to be fun to let her research who she is named after!

One of my favorite stories from the book......
Elphena, expecting to be married soon, decided to sew herself a soft-gray wool wedding dress since it was January and very cold. But Hans was slow in asking her to marry him, even though their house was finished.


"Auntie Stine inquired Elphena why she and Hans were not married yet. Elphena replied, 'he hasn't asked me yet'. Auntie said, 'The girls ask in Denmark.' (where Hans immigrated from) Elphena replied, 'We will never be married then.' Auntie had a talk with Hans and they were finally married on July 17, 1901....wool wedding dress and all."


"Hans was very attentive to Elphena. He called her 'Mama Dear.' She was very superstitious. On the night of a new moon she would place her little money purse on a table expecting money in it by morning. She always found money in her purse in the morning. When Has would leave home in the winter to go herd sheep on the desert, he would leave some money in the sugar bowl. When he came home in the spring, the sugar bowl would contain more money than when he left. While he was away Elphena would sew for people to earn money."


Sixth...
Exhibit A is Sariah, Exhibit B is River... did River's leg in the first picture give you a hint? ;)

Two Lips

This has been the second week since Cameron has returned to work and it's been interesting here at home. Today River and I had cereal for breakfast AND lunch. Then, when the mailman delivered a package, I could barely open the door because of the baby paraphernalia on the floor. I was still in my pajamas, Sariah was crying and River came running to the door with no pants on. And it was NOON. I could tell the mailman was suppressing a sympathetic chuckle. I'm beginning to think my house may never be clean again. Oh, and I also had to take some cookie dough out on the porch to cry when River refused to take her nap. I was looking forward to a little sleep myself, and my dream was crushed!

That being said, I love being a mom! I have fallen in love with Sariah, her beautiful lips and quivering chin. I love the little cry she gives when she wants to be cuddled. I love the way her skin smells, and stroking her soft soft hair. And it is so much fun to watch River being a big sister. She loves to hold Sariah and play with her feet. She also takes her job as sister very seriously, and brings me the boppy, diapers, wipes, or whatever I need. If Cameron or I get the diaper instead it is a disaster...she has to do it. What a sweetie. It has also been wonderful to see Cameron become a dad all over again. There's nothing like watching your husband bond with your new baby. I love coming home from grocery shopping to see him with his two girls. Some of River's favorite books are the "Froggy" series, so we couldn't miss the chance to meet Froggy at the library. River was a bit startled when Froggy first came in, and it took some coaxing, but she eventually went and shook his hand. After Froggy left she said with a pouty face, "Wait! I didn't get to kiss Froggy! I wanted to kiss Froggy!"
Good news: River has decided she'd rather play as mommy than baby, and has her own baby to take care of now. The only problem is when Sariah is in the bouncer and baby doll wants to be in there too. They are learning to share.
And because I can't take Sariah to church yet and don't have to get ready myself, I have a little extra time to get River all gussied up. Here she is in curlers reading yet another Curious George book.

Bunny Foo Foo

River built this 'bunny' out of her tinker-toys today. She was so proud of her creation she had to play with it all day. Blog worthy, no?

A few other things she likes to build with her tinker-toys are sunshines, a gingerbread boy, and lollipops. We also wanted to say thank you to all friends and family who have called or sent things in the mail for the girls!

BS! (birth story) (tmi?)

Cameron and River are at church, Sariah is finally asleep, and the house is moderately clean. It is amazingly quiet and serene here. Instead of taking advantage of my 'alone' time and doing something productive (like showering) I'm going to write about Sariah's birth before I forget and decide to have 5 more kids. ;)

Sariah was due on April 10th. April 10th came, and by that time I was dilated 3 cm, 50% effaced and ready to have a baby already. My doctor thought I would go into spontaneous labor, as I did with River who was 4 days late, but they scheduled me for an induction just in case. Well, I ended up going in for the induction 7 days later, April 17th. We had to be there at 7:30 am to get things started. I was really nervous to be induced. I did natural childbirth with River and was planning on doing the same this time. However, I've heard pitocin-induced contractions are more painful than natural contractions. MORE painful? Is that possible? Cameron didn't help much either...he kept saying, "Are you ready for the Poison? I mean Pitocin?"

One nice thing was that my parents flew in the night before and were able to come to the hospital with us and be with River. ANYWAYS, we all got up early Friday morning and went to the hospital. We got there at 7:30am, but they didn't actually start the pitocin until 10:00. The pitocin started my contractions, but I couldn't actually feel them for a couple of hours. River and my parents kept me entertained because I was stuck in bed with an IV, blood pressure cuff and contraction monitor. (another thing I didn't like about being induced, you can't move much...) Around noon I was feeling a few cramps, but nothing really painful at all. River got bored, so my parents took her to get lunch and play at the park. Cameron fell asleep in the bedside chair, and I ate 3 blue popsicles and watched home make-over shows while waiting for something exciting to happen. The next time the midwife came to check me I was dilated to 4 cm, so she decided to break my water to speed things up . After she broke my water my contractions became twice as painful almost immediately.

After about an hour (?) I told Cameron to help me start relaxation/breathing techniques I used with River. I started feeling like I needed to push, so the midwife came in and checked me again and I was at 6 cm. I said, "Is that all?" because the contractions were close together and getting quite painful. And I felt like I needed to push. It was so weird because I never felt the urge to push during River's labor...not even at the end. The midwife told me that I had made fast progress and suggested I try sitting on the birthing ball to help with the pain. It did NOT help.

I was sitting on the birthing ball, sweating puddles and thinking, "I can't do this. This is a lot worse than last time. And I'm only at 6 cm." I was still feeling a urge to push, so I decided to go to the bathroom to see if it relieved any pain. The nurse was in the room at the time and said "Sure, if you feel like you need to go." So Cam helped me over to the bathroom. While I was sitting there, I said to Cameron, "I think the baby is coming." He immediately jumped up, told the nurse, who ran in and said, "you better get out of here" then ran to call the doctor. (I'm sure she thought I was crazy...)

By this time I was pretty out of it. All I remember is Cameron helping me up on the bed, and about 6 people came running into the room. Cameron said, "It's okay Sheena, the doctor is here." I said, "She is?" he said. "yes". I said "Can I push?" But I was pretty much pushing the whole time anyways, because I couldn't help it. Cameron said, "I can see the head." I said, "No you can't." He said "Yes, I can see the head. You can do it. You're doing great." I think the doctor was saying stuff during this time, but all I could hear was Cameron's voice. After one more push he said, "The head is out!" I said, "It is?"! Why I couldn't tell, I don't know. (Also, I was doing alot of screaming, probably terrifying some first time mother down the hall. Lol.) Then I pushed one more time and Sariah was born. She was all purple, which is normal, and beautiful.

My doctor was delivering another baby when she had to run into our room to deliver Sariah. She joked with us afterward, saying that most babies give her more of a warning. Anyways, Sariah was born so fast that it was a little overwhelming. I'm not sure if it was the pitocin or the speed of labor, but the contractions seemed worse this time. At least it was over fast!