Thu Oct 01 2009 06:44 Come Out, Come Out: We have a plan... which means baby is now working to not follow it. I'm scheduled for induction on the 9th, which gives me 6 extra days to go into labor naturally. Haha.

I've just about finished (or given up on) my pre-baby projects. Which means now I am just waiting. I got started on Maggie's quiet book again so I have something to do. I still haven't decided how to make the pages, though, so it's just a pile of activities. I also made my friends and my husband feel bad for me and plan fun stuff to do.

Fri Oct 02 2009 19:31 It's Autumntime: We had a really awesome day today. We sat around all morning - John went to the temple and I worked on Maggie's quiet book. Maggie threw up apple juice everywhere, then played with her fisher price "guys". Jodi met us late in the morning and we went to visit Grandma June. After lunch with Grandma, we went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. We were there over three hours and had a lot of fun. Besides the corn maze, we did a tractor ride, a hay ride, duck races, played in the corn box, watched a goat race, jumped on the giant pillow and in the princess playhouse, and went down the slides a thousand times. We also did the "Iguana of Death" (Maggie and I opted out of this), and a cool 3-D funhouse.

Maggie had tons of fun at the "corn place" and was such a big girl climbing on everything all by herself.

(1) Sun Oct 04 2009 08:03 Low Expectations: The bright side to having Maggie 9 days late, as I told John, is that I was a lot less unhappy last night than most girls whose due dates have come and gone.

I have a theory that walking, hiking, mowing the lawn, storms, and bumpy hayrides only induce labor in inactive people.

Also, all three of us are sick.

Mon Oct 05 2009 09:21 Little Snot: I canceled today's fun thing to do (storytime at Colette's library) so we don't get our friends all sick, especially Madeline. I just renewed my aquarium pass last week, so I'm going to take Maggie there instead. We're also going to "the circle store" - Target - to combine manufacturer and store coupons on diapers. John and I realized that a $4 pair of brown leggings would extend the wear of three of her dresses considerably, so I hope they still have them. And speaking of Maggie clothes, I'm proud to say I got her wearing two new-to-her items of clothing today. Quite an accomplishment.

Me: Let me clean your face, you have boogers on it.
Maggie: Like Ember.
Me: Like Ember what?
Maggie: Polka dots! [Freckles]

"One, two, three, set, go!" *throws fisher-price rooster across table*

Mon Oct 05 2009 16:22 *Nest*: Today I made soup for lunch, and another double batch of pretzels for the freezer, and nice, real dinner for John. I hope the pretzels even fit in the freezer after the batch of hot pockets I made yesterday.

I also finished another page in Maggie's quiet book. I've decided to do one more page, then sew 3 buttonholes along each page and thread something through to tie them together. The book could use pockets to hold some of the items when they aren't being used, but I can't decide how to do them, so I'm just not going to. I'm going to try to finish the book tonight.

Another item crossed off my to-do list is getting new insurance. We got new auto and homeowner's with lower rates on each, and a MUCH lower deductible on the homeowner's. yay me!

Tue Oct 06 2009 10:15 Crafty and Sly: Being a parent is the most fulfilling thing in my life right now. Maybe that isn't saying much, but I love watching Maggie grow and learn new things every day. (Yesterday she learned the word "facebook"...) She makes me laugh out loud, and is silly on purpose, and is So. Incredibly. Smart.

One of the great things about having kids is that making toys is so much fun! It's very rewarding to make something both useful and fun. I just finished Maggie's quiet book. It isn't spectacular and it was a lot of work, but she loves it.

Speaking of crafting, apparently me and my craftiness was the topic of conversation during Relief Society a few weeks ago. I was able to get the fourth person who mentioned it to me, Jenny, to tell me what really happened. The lesson was on talents and Jana raised her hand and said how I can make something from nothing and several other girls chimed in about my craft blog. This was before I gave Jana her baby gift made from scraps. Is this what I get for being friends with the Relief Society President?

(2) Fri Oct 09 2009 06:07 Here He Comes!: John's biggest worry, that they'd bump my inducement to tomorrow, is over. We were afraid that we'd only survived another late baby so well this time because we had light at the end of the tunnel. But, I'm off to the hospital!

(1) Mon Oct 12 2009 16:35 Dalton's Birth Story: On Friday, October 9, 2009 at 4:51 pm we welcomed Dalton William Chadwick into our family. He weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long. Pictures here and here and plenty more to come.

Dalton is named after my Grandpa Richardson, and we picked William out of the Chadwick family names. We thought that was only fair since Maggie got a name from each of our mothers' sides of the family.

Erin picked me up a little after 7 am and took me to the hospital to be induced. “We told you so” to all the people who thought he might come on time – 6 days late this time. Erin waited with me until John got there around 9:30 or 10. They started the drugs at 9 and it was a boring few hours. John was afraid we’d have another middle-of-the-night baby, but when things happened, they happened fast.

I got an epidural around 12:15, and another one around 4, 45 minutes after the first one stopped working on one side. Ouchie. Once the second one kicked in, we were ready to go, and 5 pushes later, Dalton came right out. I kept saying “that was so easy!” because I expected to be pushing for an hour. The second epidural was a lot stronger than the first. I was so proud that I could twitch my toe by the time they moved me to my room!

I really love my doctor. I felt like he was more involved and more communicative than the doctor who delivered Maggie. He cleaned Dalton up and let me hold him for a minute – I didn’t get to see Maggie for quite a while, until they tried to make me nurse her but I was too busy throwing up. That was probably NICU’s doing though. Dalton was a great nurser right off the bat. He came out pretty hungry.

He’s got adorable spikey hair, and looks a lot like his daddy’s baby picture, except he has a little Susie nose, we think. He’s a good sleeper, during the day at least, a pretty good eater, and a great snuggler.

Maggie’s been pretty grumpy, between being dragged all over the place, Mommy being gone, and not getting much sleep. I don’t know how much of it is because of the baby – she always wants to snuggle me when I am nursing Dalton, but she slept right through his crying all night last night. She's somewhat better today. We spent the whole day at home, other than John brought Grandma June to meet the baby.

Thanks to Mom, Brook, Erin, Jodi and Franco for watching/entertaining Maggie, Erin for taking me to the hospital, everyone for visiting and calling, and honorable mention to Franco for stopping by the day before and finishing off my “nesting” list by leveling out the ground in our side yard.

Wed Oct 14 2009 10:00: After the first night home, in which John ended up sleeping on the couch and I ended up not sleeping at all, we put Dalton in his crib. He's decided he is pretty happy there at night. The other good news is that Maggie screaming in the night didn't phase him. John said, "he's used to it." Maggie was not affected by Dalton's gentle "I'm hungry" whimpers either, just her annoying cough and her bad attitude.

Rachel and Edd get here this afternoon. John ended up working from home today, which I'm grateful for. I'm not sure I can survive on my own with both kids yet.

Fri Oct 16 2009 11:41: John, Rachel and Edd have taken Maggie on her long-awaited trip to the zoo, so Dalton and I are on our own. He is sleeping, which is what he does best. He's only gotten me up twice the past few nights. Maggie is loving all the attention her Auntie Rachel has brought: two new people to climb on, repeat everything she says, and give presents (including a big box of hand-me-down clothes, toys and books from Shannon).

I am taking advantage of the quiet house to get some things done. I started some laundry, changed Maggie's sheets, wrote some thank you notes, and tidied up a bit. Now I think maybe I need a nap too.

In case you have forgotten, John is the world's cutest daddy, snuggling his little guy every chance he gets.

(1) Wed Oct 21 2009 08:07 Anne on Big Sisters: "If she's anything like her grandma, she doesn't like new ones coming along to steal the show, so tell Dalton to keep a low profile."

(1) Wed Oct 21 2009 13:58 Pop Pop Pop: Rachel brought two boxes of Richardson Farms peaches, so we spent the past few days canning. We made three batches of peach jam, a batch of sliced peaches, a peach cobbler, and an extra peach cobbler filling for the freezer. It's very satisfying to see all the jars of food that will last for a while.

(1) Fri Oct 23 2009 10:45 Two Fast Weeks: My little boy is already two weeks old. That went by fast! I am mostly recovered, except what we thought was a bruised tailbone turned out to be a cyst and I had to have it lanced at the urgent care yesterday. Ouch. Hopefully in a few days I'll be all better.

Rachel has been a ton of help and it's really nice to have John home. Unfortunately, when John's goes back to work (right after Rachel leaves), he is going out of town. I hope I can survive.

Maggie has been her usual ornery self a lot of the time, throwing fits over whatever a little princess deems fit-worthy. Dalton is a very good baby so far. He has his awake time in the morning, then takes a really long nap in the afternoon. He's just started having crying jags in the evenings.

Fri Oct 23 2009 16:02 Baby D Update: I took Dalton to his two-week appointment today. He's already gained a pound above his birth weight - up to 8 lb 8 oz. You'd think that would add some chunk to his bones, but no such luck.

(1) Wed Oct 28 2009 09:05 What am I going to do: without Rachel and John here all the time? Not only will I have to watch both my kids all the time, I have hardly had to life a finger the past few weeks. Other than laundry and a few dishes, I haven't done much. Rachel has made dinner and done most of the dishes, and stockpiled my freezer, and rocked Dalton to sleep, and done everything else I've asked her to, and just generally been fantastic to have around. John has been making us fancy breakfasts nearly every morning, doing all kinds of stuff around the house, and taking Maggie on daddy-daughter outings. They went to Chuck-E-Cheese yesterday and are going to visit John's dad today.

Rachel leaves tomorrow, and even worse, John is going out of town all next week. Ack!

Wed Oct 28 2009 12:01 Chadwick Family Funnies: Yesterday at Walmart, Maggie picked up a cantaloupe and asked if we could get a "buffalo".

Me: Where does Mickey Mouse live?
Maggie: India?