Pictures of Curtis!

My sister-in-law, Amanda Laycock, was nice enough to do a little photoshoot of Curtis before we left to go to Utah.  She sent us a few of the pictures she took so we could see if we liked them, and they turned out great!  He was not a happy camper while we were there, so I'm glad she could get some good pictures when he looked happy!

 

I know he's too young to actually laugh, but this next picture captured what sounded and looked like a laugh to me!  He all of a sudden just got a huge smile on his face and laughed!  It was the cutest thing ever.

 

Must be getting sleepy from all the crying he was doing!

 

He loved it when Dad held him!

 

How can you not smile when he looks at you like this?

Curtis Gary Low

It's taken a while, but I wanted to share Curtis's birth story!

On Friday the 5th of April, I woke up at 5 am with contractions that were about 20 minutes apart.  This had happened many times in the month or so leading up to this day, so I didn't think too much about it.  I couldn't sleep though, so I got up and showered and got ready for the day.  I had to stop a couple times and lean against the counter during contractions while I was getting ready, but they weren't too bad.  Instead of getting worse, I felt like they got further apart and less painful through the morning and figured this was just yet another false alarm.  It wasn't until lunch that I realized it could possibly be more.

My mom took Mike and I out to Famoso for pizza for lunch at around 2.  Right when we got there, I started feeling sick.  I ran to the bathroom before we got our food thinking I'd be sick, but I held it in and apparently felt good enough to eat a ton of breadsticks and pizza.  Mike and I then ran some errands and went to his parents' house.  After talking to his mom, we decided we should leave to go to the hospital around 4 to beat most of rush hour.  My contractions were 5-6 minutes apart and the hospital was a ways away, so we just wanted to be safe.  I still wasn't 100% sure I was in labour so I was a little apprehensive, but we went anyway.

Once at the hospital, they said I was only dilated to a 2 (sorry if that's tmi), and they said I should go walk around for a couple of hours.  My contractions were bad enough by now that I knew I was in labour, but they were still only 5-6 minutes apart.  Naturally, Mike and I decided to go to a movie!  We went to Olympus Has Fallen, which was a good movie (at least what I saw of it).  It took my mind off of labour in between contractions, and during the contractions I just gritted my teeth and tried not to make any noise!  But some of my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, and Mike insisted we leave before the movie ended.  I fought it because I figured we'd go back to the hospital and I'd be in labour for another 10 hours so why would it matter to stay at the movie for the last 15 minutes?  But he won and we left and got to the hospital at 9:45 and I got changed and laid down and my water broke during my first contraction!  Good thing Mike convinced me to leave or there may have been an embarrassing incident in the movie theatre.

As soon as my water broke at around 9:50, things got a little crazy.  All I'll say is that for the next 2 hours and ten minutes there was a lot of pain.  I went into the whole labour process not knowing if I'd get an epidural or not because of my fear of needles.  It wasn't very long after my water broke that I decided I'd get one, but I couldn't get it yet because the person who does them was in a C-section.  They said he'd be an hour, but I figured that would mean longer.  It became pretty clear that I wasn't going to get one pretty fast because I was feeling urges to push.  They kept telling me he would be there soon and I kept telling Mike that he wasn't coming in time.

At midnight, I told the nurse I needed to push and she checked me and said we were going to have the baby!  So the almost unbearable labour only lasted about 3 hours, and I believe it's from working out so much during pregnancy.  I highly recommend it to anybody else who's pregnant!

Curtis Gary Low was born at 12:31 am on April 6th after a little bit of help from a vacuum!  His heart rate was dropping with each contraction because the cord was around his neck, so they finally decided they better use the vacuum, and he was born a couple pushes later!  I love him so much, and he was so worth it!   He was 8 lbs 2 oz. and 20.5 inches long.  He's now 2 weeks and 1 day old, and I love him more each day!

I am not on my computer, so I can't post pictures.  Everyone is probably sick of seeing all the pictures I post from Instagram anyway, but I'll probably do another blog post soon of just pictures!

Dreams about Waves

This morning, Mike told me he had had his third dream about tsunamis or tidal waves last night.  I just happened to have a dream about us getting an apartment on the ocean on the third floor and waking up to waves crashing over our balcony.  We thought this was pretty weird, so we looked up what dreams about waves mean.  We found this link.  It says:

Tidal waves often appear in our dreams when are under a lot of pressure or when significant change is occurring.

They may be a an indication that we feel a little overwhelmed, that maybe we fear we won’t be able to cope or adjust with what we see in our own future.  

They may occur as recurring dreams, with the wave getting bigger or closer over subsequent nights.  This may correspond to our increasing anxiety, or the looming date we fear getting closer.

So I thought this was pretty funny.  It looks like Mike and I are getting a little nervous for Curtis to arrive!  I am pretty excited though, and I've noticed that my excitement and my desire to not be pregnant anymore has more than overwhelmed my feelings of fear (at least while I'm awake I guess).  And we'll see if these dreams keep coming for Mike!  He must be pretty scared if he's had three recently.

On another note, my pineapple looked ripe today, so I cut it up and proceeded to try to eat the whole thing to possibly induce labour or at least help it come a little faster (since I'm not really willing to try many of the other suggestions for "naturally" inducing labour such as castor oil).  After eating a quarter of it, I felt sick.  I ate probably just over half and put the rest away for tomorrow.  My mouth feels raw and it somehow made my lip bleed.  I didn't realize eating a whole pineapple would be so hard!

Baby Shower!

My mom and two of my amazing sisters, Karli and Whitney, threw me an amazing shower last weekend, and I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures!  I took them on my brand new camera that my parents got Mike and I for my birthday, so now I just finally figured out how to upload them onto the computer.  I can be technologically handicapped sometimes, but I actually have to blame this one more on my laziness/busyness (I've been too busy some of the time and too lazy the rest of the time!) than my computer unsavvyness.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the baby shower I had!  I was nervous nobody would come since I found out there were two other showers on that day, one at the exact same time and one an hour later, but lots of people still turned up, and it was a lot of fun!  I'm so blessed to have such awesome friends and family.

Here is the rope sign my mom and I made the night before.  I was a little nervous to freehand the name, but it didn't turn out as bad as it could have!

Here is the refreshments!  The blue juice was really good.  It has ice cream in it, so how could it not be good?

Here is the food and treats!  I can't believe how amazing it all turned out!  It looks like it should be on Pinterest.

Here is a close-up of the fruit pizza station.

Here's the cute popcorn balls in a haystack, my favourite!

These are our fancy sandwiches and pretzel bites.  I didn't understand what my mom meant with the circular fancy sandwiches until we started actually making them.  They turned out good, and my favourite was the banana and peanut butter ones (if you can't tell, I have a very mature pallet).

Here's the chocolate covered pretzels and popcorn. 

My friend Katie brought this amazing cake that her aunt made for me.  I don't know how she did it, but it's amazing!  And she even did my favourite animal and she doesn't even know me!  She must have read my mind.

Here are the cupcakes that Daelene Byam made for the shower!  They are so pretty.

I should have gotten a picture of my mom, Karli, and Whitney all together, but after we took the pictures of the food and decorations, the camera got put away until the very end when I remembered and quickly tried to grab a few shots of the people there.  I like this picture of Whitney and her mom, so I thought I'd put it up :).

Here are the favours that we made for everybody.  I forgot to take a pic of these, too, until after the party, so there was only 4 left.  We were scared we would have tons left, so it worked out pretty nicely.

And one more picture of this pretty cake because I love it!!

Overall, it was way better than I could have even imagined it.  I also got a lot of the stuff that I needed, so that's always a bonus!  I now feel prepared for Curtis to make his appearance, and since I'll be full-term on Monday, he could come any day now.  I love looking at his ultrasound pictures and trying to picture what he looks like.  I'm also having contractions that are pretty uncomfortable sometimes and even made my throw up the other day, so you could say I'm excited to meet Curtis for more than one reason.  I can't wait to be done with pregnancy!

The only downside to the baby shower was that a lot of my family couldn't make it.  Lana obviously couldn't fly up from Arizona just for my shower, but I sure did miss her!  And on the Low side of the family, Janae represented because no one else could make it.  I wish all of my family could have come, but I'm happy everyone who came came, because it was a blast!  

And, again, a big thanks to everyone who helped out with the shower and/or came for making it such a special day for me!

11 Things

My sister, Lana, challenged me in this blog chain letter thing, so I decided to do it since I haven't posted on here in a long time.  Here's the deal:

1. Post 11 random things about myself. 

2. Answer the 11 questions my nominator asked me.
3. Create 11 questions for my own nominees.

4. Nominate 11 different bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.

5. Notify them and hope they play along.

So here are 11 interesting things about me.  If anyone reading this has Instagram, I'll probably repeat the 5 interesting facts I did the other day when that thing was going around.

1.  I've had long hair ever since it grew out when I was a baby.  I think I've had short hair a couple times, but the few times I've ever gotten it cut I've been told I'm silly for thinking it's short.  Like now.

2.  Unlike my sister Lana who has an extremely low tolerance for spicy/hot food, it takes a LOT for me to think something is too spicy/hot.  Like, the only time I can think of something is when these guys in high school made me eat a bunch of extremely hot sauce (they were putting one dot on everybody else's tongues that tried it, but they gave me quite a bit more), and my whole throat went numb for a few hours.

3.  I have dinosaur arms.  I'm 5'6" but have the arm span of a 5'3" person.  And Mike doesn't like holding hands because it's awkward the way he has to bend his hands upwards.  So we just measured him and found out that his arms are 6'2" when he's only 5'11.5.  So basically he stole my 3 inches (because he's really 5'11" but just told me to put the 1/2 on).

4.  My favourite colour is yellow.  Growing up I decided lime green was my favourite just to be different, but I gave that up sometime in high school.

5.  I go through periods where I just like to eat the exact same thing all the time until I find something new.  Some of these things have been popcorn with cinnamon on it and macaroni and cheese (both of these trends come back often).

6.  I used to act out my dreams in my bed while I was sleeping.  I would wake up and I'd be standing on my bed thinking I was in the middle of a basketball game or something.  This happened a lot when I'd start new jobs and I would dream that things were going terribly wrong and even when I'd wake up and realize it wasn't real, my subconscious wouldn't believe me and I'd keep acting it out.

7.  I can't wait for little Curtis to enter this world (minus the birthing part, because I can definitely wait for that).  This isn't really an interesting fact, but it's on my mind a lot so I thought I'd share.

8.  I have the greatest husband in the world!  Not to be cheesy or anything, but he's just the kindest person you'll ever meet and I don't know how anyone could say anything bad about him.  He's just an amazing guy, and I'm so lucky to have him!

9.  This is a repeat off Instagram, but I have harrier arms than the average gal and my brother used to make fun of me when I was younger and it made me cry.  Luckily I'm not that sensitive anymore and my arms have actually gotten a little bit less harry as weird as that is.  That could have something to do with the fact that I trim it every once in a while hahaha but I honestly think it doesn't grow back near as long.

10.  I'm a very, very shy person at heart.  I think I've gotten quite a bit better since high school, but it is still very hard for me to talk and act normal around people I don't know very well or at all.  This tends to make things awkward sometimes.

11.  Speaking of awkward, for some reason I don't find "awkward silences" are that awkward.  I just never feel uncomfortable in silence.  

My 11 questions to answer

1. What’s the #1 most played song on your playlist?

I don't listen to music on my computer very often so it's not a very accurate way to see what I listen to, but the last time I listened to music on my computer a ton I was in a He Is We phase and the #1 song is Happily Ever After.

2. What is one of your favorite quotes?

What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

3. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?

Well, this past year of marriage has been the best of my life, so I'll have to go with 21.

4. If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?

I would have to think about that for a while to pick one now, but growing up I LOVED the name Elizabeth.  I definitely wouldn't pick it now, but it's a pretty name.  I kind of like unisex names, so I'll just throw out Payton for now.

5. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?

When I take breaks from work I usually cuddle with Mike on the couch and maybe watch TV.  If it was more than 30 minutes then I'd probably exercise or read or craft!

6. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

I watched House Hunters this morning while I walked on the treadmill.

7. What was the first thing you bought with your own money?

I honestly have no clue.  Probably a 5 cent candy because I always have been and always will be obsessed with candy and especially enjoy 5 cent candies.

8. At what age did you become an adult?

I still don't really feel like an adult, so I'm thinking once I have this baby it might make me feel like it more.  But I grew up physically very fast and very young, and I remember people always thought I was way older than I was.  Until I stopped growing completely and everyone caught up and surpassed me, including my younger sister, and now everyone thinks I'm younger than I am.  I suppose I'll like that if it continues in the years to come.

9. The best part of waking up is?

Having the whole day ahead of you!  Especially on a Saturday :).

10. What can you always find on your nightstand?

A lamp, my scriptures, and my cell phone if it's night because that's where it charges.

11. What are three things you cannot live without (aside from family members)?

Food, water, and sleep haha.  On a less literal note, three of my favourite things that I'd rather not live without are exercise (although I go through phases where I can and do live without it), candy, and movies.  Also, crafts, but I don't do those enough.  I go through crafty phases, just like with my eating habits.

My 11 questions for the nominees (I stole these ones from the ones Lana had to do because I didn't feel like thinking up my own):

1- If you had to eat at only one restaurant for the rest of your life, where would you eat? 

2- What is your dream car?

3- If you had to live in another country for the next 5 years, where would you live?

4- What is the first cd you ever purchased?

5- If you could only have one tv station for the next year what tv station would you pick?

6- What is your favorite thing about yourself, least favorite thing, looks wise?

7- If your family got asked to be on TLC what would the name of your show be, and what would you be on there for?

8- Would you rather you got one horrible haircut, or all your children got 5 horrible haircuts in a row?

9- Favorite movie EVER and Worst movie you have ever seen?

10- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, which one is your favourite?

11- Do you like summer or winter better, and why?

And I nominate: (I literally know almost nobody who blogs, so I'm putting the only people I know that Lana didn't already tag on hers.  Let me know if you read this and you have a blog, because I enjoy reading blogs!  And also, you should just do this because it's fun.)

1- Amanda Poppe

2- Chelsea Ellison

3- Diana Anderson

4- Kinsley Phillips

Counting down to Christmas

I was just home last week for the American Thanksgiving holiday, but I'm already counting down the days until we get to go home for Christmas.  I really love it in Provo, but this last little while is going to be hard!  Mike is so crazy busy with school stuff that I spent my days working and my evenings watching TV or reading or whatever I can find to waste time on my own.  I've found that I'm not very good at being alone this often!  I can't wait until Christmas when we'll get to see both of our families and Mike will be done with school for a bit and will be able to relax.  Thursday the 13th of December couldn't come quicker!

A little update on our little man:  He is kicking harder and more than ever, and I could probably sit and watch him kick my belly for hours (or at least that's what Mike says).  In fact, sometimes looking at my belly is one of the activities I've been doing lately when I'm bored haha.  It makes me smile.  Even though I can't REALLY see him when he kicks me, just seeing my tummy move makes me feel like I can. 

I'm 22 weeks and 4 days today.  I've stopped posting pictures on my blog because I post them on Instagram every two weeks and then post the Instagram photo to Facebook so that my family and friends that don't have Instagram can see them if they want too.  I feel like that's enough picture posting, and everyone is probably getting pretty tired of them by now anyway.  I'm just excited to be able to look back and see my progress throughout my pregnancy!

I've gotten rid of a lot of the annoying pregnancy side-effects from my first trimester like feeling sick all the time and being stuffed up and stuff, but unfortunately I fainted the week before I went home and have been feeling not-so-great in the mornings since then.  I threw up once while I was home, so that means I've now puked once for each trimester (not counting my flu, which wasn't baby-related in the first tri).  I've also been getting really hot lately, and I tend to get pretty dizzy any time I get hot or just stand up too fast.  I'm being super careful, though, because my doctor said it probably wasn't a big deal that I fainted once but that it might be if it happens again.  So any time I start feeling hot or dizzy, I just try to lay down and cool down for a minute.

Other than those little things, pregnancy is great.  I'm feeling great and getting really excited to meet this little guy.  I know I still have a while, though, so I'm trying not to think about it too much.  It's hard when he won't let me forget about him with his frequent kicks, though!

Pregnancy Dream

I had my first weird dream during pregnancy that has actually been about my baby last night.  My parents have warned me that posting dreams on my blog is a mistake because nobody else finds them as funny as I do, but I'm going to share it anyway.

The dream started with me in some sort of a church meeting with my parents.  I'm pretty sure it was the Calgary temple dedication, but I'm not sure.  I started going into labour, but I had to be reverent and stay calm until the meeting was over.  We then rushed to the hospital, and I don't remember anything about going into labour in my dream.  Next thing I knew, we were all in Arizona going to see Lana's new house.

We drove to the bottom of this huge hill/small mountain and got out and started climbing numerous flights of stairs to get to the top where her house apparently was.  I had the baby in my arms, and the climb almost killed me.  The baby had jet black hair, and I had to ask my mom about when I had had him and how much he weighed and everything since I didn't remember going into labour.  She said he was 7 pounds 6 ounces, I forget the day she said I had him but it was a couple days earlier, and the delivery lasted about 10 minutes after I got to the hospital (wouldn't that be nice).

When we finally reached the top, we saw a huge and gorgeous house, but the whole thing inside and out was the brightest yellow you've ever seen.  Lana's favourite colour is yellow, and the inside of the house she's moving into actually is all yellow, so I'm assuming that's why that was in the dream.

The rest of the dream consisted of my attempting to breast feed but failing and just hanging out with my family and every so often somebody would be like "hey Jessica, where's your baby?"  And I'd have to run and find him.  He was always okay, but the whole dream I kept leaving him places and totally forgetting about him!  I felt like such a terrible person.  Also, my baby was a genius and could already say some words and sit up and entertain himself on his own.

Overall, I'm not sure whether to say it was a good dream or a bad dream.  It was fun being able to feel like I had a baby, but not so fun to be such a terrible mom!