Hailey's Antics and Sophie Smiling

This is Sophie's adorable smile. She started smiling at 5 1/2 weeks, and she smiles so much now--it's pretty easy to get a good one out of her.

This is very typical--especially this week since Trent's been sick. Sophie LOVES to sleep in this crook in Trent's arm. A little too much.

Sophie is so strong. She was holding up her head like this at 4 weeks.

My two cute girls last Sunday for church.

This is Hailey "modeling" her several articles of clothing I got her last week. She had to come home and immediately put EVERYTHING on and show daddy.

Sophie at 10 Days Old

Well, now Sophie is officially 1 month old. I can't believe how the time has flown! Life can be tricky with 3 kids, but it's not that bad! In fact, I am really loving it! Sophie is so fun to have around. She still wakes up for an hour or so in the middle of the night and just wants to be held (cries if we even think about putting her down), but I know that will get better. I'm a little more tired these days (or some days, I feel drugged because I got 5 broken-up hours of sleep), but life is good. So these pictures were taken on Feb. 18, when Sophie was just 10 days old. Trent's sister, Stacey, who lives nearby, came over to our house and took them. Thanks again, Stacey!

This is one of my favorites.

She was yawning in this one:

She seemed very alert during all the pictures and did very well!

This is my other favorite.

Baby Photos

Here are some photos I promised. I hope you enjoy them.

This is how bruised Sophie was after she was born. She is so much better today.

The proof is in the scale. I still can't believe how big she is.

Baby Arrived

So 12 hours after Karen's rant, the contractions started. Of course, this put it at 1:00 AM when the contractions started. About 3:00 AM Karen decided it was time to go to the hospital so we called her sister to watch the kids and set out on our journey. We go to the hospital shortly after 4:00 AM and they checked Karen. They weren't sure she was truely in labor. So they had us wait and walk for a couple of hours. By 7 AM they decided that if they sent her home, she would just be back in a few hours so they admitted her. By 8 she had the epidural in place and was happy as can be. Around 11 AM, she was almost dilated to a 5 and her contractions had stopped. By this time, the doctor had broken her water so there was no choice but to give her the pitocin IV. At noon she was finally to a 5 and at 12:15 Karen felt like she had to push. She called the nurse at 12:20 and the nurse said she was complete. So in 20 minutes she dilated from a 5 to a 10. WOW!! Anyway, by 12:40 the baby was born. Since she came down the birth canal so fast, she was a little stressed. Her heart rate dropped to about 60 and they wisked her away to the fetal area of the suite. After a minute or so, the baby started to cry and everything was just fine (other than her black and purple head from all of the bruising.) Anyway, in true Karen fashion, the baby weighed 10 lbs 1 ounce and was "officially" 21.5 inches long. The nurse that measured her kept coming up with 22 inches but thought it was wrong so she kept measuring. Of course the baby also had a huge head. We named her Sophie Halterman. I think she is adorable (bruised head, alien features and all.)

Anyway, I am working on about 4 hours of sleep and can no longer think. I'm sure we will post again, next time with pictures.

Still NO BABY!

Well, here we are one week before the due date, and I am having no contractions at all. (Well, I've had some off and on all week, but nothing regular.) Some of you may be wondering why I am complaining if I am still just 39 weeks. Well, Cory was born 8 days early and Hailey was born 14 days early. So, surely, my third baby should be born before now, RIGHT?!?! As far as I'm concerned, this one is LATE.

Luckily, at my doctor's appointment yesterday, he said we could induce me on Tuesday, Feb 10. He tried calling LDS Hospital, where I'll be delivering, but they were pretty busy on Tuesday and couldn't actually schedule a time. They will call me Monday with what time to come in on Tuesday, otherwise, I might have to wait until Wednesday. YUCK! Okay, so 3 more days of this...I can do it. I'm also nervous to go this long because even with Cory being 8 days early, he still weighed 9 lbs. 12 oz. and with Hailey being 14 days early, weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. My doctor said he thinks this one will be somewhere in the middle. I certainly hope so and that she won't be bigger than Cory. I don't think I could push her out if she is any bigger than Cory!

The other annoying thing is I've been dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced for the last week as well. The doctor said her head is low and everything looks really ready. Well, tell that to my body that doesn't want to respond!! We've tried all the home inducement things we know and nothing's worked so far. If anyone has any other ideas besides walking backwards, eating a whole pineapple, doing accupressure on the hands, or sex, please let me know!

Pictures from Christmas and Hailey's Birthday

This is my brother, Eric, with his new wife, Melodie. He met her online (his wife died 2 years ago), and they married in the AZ temple in December. She didn't have any kids before, and now she gets five!

This is Cory and Hailey at the AZ Temple in December. We were there for my brother's wedding.

This is Hailey showing off her new dress-up shoes she got for her 2nd birthday!

This is Hailey and her pink birthday cake. She turned 2 on Dec. 31.

Hailey is showing off her cool new sunglasses and purse she got for her birthday.

This is Hailey and Cory with their Shaw cousins at my parents house in Arizona performing the Lion King numbers they did for our Stake Broadway play we did in November.

This is Cory and Hailey on Christmas morning. Hailey got everything related to dolls.

This is Cory and his new pirate ship he got from Santa.

This is Cory and Hailey acting out the Nativity at my extended family's Christmas party in AZ. Hailey was an angel and Cory was a shepherd.

This is Hailey calmly eating dinner with a huge piece of lettuce stuck to her forehead. She didn't know it was there and thought we were just taking pictures of her for fun. It was pretty funny!

This is one of my good friends from growing up and a roommate of mine at BYU, Chrissy. She came to visit me. We had to both show off our pregnant bellies. She was about 4 or 5 months along. I was 7 months.

This is the kids playing in the snow in Layton. Love the rosie cheeks!

We're Moving

So it is mid-December and we have been planning to move out of my sister's basement by the end of the year, so we started a vigorous apartment-hunt a couple of weeks ago. I spent many hours on the phone, researching apartments from West Jordan to Clearfield, UT and everywhere in between. We have found a townhome we really like in Clearfield. It is a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath with an attached garage, so we are really hoping we get it! (We should hear back from them in the next day or two if we clear their credit and background checks, etc.)
We will move as soon as possible. Of course this Friday we are leaving for a week to spend Christmas with my parents in Arizona, so that might come right in the middle of our moving plans, but for sure, we will be in our own place by the start of the new year. We are thrilled to get our kids in their own bedrooms. Cory has probably woken Hailey up from her naps at least 137 times since she was born almost 2 years ago because he goes in their room to get toys. (Usually sneaks past me without me knowing what he's up to.) Of course in early February, we will be adding a new addition to our family, but at least for the first little while, she'll be in a bassinet in our bedroom, and then we need to decide which child can share best with her. (And handle her middle of the night crying without waking up!)

On a secondary note, Trent reluctantly accepted a position with ARUP Laboratories located in SLC. He already turned them down once about a month ago, but in that month, he didn't have a single job interview doing clinical research, so when they wanted to interview him again (and offered him another job), he felt he just couldn't say no this time. It would've been much more exciting for us to accept this job (even though it has absolutely nothing to do with pharmaceuticals or drug research) if they were willing to pay him better. But they are only offering him slightly more than what he is already making as a pharmacy technician. It is also a position that only requires a Bachelors degree, instead of a Masters like he has, but the Masters degree seems to be not impressing anyone, so this job we must take. He will also have to work an extra 2 days every other week at the pharmacy in order for us to pay off our student loans. (That were pointless, by the way.) The reason why it's every other week is because his shift is pretty horrible, too. It's from 1pm-11:30pm, with 7 days on and 7 days off. That was another reason this job was very difficult for us to accept. I'm not sure how I will manage with a new baby and two other kids for 7 days straight without a husband, but we'll see. At least he's not in the military and leaves for many months at a time!! So I must count my blessings.