Carson Reid is Here!

Carson Reid Struebing was born April 23, 2010 at 12:10pm. He weighed 6lbs 12oz and was 19.5 inches long. On April 22nd at about 7pm, I was right in the middle of eating dinner when I felt a warm trickle. I ran to the bathroom and was pretty sure that my water was leaking. I decided to take a shower and get ready to go to the hospital. Sure enough, at 8pm while I was drying my hair a big gush of water came out!

I had to take one last picture before heading to the hospital...

I thought that because my water broke, I would start having contractions but that didn't happen. I got to the hospital at about 9:15pm, was dilated to a 3 almost 4 and they put me in the triage to wait for the contractions to start. Here I am waiting for the contractions to start...

I had a few contractions here and there, but I wasn't in any pain. They moved me into my labor and delivery room at about midnight. I had to have two bags of antibiotics before they could start pitocin because I tested positive for group B beta strep. I finally finished the antibiotics at about 5am and they started me on the pitocin. She checked me and I was already a 5! I was nervous to be on pitocin because I've heard how painful the contractions are. But amazingly, I started contracting with the first small dose and still no pain. I could feel my stomach inflating like a balloon, but no pain! I let the nurse know that I wanted to have an epidural. The anesthesiologist was in the middle of a delivery and then she was heading to another delivery after that. My nurse said that they were going to try and catch her in between deliveries because that was the only time that she could do the epidural. The anesthesiologist (who my nurse said was the best one at the hospital) came in at about 6:30 to give me my epidural and was done in literally 5 minutes! Over the next few hours I continued to dilate slowly and got to a 10 at 11am. They asked me if I felt the urge to push, but I couldn't feel anything because the epidural was working so well. There was another girl in the room next to me who was ready to deliver so they told me to wait until I could feel pressure and the urge to push. Finally, at noon I told them that I wanted to have the baby now! My doctor was out of town unfortunately so they called the midwife in to deliver. She came right in and told me to do a practice push. When I did, the baby started coming out so fast that she told me to stop pushing...she didn't even have her gloves on yet!! She got them on quickly and had me push again. He popped out in 3 pushes at 12:10pm! I was so lucky to have a PAIN-FREE labor! Here is Carson right after delivery...

Loving my baby boy during Skin to Skin

The proud parents

Carson 1 day old...Waiting to go home from the hospital

In his carseat after the drive home

So peaceful

Carson and Daddy

Carson and Mommy

Four Generations! Carson, Mommy, Grandpa Leavitt, and Great-Grandma Leavitt

Our growing, happy little family...

Well...someone doesn't look too happy! Uh-oh Carson, watch out! Big brother already picking on little brother!

Evan...this is what you get for being mean! Haha!

We love this little guy so much and are so blessed to have him join our family!

Evan's New Room and Toddler Bed!

With the new baby on the way, we decided that it was time to move Evan to the room across the hall and to switch him to a toddler bed. I was a little nervous to make the change since Evan is only 18 months and goes down for naps and bedtime in his crib no problem without crying. The crib was working great for all of us...Evan goes to bed every night between 7:30 and 8 and sleeps until 8 or 8:30 in the morning and takes 2 to 2 1/2 hour naps. I told Sean that I didn't know if I wanted to mess anything up by switching him to the toddler bed, resulting in having 2 kids up all night instead of just 1. Sean convinced me to try it out, so we did. Since Evan LOVES balls, I had fun decorating his new room with a cute sports theme...

We made the transition Monday night, talking his "new big-boy bed" up to Evan and making a big deal about his new room. Surprisingly, he went down no problem and slept through the whole night! One small problem though...the new room gets REALLY bright in the morning because the sun beats in the window. He woke up at 7 instead of 8 or 8:30 and I told Sean that I needed that extra hour of sleep! :) (When the new baby comes, I'm going to be sleep-deprived so I want to get all the sleep in now that I can!!) So Sean has been hanging a dark blanket over the window and guess what? It works! He's been sleeping in! We need to invest in a window shade that we can pull down at night time. Here he is proud of his new bed...

Showing Mommy the football and soccer ball...

Just relaxin...

The other night, Sean and I went in to check on him before we went to bed and this is how we found him...

I'm pretty sure he fell off. We put him back in and about 2 hours later, I woke up to him screaming. I went in there, but it was dark and I couldn't find out where the crying was coming from. I finally found him...he was stuck UNDER the bed! I'm guessing he fell off, rolled under the bed, and woke up not knowing where he was and freaked out! I guess we need to get a guard rail for the open part of the bed...we've been using some big couch cushions as a wall to block him for now!

As for naps, he likes to get up and play when I put him down. Yesterday, I had to go in to his room 3 times and put him back in his bed, telling him "Evan, it's nap time and you need to go to sleep. Don't get up!" Finally, the third time worked because he was tired enough. I'm glad that this whole toddler bed thing is working out better than I thought it would!

Easter!

We spent Easter and General Conference Sunday with my family at my parent's house. FYI, the picture above was taken first thing in the morning :) Before Conference, we had a little easter egg hunt for Evan. He LOVED looking for the eggs and putting them in his basketball basket. He was actually a better hunter than I thought he would be for 18 months old...

Gathering up some eggs...

And of course, enjoying a little pre-breakfast candy from dad that he discovered inside the eggs...

Mommy enjoying a very nutritious breakfast too...FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE!! My very most favorite dessert!

Evan reading his new pop-up book from Grandma with Aunt Jill...

Grandpa's turn to read...

And a couple more shots of Evan...

36 Weeks!

Here is my 36 week picture above taken on March 31st. I'm now 37 weeks and 1 day...I've made it to full term now, so this little guy can come whenever he wants! I'm hoping that he'll cook for another week and a half so I can make it to my baby shower on April 17th. We'll see what happens...it's all up to him, I guess!

For fun, here's my 36 week picture, pregnant with Evan a year and a half ago...I like to compare!

Our Little Rhinoceros...

Yes, as you can see, Evan got his first big OWIE the other night. The first of many, I'm sure, considering he is a boy. Evan's new favorite thing to do is climb up and stand on the kitchen chairs. I, being the wonderful Mommy that I am, always keep a close eye on him and get him down immediately. But this time, Daddy was "watching" him while I was enjoying a night away at our Relief Society dinner. While Sean was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, Evan climbed up on the chair and he and the chair fell smack down on the tile. He was screaming bloody murder while Sean was holding him and trying to figure out what was hurt. Then Sean saw the huge goose egg swelling in between his eyes. After a couple otter pops and playing ball outside, he seemed to be fine. I received this picture message on my phone during the dinner and freaked out! I told Sean that it wouldn't have happened if I had been there watching him! Haha! Guess I can't let Daddy babysit anymore! j/k!

Fun at the Park!

Evan LOVES to be outside and since we have been having such nice weather lately, I've been taking him to the park. This last time we went, he climbed up the steps and went down the slide all by himself! He loves the slide and kept going up and down over and over. It was so fun (and nice) to be able to sit on the grass and just watch him while he played. What a big kid!

Here I come...

Sit down on my bottom and...

WEEEEEEEEE!

Just Like his Mommy and Daddy!

In-N-Out is one of our most favorite fast-food restaurants and it's kinda funny because Sean and I both worked at there as teenagers! We were thrilled to find out that Evan LOVES In-N-Out too!!! Since he was about 1, we have been taking him there and getting him a grilled cheese sandwich. But a few months ago, we decided to try giving him a cheeseburger spread only cut in half. He ate the ENTIRE burger except for a tiny bite! We couldn't believe it! I guess he really is our son...already hooked on In-N-Out at 1 year old!

"I love In-N-Out, Mommy and Daddy!!!"

I took a few pictures of Evan when he was 17 months...

He has been hit by the talking bug and talks ALL the time. A few of his words include: Mommy, Daddy, all done, Amen (he says amen right after us after the prayer), don't touch ("dooooooe touch"), no, yes (with head nodding), dog, cat, ball, drink ("dink"), juice, shoes, sock, paci ("Boppy"), Aunt Jill ("Ah Jew"), Nana, Papa, Outside, truck, and many others. He'll pretty much repeat something (in his own language) after you tell him to say something. He loves to read and be read to, can point to most of his body parts when asked where they are, and loves animals and makes most of their sounds.

We just LOVE this little face! It's so fun to watch him grow into a little man!

I'm selling Gold Canyon Candles!!!

Just thought I would let everyone know that I am now an independent demonstrator for Gold Canyon! If you haven't heard of them, they are THE BEST candles on the market!!!

Why are they the best???

• High quality wax blend and double wicks for even burning


• consistent, quality fragrance and longer burning time


• even burns that prevent tunneling


• cool wax and safety wicks


• strong fragrance lingers though the house even after the candle is extinguished!

I used to buy Yankee candles, but was sick and tired of having to push down the wax around the edges after burning them. With Gold Canyon, you never have to do that!!

Don't forget...they make great gifts!

You can order from my website www.mygc.com/mstruebing and have them shipped directly to your home!

Once you try them, you will never want to buy another type of candle!

Santa Ana Zoo!

A few weeks ago, we took Evan to the Santa Ana Zoo! We had a fun time looking at all the animals. He LOVES animals and we can't wait to take him to the San Diego Zoo next!

Sitting on the cool turtle with Mommy and Daddy!

Checking out the ducks...

Watching the monkeys...nice pout face, Evan!