Welcoming Little Lyza Home!

What a wonderful week it has been! I wish I could express to everyone how much we love this little bundle of joy!

I am sure you have heard Lyza's birth story by now but I will give a brief recap. We went to the hospital Thursday evening at 5 pm. They checked me in and started me on some medicine to get my cervix ready to be induced the following morning. We brought some movies to watch that night but only watched about 20 minutes. The majority of the evening was spent visiting with our nurse who is in our ward and really nice. I had her as my nurse every night I was in the hospital which was absolutely wonderful. She took such good care of us and really went out of her way to make us as comfortable as possible. Daniel went home at 11 pm to have one last night of good sleep (haha....that's what he thought) Shortly after he left I started cramping quite badly and just before 1 am my water broke. Strong contractions started after that and I called Daniel around 2:30 to let him know to come back to the hospital because things were starting to happen. I labored hard all night with very little progress. I was given an epidural at 6 am and when I saw the doctor at 1 pm I was still only dilated to 4 cm. My contractions were very hard and was having 2 and 3 consecutively which was starting to put a lot of stress on Lyza. Her heart rate was dropping quite low every time I had a contraction and because my cervix wouldn't open we decided that we should have a c-section before she got into serious trouble. We decided this just after 1 and they rolled me into the OR at 2 and Lyza was born at 2:14pm. That hour was a blur!

All of the staff in the OR were so excited starting the section when they found out that the gender was a surprise. Once they got Lyza out they told Daniel to stand up and look over the curtain to make the big announcement. I was shocked when he said it was a girl! Daniel went over and watched them clean Lyza up and cut the cord. Then they brought her over and laid her on my chest so that both of us could have a couple minutes to meet our lovely daughter. Daniel then went with Lyza and the nurses while I was being stitched up. It took about 30 minutes for them to finish but during that time the nurses were quick to develop some pictures of Lyza and hang them on the drape so I could look at them while I was waiting. It was during this time that they learned that her umbilical cord did not develop and attach properly to the placenta. Because of this it was a HUGE blessing that she was delivered by cesarian. If we had continued with a natural delivery we may have run into terrible complications. It is hard to even think about and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father was watching out for us. I feel that we were very blessed through her entire pregnancy and delivery.

After the surgery they took me to the recovery room and then down to my room around 4:30pm. That was a long time to wait and I was so excited to be with Daniel and Lyza. Lyza weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces, was 19.5 inches long and had beautiful dark hair and brown eyes. We enjoyed the rest of the evening cuddling and getting to know her. We are smitten!

We stayed in the hospital until Sunday evening. It was nice and relaxing, we really enjoyed our stay there. The staff at the hospital couldn't have been better. We felt as if they were our own family there taking care of us. One of the evenings they took Lyza for a while and brought Daniel and I a nice candle light dinner which was served to us in our room. The food at the hospital was delish! I felt like I was eating out at a restaurant every night.

We came home Sunday evening and were so excited to have Lyza home with us. She is our little Christmas angel and are so happy that she is healthy and doing so well.

Here are some of the pictures we have taken. It was hard to narrow it down because there are so many and she is pretty darn cute! Enjoy!

On the way to the hospital

Cutting the cord

Look at me!

Meeting mommy

Look at those gorgeous locks!

Daniel giving Lyza her first bath.

She already likes to stick her tongue out at the camera :)

Needless to say our Christmas travel plans are still a little bit up in the air. To those we will not be able to see this Christmas we wish you a very merry Christmas from the Keyes family!

2 of my loves- Christmas and Crafts!

On Friday night we had some of our friends over for a night of Christmas fun. We made and decorated gingerbread houses. I didn't want to spend all day making gingerbread so we used graham crackers which worked really well. Each couple decorated a house together and it was a ton of fun!

After we were done our masterpieces we drank apple cider and watched the latest  Christmas Carol with Jim Carey. I don't know how many times I have watched different renditions of A Christmas Carol but it will never get old!

And here are the latest baby projects that I have been working on.

pacifier clips

 

 This is the first rag quilt I have ever made. It took a lot more time than I had originally thought but I am really happy with how it turned out. I made it out of flannel and it is so soft and warm. I can't wait to cuddle our baby in it!

 

And here is a picture from our living room of the pretty sunset on Saturday night.

24 Days 'til Christmas!

Now that it is December the countdown to Christmas is on! I am really looking forward to Christmas this year. It will be a very different Christmas from what Daniel and I are use to but it will certainly be one to remember. I am so excited to go home for Christmas and spend time with family and not have to worry about getting time off from work and having a limited amount of time we can be gone. The past few years when I was working full time it was hard to feel like we really got a break since I usually only had a few days off. I am excited for Daniel to be done 1 semester of law school! He has worked so hard the past few months and I am happy that he will have a few weeks off to relax and leave the books alone. And lets not forget about this wonderful baby of ours that we are so excited to meet and enjoy getting to know during Christmas. I feel so blessed that everything has worked out like it has. It will be so nice to be having the baby at the end of Daniel's semester so that we can have the Christmas break to really enjoy and treasure the experience of having our first child, I don't think there is a better gift we could ask for.

Today I am 39 weeks and although I am feeling mentally ready to have this baby I don't think it is going to be happening anytime soon. So in the mean time I have been trying really hard to not focus on that and keep myself busy! I am trying to enjoy these last few days of just me time because that is something that I will never have again, not that I am complaining :)

This past week I have managed to stock our freezer with meals so we should hopefully be well fed once the baby comes without having to spend a lot of time preparing meals. And I started a few more baby projects that I am hoping to finish by tomorrow that I will share with you later!

A couple of weeks ago we woke up to our first snowfall!

Of course it only lasted a day....maybe two but I decided that was a good time to decorate the house and get the tree up because snow always makes me think of Christmas. I put up the decorations on Saturday and Daniel helped me with the tree on Sunday. The last picture of me was at 38 weeks. It feels so nice to have the decorations up and all of presents are wrapped and under the tree. All of our Christmas shopping was done before December! That is a new record for me and I am certain that it will never happen again!

Last month we picked up a rocking chair for the baby. Although I think that we are going to get more enjoyment out of it than the baby will :) It is pretty comfortable! And don't worry we didn't leave it in the middle of the dining room. This was right after we unpacked it.

 

I apologize that these pictures are all out of order but that is how they uploaded and I don't want to rearrange them all! haha. This picture is from a fun date at the beginning of November. When Daniel and I first moved to Moscow we started watching a TV series called LOST. We have been totally addicted to this show! After many many hours we worked our way through all 6 seasons and decided to make a fun date night out of the season finale! I decided to surprise Daniel when he got home from school one day and decorated the living room and prepared lots of snacks for us to eat! All of the food had special DHARMA labels on it which is from the series and I tried to use things that they had either eaten on the show or things that were island themed. I even made some fun little sushi roles out of rice krispies and candy! And yes we did have macaroni and cheese for supper not only because that was one of the staples of the show but we also just really like it!

 This last picture is a few of the couples from our ward and our Bishop and his wife. It was a ward temple trip which was really enjoyable and probably the last time I will be able to attend before the baby comes.

We hope everyone is getting into the spirit of Christmas and hope you are all healthy and safe through the holidays! We love you all and can't wait to see you in a few short weeks!

November so far....

I feel like I have neglected the blog the past while but life has been VERY busy! A lot has gone on in November and the month is not even over. First of all I am happy to announce that my Immigration documents have safely arrived and are waiting for me at my parents. It will be nice to take those to the US border at Christmas and have all of my paperwork processed so this can all be behind us and there will be no more concerns of me crossing the border. Yay!
In October I had bought a pumpkin for Daniel and I to carve together but since I was gone for so long it never happened. So I decided to put that pumpkin to good use. A couple of years ago Brenda made a delicious pumpkin meatball stew that was SO yummy! Daniel has been asking me to make it ever since so I decided this would be a good time to try it out. It turned out awesome and will have to be a yearly tradition for us in the fall!


The pumpkin was pretty big and I didn't want to waste the rest of it so I decided to cut it up into chunks, boil it on the stove and freeze it. Once it was cooked I used our mixer to puree it and then froze the pumpkin in muffin tins and then transferred it to a large ziploc so I can pull some out whenever I need it. We love anything that has pumpkin in it and this works great and is so much cheaper than buying the cans of pumpkin.


We have also been busy getting everything ready for the baby. There is so much to get and it has been quite time consuming researching everything and trying to figure out exactly what we would like. But it has been a fun process and I think we are just about done everything! Our car seat arrived today and we just need to pick it up and I am excited to look at rocking chairs tonight as well!
We wanted to get a dresser for the baby that we could also use as a change table. We didn't want to spend a lot of money so Daniel and I have been checking craigslist everyday and have made many trips to the second hand store. Last week I was so excited when I found this dresser for $25 at the Salvation Army:

I know it looks quite hideous but I knew it had potential! And it was the perfect size for the baby's room. When Daniel was at school I got it sanded down and then in the evenings Daniel found some time to prime and paint it. We both thought it would be better if I steered clear of the fumes while I am pregnant :) This ugly duckling turned out to be quite a little gem and it will be perfect for the baby's room!

Drumroll please...................

Here is our new dresser/change table! I am so happy with how it turned out. I am glad we took the time to find something to fix up ourselves rather than go out and spend way too much on something new from the store. Now I can't wait to get a crib to match it!

Yesterday I washed all of the baby's clothes and I am excited to fill these drawers up today! When I was doing the laundry I had to laugh when I looked at my piles because almost everything was either white or yellow. It will be nice to get some color added to those piles in a few weeks so our baby doesn't always have to look like a little duck!
Wednesday night this week a couple friends from the ward had a baby shower for me which was a ton of fun.There were lots of ladies from our ward there. We had fun visiting, eating and playing games. Everything was decorated so nicely and they even made me this beautiful diaper cake!

It looks so pretty I don't think I will ever be able to take it apart and use the diapers!

I am now 37 weeks! woot! woot! not too much longer!

Daniel and I are getting very excited, we just wish we knew when this baby is going to come. If it is anything like Daniel it will be early, but not too early. And if it takes after me it will have every intention of being on time but will most likely arrive late!

One last project I did this month......

 Last month I found a coupon online to get a 16X20 poster developed for FREE! So I went to my trusty pinterest and found this cute printout of Alma 7:23-24. I found the frame for it at the second hand store for $3.00 it just needed a little touching up. It makes a great addition to our living room!

Today is Daniel's last day of classes before Thanksgiving break. It will be nice to see a bit more of him next week! We officially have snow down here and so I think we might break out the decorations tomorrow and get the tree up!
 Hope everyone is staying warm and has a great weekend!

I Heart Fall!

Aside from being detained in Canada and my 3 hour interrogation at the US border October has been a great month! I love fall and have been enjoying the cooler weather! I love watching the leaves on the trees change color. Mr drive to and from Canada was beautiful with all of the trees in the mountains. I wish I had pictures to share but decided that was a little unsafe while I was driving and I was always to anxious to get to my final destination to make a stop! Before I left for Montreal Daniel and I did take some time to go down to the Botanical Gardens and take a walk around. Here a couple pictures from then:

At the beginning of the month for our date night we decided to go apple picking! I found an apple and pear orchard 30 minutes from our place in Garfield WA. We went after Daniel was done school one day. We misjudged how early it got dark though so by the time we got there it was already dusk. We had about 20 minutes to pick as many apples as we could. Thanks to our mad picking skills we picked 90 pounds of apples! That was a bit more than we were planning on but it was pretty hard to judge how much we had picked while we were in the process. We picked 4 varieties: Macintosh, Spartan, Liberty and Golden Delicious. They were so yummy!

I bought an apple peeler/slicer/corer to process some of the apples and froze them for baking and then I took some up to Welling where my Mom and I made applesauce! We used an apple sauce machine which made it really easy! You just wash the apples, quarter them, boil them and put them in the machine and then can the apple sauce. Yum! We have been enjoying it on our pancakes!

Another fun project my Mom helped me with during my time in Welling was bottling dried beans in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers have always scared me but I feel fairly confident now that it is something I could do on my own. I am trying to be a little healthier in my cooking and develop good eating habits. I decided I better start now so that by the time our kids are eating the same food as us they will hopefully learn to like some of these healthier meals!

 

We canned red kidney, pinto, garbonzo, navy, and black beans. So far we have tried the black beans in 2 dishes and I must say they taste much better than canned beans from the store! Can't wait to try the rest.

And to finish off I did get around to some baby projects this month. I will share one of my favorites which was a little boy tie!