Happy Happy Birthday, to YOU!

It's been such a fun day! Laex was greeted this morning by a living room decorated with streamers, signs and balloons. My mom used to do this for us when we were younger and it was so fun to come in on the morning of our Birthdays and see the decorations. Then for breakfast he got, Cocoa Puffs.
Around noon he got a visit from Aunt Helinfield, and cousins Matthew and Carly. They brought him a darling Little People (which I adore) Circus and 1 balloon for his 1st Birthday. The balloon he has carried around all day - what do ya know, it's the simple things they love most! After LeGrand got home he opened his present. Which I really love and I think he does too! We headed out, got some dinner. Then came home to have cake and Ice Cream!! I didn't want to clean up the mess he was going to make so we took him outside, well, it wasn't the best idea as he was too distracted by all the outdoor excitement! But I think he loved his cute cake (did you know Albertsons does a FREE cake for their First Birthday?? And it was good!) and own tiny tub of Ben and Jerry's.

Just after he got bathed and we were settling down to get ready for bed, LeGrand got called to work. What a bummer - oh well, at least he didn't miss any of the fun, hope it's not an all nighter!

Tuesday July 31, 2007: Laexin Orvel van Gass, LOV

It was this day one year ago that our little guy made his first appearance (on his due date!).

7/31/07
7:33 am
7 lb's 3 oz
21 inches
It wasn't easy, but it was worth it!

I awoke at about 1:45 am to use the restroom, only to lay back down and realize that something was going on, CONTRACTIONS, not allowing me to fall back asleep. I got up wandered around for a bit and realized they were getting a little worse. I took a shower, got ready, packed our bags, picked up the house and told LeGrand, "I think it's time". His response, "You know I hate mornings"! He then took his sweet time getting ready, gave me a blessing and we headed out the door.

We arrived at the hospital around 3:30 am, I was frustrated as they treated me like I was going home. They nonchalantly asked how long I had been contracting and how far apart the contractions were then the nurse took down my information on a NAPKIN and said, "we'll check you and see where you're at." Um, thanks. A FOUR, that's all. GREAT.

By 5:00 am I was at a NINE and they decided that maybe they would call my doctor who lived thirty minuets away, GOOD IDEA. TEN came but I wasn't allowed to push until the doctor, who was in route, either showed up or gave permission. My water hadn't broken.

FINALLY, permission from the Doc. Pushing, still no water breaking. Doctor shows up, breaks my water. Pushing, nothing happening. Pushing, babies heart rate dropping. They decided for the sake of the baby I should PUSH one contraction, then HOLD one contraction - if only it were that easy.

After about 45 min. the Doctors were concerned for the baby. They gave me my options and decided to use the suction, the risk: they could only try twice, if it didn't work they would have to do a c-section.

Within minutes they were ready to go, TWO pushes, baby arrived!! YAY!! Oh, did I mention, NO EPIDURAL, by choice.

If I only knew what was to come.

Upon whisking Laex away, cleaning him up and trying to return him to us he started crying and turning BLUE. He wasn't breathing well when he was upset. They took him to ICU where he spent the first 24 hours of his life. Then for THREE more days he was in the SPECIAL CARE unit. We were able to hold him, but only shortly and with hoses and wires coming from everywhere. They monitored him closely and learned that his lungs were fine but that he endured a mixture of swallowing fluids and stress from labor. I was released but wasn't allowed to take my baby, it was a HARD day. By 9 pm that same night Laexins doctor gave permission for him to go home, luckily I didn't have to spend a night without him!

There have been up's and down's and many bumps. (Falling from a carseat at 5 months, falling off the bed at 7 months and falling down the stairs at 10 months) But he's a strong, healthy, happy boy and brings us greater joy by the day.

I can't believe your ONE YEAR OLD.
24 lbs 13 oz
33 1/4 inches
Love you buddy!

Pix

I've been dying to have some family pictures. The problem, I don't want to go sit in some dumb studio with a corny backdrop and pose for the camera. So, here's what I came up with...

Pretty good for doing them ourselves, huh??

One FUN moment to the next...

LeGrand just happens to have had 5 days off. Thursday through Monday. We contemplated taking a last minute trip somewhere but decided it would be nice to just do what we want for a few days, and we've had adventure after adventure (What do ya know, I FORGOT the CAMERA all weekend, we took the best pix's we could get with our phones and I think it's time for me to invest in a small camera I can keep in my purse)!


24th: The morning started with a trip to Discount Tires for Four new Tires, I really hate paying for things like this but, after the blow-out and checking out the other three tires we realized they were much needed.


We then grabed Quiznos and had a picnic on a random Church lawn. The park nearby was hard to get to because of construction so we picked an alternate. Laex had fun running around and playing with Dad.

Then we headed to Salt Lake and decided to visit the Zoo. I probably had more fun than the two of them, part of the reason being it was SO SO HOT, we were all sweating and Laex just sat there in his stroller - we kept him cool with a spray bottle.
And we ended the day with some yummy Thai food. Thanks to Mariah for introducing me. LeGrand and I love to try new things and food is one of them so I took him to have Thai for the first time and it was yummy, Laex even liked it (he's quite the cultured boy!)
After Laexin went to bed we noticed the neighbors had quite the firework party going on so LeGrand and I took our lawn chairs out and enjoyed the show...and it was quite the show. They had little kids running everywhere, a bit too much alcohol and A LOT of ILLEGAL FIREWORKS...just imagine (I've never seen a home firework show like it - and it will be hard to top, half the neighborhood was out watching!)

...and MORE FUN!

25th: We had an early morning appointment for the car in Sandy only to find out that we need a new TRANSMISSION - YUCK, YUCK, YUCK - I can think of a MILLION and ONE things I would do with 2,500 dollars and that WOULD NOT be on my list :(

After the car news we headed to the Living Planet Aquarium. I LOVE Aquariums! It's a small place but really nice. We even got to touch the stingrays, horse shoe fish and starfish. (Once again, bad camera phone pix's) Laexin also enjoyed himself.

{Dinner anyone??}

After the Aquarium we did a little shopping, had some Mexican food then headed home to find that our air conditioner wasn't working (did I mention it was OVER 100 degrees outside) - When it RAINS it POURS (Tires, Transmission, Air Conditioner...) Luckily, when we bought the house we made a GOOD decision to have the seller pay for a home warranty the only problem we had to go through the warranty place to get someone to come fix it. Needless to say all afternoon, all night, and half of yesterday we were without an air conditioner. It was one HOT night!

Float Pre-view

On Tuesday we decided to venture to the South Towne expo center to see the floats that would be in the Days of 47 Parade. This was LeGrand's way of getting out of having to sit in the Heat and actually watch the Parade. Well... on our way we blew out a tire:Good thing I had my camera phone to catch the action :) So we had our first experience changing a tire on the freeway, I wouldn't recommend it if you can help it! Lucky for us LeGrand got the job done quickly and we continued on our way. We had a fun time checking out all the floats, it was fun to see all the details that you can't see during the Parade.

{These were our two favorites!}

Growing up

I'm realizing that Laex is getting so BIG, right before my eyes. I can't believe he is about to celebrate his 1st Birthday - where oh where did the time go.

You'd think we've got a real "couch potato" on our hands, the truth: up until about 2 weeks ago we didn't even have a TV hooked up. And even now we only use it to watch movies once in a while - He's already learned what the remote is for!

We spend many HOT afternoons on the porch with a Popsicle! Laex loves them and he's so smart, I ask him if he wants to go outside and eat a Popsicle, he runs to the freezer, I take out the Popsicles and he picks the one he wants then he runs to the front door to go outside. This particular day, before LeGrand could get out the Popsicles he had found an ice cream sandwich and was headed for the front door...boy did he love it!

a REAL yard!

I'm finally feeling like I have more than a rock & weed garden in the back of my house! After three days of help from my wonderful dad the back yard is actually looking like a yard. Don't get me wrong, we still have plenty to do but I'm extremely happy with the results of this weekend and all the neighbors are impressed too!


*Dad working away in the Bobcat*

And, drum roll please...after the first day of just me and Dad working in the 90+ degree weather, dust and sweat, we had the whole place graded, rocks hauled, the wall built and topsoil in place!

*The highest point, on top of the wall, is where my Garden will be next year:) :)*

Then, on Friday and Saturday LeGrand was able to help Dad finish the smaller part of the wall, spread topsoil and get framed up for the cement that we'll be pouring in a couple of weeks!

*In the triangle piece I will grow an Herb Garden and have some trees and bushes*

*We are extending the patio on both sides, adding a sidewalk on the side of the house, and the large square piece will be a cement pad for my gazebo*I can't wait for the end results!! My Dad is so awesome, he walked in and had this vision and I've been more than thrilled with how it is turning out! Thanks Dad for all your hard work and mom for watching Laex so I could help out!

And, in case your wondering what's to come...Fence, Sprinklers, Decorative rock, Trees, Cement, Sod...