More summer fun

I love the summer! Who doesn't have fond memories of their summers as a kid? Ellee may not remember these fun times right now, but I have taken enough pictures to help her out I think!

Here we are blowing up her new little pool - she really thought she was helping!

Swimming in said pool


Hanging out in her stoller waiting to look at some more animals at Hoggle Zoo in Salt Lake

Here Ellee saw Gram talking on the phone and when she saw Uncle Paul's Game Boy sitting there, she couldn't resist... she instantly opens it up says "HAllo?" *tangent- she loves phones and always pretends to be talking on something that in her imagination is a phone... the other day we were sitting eating macaroni and cheese. She picks up one single noodle and holds it to her ear and says "HAllo?" She thought she was pretty funny! Okay, so did we! Guess you had to be there!*

These last 3 were taken at a field by our house where they put a TON of flags out for the holiday and it is quite a sight to be seen. Ellee thought they were pretty neat too... and its hard to tell, but in the last 2 Ellee is smelling a dandelion that she picked, not picking her nose!

Tumssh

After searching all over the house calling Ellee's name, I finally find her sitting on our bed shaking an upside-down open bottle of Tums, a few Tums on the bed, and probably 6 crammed inside one cheek! I asked her what she was doing and she jumped when she heard me, and showed me the bottle and while practically foaming at the mouth said "Tumssh! Mmmm!"

I should really read warning labels better... "Keep out of reach of children."

4th of July Festivites

We had an awesomely fun time on the 4th! We wish you all could have been there with us! Lots of family came to town... friends all over the place and there was fun to be had. You can't go wrong. We went to the Idaho Falls parade and cheered for all the floats and people going by and waved our tiny little American flag like there was no tomorrow. Ellee loved every second of it and spent most of her time down on the street in the action with her Uncle Paul and Almost Aunt Christine and Will spent all of his time in his car seat sleeping through the whole thing! After the parade was the picnic with all of the friends and yummy food and some volleyball to the max and of course lots of chatting and sitting around. After we all went home and took naps and recovered from our fun-filled morning/afternoon we headed out to the fireworks and were then pelted by monster-sized debris and fiery ashes but that's what you get when you insist on front row seats! Ellee was a handful until they started by once they lit up the sky, she was captivated and oohed and awed with the best of them! Thanks for coming to visit Aunt Kate and thanks for not lighting on fire next to me when that fire landed on your stomach!

Due Date

Today was supposed to be Will's due date. Instead he is 3 1/2 weeks old already! He already feels a lot more sturdy to me and although he is still under 6 pounds he seems a lot bigger than he did when I brought him home 2 weeks ago. Crazy how fast time goes by. He is a really good baby thus far and really only cries when he is starving. He still sleeps a lot but during his alert periods he is a joy to hold while he explores his surroundings. When he smiles in his sleep, we think we have caught glimpse of a dimple too! So maybe he got more from his great grandpa Bill than just his name!

In honor of this day, I present new pictures for the world to see!

1 week old in the hospital still... complete with feeding tube (which he kept trying to sneeze out... and was successful a few times!)


Just for fun once we made it home!




His first Sunday to all of church wearing the closest thing to dressy that was the closet thing to fitting!



Just enjoying some tummy time with his big sis!

He's finally here!

Sorry for the late post, but it's been a little crazy here.

Introducing, for your viewing pleasure... William Walter Frandsen!
He joined us June 20th at 5:48 pm. Weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long.


You may be thinking to yourself, I thought he wasn't due until July 15th? Well, you are correct. But he didn't want to wait any longer. June 16th I went in for a routine checkup at 36 weeks. When the dr. checked to see if I had made any progress, he (as well as Devn and I) was shocked to find I was already dilated to a 6 and 90% effaced! He asked if I have been having contractions, and really I just had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions, so nothing that felt like I was in labor. He said the minute they become at all regular, go to the hospital or you'll be having the baby at home or on the road! So we left there a little baffled and not really knowing what to say. I was put on "modified bedrest" meaning that I should take it easy,but he knows I have a 2 year old at home. He wanted me to make it at least another week to get to 37 weeks and plump up this baby a bit more. However, since I didn't feel like I was in any sort of labor I wasn't a very good patient. I took it a little easier, but now that I knew I didn't have a whole month left, I had tons to do to get ready for baby!

Anyway, Friday Donna (my mother-in-law) was leaving town for a week, Devn was at work and I was going to be stranded at home without a ride to the hospital if I went into labor, so to play it safe, I had Donna take me to the hospital before she left just to check things out and make sure I wasn't going to have the baby that afternoon or something. So they strapped all the monitors on my and gave it an hour to see what was happening. And believe it or not, I had been having contractions about every minute and a half the whole time (I could hardly feel them) and had changed 1 cm just in the time I was there being monitored. So they called my Dr. and he came an hour later and broke my water, I got my epidural, and about 2 hours later I pushed through 5 contrations and baby brother was here! Easiest labor ever! And those of you who remember my labor experience with our first child, this one was well deserved! Plus, I didn't have the nasty Nurse Kate doing everything contrary to what I asked for! Devn was doing a rotation in Cardiology so he was already there at the hospital, and was able to help deliver... one handed since I wanted a hand to hold!


I held him for about 10 seconds before they whisked him away to the NICU (a precaution due to his premature birth). He was having a hard time breathing for the first few minutes, but ended up breathing with no problems. He had low blood pressure, but other than that he was a healthy little boy. So they kept him monitored in the NICU until everything was stable. Once he started eating well they were able to send him home. So after 8 days in the NICU, 6 LONG days of driving back and forth to the hospital for feedings every 3 hours during the day, waking up in the middle of the night (not for a tiny precious baby to eat, but for a machine) to pump, and no rest whatsoever, we finally have him home with us! What a relief! I think we got some special treatment and the NICU Dr and nurses bent the rules for us since Devn spent 3 weeks with them during a rotation. They really shouldn't have sent him home according to the hospital rules until this Wednesday and they shouldn't have let us measure his feedings the way we did. But we are grateful for the special treatment and just thrilled to not have to be at the hospital anymore!

Luckily my parents were able to come to town to take care of Ellee while I was back and forth all day and to cook for us too! We couldn't be more thankful!

But we are home and all is well and Will seems to be thriving and gaining weight and eating well.

Not much...

So not too much has been happening around here so I haven't felt the urge to post... actually I haven't felt the urge to do much of anything... except maybe read a book outside since we are finally having nice weather! So we've been spending quite a bit of our free time enjoying the green green grass, the trampoline and some good ol' sidewalk chalk!

This is Ellee smelling the flowers...

the magic starts around 13 seconds into the video clip...


and Aunt Camie taught her that the little ones look pretty in your hair!



Just drawing some pictures...


Playing on the trampoline...


And this one is what we do once it gets too late to play outside... (notice the blur of the tutu... she loves to dance!)



Just playing...


And here is my ever expanding stomach at 30 weeks for those of you who are away, and I promise that I am much larger in person, this picture just doesn't do it any justice! But like I was going to post the one where I look really fat and huge!

Another Successful Family Home Evening...

Last night we had a special evening at home to talk about Easter and what it really means. So after a meal of corned beef and cabbage, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, it was time to dive into the main event. It is so wonderful to see Ellee really paying attention (sometimes) to what we tell her and really see a yearning to learn. We talked about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and sang songs and hunted for plastic eggs and dyed real eggs and ate cupcakes. What more could you possibly want? Oh and a whole lot of green since is was St. Patrick's Day and no one wants to get pinched!

Ellee was already a pro at Easter egg hunting without any instruction or help! She was darling! Since yesterday we have "hunted" 3 more times and I'm sure there will be lots more before the eggs get put away for the season!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Ellee really liked coloring and stirring the eggs but once she sampled the coloring itself, it tasted so good that she kept using the egg picker-upper as a spoon and would say, "Mmmm... good!"

And with the second "dunk tank" she thought she'd try to add a few more eggs and see how many she could fit and what mixing colors does.

Then when I showed her the special I love Daddy egg that I was helping her with, she knew it was special from the very second I lifted it out and she was either trying to give it kisses, or more likely taste it!

Here are the close ups of hands that dyed their share of eggs and a mouth that tastes each color a few time!

And the finished products...

Finally, it was desert time... green cupcakes (for St. Patrick's Day) and a few with some Springtime decorations (for our Easter/Spring kickoff)

Happy Springtime! (Maybe one day we won't have 3 feet of snow on our grass!)

The Next American Idol?

At the risk of sounding like a bragging mom... oh wait, I can brag if I want too... but these videos are the cutest thing I've ever seen! We were at Devn's sister's house this last weekend and fun was had by all... especially Ellee. They have every toy ever created and a play kitchen set to die for and a playroom fully stocked and heaven for anyone under the age of 12... okay it was heaven for me too. But in the playroom we found the old dance recital costumes and dress up fun... and I must say that I had more fun dressing Ellee up than it seemed she was having.

But then we went downstairs to show off and Aunt Camie handed Ellee a karaoke microphone and the rest is pretty well displayed in the following video clips. Good this Camie always has a camera ready, so she was able to capture this awesome moment! Although we do practice our sweet dance moves daily, we haven't really practiced singing, but Ellee picked up this song pretty quickly!

Sorry for posting 3 clips, but I couldn't decide which one was better... they all have different sweet moves that I just can't resist watching over and over again! Make sure your sound is on! Enjoy!

So we've all seen this Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair, and I was fortunate to find a brand new one from an overstock store for $19.99, including the pink slipcover... one of my latest greatest bargains that I was very proud of. It actually had a little dirt stain, probably from a stroller wheel rubbing against the bottom as it passed by, so they offered it to me for $20 instead of the sale price of $50 (regular price $100). So, knowing that you can zip off the cover and wash it, I proudly took it home. The dirt washed right off and it was seriously good as new. Ellee absolutely loves it and it is the cutest thing to watch her climb into it with her blanket or a book and snuggle or read to herself while lounging.


However... she recently figured out that if she stands on her chair, then she can reach the skittles from where we thought was a sneaky place to stash it. So she found this stash and helped herself one day while I was apparently not paying good enough attention to her. What we ended up with is a nicely tye-dyed chair and a baby on a sugar high!

Ooooh... Mom!!! Look what I found!!!!

Thank goodness for a few things here; one, the chair cover, as mentioned before, is machine washable; two, Ellee loves brushing her teeth; three, we figured out that we need to hide the treats elsewhere!

It is quite hard to say no when she does her sign for more though... we try to reward her when she uses her words or signs to communicate rather than just whining or crying... but I don't think this candy addiction needs anymore feeding! So now we are trying to teach her that the word "no" doesn't mean it's the end of the world! It is a lot to take in as a 1 1/2 year old, I know. So much to learn.

Side note: For a while I think she thought that the sign for more actually was a sign for give me candy! But lately she's been using it even just when she wants me to turn on more music for her to dance too. So very cute! We'll be back with some dancing videos... she has some pretty rockin moves...

ya ya ya... I know...

So I know that Ellee makes a dang cute duck and you will all be sad now that she isn't the first thing you see when you look at my blog (or lack of blog for that matter) but you can always scroll down and still see ducky Ellee anytime you want. As for me... I am back... well for now... no promises, but I will try.

I really don't have a good excuse for leaving you hanging the last 4 1/2 months... but I have been busy... busy with what you might ask... well, let me introduce you to Ellee's soon to be little brother...

{I think these 3d ultrasounds are so cool... but kinda creepy too... you end up with weird distortions... like this first picture, you can see his head and that his fist is up by his mouth, but it also looks like there is a tiny little misshapen arm/hand up by his right eye... and that is actually just a distortion of something else that the ultrasound machine picked up somewhat nearby. And in the lower picture, you can see his face, again with his left hand by his left eye and his right arm looking kind of like he is holding his ear. You can also see his umbilical cord, which is a bit distorted and what looks like part of his right leg, also distorted. But overall it is pretty amazing what they can see these days!}

Yup... we just found out we are having a little boy. He is due July 15th and is growing perfectly. I knew it was a boy early on, cause I felt different than I did when I was expecting Ellee, but I had talked myself into thinking it was a girl since we already had ALL GIRL stuff... and pretty much everything was pink. So it really would have been more convenient to be a girl, but we are super excited for a boy. We'll just have to start from scratch. Bummer... I guess I am just going to have to go shopping and buy lots of stuff! I think Devn is really excited to have a son to take to father son outings and do scout stuff and all that boy stuff too!

So anyway... I am officially welcoming myself back into the blogging world and let's just be hopeful that I keep up with it.