Santa Came to Our House!

This picture of Gavon was JUST taken. He's a cutie.
This is the motor to my wheat grinder.
I got a wheat grinder and a BOSCH!!!!!!!
Shayden posing in the hat Lynette made her, her candy cane pants, and my flip flops.


When Shay ran in Christmas morning she said, "Santa!" and jumped on the tricycle.

Merry Christmas

The long awaited Christmas Eve!!!! Merry Christmas everybody!

A few random things:

At Gavon's 2 week check up he rang in at 8 # 9 oz, 57%. His head is 57% and his length is 81% He is one long baby.

Also here are a few things to check up on if you want to see some internet stuff.

Mom, Dad, Kam, Alis and I pulling some sweet moves:
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/45zVI9fSfD8qPLWwkytP

Paul's favorite Christmas song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHzxpECFm2Q

Hope everyone is safe and has an amazing Christmas!

Boy Version of Shayden

This is Paul. Crazy huh!? He looks so much like Shayden.

Never Let Shayden Babysit...at least until she's a little older

Gavon...2 weeks old.
Shayden...2 weeks old.
He always has this look on his face, like he's saying "Yo."

Shayden loves Gavon and helps a lot more than we thought a 19-month-old would. She copies what I do with a little doll we gave her when he came home. She cuddles the doll and says "Sh Sh Sh Sh," and wraps it up. She covers Gavon and likes to hold him, too. I have to watch them close, though because she likes to cover his face, the poor guy. "He needs to breath, Shay." She tries to give him 5 or knuckles, and she lays next to him or on top of him and puts her face up close to his.

Fun in the Snow

Yeah for SNOW!

One more

This was right when we came home from the hospital, and I forgot to post it. I look so tired. Gavon seems so long, and Shay has this look on her face like "What's going on?"

Thank You, Thank You!

Yo yo mama. (He's blinking, so he looks a little cross eyed.)
This is my throne...

When Paul and I were first married we watched one of the classic Bud Abbot and Lou Costello (sp?) movies where they were on this island and getting into lots of trouble. Oh, it's so funny. They meet this native, and Lou calls him a stinker. The native says, "What is stinkah?" and Lou says, "Well, a stinker is a great man." The native says, "I biggest stinkah on island. My fathuh stinker. My grandfathuh stinkah." Lou says "You're the biggest stinker of them all," or something like that, and the native says, "Thank you, Thank you." He keeps saying that, making the "you" all drawn out. Whenever Paul and I say thank you, we say it like him. So...I wanted to send out a big thank you to everyone that has helped with Gavon being born.

Thank you! Thank you! Cody and Lisa were on call to watch Shayden and were always willing to help. Kami came up the day before and helped me clean to have everything ready. Alisa came and helped make dinner or take care of Shayden when I couldn't do it the last bit of my pregnancy. She'd always call and say, "How are you doing today?" Sheila would do that too. Crystal was a great help in getting me ready for the labor part, and gave Paul some good advice to help me. My mom was a HUGE help to watch Shayden and help me those first few days. Today is the first day I felt normal...well, kind of. The ward brought me dinner tonight...perfect timing. Right when they dropped it off, Shay had thrown up in her crib. She's had a cough, and I think just gagged, because she seemed just fine. After cleaning everything up I was even able to jump onto the washer to get her humidifier down. I felt all young and spry again. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Thank you everyone!

Here's a video of Gavon right after his bath just now. I tried pictures first, but he kept closing his eyes when he saw the flash, so I have a bunch of pictures of him with his eyes closed.

Home Sweet Home

What an experience. Wow. I don't think I want to be induced ever again. They started my petocin at 4:00 and contractions were coming fast but not too painfully. We watched a beautiful sunset, and I was at a 5 at about 7:00. The doctor suggested to break my water, which made me scared but we decided to do it. It was definitely the most painful experience I think I could ever go through. You might be wondering, "Why didn't you get an epidural?"...I don't really know. I felt like I could deal with the pain, but it got pretty bad. Now that I think about it, it was only an hour and a half of almost I wish I could die torture, and Paul was such a good help to help me. I went from a 7 to delivery in about 5 minutes. The nurse delivered his head and the doctor came just in time for the rest. I didn't tear and there were no complications. It was weird how I felt so normal after...only cramping. My mom has been so awesome to help me and take care of Shayden. Shayden loves him. She points to him and says, "Baby."

The baby is here!

(This is Paul, Raychel is still at the hospital) Gavon Cuyler Mantz was born at 8:29 p.m. We picked Cuyler over Paul--Raychel's Vote--and Kurt because there are already four Paul Mantz's in the world and Kurt just didn't seem to fit him, Kurt, my brother, was always the one bouncing off the walls, Gavon seems to be more tranquil. Our next boy will probably have Kurt as the middle name--if he fits the criteria, Kurt raised the bar pretty high.

He was 20 inches, 7 pounds 12 ounces. He barely cried at all and slept for 4 hours straight last night. He has maybe cried for a total of 1 minute since he has been born. He looks a lot like Shayden did, but without the cheeks and his nose is not as Button-like as Shayden's was. He has lots of dark hair. He has big hands and big feet, not necessarily long or fat, just big... and you know what that means.

He is a really cute guy and I don't have any pictures right now, but we will be posting pictures tomorrow. He is also a very good nurser and eats fast and quick, that will be good for Raychel so she won't have to be feeding him for hours on end.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow

They stripped my membranes today. It didn't hurt, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. Contractions are 7-15 minutes apart and hurt more than any I've had up to now. They're going to induce me tomorrow after Paul is done with his Bio lab. I'm scared.

P.S.

I wanted to add to that last post that I love Paul like crazy. He's amazing and has helped me so much with Shayden and getting stuff done when I can't, even going to work and school.

Shopping

I sent Paul to the store to get some milk and eggs on Saturday night and he came home with that and a 20 pack of Coke. I thought it was so funny when I read this cartoon from the USU Statesman. Ya gotta get what ya gotta get I guess.

aaqq