Baby Adventures

Charlie Thomas Heywood
Born: December 28, 2009
9 lbs, 21 Inches

I may at a later date give a better labor story, but for now I'll just say: It actually went VERY fast, and everyone keeps asking me in amazement if I delivered this guy vaginally.

Because of a lot of stupid red tape and beaurecratic type crap our doctor offered to keep us, by inducement if necessary from going into 2010 with the pregnancy. We were officially due December 31st. We got scheduled for a 'do it or else' date of December the 28th at the hospital. We arrived that morning, got started with pitocin around 10... it wasn't pushing me very quickly. By noon I hadn't changed, and she'd pushed the medicine up 3-4 doses and my pain was still at about a 1, maybe 2 if I stretched it. Then because I was very well efaced (90% before my last check up even) and had been far along (about 4 cm) for weeks, the Dr. showed up and broke my water. Well that is evidently the push my body needed. That happened about 1pm, and by 1:05 pm I was hit with a ton of bricks. Contractions that made my whole body shake with pain, going from a 1 to an 8 on the 'pain scale' over the course of a single contraction. So they quite quickly (but of course no where quickly enough) gave me an epidural (thanks to heaven) and when it started to take the edge off the nurse said, 'maybe I better check you to see how fast you are moving after all that pain'. She did, and she said, 'uh, you're at a 9 1/2, we'll be able to push soon'. No wonder those pains hurt so bad! I was sitting there thinking they were inching me from a 4 to a 5, and thinking, 'how will i survive a 9 to a 10 if I can't handle THIS centimeter! So we pushed, little (big) Charlie was good about not sliding back, so we had him within about an hour! He came out all pink and not gooey at all... weirdest thing ever! :) All I said was, 'woah, he's big'. And it's what i've been saying since!

Cute Crib

I had to post a picture of my beautiful crib. This crib was actually handmade by my brother in law (John's sister's husband). Cool, no? So I just got the mattress in and bedding washed and in and I thought it was cute and wanted to share.


Also, it pains me to have to explain this, but evidently there are quite a few who have serious concerns for me as far as any parenting skills I may have. So for their peace of mind I will add this: YES I KNOW STUFFED ANIMALS AND PILLOWS SHOULD NOT BE IN A CRIB WITH AN INFANT. They're just place holding people, cuz they're cute. I have read up on SIDS and have educated myself accordingly. You can now go back to wondering if I think it's appropriate to leave my baby unattended outdoors or if I have managed to remain unaware in my 28 years on this planet that babies poop, a lot. Thanks!

A Weekend of Adventures.

It started Friday night here:

(Camp Chef tailgating with John and Dallon - COLD!)

Then we went here:

(The poor Ags lost, we knew they would, they were playing Boise - but we were proud that they made a decent run at first of making it interesting, having it tied up 14-14 w/ just a few minutes left in the first half. Some silly mistakes and pressure from a good team, and they just couldn't keep it up. GO AGGIES!)

Saturday afternoon I went here:

(My good friend Amie threw me a baby shower. How fat and uncomfortable do I look?)

(Lots of family made quite the drive to come... very sweet!)

(This is me with the present girls... They made a little assembly line.)


(We took lots of pictures for my mom, who is in Hungary. This was her gift for the shower.)

(The little girls were given the camera to take pictures, and so a great deal of the pictures look like this. CUTE!)

Sunday night we finished up here:

(I threw this sweet party including shades and necklaces.)


(Because this little girl turned 21!)


(Because she's so old and her lungs are compromised,
she needed some youthful help with the candles.)


(This was the requested red velvet cake...
although I should have spiked it... all the children
and pregnant ladies... would have been awesome.)



(Happy Birthday Emily!!!)

And then I spent the subsequent week recuperating. :)

Coconut, You Made My Day Complete!

My birthday this year was pretty low key. Which is shocking if you know me because for the last many years I've all but insisted that my birthday be celebrated in week long format rather than day long. However, this year I didn't have the energy to celebrate for a week so I allowed everyone to take a break, hehe. I did however, get a sweet MyTouch 3g in honor of my b-day, so now when you email me, I can be answering you from the Dr's office, where I always am. Ha.

I also did make a cake. Yes, I make cake for my own birthday. But I honestly don't mind doing it, and the part that is the most fun is I get to choose the treat that I think sounds the very best with no other considerations... That either means coconut, chocolate or both. :)

For this year - Pineapple Coconut Cake via this book. (PS. I purchased that book because there is an entire chapter dedicated to coconut cake.)



The cake has coconut milk in it, the filling is very easy, basically a reduced, thickened and even more 'sugarized' version of a can of crushed pinapple, and the frosting is a cooked pineapple meringue frosting. I've never made a meringue frosting before, I found it was less daunting that it sounded from the instructions, but definitely more complicated than butter cream. Creates kind of a light fluffy result, which I found really cool... but if you LOVE butter cream, it may not be your thing.

Despite what the author of that book would like I'd happily share the recipe, if you're actually interested. :)

Spoiler Alert!

If for unknown reasons it's very important to you to be completely surprised about what our unborn looks like, you may not want to read on. However, to most of you this will simply look like randomness anyway, so even if you want to you may still have no idea.

This morning John and I went in for a 'growth ultrasound'... the Dr. offered us this service so we could see how things were progressing if we'd like (i.e. you guys have good insurance, wanna rack up the bill for them a bit?.... and yes, we always, always do). It was not due to any indication that anything is wrong - nor was I worried there was, but I just wanted to see him, cuz it's been awhile.

What we learned: The baby has assumed good laboring position (head down), and though he has time to change that, he most likely won't.

Also, according to their calculations, which admittedly have widely varying accuracy, he's just over 5lbs, which is a little bit big, but nothing huge. If it happened their "calculations" were on the nose and he put on the average weight from here to my delivery he'd be in the 8 lb range. So we're not talking anything real big. *Phew* To me he feels huge in there though, so I'm not sure how I'll survive.

And - he's definitely still a boy.

The following image of our baby's face is of their fancy 3-d type... Take from that what you will... they still look a lot like black and gray blobs... I actually thought this one was okay as far as being able to see him - from my experience with these types of pictures anyway. See what you think.

(Baby Heywood - 33 Wks)

Still not able to see him in there?? I have provided some help, which may help you decipher the code and break the mental wall like those pictures where it looks like one thing, but it's really something else - and you can't tell it until someone points it out to you... See if this clears anything up... (it's the same pic, but w/ arrows.)


Other than that, no, we still don't know what we're naming him, even if we decide we probably won't say for sure, so don't bother to ask. Although, tonight at dinner John did suggest the names Cannon and Exxon and Augustus... he was joking... thankfully.

Halloween Observance

John and I didn't do a lot this year for Halloween... it's not really John's favorite as he does not like scary stuff or dressing up, so all he's left with is candy. Ha. I like having parties, but am too fat to be up for that much either. I did think we should do something however, so we made some cupcakes from my aforementioned book. Had to take a picture, cuz they're all so super cute.

Trippin'

Ok, and now for a few trip photos and not just long rants exposing how much of an old iritated woman I am.

First of all, as far as pictures go, no they are not THAT beautiful... it's a beautiful place, but it's hot and wet and sandy and we were relaxing so there was no hauling around of the Canon... plus which the Canon desperatley needs to be cleaned. Instead you are subjected to crappy fuji point and shoot pictures... but since no one really loves to see all that many vacation photos of others, somehow i'm sure you'll survive.

This is the beach directly outside (about 30 feet outside)
our room... soooo beautiful. And yes, a Corona commerical
in the making.

John at Smuggler's Cove on our first day. Pretty
Good snorkeling.... ridiculously clear water.

John enjoying a pina colada from a beach
vendor at Smuggler's Cove.

Our 'three' shadows on Cane Garden Bay Beach.

The view on our drive - this is Cane Garden Bay
Beach on Tortola.

Hard to have tension just looking at this pic...

We took a day sail charter and went out to a
couple different islands, did some snorkeling,
saw 'the baths' and hung out on the boat.

Snorkeling by Cooper Island.

From the beach at Cooper Island... our boat is just beyond
that palm leaf.

From the boat looking looking out on Virgin Gorda.

"The Baths" - Virgin Gorda

Going for the water... gotta keep hydrated.

Always the most flattering pic you can take.

Eating some lunch on our balcony... Rough Life.

On our sail...

I'm Back... and a Rant.

So we're back. Boo! But at least we had a good time and it was so great to get away. I'm sure I'll post pictures and stories soon, although they're nothing to write home about.... I was hardly about to drag my nice camera out into the hot, humid, wet, sandy areas we were in, and there is no art with a point and shoot, haha. (Glad i didn't i totally have sand in my little crap camera's lense.) But we were about reeeelllllaaaxxxinggg...and that's really what it was all about.... mmm. I do also have a few jobs to edit that I must get to quickly, so we'll see when I can deal w/ the vacation photos!

And now I wanted to relay this story, in hopes that perhaps someone can tell me why this type of person annoys me SO bad. It's probably just plain hypocritical for me to be this annoyed... but oh well! :)

Here is the scenario: After a long day of travel and several time zones we are now in baggage claim in SLC. It is midnight essentially. There is a large crowd of people at baggage claim all waiting for the revolving wheels to start turning and bags to start appearing. To our right John and I watch a couple girls hug and squeel, obviously two came to pick up the third. Fairly young - I'd venture a guess at 19-20-21. I must, because it is important later, describe what they look like. One has jeans, tshirt, jacket. Average. One is in basically pajamas. It's late, so acceptable. The third girl is wearing a black 'newsboy cap', a very short black dressish kinda trenchcoat (presumably also a very short black dress underneath... it can't be seen as the trench is tied), a very open weave set of black fishnet tights and shiney black pumps with a heel, probably 3 or 4 inches. Also her hair and make-up is normal/light besides black lipstick. I had only noticed them because of their loud excited greeting and then I went back to standing there in a very tired, dellusional, impatient to get my bag and get the heck out kinda haze.

A few moments later, the girl in the black ensemble, steps into the center of the crowd and announces, 'Hey everyone, my name is --- (don't even remember), it's my friend Kate's birthday today, and I was wondering if you all would help me sing happy birthday to her?!?!' No I don't want to sing happy birthday to your friend, no one even likes to sing happy birthday to their friends and relatives while the candles are burning really. I'm tired, it's been a long day, and I don't care in the slightest about Kate. In fact, truely i'm embarrassed for you right now, and this whole thing is embarrassing me and I'm not even the one talking. She starts and gets a very quiet, mumbled, unenthusiastic version of the requested song from the crowd. Of which I am not appart.

Moments after, as they're standing not too far behind us, I hear the girl who spoke to the crowd say, "Is it because of how I am dressed? People just don't get me here. I should be in London, I would fit in so much better in Europe." (English friends, please don't pee your "pants" at this point.)

I wanted to turn around and say to this poor victimized girl:

A) No it's not because of how you're dressed it's because it's late, we're tired, we don't KNOW Kate and we don't wanna. This isn't exactly a bar or a birthday party or a concert. Why do you even want us to do this?

B) Good luck w/ the Europe thing, clearly you've never been as from my experience, especially in England, loud, pushy Americans who make loud, pushy annoyingly public scenes are everything they hate in life. So you should fit in grrrrrreeeeaaaaatttt. Move imediately.

C) Why do people work so hard at being a big victim in life? Poor misunderstood rebels. Particularly those who can't pull it off. Girl, you're young, white, probably middle class and probably still have white, middle class parents who still pay some/all of your average bills - Have tragicly looking hookerish clothes and black lipstick all you want - you're still not a hip, misunderstood artist. No one is buying what you're trying to sell, it's all been done before. Grow up.

Am I jerk or what? I am, I know. Why does this girl and other girls exactly like her bother me so bad? Someone figure it out for me, and let me know.

I Wanna Be A Supermodel...Well Actually Not.

So in college John took a couple digital photography classes, as required by his major. Well for anyone who hasn't taken these classes, in general you have themes, and you're not just taking random snap shots of whatever you wanna take pictures of. So it becomes a kind of production, finding the stuff he needs, and then usually you need a model or models, and they're not just coming to take simple portraits. Therefore, models are hard to coax, hard to find, hard to direct.

So it won't come as a surprise for me to say I became a model more than once. Well, after doing a head shot for a 'white background' shot for John where I was channeling my sexy, John made the mistake of telling me his photography teacher had commented I 'looked uncomfortable and frizzy'. Thus effectively ending my modeling career.

On occasion at John's job he now puts together 'lifestyle' shots for products they make and sell. I have agreed many a time to help, as props mistress, as director's assistant, but held firm on my decision to not debut in FRONT of the camera again. So I was a tad nervous when John said he needed to quickly pull together a shot for a product they have helped develop for another small company, an outdoor movie screen. One, because he planned to just bring it home - and we now live in Brigham where we don't know people who we can drag over into the photo. There are John's parents... pretty much that's it. So then this ended up becoming the approximate conversation:

John: Well I can put it on a tripod and then we can get in the pic with my parents.
Me: We?
John: Well, it really just has to be the back of your head.
Me: I don't model.
John: Come on, it's really mostly screen, I just need the back of your head.
Me: JUST the back of my head?
John: Yes.
Me: Not my massiveness or frizzyness or uncomfortableness?
John: Just the back of your head.
Me: Ummmm.....

So of course I got talked into it... but I decided it would be fine. Just the back of my head, and I could just be all wrapped up in a blanket. No weird facials, no seeing tummy.

Last night, we get everything set up, but, something in this picture is a little off my original ideas. See if you can tell what...

Yikes!

Guys, if we're going to get to go here:

Our passports have to get the heck here in the next two weeks!!!! I'm getting nervous! Somebody who is owed a favor from above please get praying on our behalf's.

M is for Martha

Earlier this month for my mother-in-law's birthday I made these Boston Creme Pie cupcakes:

From this book which my husband bought me a few weeks earlier.

They were pretty good. Probably even better second day, after custard had some time to really blend and sit in the sponge cake. For people who enjoy cupcakes, baking, and/or want fun cupcake decorating ideas, this one would be great. They are not necessarily 'simple' though, so don't go in with that idea! Just cute & fun if you're into it.

I haven't made a lot of the recipes, but looking through the book it has a whole section just on birthday and holiday decorating ideas that are SO dang cute. One day, when I have a reason, I WILL be trying the ladybug cupcakes - they're adorable. I also may have to try some of the monster cupcakes for the end of October.

Excuse the Poor Photographic Evidence.

I know I shouldn't post gross pics taken in a hurry with my bad little point and shoot, especially when then I turn around and take pictures for other peeps. But I promise, I never bring the fuji when I come to a job! :) Plus John usually takes these pictures from his sitting position on the couch, so they're all sorts of artistic and creative (sarcasm). Personally I love the double chins I end up with.

These particular pictures are to be aghast at just how pregnant I look this time around! Everyone tells you that this happens, but it's hard to picture. Granted I started the whole pregnancy a lot heavier this time... I know, bad right? But still, because of being sick, and already being big, I'd only gained like 6 lbs in the pic you will see of my current pregnancy. So it actually came as a shock to me when I realized just how convex I was getting so fast!!!

As proof, not just whining, I will show you - Exhibit A:

37 Weeks Pregnant
Up 30 lbs.
Went into labor a week later.

And as contrast, Exhibit B:

24 Weeks Pregnant
Up 6 lbs.
Approx. 14-16 weeks till labor.

Now, admittedly, my first baby was pretty little... But this is just crazy! If I continued a steady rate from here, I'll look like one of those women that defy gravity. Oh how a would shudder to hear the annoying, 'is it twins?' questions.... not good peeps, not good.

Peach Days

Maybe I don't totally understand Peach Days, having not been born and raised in Brigham City. But it's an odd sort of event if you ask me. And there don't seem to be a lot of peaches actually involved, which is odd also. I also wanted a churro, and I didn't get one. So maybe that increases my disapointment.

It was however a nice enough opportunity to get together with some of John's old high school friends and their wives, and see darth vadar and 'chewie' in the parade...which John thought was awesome.

A Love Story.

I love you dear peach. You make my life complete.

(The measuring cup is there to give you a little size
comparison, these peaches were monsters! That's
a full cup, and they dwarf it. Softballs.)

A Few Things.

I've been doing a lot of shoots and when I'm not shooting, photo editing lately, mostly for a lot of September weddings. Also we moved from Logan to Brigham where we will be house sitting for my in-laws as they get ready and leave for the Czech Republic! The move isn't totally traumatic as we've long since had most of our stuff in storage... which in many ways still made it completely insane how much stuff we still have! Fortunately there wasn't any furniture involved, which is good, since lifting is frowned upon in my current state. Still, as a consequence for all these things, I haven't updated my 'doings' on my blog.

So I'm going to do an update, starting with the MOST recent:

Last weekend I had 2 shoots that both happened to be in Bear Lake. One Friday and one Saturday. So I decided that it would be dumb to come and go and come and go. So with our friends the Hansen's we took off on Friday, they dropped me off at my first shoot and I met them up by Bloomington Lake for some camping. The next morning we got up and went to the lake, and I went to shoot my wedding for a couple hours, then met back up at the beach.

I think everyone else had fun... it was a bit hectic for me all in all!

(Lovely self portraits taken in Bear Lake - never very flattering to do
the one handed photo. Oh, and PS, i'm in my glasses because
evidently my eyes are inflamed and i've been ordered out
of my contacts for two weeks while I put in a myriad of drops.
Glasses and beaches are a stupid combo.)

My parents left on their mission! They left about two weeks ago on a Monday morning to officially fly to Budapest, Hungary... There's been a few updates so far, but you can find their blog from mine for a few details...

(This is their ACTUAL departure to the airport... They were generously
donating this car to a couple from my dad's old married
student ward who now live in Bountiful, so they were driving
off on their own.)

Because of my parents busy retiree schedule, they had to do some unconventional things during their departure for their mission... They left for the MTC on Monday, August 3rd, and were there through friday evening. They were not able to find a Sunday to speak before they left, so they got scheduled to speak on August 9th, after the MTC, and then would fly out on August 10th. My mom was saying that we'd have to figure something out for like food for the family and friends who came to see them talk, but let's face it, she had no time. So I told her to not worry and I'd handle it. HA! I have never planned food for 35-40 people... I told people who asked not to bother bringing things because I worried it would be too hard for the relatives coming from a distance the morning of, and also I worried that I wouldn't know WHAT to plan on as far as what people would make and how much food I'd end up with or not end up with. And I'm a worrier! I had my sister-in-law who lives in a town, and a friend bake cookies like mad women for me, and the night before I had all my siblings and my cousin in my mom's kitchen, chopping, washing, and bagging all sorts of things like my little minnions. All this leads me to believe... mormons be crazy.

(Those sugar cookies are stars decorated like the Hungarian flags!
Cute, huh? My sister Emily and I made them the day before.)

My mom turned 60! This also happend to happen the day before my parents spoke in church, so much of her birthday was spent in the kitchen baking muffins and overseeing my aforementioned minnions. However, my brother Andrew tried out his domestic side and he and his roomate/our cousin David made a strawberry rhubarb pie which we used as a birthday cake. We were all duly impressed with their pie making abilities! Go boys!


John had to take some pictures of a new product for Camp Chef, so with the Chef picking up the tab for some food suitable to go on the product, we headed up Green Canyon to take the pics and asked our friends the Hansen's if they didn't want to come along and help us eat the food once it came off the grill from the photos. We picked a spot based on the optimal level of cloud cover, however, didn't take into account how dusty it was! Their son is just 2, and was the funniest thing ever after a few hours up there!!!

(This seriously doesn't even do justice to how dirty this kid got!!! HA!!!)

AND, I think we're caught up now, haha. For all those that stayed tuned in to this massive post, congrats... I would give you a cookie, but I'm all baked out.