Monday, August 25, 2008

Getting Crafty

I have been making some crafts for our Super Saturday and some things for my kitchen, and my kids want to see them, so I decided to show them on my blog. Hillari sent me the ideas for the Noel and Eek crafts and I thought the ladies in our ward would really like them, so I made some up for our Enrichment coming up in September.
They're pretty easy, and I thought they turned out really cute. Cheap too!

Jeff cut the 2 x 4's for me and I did the rest.

For my kitchen I have been wanting some new stool covers, but couldn't find any in any stores, so I made my own!

These are a definite improvement over the old ones!

Then I made some curtains to match. I am so happy with them, and think they really make my kitchen look cute. Just call me Martha!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Finley's Blessing


Things happened so fast after Finley's blessing that I didn't even get to blog about it! She was blessed in Arizona on August 3rd. Her Grandma Fallstrom had made her the most beautiful blessing gown I have ever seen! A true heirloom. I'm sure the pictures don't do it justice. I made her a blessing shawl, so she will have an heirloom from Grammy Jo too. :) Anyway, she looked absolutely precious in her dress. Keith gave her a beautiful blessing, and we were so glad we got to be there for her special day. She has already changed so much since then, it makes me crazy not to see her and all my grandkids more often! They are such a joy!
Here we are with our newest little granddaughter.

These two are so darn cute and fun to be with!
Finley was a sweetie and slept during most of church, and didn't make a peep during her blessing.

We were able to go to Phoenix a few days early and spend some time with the kids and having fun. Finley was so cute in her little strawberry outfit!

Bampa reading Isaac a story.

I love these little kiddies!






Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Rhys Christopher Ronquillo is here!


Wow, I can't believe I now have five grandchildren! Here I am in Athens, Georgia helping Holli Jo after the birth of her firstborn in the wilderness. Little Rhys (pronounced Reese) was born on August 7, 2008 and weighed 6 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19 3/4" long. The labor and birth was very long and difficult for Holli, and I must say, it is much harder watching your daughter go through the valley of the shadow of death than it is going through it yourself! She started labor at about 10:00a.m. on August 6th, and didn't deliver until 1:13 p.m. (not to be confused with 1:13 a.m.) on August 7th, so it was a long, hard process. She was having very hard labor, but not getting any results for her efforts. We thought he would never get here!

I feel so blessed that I was able to be there for the miracle of his birth.

He is just the cutest little thing ever. The thing is though, he doesn't really like to nurse, so we have been having sessions with "lactation consultants" a few times. I now feel like I myself could be a lactation consultant since I have learned everything I never knew I didn't know about lactation. For instance, did you know newborns can drink from a cup? I didn't, but they can actually do it very well. The reason we know this is because Rhys was getting quite jaundiced, so the Dr. wanted Holli to give him formula at every feeding. That's all fine and well, but we soon discovered that little Rhys (who wasn't a very strong nurser anyway) LOVES his food, wants it NOW, and doesn't want to work hard for it. He actually has a bit of a temper when it concerns getting his food. So giving him a bottle wasn't working too well, since Holli would still like to breast feed when his billirubin goes back down. (his nickname is now Billy Reuben, after his Aunt Billy Sue and Great Grandpa Reuben..............well, we haven't actually called him that, but we joked about it.) Anyway, the cup drinking is one way to get the formula into him without confusing him with a strange rubber nipple. But the most ingenious way is this little thing that attaches to the bottle and has a little, tiny tube coming from it that you lay along the momma's nipple (if all this talk about nipples is too much for you, sorry............but it is just the norm around here these days.) anyway, then when the baby latches on he is tricked into thinking he is getting the milk from his Mom. Pretty cool. This is just until her own milk comes in. The thing is, this is a two person job, so I have been getting up to help Holl every two hours all night and so got zero sleep, since I couldn't fall asleep between feedings. Luckily I got to fall asleep at around 5:00 and they let me sleep in after that. Johnny better hope Rhys is a nursing fool by the time I go home on Friday, or he will be the new lactation consultant around here! But enough about lactation. This baby is a cutie patootie! We just found out his billirubin has gone down a little (yay!) and Holli is pretty sure her milk is coming in today, so things are looking up.

I would love to know what he is thinking about! I'm happy to be here, and loving my newest grandbaby!