Finally Finished!

This semester is over! Happy, happy day. Chris and I went to campus this morning where I dropped off my Spanish 326 final--my last final of the semester, picked up my Jane Austen term paper and criticism notebook, and sold some more books back to the Bookstore (got a whopping $14 for the bunch; three weren't being bought back). We also bought my books for next semester's classes: Anthropology 101, Biology 100, and History 201. Yes, I saved "the best" in terms of classes for last. YEAH RIGHT! haha Just the General Education requirements. All in all, I have completed ALL my English major and Spanish minor classes! And boy, does it feel wonderful.
I can't believe I have ONE semester left of college. ONE! I often feel as if I just arrived to campus, as a little freshman, ready to conquer Physical Science 100 and Book of Mormon 211. Quite the opposite--I have seven semesters of college behind me. Wow. I'm excited for this upcoming semester. I have Anthro and History up at the Salt Lake Center one night a week, and the Bio class is MW 4-5:30. No morning classes! This will be an adventure for sure.

Lizzie is a week old today. A week old! Unbelievable.

Sometimes I feel as if she's been with us for awhile (technically she has been, while she was in my belly), but still. It has been wonderful. She is a complete sweetheart. She isn't a crier or a screamer (unless her poor bottom is exposed to the cold air while her diaper is being changed). She loves her hands--waving them around, chewing on them to let me know she's hungry, punching the air, etc. She hates having her arms swaddled--she will fight the swaddle until her arms are free! It's funny to watch. Lizzie has been sleeping and eating well; her schedule right now has us relaxing during the day and up at night...so we're working on reversing that trend! haha Nah, it's not awfully bad, but still. She loves to smile, while she's awake and while she's asleep. She laughs at her daddy's jokes and loves to snuggle on his chest.

My mom has been the BIGGEST help to us...I don't even want to think about Wednesday when she goes back to Jersey...I'll write a post thanking her later. Bottom line, we have a wonderfully spectacular daughter and we are beyond happy to have her in our family. Mary, Chris, and Elizabeth. Love it!

Well...

I want to write an update so much, but I need to finish (...and to start) this Spanish 326 final. When I finish it, I will write here on the blog. The final may not be finished today, let's be honest. But still. The thought counts!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD, LIZZIE KILLION!

Elizabeth Cheronne Killion was born on December 13, 2008 in Provo, Utah at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.
She weighed 7 lbs, 13 ozs, and she is 20.5 inches long, and she got a 9 on the Apgar test. Basically, she looks like a mini Chris! She has Mary's dark hair and ears, though.
Mary had a C-section because Lizzie was NOT a fan of contractions at all. Every time Mary contracted, Lizzie's heartrate would dip, causing "variables." She was fine when Mary wasn't contracting, but she created a fuss otherwise!
Mary and Lizzie are both doing very well! Lizzie is taking a rest after her dinner. She had been smacking her lips since she was born so she was ready for some food when the nurse and Chris brought her to Mary.

We are so happy that everything is great and little Lizzie is AMAZING! We thank Heavenly Father for blessing us with this beautiful baby girl.

Hospital Update-She's Almost Here

Hey friends and family, we are in the Hospital.

5:15 AM Mary's water broke. We were sleeping when Mary thought that she felt funny. So she decided to get up to go to the bathroom and WHOOSH, her water broke as soon as she stood up out of bed.

5:55 AM We got to the hospital. We hadn't packed Mary's bag yet, but luckily we had gone out last night and picked up some essentials she would need. We packed her bag and headed around the corner to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

The contractions are about 2-3 min apart

Mary was given an IV a little before 7 am.

8:05am Contractions getting stronger.

8:45am Given Petocin

9:05am contractions are starting to KILLLLLL (Mary's words)

Between 9:30 and 10 AM: Epidural--She's feeling better already.

10:20 AM Catheter put in

11:00 AM: Mary is resting

11:50 AM: Mary is dilated to a 4 and still feeling good; her nurse gave her some more Petocin. Let's see how much more she progresses!

1:50 PM Not much progress. No consistent labor rhythm. Contractions sporadic. Baby's heartbeat dips at some contractions so Mary was put on Oxygen.

2:00 PM: Nurse redid the monitors. One of the new monitors will give the nurses a better reading of how strong the contractions are and the other one is actually attached to the baby's head giving a more accurate reading of the baby's heartbeat to tell the nurses what the baby does not like about the contractions. Contractions are more consistent.

4:50 PM: Very little progress. If there is still no progress the next time around, the nurse will call the doctor to have her come in to assess the situation.

4:58: Nurse came in after she got off the phone with Mary's doctor. The contractions are strong, but the baby is not responding well to the petocin. So, they are turning the petocin off for an hour to see how the baby reacts. Then, in an hour will put her back on and if nothing happens, c-section.

6pm: Mary is taken off Petocin to see what will happen.

6:55 pm: After meeting with her doctor, it is decided that Mary will have a C-section. Now the staff is running around to get everything ready for Lizzie's arrival. I am given a space suit contraption to wear, including booties that slip over my feet.

7:38 pm: A child is born! Welcome, Elizabeth Cheronne!

Chris's stab at the blog #2

The countdown begins. Little Liz will be here any day now. This week will be busy for Mary as she is taking all her finals, hopefully before the baby comes.
As for the past week, Mary went to the doctor's on Tuesday. Everything seems fine. On Friday, she had a presentation in her English class and did very well. The students responded well to it and actually felt intimidated now that they have to go after her presentation. Way to go Mary!!!!!
Also, on Friday, we had my department Christmas party. We went to Tucano's--all you can eat meat. My favorite. Here is Mary and I after dinner.

It was fun to see the coworkers outside of work. The highlight of the dinner is when Pam told the waiter that it was Mike's birthday (it really wasn't). They came out with drums and all to wish him a happy B-day. They made him stand and dance making it an especially funny moment.
Saturday, we went over to the Holden's to watch the SEC Championship game, Florida and Alabama. Florida ended up winning. Later that evening the Lee's and Holden's joined us for my grandparents' church's Christmas party. We got there a little after 7:00. We felt bad because we were getting there about 30 min. , but come to find out we were over an hour late because it started at 6, not 6:30. At least we were able to get some food and catch the tail end of the Christmas program. Mary and I were quite embarrassed, but our friends and grandparents were great sports about it. After the party, we made back to the Holden's to watch Prince Caspian. The Stapley's were able to come to the movie. We missed them while at the Christmas party while they had Steve's company party in Salt Lake. We were glad they were able to make it to the movie. Like Russ said, there was a void when the Stapley's weren't there. The movie was pretty good, but not as good as the first.
Sunday, Mary and I went to Salt Lake to the conference center to watch the Christmas devotional where the First Presidency (the prophet and his two counselors) gave a spiritual message. It was a very nice devotional. The main focus was of course on Christ, but also service. After, we headed over to temple square to look at the beautiful lights.

Well, that is all for this blog. Hopefully, the next blog we will be introducing you to little Lizzie. Thank you all for being great family and friends--we love you!
Some pictures from the week:
Me with a "Texas" doughnut from Macey's--it was huge

We woke up Saturday morning to this a couple houses down from us: