The Sweetness

Every once in a while I question why I chose this path of motherhood. It doesn't pay the bills. It's definitely not thinning or glamorous. But  little reminders sneak up on you. I call them, the sweetness.

Swimming Lessons

All good things come to an end, including swim lessons.

In December I thought it would be a good idea to get one last big "mommy-daughter" activity in before Mina arrived. So we signed up for 2 month long swim lessons! Sure I was 7 & 1/2 months pregnant, but we gave it a go anyways.

We went twice a week for the whole two months... almost. When Mina arrived we had 3 swim lessons left to complete our course. Luckily, one of the too generous people in my ward offered to help. We really didn't need any help when Mina was born, however we did need someone to take Marie to swim class.  Thanks to Rose Marie has completed toddler swim.

Of course I only remembered to bring the camera once, and it was the only day they were wearing life jackets. Marie doesn't like the life jackets, they impede the fun.



It was a really fun class, with only 2 or 3 students each time. Once or twice we were the only ones who showed up.

This is her teacher, Hiroko (don't you just love that name?).

She said Marie had a lot more upper body strength than most of the 4-5 year olds she would teach. Looks like we might have a rock climber on our hands when she's old enough.

You might ask yourself, what does a toddler really learn in swim? Well, Marie learned how to kick, paddle, float (with mommy's help), blow bubbles, hold her breath under water, open and close her eyes under water, splash alot and yell really really loud in a public pool. Good job Marie! You're my little mermaid!

A Taste of This Week

My dreams came true Tuesday when Marie ASKED to be dressed up like a fairy. She even let me put mousse in her hair!My girlhood dreams of having a living doll came to fruition.

Who needs a double stroller?

Actually Marie has been riding in the bottom of the stroller for awhile. It's finally nice to have a child in the top part so I can avoid weird looks from passersby.

 

Mina is enjoying her spankin' new rainforest jumperoo. Thanks Lyana! (and J&B!). Not all hand-me-downs for this little gal.

 Don't you hate when it's a picture perfect moment... and then they all move.

 Wednesday I had to get OUT of the house. So we had intentions of going to get apples from the "apple lady" when I got a hankering for some Japanese sweets. (Which is ironic, because Japanese sweets are not very sweet at all, but that's for another time). We went to Nico to pick out a cookie but Marie picked out this beauty. Apples, cookies, cake... it's all the same, right?

Other than that it's been a blessed week. I say blessed because two friends made me dinner and another has been taking Marie to swim lessons. Very lucky us.

Integration

It's not even been 2 weeks, and I think the girls are integrating pretty well :)

 

Really looking like a Youngberg here I think. Possibly the most like my Uncle David.

"So you want me to hold her?"



 

"I'm pretty great at this big-sister thing."

 

Marie: "So rumor has it you're moving in."

"I feel the need to set some ground rules if we are going to be, ya know,  roomies."

 

 

Do I even need a caption for this?

Yay for sisters!

Mina Lucille Millburn

Mina Lucille Millburn
Mina- pronounced MEE-Nah
Lucille- after my (Rachel's) Grandmother
Millburn- Father's Surname (just in case you were wondering)

7 lbs 11oz   21''   born feb 9th 10:57 am JST

Marie,  "You're all mine!"

Kidding, Marie loves her and constantly says "aww baby, you so little, you so cute!"

Labor story: started having what were seemed like light stomach pains around tuesday evening. Brett decided he was going to write the times down for me even though I insisted I was NOT in labor. However, at about 10 pm, as I was on the phone with tech support person for our internet I realized that things were getting serious. About the time he tried to sell me something I knew we better pack Marie up and get to the hospital. I wanted to tell the guy on the phone, I was interested in his product, but I couldn't buy it now due to the fact I'm in labor. Instead I handed the phone to Brett and he got rid of him.

We called my friend Chelsea (Marie's friend, Keaton as shown in the dance video two posts back) and packed up. This hospital staff was SO NICE. My nurse reminded me of  my good friend from CA (K.S.) and she was really cool. I was only at a 2 and my water hadn't broke. In California they would have kicked us out happily, but here the nurse offered to do "whatever made us comfortable" and let Brett and I sleep in the labor and delivery room and gave me morphine. She might as well been serving drinks with umbrellas, because I felt pretty special. About 4 am they gave us the "option" to go home again, if I wanted (a lot of people at Misawa are "all natural, home birthing, no epidural, kinda people" so they are very open minded to "whatever you wanna do kind of thing." I said no thanks though, as I am sure the baby would come soon.

My doctor came and broke my water, which had merconium in it, so they just wanted me to be aware of that. I got a new nurse at shift change who was a young man. Some of you may remember I made a pretty big stink about only having female Dr. and staff with Marie, so you'll be proud to know I accepted him from the get go and I was really happy with my experience with him. He wasn't patronizing or bossy, but just wanted me to have what I needed. I have to note that at one point when I threw some medical equipment across the room he was really nice about that and didn't seem to get annoyed.  Hey, I was in labor, I wasn't liable for my actions.

I won't go into epidurals, except to say I tried to get one, but they just don't like to work out for me. The lady giving it to me was a rude-a-saurus though. She said multiple times, "my job isn't to get you pain free and the baby just fall out." Ok, weird lady just give me the epidural. And when that didn't work out my nurse brought down another anesthesiologist who was a guy in my branch. I teach his daughter in Sunday School and he actually used to be at Travis AFB.  He checked the situation and realized the epidural machine ran out of batteries....   yes it RAN OUT OF BATTERIES. At this point I hear a scurry in the hallway, "does ANYONE have any C batteries?!" No one did, but he had a secret stash so he got those.

At this point though, little Mina was "sunny side up" so her spine was pressing down on my spine and I was in what they affectionately call "back labor." I couldn't do this laying on my back now, so I annouced I was standing up. Another nurse was like, "sorry YOU cannot get OUT of bed." I showed them. I decided I was going to do this on my knees and Brett helped me turn around, lean on him so I was facing the back of the bed. Again, my nurse was cool with my split decision and made me comfortable. Brett rubbed my back everytime I had a contraction, and I only say that because I HIGHLY recommend that for anyone in labor. It REALLY helped more than any ounce of medicine could. Also may I mention I had a sinus infection for a week prior to labor, which wasn't getting any better, so I was in pretty crappy condition when this all went down. (Insert sympathy here please ).

At that point I calmly informed Brett and the nurse that I was "pushing." And my nurse quietly said, "not yet" as he seemed to think I was only at 6 at this point. Brett said "DON'T PUSH!" Umm yah.... so I calmly continued to inform people that I was pushing some more, until Mina crowned, and my nurse ran to get the doctor. The lights flipped on and I heard a scurry behind me. Wam, bam, she was born.           Great story huh? It's like a novel. I'm sure only 3 people read this and I'm gonna say it's Stephanie, Cassie, and my mom. Hopefully Katie and Christen, but you both have babies so your excused. Give yourself a pat on the back if you got through this.

Welcome Mina!  

We think she looks like me. Marie was 100% Brett. So this is an interesting change. Both beautiful babies.

She's perfect!

The name was hard to chose. We tried Molly, but she's just not a Molly. She was a very close Amelia, but maybe our next baby will be an Amelia.

We have a few different people mention Mina is the character from BramStokers Dracula. Which is weird because they played that movie the second night in the hospital. Very weird considering we only get 5 channels and the movies are very random. Anyway, we are not into vampires, just for the record. And Mina is not going to be a goth... at least not on my watch.

Brett right after his delivery.... oh wait that was me.

Things are great. We miss our families so much and wish we could share Mina with them in person.

Our family is blending really well. Here is Marie's version of playing with Mina. It works, I guess.

Japan's Tribute to the Gem State

So I was driving down the street when I saw it. Under the McDonald's marquee was displayed this sight for sore eyes:

Ladies and gentlemen, the Idaho Burger, now being served only in Japan (as far as I know).

Japan's McDonald's has come out with 4 new "America 2" burgers: Texas, Manhattan, Miami... AND IDAHO!!!

Of course we had to try it immediately that night.

 

You couldn't have made this pregnant lady happier. All beef patty with a HASHBROWN on top. Who can beat that? A hashbrown. Genius. I googled a little info and of course everything I found was basically dissing McDonald's. Come on people lets get over ourselves. McDonald's isn't good to eat once a day, or once a week, but it's a burger and bun. You can't go wrong. They also have good toys, but I'll blog about that another day. You can read this article anyway to know how many calories Brett and I ate.

 

It might be our Vandal pride talking, but we thought it was great. The mustard sauce was yummy. However, the BBQ sauce on the bottom was a little too "Japanese" for our taste. Did I mention they are only selling this in Japan....

I should have taken a picture of the Idaho Burger on the McDonald's marquee outside but I decided to take a picture of the pizza place across the street. If you can't read the writing it says: "We serve you delicious and 100% handmade healthy pizza. you will find a beautiful world which you have never tasted it."     Quite the promise.

Don't worry, Brett worked off the calories later. Here are he and Marie playing at the Weasel's Den. It's an old airplane hanger they turned into an indoor playground on the base.

We come here 3-5 times a week. Marie goes nuts for it everytime.

Lastly, I am 39 weeks pregnant. I'm due next Wednesday (or Saturday according to the blog). Maybe my next blog will show you a picture of a newborn baby. Cross your fingers.