Elijah Juyoung Rigby

Our new baby is here! Elijah Juyoung Rigby was born at 5:13 am on July 4th. He was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 19.5 inches tall.

Four weeks before the due date, I went in for my regular check up and was told that I was already 1 cm dilated. We were pretty sure that the baby was going to come early (just didn't know how early) so we were on edge the whole time. I was already having contractions all the time, sometimes even regular ones (just not strong). We made sure that there was always someone with me to take me to the hospital, just in case I went into labor any day.

Well, the week after that, I woke up in the middle of the night and thought that my water had broken. We were staying at Yeagi's house, so we didn't get to the hospital until 2am. Well, turns out, it was a false alarm, and I was still at 1cm.

Later that morning, I had another check up, and the doc said I was at 3 cm! Well, he said since I had progressed so much in just the last few hours, I could be going into labor any day (as in in the next day or two). We were very excited and frustrated at the same time because we kept having to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. I knew that once the baby came, I wouldn't get any sleep and what it would involve, but it was just hard knowing that it could happen any minute and having it NOT happen for weeks!

At the NEXT appointment, I was at 4 cm. The doctor said since it was my third baby, I could stay at 4 cm for days (or weeks) until I went into labor. Well, the doctor did tell me that if I hadn't gone into labor by the next appointment, I could be stripped or even be induced. We kept waiting and waiting, and it didn't happen. On Monday, July 2, we moved into my cousins' apartment in Provo. They went to Korea for the summer, so we could stay there until we found a house. Besides, the apartment is only 1 minute away from the hospital, so we could feel better knowing that my labor could only be 2 hours or less.

At my appointment on July 3rd, I asked the doctor to strip me. I was at 3.5 cm, and we were pretty sure that I would go into labor that day. With Ellie, I was stripped in the morning, and went into labor at 7:30, had the baby at 9:30 pm. We were expecting things to happen much quicker this time, and I was ready to run to the hospital all day (except for when we had to go to see a house in Lehi at 6pm with our agent). At 9pm, it still hadn't happened, and Joe and I were getting really anxious. We knew it was going to happen, and we preferred to have it happen on the 3rd, instead of the 4th. We went to Macey's to walk around to try and see if I would start going into labor. We walked the isles back and forth (worked with Al. I went into labor later that day). I was still having contractions (all day, everyday), but they weren't very strong (although some of them had gotten stronger than usual). Instead of going into labor, the baby did drop quite a bit and I was having severe back pains, so we decided to go home. My mom also called saying that Al had woken up crying uncontrollably, so we hurried home.

By the time we got home, my dad had put him back to sleep. I was still having pretty regular contractions (every 5 to 10 minutes), so I decided to wait up to see if anything would happen. Joe fell asleep on the couch, and around 12:30, Al woke up again crying. I went into his room to try and console him, and I fell asleep with him on his mattress on the floor. I kept waking up because of contractions (this time pretty painful) but I ignored the pain and kept sleeping because I was dead tired. At 1:30, Al woke up again, and this time, he threw up all over his bed. He cried so much that he woke everyone up (Ellie, Joe, and my parents). My mom took Al and Ellie out to the living room, and I started to clean up the mess. The contractions kept coming, this time regularly and painfully, but I had to finish clean up Al's throw up before heading out the door since my mom was taking care of the kids, and Joe had started to feel sick too.

By the time I was done cleaning his mattress, washed the carpet, and put everything back, I was having really painful contractions every four minutes. Joe was running around the house trying to get everything together and trying to get me to run out the door with him (while feeling really, really nauseated).

Joe sped to the hospital but the drive was only 1 minute long and he didn't really get to enjoy the previlege of being able to drive fast and not feeling guilty. When I got there, I was at 5.5 cm and the contractions were starting to get unbearable. Joe's nausea and stomachache was pretty unbearable at that point too, and he had to go back and forth between the couch in the room and the bathroom. We had to ask for some soda and blankets for him, and he was actually doing a lot worse than me.

The anesthesiologist finally came, and it was our ex-next door neighbor/2nd counsellor in the bishopric, Brother Conley! I'd never been so happy to see him before, and he got to work right away. Within minutes, I was no longer in pain, and it was so wonderful. I didn't even notice that I was having contractions anymore. Brother Conley was surprised, however, that I was in the room all by myself, in labor, and asked where Joe was. I had to tell him that Joe was in the bathroom... lol.

I was progressing pretty well, and I even managed to fall asleep for half an hour before they woke up to tell me it was time to push. Joe was determined to be by my side during the actually delivery (he felt bad that he wasn't capable of being there for me during the labor), so we got a chair next to the bed for him to sit in. (At this point, the doctor and the nurses were all feeling worse for Joe than me).

Elijah was born after two active attempts at pushing, and he was wiggling so much that the doctor said he was the most active baby he had delivered that night (and considering we were at Utah Valley, that was saying a lot). The nurse was telling us that Mother and Baby was full that day, and we may have to wait until noon for someone to be discharged to go downstairs to our room. However, a few minutes later, she came back with good news that we'd be able to go to the overflow room in the Pediatric Wing. It was such a blessing that we were able to get down there (and I think the nurses pulled some strings to do that too) because the room was twice the size of a regular room and had an extra BED! Instead of trying to sleep in a small sofa for the next two days, Joe actually got to recover in a nice patient bed for the next two days. (He actually slept all day and night of July 4th).

Anyway... we later found out that Al was up all night throwing up every half hour, and dry heaving when he had nothing else left in his stomach. My mom stayed up all night with the kids, and my dad made two trips to the pharmacy. It was such a blessing to have my parents be there for us, because it would've been impossible to deal with all of that without any help...

Elijah's been a really great baby for us so far. He eats pretty well and he sleeps well too. He puts up with his brother and sister giving him kisses and hugs and fighting to have turns at holding him. We are excited to have him in the family!

With Dr. Reese

With my mom.

Joe's trying to recover, and you can see Al doesn't look so good either

Ellie's 18th month update

It's about time I wrote a post about Ellie's 18th month developments. She's been such a fun girl for us, and she adds so much excitement and bubbles to our family.

Physically, her weight is on the 37th percentile, and I was surprised to see that her height was actually just above average! Well, she does eat a lot, and she always has an appetite for anything whenever she sees someone eat, so I guess it was half expected... Unlike Alden who is very, very picky and will only eat a certain variety of things, Ellie likes to try anything and everything (including Kimchi, salad, etc. that kids wouldn't normally like). Her hair is still... growing... we think.. Seems like it's about the same length that she was born with, and she still gets called a boy once in a while (even when wearing pink or purple). She hates wearing anything in her hair, so I guess it can't be helped.

Ellie loves to do anything her brother is doing, even when it's something she can't do. She will run around and follow Al everywhere, dance and jump with him, attempt to sing, play games, pretend to read books, etc.

She has been really verbal, and we're impressed by her communication skills. I guess it comes with being a girl and also being the second child, but she really is very expressive. She loves to chat and talk (especially on the phone), and sometimes she'll talk to herself or sing. She can say a lot of words, mostly in Korean: 엄마 (mommy), 아빠 and daddy, 할미 (grandma), 할브이 (grandpa), 이모 (aunt), 부 (uncle), 오빠 (older brother), **꺼 (possesive 's), 이불 (blankie), bubble, balloon, 밥 (food), 물 (water), juice, 우유 (milk), 딸기 (strawberries), 바바 (banana), 수박 (watermelon), 포크 (fork), 아크임 (ice cream), 파클 (popsicle), iPad, Dora, Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie, 포코 (Pocoyo), 뽀보보 (Pororo), 까까 (snack), 멍멍 (doggie), 야옹 (kitty), 내내 코(sleep), baby, slide, shoes, socks, 바지 (pants), 옷 (clothes), poo poo, 치카치카 (brush brush), 머리 (head), 코 (nose), fish, 뚜껑 (bottle cap/lid), ABCs, tissue, ball, popcorn, jump, 앉아 (sit), 안아 (hold me), 주세요 and Please, grandca (grandpa), 노래 (sing), 아야 (ouch), 지지 (dirty), 아니요 and No, 네 and Yesh, Thank you, Jesuh (Jesus), 기도 (prayer), Amen, etc.

Well, I don't want to sit for another hour, trying to think of words that she can say, so we'll just pass for now...

She loves her grandma, and she follows my mom around everywhere. (She may actually like her more than me). She loves to smile, dance, sing, and laugh. She loves babies, and always points out babies whenever we see one. Now that she's got her own at home, she always checks on him, gives him kisses and hugs, and hangs around him. She brings Eli toys and blankets. She will rock the bassinet or the bouncer for him, and always is so concerned whenever he cries.

Having a girl has definitely been different from having a boy. She is a lot of fun to watch as she sings/dances and acts all cute. She can always smile, even when she's crying. Joe actually has a soft spot for her (even though he won't admit it). He's always saying, "She's SO cute!" even when she is whining.. :P  Dads and their girls...

Ellie is actually really stubborn, and she hates to lose. Oh, yeah, and she learned how to say "Mine" in nursery... and has been using it lately at home too. She's not as nice as Al when it comes to sharing, and she likes to shove him or turn away so she can have turns or he couldn't have turns on the iPad, toy, computer, etc. (She's pretty good at sharing when it comes to food though. She likes to go around and feed people).

As far as learning goes, she knows the letter O, and she recognizes some other letters and calls them "ABCs." We'll have to step up and teach her more if we want her to be at Al's pace (who knew all the alphabet at age 2).

Anyway... She's a lot of fun, and she's a pretty good sister to Al and Eli.

Moving 2

So I guess I never mentioned that we've been house hunting. It's been a very frustrating process. I thought it'd be all fun and exciting, looking for our first home, but it's been really difficult trying to find the right home for us. Anyway... that's for another post...

So we've been staying with my sister Yeagi and her husband Jonathan for a couple weeks until my aunt's apartment in Provo is available. We are planning to stay at the apartment until we find a house for us to move in. It's been really fun staying with them, and the kids just love it. We have fun planning dinners together, and the kids love running around (another) big house and watching Yeagi give piano/violin lessons.

On Thursday, we noticed that there was some smoke coming from the mountains beyond Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain. We didn't think of it as too much of a big deal since they were saying the fire was no where close to where the houses were and that they were going to contain it soon.

Well, the next morning, Yeagi and I were just relaxing at the house with the kids while the husbands were away at work. Yeagi was expecting a student at 11 am, and we heard the doorbell at 10 minutes to 10. I went to get the door, and before I could even get half way up the stairs, I heard a loud knock. I was thinking, "who is this rude, impatient person knocking on the door?" I was surprised to find the sheriff at the door and also to smell thick smoke outside the house. He said, "We are evacuating this area. You have to pack up and leave."

Yeagi and I started packing right away, and I called Joe. He decided to come back home to get us, and while we were waiting, I packed up most of our stuff (we were living out of suitcases and totes anyway so it wasn't too difficult). Another knock, and it was the fireman telling us that we had to get out soon. I told him my husband was 10 minutes out and he left. Then 10 minutes later, another guy came back and said we had to leave immediately and couldn't wait for Joe. I grabbed what I could and put the kids in Yeagi's car, and Joe arrived just in time.

We put most of our stuff in the back of our car, and Yeagi took the kids and some of her stuff (clothes for two days, toothbrushes, and Jonathan's textbooks). We drove to my aunt's apartment in Provo, and stayed there for the night. It was where we were going to move to anyway, so we decided to just move early and stay there. We kept watch on the fire and had to eat out all the meals since my cousins had no food (Not even milk. Yeagi and I had stocked her fridge just the day before!).

Turns out, they have a really abnoxious neighbor downstairs that yells at them for walking too loudly or doing the loundry after 8pm, so I had to keep the kids very quiet and let them just watch tv all day since I didn't think toys were important enough to bring (what was I thinking. I should've grabbed at least one of the 10+ boxes of toys we had packed away). The kids were getting really, really antsy and frustrated.

The night was very unrestful since we couldn't fit the kids beds in the car, and I didn't think to get Ellie's playpen. She had a hard time going to bed since she tried to get out of the room and was knocking on the door forever. Later in the night, we went to check on her to see if she went back to her makeshift bed we made on the floor with blankets, and we found her sleeping in Al's place on his pillow, with Al kicked off to the side of the mattress.

The next day, the evacuation order was lifted in the late afternoon, and we decided to go back to Yeagi's for a night (for food and the kids beds). The kids were soooooo happy that we were back, and were running around screaming for hours. Well, we decided to stay for another week (at least until the baby comes). Joe has to go back to the apartment after work today and bring back everything we took there... :S

Anyway, our living situation is horrible and exciting (!?) at the same time, and I'm just glad that the kids are handling it as well as they are. I'm already going crazy with all the moving we've had to do and still have to do, and also waiting for the baby hasn't really been easy since it's been five days since the doctor told me the baby was gonna come in the next day or two. We're trying to make the best out of our situation and hopefully we'll be able to find a place soon!

"Studying" with Uncle Jonathan's precious DVD collection

Playing on Yeagi's fake violin

Everything burned.. in their "backyard."

Moving?

A lot has happened since my last post. We've moved twice already, and I've been really lousy at keeping a record of everything. I'll try to write as much as I remember for future references... :P

Our move out date from my mom's house was June 9th. We started packing stuff weeks in advance, buying boxes from Walmart and organizing things to decide what to keep and what to throw away. We packed away most books weeks ago (10+ boxes of just books!), and I started going through clothes and made a DI pile. The garage sale we had was a part of our moving preparations. As the date came closer and closer, I really had to get on with packing up stuff and cleaning out closets. It was really difficult to do with the kids running around and asking me to play with them (not to mention being 8 months pregnant), so the process was really slow. Most days, I just had to wait till Joe got home from work, put the kids to bed, and started working on organizing and packing. There were a lot of nights when Joe and I'd stay up till past 1am packing things. I considered it a real success if I could pack 2 or 3 boxes each day.

The last week of moving came really fast, and since Joe wasn't home to help me during the day, I had a baby sitter come everyday for 2 hours at a time to play with the kids so I could do some packing and cleaning. It really didn't help that we were also house hunting at the same time, and I had to spend a lot of the hours looking at houses and meeting with my agent. :S Anyway, reglardless of how ready we were, the move out day still came upon us, and we had to move.

Since we couldn't find a home for us in time, we had to move all of our stuff to my sister's garage in Eagle Mountain. Two of my cousins, Jonanthan (my brother-in-law), and people from elder's quorum came to help. Joe's mom came in the morning to take the kids to Yeagi's house so they wouldn't be around while we moved stuff out, and my mom and I coordinated and directed people as they loaded the truck. Uhaul suggested that the 20 foot truck would be large enough to pack everything in a house with three bedrooms, and I thought the truck would be big enough.

Well, the truck wasn't quite big enough for all the stuff that my mom couldn't part with (and had to give to me to take). She insisted on me taking a lot of her stuff since she wouldn't be able to take most things to Chicago and that I would NEED all of that if I moved to a house of my own. Anyway, the men had to do a zigsaw puzzle with all the boxes and the stuff to fit everything in the truck, and it looked like we weren't going to make it. Brother Ianziti from the ward generously offered to take some stuff in the back of his pick-up (thank goodness), so we were able to fit most things except for a small carload that we were able to come back for later that day with our Kia.

We spent the rest of the day unloading the stuff into Yeagi's garage, taking more stuff to the dumpster and the DI, and returning the truck. It was so much work, and everyone was so tired (espeically Joe, my mom, and me) and dying at the end of the day. It just breaks my heart to think that we have to do it all over again when we find a house later. :S

Night before the move

Last night at the house

Pictures, pictures..

Okay.. Here are some pictures that are sooooooooooo overdue... The reason why my last few posts didn't have pictures was because I thought it'd be better to have something at all than nothing at all. (I was posting in bed on the iPad).

Alden made this pizza for all of us. (Cheese slices are for him, of course.) He puts it all together, bakes it in an oven (one of many empty moving boxes we have sitting around the house), then slices it up to deliver it to everyone in the family. Ellie helps, of course.

Ellie was eating breakfast, and Al said, "I'm going to help Ellie!" Then he started spoon feeding her. :)

Ellie loves to sit in the little doll stroller. Ha ha. And Al loves to push it for her. :)

Al's biggest catch. :)

Ellie saying "Cheese~"

Catching up with the kids

The kids are growing so fast, and just lately, Ellie has picked up a lot of words. She's always been a chatterbox, but she's started to actually say words somewhat understandably. I remembered today, with Al, I used to blog almost every time he learned a new word, so I decided to write a little about Ellie's developments.

Let's see.. It's always so hard to remember all of them when I'm actually determined to think of all the words... She can say most of the basic words like 엄마 (mommy), 아빠 (daddy) and Daddy, 오빠 (older brother), 물 (water), 불 (light), bye-bye, hi, and 밥 (food). She learned to say 엄마꺼, 아빠꺼, 오빠꺼 (meaning, mommy's, daddy's and Alden's). This comes handy when she's helping with sorting the laundry or sharing treats. She can also say Amen after a prayer. Yesterday, she surprised me by saying 다시 (again), and she can also say 더 (more). She can say 까까 (snack) and 아오 (ouch). Today she said, "Uh-oh." she can say 발 (foot), which she interchangeably uses with shoes. She's really good at saying 안아 (hold me). She says 붕붕 (vroom vroom) when she plays with toy cars or wants to go out. Today she also said 주세요 (please) instead of just holding her hands out or mumbling three random syllables. She says Go! as she goes down the slides. She can say 딸기 (strawberries) and cheese. She can also say 붕 (sound of fart) to make us laugh. I am surprised everyday to see how much she understands.

I talk to her almost exclusively in Korean,and her understanding of Korean is comparatively better than English. Sometimes Joe has to translate what he said and repeat it in Korean to get her to do things. She's such a joy to have around, and she has such a mischievous personality that we sometimes wonder where it came from. She likes to tease and fool around, and she never lets her brother boss her around or win. She's really stubborn too and sometimes holds grudges. But she's mostly good and puts up with her brother when he purposely makes her trip or squeeze her cheeks really hard.

Alden is growing so fast too, and Joe and I can't believe he's already three and a half. It's hard to believe that he's not a baby anymore, even though he keeps reminding us that he's a "big boy." Today, in sacrament meeting, I gave him a copy of the friends magazine. He opened it to a page that had an article called "Lost in the trail." he started reading on his own, "Lost in the..." I was so surprised because I had never taugh him how to read the word, lost. Then we found another article and started to read it together. He was reading probably 70-80 percent of the words on the article without help, and I was so impressed by how much he knew! I'm starting to worry how I'm going to keep up with his fast learning curve. I might be teaching him calculus in two years at this rate!

I'm the ward librarian, and I was talking to the the other librarian today about the importance of the mother being home for the children. Her major was in early childhood education, and she was telling me about the research she had done in college about young children being left at daycare everyday. She said that when little babies and toddlers get left at daycare by their parents before they are old enought to understand the concept of them having to leave to privde for the family or going to work, the children only think that they are being left by the parents and do not learn to trust or love. They only see that their mother or father is leaving them woth strangers. They cry the ehole tome their parents are gone, and when their parents come back to pick them up, they resent their parents and are upset at them for leaving. This has an enormous effect on their lives, even whe they are older.

Earlier today, as I was trying to put Ellie down for a nap during sacrament, I was thinking about my kids and how grateful I am to be able to stay home with them to be able to witness them grow and notice the development they go through. After the talk with the other librarian, I was even more grateful for this chance to spend time with my kids and learn so much from them. I need to really keep up with them and teach them all I can so I can make this moment of our lives worthwhile. Speaking of being a stay home mom, Joe is going back to work starting tomorrow. It has been really wonderful to have him home for the last few months, and we had so much fun together as a family. It will be hard on the kids, and especially me, to have him gone during the day now, but that'll make the time spent with Daddy much more meaningful when he comes home from work.

Garage Sale adventrues

I guess I should write a little about the garage sale before I forget...

My mom is moving to Chicago, and she's hardly taking anything there since my dad already has a house and furniture. So she decided to have a garage sale to sell off a lot of her stuff that she's collected in the last 11 years she's lived in Provo. And oh boy, were there a lot of stuff!

Joe and I helped her get the garage sale together, and we were piling stuff on bookshelves, in the garage, and in the living room to get ready three weeks before the garage sale. We had actually planned to have the garage sale a while ago, but it had been forecasted to rain and be super cold for the last two saturdays (weather turned out to be great, by the way). So we finally had our garage sale last Saturday. We advertised it on KSL and put some signs on the streets the night before. We were a little worried that we wouldn't have a good turnout or sell a lot of stuff and only make a couple hundred dollars after working so hard to get everything ready.

We were up until midnight the night before, getting everything organized and pricing most things so they'd be ready to go out to the driveway the next morning. Saturday, Joe and I woke up at 6 am to get ready. The garage sale was supposed to start at 9 am, and we still had a lot of work to do. We had everything that was sitting in the living room, plus in the garage that had to be reorganized and priced. We also had a lot of small pieces of furniture around the house that had to be emptied and brought out. We thought 3 hours would give us enough time to get ready.

Well, at 7:15 am, the first two groups came. (sigh). We only had half the stuff out, but I had to start giving them prices and negotiate, while Joe was trying to figure out where to put stuff (I was supposed to help him with that). Anyway, the day started way earlier than we thought, and we had constant stream of people until almost 1 pm! (The garage sale was supposed to be from 9 to noon).

Thankfully, Joe's mom was there to help with the children, and babysitters came from 9 to noon as well to play with the kids. As for my mom, we purposely told her to get as far away from the house because I knew that she would just try to give away as much as possible. (She has a hard time trying to make money from people. She had already given away probably the most expensive tool we had in the garage for free to her friend).

We really were hoping to make about 3 to 400 dollars tops from the garage sale. We had a lot more people come than we thought (thank goodness for the warm weather and KSL), and even though I was giving a lot of discounts and bargains (for example, a man offered me $1 for a mallet, and I gave it to him for 50 cents), we ended up making almost $1000! Joe had to remind my mom and me about how much money had already invested into buy all that stuff in the first place, but I also reminded him that it was sunk cost and couldn't be redeemed any other way.. Anyway, it was hard but rewarding, and somewhat fun as well (Joe didn't think so. His body was aching all over the next day).

On a side note, we used the Square app on our iPad to take credit cards. A lot of older people thought we were joking and didn't take it seriously, but we didn't accept three credit card purchases. Ha ha. This one guys (looked like a BYU student) said that this was the most high-tech garage sale he'd ever been to. :D

Unfortunately, I was too busy to take any pictures, so no pictures.. sorry.