Stars and Stripes

Enjoying private fireworks in front yard

I hate blogger sometimes! When I upload pictures in chronological order, they always upload disorganized. Grrr!!

Well our Fourth of July was AWESOME! We enjoyed our time with my parents and my brothers Corey and Matt and their families. We hosted a super fun BBQ at our house on July 3rd. This is the day we got our boys back from Corey and Daymi, we were ready for them! They were so excited to see Zach again, they stood around his swing with their cousins for a while when they arrived (see 3rd picture).
For the BBQ we had Corey's Badminton set up, the slip-n-slide set up on the hill in the backyard, the pool set up, lots of delicious food, and a large shade tree providing cool relief on a 97 degree day!

The crew enjoying the afternoon

The kids swam all afternoon

Adoring Zach upon arrival

After all the fun of the day, it was time to get the fireworks out and have some fun in the dark! We started in the back yard with sparklers (see last pic of the post). After the sun had fully set we headed to the front yard to enjoy a private fireworks show (See pic at top of post).

On July 4th, I took Kaydien and Kimball and Brandon to see the parade. Mike was gracious enough to stay with Zach, plus he was trying to help his parents with directions because they were stuck in Missouri on their road trip out west.

Brandon in awe at the Parade

Shortly after the parade we headed to Idaho Falls to enjoy the company of my extended family at my Grandparent's house. We enjoyed our time their, although I spent most of my time on the bench nursing Zachary:)

Mike jumping on the tramp with the Kiddos

We headed home early from that party, missing a good game of Wiffle ball, so we could relax a little and get ready for the big fireworks show in Pocatello. The park right across the street has the perfect view of the fireworks show that is set off at the fairgrounds here in Pocatello. It is the place to be if you do not want to fight crowds!! Matt's family came over to enjoy the works with us, and I heard later on the next day that it was a good show. I, of course, had to leave the park before it was even dark because Zach was fussy and wouldn't calm down. Trying to get him to calm down under a nursing cover, at dusk, in a park is kinda hard. Oh well:)

All the kiddos enjoying the big
fireworks show at the park

Kaydien and Kimball with sparklers

We feel nothing but pride and gratitude for our country, and when we see the stars and stripes, it reminds me of all the freedoms that I enjoy! It was a grand few days enjoying our family and remembering those freedoms and the men and women who have fought to keep our freedoms intact.

Zach's first week

We had a good stay at the hospital, short and to the point. We left on Sunday at 5:00, so we were only there for one night. While at the hospital we had a few visitors from Rexburg, my brother Corey, his wife Daymi, and two of their three children. It was good to see them and introduce them to Zachary.

Corey and little Zach

Kimball and Brandon came twice to the hospital to see their little brother. They were very excited to see him, and wanted to watch and hold him. We were very happy with their reaction to Zach's arrival.
My mom was very gracious to make us a few meals in our first week with Zach. When we got home on Sunday night, she met us at home soon after with a nice hot pot roast! Yummo! We didn't get a lot of sleep those first few nights, but hey, we knew that would happen. Kimball and Brandon went back to Rexburg with Corey and Daymi for a whole week, so that made the lack of sleep manageable. We missed our boys but were grateful for the time that we had to adjust to life with a newborn again, to have that time to get to know our little Zach.

We spent Monday at home relaxing, and then went to see his doctor, Dr. West, that evening. Tuesday was the same story, except it didn't end so happily for Zach. Zach had his circumcision performed at the Dr's office on Tuesday evening, and he was in pain for about 2 hours afterwards. He wore himself out pretty good in screaming, and slept pretty well for a number of hours.

Zach and dad at the Dr

We spent lots of time admiring our son, so grateful to have him in our family and to get to know him. He is a good baby, and is calm for 23 hours of the day. Right after dinner between 7-8 he gets really bad gas, but only at this time of day. Minor colic issues, but other than that he sleeps like soundly, eats soundly, and keeps all his food down.

Dad with Zach

Mom and Zach

We had some more visitors on Tuesday, from Idaho Falls. My grandparents came down to see our new addition, and we had a good visit with them. It is always good to see my dear grandparents, it is indeed a great blessing to have them as close as we do.
Mor-mor is in love with this little guy, and would hold him all day long if she could! We are so blessed to have her living in Pocatello, it was a great experience to have her in the labor/delivery and to see her interact with Zach in these few weeks since he was born. She has so much on her plate already and yet she was making meals for us and inviting us over to her place, watching the boys so we could go on a date to see Harry Potter.... what an angel she is!

Mor-mor and zach

All things considered our first week was amazing, and we are very proud parents of 3 handsome boys!

06/25/2011 Special Delivery

I will tell you now, I put a few pics on here that are not "modest" in the sense that I view the word, but I did not put anything that would embarrass either myself or you...

With that said, I guess I'll just share our Labor and Delivery story for our 3rd son, Zachary Abram Matusek.

It all started at midnight on June 25th, contractions started coming regularly at 10 minutes apart. At 4:00 in the morning they were 7 minutes apart, and that is when I decided to call my midwife. She told me to keep trying to rest in between as long as I could. So I did, I stayed in bed til 5:00, and then decided to take a shower. I ate a hearty breakfast (I knew I would need the energy!!) and then decided that I had better wake my hubby up. My midwife called me back and told me to meet her at the office at 8:00, so we did. She checked my cervix, which was dilated to a 4 and fully effaced... we knew that we were having a baby, and soon:) We left the office, and went home. We had decided to labor some more in the comfort of our home and then meet Julie, our midwife at the hospital at 11:00. Contractions started picking up as we walked around the backyard. My husband and a tree trunk became my lifeline back there:)

I was exhausted by 10:15, so I sat on the couch, with my husband beside me, tennis ball in hand. I would doze in between contractions, and I would cue him in when another contraction came and he would massage my lower back with the ball... which was another lifeline during labor. The funny thing is, in between contractions when I was dozing off, Mike had to make sure he kept a firm grip on the hem of my shirt, so I didn't fall forward off the couch... that gave us a good laugh afterward!

We headed to the hospital at 11:00 to meet Julie. We got right into our room, and the nurses got me into a "back door wide open" hospital gown... I loathe those things. Because I was group B strep positive I had to have an IV placed with antibiotics. The hospital also is required to have at least 20 minutes of continual fetal monitoring. For these two reasons I was in bed for the first forty five minutes. As soon as the last drip of antibiotic was in me, I wanted out of that bed!! My contractions had slowed down, and that was the last thing I wanted. I needed the contractions to get longer, more powerful, and to speed up so I could get Zach here.

Once out of bed, I was on the birthing ball while the jetted tub filled up. That was my first experience on the birthing ball and I will never labor again without it... loved it! Mike was by my side the whole time, getting me ice, rubbing my back, encouraging me through the whole ordeal, and most importantly he stayed silent (he learned this in our first labor with Kimball). How grateful I am for a husband that is there for me every step of the way, he makes me stronger that I am alone. My mother was in the room as well, she took the role of photographer, witness to a miracle, and silent support.

The birthing ball

Mike helping me to the jetted tub

As soon as I knew the tub was filled, I wanted to be in it. Let me tell you, that is another thing that I will not labor without after this experience! It sped up my contractions, it was soothing, and the stress relief oil that we put in the water was SUPER calming and relaxing. Julie and Mike were there with me. Julie listened to the babies heartbeat to make sure he was doing alright. At about 1:30 Julie thought she saw fine hairs in the water, and that made her think that my water might have broken. So she had me get out to check. My water had not broke, but I was dilated to a 9. We decided that on the next contraction she would break my water.
As soon as she broke my water my pain jumped from a 7 to a 10 on a 10 point scale. YAY, the baby was finally coming!!! I turned to my side, with Mike's help and my mom's help and on the next contraction it was time to push. Once I got the head out, it was discovered that the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. That is when his shoulders got stuck. I told my husband that I couldn't push anymore, but he and my mother told me that I had to... and I knew I had to find it in me. It took 4 contractions total to get Zachary here, about 12-15 minutes. He was born at 1:44. Zachary stayed in my arms for one hour, and I cherish that time. Mike was right by me adoring our new born son. We were emotional, and overjoyed at the experience. It was amazing to say the least.
There is a reason why his shoulders got stuck, he was a BIG boy! 9 lbs and 8 oz, 21 1/2 inches long and a head circumference of 14 in. Mike and I had guessed that he would be in the 8 lb range, not the 9 lb range... so much for guessing:)
Hello Zachary, welcome to the Matusek Family! We love you!

Fun with Cousins and Mor-Mor

Whenever I upload pictures to Blogger they are all out of order... oh well! So our fun this last week has been pretty much constant! Brianna and Kaydien and Madison came from Utah on Sunday the 6th to stay for a week. On Monday we went to Rexburg to spend time with Corey's family. The rest of the week we were going fun places (Lunch in the park, the zoo, bowling, nature walking), hanging out, playing games, and laughing! So here are pics in all of their randomness:)

The crew at the Zoo on Friday the 10th

Mor-Mor's special pancakes (Norwegian pancakes)

on Thursday Morning

Eating popcorn at the movies,watching Rio
in Rexburg on Monday

Kaydien, Brandon, Kelvin, Kimball, Madison, and Elena
trying to warm up at the splash park in Rexburg on Monday

One of the two visits to lunch in the park, Friday
June 10th

Summer time just isn't summer time without spending time with Mor-Mor and cousins!

Baby Projects... or Tiff Nesting

Yes, I do believe that this is the most prepared and quite possibly the most anxious for a baby that I have been. I have been a busy momma, lots of projects. Here is a "short" list of all I have done:
-Sanitized all breast pump accessories and bottles
-Cleaned the pack and play/bassinet (Lets just say that Brandon's reflux was bad)
-Ordered all the fun stuff for baby and made Mike set it all up:) (All the hand-me down stuff from Kimball and Brandon had pretty much all broken and fallen apart)
-Sorted through all the baby clothes and threw away half of them (Again, lets just say that Brandon's reflux was REALLY bad)
-Bought a new toddler bed so we could transition Brandon out of the crib
-Bought new chest of drawers for the boys so we could take the baby drawers/changing table into Zach's room
-Sorted through all the boys toys and graduated them from all baby toys
-Washed all bedding, blankets, clothes, and everything in between
-Organized the nursery (this is our FIRST nursery, we couldn't be more excited about that!)
-Made a car seat cover, a fun project to get back into sewing
-Packed the hospital bag
-And last I am almost done with Zach's baby afghan, just have to finish the border!

Pictures? I have a few for proof that I have indeed been busy:) The first five are of Zach's nursery:

Closet Left side (Excited to try the
new nursing pillow... I am so over
the boppy!)

Crib, swing,bouncer

Rocking chair and table (oh and my
nursing stool... yay)

Changing table/chest of drawers, swing again

Closet right side (so happy for
organization!!)

Zach's afghan... almost done!

Car seat cover (Thanks Grandma for
the fabric and Christie Collier for the
directions, it turned out great!)

So there you have it, I do indeed have the nesting bug... any time you want to come Zach we are ready!!

Time Out for Women

What a fun weekend to go to Time Out for Women! What was even better was to share that time with women who I look up to and love dearly, namely my Mother, Grandmother, sister-in-law Daymi, and my Aunt Marla. I appreciated each message that was shared by the various speakers, but most especially enjoyed Heidi Swinton's address. She wrote the Biography "To the Rescue" about President Thomas S. Monson's life. My love for our Prophet grew through what she shared about her experiences in writing the book. I can't wait to borrow the book from the Library to read it! I only took 2 pictures, one at Chilis where we ate lunch on Saturday June 4th and the other one taken right after the event had ended Saturday afternoon. I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend, for a supportive husband who played with the boys all day Saturday and on Friday evening while I was away.

Fun at the park

Yesterday, we ventured out the park across the street to enjoy the afternoon. The wind was sure blowing, making it feel a little on the chilled side, but the sun was out and we enjoyed our time playing. The boys were super bummed that they removed the Merry-go-round, probably for liability or hazard reasons. Here are a few pics from our adventures.






Tonight I am off to Time Out for Women with my mom, Grandma, aunt Marla, sister-in-law Daymi and her friend Nayeli. I am excited for that time with them, and hope my boys won't be too grumpy for Daddy (they didn't take naps, stinkers!).

Dream the Dream!

I have been so blessed to see a few Broadway shows in my lifetime already. I saw The Lion King in Chicago with my Aunt Marla, cousins, and Grandmother (Courtesy of my Aunt!). I also saw The Phantom of the Opera last summer at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA. I LOVED both of those experiences and was looking forward to a future time when I could go again. Little did I know that I would get to go so soon! Mike's friend in the Physics department had plans with his wife to go to Les Miserables on June 1st. They had the tickets bought... 3rd row tickets nonetheless!! However, they ended up being too busy with their summer internships to make it. They graciously offered Mike the tickets... and they didn't want to be reimbursed! How could we turn that down?

So yes at 36 weeks along, I traveled to Utah to see Les Miserables on Broadway. We had the car seat and my hospital bag just in case... the trip was uneventful in that regard though. We started the evening off by walking all around temple square, and the weather made for a pleasant walk. Around 5pm we headed over to Settebello's for an authentic Italian Pizza dinner, complete with Caprese salad and to top it off freshly made Gelato. I was in food heaven, Mike probably more so than I. We then headed over to pick up our tickets, and afterwards walked a whole block of downtown SLC. It was a slow walk, it is hard to walk fast when so far along in a pregnancy.

Time finally came to get into the Capitol Theatre and wait to be seated. We knew our seats were good, but we didn't know just how good! We were on the front row of the permanent seats, there were two rows in front of us that were set up for the show. I could see the hair and baton of the conductor in the orchestral pit. I could actually see the facial expressions clearly of all the actors... it was an amazing theatrical experience. My favorite actor was Jean Val Jean and Javert. Fantine and Eponine were very well cast as well. Mike and I both thought that Cosette was poorly cast, her voice wasn't as strong as the others, and she could never quite hit the high notes. Who am I to critique her though right? I was there to enjoy, and I did! We got back to Pocatello safely at 1 in the morning. Thanks Jason for letting us use your tickets!

Kids Bowl Free

Have children that can bowl? Well check this out: www.kidsbowlfree.com. Kids can bowl free ALL summer long at participating locations around the country. They get to bowl 2 free games every day! Also, for $24.95 you can purchase an Adult Pass, that will allow the names listed on the pass bowl with the children... all summer long! Our adult pass has me, Mike, and my parents on it. I can add names at any time, say for instance if I have guests in town that would like to go bowling. At our bowling alley in Pocatello, Pine Bowl, they offer unlimited shoe passes for $10, which is good all summer long. Because Brandon's feet don't fit in the smallest size the bowling alley has, he can bowl in his socks with adult supervision (duh!). So hopefully there is a bowling alley in your area (Sorry Idaho Falls, I just looked and there are currently no participating bowling alleys... bummer!).

First trip to the alley... Mike hates
bowling with bumpers, it messes up his game:)

Brandon enjoys it, after the first game
he kind of loses his attention span

Kimball had a ball!

Sorry, had to throw this in:) Since I can't
bowl because I have my own bowling
ball inside of me

Graduation!!!

Graduation of Michael Peter Matusek on May 7th, 2011
Idaho State University
Bachelors in Mathematics and a Bachelors in Physics

It was a grand weekend! We had Mike's closest family gathered for a celebration of his accomplishment, including his Grandma Nida from Texas, his parents and Sister Alyssa from Florida, Corey's family from Rexburg and of course my mom and me and our beautiful boys.... we all couldn't be more proud of him! WAY TO GO MIKE!!!

Mike and his Grandma

Mike and his parents

Me and my graduate sweetheart!

Mike and his mother-in-law

Mike with his sister Alyssa

Mike with his Brother-in-law Corey

Congrats dad! We love you

Don't you love Mike's smile? So happy!