Our sweet little man!

If you've already read this, then you'll notice I took out a lot. Hopefully this is a better update than the other one was. And we don't have a lot of pictures because I completely forgot to check the battery and bring the charger with us.
It was such a long journey, for me, to get little Jaxon Thayne Simmons here. I began having mild, fairly spaced out contractions on Saturday, September 4. Then...things finally changed! Around 3 p.m. on Monday (Labor Day) my contractions moved from sporadic to steady. Finally, at 7 p.m., we gathered the girls and brought Thayne's mom home with us. We checked into the hospital and they took us to our room. They checked my cervix and it wasn't dilated at all!!! The nurse began to question whether Jaxon was even head down. She did an ultrasound, and he was! But his head was not in the pelvic region :( Dr. Kirkman went over our options. Option 1: do a repeat C-section. He went over the pros and cons of that. Option 2: break my water and see if that would help Jaxon drop into the pelvic region and help my cervix dialate. He went over the pros and cons of that. Thayne and I assessed the two options and decided on the latter. I was given some pain killers and then Dr. Kirkman broke my water. That instantly dialated me to a three and dropped Jaxon to a +1 station, putting him in the pelvic region. YAY YAY YAY!!! When my nurse checked me later, I had stopped dialating and my contractions had slowed down. Dr. Kirkman told her to give me a low dosage of petocin and place an interuterine contraction monitor inside me. They needed to CLOSELY monitor the intensity of the contractions. After a while, they decided to up the dosage of petocin to help move things along a little quicker. I kept having problems with my right side not being as numb as my left side, so we were rolling me from my left to my right for a few hours. Finally, Dr. Kirkman came in at 6 a.m. to check me. I was at a 10! WAHOO! He told me I would be able to start pushing at 7 a.m. When 7 a.m. hit, they told me to start pushing. Jaxon's heartrate was still dropping with each conraction. Finally, after 40 minutes of pushing, he was out! When he came out, he was not breathing or moving. Dr. Kirkman had Thayne cut the cord and took him straight over to his warming crib to let the NICU nurse and doctor begin working on him. I sat watching as they rubbed his body down VIGOROUSLY with a towel and then placed a tube down into his lungs. They began sucking out pinkish fluid. At long last, he began to cry and move. RELIEF! Once they gave him his initial APGAR score (I don't remember it) and all that stuff, they were able to hand him to me! He just cried as I held him and he wrapped his little hand around my finger. He was sooo pale and sooo weak :( He looked like he'd just run a marathon. I got teary-eyed but that's about all I could do; I was so exhausted. Thayne left that evening to go play with our girls. Once the girls were asleep, he headed back up to the hospital.
We only had to stay for 24 hours. Dr. Kirkman said I looked just fine and Dr. Horkley said Jaxon looked perfectly healthy. Once we got everything taken care of at the hospital, we decided to head home.
Thayne stopped at Wal-Mart on his way back Tuesday night so that we could bring home a gift for the girls. We wanted them to know that, even though there is a new baby in the house, they are still loved. Thayne bought them ponies and Starburst. When we got home, they were still napping. We sat their gifts on the floor where they could see them when they woke up. They were so excited! And once Jaxon finally woke up, they got to meet him. They were so good. They kept doing the sign for baby. They even tried to say his name. And, of course, they had to pet his head! SO PRECIOUS! They did really well :)

Finally got my epidural!Little Jaxon's weight :)Mommy bonding with Jax!Aunt B!Uncle Cort!Aunt Hope and Aunt Holly :)Getting him dressed to go home! We are headed home!!!

A lot has happened since the last post. Unfortunately, I have very few pictures to put on here. I do apologize. This is going to be more like a brief journal entry.
Thayne was able to come home again in July for another short, sweet visit. We had a blast while he was home. And, of course, we went horseback riding just for Alexis :) Silly girl! We also went swimming. That was really fun! The girls typically struggle when I take them. I find myself spending more time out of the water chasing at least one of them than I do in the water playing. But they must've changed their minds when daddy joined us because they hardly left the pool!!!
This is Alexis with her daddy. She's such a daddy's girl when he's here. Sad, she forgets all about her mommy :( This is Taylor with Aunt Valerie :)

Other than that, I have been trying to keep the girls busy everyday (sometimes that is a chore). I have a little over a week left until I reach my due date. So far, I'm not dialating. I'm only 50% effaced and Jaxon is at a station -1. I'm happy I'm not going to be having him just yet and then at the same time I'm ready to be done. Thayne still isn't home, so I really don't want to have this little boy just yet. But I'm so dang uncomfortable sleeping, sitting, standing, you name it. I feel like a bloated whale, which just makes you feel so attractive, right?! Then, there's the emotional side of this...am I really ready? Ready to get up and feed a baby all throughout the night? Constantly smell like spit up? Further divide my attention? I feel sorry for the girls. They've never had one-on-one with mommy. They've always had to share, but they (and I) don't know any better so it's worked. I'm just sad that now mommy will have to give most of her attention to this new little baby, and I'm afraid they won't do well with it. Sigh. It will be an adventure, I'm sure. I just read too much into things!

Now for some updates on the girls...

Taylor

Not sure on height and weight.

I'm very proud at how much her speech has progressed. When Thayne left in April, she could only say a few things. But now she's learned to say:

• Dadda
• Mom
• Ball
• Diesel (that's our dog)
• Cup
• "Nanna, are you?"
• "Hot hot hot"
• Bannana
• Horsie
• Dog
• Cat
• Car
• Cow
• "No No"
• Go
• Hi
• Bubble
• Bye bye
• All done
• All gone
• More
• Momma (this means movie) (don't ask why she calls it "Momma")

In sign language:

• Ball
• Dog
• Cat
• More
• Drink
• Eat
• Please
• Chair
• Milk
• Bath
• Blanket

And she's such a little cuddler. She loves to come get a hug and a kiss from mommy :) We call kisses "Loves" and she hands them out all day long!

Alexis

Again, not sure of her height and weight but she is considerably heavier than Taylor and at least a couple inches taller. She hasn't expressed a ton of interest in talking so she says fewer words than Tay.

Her vocabulary includes:

• Ball
• More
• Momma (again, meaning movie)
• "Nanna, are you?"
• "Hot hot hot"
• Bananna
• Dadda
• Mom
• Diesel
• Horsie
• Dog
• All done
• All gone
• Thank you
• Lexis

In sign language:

• Please
• More
• Eat
• Ball
• Horse
• Dog

She is such an independent little girl. She would rather be off on her own exploring the world than come get a hug and a love from her mom. Ha ha! I have to laugh because that was exactly the way I was as a little girl; always off doing something on my own. She has a real love for animals and music. Makes me wonder what she'll end up doing later in life.

My baby loves came home to visit!!!

I just want to take a moment and thank all the fathers out there who are excellent fathers and husbands! My husband is a wonderful man who works very hard. He makes it possible for me to stay home with our little stinkers :) I love him very much! And I definitely do not admire the work he does, but I surely appreciate it! Thanks babe! He is a patient, caring husband. He takes the time to remind me EVERYDAY of how much he loves and appreciates me :) Aw! He cares so much for his girls and I know that it is tough on him to be away from them. They are so cute; I'm sure he wishes everyday that he could have his two little babes run into his arms and snuggle him after a long, hard day of work :( At least it's only for the summer. Before I go on to tell of our adventures with Thayne when he was home I want to say one more thank you. Thank you, Thayne, for serving our country for 8 years and serving in Iraq. You're brave and noble.

Now, on to our adventure! Thayne was able to come home on Father's Day! It was a sweet treat for all of us :) The girls tagged along with me, and had a blast driving down there. Thank you BABY EINSTEIN!!! Taylor recognized her daddy right away! She was kicking her legs and flapping her arms while she screamed and laughed at her dad coming down the escalator. Alexis was in the middle of a fit so she did not see him right away. She was a little shy but then she warmed right up to him and became a little growth on his shoulders :)

On our drive home, I had a pregnant moment :) Ha ha! I pulled up to a Taco Time in Salt Lake. Well, it turns out they're closed on Sunday. What happens next? We're driving down the highway and I see a Taco Time in Centerville. What does this pregnant woman do? Oh, I stop. Yup, still closed! Oh jeez! Needless to say, I finally got a taco at Taco Maker :)

Diesel was really excited to see Thayne! That dog LOVES him :) If she could, she'd attach herself to him like a leach. I got Thayne some nice walking shoes (since he walks around all day) and made him a cheesecake (his favorite dessert). We headed up to see his family and eat some yummy dinner! Dessert was held next door at his Uncle Randy's house. To finish up the family get-together, we went to Stan's house to ride the zipline (I didn't, of course). And we finished the night with a visit from my brother, Cortney, and my cousin, Braquel. Sorry, no pictures of Father's day!

Monday we stayed busy doing odd end jobs around the house. Hope was kind enough to bust out her camera and snap some family pics :) We were very pleased with how they turned out and how many we liked. You see, the girls were super tired and absolutely ready for a nap. It was almost impossible to get them to smile, and even more impossible to get both of them to smile at the same time!!!

We headed up to do some dutch oven with some of his siblings in Providence Canyon. Overall, the kids had a lot of fun. The food was AMAZING! Soooo fun! Thayne's friend, Dustin, and his wife, Cammie, stopped by to say hello with their two kids. Macie is such a cutie! They were here during bath time, and Macie decided she wanted to help me bathe the girls :) What a cute little helper!

Oh, and in the pic above, smoke was blowing in our faces! That's why we're kind of pulling a funny face.

Tuesday we took the girls to first dam to feed the ducks. They were so cute letting the ducks and geese eat out of their hands. Ryan's Place park was our next stop. I love this little park. It's very toddler friendly, which is hard to come by :) We took the girls up for some horseback riding. Ask me if Alexis was excited? Ya know, I'd say she gets more than "excited" about riding horses. Let me tell you that this girl will find ANY horse figurine, statue, balloon, etc. in your house. She has horse radar! And, she will happily ride horses for 2 hours. Taylor is less horse crazy. She'll go for a quick ride and then she's done.

Alexis riding with her daddy :)

Taylor riding with her daddy :)

To finish off our last night together, Thayne and I enjoyed a movie. Thank you Holly for watching our girls so we could see The A-Team! Very good movie, by the way!

Almost forgot!!!

So this is what happens when you rush your blog update! I forgot to put on here that we are having...dun dun dun...a little BOY!!! Yay! We are very excited to bring little Jaxon Thayne Simmons into this world in August :) Here is a picture of his ultrasound pointing out his manly part!

Baaaad Krystal!

Let's start off with a little note to self: Krystal, let's try to update our blog more often than every 4 months. I do apologize for not updating. A lot has happened since the last update, I'm just gonna make this short 'n sweet.I have a saying that I've said to the girls since they were babies and it goes, "You're more precious than you'll ever know." Hence the reason why I have a picture board with that written across it :)

Thayne was able to go snowmobiling a few times before heading off to work his butt off for the summer with APX. He will be spending the first half of his summer in Columbus, Georgia, and the remainder in Montgomery, Alabama.

This is what we got the girls for easter this year. I know! It's pretty pathetic, but we honestly had no idea what to give 18 month olds for Easter. They don't even understand it yet :(


























We enjoyed baby animal days while it was here. Thanks Hope and Holly for going with me so I didn't have to do it by myself!














For our anniversary this year I decided to replace Thayne's lost wedding ring with this one. It was a steal of a deal! And, best of all, I got to put this shiny piece of nice metal on his finger when I flew out to see him last month! It was kinda cute :) Reminded me of the day we got married.















This is us at the white sand beaches of Pensacola, Florida. It was such a short trip out to see my hubby after almost 6 weeks apart :( but it was full of activities.















Yes, this is my husband collecting seashells. Why? Oh because he wants me to make our girls a seashell necklace. Great idea, but I'm not crafty. Hmmm...anybody wanna offer up some advice on how to make it look cute? I can certainly make one but I don't think it's gonna look very cute!















We found a dead jellyfish. I believe this one is called a man-of-war but I'm not sure.















We decided that after spending the day driving down to Florida, we should stay in a hotel for the night. Nice room for a great price!















Getting ready to start our next day of travel back to Columbus, Georgia. It was filled with some fun stops along the way, though.















First, we stopped at a waterpark! It was a blast! We went down the slides together on a double seater tube and spent lots of time floating the lazy river :)















Then we headed over to Summerdale, Alabama, for a visit to Alligator Alley. That was very neat! I've always wanted to see an alligator farm.















Ooooh this rattlesnake did not like Thayne. In fact, it tried to bite him through the glass when he turned his back! Ha ha!















Boys and their fettishes with creepy stuff like snakes and spiders!!!
















Tarantula














Feeding time! They were feeding the alligators beef. Evidentally, it's breeding season so they need to stock up on their protein.

This would be that menacing Captain Crunch talked about in the above picture (the sign).

Memorial Day weekend they opened the Logan outdoor pool. Even though it was not as warm as I would've liked, I couldn't resist seeing how the girls would like the pool. The kiddie pool is super warm! I was pleasantly surprised!

Yes, this is my bottom half! Don't I look amazing for being 7 months pregnant?Ha ha! I wish! No, this is Miss Skinny Minny (Valerie) walking Tay babe to get a towel! Burr it was cold outside of the pool :(

Getting nice and warm in a towel :)

Lexi was keeping me warm hahaha!

Little Tay Babe finally settled down and enjoyed her horse ride :)

Well, should've known that if a mommy really likes horses and so does a daddy and they have a baby (or two in our case), ya just might end up with children who love horses! These girls don't just like horses; they LOVE horses! Alexis, in particular, was almost impossible to pull off her horse. She screamed all the way to the car and all the way home :( My poor ears couldn't take it so I let her go next door and jump on the tramp to take her mind off it even though it was time for bed!