Not a Christmas Update

This was mostly written before Christmas. We'll give a more official Christmas update soon.

D: Greetings all! We have successfully moved to Fallon. The unpacking is slow. I've been working at the dairy and, despite being sore often, have really enjoy it. Everett has been keeping Alicia especially and the rest of us occupied. He's had an eye infection, but it seems to be going away. His left eye was all big and puffy and draining. Poor guy. 

Can you believe he's four weeks old? We finally got Alicia's hospital bill. We owe...nothing. Not a cent for Alicia's hospital stay. We still have to work with medicaid and the hospital to figure out Everett's bill, but at least it's nice to know we don't owe anything for Alicia.

He's been fussy a lot lately, which we should probably take most of the blame for. We're new parents! This is very new! If he's in a screaming mood, we've found we just have to wait it out. He won't eat while mad. 

We've been feeling bad for Shannon, who is presently 5 days past due. However, if he decides not to come until Thursday, Everett and Baby Call will be exactly one month apart, and Baby Call and Dad's bdays will be one month apart, as well. So, as far as the family pool for baby's birthday goes, my money's on the 27th. 

Here are a few pictures we have neglected to put up, until now:

Bigger, Cuter, Stronger

D: We have a few more pictures to share! Everett is doing well. He lost his umbilical cord the other day, and his circumcision has healed quite nicely. His activities mostly consist of eating, sleeping, and pooping.

A: He's a baby!

D: The formerly bald area towards the front of his head is starting to fill in with reddish hair. So he has areas of three different hair colors: red, brown, and blond. He has been growing a bit. We had to adjust the car seat straps already. His cheeks are getting full, and he seems to be getting longer. What we wanted to show off in the pictures today are his muscles. He has some crazy neck muscles for a newborn. Photo evidence:

We have to be careful during tummy time, because he likes to flip himself over when he's on the pillow. When he's on a flat surface, he can't flip.

Alicia has been trying to capture a picture of his elusive "gas smiles", and finally managed to get a couple good pictures.

Everett likes to sleep with each arm in a V. When he wakes up, he extends all over the place with those long limbs of his. In an attempt to capture this, we instead caught him yodeling.

Alicia had her last day of classes today, possibly ever. She's still stressed, but looking forward to the fun weeks we have ahead. I have my first application, to Utah State, due next Saturday (15th). A lot of schools have their application due that day, but Utah State is my first priority. They have a great combined Counseling/Clinical/School Psychology program that I would love to be a part of. In my undergraduate education, I was only really ever taught from the clinical psychology perspective. That perspective focuses on diagnosing, which is not what I want to do. A combined program would broaden my horizons as far as future job opportunities.

A: There is a desire for people (women especially) to appear youthful. Newborns, the prime example of youthfulness, have wrinkles, acne, and hair loss issues. Something doesn't add up here..

Thank you everyone for being awesome! We have felt so much love for our growing family.

Dallin, Alicia, and Everett

First Week of Everett

D: Alicia's water broke around 8 pm Monday night. An hour later she was admitted into the hospital, and began having contractions. The labor was augmented with Pitocin to ensure that Everett would get out within 24 hours of the water breaking. 5 and 1/2 hours later, Alicia was fully dilated. Pushing took 17 minutes, most of which was the nurse trying to find the doctor and then the doctor setting up for the delivery. He was born at 2:59 am Tuesday morning. We'll eventually move the facebook pictures over. Here are some more pictures of Everett during his first week.

Mommy and Everett sleeping soundly after a rough first night at home.

To avoid Alicia having all the embarrassment, here's one of the baby and I napping on the couch:

Other assorted pictures:
Everett has some big grey-blue eyes. He doesn't open them very often, but when he does he is surprisingly aware.

Everett also has some monstrous feet and hands.

We hope he'll develop some chubbier cheeks soon. He's so little! He sleeps comfortably in any of the three positions (back, side, stomach).

His first real bath! We followed some basic tips from our lamaze instructor, and he loved it. Here are a couple keys:
1. Wash his head first while he's wrapped in a towel.
2. Wash his body quickly after putting him in the tub, then let him calm down while still in the water.

This expression is reminiscent of Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Great Scott!

We let him have some tummy time, and he did great. He spent most of it trying to eat that cloth.

He's a wiener dog. He does like to throw his head back while he's sleeping. No idea why.

Everett currently has 7 great-grandparents. That's pretty awesome. This is Great-Grandma Lowe.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! My parents and David can't wait to see him in person. Alicia can't wait for all her school stuff to be done.