Memorial Day

Growing up Memorial Day was just another holiday that we loved. The reason we loved it so much was because it meant the beginning of summer and school was out. We loved that we were able to sleep in, except the few years that Grandpa Christensen (my dad's dad) would have us meet at the cemetary and tell us stories that seemed oh, so boring. Little did I know that I was missing out on some very interesting life history stories of our families. If we only knew then what we knew now, right?
Memorial Day became something different to me about 7 years ago. I guess when you lose someone that you are very close to, it changes the holiday forever. My dad passed away 7 years ago this July. What a life changing event to go through. We miss him terribly and we are so grateful for the time that he was here with us. We are grateful for the Gospel and the knowledge that we will be together with him again. There are still many times that I think of my dad and wonder what life would be like with him here. I know that my kids would just adore him and he would adore them. I know that DH would still insist on weekends in Delta so he could play golf with my dad. I know that Dad and Mom would spend many weekends with their grandchildren. Time has healed some of the pain, but you still ache to hear his voice, hug him and even the occasional "rock a bye" on "his chair" is missed.

We went to Delta for a quick trip yesterday after church. My mom came along and we spent a few hours playing dominoes with Grandma B and then we went and decorated Dad's headstone. The night before we went to the store to find something that the kid's could place for Grandpa C. I looked at the flowers and thought maybe. I looked at the fake "grandpa" flower things and thought no way. I ended up wanting personal that each of the kids could make (well, at least the girls) and would look cute. I came up with the posters.

Sunday morning, before church, DD#1 and I sat down and wrote her letter to Grandpa C. She, of course, wanted to write about anything that she saw. She wanted to tell him how grateful she was for the pencils, for the posters, for the paint (that she was going to use) and so on. I had to guide her in the right direction. She came up with most of what it said. *** Side note...I was hesistant to put on their that she can't wait to see him again, because part of me is a little superstitious. I couldn't bare the thought of losing my children. So, she can't wait to see him again, but only after a LONG life filled with children, grandchildren and great-granchildren. There now I can be okay about it.

DD#2 didn't say too much, but we helped her along as well. She loved placing her hands in the paint and was sure proud of her poster to Grandpa C.

And, of course, DS didn't really say anything at all. I didn't even get around to doing his hands. I thought it was just too hard with his newborn jerks to try and keep us all clean.
We got out to the cemetary around 8 pm. It began to rain as we entered the entrance. DH stayed in the van with DS and the rest of us got out and decorated the site. I wanted to get some cute pictures of my girls, but the rain was coming down pretty good. So we got a shot and we stayed a few minutes and then ran back to the van. DD#1 kept asking my mom why she was crying. She just didn't understand. It is hard for an almost 4 year old to understand that her grandpa is in Heaven, when Grandpa R. (my mom's husband) is here and healthy. Here little feelings for everyone got the better of her and she began to cry.

It was nice to visit and see my family. It was nice to return to my dad's headstone and remember many, many things. Not one day goes by without remembering him, but we do know that we will see him again. Thank heavens for that knowledge.

2 Weeks Old!!

We cannot believe that our little man is two weeks old!! It's amazing how fast the past couple of weeks have gone by.

We took DS to the pediatrician today for his 2 week visit.

His stats are:

Weight: 9 lbs. 9 ozs.

Height: 22 1/2 inches

He has gained some weight, but not much height. We are still doing well. He is a great baby and we love him to bits. I wanted to add some not so calm moments too.

Growing Up!

I have blogged recently about my other two children, I thought I should blog a little about DD#2. We were so worried about our little man joining our family and having DD#2 not adjust well. We didn't think that she would let her daddy even touch the baby. To our great surprise, she has done very, very well. She is so gentle and sweet with him. She will walk up to him and say, "Hi baby!" and then go on her merry way. We thought we were going to have to hide the baby away so that she couldn't get near him. I think that this will not be a problem.

Another thing about her, is that she is growing up so fast. When I came home from the hospital, she was talking so much more. It was so fun to hear her. We think that she had to be understood by grandma. Grandma didn't understand her grunts like Mom and Dad did. So she learned how to talk. She is also holding her own with her older sister. This has caused me a lot of stress as now the two of them fight. And wouldn't you know, it is always when I am nursing the baby. Great timing??

DD#2 always loves to stand on the fireplace while I search the internet. She loves to look at the pictures of everyone. This morning she was standing next to me and this is what I saw. She is so grown up all the sudden. Her hair is so long and she doesn't look like a baby anymore. I guess they do all grow up, but it just seems like yesterday we were bringing her home to our family. We love you, sweetie!

One Week Old!!

Our little man is one week old today. I can't believe that a week ago, we were meeting him for the first time. He is such a great baby. We were worried in the hospital because he was fussy. Turns out, he was starving!! He is doing so well now. We can't think of life without him. We love him so much.

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

DD#1 had her first soccer game a few weeks ago. Her dad is the coach. She is so proud of her soccer jersey and the #5 that she tells everyone is her number. DH has a team of 10 3-4 year olds. He actually has more 3 year olds than 4 year olds. His job is to coach and referee them for about 48 minutes. I don't think he knows what he got himself into. The first game was actually cancelled. We had snow and the coaches decided to cancel. When DH told the lady in charge, she told him that they wouldn't reschedule it because they weren't the ones to cancel it. They are 3 year olds. They were drenched and freezing. The next game was nice and sunny. He can only have 6 players at a time. He decided who to start and the others sat on the sidelines patiently waiting. We thought it was going to be a problem to find kids to want to stay out. Well, it was the exact opposite. Once they were out, most of them didn't want anything to do with going back in. All of us parents tried so hard to get them back onto the field. At one point, there were only 3 kids on the field. DH couldn't believe just how hard it would be. But overall, they did well. I think things will get better when the kids feel more comfortable with playing.

First Bath!!

One of the many things that I liked about delivering at the new IMC was that they bathed the babies in your room when you were ready. Both of the girls were taken to the nursery and bathed while I was in the recovery room. Little Nathan was bathed right in my room after I had left the recovery room. I loved that I was able to be there for it. He loved his bath!! He was so calm and looked like he was chilling in the water. Even now, at home, he loves his baths.

Here are some of the cute photos of him and his first bath.

All Clean!!

He is HERE!!

We are proud to announce the arrival of our 3rd child (1st son) DS#1. DS#1 was born on May 6th, 2008 at 8:18 AM. He came into the world screaming and fighting. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 10 ozs. and is 22 inches long. We are still trying to decide who he looks like. I think we all agree that he looks most like his older sister DD#2. DH's parents came over tonight and swear that he looks exactly like he did as a baby.

We arrived on Tuesday morning at 6 AM for the scheduled C-section. It was actually quite nice because everything was relaxed. We checked in and was put in the prep room. The nurse was very sweet. It seem to take forever to have everything set in place. The doctor came in and said "Let's have a healthy baby". The anesthiologist came in and asked if I had any questions. I told him about my experience with DD#2 and how I couldn't breathe. I told him that it took all of my power to stay calm the last time, but didn't know if I could stay that calm and might panic. He told me they would have to put me out if that was the case and he didn't want to do that. He told me not to worry and he would take care of it. My mom was there and asked the anesthesiologist if this cute grandma could come in. He hesistated, but let her come. She was so excited. So DH and my mom got in their attire and we were set. We all walked to the OR. The anesthesiologist then had me lay on my side and started with a spinal block. He told me he was going to do things a little different. He only put in less of the spinal block that he normally does and then he put in a epidural catherter in case I was able to feel anything. I thought that was pretty smart. If the spinal wasn't enough and I could feel them, he could immediately put in the epidural medicine. He then told me that I would start to feel the numbing in my legs and to let him know when I could feel my fingers tingling. I was so nervous as I felt my body numbing. All I wanted was to not have it go past my chest and make my brain think that I wasn't breathing. It did stop at my fingers. I was SO EXTREMELY RELIEVED!! I had a blessing by my DH and his father on Sunday night, for this exact reason. In the blessing, I was told that I would have no complications from the spinal. I am so grateful for the Priesthood. I know that the blessing helped tremendously.

The surgery began and I could feel pressure but not pain. My mom and DH would tell me what they were doing. I guess when they got the forceps to open up my belly, DH had to sit down. They then said, "there is his head". What a rush of emotions come over you when you know your child is here. I heard a scream and knew that he was here. There was meconium in the water, so they quickly got him out and rushed him over to the pediatricians. DH immediately went over to be with the baby, while my mom stayed with me while they stitched me up. She continued to give me a play by play of what they were doing. I heard them pounding on Nathan's back and suctioning quite a bit. DH came over and said that he is struggling some and my need to go to the Nursery to get added assistance. I was hoping he wouldn't have to. They did seem to help him and he didn't have to go. He still was grunting some, but not enough to take him away. When they were finished, they wheeled me back to recovery and then up to my room.

The whole experience was great!! The doctor did say that we could probably have one more. But that is something that we will discuss in the future.

Nathan is a great baby. He is nursing like a champ. Something my girls never did. He has had his fussy times, but seems to be doing well. We got home yesterday and had a rough day. The girls are testing the waters and mom's baby blues aren't helping with dealing with it. We will all be okay though. It is nice to have DH here today. He is being so great with everything.

We feel so blessed to have this special spirit with us fresh from Heaven. We look forward to the many days ahead with our sweet little man.

The Last Day!!

Here on my last day of being pregnant with this little guy, is my list of lasts until the next time.

*Last day of work for the school year.
*Last day the girls go to Lisa's until next school year.
*Last day of being pregnant with little DS#1.
*Last day of feeling this little boy inside of me.
*Last day to get the last minute things done.
*Last day to be a family of 4.
*Last day of saying "the girls". It will now be the kids.
*Last day of DD#2 being my baby.
*Last day of being a mother to only girls.
*Last day to get a semi full night of sleep.
*Last night of having the excuse of not being able to pick up the girls, so DH has to wake up with the girls. (well, I may have 6 weeks left of this).
*Last day to be huge and pregnant.
*Last day to have my hands ache because of the carpal tunnel (I hope this goes immediately away)
*Last day to have sugar while I am nursing.
*Last day to have the excuse to eat anything, because I am pregnant.
*Last day for DH to be the only boy in the house.
*Last night to have to sleep on my side with a body pillow.
*Last day to only have 2 carseats in the car.
*Last day to go out to the store with only 2 children.
*Last day to have enough hands for my children.
*Last day for DH and I to each take a child.
*Last day for only having a diaper and some wipes in the diaper bag.
*Last day to not have to mop the floors. (blast)

We go in tomorrow morning at 6 AM for my scheduled C-section at 7:30 AM. We are so excited to meet this little guy.