2011 Highlights and Lowlights

I haven't been the best blogger this year, so I have found myself frantically trying to catch-up these days. I've decided the best thing to do, in order to catch-up, is to just do a list of the highlights and lowlights of 2011. I'm going to try not to get too detailed or I'll never get this done. But I do want to try and capture, with a few words and pictures, this year for my family. In other words, here is our family newsletter. Every year I get other people's newsletters, and I think, "I should do that!" But I never do. After you finish reading this post, you'll probably be glad that I don't! But watch out next year for the epistle...it could happen!
January

• Sam got his first haircut. This was a really hard thing for me. It marked the turning point of my baby becoming a toddler. Sam did really well with his first hair cut though; since then, not so much.

• Our wedding anniversary is January 23rd and this year Nic took me to see Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband at BYU. The highlight for me was dancing on the bridge, listening to our song on Nic's I-pod. I married the best guy ever!

Feb.

• On Valentine's Day, we made the big announcement to our family and friends, and the world in general, that we were going to have a baby. Best Valentine's Day ever--even better than the ones in Elementary school with the the Valentine's shoe boxes and treats galore!
• In Feb. and March, Sam and I went on a few road trips with daddy to Reno and Idaho. Sam and I agree that the hotel life is the way to live.

March

• Our good friends, Chris and Kristine and their two kids, Abbie and Nic, came for a visit. Chris is in the military, and they've recently moved from Ohio to Colorado. It was fun to see them again.

• This was my last year to help coach the mock trial team for CVMS. When I was teaching, coaching the mock trial team became a passion of mine. It is high-stress, exciting, a lot of work, and I love it! The kids are amazing at how well they compete and are able to think through things. I will really miss coaching, but I hope CVMS continues competing. Maybe someday I'll go back to coaching at some school or other...in my free time. =)

• Our big highlight: Sam started walking at the end of March. Watching as Sam runs through the house, destroying everything in his path, it seems impossible that it was just this year that he started walking. I remember wondering if he would ever learn to walk by himself. Now I'm thinking I would have been okay with him taking a little longer to learn!
  

April

• Easter: Sam had a lot of fun with Easter. He is the only grandchild on my side of the family and was the youngest (until Mark) on Nic's side. He got to find a LOT of eggs this year.

• The cousins from Washington were in town for a triathlon. Aunt Heidi, Uncle Mark F., and Aunt Holly all competed in the triathlon and did really well! We had fun cheering for them!

• While the cousins were in town, I did my annual book club with the girls. I started a tradition a couple of years ago, where every at Christmas, the girls get the same book for their present. They then read it and whenever the WA cousins come to town, we do some sort of activity to go with it. Last year, we read Little House in the Big Woods, went to Wheeler Farm, ate old-fashioned candy, and made rag dolls. This year we read Chasing Vermeer and went to the art museum at BYU.
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• We also went as a family to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU. It was a wonderful, uplifting experience.
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May

• This month we began, in earnest, our BIG PROJECT (besides having a baby, the other project): the Yard. Nic completely tore up the lawn (which was more weeds and stickers than grass), leveled everything, and basically started from square one. Sam loved playing in the dirt and in the trenches.

• I had the opportunity of attending some classes in what is called SoJo University. We learned all about our city, including public works, recreation, and government. We met once a week and at the end of eight weeks, we even had a little graduation ceremony during the city council meeting. It was a lot of fun for me, and I learned so much. I would really like to be more involved in my community, and maybe some day run for school board or city council. You heard it here first, folks, I'm announcing my candidacy! =)

• For Memorial Day, we went on our annual camping trip with Nic's side of the family to Out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere, UT (somewhere in the deserts of around Delta). During our camping trip, we got snowed on which sent us packing to Lehman Caves. All in all, it was a fun adventure!
  

• In May, we also got a new neighbor, which began a whole new adventure in of itself. We miss our old neighbors, Tom and Diane, but are slowly getting to know our new neighbor and appreciate her and her quirkiness. Because, hey, we're all quirky in some way, right?!
• At the end of May, beginning of June, we had a little bit of a scary experience with Gus. He kept throwing up and wasn't looking very good, so we took him in to the vet. After our experience with Gimli, it's always so scary to go to the vet. Well, Gus ended up with an infection with his pancreas. Poor guy! He had to fast for two days--no food or water, and he had three different medications he had to take. This is how I learned that I can do anything. I was in charge of giving Gus his medicine which required me to set an alarm to give one medicine three times a day, the other medicine one hour after each dose of the first medicine, and the third medicine twice a day. We also couldn't use any bread or anything like that to help him swallow the pills, so that meant I had to pry open his mouth and literally put my hand down his throat to get the pill down. I don't know who had the worst time--Gus or me! But now, anytime I'm faced with a difficult situation, I think, "If I can get a pill down a 130 lb. dog's throat, I can do this!"
  

June

• We had our annual girl's weekend in St. George. Except this year, we invited four guys to come with us: my dad, my brother, my Uncle Allen, and Felicia's dad. We all had a lot of fun 'under the sea' (it was the Little Mermaid at Tuacahn). Next year, however, to save the guys from the endless shopping and girly giggling, I think we'll go back to just girls. =)

• Sam and I began swim lessons together. It was called 'Parent-Tot' swimming class, and I think we both learned so much, including to overcome our fears of the water. I took swimming lessons as a kid, but never passed. I actually have a certificate that says I didn't pass. Something about sheer terror of water. So this was a great opportunity for me to redeem myself and have some fun with Sam. Plus, everyone was fortunate to see the sexy-pregnant-me in a swimsuit.

• A definite highlight of swim lessons and this year was that we made friends with Shannon and her daughter, Shayla. Shayla is two weeks younger than Sam, and at the time of swim lessons, Shannon was a few weeks behind me in pregnancy. They have proven to be the best of friends and we have had many adventures together. I think that it was divine providence that we met and became friends.

• Starting this month and through out the summer, Shannon and Shayla, my other friend Heidi and her daughter Addison, and Sam and I tried to try different parks in our city. We tried to go once a week (though, admittedly, as I got more pregnant, we didn't go as much) and had fun trying and rating different parks. We'll definitely need to do this again next summer and get all the parks we didn't get to this year.

• This month we also finished our BIG PROJECT. Nic worked so hard on the yard for so many days and nights. I think it was a never ending ulcer for him. Then one Saturday we had a sod party with lots of wonderful helping hands, and the yard was done (mostly). Now we just need to do the finishing touches. But we have grass--hip, hip, hooray!

Gus loves the new yard!

But daddy and Sam found out that it just means more work! =)

July

• This month we had a lot of fun with the 4th of July, Draper Days, and Pioneer day. I was 100% ready to pop, but we still managed to go out and have lots of fun. And now, Sam has a fascination and love for police cars and fire trucks. Sometimes we'll be driving down the street and Sam will suddenly yell, "Woo-woo-wooo--Yay!" which always makes mom promptly check the speedometer to make sure she is going the speed limit!

• To cool off, we got one of those classic plastic swimming pools. It was enjoyed by the whole family, including Gus.

• At the end of the month, we got another visit from our WA cousins and Aunt Heidi & Uncle Mark. We had so much fun playing with them. Two highlights were a trip to the zoo and floating down the canal.

August

• This was a really big month because this is the month when Baby Mark arrived. I can't say much more than it was a life-changing, absolutely awesome MIRACLE! I can't imagine our family without the little guy! Is that all that happened in August? Yeah, pretty much! =)

September

• This month we had some major lowlights and highlights! Who knew so much could happen in just one month? When Mark was just ten days old, he ended up in Primary Children's Hospital with hemoraging on his brain. He was there one day short of two weeks. It was an experience full of ups and downs, great heart ache but even greater blessings. Very soon, the monster post about that experience will be posted! Suffice it to say, he is doing really well now.
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• A major highlight, that deserves more than just a few sentences but this will have to do, is that my baby brother, Jason (known to us as J.D.) married his beautiful sweetheart, Felicia, in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. It is so weird to me that my little brother is married! But they had been dating so long, that I can't really remember the family without Felicia. She is a wonderful, sweet new sister, and I'm excited to continue to get to know her. She is a mighty woman to put up with my bro every day! =) The ceremony was beautiful and really touched my heart. It was such a tender experience to be in the temple and feel of the spirit and see a new family beginning. It also reminded me of the wonderful blessing of forever families while my baby was struggling in the hospital. It was a moment of great love, peace, and joy. And it was the first time I got to be in the temple with my parents and both of my siblings. What a wonderful experience!

The past couple of months were rough on Sam. He got a little brother that he has to share the stage with and he lost one of his sweethearts to Uncle Jason!

• At the end of the month, on September 29th, a good friend from Nic's work, Wade Bills, passed away. He was only 45 years old and just died in his sleep, leaving behind his teenage son, Tyler. Nic had the opportunity to speak at his funeral and did a wonderful job at paying tribute to a fun, big-hearted man. It was a difficult thing for Nic, but he really did a great job. Wade will definitely be missed!

October

• This month, we made our annual pilgrimage to Witchapalooza at Gardner's Village. We had a fun time shopping and looking at all of the fun witch displays. One of these days, we'll get Grandma M to run for Queen Witch!

• Halloween was fun with a little Peter Pan and lost boy Indian. Nic was Captain Hook, and I was Wendy. Sam turned into a sugar fiend and continued his sugar addiction well into January (so did I, so I'm not judging)! We had so much fun trick-or-treating. Sam couldn't figure out how to say 'Trick-or-treat' but by the end of the night would say, "Thank you. See you. Happy Halloween!" Nanny Manda also went with us to Boo at the Zoo, a tradition we started last year.

• We also had another home fun project-re-shingling the house. Nic can now say that he has literally put a roof over our heads!

November

• At the beginning of this month, we blessed our baby boy, Mark. It was a wonderful blessing. It was kind of a bummer because I was trying to write down the blessing, but the microphone kept cutting in and out, so I missed some of it. But from what I heard and knowing that Nic listens to the Spirit and gives wonderful blessings, I know that it was a good blessing. Mark is such a blessing in our lives, and he brings light to everyone who comes in contact with him. Once again, the house was packed with family and friends who came to support little Mark. Aunt Heidi and the kids even came from Washington just for him. It was so good to see so much love and support! We love our baby Mark!

Mark was blessed in his daddy's blessing outfit, complete with daddy's baby blankets and everything!

• I got a new job as a reporter for the South Valley Journal. It's just part-time, but it's just right for me. The first articles that I wrote were quite the learning experience. And while I'm still learning, hopefully, I'm getting better. I cover the education beat, and I love that it keeps me involved with the school world still. I have a press pass and everything!
  

• For Thanksgiving, we went on a road trip to Washington for Daisy's baptism. Mark did really well with the road trip but I think next time we'll think twice before taking a two year old on a 11 hour car drive. I learned that when you think a toddler will go to sleep, he will stay awake the entire time, and that it is not easy to keep him entertained for that long of time. But once we got there, we had a great time. Sam was in hog heaven with having so many cousins to play with constantly and a giant play room. I don't think I really saw him the entire time we were there! Nic had the opportunity to baptize Daisy and it was a very special experience. Daisy has so much spunk and personality--I love that kid!

• We also celebrated Sam's birthday this month. This year our turkey's birthday was on Thanksgiving, so we ended up celebrating before and after Thanksgiving. It wasn't the Sam-tacular event like last year, but Sam was spoiled rotten nonetheless and enjoyed his birthday. I can't believe he is already the terribly terrific TWO! He's getting to be such a big boy! And already so independent (and stubborn)! The Sunday before his birthday, we celebrated in G-ville with my family. Uncle J and Aunt Felicia gave him some stylin' new clothes which, every time he puts them on now, he says, "Thank you, Felicia!" Nanny gave him an Elmo and Elmo movies. Sam loves Elmo! The first few days, he took Elmo everywhere with him and we are constantly watching the Elmo movies. In fact, he is watching an Elmo movie right now as I type this! Nanny sure does know what Sam likes! Grandpa and Grandma gave Sam a motorized car. We laughed so hard watching Sam learn how to ride it. He has to push a button to make it go, and he's a little bit of a jerky driver right now. But he likes to give his stuffed animals, including Elmo, rides. It probably won't be too long before he's giving Mark rides down the drive-way!

While we were in Washington, we also had a party for Sam, the day after Thanksgiving. We had a Cars party with all of the cousins. We played games, decorated cupcakes, opened presents, and had a special Cars cake. It was a lot of fun! I think daddy and Sam's favorite part was racing cars down the ramp.

December

• Right before Christmas, we had two lowlights. The first was that we had to say good-bye to our good friend, Terrie Rasmussen. Terrie was Nic's boss's wife, but so much more than that. She took Nic under her wing a long time ago and has always taken good care of both of us. She was an amazing, loving, spunky person. If you ever wanted to meet someone completely dedicated to her family, Terrie was that person.

• Another lowlight was that we had to take Mark back to Primary Children's hospital to have a shunt put in. He was still having problems with swelling on his brain, so he now has a tube that runs from his brain to his abdomen that drains excessive spinal fluid from his head. The highlight is that he did really well with the surgery, we only had to stay at Primary's for one night, and he is now doing really, really well.

• December was full of Christmas parties and celebrations. This year Santa sent us a new friend, Ernie the Elf to help us get ready for Christmas during the month. Sam really got into Christmas this year and was spoiled rotten. Mark didn't do so bad either! We did the tradition of sleeping over at grandpa and grandma's house in G-ville. Because Christmas was on a Sunday this year, we had the opportunity to celebrate the Savior's birth at church in G-ville at 9 a.m. and then we high tailed it to Draper to go to church with Nic's family at 11 a.m. Then we spent the rest of the day at Papa and Grandma J's house, eating, lounging, and playing with our new toys.

Well, that's about it--our year. Looking back, I can't believe that all happened in just one year! Life has been full of blessings for us, that's for sure!

Sam-isms

Sam cracks me up. He makes me laugh constantly, and usually I'm so involved with trying to keep up with his antics, that I don't have time to write them down. But someday, years from now, when he brings a girl home to meet us, I better have a written record of his Sam-isms. So here's just a few sweet, cute, funny, and just plain Sam moments.

Nic's parents bought this really cute Fisher n' Price Christmas play set. It has a little Christmas tree, a sleigh, a reindeer, a Santa, etc. that Sam can play with. Nic was handing each of the pieces to Sam and asking him what it was. Sam's vocabulary has skyrocketed so we were getting "reindeer", and "Christmas tree". But when Nic handed Santa to Sam, Sam said, "Papa!" With Papa J's full white beard, we had to admit that Sam was right--there is quite the resemblance!

A couple of months ago, I decided to be brave and take the boys to Beauty and Beast being performed at a local high school. Nic had other things going on, so it was just a mommy and her boys date. We were doing really well at first. I brought snacks for Sam and alternate activities but we hadn't even broke into those yet. Sam was sitting next to me, enthralled with the production, and I was holding Mark, trying to get him to go to sleep. Suddenly Mark let out some very impressive canon fire and produced an epic diaper blow-out (of which I will not recount the details) that will go down in the records. I was trying to be discreet (with deadly sulphuric fumes coming from our section) and wait until the end of the song then quietly make our exit to deal with things. Sam, however, was not in on this plan. Sam immediately called out, "Baby toot! Ewww, gross! Baby pooey!" To whomever we were sitting by who happened to be filming the show, we apologize.

Last night we were at my parent's house hanging out. It was just my mom, my sister, Sam, Mark, and me. Well, for Christmas, we had given the cat, Sanders, some little play mice. At some point, I looked in the kitchen and saw the cat playing with what I thought was a toy. Then my sister saw him, and declared that it was a real mouse. I didn't believe her at first but as Sanders moved toward the living room, I could see the mouse, still alive, wriggling, as Sanders carried it by its tail. Pandemonium ensued--screams, climbing on furniture, calls for help. Finally, my sister was brave enough to try to get cat outside amongst my mom and me yelling at her not to make the cat drop the mouse. Mission accomplished, my sister, the brave warrior, returned to the living room only to fall on the floor laughing. We all looked at Sam, who had been silent through out the entire ordeal, and he was just standing there with his eyes and mouth open as wide as he could get them. He looked so funny! The perfect impersonation of the painting, The Scream.

We have a plastic Precious Moments nativity that Sam is able to play with. The other day he was going through each piece and naming it: the shepherd, Mary the mommy, Joseph, the donkey, the sheep, and Baby Jesus. Later, we were told that they were all sleeping and discovered the entire nativity set laying face down, rumps in the air, which is how Sam likes to sleep.

Nic surprised us by getting Christmas lights put up on our house. When Sam first saw the lights, he said, "Oh, pretty! Thank you, daddy!" And now, every time he sees the lights, he says that same thing.

Sam is pretty darn smart, and we like to show him off whenever we can. He can count to ten, sing the ABC's up to Q, and various other 'smart' things. The other day my parents were impressed by how many animal sounds he knew. They were trying to show Sam off to my Uncle Jerry, but Sam wasn't feeling like a performance. They kept asking him, "Sam, what does an owl say?" But he wouldn't respond. Finally, I guess he got tired of them asking, because he responded with a flat, slightly agitated, "It say hoo-hoo!" and then went back to playing without missing a beat.

Now for a tender moment: Christmas night, we were driving home from Nic's parent's house. We live close to an LDS temple, and as we drove past the temple, we could hear Sam in the back seat singing, "The temple is a house of God, a place of love and beauty..."The words and tune were so clear. It was a great reminder that Sam is listening and that I have the best present of all, my family forever.

Learning to Hold On

Click here to view this photo book larger

This is a book that I've been working on. I think/hope it's finally done. It's something that I've been thinking about for quite a long time. Let me know if you might be interested in purchasing a copy. (I'm self-publishing!) Also let me know if you see any editing issues.

Happy Veteran's Day

The kindness of a stranger

I will catch-up someday, but for now I will share a moment from today.
Sometimes (daily), I have these what-were-you-thinking motherhood moments. Today's great idea was to take the boys for a walk. We needed some groceries, the boys needed some fresh air, and it would kill some time before nap time (less time for Sam to destroy the house keeps the mom/maid happy). The grocery store is only about a mile from the house, and it seemed like nice weather. This all sounds good, hypothetically. I did not take into account the force or direction of the wind, however. As we made our way uphill toward the grocery store with a strong wind pushing against us, it felt like a major feat to push the stroller even one foot forward. Let it be noted that the stroller is like a tank and weighs about 130 lbs with Sam and the baby strapped on it.
So picture rosy-cheek Sam up front laughing into the wind, baby Mark on the back all bundled up in his carseat, and me huffing and puffing while pushing with all of my strength against the wind, tears streaming down my face and sweat running down my neck. I was starting to wonder what I was thinking when a car pulled up next to me. This guy explained that he had seen me crossing the road and that he wanted to thank me for all the hard work mothers do. Then he handed me five dollars and told me to treat myself and my kids to lunch or something. I was so taken aback by this stranger's kindness that I didn't know what to say. But I thanked him and smiled against the wind all the way to McDonald's where Sam discovered the joy of Happy Meals and an indoor playland.
On the way home, we crossed paths with an older gentleman who stopped me and, pointing to the boys, said, "This is what is important in life. Don't forget it." He gave my arm a squeeze and then was gone.
Did these two men know that yesterday I was feeling overwhelmed and burned out as a mommy? No, but Someone did. And I am so grateful for the encouragement. I hope all moms out there get this encouragement when they need it because being a mom really is something special. And you know, sometimes those what-were-you-thinking motherhood moments can turn out pretty darn good!

A Birth Story

Mark Emmitt Clay
born August 23, 2011
7 lbs 4 oz, 20 inches long

It has been a month since baby Mark was born, but here is the story of his grand entrance into the world (to the best of my recollection).

Let's begin this story the day before his birth. It was August 22nd, and I was a hormonal, emotional wreck. Because my little brother was getting married on Sept. 9th and giving me only two weeks from birth to wedding, and because Sam had shown up after his due date, we decided to induce on our due date. We could have been induced a week earlier, but I wanted to give the baby his full time in "Casa de Mama". For some reason, knowing the date and time of going into labor was really freaking me out. The baby was following the same patterns as Sam did in his final weeks...basically my boys like my luxurious womb (I'm pretty sure there is a big flat screen in there along with a Love Sac and possibly a pingpong table, thus explaining my enormous belly), and aren't in any rush to drop down and get into position for birth. Back to the emotional wreck. Nanny Manda was witness to my wreckage. She had arrived the week before to stay with us and help take care of Sam. I think she ended up taking more care of me! A bit of advice--the post-partum chapter in What to Expect When You're Expecting that everyone tells you not to read until after you have the baby should really not be read before you have the baby. I read it the day before and suddenly all the memories of the 'after' having a baby came flooding back. So the silly thing was I wasn't terrified about the labor and delivery (give me an epidural, and I'm fine), but instead, terrified about all the after stuff. I was a walking zombie after I had Sam. I was really sore, sleep deprived, and completely shell shocked by the big changes in my life. I think quitting my job as a teacher and becoming a stay-at-home mom was a bigger adjustment than I had anticipated. And I think I had some bouts of post-partum depression that manifested as paranoia to leave the house and insane insecurities about my abilities to be a good mother. And did I mention that I was really, really sore?

Anyway, these memories left me sobbing at the kitchen table on and off through out the day. I remember touching my giant belly through out the day and thinking, "In ____ hours I am going to meet this little guy". It was hard to think about anything else. I also kept hoping that I would just go into labor naturally, but that just wasn't happening. For my last supper as a pregnant woman, Nanny made us Hawaiian Haystacks (yummy and light), and then we spent the evening watching Soul Surfer and trying really hard not to think about the next day.

D-day: August 23, 2011
I had to call the hospital at 7:00 a.m. to find out if they had room for me to come in and to find out what time to come in. They told me to come on in. I got up and quickly got ready. It was so surreal to think that I was getting ready to go have a baby. And I remember not being very patient with Nic. It seemed like it was taking him forever to get ready! Nic gave me a priesthood blessing and then we said an emotional good-bye to Sam. The poor kid was probably so confused by all the tears. It was scary and exciting for me to think about how our little family of three was soon going to be forever changed.

We arrived at the hospital, and I continued to feel like I was in this surreal state of mind. It was so weird to think I was casually going to the hospital to have a baby much like if we were going out to grab a bite to eat. We got checked in, I changed into the figure-flattering hospital gown, and we were ready to go, physically anyway. First thing up: the IV. The first attempt, the nurse, Heather, struggled to find a good, strong vein. I have the worst veins! And I am a wuss. The second attempt was successful until I jerked my hand away and pulled out the IV. On the third attempt, we got it and I held really still. But then I started to feel really woozy. I told Heather that I didn't feel very good. The last thing I remember was her saying something about a cool washrag. The next thing I remembered was waking up with a cool washrag on my head, and Nic saying something about not falling off the bed. Apparently I went as white as the sheets and passed out. "Great!" I thought. "If I can't even handle the IV, how I'm going to deal with the labor?!"

I was hooked up to the monitors to watch my heart rate and the baby's. And they began the Pitocin. Around noon, they broke my water. That was such a weird experience because I think my water didn't break until I was pushing with Sam. It just felt like I was continually peeing my pants. I kept apologizing to the nurse because I wasn't sure that I wasn't. She kept reassuring me that I was fine and that it was all part of her job. Wow, nurses are incredible people! I can't imagine dealing with what they deal with on a daily basis!

Shortly after that, the anaesthesiologist came in to do my epidural. She was good at what she does! I was a little nervous about the epidural and was trying to decide if I should wait until the contractions got a little stronger before getting the epidural. I remember with Sam that the contractions were painful enough to distract from getting a huge needle in my back. But once I was dilated to a three, I decided that that was enough. I was starting to remember just how bad contractions get as you climb that dilation scale and decided that I really didn't want to feel that again. We explained to the anaesthesiologist what happened the last time with my heart rate dropping and me passing out, we told her that I had already passed out once that day, and she put together my very own special "starter" epidural that worked perfectly. No passing out and no pain. Yay! After the epidural was in place, we began our waiting game.

Our nurse, Heather, was amazing! She was a lot of fun, encouraging, and calming. She was spunky and kept giving us a hard time because we didn't have a name for the baby yet. She was sure that the baby didn't want to come out because we didn't have a name for him. "I'm just going to call the little guy Mutt then!" She told us and then spent the rest of the time cheering Mutt on to make his big arrival. However, the baby had other plans. Every time I would have a real strong contraction, the baby's heart rate would drop. I felt like that scene from E.T. where Elliott and E.T. are both sick. Just before the baby's heart rate would drop, I would feel a little woozy and my heart rate would go down a little. We ended up decreasing and increasing the Pitocin over the next several hours. Once again, we were going for a longer labor.

Nic's parents dropped in a couple of times during that time and my mom was there. Nanny Manda was home with Sam waiting for the cue to come to the hospital. My doctor's office is on the third floor of the hospital, so he was able to drop in occasionally and check on me. Mostly, we just sat there and waited. I was feeling anxious about the baby. I didn't like watching his little heart rate drop so much. I just wanted him to come out and to know that he was okay.
At some point, Nic and his dad gave me a blessing. It was interesting because with Sam, I was given a blessing and instantly things started to working out and Sam was ready to come out. This time, however, it wasn't an instant answer. But I did receive instant comfort and strength. We still had a bit of a long road ahead of us, but I knew that it would all be okay. Another interesting fact: the most recent scripture story I had read was in Mosiah in the Book of the Mormon where it talks about two different groups of people that were in bondage. One group prayed to escape from bondage and were immediately given divine help to escape. The other group also prayed to escape bondage but instead of immediate delivery (I could make a pun here with my situation that I'm comparing to...), "the Lord did ^astrengthen them that they could bear up their ^bburdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with ^cpatience to all the will of the Lord." Through the rest of the delivery, I still worried when I would see the baby's heart rate go down, but I also just felt a great peace that we were being watched over.

Finally, around 6:00 p.m., the doctor and nurse decided to try and challenge the baby. We would keep the Pitocin and contractions going and really watch the baby's heart rate. Everything really picked up at this point. The doctor decided we were going to need to use the baby vacuum and so all of a sudden all this equipment arrived in the room. Kind of a funny story--I had decided when I first found out that I was pregnant, that for the delivery, I just wanted Nic, me, and the hospital staff in the room. I didn't want any family in the room, because I wanted some time with the new baby, just us. I had informed all of our family of this plan, but I think my mom was trying to override it. When things were starting to pick up, I noticed her sitting quietly to the side. I didn't want to hurt her feelings but I also really wanted the time alone with the baby. So I told Nic to tell her that she needed to leave (the joy of delegation!). Nic turned to my mom and said, "Mom, you've been voted off the island!" I had thought he would have done it a little nicer! Oh well. My mom looked slightly irked, but she left. The doctor told me to push while he tried to position the baby and bring him down. So I did some pushing. The doctor did one little suck with the vacuum, and suddenly told me to stop pushing. Apparently, the baby was out! While I thought we were still just positioning, I delivered the baby. He just popped out after only ten minutes of pushing. We discovered the reason that he didn't want to drop down and why his heart rate kept dropping was because his umbilical cord was wrapped twice around his neck. Whenever a contraction would push him down, it would tighten up the cord. What a miracle that he came out okay! Nic cut the cord and then we got to cuddle with our new beautiful baby and take some pictures. He was such a beautiful baby. Baby Arliss was born with a head full of platinum blonde hair. All of the nurses kept commenting on his hair. I guess it's common for dark haired babies to have lots of hair, but not blondies. Nic says that he was born already needing a haircut!
Heather ran interference for us with the anxious family outside the door by telling them that the room needed to be cleaned up before anyone could come in. Nic and I spent half an hour with our new son just loving him and welcoming him to the world. It was wonderful! We sang I Am a Child of God to him and told him all about his new family. It's always such a surreal experience to meet your baby for the first time, to meet the little one who has been growing and kicking and wiggling inside of you for the past few months. And you really can feel the bits of heaven still clinging to a new baby. It's hard to describe the feeling. And it's amazing the love that you feel. I mean I love Nic so much and I love Sam with all of my heart and somehow I love this new little guy with all of my heart too. You never realize how much you can love until you're holding that new little one in your arms.



Pretty soon it was time to introduce the baby to his family. Once they were allowed in, they exploded in! Both sets of grandparents were there along with Nanny Manda and Sam. Sam wasn't too sure of what to make of all of it. He was happy to see Nic and me again and was really clingy with me. He could tell something big had happened. He just wanted to sit on my lap and be held. At first, he really didn't want to have anything to do with the baby. Then he wanted to hold him, but only for two seconds. Then he would yell out, "Noooooo! Mommy!" So he might not look too excited in those first family pictures. After the initial meeting, Sam discovered there were lots of buttons to push in the room, so he was a happy camper again.

After the family left, Nic's brother, Mark and his wife, Elivania, showed up for a visit. It was fun to introduce the baby to his namesake. We had decided at the beginning of my pregnancy that we wanted to include Mark's name in the baby's name. We hadn't decided on any of the particulars yet, but we did get to tell Uncle Mark that this new little guy was going to be named after him. I think that Uncle Mark was thrilled (though Uncle Mark's thrilled is hard to recognize--he has a great poker face!). Once they left, we gave the baby his first bath. This was around 11 pm, and we were all exhausted at this point. Heather was so sweet. She stayed hours after her shift was over just to make sure the baby was okay and to make sure we were all set up and good to go. Nic finally left to go home and take a shower. He was planning on coming back, but ended up falling asleep laying across the bed with one shoe on and the other still in his hand and didn't make it back until the morning. Because Sam had ended up in the NICU, I was determined to have the baby with me in the room the entire time this time around. But then I ended up being so exhausted and he kept choking on left-over amniotic fluid, so the nurse asked me if I wanted to send him to the nursery, and I conceded. We were all pretty much exhausted from such a long, wonderful day!

So that's about it. That's the baby's birth story. Here's just a couple of highlights from our hospital stay though:
-Nic attended a breastfeeding class with me the next morning, and I really feel like that made such a difference. Baby and I were able to get off to a great start with nursing, and I think Nic's support and help was a big factor in that.
-We loved all the family and friends who visited. We had so much fun showing off our new little one!
-The hospital gave us a fancy dinner one night with a decorated table, good food, and carbonated apple juice in champagne glasses to celebrate our new baby.

-ALL of our nurses were AWESOME. We didn't have even one not-nice nurse.
-And, of course, the photographer came around to take the baby's picture, and we ended up spending lots of money because 1) hospital baby pictures have come a long way since the baby mugshots of my day, and 2) our baby is absolutely adorable!

--The naming of the baby was quite the process. In fact, we ended up staying at the hospital two hours after we were discharged because we couldn't leave without giving them the baby's name for the birth certificate. We wrote down the names on the nurse's white board in the room and slowly whittled the list down to the top ten and then the top five and then the top three. It was quite the ordeal. Like I mentioned earlier, we knew we wanted to name the baby after his Uncle Mark and we knew we wanted to name him after his Uncle Clay (our good friend who is more like family). With Sam, we gave him two middle names, after both grandpas, because we wanted to honor both grandpas and weren't sure if we would have anymore children. We decided that having three names will be our own little tradition in our family. And so we needed a third name for the baby. We finally decided on Mark Emmitt Clay. Emmitt isn't a family name or anything; it's just a name we liked, and I like that it gives the baby a little bit of his own uniqueness. I think Sam's name sounds like a politician or lawyer or something like that. Mark's name sounds like a movie star. We'll see someday! For now, he is my little movie star, and my wonderful, sweet miracle.


Going home:

When we got home, we were surprised to find that Nanny Manda and Sam had decorated the front yard to welcome us home and had gifts and balloons for the new baby.