https://picasaweb.google.com/103753336633055957263/2014_03_Slideshow
FAMILY: March was a difficult month to face
as we remembered our baby boy’s death. It was still full of tender mercies and
wonderful family times, though. Aunt Cindy sent us a Flat Stanley at the beginning
of the month & the girls had fun introducing him to the bunny, going on the
slide with him, riding their scooters, etc. The 6th was Heidi’s
birthday & Jason & the girls were so sweet– read her section for more
details. We headed to St. George on the 8th to go to the temple. It
was neat and the girls had fun playing with their cousins, along with Jason’s
cousin’s girls, Sloan and Piper. Our sweet neighbor, Lori Blackner, is moving
this month and she has been so great to give us toys she no longer needs – LOTS
of barbies, paper dolls, a pretend fridge and sink, and lots of baby stuff. It’s
been like Christmas around here with all the new toys! They are also very
special because they were her daughter’s toys & she died 17 years ago from
cancer. Ireland & McKinley worked
with their dad this month on science fair projects – see their sections for all
the fun things they did. On the 16th after church we headed to the
park & brought Sydney & Rainbow Truck. It was such a nice day &
they all had fun running around and playing. The 17th was St. Patrick’s Day
& the girls had fun trying to go around pinching everyone. They made sure
they wore their green – and even dressed Sydney in green so she wouldn’t get
pinched – and we had Lucky Charms for breakfast, green sandwiches for lunch,
and green eggs and ham for dinner! The 18th was Ireland’s 1st
grade Little Engine that Could play & we all came to support her. It was so
cute. The 19th was the McKinley & Ireland’s last day of dance
club on Wednesday afternoons after school. They have had fun! Grandma Potts
came on the 25th and stayed until the 30th. She was so
great to help with the girls, the house, and getting ready for Noelle. She
& the girls had fun going to North Elementary to see their science fair
projects, playing guitar, doing the Easy
Bake Oven, having a tea party, making cards and name links for Link’s
angelversary, having lunch with Heidi, going to the park, having a chocolate
treasure hunt, helping McKinley sew a hotpad, and going with McKinley &
Heidi to Women’s Conference. We all loved having her here & looking forward
to her return when Noelle comes. She also brought with her our nativity set
from Jerusalem (YAY!!!), and 2 beautiful hand-made blankets for Noelle – one from
GG Tew & one from Aunt Cindy. Mom also bought the movie Frozen this month
and it has been watched at least a half-dozen times. The girls LOVE it!
JASON: Jason
continues to be our handyman & save us lots of money – at the beginning of
the month, he changed the brake pads on both vehicles. Jason enjoyed helping the girls come up with ideas for their
science projects. He spent a lot of time on youtube looking up neat possibilities,
buying things for their projects, and then experimenting and taking videos and
pictures. He also enjoyed going to the science fair & seeing all the neat
projects. He still likes to stay up late, learning about astrological
happenings and economic and world changes. Jason had a business trip this month
where he went to Ogden for a week. He said it went well & he enjoyed
learning a lot and re-connecting with budget people in the region. He took the
day off for Link’s angelversary and enjoyed doing temple work – especially sealings
for our ancestors. He bought Link a shiny new matchbox car and placed it on the
track at his grave. On the 30th, Jason was in charge of a caving
expedition with his scouts. They went to Bloomington cave, near St. George, and
had a great time. In other big news, he finally cut his hair!! J
HEIDI:
March was Heidi’s last full month of
pregnancy & she is VERY thankful for that. Fatigue, along with soreness and
carpal tunnel have been making it harder & harder to get basic things done.
She is SO excited to get this baby girl out of her tummy and into her arms! She
has been trying to cherish Noelle’s movements, though, and her regular hiccup
episodes J There have been so many kind gifts given for Noelle –
homemade blankets and onesies and clothing. It’s been so sweet. The 6th
was Heidi’s 35th birthday. The family was so sweet and spoiled her –
she got breakfast in bed with her favorite cereal – Golden Grahams. Jason
worked from home that day and was extra sweet. When the girls got home,
McKinley proceeded to get out things for mom’s at-home spa (Jason had made a
special shopping trip the day before). She turned on relaxing music, put a facial
mask on mom, cucumbers on her eyes, massages for her hands and feet (Ireland
& Kezia helped with the messages), a foot soak, a yogurt parfait, and
painting mom’s hands and feet. She got the idea of the spa from a Fancy Nancy
book and it was as wonderful as could be J That evening, we had a sitter over
while Heidi & Jason got to go to a nice restaurant – The Depot Grill. She
also had a couple friends stop by with sweets and gifts. It was a wonderful
birthday, even with the heartbreak of wanting Link here, too. Link’s
angelversary was hard and sweet at the same time. She enjoyed the time at the
temple and was humbled by the outpouring of love & support from family and
friends that day – including flowers from the Keate & Corrys and a book
from the Ekker & Cospers. She was so thankful that her mom was here and the
end of the month to help with the girls and especially be there on the hardest
day – the day that we put Link’s clothes into storage (see the blog for more
details). That day was VERY difficult & she was thankful for the help of
her mom & McKinley. Heidi was touched when the primary called her into the
room and all the activity day girls were standing in the front with a handmade
quilt. It was presented to her and was so very thoughtful! Most of the rest of any
spare time in March was spent doing video transfers. She’s transferred over 100
videos! She was also excited for finally get her blogs printed into books! Yay!
McKINLEY:
-It was parent-teacher conferences
this month & again McKinley’s teacher, Mrs. Hardin, had nothing but great
things to say about McKinley – what a great student, friend, and leader she is.
She has done so well on all her tests and is also a great helper. GREAT JOB
McKINLEY!
-McKinley’s science fair project had
to do with static electricity. With wool socks on, and dad’s wool boot liners,
after she walked around on the carpet for a while, she was able to touch the
wire of an LED lightbulb and make it light up! She had fun learning about
protons, neutrons, electrons and atoms. Her project looked great and she was a
finalist in her fair! AWESOME McKINLEY!
-McKinley has some math goals at
school that she can work on in her spare time. She passed off addition earlier
& this month she passed off subtraction and now she’s on to multiplication.
YAY!
-McKinley has been wanting to come up
with a dance routine, so she videotaped herself signing and doing actions to “Call
Me Maybe.” It’s so cute. She also worked on memorizing “Beautiful for me” and
has performed it for Grandma Potts and the Edwards.
-Other McKinley creativity this month
includes giving mom a full at-home spa treatment on her birthday, doing a
VeggieTales puppet show, drawing different kinds of “girls” (butterfly girl,
math girl, heart girl, etc) and writing sweet cards for her family.
-Grandma helped McKinley sew her
first hotpad on her sewing machine! – thanks Grandma!
-We watched Link’s slideshow at the
end of the day of his angelversary and at the end, McKinley had buried her face
into her Link Bear and was crying. Mom held her close & they sobbed
together. She really was missing her baby brother that day L We are so thankful that Link has
McKinley for a sister – she is so sweet and loving and caring.
-Mom and dad had an interview with
McKinley this month. Mom started out by asking her some questions &
McKinley said “Mom – you’re being all parent-y”
-At the end of the month, McKinley
got to do something really special! For the first time, they allowed all women
and girls ages 8 and up to attend Women’s conference, so McKinley got to go
with mom and grandma & it was a sweet experience. The talks, songs, and
videos were so inspiring and we got to Hermie’s afterwards for fries and mozzarella
sticks – yum!
IRELAND:
-Ireland finished all the books on
her book in a bag list & got a gift certificate for a smoothie, so mom took
her and Ireland over to Tropical Smoothie one day and got a yummy smoothie –
way to go Ireland!
-Ireland’s parent-teacher conference
went well this month. Mrs. Comstock says she is very creative, kind, and smart!
She is one of the best readers in her class. We just need to work a little more
on math!
-Mom went to her school a few times
this past month & she had some fun things on the wall. One was a poster
that said who her hero was. She wrote “my cousins.” And the other paper said
she was lucky because… “I know how to count to ten. I have my teacher. I am
cool. I can read” J
-For FHE, we were talking about the
different ordinances we obtain and how they help us (and our dead by proxy in
the temple) be together with our Heavenly Father again. Mom said “First comes
baptism. What comes next?” Ireland piped up “then comes marriage. Then comes
the baby in the baby carriage!”
- Ireland had a sore throat at the
beginning of the month & mom found out it was strep with an at-home test.
At the doctor’s, she had the choice for a single shot or 10 days of
antibiotics. She chose the antibiotics (which she complained about for the next
10 days). Glad we’re done with that! Poor Ireland had to miss a fun field trip L the doctor told us to keep track of
her strep to make sure she won’t need her tonsils out.
-Ireland’s science project was fun –
it was an experiment using a vase, balloons, baking soda, and vinegar. When the
baking soda was poured into the vinegar, it would react and fill the balloon
with carbon dioxide. It was fun to watch and use different amounts of ingredients
to see how big the balloons would get. Her project turned out really great!
-Ireland made a sweet surprise for mom
– she took 15 pieces of paper, folded each one in half, and made a heart. She gave
all 15 hearts to mom!
-Ireland has had a hard time finding
friend to play with lately L Her good friend Isabella moved away, and she doesn’t
have the numbers of most of her school friends L
-Ireland was SO CUTE in her Little
Engine that Could 1st grade play. She was part of the Little Blue
Train – the hero train! And we loved to hear her little song “I think I can, I
think I can… I try, try, try cuz I think I can!” It was so fun!
-Ireland had a very hard night one
night when she made a bad choice with grandma’s ipad and couldn’t have ice
cream with the rest of the family. She REALLY threw a fit and was screaming and
hitting and kicking and yelling very mean things at mom & dad. It was a sad
night to see her struggle, but thankfully by bedtime, she had calmed down and
was okay.
KEZIA –
-It was Kezia’s lunch date this month
and she got to go to IHOP with dad on a Saturday morning. How fun!
-Kezia is rocking her sight words!
Her preschool teacher gave her a bunch of printed cards with sight words and
she has about 80% memorized. Also – we use the MySightWords app to learn words
and she’s up to about 50 words. Yay Kezia!
-Mom must have looked very tired because
one morning, Kezia patted mom on the arm & said “mom, I think you should
rest while I’m at preschool.”
-Noelle was moving around during
sacrament meeting one day & mom put Kezia’s hand on her tummy. Kezia said
in a rather loud voice “I think that’s probably her bum, mom!”
-Kezia asked mom one day “how many o’clocks
is it?”
-One of the things Kezia has been
saying a lot lately is “What the what!?”
-For some reason, Kezia is obsessed
lately with making cards and putting them in envelopes to mail to people. She will
make 3-5 a day for people – friends, church people, etc – and give them to mom
to send in the mail. Tiarra and Aunt Keeley were both sick this past month
& Kezia immediately went & drew them a get well picture. Thankfully,
she let mom just take a picture & text it to them without having to mail it
J Kezi is getting really good at
sounding out words and writing them. Mom & dad can usually tell what she
has written!
-In the store one day, Kezia made a
sad choice and ate some lettuce from the produce department, so mom had to end
up buying it. Mom said she was disappointed in Kezia, but Kezia was mad right
back and said “if you keep saying that, I will take away your hearts” (she
often says I love you infinity hearts)
-We were heading out the door one day
& mom asked her to get her coat on, reminding her it was on the floor.
Kezia said “Indeed it is.”
-one day as we were driving, Kezia said
“We shouldn’t do this – huh, mom?” Mom looked back to see her sticking up her
middle finger. She kept doing it and asking mom & mom kept saying “yes,
that is not a nice thing to do.” Kezia said “yeah… it makes Jesus feel bad.”
-Kezia has been planning out her
birthday for 2 months (or more). Her birthday isn’t till October, but she knows
she wants a Frozen cake with Anna and Elsa rings on it, an Olaf piñata, an Elsa
dress, pink and purple hats, balloons that say happy birthday with silly faces
on them, and she already knows who she is inviting. Quite the planner!!
-Speaking of birthdays, Kezi LOVES
birthday parties. She takes the church program to mom on Sunday in sacrament
meeting, points at the list of birthdays and says “who’s birthday party can we
go to?”
-In ward conference, we were
sustaining church leaders and he said “D. Todd Christofferson.” Kezi, looked at
mom with wide eyes and said excitedely “mom – he said Kristoff!” (from the
movie Frozen)
-Kezi also likes to draw pictures
of Super Mario or My Little Pony, and tape them above and around the beds.
-Mom realized just how much Kezi
gets a hold of her phone at the end of the month and she is downloading
pictures & videos and there are QUITE a few self pictures & videos of
miss Kezia.
LINK:
Link must have known how hard this month would be on us and he
sent us so many beautiful sunrises, sunsets and rainbows. We even saw a little
rainbow on the mortuary building where he had been – and Trisha caught a
rainbow on his angelversary. Mom was also allowed to have a beautiful dream
where she got to hold him and tell him how very much she loved him and he gazed
back at her with so very much love. It was wonderful. Another sweet love note
was Heidi’s SIDS mom friend had a dream the night before his angelversary about
Link, her son Wilhelm, and another SIDS mom’s son, Charlie, all sitting on a
rainbow quilt, playing, drooling, and baby talking together. It was SUCH a
sweet, tender mercy to learn of her dream. This month, they finally published
Link’s story in the Dixie Regional Medical Center’s newsletter. It got 335 “likes,”
63 “shares” & 43 sweet comments. It was great to feel like Link’s story
touched others’ lives and made them want to also do something for someone else.
For Link’s angelversary, Jason & Heidi went to the temple in the morning (after
seeing a beautiful sunrise) & were able to do an endowment session and 11
sealings! It was a wonderful experience and we both felt like Link was close.
That afternoon, amidst the snow, we brought homemade cards to his bench and let
go of balloons. Afterwards we watched his funeral slideshow and held our Link
Bears. Later, we brought almost THIRTY family names, linked together in a
chain, to decorate his bench with, including names of friends who had done
family names in Link’s honor. It was so neat to see all those sweet names on
his bench and feel his spirit and know we are helping him in the work. Also,
Jason’s cousin, Shannon Richardson, has a baby boy who’s birthday is on the same
day as we buried Link and in leiu of gifts every year for Connor’s birthday,
she is asking for donations for the Ronald McDonald House in Link’s name. She
was able to raise $180 this year – THANKS SO MUCH Shannon! Going through Link’s
clothes this month and boxing them up to make way for Noelle’s was a
heart-wrenching experience. So many sweet memories with those clothes & it
made us miss our baby boy SO much! We can’t believe it’s been a whole year –
and at the same time, it’s a whole year closer to being with him again. We are
praying for his help this next month in watching over and helping his new baby
sister enter this world. WE LOVE YOU LINK!!!
Once we got there & situated, they checked me (I was a 4) and started the pitocin about 5am. My deal with this pregnancy was that if I went into labor completely on my own, I would try & go natural, but if my water was broken or I had to get pitocin, bring on the epidural. I had the same anesthesiologist as I had with Link for my epidural & it was, once again, fabulous. I could move my legs, but had no pain. Which was, again, a very good thing for all they had to do at the end. At about 8:30 or so, my midwife came in and broke my water & stripped my membranes. After that the contractions were coming faster. Her heartrate decelerated when the contractions came, so I turned on my side for a while & my other side for another while. At about 10am the nurse checked me and I was at an 8. Yay! But the heartrate was decelerating even more with every contraction - into the 60s & 70s. I really got worried when I'd hear her regular little galloping heartbeat & then the contractions would come and it would really slow down to sound like an adult heartbeat. My midwife came & decided that I needed to have that baby right away. Also - they had seen some meconium leaking & wanted to get her here. Well, apparently (like Link) she was posterior and took some convincing to turn. So I pushed on my back, then on my side, while Jason was trying to push my tummy to one side as I pushed her out. Everything was just kind of crazy for a bit. They called Dr. Polson - our peditrician - and he came running. The heartrate still seemed way too slow. And in between pushes, I looked up at the ceiling, the bright lights, and I prayed. I pleaded that Link would be there to get his baby sister here safely. I pleaded she would be okay and these medical professionals would know what to do. After she had turned, I was able to push her out (10:50 am), and I watched as my midwife untangled her from her cord. It was around her neck, under her arm, and around her leg. Scary. But she was finally, finally here. And she was okay. And I was SO grateful. 
Noelle is 6 days old now. She is so so precious. I am cherishing this time with her - nursing her, watching her sleepy smiles, loving how she already seems so intent to focus on you or the fan or the light coming in through the windows. Since she came so fast, she had a lot of fluid still in her that took a good 3 days for her to cough up. We're glad she's done with that & seems to be eating, sleeping and pooping well :)
As for my anxieties, they are there. I still check on her a lot in the night and during the day - even more than I did with McKinley - and even though I have the Snuza monitor on her. I am intent to make sure she is breathing. Watching her chest rise and fall is what soothes my heart. 
