Making Bread with Friends!

 Beautiful girlies - Kylee and Lexi

 And pretty Mama - Erin

 Helpers! They were the official taste testers.

 And, of course, the babies!

 Taking a break from bread-making.

 Malachi and Lexi each got a bit of dough to kneed for themselves.

 And Kylee got to help with the real thing!

And more babies...

Grandma Vickie and Aunt DiAnn's Birthday Party!

We had a b-day bash for two very special ladies in our family! They have been best friends since high school. It was great having a bunch of family over - my parents and brothers, DiAnn and Al, G-ma Vickie and G-pa Dennis, and Meme and Pepe.Birthday Girls making a wish
Pepe trying to figure out how the toy works
Morgan taking a little nap

How cute is this?!

All wore out

Mo Is Growing Fast!

Where is time sneeking off to?

We have had an exciting summer:

We were blessed with a beautiful home that we can see ourselves growing old in (though you never know what the future holds!).

We have watched as our two precious little boys grow and change each day.

We have made some new friends and have gotten back in touch with some old ones.

We are constantly reminded of how blessed we are to have such loving, supportive parents and grandparents holding us up on every side.

Travis and I have been growing in God's grace, learning what it means to train our children in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord." May He continue to teach us, and may we continue to turn to Him for forgiveness in our failures!

Here is a long over-due update on our littlest blessing, Morgan Jackson. What joy he brings us EVERY DAY!

I just don't even know what to say about this... it's cute.

"You really think I'm going to let you take a picture of my tooth?" I really think that is what he was saying here. But...

I got one! It's a bit out of focus and it took about 20 trys, but here it is! His 1st tooth!

I've been opening up the house early in the a.m. It's been beautiful!

Infant spelunking

More infant spelunkingPlaying peek-a-boo!
Look what Morgan can do!
He loves to eat bananas!

He gets himself up here and then he can't get down. Poor thing.

How to Make a Baby Burrito

To all of my friends - old and new - who are having babies, I wanted to share a bit of wisdom I learned that has been a huge help in helping our new babies to adjust to this new world. There are few things more stressfull than a crying baby that you can't seem to soothe.

A little back ground, first. For 9 months, a baby is warm, snuggled tighted, constantly rocked with it's mother's motions, and his ears are filled with the loud swishes and gurgles of mom's heart beat, blood flow, etc. (think of what you hear when you listen thru a stethescope). Then, the baby is born, no longer tightly enveloped, bright lights, and loud noises (not the calming white noise he was accustomed to). Our jobs as parents is to help this adjustment be a bit easier, and swaddling, white noise and jiggling are a few ways to do this.

The 1st thing is called "swaddling". I didn't know how to effectively swaddle a baby until I was taught and I'm assuming I'm not the only one in my generation who was never taught how to do this!It helps the baby feel secure, like he's being hugged - and, more important for the parents, it will help him sleep better! :)

MATERIALS:

1 - baby

1 - blanket (square work the best)

1 - flat surface

STEP 1:

Lay out blanket diagonally and fold down the top corner.

STEP 2 :

Place baby on the blanket whith his neck right on the fold. (Make sure the fold is not above his shoulders. This would put the blanket right at his mouth, which will tease his rooting reflex and make him want to eat!)

STEP 3:

Tuck the baby's arm slightly under his back and hold it there, being sure the blanket is pulled taught under the baby, with no wrinkles.

STEP 4:

Tuck the corner TIGHTLY under the baby's back. She should not be able to pull her arm away from her side. Otherwise, the baby will break out of the swaddle. (You are more likely to not pull it tight enough than to pull it too tight! Once your wrap is done, if you want to be sure it isn't too tight, just be sure you can slip you hand between your baby's chest and the blanket. If the baby keeps breaking out of the swaddle, you aren't pulling it tight enough!)

STEP 5:

Pull the bottom corner up to fold in the feet. In smaller babies, you can tuck the corner in underneath the baby's chin. This step can be skipped if you are going to place the baby in a carseat where you have to place a strap between his legs.

STEP 6:

Tuck the baby's other arm slightly under his side and hold it there. Pull the remaining corner TIGHTLY across the baby's chest and pull it around to the back, again being sure there are no wrinkles and he can't pull his arm out.

And now you have... a baby burrito!

Another helpful hint: White noise - LOUD white noise - is very helpful in getting a baby to calm down and sleep. You can get loud white noise a number of ways. We use our furnace, and also an alarm clock that plays "nature" sounds. Morgan really likes the "waterfall" setting. We put it on full blast and he sleeps so well! Nothing to make white noise for you? A strong "SSSHHHHH" works just as well.

You can also set a radio or TV to "snow" and turn it up. We have a baby toy that plays a water sound, and it works OK, but it isn't loud enough to be as effective as the other things we've tried. Babies do fine with loud noises. While in the womb, the sounds he heard 24 hours a day were about the equivalent of a vacuum cleaner. This is why an infant can sleep thru his mom vacuuming the house (I've tried it many times!).

One more tip! Jiggle your baby, not hard of course, but jiggle her so her little head waves a bit like jello. Sounds crazy, but it helps to calm a baby. Firmly pat the baby's butt, and see her body slowly relax.

(I got all of these tips from the book 'The Happiest Baby on the Block'.)

Birth Story - Part II

Well, I’ve waited long enough to finish this story. I want to get it written before I forget the details! If you haven’t yet read Part I, click HERE to do so. It explains why we decided to have a home birth.

So we left off where I came downstairs thinking my labor may have started. Sure enough, the contractions persisted, and we called the midwife, Jill, to let her know we wouldn’t be coming in to be induced this morning! The next phone call was to Kat, another midwife from whom we rented the birth tub. She came and set it up for us. The tub came with heaters to keep the temp at a little over body temperature. Kat checked dilation; I was at 4 cm. and 75% effaced. She also noticed that my bag of waters was still intact. The gush of water was simply the outer sack. We learned that there are 2 parts to the water sac: the fore-bag and the main-bag. I also learned that the water sac is usually retained when the mother has had a good diet.

Before Kat even got there, however, my mom and Grandma Vickie arrived! We told them not to rush over – it could be a long day – but they were not going to take any chances. Also, we called Jacque Owens, a friend from church. I found out she was interested in becoming a labor and delivery nurse and possibly a midwife. Thinking it would be a great opportunity for her to see a natural birth, I invited her to come to the birth. She was so excited, and I was thrilled to provide such an experience for someone who could one day help others wisely make decisions about their births.

Everyone who was coming to the birth had been notified. Now, I just had to sit back and let my body do its work. We turned on Dennis the Menace, one of our favorite movies. I slowly breathed and focused on relaxing during each contraction; I didn’t want to fight what my body was doing. The contractions began to get more uncomfortable, and I tried to keep in mind that each one was bringing me closer to meeting my baby – and finding out whether he was a boy or girl! I was getting very eager to know if I was carrying a Morgan or a Natalie!

Sheila was in charge of keeping the time on the contractions. Jill had told she’d come over when they were 5 min. apart and 60 sec. long or whenever I felt like I wanted her. Around noon, I made the call. I wanted her there. The contractions were over 60 sec. though not consistently 5 min. apart, but they were getting more intense. I was having back labor and Travis put counter-pressure on my lower back, which I remembered helped a lot in my labor with Malachi (I had back labor with him, too). It felt good, but wasn’t quite as effective as it was during my last labor. I was getting very eager to get in the birth tub, but I wanted to wait till Jill got there and checked dilation – somehow I knew once I got in I wouldn’t want to get out!

She arrived around 1:00 and introductions were made. She had only met my mom before, and she had brought her sister, Gina, along as an assistant. Once everyone had met, we went upstairs. She checked me and I was still at 4 cm., but 90% effaced. And I finally got to jump in the pool. It felt so good! The contractions were getting stronger and I really had to focus on relaxing. In the tub it was so easy to maneuver into a more comfortable position. During each contraction, I got on my knees and hung over the side of the tub with my head resting on my folded arms. Between them, I sat back and rested against the tub wall. I was continually reminded to drink water are eat some food to keep my energy up. Muncle Dylan was downstairs watching Malachi for us during all of this– what a huge help!

The tub felt SOOO good when contractions started getting more serious!

Eventually I felt like I needed a little support, so I asked Travis to get in. I continued to hang over the side while he did counter pressure, but I rested on him between contractions. I was getting nauseated during contractions. After a long time in the tub, Jill said I should get out to go to the bathroom and to maybe speed things up by moving around a bit. I told her that sounded like a terrible idea! But I knew she was right, so I got out. I sat on the exercise ball for a little while. She told me to let her know when I began to feel lots of pressure in the lower front of my abdomen, and I told her I was already feeling it there.

I remember hearing her telling someone around this time that we could have a baby anytime, or we could be here till midnight. I knew I couldn’t keep on like this till midnight! I was beginning to feel like I couldn’t do it, and that was a sure sign that the end was near. You can tell where you’re at in your labor by how you’re doing emotionally – at the beginning, you’re excited because the day has finally arrived; then you get really serious because it’s hard work; and then, when the end is almost there, you feel like you simply can’t do it anymore. And the good news at that point is, you won’t have to do it much longer!

I then lay down on the bed. She checked dilation again and said I was at 8 ½ cm. completely effaced except for a small lip of cervix. I stayed on the bed for a while until I realized if I lay there much longer, I might not make it into the tub for the birth! So back in we went. I asked her to rupture the bag of waters to speed things up, and the pushing stage began soon after. It lasted about 35 minutes. I was so tired, I didn’t want to push, but Jill was so encouraging. I felt the baby’s head with my hand as it descended. They told me he had hair!

I remember thinking I didn’t want to push too hard because I was afraid of tearing. Jill used olive oil to massage the perineum to keep the blood flowing and prevent tears. The warm water in the tub is also great for that. Finally, the head was out – what a huge relief! In the next contraction or two the rest of him was out. Travis announced we had another boy! “Hi, Morgan!” I cried. He was immediately put on my chest and covered with a warm wet blanket and he got a hat. She suctioned him out. I had to be careful to keep his face out of the water! He was so beautiful. I wanted them to go get Malachi to meet his brother. We had just experienced another miracle.

Morgan coming out of the water to take his 1st breath. My hard work finally paid off! What an amazing picture!

Holding Morgan Jackson for the first time.

Travis holding his new son for the first time.

The Grandmas get their chance to hold the baby while mom and dad go take a shower.

We held Morgan in the tub for a while. Jacque cut the cord after it had stopped pulsing. After I delivered the placenta, we handed him over to the grandmas so we could take a shower. After the shower I lay down for the night. Morgan nursed for about 45 minutes. I was having bad afterpains – the contractions that get the uterus back down to its normal size. First-time moms don’t have these pains because the uterus is more elastic and contracts more easily. These contractions were an unexpected, unpleasant surprise! It was then time to measure this little baby. Jill used a sling to weigh him (to see a picture, click HERE) – we were all surprised to find out he was 9 pounds! He was 21 in. long, with a 14 in. chest and head. After a glass of wine and some ibuprofen to help with the bad contractions, we said good-bye to everyone and settled in for some much-needed sleep with little Morgan right by my side! A great ending to an eventful day.

Many people have asked me how this labor compared to my last. It was definitely more difficult. This may have been partly due to the baby being so much bigger (Malachi was 7 lb. 4 oz., Morgan 9 lb. 1 oz.), but the main reason, I believe, is because I was in terrible shape. The last couple weeks were very difficult – I couldn’t even walk around the grocery store without pain in my legs and groin. I don’t remember being as sore or exhausted when I was pregnant with Malachi. The last 2 days of this pregnancy were miserable. Labor is a major physical challenge – so going into labor in such bad shape obviously was going to make things more difficult. At this point, I am almost completely recovered from the birth, but I’m still feeling the effects of the pregnancy!

I would definitely consider doing a home birth again. It would be very difficult to consider ever delivering in a hospital again!

As I look at our new son and at the amazing adventure of bringing him into this world, I can’t help but say with the psalmist David, “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Harvest Fest, Las Vegas

We went to Vegas this weekend for Granny's birthday and a midwife appointment. On Sunday evening, we went to their church's Harvest Festival - Malachi had a BLAST! I wish we would've thought to bring his monkey costume!Helping Granny paint a pumpkin
Muncle Dylan, Granny and the Boy

Travis attempting the ring toss - it was hard!

Malachi getting some help from Jen Koch

Daddy and Boy in the jump house! I'll try to download a video - but no promises.

Malachi has been in a throwing phase - he loves to toss balls. He had so much fun playing all the games at the fest a bunch of times.

Mohave County Fair

We went to the county fair on Thursday. It was a lot of fun! We learned a lot about the community, and Malachi really enjoyed looking at all the animals. He also really enjoyed his sucker, and he got it all in his Daddy's hair (he was getting a ride on his shoulders). He looked like Pig Pen from the Peanuts by the time we got home!

Daddy's little man!
Dennis and Cora, some friends from church.

This turkey was much larger than Malachi!

Travis really liked this rabbit.

...and this chicken (at least, I think it's a chicken!)

The hay was getting in Malachi's shorts - that's why he looks so uncomfortable!

A baby miniature horse.

The biggest steer I have ever seen - it's back must have been about 6 feet tall, and it weighed almost 3,000 lbs!

This little old lady could really dance. She was so cute! The performers really got a kick out of her!