Miracles

I know that it isn't Mother's Day- but after witnessing a true Miracle today, I wanted to give a "Shout Out" to Moms.

Mom = Strength

Thanks to all of you mom's who not only give birth but do so many other things. You all deserve to be loved and appreciated as the Miracle Makers you are!

This morning I saw a true Miracle. I saw my beautiful wife Amber exhibit amazing strength and give birth to our son Boston (born 06/19/09 at 4:57 am. 8 lbs and 21 inches). We are all so excited to have him finally here. Happy Birthday Boston!

Amber is doing really well. After having ZERO pain medication with Brooklyn- she opted to try a full epidural for Boston. It was AWESOME!

The Labor progressed great, and before long it was time to push him out. She only pushed for about 15 minutes. Once his head came out he started to turn blue. I was getting scared as it was obvious that he was kind of stuck.

We were all telling Amber to really push hard. The dr. was pulling on him trying to free his shoulder, as it was caught and preventing him from coming out. It seemed like forever but finally he came out and was fine. It really was scary for me, as I had a thought that if he didn't get out ASAP- he wasn't going to make it.

My heart goes out to parents of stillbirths. I couldn't imagine going through that.

Sorry to depress you- this really is supposed to be a happy post.. :)

Amber and Boston are doing great- his blood sugar was fluctuating a little but I think is getting more regulated the more he nurses.

Thanks for the prayers on our behalf. Carter and Brooklyn are super excited to have him here. They are great kids.

A special Thank You to our good friend Barb who came over at 1 am to care for Carter and Brooklyn. She has 2 of her own little girls and was great with our kids.

Thanks to Ami who took Carter and Brooklyn for a few hours today so that I could spend time with her and Boston.

We'll post more soon.

Brent

Random Pics.

Well in the last blog post I told you that I had some pictures coming- so here they are.  We had fun having Grandpa Jim and Grandma Helen visit, along with Ryan and Sonia Wynder and family.  Feeding the geese and going to the Water Park were alot of fun.

Carter and I joined some friends on an overnight camping trip to Oregon.  The moment that Amber told him about going camping he went nuts.  Amber was great to go and get us sleeping bags and pack us food.  

We hope that you enjoy the pictures and feel free to comment. :)  

Brooklyn 21 months and Carter

Our Front room

New picture of the Cardston Alberta LDS temple- where we were married

Grandpa Jim, Carter, Amber and Grandma Tami

Canada Geese in the Park

Grandpa Jim & Carter

Brent & Carter

Brent & Carter w/ Canadian Geese

Grandpa Jim, Brent, Carter & Grandma Tami

Carter excited to sleep in a tent- 1st camping trip

Camping in Oregon

Carter Camping 

Brent & Carter getting in some more- Marshmallow roasting

Holy Smokes

Wow- Where has time gone?

Sorry for not posting.  Life has been pretty crazy for us.

Where to start... (Amber can add some pics later).

My friend Russell invited Carter and I to go with him, his boys and his brother and his kids to his "Fathers and Sons" ward campout.  Carter had his first trip into Oregon.  It was pretty fun.  Carter and I borrowed a tent from Russell and had a great time. 

We got back Saturday- then Russell and I took off to Florida on Sunday.  Russell was cohosting a one day workshop.  tuesday morning Russell and I flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Raleigh N.C. 

We went to present some of our students with a brand new CORVETTE.  This car was beautiful.  It was really fun surprising the couple.  They were finalists in our $100 Million Dollar Challenge.  Later that day we flew back home.  It was great to get back.

This past weekend I was called by our ward exec. secretary asking me to meet with the Bishop early sunday morning.  I showed up right on time- and the Bishop asked me to serve as 1st counselor in the Young Men's.  Wow- not really prepared for that one.   YIKES

Now we are waiting for this little guy to decide to come out and play.  He has been playing inside Amber (literally) I think he has mastered "Back flips" inside of her...  

She has been super uncomfortable so I think it could be any time.  

We are really appreciate of so many great friends who have taken our kids so that Amber has been able to get a little break.  We also have so many people who have offered to help with our kids when Amber has the baby.  We really are so grateful for such good friends.  It is hard not having family around especially at times like this- but good friends can definitely help fill the void.

We hope that you are doing well.  We are enjoying the beautiful weather here in Boise.

I better get back to counting contractions... :)

Hopefully next post has some baby news.. 

Brent

Story Time

Okay so I have wanted to write this story down for a really long time but haven't found the time to do so. But since my goal is to put all my blog posts into a book every year I really feel that this story needs to be in there. So read on if you like but don't feel like you need to as this post is really for my family. 

Some of you may know that this pregnancy was a complete surprise and a major lesson learned. My "family" plan was to have 2 kids close together, wait a few years and then have 2 more close together. I had Brooklyn and well the delivery was quite tramatic for me making my "plan" that much more appealing and I really felt good about it. I really didn't want to get pregnant for a LONG time! I was starting to get a good schedule down for my kiddos. I kept thinking of going on family trips just the four of us and enjoying a family of four. Then  one day I remember it all so well, I got Brooklyn up from her nap and went and sat down in the TV room with Carter and fed Brooklyn and as I was feeding her, Carter was playing so nice with his toys and all of the sudden an OVERWHELMING feeling came over me of leaving my 3rd baby in the room. Just as quickly as I thought that, I thought I was CRAZY! But it hit me in the pit of my stomach causing tears to come to my eyes that I really was forgetting my 3rd baby. I told Brent of this and we laughed, because we both were in NO WAY ready for another baby....I still had one. Well every day for about 2 weeks that feeling would come to me so strongly! I ignored it and told myself it was hormones causing me to be crazy. It went away for a few days and then I started taking a parenting class and every night that I went I would drive home, with the radio off and just enjoy the quietness... to only have those feelings come back ever so strongly. I remember one night driving home and that feeling coming so strong of "just pray about it, or go to the temple of WHEN to have another baby" I quickly told myself, I have two babies and I love them and want to enjoy them, plus my body needed a few years to itself and to get back to being normal before I throw in another baby. I wasn't done having babies, I would have more kids just not now!!!! I turned on the radio and tried to think of something else. Looking back on it I realize how stubborn I was being! Well the feelings continued and of course, I couldn't pray about it because I already knew the answer and if I got that confirmation than I'd really have to obey.... so I just went about every day disregarding any feelings I got about having another baby.  We moved into our new house and I remember looking at houses and walking, feeling so empty and incomplete because I truly was missing our 3rd baby. I went to Twin one weekend with the kids and I went to church with my parents and it just so happened that a little baby boy was being blessed that day and as the new Father took his little baby boy up to the front tears immediately came to my face as I really was forgetting my 3rd baby boy. After the blessing, I quickly took Brook out acting as if she needed a diaper change and I had something in my eye getting out of there as fast as I could so no one would question. Well those feelings subsided for a little bit and I actually wasn't feeling very well at all so I went to the doctor, they did an ultrasound and found a fairly large cyst on one of my ovaries. I was told to wean Brooklyn and start birth control right away to see if we could break down the cyst or else they would need to do surgery. So Brooklyn was now 13 months old and I did wean her and I did start birth control. Well it just so turned out that I got pregnant right around that time. A month later I was deathly ill, couldn't get out of bed and was so sick. I remember talking to my mom and seriously worried thinking something was so wrong with me and she kept telling me it's probably the pill making me so sick and to talk to my doctor about switching. One evening Brent said well, did you ever take a pregnancy test before you started the pill ( you are supposed to, but I was pretty sure that I wasn't! ) Anyway I did take one and it ever so lightly appeared. WE were in disbelief and didn't tell a soul. Waited a couple more weeks and I took another one, and well sure enough it was big bright positive! 

I learned a huge lesson that although we may think we are in control of our lives and we make the decisions in our lives, we don't. I thought of course I always include Heavenly Father in my decisions and up until this point, I have never disagreed with him so strongly, but I learned that there is a higher power involved and he will always win. Throughout this pregnancy I at times have felt stressed but overall have felt an overwhelming feeling of this is exactly where Heavenly Father wants my life to be. There truly isn't any greater feeling than knowing that even though life is stressful and I may not have  all the answers or know how everything is going to go, I do know full well that my Heavenly Father is well aware of me and my family and this is what our family needs right now. I'm so thankful for the blessings of the gospel and for the knowledge it provides. I know that this little spirit needs to, for some reason, come into our lives now and not in a few years.  I'm so thankful that even though I was so hard-headed to listen that it still happened and in just over a month he will be here. I am overwhelmed with love for this little boy and have learned that "my plan" may not be what "HIS" plan is. And to always have an OPEN heart and mind so that when I get any sort of feeling I can truly pray and listen. It's so easy to dismiss quiet feelings as being just in your head, but the spirit works so quietly and we really do need to listen. Many times a thought really is the spirit guiding us. I have learned to never doubt yourself because with Heavenly Father you are capable of anything. 

Just like Daddy!!!

Carter has become obsessed with his "underwear shirts"! He thinks that he has to have one on all the time, to be just like his daddy. He freaks out if we forget his undershirt. This morning he told me again as I was getting him dressed that he needs to always have his "underwear shirt" on. Yesterday we went to the park and it was so hot and I felt so bad for the poor little guy since he's got 2 shirts on. For bed, he refuses to wear his pajama top he only wants to wear his underwear shirt and his pajama bottoms. So thanks to Daddy for setting such a great example we now have a little boy who has really no idea why his daddy always has white "underwear shirts" but he wants to be just like him!

Dog-sitting

Ok so it has been a few weeks since we dog sat for our friends, but I have do a post on it because seriously Carter reminds me VERY OFTEN that he would like a dog like Red and really wants to "baby sit" him again. Thanks Barb and Mike for trusting us with your cute little dog and for letting my kids get a little glimpse of how fun little dogs are. Carter wanted the dog to sleep with him and would beg Red to follow him everywhere. They would go outside and I'd tell them to have races so they would run from one fence to the next.....great way to get them both tired. They kids were so good at dinner time the first night with not giving Red a thing even though he was right there begging for them to drop something. But soon they gave in and Brooklyn was the main one to be so very sneaky and slowly grab some of her food and put it under the table. When we'd catch her, her reply "feed doggy."Carter was so good he even scooped up his poop... I held the plastic sack and he scooped....the first scoop accidently went over the fence in our neighbors yard. (Carter didn't know that the plastic sack I was holding was actually for the poop :) )

Dr. Time

A few weeks ago I was upstairs doing some laundry and the kids came downstairs without me...which usually is never good news. I always have to run downstairs to check on them and within a few minutes they usually conquer painting on the wall with Vaseline or move a chair to the counter to climb into the "treat cupboard" and get into gum or get into my tums or vitamins. So I never can let them go down there without me chasing after them. Well this day I hurried to finish folding the last of the load of laundry and then I ran downstairs thinking I wonder what it is going to be today. Well I found them like this.......

 Carter managed to get his car pillow and a towel for a blanket and 

  was Dr. Carter...his diagnosis:   an ear infection

For once they surprised me and were actually playing. I was so proud of them and gave them both lots of praise and they have continued to earn my trust for a few minutes of alone time together. I love it when the play so good together. It's quite funny what the two of them come up with. 

Shooting in Twin Falls

Pat Teaching me how to shoot

Brent With the MNP AR15 .223 Cal.

Brent and Pat shooting FNH FS2000 .223 cal.

Brent shooting his new handgun
Amber and Pat shooting our handgun

Carter with Uncle Pat and .22 handgun

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to give a little update, and show off my new gun... 

We have been in Twin Falls hanging out with Amber's family this conference weekend. 

Amber's sister April with her kids: Ashlyn and Collin are here from California, and her sister Meagon with her kids: Caleb, Trever, and Joseph are here from Utah.

Her brother Pat is still here on his 2 week vacation from Iraq.  It has been nice spending time with him and his wife Jan. They live in Kimberly (just south of Twin Falls).

On Saturday we went out to do a little target practice.  It was the first time that I have been able to shoot my new gun.  It's a Smith/Walther .40 cal.  handgun. WOW.. it is awesome.  You should have seen me.  :)

After shooting my gun for about an hour, and having Pat show me some police/military tactical moves I felt like "Jack Bauer" from 24. :)  Okay maybe not quite like Jack, but it was cool. 

Amber and Carter even got in on the action.  I wanted Amber to shoot the gun so that she was somewhat comfortable with it just in case... Carter was curious about the guns and I wanted him to know that they are not toys.  Pat and grandpa both helped teach Carter the importance in always being safe.  

Pat helped Carter shoot Grandpa's .22 cal. handgun.  He was such a trooper.  I couldn't believe that he wasn't afraid. I was worried that he might be a little young, but he did awesome.

I also shot Pat's FNH FS2000 .223 cal. and MNP AR15 .223 cal. These guns all had really cool scopes.  They placed a red dot on the target.. I felt like a Sniper.. :)

Amber's dad showed me how to clean my gun after and how to properly care for it.  

Thanks to Pat and Amber's dad for taking us out and showing us some cool weapons. Ammunition is not cheap, and I appreciate their willing to share with all of us.  

In other news...

Amber is now on her 28th week of pregnancy.  YA! 

She is due June 28th, so things are starting to get fun.  (fun for me, but uncomfortable for her) We can feel our baby moving all over and wonder what he is going to look like.  

Brooklyn and Carter are doing really good.  Carter seems to be getting taller and smarter everyday.  He enjoys his time at Pre-school with his teachers and friends.  Brooklyn hates it when they drop Carter off.  She cries for (Ca Ca) the whole time he is gone.  She loves her brother so much.  Carter loves to say "What the..." and Brooklyn finishes saying "heck".  They say it over and over again.

Brooklyn is getting so independent and is now beginning to talk in some sentences.  She is learning her colors and knows her shapes.  

I have been staying busy at work.  I have a trip to Chicago coming up at the end of April. I have been busy lately working on a side business with my bro. in-law Ryan.  I'll share more with you when it's ready to go.

Feel free to drop us a note and say hi.  We love to read your comments. 

Also, we invite anyone to share with us their favorite "boy" names.  Maybe we will make this into a little contest.  If you submit a name and we choose it, you may get a cool surprise. :)

FYI so far we like: Boston, Drake, Dawson, Crew and Bridger.  

until next time.. Stay Fit and have Fun.

Brent

Girl or Boy?????

So that is the lovely question is it a girl or boy??? I am working on scanning pics of the ultrasound but for now I'll just give everyone an update. So we went to the dr's  undecided but leaning more towards finding out. So when we got in to the room she asked and we told her we weren't sure. Well pretty soon the ultrasound started and flash I saw that it was a.......BOY!!! For sure a boy! I couldn't believe how fast that I could tell and so it was confirmed by the kind lady and everything else went great. The baby looks good and healthy and right on target for June 28th. 

I am now starting to feel good and energetic and want so many things done! I just realized that most of Carter's clothes although super cute, it is the wrong season. Carter was born in the middle of winter and this baby will be born in the middle of Summer. So I must go shopping!!! I am already HUGE and feeling the weight all out front.  I so wish I had more room between my ribs and hips so I wouldn't poke out so extremely far. It still is crazy to me to get it in my head that we will soon have 3 little ones! I am so excited to meet this little guy and for Brooklyn and Carter to have a little baby to help with. Carter was extremely upset at first that it was a boy. He kept telling us that it was a "gwirl" baby. So when announced during the ultrasound he said he was upset. I kept wondering why he wanted a girl baby so bad. But after thinking I realize that he has really only seen girl babies and his favorite is our friends Annie and John's baby girl Libby. He thinks she is so cute and fun and he wanted one like her. After telling him that he can teach the baby how to play cars and play ball and run fast, he is way excited. He has his mind set on a name already. It is a name that we discussed a couple of times in the very beginning but never decided on .....so I'm not quite sure how he'll deal with it if we choose something else. The name is Boston....We thought about this name when I was pregnant with Carter but decided it didn't fit Carter and we'd save it for a later time if it ever fit. And now Carter calls the baby Boston and gets quite upset if we try other names. So we shall see if it fits.

Brooklyn could care less on a name or that it is a boy or girl but she is so excited and kisses and hugs my tummy all the time. I'm not sure she grasps that there really is a baby in there but she sure acts like it and is getting lots of practice with her baby dolls. She has also really started talking full sentences!!!! She copies everything we all say and it is so funny. She keeps us laughing with the new things she says and comes up with. 

Trip North

Brooklyn  finally warming up to Bryce. 

                                              Grandpa Jim took us on a tour of the Firehall. 

                                                    They are checking out the ambulance.

                                                    Riley and Carter eating some icecream.

                                                Grandma and Grandpa.....we LOVE YOU!!!


                                                         Brooklyn and Bree eating breakfast.

                                                       Visiting grandmas and grandpas

                                                      Carter and Braxton eating breakfast.

So it has been way too long!!! Carter was sick with croup and then Brooklyn got it, of course it came with an ear infection for her. So my days were filled with doing nothing but laundry and holding sick fussy kids. We packed up on the Thursday before Valentines Day and drove to Twin for the night. Then on Friday we made our trek up North. The roads were great until it started getting dark and we hit Great Falls. Then it was blowing and snowing, but nothing extreme!!! Thank goodness! We were able to stay up there for a week and we all had lots of fun even though it was FREEZING!!! Brent and I kept looking at our car thermometer and couldn't believe how cold it would get. No we don't live in California or Vegas but Meridian/Boise doesn't get too cold considering when we got back it was 60F/15C. We all enjoyed our time up in Canada. We went swimming indoors at such a fun place. They had the best kiddie pool, slides, lifejackets, and then all these floatable boats and things that the kids could play on. It was great to get them out and do something. We had fun visiting with lots of family! We stayed at Brent's brother's house and the kids all had tons of fun playing with eachother. Thanks Bryce and Lyndsi for letting us stay with you....You guys are great! We missed Brent's cousin's wedding and were bummed that we missed seeing all the family that was coming up!!! Brent had to get back because of a business trip. So he stayed way busy. We drove home and then he was off to Vegas for a business trip. It was way harder on the kids than I imagined. A week off with their dad to him being gone completely was heartbreaking to both of them. The first night Carter cried big huge alligator tears and wanted me to get out his framed picture of his Daddy. So I did and boy was that the wrong thing. Brooklyn and him both just sobbed  at the photo. Carter put the picture on his dresser and climbed in his bed sobbing such a sad cry. So I asked him if he wanted to sleep with me.....he grabbed the picture and brought it into my room and brook and him both had to look at the picture and finally they were out cold. 

We enjoyed the warm weather and were able to play outside. We are all feeling spring FEVER!!! This week it has gone down to the 50's and is rainy, and I love the rain. It smells so fresh and yummy and I can just feel spring! 

To find out or NOT TO

So tomorrow is the big day.....the big ultrasound day. I am now 20 weeks and Brent and I have been debating whether or not we are going to find out. Brent thinks it would be so fun to keep it a surprise because we already have boy and girl stuff. Me on the other hand, well I have lost all spontaneity and find it hard to not know. I just feel like I connect more and so does Brent if we know what we are having, but I've never not known so I can't compare. So I thought I'd post on here and get your opinion. What have you all done and what have you liked????? Should we find out or not?