My Grandmother's House

My favorite place in the world is, hands down, Grandma Hatch's house.

I love everything about the house and surrounding land, and I hate that I never get to spend time there anymore.  Some of my most cherished memories are from that house;

from holidays spent with ALL the family there (and there is a LOT of family!) to summers spent there that were just me and my grandparents. 

Horse back riding, driving the tractor, doing laundry in that ancient washing machine, hauling water, brownies and Phase 10 matches; I could go on and on.

 

So it shouldn't be too surprising that one of my favorite people in this world is Grandma Hatch.

I only got a quick visit with her this trip, as she cannot handle much more than that.  Especially when there are quite a few people disrupting her regular routine anymore.

It breaks my heart that she has no clue who I am, and that she won't remember that we named Jessa after Grandpa Hatch.

However, it was quite evident from this visit that she is the exact same person she always has been; just without the memories or knowledge that she used to have.

She's still as witty as ever, just as stubborn, and stinkin' hilarious!!

 

My 4 Generation photo.  Grandma is getting ready to turn 86. 

Her second great-grandchild was just born last month.

She's created quite a legacy!

 

Out by the barns, where we took our (Davis) family pictures.

Kehlton loved the horses!

 

And a couple of those said photos

 

Arizona may have thinned my blood out quite a bit, and made me a bit "wussier", but I will always be a South Dakota girl at heart.  Hopefully our next trip out to Grandma's won't be too long off.

Thanksgiving in South Dakota

 

This year, we went to South Dakota for Thanksgiving.

Partially because it was Thanksgiving, and partially because my niece (who turned 8 in September)

was waiting to get baptized in hopes that we could all be there.

I'm happy to say that we all made it there for her.

Here's just a few (of the over 200 photos) we took during the week:

 

 

It was a LONG drive (26.5 hours to be exact). 

We stopped at a random playground somewhere in New Mexico for a quick break.

The boys had a blast!

 

Dinosaur Hill in Rapid City.  I had been looking forward to taking Brychan there ever since we decided to go to Rapid.  I knew he would love it.  He did!

It was pretty cold and windy the morning we went, but the boys still had fun.

 

Playing at Brock and Missy's house was also lots of fun!

They have lots of wide open space to run around in, and luckily, the weather was quite tolerable for most of our time there.

The boys had fun playing on the porch swing,

 

Playing with cousins

And feeding/chasing the chickens, cats and dog

Jessalyn's Baby Blessing

Since David's entire family was already planning on being here right after Jessa's birth, we decided to just go ahead and have her blessed at home while they were here.  My parents came out as well, and we had a nice morning at home with our family.  Thanks again to Jocie for taking more photos!

October 20, 2012

 

 Jessalyn actually wore my blessing dress that my mother had saved.  It was still in perfect condition and I absolutely love it.

 Seriously?  Kehlton in a dress.

 

I really wish I had thought of asking Jocie to take a photo of the entire group that was at the house for Jessa's blessing.  We had:

 

Grandma and Grandpa Stander

Jocie, Mark and Hallie

Michelle, Jason, Taylor, Riley, Emma and Jack

Angela, Ken, Ellie and Colin

Jeremy, Jacob and Zach

Grandma and Grandpa Davis

Lala

Bishop Brewer

and

Jami Adams

My good friend, Alicia, also helped with all the food for this crowd, and I couldn't have done it without her help!  For those of you who were invited and couldn't make it, we definitely missed you! :)  It was a perfect, beautiful day and we're so greatful for everybody that was able to come.  We love you all!!

Newborn Photos

A few days after Jessa was born, Jocie was kind enough to take photos of our sweet little one.  While we were busy taking photos all morning, the kids kept themselves entertained by playing games and going to the park with Grandma and Grandpa Stander.

 

These are just a few of the photos...and I'm keeping my very favorite ones secret until you get a baby announcement! ;) If you're not a family member and want a baby announcement, just leave me a comment.  I'd be more than happy to make sure you get one!!

 

I really wish Brychan would have been looking at Jocie for this photo.  Even with his Chandler Bing smile, it would have been so cute!!

Less Than 48 Hours in the Hospital

Luckily, I was able to leave the hospital after a day and a half so I could get back home to Brychan and Kehlton.  But here are a few photos of our time in the hospital.

More than 24 hours with no sleep + going almost all the way through labor and delivery with no epidural = one very exhausted mama.

But, she's so stinkin' cute that it doesn't really matter. 

She looked just like Kehlton, and really still does.

After her car breaking down, Lala finally made it to see us!

Our first (rather sad) family photo

 

The boys meeting baby sister for the first time.  Seriously; love at first sight for both of them!  Kehlton just kept saying "I love my baby" over and over again.

 

While I was pregnant, Brychan would tell Jessa stories all the time.  And every time he talked to her, she would start kicking and squirming like crazy.  She loved listening to him!  The first time she heard his voice at the hospital, she just kind of froze and started listening very intently, like she was saying "Hey!  I know this voice!!"

And Daddy with his baby girl. 

We already have quite a few napping photos of the two of them together!



Jessalyn Claire

Jessalyn finally made it! Her birth story is kind of here, there and everywhere, and the last couple of weeks before she came felt like they were months instead of days.  Here's kind of a timeline of what happened and then I'll share the actual event!

Monday, October 1st: 37 weeks.  Went in for my normal doctors appointment.  She decided to go ahead and strip my membranes early; really hoping to get Jessa here before she left on vacation.

Wednesday, October 3rd: 4 hours of intense and very painful contractions.  Thought for sure we would be having a baby late that night.  However, they just stopped as quickly as they had started.

Thursday, October 4th: Very little movement from Jessa all day, which was very unusual.  I knew she was okay because she would move if I really poked at her, but I was still concerned enough to call.  Of course, they sent me in to be monitored for an hour just to be sure.  Found out everything was okay and that I was already dilated to a 4.  Was told by the nurses that since I was already at a 4 that I needed to come in asap with anymore contractions.

LATE Friday night, October 5th: Woke up with worst contractions ever.  After 30 minutes of contractions 5 minutes apart, we decided to go in.  Was sent home an hour later with a lecture about "real" labor.

Monday, October 8th: Another doctor's appointment.  I was still dilated to a 4, and she stripped my membranes again hoping to get me to go into labor by Wednesday.  Felt icky for the rest of the day and asked David to come home from work that afternoon.  By 9:00, my contractions were bad enough that I wanted to go back to the hospital (I was terrified they would send me home again!!).  We dropped the boys off at a friends, and went to triage.  I was monitored for what seemed like forever before a nurse came in to check me.  I had been told that if I was dilated to a 5, they wouldn't send me home.  Lo and behold, I was almost a 6.  I was SO happy, but started getting nervous about not getting an epidural (as they had told us as soon as we got there that there were no beds available in labor and delivery that night).

Eventually, they kicked another girl out of her labor and delivery room to put me in it (I felt SO bad, but they assured us that she wasn't laboring near as quickly as I was and that I needed it worse than she did).  After a little more than an hour, I finally got my epidural; being between 7 and 8 cm dilated.  PHEW!!  The doctor came in, broke my water, and they just left us to let me rest a little and let the epidural try to catch up with what my body needed.  At 1:25 in the morning, my nurse came to check my progress; and I heard her say "Crap!  Your baby is just going to fall right out!".  I quickly woke David up, the room was instantly full of nurses and a doctor (I have no idea how they all got there so fast) and after a grand total of 4 1/2 hours and half of a push, Jessalyn arrived at 1:30 am.

**I do have to say that David just about passed out right as Jessalyn was born.  I'm not sure what happened to him; one minute he was holding my hand and actively participating, and the next thing I hear is my nurse asking him if he was okay.  I looked over and he was completely pale, staring at Jessa and not responding to any of us.  So half of my nurses ended up over with him making sure he was okay!!  You would think that by the 3rd child he would have this whole process down pat...  ;)  But, because he was ordered to sit and not move, we didn't get any photos other than these two**

Jessalyn looked so perfect!!  Her head was perfectly round and covered with dark, dark hair on bottom with blonde hair on top.  Her skin was totally blemish free with no splotchiness or marks anywhere.  Such a perfect little baby doll!

8 pounds, 4 ounces and 20.25" long. 

It's a good thing she was a week and a half early. 

I'd hate to see how big she would have been with another 10 days of baking!!

Jessalyn is named after two of her great grandfathers.

David has always wanted to name a daughter after his grandfather Jesse, and had planned on having a Jessica so he could call her Jesse.  I was not fond of the name Jessica, just because I know too many of them, and the name is too common for my liking.  So, we settled on Jessalyn.

Her middle name, Claire, is my grandfather's middle name.

 

We are so happy to have her here!  She is absolutely perfect and we already love her so much.  Her big brothers are absolutely infatuated with her, and this little girl already rules the roost.  She can't make a peep without all the boys (including the dog!) running to see what she needs.

Hopefully I'll get some photos of her first 24 hours at home up soon!

Soccer

Last weekend, the boys started their first soccer season. David has been waiting for this for awhile!(for those of you who don't know, he played in high school and loved it!)

 

The boys loved their soccer lessons.  Brychan's lesson was first, and the entire time, Kehlton just kept saying "Me play soccer ball with Daddy, too?"  He waited very patiently for his turn!!

Waiting for his lesson to officially begin

 

Warming Up

 

End of his first class!

SO excited for his first lesson to begin!

Waiting to get his ball out of the goal

 

 

Working on his balance

 

So, every Saturday for the next 5 weeks, you'll know where to find us...at the park for 2 hours playing soccer!

Almost 37 Weeks

Today we had another doctor's appointment, and after last week's it wasn't anywhere near as exciting.  Here's the rundown: I am officially due on Oct. 18th.  My doctor is going out of town for 2+ weeks on Oct. 11th (evidently going to Hawaii sounds like more fun to her than delivering my baby, but whatever!).  Thanks to some crazy "rules", I cannot be induced more than 1 week ahead of my due date unless there is a medical complication.  Which there is not.  Sooo...the earliest I can officially be induced is Oct. 11 - my doctor's first day of vacay.

At my appointment last week, she told me she didn't think I would last until the 11th; she seemed quite certain that I would go on my own before she leaves town.  GREAT!!!!  I had started dilating and was progressing quite nicely.  However, at today's appointment, I hadn't changed at all from last week (which means all the contractions I had last night did absolutely nothing).  That doesn't really mean anything; I was at this same stage when I went into labor with Brychan.  It was just disappointing to hear.

Anyway, here's the plan (and for any guys reading this, which I'm assuming is zero, go ahead and skip forward.  David doesn't like hearing details, so I'm assuming none of you do either).  If I make it until Oct. 8th, I will have my membranes stripped, which has a 50-60% chance of putting me into labor within 48 hours of having that done.  If that doesn't work (and I'm certainly hoping that it does!), then I am officially scheduled to be induced on Oct. 13th; albeit with a doctor I don't know and have yet to meet. 

 

So...I guess until this little girl decides to come, I will be trying to keep as busy as absolutely possible, and do as much walking as I can to help move things along.  And hopefully she's nice to her momma and listens like all good little girls should.  Because I am physically past the point of being able to walk much at all.  I definitely should have been having babies at 24 instead of 34!!

Time to Slow Down (I Guess??)

This is the little pharmacy currently sitting
on my kitchen counter.

And, yep! It's all for me!

I've known my entire life that bronchitis and asthma
don't play well together.

Turns out adding pregnancy to the mix just makes it that much worse.

 

On Thursday, I started coming down with a little cold.  Nothing too major.  By Friday night, I was feeling pretty crummy, and by 3:00 Saturday morning, I woke up gasping for air.  I had an old inhaler that I tried.  No go.  Sat in a forever long steamy shower.  That worked for maybe 20 minutes.

So, I tried to relax and breathe, and waited for urgent care to open.

(I've learned my lesson about going to the ER over the weekends. 

Especially during the "over-night" hours.  No thank you.)

 

Turns out I have a horrible case of bronchitis, that hit fast and HARD.

Also turns out that the one medication I really needed, I can't take because I'm 35 weeks pregnant!

Instead, I got a bag full of not-quite-as-strong-or-effective goodies to take home with me.

A bag full of goodies that have their own horrible side effects to deal with on top of everything else.

And, after 2 days now of rotating between inhalers, nebulizer treatments and steamy showers, I am finally starting to feel a little bit of relief. 

I'm hoping that within another 2 days, I can function again.

Bless my sweet husband for taking over this weekend,

even though he feels icky himself (he has the same cold Kehlton does).

 

Last weekend, after all of our fun at the Science Center, I was in bed for a day and a half fighting pretty regular contractions. 

Turns out Little Miss doesn't really want to miss out on any of the fun either!

My doctor told me earlier this week that I needed to slow down and rest.

Yeah Right.

But I guess my body decided to take matters into it's own hands.

I'm really hoping that my "mandatory rest" period ends sooner rather than later, cause this is no fun!

Plus.  I have a super cute changing table I want to paint!! :)

 

**I know that nobody really wants to hear about all my sick germs.  However, I'm really trying to do more journaling on the blog since I've become so horrible about doing my own journal.  Sorry!!

 

AZ Science Center

Since it's been awhile since we've had a family fun day, we decided to invite Jocie & Hallie, along with Lala, to come play with us at the Arizona Science Center this weekend.  We had SO much fun!! Brychan just kept telling me "Mom, this is the awesomest place ever!!!".  And we didn't even go to the 3D Dinosaur Movie at their IMAX theatre.  It would have been beyond awesome for him had he known about that! :)

Lala and Kehlton playing in the water

 

Kehlton and Hallie

All 3 kiddos

David had just as much if not more fun than the boys did!

 

Brychan and I testing our brain power



 

Digging in the dirt

 

 Pulling themselves up the pully. 

I was shocked that I was able to pull myself up too!

 

On the ride home, not even 5 minutes after he told me his body was not tired and was more than ready to keep playing.

We spent about 4 hours at the center, and could have easily spent much more time there.  We ended up buying an annual pass for our family, so if anybody ever wants to go; we're totally game!

And...for those of you in the Phoenix area...did you know that the first Friday of every month is "Adults Only" at the Science Center?  And it's 100% free.  David and I are excited to use it as a date night soon, so we can play on all of the stuff without worrying about losing a child! :)

Reflection & Gratitude

Last night, David and I were talking (Okay. Well, I was doing most of the talking and he was listening).  I was telling him how much I wished we were at the point where we could just upgrade to a newer and bigger home now, and wondering how to get us to that point just a little bit faster.  Anyway.  After a bit of me venting my little frustrations, I quickly realized something.

We have been married for just over 5 years.  5 years isn't really a very long time.  But in those 5 years, we've had 3 babies, who are healthy and strong.  We've owned 2 homes and moved once. We still have an excellent relationship and marriage.   But with the biggest "milestone", right before our 2nd anniversary, our entire lives crumbled before our eyes.  We lost SO much.  All of our financial security was gone,  leading to most of our assets soon disappearing.  And while our marriage was still solid, there was definitely a lot of rebuilding to be done and egg shells to be walked on.  There was physical and mental health to be strengthened.  We had a lot of work that needed to be done.

In the last 3 years we have had to totally rebuild everything.  So...while we're not quite back to where we want to be (yet), we have accomplished quite a bit in 3 short years.  Obviously, we have lots of family members and a loving Father in Heaven to thank for helping us  But to make the amount of progress we have in the last 3 years is no small feat.  I just need to remember to be patient, and to look backwards every so often just so I can see how far we've come.  And to keep in mind, that with as much as we've been able to accomplish in the last 5 years; who knows how much we can do in the next 5 years!!  Maybe...maybe I can have my newer and bigger house before those 5 years are up! ;)

Back To School

I can't believe that summer is "over" (it's still 115 outside, but you know...), and Brychan went back to school today. He has been so excited; asking me every day for the last 2 weeks when he gets to go back, and then today asking me every 20 minutes if it was time to go. This year, he's in the afternoon class, so he had a very LONG morning. He has the same teacher as he did last year (we love Ms. Mellisa!!), and quite a few of his same friends are in his class again this year.

I can't believe how big my boys are getting!!

 Kehlton is still very sad that he doesn't get to go to school with brother.  He loves getting to go visit the classroom, and he loves talking to Ms. Mellisa too.  Technically, he can start in January, but I'm not quite sure I'm ready for that yet.  He definitely is.  Momma not so much.

To help with Kehlton's sadness this afternoon, we met Daddy at his office for lunch.  Kehlton loves going to Daddy's office!  He gets to see Amy (she's the receptionist and both of my boys absolutely adore her), play at Daddy's desk and make big and important phone calls, and he almost always gets a piece of candy.  Plus it doesn't help that all the other agents there stop and tell him how stinkin' cute he is (as if he doesn't already know!).   Kehlton sure loves his Daddy!!