Jade Jeanne's Baby Blessing

On Sunday, Wes blessed Jade at church. It was a very nice blessings. Among other things, he blessed her that she would always stand up for what was right. Mom and Dad Kanooth, Lairen, Aaron & Katie and their kids: Lauren, Audrey, Rachael, and Thomas, were all able to come. They were driving back from Disneyland, so it worked out great. Wes's Dad and sister were able to come too. So, it was nice to have some family with us. We are so blessed with such a great family!

Birth Story

This labor and delivery was nothing like Westin's. Going into labor with Westin was obvious and progressive. It was fairly easy, because it moved along and was predictable, for the most part. It was a good experience. This time things were different. Thursday (the 11th) I had 2 hours of contractions and thought that we were heading to the hospital that night, but they stopped. Through Friday and Sat I had random contractions, but nothing too noticeable. Sat. evening I had some very mild contractions starting at 545 pm, but they felt no different than the ones I had previously been feeling...more like braxton hicks. I had got my hopes up that "tonight might be the night," but when the only mild contractions continued I decided to go walk-fast and far until the contractions progressed weather they liked it or not! My mom and Wes took turns going with me. I came inside about 930pm and we all watched the Olympics, still not a whole lot happening. Then about 10pm things starting to get slightly uncomfortable...yeah! So we waited around a bit, but I wanted to go in to the hospital to see if anything was happening. I figured I'd only be about a 5cm dilated. When we go to the hospital, my contractions were still pretty mild, but I was dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced. So, they admitted me. I had not committed to a natural delivery this time, and figured if we were going to deliver in the middle of the night, that it would be pretty exhausting. I thought Wes might appreciate being able to sleep a little, and I wanted to also. We opted for the epidural. It was great!!! I got the epidural about 130am-contractions were still hardly anything at this point. That was so strange to me, since with Westin they had become quite obvious and regular at this point. Every birth is different. So, we slept until 3am, then my water was broken, but no pitocin was given. A few minutes to 5am the midwife came in to check things out, because my contractions had finally become regular. She found Jade's head right ready to come out. She went to get the delivery cart and I put my bed into delivery position...too quickly. I got nauseous and threw up, which resulted in Jade's head coming out about 2 inches-crazy! All the while, I feel nothing, but was watching with my mirror. Some of you may find that kind of gross, but I thought it was so interesting! So the midwife came back in, sat on the end of my bed, asked for a push, and she was out at 459am, on Valentine's Day! Wes and I were very excited to meet her, and not too tired. It was really a nice experience. I liked that I actually had energy to greet Jade, where as with Westin I was so exhausted that I was just happy he was out safe. I am glad that I experienced the natural childbirth with Westin though. Anyway, this entry was much longer than I intended, but there you have it. Childbirth is a crazy thing-you never know how it's going to go.

Jade is Here!

Jade arrived on Valentine's Day, at 459am. She weighed 6.13lbs and was 20.5inches. She is so sweet and is so calm, sleeps a lot, and rarely fusses. Things are great so far...just a little busier!

Hope

I can't sleep and I feel like I'm starving! I hate it when this happens, but I know in a few weeks I won't be having this problem for a long, long time. So, I checked my email and some blogs, and then watched this little video. It's only 2 minutes, but yet it's so inspirational and uplifting. Click to view.

Infinite Power of Hope

Ding, Ding!

This picture doesn't really having anything to do with the story I'm about to tell, but is just a cute picture of Westin tucking himself into his future bed.

So, on our flight up and back from WA, Westin made a special point to pop up from his sleeping to say, "Ding, ding" when the "fasten seat belt" light dinged on and off. When the Salvation Army rang bells outside the stores at Christmas, Wes would always say, "Ding-a-ding, ding, ding" to Westin and Westin thought it was so funny. It was so cute on the plane how he would pop up from napping position, look at Wes with a smile and yell, "Ding, ding!" On the way home, Westin was out the whole flight. It was a 9pm flight. At the end after we landed, he was still dead asleep. However, when the "fasten seat belts" light went of with it's ding, Westin shot up and said, "Ding, ding," then went right back to sleeping. Wes and I both laughed. It was like an automatic reaction.

New Year's in WA

For New Year's we were in WA. We got to see everyone, except Leif and Rachel. It was a good trip, but we did a horrible job of taking pictures. There are a few good ones though.

Westin with cousins Audrey, Rachael, and Lauren
Andrea and Steven

Westin with Marieka, Leona, and Anneke

Westin with Grandpa and Grandma Kanooth. I thought this picture was funny, because the animal print Snuggie combined with the fact that 2 adults are starring intently at a play phone like it's real...makes them look crazy. Just like with Papa Wayne, those Snuggies just add the finishing touch to "crazy."

Grandpa and Grandma Kanooth with Westin.

Aunt Lairen and Westin.

Westin's gift from cousin Ally, being taken hostage, about to head to the airport.

Christmas 09

This year for Christmas Wes's mom and step dad came to stay with us. Westin enjoyed having extra people in the house and so did Wes and I. It was a really nice Christmas.

Westin and Aidan
Westin hugging Izzy. Westin and GG.

Papa Wayne and the boys. Papa Wayne kind of looks like a crazy man in these 2 pics, but really he just entertains the kids really well. The Snuggie does add to the crazy look, doesn't it?

On Christmas we went over to Grandpa Mulligans. That too, was nice, except we didn't get any pictures. This is just a really great pic of him and the boys, so I stuck it in.