While We're On Our Way: November 2012

I love Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving is such a special day. A day set aside to give thanks. It reminds me of how I should live my life, every day should be a day of giving thanks.

My blessings are too numerous to count. During the good, the bad and the ugly--- I am still blessed.

Yes, I love Thanksgiving! Here are my 3 top favorite things for today. Family, Fun/Fellowship, and Food.

The family time- soaking up time with my 3 kiddies,

my husband,

and our visiting "Pops"

The fellowship and fun- playing games, and laughing at the antics of the kiddies.

The food- it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving Day without the food! The fun of trying new recipes and the comfort of the familiar ones, the traditional.

Carson rolling dough for the first time

Let's eat!

I ended the day feeling very blessed, and counting my blessings. My heart was warmed and memories were made and tucked away.

May tomorrow be another day of giving thanks; my life lived in thanksgiving.

The Beginning Adventures of Clayton Bryce:

Everyone likes to hear a good birth story, right? Well, at least I do. So today I shall tell you Clayton’s story, aka “baby rice” since Kenzie can’t say her “b’s” as in Bryce. For some reason Clayton isn’t a name she ever calls him.

It all started at 5:20am, Tuesday, July 31st. I awoke abruptly, thinking maybe it was a contraction that woke me up. I very quickly determined that it was indeed a contraction that woke me up. I wandered around the house for a little while, wondering what to do next. I googled how to time my contractions, I sent a text to Mrs. Judene, the lady who was going to come stay with C & K. Around 5:45 I decided to time my contractions, 3ish minutes apart. I woke up Andy, told him we needed to head for the hospital, his exact words were, “Are you kidding me?” Waiting until a contraction ended I growled, “I would not kid about this”. Judene arrived at 6:15, still thinking we had plenty of time, I was thinking of taking a shower, and then decided I didn’t feel like it; Andy was putting C&K’s car seats in Judene’s car. At 6:25ish we headed for St. Alphonsus, which was ONLY 45 minutes away.

By this point, I wasn’t even thinking of timing my contractions, they hurt like everything, they were coming fast, and we had a long way to drive, in morning traffic. Andy didn’t really speed much but kept us moving, and I didn’t grump or grouch at him and neither one of us had any clue how close we were cutting it. My main prayer, besides “Jesus, please help me” was “please could all this pain be doing something”. I was hoping to be at least an 8 when we got to the hospital. We made it to the hospital right at shift change. There the nurses all sat around the desk, as I shuffled by, sweating profusely, to the L/D room. Upon discovering that the contractions had done their job and I was a 10 (both in dilation and on the pain scale) the room immediately filled with helpful people and my young son, Clayton Bryce, entered the world at 7:45am. 8pounds, 12 ounces 21 inches long. Yes, 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital, my littlest man arrived. Cutting it a little close! When it was evident that delivery was imminent, I did jokingly ask where my epidural was; knowing full well, that it was too late and I was on my own. I did sort of feel like I had survived a near death experience, Worst. Pain. Ever. But then it was done and Andy and I ordered breakfast, because I was starving! So, 2 hours and 35 minutes later, it was all over.