So Blessed....

This past month has brought about many, many new experiences and challenges for our little family. It started when I had early labor for about three weeks before Carter was born. After four hospital visits and bed rest he was born. When we finally made it out of the hospital after an extended stay we were thrilled. Then we spent our first night home caring for Kate as she threw up all night long and it continued for two days until we ended up in the ER for an IV. I had never seen my baby girl so sick. It broke my heart. Then over the next few weeks I experienced three infections and thrush and a very difficult case of PPD. Then in the midst of it all Chris hurts himself playing basketball and he ends up in the ER with a severely sprained ankle and comes home on crutches.





I feel so blessed for all of these experiences that we have had. During these times I have found myself on my knees multiple times a day praying for the strength to keep going. We have been blessed by so many people with their service and their prayers. We have truly seen miracles.


This week we found ourselves again humbled by the miracles we have seen. Our sweet baby Carter started getting sick a couple of weeks ago. And Wednesday night we happened to take him in to the doctor because he had vomited twice that day. Once we were in the office the nurse took a look at him, checked his breathing and rushed out of the room to get the doctor who quickly followed her in. We were sent to the ER and admitted to the hospital. It truly was such a blessing because I had no idea he was so sick. Then the next morning he started breathing fast again. He was breathing a 100 reps per min when normal breathing is 20-40 per min. His oxygen absorption dropped so even the oxygen he was breathing wasn't being taken into his blood. They sent him by ambulance to a larger hospital down in D.C. that specialized in respiration problems and also had a pediatric ICU. They diagnosed him with bronchiolitis and RSV. They told us that as sick as he was he wouldn't be out of the hospital for at least a week. We spent the next two days in the hospital and after many prayers by us and on our behalf he was able to come home. It was a true that he was able to heal so quickly. It has been such a long week but we are overjoyed to have him home again in his own bed. He is still a very sick baby and I miss the monitors that I was able to watch and listen to telling me if he was okay or not. I miss the nurses who knew exactly what to do when something went wrong but I feel so lucky to be able to hold him in my arms without all those cords on him. We feel all the more blessed and have been able to ponder again how fragile and precious life is and how much we should enjoy every minute that we have.

This is when they started him on oxygen because he wasn't getting or absorbing enough.

At the new hospital and hooked up to all his cords.

He is having a rough week.

Getting ready to go home and finally a FREE man of all those cords! It was so wonderful to be able to hold him without all them attached.

Two Weeks of....

Who knew having a baby could be this fun...crazy...sleepless. Our lack of blogging has been due to all the suprises that have popped up over the past two weeks. It all started when we came home from the hospital on New Years Eve and Kate started throwing up. That was just beginning and everything went downhill from there. After multiple trips back and forth from the hospital and doctor's office things are finally slowing down. Except for the whole sleep thing we still don't get any of that.

Kate is amazing. There has never been a little brother more loved than Carter. I was so worried about her not liking him or being jealous, but it is completely the opposite. Sometimes I struggle to keep her hands off him.

We've spent a lot of time just hanging out and lounging around because at least one person everyday isn't feeling good. It has been nice to lay around together.

Even though these past two weeks have possibly been the most challenging of my life I am truly grateful for the experience. I have learned that through our trials our Heavenly Father shows us what we are made of and shows us his miracles. We have seen first hand his miracles in these past two weeks.

I'm so thankful for my baby Carter and for the little piece of heaven that he brought down with him.

Carter Clay

He's here! Carter was born Monday night on December 29, 2008 at 9:19 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 12 ounces. He came after a crazy labor and delivery, but we made it, and he is so darn cute. He was born with brown, wavy hair and all the nurses in the nursery were were ogling over it.

Cinderella came to visit her little brother at the hospital. She is looking forward to her new doll she has to play with. She is a good mommy to him!

This is my awesome labor coach. I wouldn't have made it with out him! He did such an amazing job helping me through it all. I love you Chris!

We had such an awesome experience getting to do this together. Carter has been such a special blessing to add to our home.

Hanging out with my kids!

Just Thinking.....

As we approach the arrival of our next baby it has made me stop and think a lot about how it was when Kate was born. Lately Chris and I have been talking about how he wasn't even around for this part of the pregnancy last time. He has never seen my belly quite this big before or me in need of quite so much sleep. Last time when I was about 34 weeks Chris received the phone call we had been waiting over a year for. The only problem was that we was scheduled to leave for training in two weeks and wouldn't be back for three months. It was a complete shock to both of us. Many tears were shed over this new direction our life was taking but we defiantly knew that this was what we were supposed to be doing. So we dried our eyes and Chris took off for Georgia and I stayed behind to welcome our new baby into the world. Lucky for me I have so many amazing women who were there to fill in for him. I would not have made it through any of those long days and lonely nights without them.

Luckily with the kindness of family and friends Chris was able to fly home a week and half after Kate was born to meet her. This is the first time he held her. Doesn't he look scared! Let's just say it was a bit overwhelming for him to leave with a pregnant wife and come back with her holding this tiny baby girl.

They became good friends right away and it has never changed. We are so stoked to get to do this again. Chris is excited to get to be around this time for the delivery. We feel so blessed for the opportunity we had last time to grow and mature through our trials and also that this time we now get to be together. It makes me grateful and glad that I am not the one in control but that there is someone much wiser in charge of the show.

Elder Wirthlin

I was sadden today when I learned that Elder Wirthlin had passed away. He was one apostle of which I was hoping would be around for ever. His sweet spirit and calm demeanor I have always enjoyed. It is so nice to know that he is now with his wife. It is times like this that make me grateful again that the heavens are still open and that there are apostles and prophets on the earth again. I am grateful for his life of service and dedication and hopefully now he can receive some rest.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Monday. Chris and our next door neighbor work together and they both have to work on Thanksgiving day. We decided to do an early celebration so that they could both enjoy the day and not have to rush off to work after eating. I thought it wouldn't feel the same but it did. We had such a fun day.

A couple weeks before we had a Family Night about Thanksgiving. Then we made Thanksgiving placemates. We just cut words and pictures out of magazines about of things we were thankful for. I was aiming more for teaching Kate about being thankful for the things we have but I was pleasantly suprised with how much the adults got into it. Kate was finished and everyone was still diligently looking through all the magazine searching for more things they were thankful for.

I made my first turkey this year. I was so stressed about it the week before. I think it was because I have seen so many movies were the turkey starts on fire or burns, so I figured it had to be pretty complicated to do. I wasn't. Plus I had my lovely assistant to help me out in the kitchen and he knows his way around a kitchen!





I picked a 20lb turkey. Of course I didn't know what I was doing and it ended up being tons for only four adults and a toddler but we have had plenty of leftovers-which everyone loves!




Chris thought this comparison was hilarious. He said, "Which is the baby and which is they turkey?"

Chris, Jade, Chloe (baby), Mark, and Kate

Going along with the West family tradition we had our neighbors over to eat doughnuts. Supposedly it helps make more room in your stomach so you can eat more during dinner. I think it is just a wonderful tradition and a good excuse to eat doughnuts.

Jade & Chloe.

Then we hung Christmas lights up on our house and the guys went out and tinkered with Chris' scooter.

After all the stress the turkey turned out perfect. I was so happy and grateful for all the wonderful guidance from everyone.

During all the hussel and bussel from moving food from one house to the other I accidently locked the door to our house and neither of us had keys. I wasn't going to tell Chris till after dinner but I couldn't keep it in. He was really irritated because our house is too tall to climb in a window or something. We unfortunately keep all our windows locked up tight. Luckily with great skill on him and Mark's part they opened the door later.

This is our yummy meal. It was the perfect dinner!

After Kate and Chloe relaxed and watche Sleeping Beauty. That night we went and bought our Christmas tree and after setting it up headed off to see Twilight the movie. It was so good. I think the best book to movie I have yet to see.

Last night we decided that with our Thanksgiving over we would get ready for Christams. We set up the nativity with Kate. It was so much fun and she was fascinated by it all. I hope everyone has a wonderful thanks giving and enjoys it as much as we did! Happy Thanksgiving!

Books.....

I have decided to start sharing my thoughts on books I read. Kind of like a book review. Reading is something I really love doing. Since I find myself not sleeping quite as much as I used to lately I have had a lot more time to read. Especially in the middle of the night.

I just finished the book by Sheri Dew If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard. I really, really like this book. I felt like every time I read from it I learned something of immense value, but it has so many wonderful anecdotes and stories that it makes the learning process enjoyable. It makes me sad that I didn't read it sooner-it has been sitting on my self for over two years. Particularly what I like was her wonderful phrase that is used for the title-If life were easy, it wouldn't be hard. I have come to understand and appreciate trials like I never thought I would before. During the time I was reading this book I was facing an immense personal trial and instead of feeling sad for myself, I found myself kneeling down in praying and thanking Heavenly Father that I had to opportunity to struggle and so by doing growing and learning. I also enjoyed the very last chapter were she talked about how many of us are making our own lives hard because we don't ask for enough help from our Father in Heaven. We don't feel that he should be concerned with us or our trivial needs. When in reality he is simply waiting for us to ask for help and he will be there. I now realize it is much the same as I am with Kate. I always love to help her out and comfort her no matter how small or trivial it may seem. If it matters her, it matters to me.

If any of you have read this book you'll have to let me know what you think or if you haven't I highly recommend it. It will definitely leave you feeling better about yourself and life in general. Helping you feel more prepared to take on challenges of daily life.