Birth

K2 made an entrance into the world this week on Wednesday, May 27th, at 8:44 am. He weighted 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. We are so happy for arrival in our family! He is named for his wonderful maternal grandfather and after the great Gideons in the scriptures. Incidentally, K2 was born on the fourth year anniversary of our first date.

On Memorial Day, we finished cleaning our house from the previous weekend. L4 invited 3 families over for dinner and games that evening. We had a wonderful time getting to know some neighbors. The families brought their children, and Underfoot had a wonderful time playing with them.

The baby didn’t move very much from Monday evening through to the following morning. I became concerned, and we called the midwife for counsel. She told us to go to the hospital to have a non-stress test done on the baby. After finding a babysitter for Underfoot, we arrived at the hospital and checked in with our driver’s licenses and went through security. The tests were to see if there was enough amniotic fluid for the baby and then to do a non-stress test which means it monitors the baby’s heartbeat and the number of movements. The baby didn’t move enough in the first 15 minutes so the midwife brought an “alarm clock” (a buzzer) and beeped my belly. He started to move more. L4 and I went to the midwives’ office after going to hospital. Nicole, one of the midwives, checked me out.

She gave instructions for how to induce labor using herbs. We left the midwife office and went to the store to get the herbs. We stopped at Lowe’s on the way home and L4 bought some plant food for the garden (iron supplement, Ammonia sulfate, B1, and a soaker hose). We came home, I took the herbs, we did a few things, then we went to a park and played with Underfoot. I got up and down the play equipment and we went for a walk. We came home. I started having contractions as she tried to make flight arrangements for her Mom to come the next morning.
We went to bed around midnight. I got up at about 3. L4 got up around 4. I would walk around the house and have contractions. At about 5 a.m. we called the midwife office to let them know where we were at. They told us to come to the birth center. Amanda, our very kind neighbor, came over to watch Underfoot. We arrived at the Birth Center just before 6 a.m.

I labored mostly standing up, pacing back and forth in the room and sometimes on my hands and knees. Fortunately, we were the only people at the Birth Center. L4 told Fran, the midwife, that
he needed to be a bit away from the action, because he nearly passed out when Underfoot was born.

I really wanted to have the baby at the birth center because I didn’t want to be attached to a fetal heart monitor or have to labor in bed. I wanted to move and not have to worry about the labor being very long. I would walk and shake my head saying that I couldn’t do it. L4 kept saying, “Your body knows how to do this. You’ve done it before. You can do this.”

L4 was a great support. Beth, the nurse, said that the baby was transverse meaning the baby hadn’t turned the right way to come down the birth canal. The baby needed to turn before it could come down the birth canal and took about 2 hours to turn. Once the baby turned the baby came within a few minutes.

Judy, the midwife, actually delivered the baby. I didn’t tear or get stitches because the midwife told her how to do it. Fran thought that the baby would come very quick and broke my bag of water around 7 am. The baby didn’t come for about another 2 hours. L4 kept saying, “We’re going to have a baby soon.” After he had said that a few times, I was hurting so much that I didn’t want him to say that anymore.

Heavenly Father gave His help in many ways. K2 came in a great and marvelous manner. K2 was born within minutes of crowning. I wanted the baby to come out and was ready to be done. I’m glad that the baby decided to turn and come.

I remember that I hurt more with baby K2 than with Underfoot. I wondered if I hurt because of the baby not being in the perfect position and needing to turn. The blessing is that Heavenly Father takes that pain memory away and replaces it with a desire for more children and love.

Today, Sunday, we blessed K2. Grandpa K., Uncle A, Tia and Tio drove all the way from Idaho to be a part of the blessing. They brought us strawberry and raspberry plants that L4 planted with A. and J. late on Saturday night. We cleaned house, cooked a lot of food, and got ready for a luncheon today after the blessing. L4’s boss and his wife attended the blessing along with our neighbors Beth and Bill and their two children.

We are so grateful that everyone is healthy and happy.

DVD Love

Underfoot has a "teddy" to go to sleep. He is afraid we will hide his DVDs after he goes to sleep, which happens sometimes. His Aunt Mimi said, "Well, who would want a nice, soft, cuddly teddy bear when you can have a hard, cold, sharpish DVD case?"

No Tree

L4 continues to be the faithful gardener and waterer for our trees and plants. This week we were blessed with rain for two days. It was a constant shower for about 8 hours. The earth sucked up the water and produced a desert only smell of sage and wet earth. We were happy to have the rain.

On Wednesday, I woke up with a swollen gland. Lance said it was the size of tennis ball. I went to a Walgreen’s Care Center to find out that I don’t have an infection but just a swollen salivary gland. It has shrunk in size of a large marble.

Friday became a marathon day. We decided to attend the Mesa Temple early in the morning. Underfoot came with us and slept in the car. We attended separately because we each played with Underfoot. L4 picked grapefruit while at the temple. On the way home, we stopped and did some shopping. L4 and I got a few new pieces of clothing because of a sale at the outlet store.

When we returned home, I laid down for a nap, and L4 cut down the tree in front of our house. Underfoot got to do his favorite thing and play with the neighbor children. Our tree has been growing at an angle since it was planted. The angle has only increased over the course of time and was growing over our roof. The landscaper also planted the tree over our sewer line. The trunk had started to split, and every time we had a strong wind a limb would come off the tree. We have removed 4 limbs since moving here. The neighbors removed multiple limbs when the house was being sold. Our fear was that the tree would fall into our kitchen. We are sad to see the tree go, yet we have much more sunlight into our home.

I planted calla lily bulbs earlier this year. On Friday, one plant bloom with it’s first blossom. It is beautiful. The other pot has grown a little wild and unruly. It will need to be cut back.

An update on our vacuum: L4 got a phone call from Bissell. They said they would send us a new vacuum after they received the cord from our old vacuum. They sent us a prepaid envelop and made arrangements for the pick-up. We hope to get the new vacuum in the next week or two.

Provident Living

Our vacuum burned up this week. It is a tank within a base. The connector between the base and the tank burned up with smoke. L4 has sent a letter to company to see what they will do before we go and buy a new vacuum. So we borrowed the neighbor’s vacuum. The house was vacuumed a couple of times before we returned it.

L4 made a shade tent for the tomatoes, and they have done much better over the last week. The heat has been pretty constant at 100 degrees. Lance is faithful about doing the watering every morning. He is very concerned about every plant and tree. L4 also got a composer this
week from UPS via Costco.com. He has started to make compose for our garden. We are developing it and should have some every two weeks. We ate a wonderful salad from our garden today.

I went to the chiropractor on Friday. As he was checking me out, he said that my right hip was 1 inch higher than the left hip. After he gave me an adjustment, it didn’t hurt to walk, sit, or stand up. I was happy to have help.

We decided to let Underfoot sleep for as long as he wanted. He went to bed at 11 pm the night before and got up at 11 am the next day. He went to bed at a normal time and been doing much better since we let him sleep. The other night he even asked to go to bed.

Underfoot and I went swimming at neighbor’s house, a play group at the park, and a lunch bunch (a potluck lunch with other women and their children). Underfoot loves to be around other children.

We attended stake conference this past weekend and were reminded the importance of family and temples. We were also learned about provident living from the pamphlet, “All Is Safely Gathered In.” It can be found at: www.providentliving.org. We felt the Lord’s love this weekend and how He wants us to succeed in our lives by keeping the commandments. We hope you are having success in your life.

Win a 100 Grand

Guess the gender, date, and time of our coming baby! The winner gets 100 Grand!

Here is the helpful information. We have 3 due dates in the coming week. My 42 week mark is June 6. Underfoot decided to come the day before they would induce him at 42 weeks.

For a bonus, you can guess the weight. Underfoot was 8 pounds 13 ounces. Guessing the length is sometimes a bother because it seems that most babies are between 19 and 21 inches.

Good luck!

Mama's Boy

Strawberries were on sale this week: $1 a quart. Wendy bought a lot of strawberries. We canned strawberry jam and strawberry syrup. On Thursday, Wendy had two other women come over and the three of them canned strawberry goodness. Underfoot loved playing with the other children.

Underfoot went to play at a friend’s house on Monday. He ended up swimming fully clothed (minus shoes and socks). He had a wonderful time. Mama went swimming on Friday afternoon. Underfoot and I went on the father and sons' outing on Friday afternoon. We carpooled with another family in the ward. Lucas and I had a great time camping. It was Lucas’ first time being away from his Mama over night since Mama had her gall bladder removed when we lived in State College. I always thought Underfoot was a Daddy’s boy. On Friday night, he proved me wrong.

At 9 p.m. Daddy wanted to go to bed. So, we got all ready for bed. Then Underfoot decided he wanted his Mama. He cried and cried until finally he got to talk to his Mama. Four phone calls and about 90 minutes later, Underfoot finally fell asleep, still holding onto Daddy’s cell phone with Mama on the other line.

On Saturday Underfoot and I came home early from the camping trip. Daddy didn’t get much sleep and everyone was ready to come home. Saturday afternoon We enjoyed dinner with a family in our ward. It was nice to sit outside and visit in the late afternoon.

The heat has come on here. We’re seeing near 100 degree days. One nice byproduct of the heat is that our garden seems to be doing well. We have one tomato plant that has 4 tomatoes and another with 1. The other ten plants have yet to produce anything. We also have several yellow squash coming on. The corn is about 6” high and we have flowers on most of our pumpkin plants. The only negative in our garden is that I believe one of our trees (the tangerine) has root rot.

Today in church a man told us about a local source for bulk honey. We are going to get 2 5 gallon buckets of honey for $100 each! This is a great price for local mesquite honey. We’re grateful to have located this great resource.

QGT (Quality Garage Time)

On Monday Mama had an appointment at the Midwife’s office. Underfoot told the midwife that he wanted to go to Church. Her response was that she wanted to go too. Underfoot enjoys going to the nursery at church. He really likes interacting with other children.

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I got some Quality Garage Time (QGT) with the Scout. I replaced some key components of the air conditioning system and it is now blowing cold air again. We’ll see how long it lasts! I also made a change to the engine so the Scout doesn’t smell like gas all the time.

Mama did a great job cleaning the house this week. Her energy level is highest mid-morning. Some days she does all sorts of amazing things. Yesterday she finished making curtains for our half wall. They look great. She wants to make curtains from the same material for our front room.

Mama worries about getting Underfoot’s haircut because everyone says that it will take away his curls. Well Underfoot got his haircut, and he still has curls. He looks like a little boy instead of a slob. He was so tired the other day that he laid down on the couch and fell asleep. He is our night owl. He doesn’t like to sleep in his own bed but my spot in the bed.

The corn we planted one week ago has started to come up. In 80 days, we should have corn.