Pictures of the Newest Whiting!

Here’s some pictures of her right after she was born. 

  

First bath—she loved it when they put the water on her head!

 

Conner checking out the little lady that will dethrone him..

All ready to head for her crazy life in our home

 

Proud grandma…

She’s doing well here at home—breastfeeding has been challenging for us, but we are getting it.  I had a wonderful lady lactation specialist come over today and she was very helpful—after some meltdowns I am feeling much more confident and she is beginning to latch much better.  But she is just at sweet as can be and getting prettier every day!

Birth Story…

So, Savannah’s birth was a fantastic experience. In many ways it was just how I pictured it, and in others it was way different. Of course, even though my really active labor was very short, this story will be pretty long—just to warn you. This was probably the hardest and most beautiful thing I have ever experienced, so I definitely want to document it well.

Let me start at the beginning. On Monday morning I woke up with some fairly intense contractions. I had had contractions before, but these felt different and also they were coming about 5 minutes apart or so. I was still able to manage them fairly well with just telling my body to relax and breathing through them—then I decided to take a shower to help me relax—and just to take a shower. So, after the shower I still had them so I called my doula (a birthing coach) and told her. These had gone on now for about 3-4 hours. She said to just wait and see what happened and go about my day as normally as I could. I was planning on laboring for as long as I could at home anyway, so I did just that. The contractions did let up some, but still continued sporadically throughout the day. In the meantime, I did all my normal Mommy stuff, finished making Sunny’s costume for her Toy Story play (That was a good thing by the way), and did a little shopping as well. Things just moved along throughout the day and I figured that I must not have been in “real” labor. Then that night after FHE they started up more intense again. However, since I was able to manage the pain I decided not to worry about it. That night I did get up several times with contractions, but I was still able to sleep. All this while in the back of my mind I was like, “Maybe this is labor after all,” but since I had never gone through it before I wasn’t really sure—and I didn’t want to go to the hospital and be wrong.

So, the next morning is when things got busy REAL quick. I woke up with an extremely intense contraction around 6:00A.M. Boom! They just started with almost no relief. So, I got into the shower again and had Jack call my doula for me. After talking with me for a few minutes and listening to me breath through my contractions she realized that they were only 2 minutes apart and told me to get down to the hospital. I was happy to get to the hospital, but I was NOT excited about having to ride in a car for 10 minutes. Poor Jack was so good—probably because he was a little scared that he might have to deliver this baby if he didn’t get me moving! He had to finish packing our stuff, help me get dressed, and keep helping me to work through the contractions all at the same time! They were just so close together that I had to focus all my energy on trying to stay calm and relaxed. I was very impressed with how well Jack did—I was able to stay calm because he was such a great coach to me and he really listened to me. He also had to get the kids off to school! Then Kari came over to stay with the little ones and we were off. I remember walking past Kari to our car and seeing her and trying to smile or something. She said that after she saw my face she called Corey and said, “Oh yeah, she’s having that baby today!” During the car ride I just closed my eyes and kept breathing and relaxing—I had practiced a lot of relaxation and I always did it with my eyes closed. I pretty much closed my eyes through my entire labor and I didn’t even realize it!

So, okay, I’ll try to get more to the end here. When we got the hospital and finally checked in and went to triage I was already dilated to a 6. That was good news! But I was still dying to get back in that shower. So we got to the room and that is straight where I went. Finally Amy my doula showed up and between her and Jack I had a fantastic, supportive team. They really helped me so much, and my sweet mother was just quietly in the background telling me sweet loving things every once in a while. I guess I was in the shower for about an hour—that’s what Jack said, but it seemed much shorter to me. I continued to labor in there until a little before 11:00A.M. Then after about 30 minutes of pushing (which was the hardest part for me—definitely) my fabulous doctor told me to reach down, grab my baby girl, and pull her onto my chest. Jack even got to help pull her out, and he didn’t even faint! That feeling of “bringing” her out and putting her on me was so beautiful it was worth all the preparation, labor, and hard work—and then some! Then after that it was sort of funny because I finally looked up and saw everyone who I had heard helping me. Literally, I hadn’t seen my doula, my doctor, my mom, the nurses—no one. I had been so focused on the labor that they all sort of melded into the background, but I was still very aware of them. It is hard to describe, but all I did was finally look at my doctor and say, “Well, hi there Dr. Tutt! Good to see you!” He was a wonderful coach as well and he was so good with the pushing. He never told me when to push—just let me go at my own pace and start and stop when I wanted to. And then between pushes I would hear him softly taking relaxing breaths, and that helped me to do the same thing. One funny thing was I started to scream some as I was pushing and one of the nurses was like, “Honey, try to save that energy for the pushing if you can.” Well, I tried but found I liked making the noise to help me so I did it anyway. Then by the end that same nurse (at least I think it was the same nurse) heard me scream and was like, “That’s right! Get angry sweetie!”

So, that is how our sweet little baby girl Savannah Rachel joined us. Labor, birth, and pregnancy are just amazing. It is crazy how we prepare for so long for this one day to happen, and then when it is over it is a feeling of true joy. I feel sooooo blessed to have had this experience. Because of it, I will hopefully get to do what my mother did for me for my daughters some day—relate to her in the birthing room and tell her she must be close to the end because that is how she felt, etc. Life comes full circle sometimes, and this is one of those times. It has also given me an even greater love and respect for birth mothers—what a sacrifice they make to bring these babies into the world and place them with families—and then just to go home. Wow.

Well, I know that was long, but I had a desire to share it and to write it down before I start to forget it. Hopefully, the only thing I will ever forget is that pain!

Savannah Rachel Whiting

was born! She came to us in a flurry of excitement on April 26, 2011 at precisely 11:22 A.M. She weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs. and 7oz. I am sorry that I don't have any pictures or more details yet, but at least we got this out there. More to come...

A New Baby and a Babymoon

My big sister Melanie had her precious little baby girl on March 16th—Delphine Elisabeth Lu Lu Lopez—quite a big name for such a little package.  Delphine is a French name, and her husband is French, Elisabeth is Mel’s middle name, and Lu Lu was my grandmother’s name—pretty neat I think.  She is a beauty—and I feel like a dork that I don’t have a pic of Mel and Matthew and  the baby on here—those pics are on my phone! 
These are from the next day when Ang and I visited in the hospital:

Jack and I also went on a “babymoon” this weekend to Sedona.  We realized that we have not had a trip without kids or a baby in many a year and decided that we wanted to go somewhere just us for a few days before this one comes.  Here’s a few pics of our fun room we stayed in at the bed and breakfast:

 

It actually felt like a honeymoon in that we were like, “a picture of you….a picture of me…..then a picture together….”  This is on a hike we did the first day.

Dramatic shot overlooking Sedona beauties…..

Proof that I rode my bike on this trip!  Of course, this is on the way downhill from the trail..the part where I wasn’t stopping every 30 seconds to catch my breath and watch all the real bike people (Like the ones who had cool spandex, helmets, and racing stripe shirts) pass me by.  Jack was pretty patient with me, and I actually felt pretty good about what I did.  It was just fun to be outside and doing stuff.

Here we are biking again—I felt bad that Jack didn’t really get to mountain bike—Luckily there was a fun trail across the street from our bed and breakfast, so he went off by himself for a little while and got a “real” ride while I took a nap! 

We also stopped by and saw Montezuma’s Castle, a really neat ruin that was made way up in this canyon.

I learned a few things on this trip—please indulge me while I divulge them:

Sedona’s restaurants are overpriced and underimpressive—at least the ones we went to—but it is always nice to not have to cook right?:)

I am very out of shape/pregnant.  I thought I was doing pretty well going walking a few times each week and doing some bike rides, but I learned that things are just different when your body is getting ready to have a baby.

I really enjoy my husband—I mean, I knew that of course, but it was so nice for us to just be together, laugh together, talk together, and do things together—maybe we will have stuff to talk about when all the kids are all gone after all!:)

I love my kids—two and half days was plenty of time away and we were so excited to see them.  I sometimes do find myself complaining about parts of being a mom, which I know is normal, but this little trip helped me to realize, yet again, that I am SO BLESSED to be a mother. 

 

Overall, great memories..now on to our newest tiny adventure in 6 weeks or so!!!

Jacob and Camille’s Wedding

  We are soooo happy for you both!!!  What a beautiful couple.

Logan enjoying basking in the glow of some of his uncles.Here we are all together—because of Conner’s insatiable urge to wander, this picture was no easy feat!  That kid was quite a handful at the temple, but he was really good at the luncheon and the reception—there is just something about being outside in the open that makes him want to run!  Still, it was a very nice ceremony and so good to see everyone.

Here’s some more pics of the reception that night:

 

Ella certainly enjoyed flirting and dancing with her cute boy cousins all night—and Angie enjoyed catching the bouquet!  (While Sunny looked on with some green in her eyes…)

 

Weddings are the best!

Hopefully this is not offensive to anyone…

I am not really one to get on the “adoption soapbox” very often. However, I am going to climb on up for a few minutes and give it a whirl. I want to preface my statements with this: I know that the people who have made these comments to me are great people, and I still admire them greatly and do not wish to make anyone feel guilty or upset. I am only writing this because I hope to educate a few people out there who may in turn educate others. And perhaps give you a unique perspective into the “adoptive parent” mind. Honestly, we don’t talk or think about adoption a ton in our house, mostly because we think of our kids as, ummm, our kids. However, this is something I really felt should be addressed:

Several people, when congratulating me on our pregnancy, have made the comment, “It must be so nice to finally have one of your own!” When they say this to me I actually sort of cringe inside and thank my lucky stars that none of my kids were there to hear the comment. I mean, how would that make you feel if you heard someone say that to your mom or dad? Yes, our children came to us in a different way, but they are completely our OWN children—in fact, each one of our children has been sealed to Jack and myself in the Holy Temple and they are now “born in the covenant” because of that. I have had SO many spiritual experiences and also have even had some times when others have testified to me that that has proven to me that these children were MEANT to be “our own.” Does this mean that our home is perfect bliss all the time? Heavens no! But it does mean that we are an eternal family and we all belong to one another.

Am I excited for this pregnancy experience? Of course! I often pinch myself because I can’t believe it is true—Jack and I feel so blessed to be able to have a little body and spirit growing inside of me who will in a few short months enter into our home and world as the newest member of our family. I love that I am in the “pregnancy club” and can relate to other women about being pregnant and soon about labor and birth and all that stuff. It is awesome! And we are very excited to have another child in our family because we really enjoy having all these kids—and we love to think that our family can grow. But this child is not loved more or less because she is coming to us in a different way. The very fact that Heavenly Father waited nine years to let us get pregnant makes us realize how important it was for our other children to be ours as well!

In short (or actually long I guess) I am pretty sure that when most people make those well intentioned comments to me they understand all of this. But, I just wanted to spell out why I hope that people might change the way they word things—if not for me then for someone else in a similar situation. Perhaps start with saying, “How wonderful to have another child join your family” and then say, “You must really be excited to have this new experience with this baby!” That way if one of my kids is there they don’t feel second rate in any way—because they aren’t!

Okay, I think that is enough. Hope this makes sense—I just had to get it off my chest I guess. Now I really bet get going and get everyone ready for church—Ijust had to do this now while the thoughts were alive and well.  Have a great day!

We Have Arrived.

Well, I think I can officially say now that Jack and I are old….because we now have a teenager….and I also have to hide gray hair with highlights and Jack is definitely thinning on top….but, the teenager thing is the real kicker.

 

(This is Angie kissing a frog down by our local church building—Jack had taken her there for a little Daddy daughter time.  As far as I know, nothing yet has happened with the frog.)

Angie turned thirteen on the 24th of January—and she was pretty excited about it!  

We had a little shindig for her with some of her cute little girlfriends—one thing I learned during this party gave me a huge sigh of relief—out daughter is COMPLETELY NORMAL—all the other girls are just as giggly and boy crazy as she is—if not more so! 

Seriously, they were a cute group of girls and they seemed to get a long well and have a great time.  I think Angie has a talent for picking good friends, and I also think that is because she IS a good friend.

Here’s a few pics to capture the night—We had a lip singing contest and played some games.

Of course Kari made the amazing cake.  And I really don’t know what Sunny was doing back there, but I’m sure glad I got a picture of it.:)

After the cake and present wrap up the parents were scheduled to come pretty soon.  So the girls all just wanted to go out back and play on the tramp.  Well, after a few minutes they all rapidly ran through the house and to the front room.  Unbeknownst to me they went next door to our neighbor’s house (who happen to have an extremely shy 8th grade son) and rang his doorbell.  I think he knew about this plan because he was standing there with a nerf gun ready to fire.  Or maybe it was their not so subtle giggling and whispering that was the tip off.  It all happened so fast it was quite a blur to me!

Then I finally got all those crazy girls rounded up back in the house to play some games until parents came—man sakes alive, they are a crazy bunch!  But, I have heard they slightly mellow out after 14 or so—let’s hope! 

Overall I was glad that they all seemed to have a good time and get along, and Angie was in heaven—it is fun to glimpse more closely into your children’s life after they start to venture out into the world more.  I hope that we can continue to have Angie make memories with her friends right here in our home.

She continues to grow up as a giving and kind person who wants to have fun and do her best—and she is a great babysitter!  woohoo! 

We love you teenager!

Remember—you have plenty of time to find your prince…

In the mean time…just have fun!