My Little Seth

It's way past time for an update but life is busy with three little ones!

My Seth is 7 weeks old today! Crazy... here are a couple pictures of him at one month old.

And then at 7 weeks old. He's gotten so much bigger in just a few weeks! He's got quite a bit of pudge on his little cheeks and he's starting to smile! I'm bummed that all the pictures are blurry but that's what you get with a wiggly little boy!

His older brothers just adore him and are always asking, "Can I see the baby?"

Matt blessed him in church last Sunday and we were so blessed to have so much of our family come to support us! It was a wonderful, spiritual day.

He is starting to be more awake and smile and laugh a little. I catch him just looking at his hands a lot and he's starting to be amused with toys (he can't hold them yet, though). He likes to be awake a lot at night and must be held 90% of the time unless we want him to scream. But we love him so much and are so happy he's in our family!

Yesterday, a boy I grew up with passed away. He lived just a few houses away and I went to church and school with him. I have a lot of good memories of him, especially band and choir trips in high school. He was only 30 years old, one grade ahead of me, and had been in a motorcycle accident. He was a wonderful, fun, and funny person who brought a lot of joy to everyone he met. It's hard to believe that he was taken from this earth so young. 

His name was also Seth. I didn't name my baby after him, we weren't close enough friends for something like that but his name is where I got the idea to name my little guy the same. I've been thinking a lot about life and death and the plan of our Heavenly Father and how my little Seth entered the world shortly before another Seth left it. He will not replace Seth Potter but I hope that my little boy will grow up to be that great of a man someday!

Seth

On last Tuesday the 28th I went to the doctor for what turned out to be my last check-up. He stripped my membranes while I was there (without asking or telling me!) and then scheduled me for an induction at 5:00 AM mostly because he was worried about me driving to Gillette. He planned to break my water and then wait at least 2 hours before giving pitocin.

Turns out we didn't need either! I started having regular contractions at about 10:30 PM, right when I was going to bed. I stayed in bed and timed them and realized there were two that were 7 minutes apart and getting stronger. I was going to wait for a couple more but felt a strong prompting saying "Go, now!" So I woke Matt up and we were out the door by about 1:10 AM on the 29th.

In the car my contractions were between 2 and 4 minutes apart! Matt was timing them better than me and said he was getting worried we wouldn't make it, ha ha!

We got to the hospital and quickly checked in and got to the delivery room by 2:45. I was already at a 10 and we just had to wait for the doctor to get there. As soon as he did he broke my water and at 3:22 AM we welcomed our Seth Randal Clark into the world! He was 6lb 8oz, 19" long.

I did this one natural like I did with Brennen (I really had no choice this time anyway!) and it was SO much better for two reasons. The first being that I didn't have pitocin. The contractions never got to that level of intensity. Yes, it was still labor, ha! But it just never got as bad. The other reason is that this time I actually focused on breathing and having a focal point. That helped more than I can say! In the car it was random road signs in the distance and in the hospital it was a random green bag hanging on the wall, ha ha! Matt also pushed hard on my back during contractions (I tried to do it myself in the car) and that really helped. He was born face up which made it more complicated so the pushing took a half hour where with Dean I only pushed through two contractions.

The funniest part is that my sweet husband passed out! Yes, he did. He is NOT squeamish and has seen two other babies born so we blame it on not enough food or sleep. I was pushing and then realized Matt was on the floor surrounded by nurses. He made it to the chair but they had him lay on the floor to get blood back into his head. He came back to me quickly but it was kind of funny. :)

I felt guided by Heavenly Father and afterward kept wanting to cry because I was SO thankful for how it all worked out. It was just perfect and all the things I worried and prayed about were taken care of.

We are doing well so far! Seth is a good baby and already sleeps great, only waking twice in the night and is mostly content during the day. He's a good little eater, too. His brothers love him and are so sweet, especially Dean. He says, "Aw! Look at the little brother!" and shares his his favorite blanket.

I love my family and already can't imagine life without our newest little boy!

Trickster

After months of doctors telling me to take it easy, that I was at somewhat of a risk to have a premature baby, I'm sitting here at more than 39 weeks with no baby yet! I think I'd be more patient if I would have had the expectation that he'd be full term!

He's tricked me a few times, my sister in law says he's teasing me. I guess so! So many contractions for nothing! I'm actually feeling pretty good still but my burst of energy I had a few weeks ago is GONE. I am so tired all the time! Almost 2 weeks ago I had an ultrasound and he was measuring about 6 lbs 11 oz then! He's probably at least a pound heavier now. I'd say he's ready to greet the world.

We don't really have any name ideas. Nearly all that were on our list have been crossed off. I hope inspiration hits us after he's born!

Now I'm betting that he'll come on November 4th, which is about a week and a half away. Which would be nice in a way because the boys are really excited for Halloween festivities and I don't want them to miss them.

It's really all that's on my mind lately and it's driving me crazy! I try to do things to distract me but it's hard. I'm so ready to have the baby yet scared of labor and nervous about having to drive more than an hour to have him. Matt was gone last Saturday to Gillette for stake conference stuff and he's gone again today, too, helping people load wood in Custer. It really makes the Saturdays drag when he's not here.

I've been feeling a little lonely lately. All of my family except me has been getting together a lot but we're too far away for anyone to come visit. And I miss being able to see Matt's family all the time. I love being home with the boys but I literally have nothing else to do! I'm not involved in anything and my musical talents are just NOT needed here, everything is already taken care of and when I volunteered to help with things I'm turned down.

But I know I'll be plenty busy with a new baby soon and that at least a few people will come visit us to see him. :)

Last Saturday I took the boys out and we did some light hiking. Mostly they just pretended to chop down trees with sticks.

Brennen is pretending to be a mountain lion.

My pregnant shadow. ha!

Almost There!

Baby Approaching! So when I went to the doc a week ago I was 3cm and 60-70% effaced. Baby's heart rate was mature for his age and doc said that he should be totally fine if he were born now. He said he wouldn't be surprised if baby comes this week or waits until my due date (which is still 24 days away). But I've been feeling really great this past week. Swelling has dramatically gone down and I have a TON of energy. Contractions have also slowed. Matt says I can have baby in 10 days, that would put me at 38 weeks.

Nesting. Man I over did it this morning. I did dishes, swept and mopped all the floors, vacuumed all the floors (and along the edges), scooched our bed over to make room for the bassinet, set up the bassinet, washed all the baby blankets, crawled into the "dungeon" (our storage crawl space off the garage) to dig out the car seat, diaper bag, and a few other odds and ends, re-adjusted the straps on the car seat, stocked up my diaper bag, and sorted out grown clothes into correct boxes. All between 8:30-11:00. Now I am shaking and light headed but the 2 granola bars I just ate are starting to take effect. This afternoon I plan to start making a very easy blanket for him.

Matt. He has been SO sweet to me the past several weeks. He makes sure that I take it easy in the evenings and has been doing a ton around the house. He does most of the grunt work in taking care of the boys including cleaning up accidents, giving them baths, and getting them ready for bed. After the boys are in bed he sets me up on the couch with a TV show and brings me snacks. :) I know he is stressed at work and is worried about not having sub plans ready for when I go to have the baby but he does SO much for us. He shows his love for me and the boys in countless ways and my heart is just so full when I think about him. I love him much more now than I did almost 8 years ago when we got married and I definitely loved him then! He's just such a great man and I am SO blessed that he is my husband and that I can be with him forever. I can't help but occasionally brag about him. 

• Happy! I am just happy lately! It's still hard being away from Laramie. Matt's mom and brother Brad came to visit this weekend and it was so good to see them! The boys absolutely loved having them here and were quite sad when they left and wanted to go with them. I'll admit that I wanted to go with them, too. :) But all that being said, I feel like we've unpacked our bags here and are happy. The ward is wonderful and we're getting used to the community. We were watching general conference yesterday morning and I was emotional just thinking about how happy I am with my little family and my faith.

Third Time Around!

I have gained 31 pounds so far! I gained 32 total with Brennen and only 22 with Dean. I started out at 119 this time and thought I'd happily end under 150. HA! By the time I'm done I'll probably weigh more than I ever have in my life.
I think another problem is that the docs told me to stop exercising early on because of a whole lot of spotting in the first two trimesters and braxton hicks contractions that started before 20 weeks.
I have embraced the weight, though, and have decided that I shall eat all that I want now until I have to start counting calories again. (side note: I have never been a healthy eater but I don't binge eat while pregnant! I just eat the wrong stuff therefore become a fatty.)

This time is a lot like with Brennen. Lots of weight gain, swelling face and feet (cankles!) and exhaustion. Dean's was lots easier on me. I gained less weight and had a good amount of energy the whole time (until I got sick and hospitalized at 32 weeks). I hope that doesn't mean this baby will also be a lot like Brennen. He's amazing now but the newborn stage was really rough. 

Speaking of newborn stage, I keep telling the boys that I won't be so tired and will be able to do more things with them after the baby is born. Then I laugh to myself when I remember that I'll be like a walking zombie for several months. 

I haven't felt as close to this baby as I did when I was pregnant with the other two. But a couple weeks ago I noticed a drastic decrease in movement over about 24 hours. When I called the doc he was concerned and told me to come in if I didn't get good movement in a couple hours. That time sitting still just focusing on this little one and the fear that something could be wrong with him helped me feel closer to him. And thank goodness he started moving more.

He also still doesn't feel quite real to me... I know a baby is coming in about 5-6 weeks but it really hasn't sunk in all the way...

My ward gave me a baby shower on Saturday. The girl who organized it is one of my visiting teachers and SO nice. I felt awkward about it because I didn't want people who hardly know me giving me stuff that I didn't really need since I already have two boys. But it was nice and I got some gifts that I can really use. I was very thankful for the thoughtfulness of everyone.
An elderly lady who I don't know gave me a present at church and apologized she didn't make it to the shower. It was a crocheted blanket, hat, and booties. It made me cry that someone I didn't even know made those things for my little baby! Seeing that tiny hat made him more real to me. Brennen doesn't believe that he'll be able to wear it. He says, "He won't be THAT small will he?" Yep, he will. But unfortunately not for long!

We finally have a name list, yay! It had 15 names but we crossed some off and are down to 9. I'm hoping to get it down to 4 or 5 to take to the hospital. We have 8 middle name possibilities that are all family names. We'll pick one of those based on what we choose for the first name.

And because I can't help it, here are a few pics of the boys. There is a ton of private land here but we found some national forest about 25 miles out of town so the boys and I went exploring that area the other day. We've also been having a lot of fun doing preschool here at home 3 mornings a week (Brennen goes to his preschool the other two).

Changes

We arrived here in Newcastle, WY about two weeks ago and the adjustment has been pretty good I think. It’s a nice little town, very quiet. The prices at the grocery stores are obscene, though. Really, it’s terrible. We plan to stock up at Wal-Mart in Gillette or Rapid City.

We live in a small place but it has TONS of storage. I have empty shelves in the closets. I also like the kitchen, good floor with lots of room. We’re pretty much all settled in and the boys seem to like the new place.

I still feel homesick for Laramie (and Matt’s family, who I feel is my own family!!) a little every day and I cried and cried the day we left (and a little on and off for a few days after that). I cried when my parents and brothers left after helping us move, too, even though I’m used to not seeing them very often.

But the boys seem to like it here so far. There are certainly less parks but the two (and a half…) that have playgrounds are still fun for them. They love the one that has 7 slides. :) And they do the same things at home that they always have. Play, fight, etc. :)

My routine really hasn’t changed a whole lot, just keeping up with house cleaning and playing with/taking care of the boys. I spent all last week unpacking but regrettably I did not break down boxes as I went so we have a garage full of assembled boxes that I can’t get the motivation to break down.

I’m 30 weeks pregnant now! Feeling pretty good but just exhausted lately. My energy is practically non existent and I get cramps or braxton hicks contractions a ton, especially when I try to do too much. This kid is very active, especially at night. I go to my new doc in Gillette on Monday. I can’t wait to meet this little guy (who has nothing close to a name yet) in a little more than 2 months!

I think Matt is liking his job (even though he never talks about work at all ever at home unless I pry it out of him). Although, he hasn’t had any students yet, they don’t start until next week. He might change his tune after that. HA! He’s been doing training and staff development in addition to a lot of lesson planning. He still has nothing on his walls so tomorrow I’m going to go to his room with him and just put stuff up (thanks, pinterest).

We’ve met a lot of nice people through the church and I’ve met a couple of other moms at the parks. I applied for Brennen to get into preschool two days a week for free so if he gets in that would be nice but if not we have plenty of school work we can do at home. We also signed him up for soccer again and he’s excited to start that!

We’ve also been exploring a little in the evenings. We’ve found a couple spots less than 10 miles out of town (one is less than 3) for hiking. Too bad Matt will have to travel 150 miles to get any kind of good fishing in Wyoming. :( But we’ve had fun exploring the hills and it is really pretty around here.

There are also lots of deer in town. We see them all the time in our neighborhood. I like that, makes me happy.

Here are some pictures! The end. :)

One last picture on the way out of town. This house is special to us. Matt lived here as a little boy then again as a single college guy. It’s where he lived when we met and we really enjoyed living there together with our little boys!
One last grab at the dog.
We will sure miss Grandma and Grandpa!!Fun outside at our new house. Peeking through the bridge at the park. They call it “The Troll Bridge.”It’s blurry (on the move) but Brennen is admiring the deer.Hiking! Both boys climbed to the top of that rock by themselves.We’ve never had stairs in our house before and they love them! They set up hot wheels tracks on them, dive down them, throw toys down them, and of course we build forts/tunnels. And just a cute one of Dean running toward me at the park. :)

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?

Sometimes I steal song titles and make them my post titles. :)

Camping & Picnics
We all love being outside, especially in the mountains. It’s just so peaceful. Brennen is getting to be a really good climber. We’ve gone on a few little picnics and camping once up in the Snowy Range.
 

Lander/Rexburg Trip
Matt and two of his brothers went on a fishing/backpacking trip around Lander a couple weeks ago. While they were gone I decided to drive up to Rexburg with the boys to visit my sister. While we were there we also got to see my parents and brothers. We went to Bear World and walked about the temple. It was a lot of driving but such a nice little vacation. We had fun seeing family and I know Matt had fun backpacking.

Soccer
Brennen played soccer this summer. He really seemed to like it and did a good job! His team was probably the best one and it was a lot of fun to watch those 3 and 4 year olds play.

Family Reunion in Lyman
This last weekend we went to Lyman to see my entire family. It was so much fun!
We got there on Friday and the kids played on a bouncy water slide then we had family pictures that night.
On Saturday I dropped Matt off 13.1 miles out of town and he ran back in. He just felt like running a half marathon without even training and did it in just over 2 hours. Crazy (but awesome) man. Then we went to the parade and bbq. That afternoon, Grandpa filled the bed of his truck with water and the kids had such a blast splashing around in there. We had a fire that night a cooked marshmallows.
On Sunday we had a wonderful morning and then all went to church together in my parent’s ward. We drove back to Laramie last night.
Most of the kids slept together outside and had so much fun playing. I know Brennen loved spending time with his cousins and grandparents and he just cried when it was time to leave.

Next Up
Our move! We’ve moved several times since we’ve been married but never to a different town. We feel like this is what we’re supposed to do but I’m still in denial and it probably won’t really hit me until we’re loading up next Friday. But we’ve had a great summer and are excited to start this new part of our lives.