Sukkot!

Hag Sameach! Sukkot is now beginning! I don't have any pics yet but I plan on posting some in a couple weeks

Also, Esh has arrived here safely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The airline was cruel and had her plane delayed for 20 minutes (about the longets 20 minutes of my life).

Mason has arrived!

I was awakened at 5 this morning with a call for a birth. It was going to be a quick one and one of the midwives was going to come pick me up in 5 minutes. I quickly got ready and we rushed outside of town to witness the miracle of birth. Mason made is grand entrance about 5 minutes after two of us got there (one midwife had gone ahead while we got the birth kit. . .) He was born after only 44 minutes of labor and was 10lbs 4 ounces! He's so cute! His mommy did a magnificent job and is definately a professional. Mason Bryant was happy to meet all 6 of his siblings, his parents, and of course his midwives.

I don't have any pics from today with me in them. :( Enjoy these though!

A UJ picture

While unloading groceries a couple weeks ago I noticed a perfect photo op of UJ proportions! So, in honor of you Joe, I took this pic. No, I didn't set it up, yes peoples, it did just "happen" to lay this way.

Finisimo!

Finally! After all this time I've been spending with this textbook I paid two dollars for I'm actually finished with it! Goodbyes don't normally come easy for me but this one sure did! Whew, I can breathe a sigh of relief. Time to celebrate and throw a party. Too bad everyones asleep and Starbucks is closed. I guess I'll have to wait to really celebrate until tomorrow.

Here She Comes!

Yes, it's finally true. Esh is coming to America! I'll admit I thought it would never really happen but I hear the tickets have even been purchased. In case you couldn't tell I'm thrilled. I have a few things I'd like to get done before her arrival.

1. Vaccum out my car!

2. Buy some real ice cream.

3. Finish the unit of midwifery stuff I'm working on.

4. Makesure I can find Pride and Prejudice and that we have some popcorn.

I've been told that I need to update my blog more often. The truth is that right now my life is pretty boring. I can tell you all about Preterm babies, Babies of drug addicted mothers, Large babies. . . but I don't think that would catch everyone's interest. Other than that I've been sleeping and volunteering and going to prenatals. No worries though, when Esh gets here I'll once again have a social life and something to talk about.

How cute are the children!

These kiddos are just so adoreable and I love the black and white function on my camera! Enjoy!

Luke and Larry
Landon and Justin
Justin and Jan
Sometimes life is just worth shouting about! (Jordan)
Lawson and big Luke
Jan and Justin again.
Luke was so comfey with Larry!

Babies have such a wonderful affect on people and their heads are so soft and fuzzy.
Jordan posing quickly so she can get back and look at the pics.
Luke
Jordan
Sometimes we get so happy we can only keep one eye open.

What makes me me!

Here's why I love doing what I do!

She's HOME!!!!

Midwife #1 called and surprised midwife #2 and I by announcing she was going to come by and see our progress at the birthcenter! We've been working on the bathroom and it's almost done. So, she got out of the hospital and came to give her opinion. Thankfully she was rather pleased and able to get around pretty well with her walker. She told midwife #2 and I that she'd be at work on Monday and shocked us by being right. We should have known that she's always right!

Midwife Update

On Friday night they moved Midwife #1 to a normal hospital room! She's really liking that because that means there's a shower for her and it also is a sign of progress. They're trying to get her on some milder pain medication and she tried that today but with doing that and starting physical therapy it was just too much so this afternoon she went back to the stronger stuff for one more day. I also found out that she has all sorts of fractures all up and down her back and one in her neck. She's looking much better and wanting to be able to get back to births! Today she told Midwife #2 and I today that she was going to be back at work on Monday! We laughed and then she said "Monday in three weeks." Maybe we'll allow her to come and lay on the couch that day. Keep her in your prayers, she's got a ways to go yet.

My very wild week.

Wow, I can hardly believe it's almost Friday. So much has happend and so little sleep. Here's a brief run down of my week.
It started off quite innocently and pretty ordinary. Studying, working out, working. . . Tuesday at about noon everything changed. I heard the special midwife ringtone coming from my cell phone and answered quickly. I was not prepared to hear what the midwife (here on out midwife #2) told me though. I could tell she'd been crying and was crying so I knew it wasn't a birth or anything good. The other midwife(midwife #1) had been in a bad car accident and midwife #2 was at the hospital with her. Midwife #1's two oldest sons were with her and they we're hit by a car that ran a red light at 65 mph. Midwife #1 and her sons were getting CAT scans at that time. The boys were really in quite good condition. One had a concussion (Ty) and the other one (Jacob) had major bruising from the seat belt. They kept Jacob overnight to monitor him (I don't really know what for). Midwife #1 was in worse shape though. Her pelvis was broken in 4 places and her sacrum was also fractured more than once. Her spleen was bleeding at first but it sealed itself off and so they decided to leave it and just monitor it. I was at work but was able to go by a little later in the the afternoon.
After work mom and I went and helped midwife #2 finish painting the new bathroom at the birthcenter so that it would be more ready for prenatal day. Just as we began washing up at 10:30 midwife #2 called me and said we had a client in labor. I rushed home and showered, changed clothes, ate dinner and napped for a very few minutes before being up all night at a wonderfully perfect birth! I went ahead and went to work on Wednesday at 1 and worked all afternoon.
Wednesday night I went to see midwife #1 and check on her. I ended up staying at the hospital until about 10 pm. At this point I haven't really slept (more than 15 minutes here and there) in about 40 hours! I got home and crashed until 7:45 when it was time to get ready for prenatals. Midwife #2 and I did prenatals all until about 3:30 and then I went to work, got home, ate, did a walmart run for the birthcenter and now, here I am about to go to bed and sleep until it's time to get up for MORE prenatals! That's the short version!

Questionable Squash!

My family has a garden and a sense of humor and imagination. So, go ahead and picture what we do when we find an interesting shaped squash. Well, I'll go ahead and allow you to see pictures of what we do! Also, there's a pic of my new haircut for those of you that haven't seen it!

Bass clef squash

Questionable squash
The haircut!
Dad questioning the squash
Questionable David
Saxaphone squash
Snake Squash
Uzzi Squash

Adventures in Jonah!

Yes, Jonah has decided he wants some more attention. This morning when the guy got here to spray our trees dad went out to move Jonah so he wouldn't get sprayed. Well, Jonah refused to start so we prepared to get a new battery. Jonah refused to be jumped off despite many efforts so we disconnected the battery and I put the battery in the trunk of dad's car (for those of you who haven't carried a car battery before, know that they're much heavier than cell phone batteries). The ol' battery tested to be fine so we set to work scrubbing off the corosion. Grandpa and I scrubbed away with baking soda and water and got it all cleaned up. He still refused to start. I guess he really wanted some attention from the tow truck and mechanic. Plus, since he'd gotten tree chemicals all over him I had to give him a scrub down right there in the street. Let me tell ya, he's spick and span clean! He just needs to get a new starter so we can go for a ride. Thankfully we had an extra car that I can drive for the time being. I think this one's a girl (just my opinion) so hopefully she'll run well for me.

I guess today I wasn't supposed to study! Jonah gives directions sometimes. I had been talking about how I needed to wash him for a while. I guess he just got antsy for his bath. I'll have to let him know that he can ask more nicely in the future.

Summer time is here!

The heat has arrived! It really hasn't been so bad but it has let everyone know that it is summer. Work's been going well, and I've been doing some volunteering with the local crisis pregnancy center. The birth center has moved across town and I've helped with that and on top of everything tried to stay up with studying. Believe it or not I've still had time to sleep at night!

David and I have started biking together some which has provided some good brother-sister time. I have learned though that my bike has a mind of it's own when it comes to switching gears. : )

Esh has gotten great reports on her platelets lately and she should soon be off the steriods!

Well, sorry this is so ecclectic but that's all that's really been happening!

Amy's Graduation!

Sorry for the long delay. So much has happened in the last month! Amy graduated, Esh's platelet counts got back well within the normal range, and we had a big Shavuot gathering! The only one of those that I have pictures of though is Amy's graduation. There were so many cameras present that I didn't get too many great shots myself so I'm waiting to get some better ones from UJ and Amy soon.

Jones pictures!
Abbe, Mike, Amy, Joe, Dave, Cheryl, and I musn't forget Abuelo.

Here she is in cap and gown.
Such a typical Amy face!

The Grad herself
Randomness
"Uncle Joe" with his Jones Soda
Amy, Mike, and Abbe
Amy and Abuelo

Well, I took a short road trip today to get some snuggles from some cute babies! Luke is now 6 1/2 months old and got his first tooth the day after I last saw him last week. Justin is now 5 days old and cuter than ever and has already gained two ounces of weight. Here are some snap shots from the day.

Justin's big sister Jordan (18 months old)

Luke and Me!

Kara and Justin (doesn't she look awesome!)

Leslie and Luke


Luke

He's here and happy!

Just wanted everyone to know that Justin Zechariah arrived safely via C-Section on Monday night. He's adoreable and thinks he was created to suck on something at all times! My finger was one of his favorites. In fact for a while when I held him he refused to take his paci and insisted that I wash my finger and let him suck on it. I didn't mind though. He did leave some skin on it so all's good. Here's some pics of the long awaited little guy. Oh, he was 8 lbs 7 ounces and 20 inches long.

Also, mommy and baby are very healthy and got to go home today. You'd think mommy had had a homebirth afterall with how she gets around.

Notice what's his mouth!


Justin and Mommy
Justin and Daddy
Justin and Granny (paternal side)
Just Justin (and Granny's right hand)
Justin yawning with his favorite midwifery student! I guess I exhausted him telling him his birth story. LOL!