Happy First Birthday to Vivian!

It is SO hard to believe it has been a year since Viv was born! Everything happened so fast with her--we found out her birthmother chose us just a few months after we put our papers in, then her due date was in just 3 weeks, and she was born a week early! We got home from church that Sunday and had a bunch of messages that she had been born that morning, so we quickly packed up our bags and left for Kentucky early Monday morning. It was all very exciting and whirlwindy.

The rest of the year has kind of been whirlwindy, too :) But Viv has been the sweetest baby ever, and it has been a joy getting to know her over this year. We have really been able to watch her personality emerge, and she gets more fun every day. Viv just adores Grace, and it is so great to watch them starting to play together. We feel so blessed to be Vivian's parents!

Stranger Danger

When Grace was a baby, we got stopped by a lot of people who want to look at babies and tell you how cute they are. I was SO proud to show her off, and loved the attention. Especially when she was really tiny and then people would tell me how great I looked :) (I just said thanks...) But as she got older, that tapered off. With Vivian's amazing hair, she seems to be getting us stopped more often as she gets older. Seriously, if I go grocery shopping in the morning when all the grandmas are out, it can add an extra half hour to the trip. Some people want to tell you about all their red-headed relatives. Some people want to know where the red hair came from (I always just say "her dad". Strangers don't need to know my reproductive history.) Lots of people tell me that their hair used to be that color. One lady told me that I had her baby. I said, "Oh, did you have one that looked like this?" She responded that no, she had prayed for 3 red-headed boys and got 3 blond girls. Well, so I got half her baby.

And now that I have red-headed Vivian and "look like I'm about to explode," I'm getting all kinds of comments. A lot of times, people see Viv first, then notice my belly and just kind of go "Oh! And another one on the way!" The other day, 2 people within 30 minutes asked me if "I'm done having kids after this." I just say "we'll see," while thinking "none of your darn business." One day, Rob was with me and a lady gave him the crude wink and told him "way to go, Dad."

Forgive me if I seem rude, cynical, and anti-social. I am grateful I really haven't had my stomach grabbed by any strangers... probably because Viv is usually on top of it :) I'm going to blame my attitude on the hormones!

Happy Anniversary (belated...)

You might not have noticed that I am special-daytarded. Can I blame it on pregnancy? My brain isn't working quite right because all the blood is flowing to the baby?

Anyway, I am so lucky to be married to Rob, and 9 years have flown by! I thought I'd copy the fun number game I've seen other people do...

1 pregnancy

2 trips to Europe

3 kids (almost)

4 years in a trailer in Iowa

5 trips to Hawaii

we'll spend 6 years in Michigan

I'm glad it's not 7 :)

8 months from our first date to our wedding

9 fantastic years together

I love you dear!!!!

Horror stories wanted

This summer a bunch of friends have been having babies and sending out pictures. I have been alarmed to notice that immediately after giving birth, they are holding full-grown human babies. I am getting freaked out by the prospect of pushing my own full-grown baby out of what I can't help but notice is a fairly small opening in my body. I have never been in excruciating pain, even for a few minutes, and I'm not sure I'm ready for hours/days of it. In fact, I hear that Braxton-Hicks contractions aren't painful, but I kind of stop and go "ouch", so apparently I am a BIG WIMP, and that kind of worries me.

I took a childbirth class, and it actually made me more confused about how I want to give birth. Basically, what I got out of it was this:

• moan/grunt primally
• just tell yourself you can do it
• your body knows what it's doing
• giving birth laying on your back in a bed with lots of wires and tubes going in and out of you is the worst possible position
• vaccines and circumcision are evil

And we watched a couple of disturbing videos.

I have never felt the need to have an unmedicated birth, but actually some of what they were saying made sense. Something about letting my body do its thing, about being able to get up and move, and lie in a tub or do what feels best was appealing. I don't really like the idea of being stuck in a bed with a huge needle in my spine. But I have a feeling that you really have to be 100%, fully and totally committed to unmedicated birth to not end up having an epidural. And I am not 100% committed. So, here is the big question: If I am pretty sure that I will end up having an epidural anyway, is there any point to trying to hold out for a while without?

I have also heard that you shouldn't listen to other people's horror stories, but I want to be prepared for the worst. So far, I am expecting to be a week overdue, to be in labor for 3 days, then push for 6 hours, only to find out that this baby inherited Rob's gargantuan cranium and it can't even be vacuumed out, so they will have to slice me open and pull him all the way back out the other way. And I hear back labor is bad, so I'm expecting that, too. Oh, and horrible tears in all directions, and black eyes from pushing so hard.

So please send your wisdom, advice, and horror stories to help me as I wander into this great unknown!

Viv's sealing

This post is a week late, but Rob and I were sealed to Vivian last Saturday in the Detroit temple! It was an exciting and busy weekend as all of our families came to town. We were so glad everyone (almost) could make it! We know it was a sacrifice for people to make the quick trip. On Sunday we blessed Viv, and Rob's brother Jared blessed their new baby, Tanner. So it was wonderful that Rob's whole family could be there for both of those blessings.

It was wonderful to be in the temple, and it was so amazing to be there with Grace and Vivian! I've said it before, but I really feel lucky that we have been able to actually physically go with the girls to be sealed, and not just have them "born in the covenant." Being in the temple with them is a great experience. I will kind of miss that with this upcoming baby. Grace did really well with being reverent while she was in the temple. Vivian did not like having to hold still during the ceremony! But it was still great to be there together and to know that our family is forever. I had been kind of stressed out right until we got to the temple, but once we got inside, my perspective came back and a wonderful calm came over me :) That's one reason why I love the temple.

Vivian's blessing was beautiful. I love that Rob is so in tune with the Spirit, I always feel like what he says is really what Heavenly Father wants said. She was blessed with a bright and shining testimony, which I loved. I feel like if she has that, everything else in her life will fall into place. And then she was blessed to be a good influence on her "brothers and sister" which completely threw me for a loop and I don't remember anything else after that :)