Introducing...Kayden Charles Clifton!!

Kayden Charles Clifton was born on Saturday, June 30th, 2012 at 3:46 PM. He weighed in at 7lbs. 4 oz. and measured in at 19.5 inches long. Kayden was by FAR my easiest delivery, but also my LONGEST labor! I checked into the hospital the morning of at 4 A.M. One of my friends came over to my home to be with my girls. My contractions at that point were pretty painful and because of my experience with Mylee--getting sent home when I was only measuring 2 centimeters only to return back within a matter of hours at a 9 and ready to deliver--I played it safe and went into the hospital. I was disappointed when I was only measuring at a 2, but hoped things would progress quickly being that this was my 4th baby.

It was a blessing to have Kayden on Saturday because Blake was able to be with my during the entire labor and delivery. After I was admitted we settled into our room and tried to get some sleep. I felt comfort in knowing that I wasn't going to have this baby at home and I didn't have to have the anxiety of debating over when I should go to the hospital. After 9 hours of hard labor and not much progress I asked for an epidural. Blake called in one of his buddies that he trusted and knew would do a good job. Unfortunately my epidural only worked on the right side of my body AGAIN!! Yes this was the 3rd time that this happened. After getting the tube in my back re-adjusted and getting a ton more medication, my left side finally numbed up. I was disappointed in how numb I was, I was hoping to feel something, but I do have to admit that it was nice to not be in pain anymore and get some much needed rest! After about an hour, my doctor came in and decided to put me on pitocin (spelling? my hubby is a Dr. NOT me!!) to help me dilate. Two hours later I was completely dilated and ready to deliver--at this point we had clocked in about 12 hours at the hospital!! I was STARVING and hoping that Kayden would come soon so I could at least eat something! My nurse had come in to check on me and I had a feeling things had progressed so I had her check me and sure enough the baby's head was right there. My doctor was quickly called in and a team of nurses got everything set up. Once it was time to push I only had to push about 4 times and he was out. No drama, just peaceful and beautiful. I actually got emotional this time. I was in awe at the miracle of life! Blake was so sweet and with me the entire time. My doctor was wonderful as were my nurses.



Blake holding his son for the first time.

Girls helping to bath Kayden for the first time

After a couple of hours Blake went to pick up the girls. They were all SO excited to meet their new baby brother. Lanaea looked at him and said, "Ahhh...he loves me..." She continues to say this. It makes my heart melt. Mylee was a little reluctant and distracted by all the noises. At one point Kayden was crying and she covered her ears...it was a little much for her. But we were eventually able to get her to hold Kayden. The girls also got to help the nurse give him his first bath. I love the set up in this hospital because they were able to do everything right in the room I delivered in. They even gave Blake and I an hour to ourselves after Kayden was born to have some one-on-one time which I really appreciated and treasured. The hospital had just completed a new wing to the hospital which included a new labor and delivery and postpartum facilities. So the facilities were top notch and brand new. Their only hiccup, which actually was really funny--were their faucets. They were the faucets that turn on when your hand goes over a sensor. Well the faucet in our room would go on an off randomly unless something was covering the sensor. I didn't know what it was at first...but finally figured it out when my doctor was checking on me one time and the faucet was going on and off like crazy. We all had a good laugh. So much for technology and trying to make things easier :).

All settled in my room checking my son out. All toes and fingers accounted for!

Blake took the girls home that evening and I was transferred to the postpartum floor. I had no interruptions from nurses the entire night...it was WONDERFUL!! Usually they are in and out needing this and that, but they left me alone and I was so grateful. My room had a queen sized bed and felt very comfortable. The only problem was when I took a shower the next morning I didn't realize until I was finished showering that my room wasn't stocked with towels!! Opps! Blake came with the girls the next evening and we went home as a family. Before we all left the hospital I was changing Kayden's diaper, and of course my girls were curious for obvious reasons, and as I was changing him he peed all over his face and Lanaea's face. Lanaea yelled eww and I laughed and laughed. It was a good introduction to the many discussions we have had on the difference between boys and girls :). Blake had to return to work the next day so I opted to stay another day at the hospital to take care of my girls hoping I would get some help from friends to watch my girls during the day--Luckily I did.

The girls lovin' on their brother before we take him home. Notice the queen sized bed!!

At home in his own bed...sorry Kayden we only had girly sheets:)

Lanaea: Our Singing Diva

I have said this over and over again, but truly, Lanaea is such a JOY!! She constantly makes us laugh and is so enjoyable. She loves to talk and will talk your ear off if you let her. You may not understand half of what she says, but she talks to you as though she knows exactly what she is saying. As we have been letting Kelsey perform for us at Family Home Evening, we have given Mylee and Lanaea the chance to show what they have accomplished in the week too. This particular night Lanaea showed us her singing talent. She went on and on and on!! It was SOOO adorable!! On a side note, please excuse my un-clothed 2 year old. This is her choice of attire for most days.

June 2012

June has been a really busy month. We've been busy with baby preparations, swim lessons, gymnastics, soccer, residency graduation for the outgoing residents, and Blake's triathalon that was held yesterday at a near-by lake. A sweet friend of mine threw a baby shower for me. It was such a fun event and there was a good turn-out. My friend had worked so hard to make it special and nice. She had prepared all the food by herself and there was A LOT of it!! I couldn't believe all of her efforts. I mostly got boy clothes which is exactly what I needed. There were a couple of sizes I needed so I exchanged some clothes for different sizes. Our little boy is all ready to go now--I can't wait to meet him.

 We signed Kelsey and Mylee up for swim lessons this year through Texas Tech University. Kelsey improved significantly--from not swimming at at to swimming all by herself!! Swim was every day for 2 weeks and my girls looked forward to it every day. I couldn't say that I did with a 9 month belly and 2 year-old in tow, but we survivied and it was a good experience.

 Mylee loved her class and her teacher was so cute with the kids. I realized I should have signed her up for the class above her because there were kids still in swim diapers in her class!!! What?! She enjoyed it though and it was a good first experience at swim lessons.

 Kelsey swimming with her teacher.

 Kelsey jumping off the diving board.

 My little side-kick at the pool. She learned during the two weeks to be content her these lounge chairs--hallelujah!!

 Mylee and her class going on an adverture

 Every year the Orthopaedic Department hold events surrounding graduation. On Friday the 3rd, 4th, and outgoing residents present research they have been working on throughout the year. Blake did a good job at presenting his. That evening the department holds a nice formal dinner along with a program honoring the outgoing residents. They present awards, share words of wisdom, etc. The dinner was delicious!! I look foward to this event every year--it's not every day I get treated to such a menu!! The next morning they have a golf tornament at a nice country club in town. That is followed by a family picnic at an attending's house. My girls look forward to swimming in their pool every year. It helped that we had just finished swim lessons too.

 Lanaea would paddle around the pool like the picture above. It was so cute! She is the least afraid of the water of all my girls. She is fear-less like her daddy.

 Yesterday, Blake competed in a triathalon for the sprint distance--500 meter swim, 17 mile bike ride, 5K run. He was dissapointed he hadn't had more time to train--he only swam once!! But he did awesome and it was so fun to go as a family and support Blake in an activity that promotes a healthy lifestyle. We arrived extra early to see the kids' race. Kelsey got excited about the possibility of doing it next year. It's always fun to feel the energy and excitement at events like these. I think it's good expose our girls to events like these to help encourage them to have a healthy lifestyle. I would like to compete next year.

 This is what it looked like at the start of the swim.

 Blake transitioning from the swim to bike.

 While Blake was racing Kelsey and Mylee played in the lake. It was a great sandy beach!

 Lanaea hung out with me in the shade and waited for daddy at the different transitions.

Blake at the finish line!

May 2012

Kelsey finished 1st Grade in May and we mostly continued on with our normal routine. I continued to work on my preschool curriculum--which is one reason this blog has been neglected so much--Blake continued to work like normal except for one week that he took for vacation. Before we had talked about going to Pine, Arizona to stay at Blake's grandparents' cabin, but we didn't think it was the best idea with me being so close to my due date. Instead we stayed home and worked on projects--yea!! I was actually really excited about it. We got the girls' dresser that we acquired for free in Vermont from their dorms when they were remolding painted white. We also got Lanaea's trundle painted white. We varnished the baby's changing table that I had sanded down. Blake got a lot done on a new rocking horse for our girls. We worked on little projects here and there around the house and enjoyed multiple movie rentals from redbox that week.  

 For "K" week Mylee and I went to the dollar store to purchase a kite to fly. FYI!!! don't buy kites from the dollar store. We started to walk to the park at Kelsey's school, but ended up having to turn around because the wind tore part of the kite, so we went back home to fix it. This time I drove over and just as I got the kite situated to fly it broke again. We never successfuly flew it. We ended up leaving the park with all my girls in tears. It was sort of funny and frustrating all at the same time. The next day we went back to the dollar store to return the kite--luckily they let us and we got beads instead which entertained all my girls for hours!!

 Enjoying the Texas heat!!

 This is Kelsey at her rewards ceremony. She received an award for reading--which didn't surprise me at all. She's read 10 of the Box Car Children series books and she is currently reading Little House on the Praire. She's a champ at reading and she'll even set her alarm to get up early to read! She has determination like her Daddy.

 During one Saturday we were all working in the yard, trying to get things cleaned up. At one point, Blake was working on something in the garage and told Lanaea that she had to stay in the backyard. After not hearing from her for a while, he went back to check on her and this is what he found :)! She had fallen asleep by the backyard gate next to the garage where Blake was working. Sweet little girl!!

 This is the present Kelsey and I made for her teacher. "#2 pencils for a #1 teacher" and on the back we had her teacher's name, "Mrs. Frick". It turned out really cute!!

 Kelsey on her last day of 1st grade!

 Kelsey with her teacher Mrs. Frick.

 For the past couple of years our stake holds a food drive for our local food bank. To kick off the event our stake hosts a 5K and 1 mile race for the community. Admission is free. Kelsey, Mylee, Lanaea and I did the 1 mile run (well we walked--I was 8 months prego!!). Blake ran in the 5K. It was a great event and there was a huge turn-out. One of the local grocery stores even donated food to feed us breakfast!

 Blake at the finish line.

 Kelsey got her face painted at the 5K run.

 My little reader!! This is a picture I snuck of her through our kitchen window.

As part of the preschool curriculum I have been working on, I put together a Pre-K busy bag exchange with women in our stake and local community. There were 20 women that participated so we all received 20 preschool kits to help our preschooler learn. I was so excited about this and I was so pleased with the kits everyone shared. This is something else I will share the details about on my learning blog: learningtoletter.blogspot.com

April 2012

April was a good month. I felt like I was getting more into my groove and pregnancy was treating me well. Kelsey and I started getting up at 6AM in order for she and I to have breakfast, have a 20 minute piano lesson and read scriptures for 30 minutes together in the morning. I have LOVED this routine. Mylee and Lanaea even began to join us near the end of the month when they got used to the time. I have been super impressed at Kelsey's dilligence. She sets her alarm every day and gets up when it goes off and is excited to start her day. She has been such an example to me and has helped motivate me to be better. The 30 minutes we spend together in the morning reading scriptures is our family scripture study, but it also is part of a challenge Blake and I have given Kelsey to read the entire Book of Mormon before she turns 8 and is baptized. With this challenge I got thinking that I wanted her to get more out of the scriptures when we read together so I created a Book of Mormon reading program for kids. I went through the entire Book of Mormon and picked out principles and meaningful stories and found pictures that corresponded with those principles and stories. With those pictures I created glue-ins for Kelsey to color and glue in her own scriptures as we read. It's been really fun for her to find out what glue-in comes next and it's helped us pick out important teachings in the Book of Mormon. As she flips back in her Book of Mormon on what she has already read she better remembers the stories we have read and the principles she has been taught because of the glue-ins in her scriptures. I also created a bookmark with all the chapters in the Book of Mormon. Every chapter that Kelsey reads, she gets a sticker. This has been extremely motivating for her. On the back of the bookmark is a reading schedule to carry us out throughout this year until her 8th birthday. I have been so proud of this project and hope to share it soon with others on my teaching blog: letteringtoletter.blogspot.com. With the baby coming soon though, we'll see when I get that up and running again.  We have helped Mylee to participate by using a tip from Elder Cook from general conference. Every chapter we have special finger signals for her to read certain words. This has been fun for all of us. I still read in the children's Book of Mormon reader with her though on our own time. 

 We celebrated Easter this year by first sending some goldfish "carrot" treats to school for snack. The kids got a kick out of it and I don't know a child that doesn't like goldfish crackers.

 We also made our traditional resurrection rolls (regular dinner rolls with marshmallows inside). The marshmallows represent the Savior and the cooking time represents the time the Savior was in his tomb and was then resurrected. The kids get so thrilled when the marshmallows are gone after they are cooked. This has been a fun way to teach our girls about the resurrection.

We couldn't have Easter without coloring some easter eggs. We changed things up a little bit and let the girls use paint to decorate their eggs instead of dye. It worked out great and I'm glad I didn't have to deal with the bigger mess easter egg dye creates.

 The Easter bunny visited us Saturday with a basket for all our girls. It was a big hit. They then went and found the eggs the Easter bunny hid.

 Kelsey's first recital at Family Home Evening. Every Family Home Evening Kelsey gets to show us the new songs she has learned on the piano from the week. This has been fun for all of us and has helped motivate her to conquer some more challenging songs. I found a great website laytonmusic.com that has simplified primary songs. Kelsey has already learned to play a handful of them.

 This month Blake also built Lanaea a new bed. A friend graciously gave me an extra crib mattress she had so that got Blake motivated to get her new bed made. It has worked out perfectly!! She loves her new bed. It slides perfectly underneath the bunkbeds. The first night she slept in it Blake and I lost her. We found her sleeping some random place in her room. As time has gone by, she has learned to fall asleep on her bed and stay there.

 April also brought with it lots of rain--yea!! we have needed it soooo bad here in Texas!!. This particular night we had golf-ball sized hail. I had never seen such big hail in person before.

 We also got our garden planted, which is now producing abundantly for us. We planed tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, and cucumbers.

 I started preschool up with Mylee again--which also brought with it another project that I am still working on. I have been creating a preschool curriculum that I can re-use with each of my kids. It's been a lot of fun and work. I'll have to share more on this project at a later date.

In Texas summer arrives around April, so we enjoyed getting our bikes out again and enjoying the weather.