Two Weeks Old

Okay, I really can't get enough of these sleeping photos.

Andrew already thinks Porter is a riot! They are so cute!

You can never have too many of these....snuggie sessions with your boys...ahhh.

Lincoln's Sealing and Blessing

Lincoln Michael Bird was FINALLY sealed to his mom and dad yesterday! It was one of the very coolest things I have ever seen! My friends Heidi and Mike Bird have adopted their two kids, Kenedy(3 and a half) and Lincoln (16 months). Unfortunately they have had to fight for a while with Lincoln's birth father to get custody and they finally were able to settle at the beginning of August! We are so excited for them! To be able to see that sweet little boy with his mom and dad, sealed forever with his family that loves him so much--was indescribable! I have never seen two little ones sit so still! They must have known how important and special this event was. Heidi and Mike are a witness to the wonderful opportunity we have to be with the ones we love the very most-forever!

I have known Heidi Bird for about a year and a half. I have learned so much from her. She is one of the most giving and kind people you would ever meet. PLUS all the fun, halarious and cute qualities she possesses! She's all around, such a cool person! I have watched as they adopted Lincoln and all of the things that go along with that; emotionally, financially, legally, spiritually. It is quiet the experience--I have learned so much from being able to see life as a mother from her perspective. She is so grateful for her children. She is a wonderful mother and a wonderful friend. She and Mike deserve the best! They are the cutest little family and I am so glad to know them and to see these wonderful events unfold.

Here are the only two pictures that I got out from the afternoon.

This is Kenedy, Lincoln's beautiful big sister. She is a hoot! And such a cutie!

Julia, Talmage and Porter. Kenedy was in this shot too, but she is so speedy she was out of it by the time I pressed the button.

Corn Days Triathlon 8.29.09

Teri, Mike and Liz did a practice triathlon in preparation for their real Day Break Triathlon Sept. 19th. This gave us the idea to make our own races this spring so we can have all of our friends run it and it won't cost us all a million dollars.

Andrew's First Week Home

Porter loves his baby brother.Aren't my sons so cute?
Another sleeping picture.

Porter wanted to have Andrew sleep in his bed with him. It's too bad he can't just TAKE night duty. That would be sweet! :)
Notice the Spiderman motif. Porter got this sweet Spiderman fold out bed from Grandma Cranney this weekend, and this extra sweet Spiderman pillow from Aunt JoAnn. And of course, the Spiderman jammies.
Aunt JoAnn and Andrew taking a little down time.

Best Buds.
Daddy and Andrew taking a well deserved nap.

This week was wonderful. Especially the first half of it--when the highs were so high and...before the sleep deprevation kicked in. :)

Andrew eats A LOT! He'll nurse and nurse and then need a bottle. He went to the Dr. on Friday to get curcumsized and he had already gained 2 oz.! I am afraid we are not gonna be seeing this little guy stage for very long.

Aunt JoAnn and Aunt Liz have been SO helpful this past week. Liz has taken Porter every spare second that she has. She has also made us dinner and got me a sweet treat from a little place called Frozen Bliss....and IT IS! I am afraid that I have found a new love...which I really do not need! She has been wonderful--I love living next to her! She takes such good care of us!

JoAnn has been on call for a whole week before Andrew was born. Her sweet husband let her come out here from Saturday to Wednesday to help me! She has six kids of her own and I know this was a HUGE sacrifice for everyone in the family, but I cannot say enough how WONDERFUL it was to have her around! She stayed with me at the hospital and was there to answer questions. She came back to our house occationally and bought a bunch of food, cooked it up and froze it. She cleaned, did dishes, played with Porter, stayed up with the baby while he cried for no reason. We also got to visit and watch Crime TV and eat some more Frozen Bliss. She was VERY enjoyable and VERY helpful!

JoAnn and Liz made this wonderful event even that more wonderful. I can't explain how happy I was to have them around at this time!

We also got dinners from:
Liz, Suz Westbrook, Stacy Underwood, Heidi and Chalyse, Debbie Woodroow.

We have had visits from Trish Hartle and Maggie, Jen Bennion and Family, Courtney Allen and Kaylee Watson, Aunt Vic and Uncle Chris.

Coming Home-Monday August 17th

Putting Andrew in the car seat, he seemed too tiny to even fit. These pics don't show how small he looks in that huge seat.



When we got home, Liz had made this little arrangement.
This is the outfit he wore home, the top provided by Cascia, and the pants are the same ones Levi wore home from the hospital.

We have lots of shots like these....awww...everything he does is so cute!Then Mike and I did a short photoshoot...that's me...Jenn I'm holding Andrew.

That's Mikey. He's also holding Andrew.When we walked in, the house was clean and cool. It smelled lovely and it was so quiet because Liz and JoAnn had Porter at the park. It was the most peaceful it's ever been. JoAnn had the house stocked with food, we thought she had been starving to death, but turns out she was gonna whip us up some meals to freeze.

I don't think anything could've gotten us to stop smiling that day.

First Visitors

His actual FIRST visitors were Steve and Laurel at 1 or 2 am. As soon as they heard I was in labor they hopped in the car and drove the 3 and a half hours to see the little guy.

The next morning Mikey brought Porter to meet his new brother and Clayton and Manda-Mer came too. Porter thought the baby was pretty cool. His attention span was short, but at least he was excited about his new brother. I was so glad that the family could be here for this event. I hardly ever get to see them, so it's amazing that the timing worked out that they could be here for the exciting Labor Party and then to see him brand new. They had to leave right after this. :(

Later that day (Sunday) Steve and Laurel stopped in again before they headed home to Vernal. Liz brought Sadie and Abbie up. My friend Jodi and her husband Robert and their kids (Aleq, Tommy and Ana Jain) came a little later. And Heidi and Chalyse came up that night too.

The next day (Monday) Sarah and Glendon and their four kids came to visit. Luckily they were headed up this way (also from Vernal) because they had a family reunion. Don't we have perfect timing?

Andrew Joseph Cranney-August 16th, 2009--12:13am

7 lbs. 11 oz. and 20 and 1/2 inches
Attending: Aunt Liz, Aunt JoAnn, Daddy and Mommy.
Dr. Kevin Sumsion and Nurse Nicole

Going Into Labor

Everyone knows that I wanted to go into labor on my own--and 31 hours before I was going to be induced--he arrived! Ahhh....so perfect. The labor was everything that I wanted and more. First of all I got to enjoy my sisters and Step Dad, Clayton, who I don't get to see very much. We got to go to my sister Victoria's Wedding and after a couple of hours of being home from the wedding, I started my consistent contractions--which I thought were those trick ones that I'd been having all week. I laid down on the couch (which is one of my tests to see if they go away) and they stopped. So I took my sister Meredith to Target to get my mind off of it around 5 o'clock. I came home, made dinner and started timing the contractions--just to see if they were consistent at all. They were 10 minutes apart. I totally expected them to go away or jump around. And they did jump around. But they felt different and kept getting closer together. So I still wasn't counting on this being labor. Although I told my sister-in-law JoAnn to come out and make the 3 hour trip, cause this might be it. She is training to be a Doula and has been packed for a week waiting for this moment.

We had Mike and Clayton timing my contractions, Mer and Manda rubbing my back. I was THRILLED. I was so excited that this might really be labor that the contractions were not bad. I was just glad that I was having them!

Liz came over and around 9 o'clock to check out what was going on. It was fun. We had Clayton, Mer, Manda, Sadie and Liz. We were all so excited She was like "yeah, I think you're really in labor and you probably should go up to the hospital in the next half hour." I was still shocked that I actually was finally in labor and must have been so excited about it that the contractions weren't that bad. I didn't think I needed to go up to the hospital because it didn't hurt bad enough yet. Well, we went up just in time. We left 5 minutes later.

Once we got up to the hospital I was a 7 and 100%. The nurse, Nicole, said "lets get your doctor up here to break your water and you'll have this baby." So...at this point the pain still wasn't what I expected...the Dr. came up and said "if you want an epidural we can wait to break your water, but once we break your water you'll have the baby. So it's up to you." Well, I was like "this isn't bad, lets just break the water and get this going." I must've been on such a high from actually being in labor and not having to get started that I was ready for anything!

He was born at 12:13am. Barely missing August 15th. It was crazy thinking that I was in labor, he is on his way and his birthday could go one of two ways.

He came out very bruised, you can tell in the pics that he went through a lot. But looks perfect now. He is a pleasant little one.

Victoria's Reception and Wedding-Aug. 14th and 15th-also my due dates.

Christopher and Victoria Jensen were married in the Jordan River Temple on August 15th, 2009
In this pic: Jen, Mike, Chris, Vic, Clayton, Manda, Mer
This is Mike, who tied his tie Extra short for the wedding reception, which was Aug. 14, 2009.
This is the beautiful bride and her little sissies.
These little sissies are enjoying the wonderful brownies and some sisterly conversation.
This BIG sissy is enjoying every variety of brownie that was available--also utilizing her talent of plate on belly.
This is Vic's side of the family that could make the wedding.
This is our little family with the happy couple.
Manda-Mer being dorks outside of the temple on the wedding day-Saturday the 15th.
Here they are: being beautiful dorks.
This is us hanging out talkin'. Mike claims the people behind us were staring and him and making faces.
This is the fun partay that Mike throws to entertain the girls while we are waiting for pics.

Porter's "I POD"

Mike got Amanda's old IPOD so he loaded his old MP3 player full of disney songs for Porter. He calls it his IPOD and it's like having teenagers in the house all over again--when I call for him, he can't hear me cause he's got the earphones in. He walks around the house singing his songs and dancing away. It's SO FUNNY!

Ode to the Due Date

Still Pregs. I'm not as angry about still being pregnant these last few days--It's a lot easier just being okay with it than being mad. :) I am getting started on Monday if he doesn't arrive before that. I went to the Dr. yesterday. I am a 3 and 80%. I have only three days left to get this party started on my own.

I have gotten to enjoy the company of my sisters, mer and manda, who are back for my other sister-Victoria's wedding which is today and tomorrow. It's fun to have them back again...They are keeping me well entertained while we wait for this babe. I also got to go on the girls night we have been planning for two months! It was fun and we got to celebrate my friend Heidi's Birthday--which turned out to be extra great for her since she has to go to a funeral for her birthday.

I'm off for my walk and I will try to update ASAP when we finally have this babe.

ps. so noone thinks I am a baby about still being pregnant. I have had several "false alarms" and lots of contractions and timing sessions and it just feels like everyday I have the signs and then they stop. So I have been thinking he will come early because of all these things--and it's a really rude trick. One of these days my bod is gonna cry wolf and actually mean it and I am not gonna listen anymore! :)

Man I wish I was this Lady

Welp, I could've been in this lady's shoes today, but....I canceled the induction. I went to the dr. just now--cause I'm still pregnant, and he said: I'm a 2 or 3 and that's all the info I got out of him. I wanted him to say "you'll have that baby this week." but he wouldn't budge from my proding. I scheduled for next monday, the 17th--he better not be late.

The problem with being scheduled to induce early, is that now I feel like I am late, when I STILL HAVE FOUR DAYS LEFT.

Wednesday, Aug. 5th-My Surprise Baby Shower

CHECK IT OUT!!!!!! My Graco Quattro Tour Sport Stroller - Nectar

My best friends had a surprise baby shower for me at the park! They had all gone in together for this super sweet car seat and stroller! I am living the high life now--I am IN LOVE with it, and would've never gotten something so fancy and nice--- I can't say how thankful I am to my sweet friends who put all of this together.

This is all thanks to:
Chalyse and Heidi--who put this all together! Thanks girlies--you're awesome!

Tiffany

Amanda

Amber

Liz

Stef B.

Brittney

Steph G.

Kamie

Carly

Lynette

Darcee

Ashlee

Jodi

Thanks Girls! I love ya!

Saturday: Soccer Games and Pedicures

Saturday we got to see our nephew and niece play soccer in Murray. Bridger didn't have any games so Porter got to play with him for a while-until poor Bridger was so worn out from the allergy meds and the running around he fell asleep on the ground.

Porter loves his cousins a lot! He got them each an apple juice and was so excited to give it to them. And a random bonus gift-- he brought ONE cherry tomato from the garden just for Bridger.

During Lindsey's game I got some advice from an OB nurse on what to do to go into labor. She said "go walk those bleachers." So Porter and I played on the stairs. I was pretty slow, and it obviously didn't do a dang thing.

It was so good to see Jen and Al and their kids! They are an awesome little family and since they live in Vernal, it's great to see them whenever we get a chance.

Later that day...I treated myself to a haircut and a well deserved pedicure. I got to go with my sister-in-law, Liz, her oldest, Sadie (7 and 1/2) and my friend Jodi. My close friends and family know that my feet leave a lot to be desired. I had an ingrown toenail when i was a teenager, which was cut out and my feet were goofy looking before that anyway. So...needless to say being prego and not able to take care of these bad boys has left them cracked, scratchy and bleeding....UNTIL TODAY!

In total I have tried a LOT of things to go into labor:

Castor Oil, Pineapple, walking, jumping on the tramp, pedicure, back massage...etc etc etc. I will let you know if one of them work as soon as they start to. :)