Arrival Story

How could you not just kiss on those chubby cheeks.


Now for his arrival story...


I had an appointment on Thursday and Dr. Glenn decided to start us Friday morning if he didn't come in between. I got a call at 5:30 Friday morning asking us to be at the hospital by 6:30. Because I was Group B positive, I needed 4 hours of antibiotics before he came. I got settled about 7:15 and they started the medicine about 7:30.





I was still a 3 1/2 and 85% (and had been that for the last 3 weeks). Dr. Glenn broke my water around 8:15 and then started the pitocin about 8:45 after I had the full dose of antibiotic. Since my previous deliveries had gone fast they wanted to make sure I had it in me for as close to the 4 hours as possible. The contractions started getting harder after the pitocin but not extremely close together. I got an epidural about 9:15 but was only around a 5. The nurse turned up the pitocin a couple times in the next 1/2 hour and it didn't take long before I was feeling things! The nurse checked me one more time and I was ready. She called the doctor and the NICU (in case he swallowed meconium). I pushed through on contraction and 1 more little push and at 10:38 he was here. Dr. Glenn's first comment was wow he's a 10 pounder and well endowed! He also had the chunkiest cord the doctor had ever seen. It was at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches around. He wouldn't even let Jed cut it cause it took multiple cuts to get through it. Apparently Ryker had quite the food supply! He weighed 9lbs 7ozs and actually surprised everyone in the room that that was all he weighed.








I didn't get to see him for long, but new instantly that I love him and would fit in perfectly. He was taken to the NICU for monitoring since he was making a funny breathing sound, but apparently only spent about 5 minutes there and then was taken to the regular nursery. Jed was with him and said that his legs were to fat to get the blood pressure cuff around so they had to do it around his arm. We only made it 3 hours with the antibiotics so he had to be monitored for any signs of that. And because he was large for his age (that's what the nurse said) he had to have his vitals taken more often and his blood sugar taken ever 6 hours. With all the 'extra' things he had to go through, it was nice to hear his jaundice levels were really low so he doesn't have to be re poked.

I chilled up in the labor room for the next hour or so afterwards with the shakes and chills (as always) and then was transferred down to mother and baby. It was nice to finally get to hold our little guy and love on him. He looked a lot like Kody with Lucas' chin (or no chin). He is perfect and we are so grateful to have him as part of our family.

Meet Baby Ryker

Ryker Beatty Valentine

19 1/2 inches

and...



wait for it...





9lbs 7ozs

He has more chunk than I've ever seen, but completely adorable. More details to come later!

I love this picture... (not of me) because Lucas and Kody are both showing their personalities... Lucas is making sure Ryker's okay and Kody is completely oblivious to the fact there is a baby (he'd rather be pushing buttons)!

5 Days or Less!

I'm hoping for less, but at least there is some light coming through the tunnel. The good news is he waited long enough to come so my doctor should be back in town now. Jed's thinking the 26th since we have a 6th and 16th.

I met my mom up in Bountiful Friday afternoon so Lucas and Kody could spend the weekend with them. They were beyond excited. Lucas could hardly wait to play with all the cousins. And I needed a little break to let my patience level rise again!

Thursday afternoon it seemed like one thing after another...

Lucas decided he needed his dominoes, but instead of asking he tried to climb up to get them and pulled one of the shelves out of the wall and sent everything on top of it down to the floor. He was lucky he didn't get hurt. Fortunately it's in a closet... so I shut the door!

About 15 minutes later Kody decided he would get into the dishwasher and chase Lucas with the big butcher knife. I screamed and he tossed the knife aside. Thankful he didn't catch Lucas and didn't trip while running.

And about 15 minutes after that Jed called to let me know his contact was not in his eye. I searched the bathroom but with no luck. He's always losing his contact but luckily we've always been able to find it. Not this time. Fortunately it wasn't the bad eye that he lost so he can still see. His contacts and I have a love/hate relationship!

Since the kids were gone, Jed and I spent much of the day in Provo. Jed was fitted for a new suit. Something he hasn't had since his mission and not necessarily what he wanted for Father's Day! We ate at PF Changs and did a little shopping for the boys for next year, especially Lucas. It was nice to have day with just the two of us. Especially since we're going to be out numbered pretty soon!

But now that it's Sunday, I miss the two little munchkins. They sure know how to make us smile and laugh with there funny personalities.

KODY

• is finally trying to repeat back words. He could already do mama & dadadada but now he can say "esssse" for Reese and sometimes you can make out Lucas. Every once in awhile you can get his version of grandpa or grandma, but most often he just uses the same sound for everyone.
  
• When he nods yes he uses so much neck action I'm surprised he hasn't given himself whip lash.
  
• He has the cutest run ever! He has some serious twinkle toes while he runs. I need to get it on video before he stops doing it.
  
• One of my absolute favorite things he does is when you pick him up, he'll put one arm around your neck and start scratching or patting your back. I love it!
  
• When he's going to sleep he has to be able to play with the little ties on his blanket and have his little puppy next to his head.
  
• He won't be our baby for much longer, but is going to be a great big brother (with lots of supervision)!

LUCAS

• can hardly wait for his brother to come. He asks me almost every morning how many more days. And then he always tells me that's to long. He saw a brand new baby the other day and I think that made him even more excited. I'm sure he'll be a great help to me and the baby.
  
• He had his last day of preschool last week (minus the water party this week). He is going to miss it over the summer. He loves Ms. Heather and being with all the kids. He still has one more year of preschool before he'll start Kindergarten... and I'm okay with that!
  
• On our way to St. George a few weekends ago we stopped at Walmart in Cedar City. Jed asked Lucas to carry the box of wipes to the car and after carrying them for about 4 steps he turns to me and says "Mom, I can't carry these, my knees are going to give out". I burst out laughing, but he wasn't kidding. I obviously wouldn't want his knees to buckle so I took the box from him!
  
• He has a memory like you wouldn't believe and reminded Tawn the other day how he use to be scared of her work (when he was not even 2)! He's always reminding us of things that happened or things that we promised him from a long time ago. Everything that happened in the past (including yesterday) he refers to as last month.


• He loves to talk on the phone. I find him with my cell phone quite often chit chatting with Jed, Tawn, Shara & Grandma Carole. He knows their programmed # in my phone. He can talk forever about the most random things. It's the funniest thing to listen to. Most likely if they have a missed call on their phone it wasn't from me!
  

I love these two so much and can't wait for our little guy to meet his brothers! They really are the best Lucas and Kody ever!!

My Guy...

We spent yesterday getting our house in order. It seems like that's all I'm ever doing! Lucky for me, my awesome husband vacuumed and carpet cleaned every room in our house. It was a huge project, but well worth it. I love him! Me and the boys worked on getting everything put away since nothing seemed to be in it's proper place. There are still a couple more things I need to do, but for now, if you knock on the door... there's a good chance I might answer it!

We also took a trip into the D.I. to drop off a car load. It's always a nice feeling to get rid of stuff!

Not necessarily Jed's favorite Saturday activity, but I was happy.






The not so helpful helper!

Craziness...

It seems our lives have been like a whirlwind around here. We've had/have a couple major events that have needed some attention before this baby comes.

First off... Jed and I were asked about 4 years ago to over see our 10 year class reunion. It just so happens to be this year. I'm not going to lie... it's been a nightmare trying to find addresses of people who you knew 10 years ago, but have since disappeared. Some seem to have walked right off the earth! Slowly we're getting it done. And when I say we I mean me and my helpers... Jed hasn't shown much interested in the planning of this! Although he did help me fold the invitations! I'm working as much as possible on making sure it's already cause once our little man gets here I'm not sure I'm going to be much help. Especially since the event really falls only 3 weeks after his due date! It is going to be lots of fun and I hope we get as many people from our class as possible.

Secondly... I was asked by aunt Kelli a couple months ago if I would photograph Ashli's wedding. I was extremely hesitant since I've never done anything weddingish before. The wedding was this past weekend in St. George and although it made for some very swollen feet and one long contraction all day, I had a great time. I was able to team up with Denise (Jed's aunt) who is photographer out in Virginia and we had a blast. I'm not sure I could do wedding's on a regular basis (to nerve racking), but it was a great experience and I learned a lot. I hope they like their pictures. (I'm almost done editing them, which is another task I wanted one before you know what.) Jed made me promise that I would not do anymore things like this when I'm about ready to pop... I agreed.

Denise in action!!
You can see more of them here.

We were also able to celebrate Talon's birthday while we were down there. The boys had a blast at the park and splash pad. I wish we had one of those around here.

Birthday boy!

We have finally retrieved the baby clothes from the basement and they are now all washed and folded (but still need to be put away). I have oodles and gobs of 0-3 month clothes and I'm not sure Kody even wore them all! All that moving at the wedding must have done some good cause on Monday I was dilated to a 3. Although it doesn't mean a whole lot, I hope that he'll decide to come sooner than later. I'm getting extremely uncomfortable and my back needs a good pop.

Wedding Dress Repercussions

My dear friend Emily left a comment wondering where the traffic went that use to frequent her blog via mine. Sorry Em, I'm not sure where they disappeared to, but I'll try to round them back up with this awesome blog post! (If it makes you feel better, they don't come around here much either!)

Let me tell you about Emily. Our lives are almost the same... except that I don't live in Japan, My husband's name is not Doug, and I'm sure a few other things I'm forgetting... She makes me laugh almost daily (depends on if she updates that often) with her witty posts and clever humor... One of my favorites being this post!

Emily and I first became acquainted while working in the HR department at UVSC (now UVU). She was the secretary and I was a pee-on workstudy. We became great friends... (I even helped her shop for maternity pants on our lunch break and she drove me to the dr. when I had a kidney stone).

Fast forward to 2002. I'm getting married and need a place to call home. Oh wait, Emily & Doug just so happen to be selling their cute house in Provo. The perfect little home for two and so I buy it. And wait... I also need a wedding dress. It just so happens she has one that I love and so I borrow it.

And why does all this matter? Well it doesn't really, except that...

They now have 3 boys...

and in 25 days or less, so will we!

Coincidence?!