The Awesome Blossom, Extra Awesome

My oh-so-talented sister-in-law Long-Jong-Joni-Kong took these beautiful pictures for us. Mostly he snoozed soundly through the whole thing, except to move his hands out of the pose we wanted. Ha! He's a cute little bug, if I do say so myself. Good job, me and Ryan. Anyway, since he's my first baby, I'm posting way too many of them because their all favorite. These are just a little more favorite.

Thanks so much Joni! You're wonderful!

Happy 4 Weeks Old AKA The Faces of Evan

In celebration of Evan turning 4 weeks old, here’s a little game for you all to play. Try to match Evan’s facial expression with what he’s thinking (or what I think he’s thinking :) You can find the answers in the comments, but no cheating! Hint: If the pictures are too small, click on the image and it should bring up a larger version of it.

A. Reaching AKA “Whatever might that rattling sound be?"
B. Thumb Sucking AKA “Thumb, oh precious Thumb, where have you been all my life?”
C. Tongue AKA “Phhttthhh”
D. Kisses AKA “What’s the deal? These aren’t giving me any milk!”
E. Chillin’ AKA “I could sit next to this heater vent all day long.”
F. Tummy Time AKA “Are you kidding me? I can’t lift this big old head of mine.”
G. Angry AKA “Let’s bet on how red I get this time.”
H. Cuddlebug AKA “Being held. Could life get any better?”
I. Monkey Stretch AKA “It’s too early to wake up.”
J. Tired AKA “Best way to chase away the fatigue: claw your face off.”
K. Peaceful AKA “Zzzzzzzzz.”
L. Just Pooped AKA “Ahh. That feels much better.”
M. Bath Time AKA “I’m wet and I’m warm. Hey wait, I thought I’d already left the womb.”
N. Grinning AKA “Sleep at last. These are some sweet dreams.”
O. Decisions AKA “To eat or to sleep. That is the question.”

Top 10 Reasons I Love My Son

1. We haven't fingured out where all his features come from, but his mouth is clearly from his dad. Same with with his long and skinny feet, toes and legs.
2. When he's waking up, he'll open one eye first to look around and see if it's worth it to open the other one.
3. He's a little sneezer.
4. When he fills his diaper, his farts rival his dad's. Sometimes I have to ask who was the culprit because I can't tell the difference.
5. He loves to lay with the heater blowing on him. After he's eaten, we'll put him on the floor next to the vent and he'll kick and roll for about an hour, just as happy as can be before drifting off to sleep.
6. He wants to suck his fist but can never quite get his mouth and his hand together. It's cute to watch him try though.
7. He makes a fist by wrapping his fingers over his thumb, just like my sister Lisa used to when she was a baby.
8. His left ear is pointed like an elf's and his right ear is crinkled at the top. I don't want him to grow out of it even though I know he will.
9. Loud noises don't phase him. He sleeps right through the vacuum, my wheat grinder, the garbage disposal, etc. He does, however, respond when he hears our voices.
10. And of course, he's just stinking cute. I'm so glad I didn't have an ugly baby!

Baby Evan, Sent From Heaven

Ahh. Both of my boys are so cute!

A really cute flower arrangement from my friends at work.

Here's Evan showing off the hat I made for him. Yes, it's tiny. Yes, it's much too big.

We put Evan on a blanket next to the heater and let him kick around for a few hours. Of course he was being adorable so I snapped way too many pictures. And of course, I have way too many favorites so I'm going to post way too many on my blog.

He loves his ugly hospital binky, so much so that we thought for about 24 hours that he would gladly starve himself to death rather than give it back to me for a second. We've had to take it away so that he would start eating again, but for this picture, he held it firmly in his little fist for a good half hour so we wouldn't steal it from him.

And when we did, he gave us a look to break your heart. My son is adorable.

Long skinny legs... long skinny feet... long skinny toes... He's definitely his father's son.

And a couple more of my favorites

My sister is wonderful. Kathryn risked her life driving through the storms of death to meet Evan... and then I didn't get a picture of her holding my son! I failed. So so sorry Kathryn! We did, however, get some fun pictures of him meeting his cousins for the first time. Grant and Annie were so excited and so gentle with them. I image so many fun reunions, holidays, visits, etc in the future.

We saw Jack (cousin #3 and destined to be great friends with Evan) over Christmas and thought he looked so small. Now he's a monster. He's enormous! Cute, but gigantic!

And, because I'm addicted to my adorable boy, I'm sure there will be far too many pictures of him in the posts to come. Standby for more Evan, coming soon to a blog near you!

THIS SUCKS.

Finally! The pictures of Evan are here and if I do say so myself he is one good lookin’ young man! I must apologize to those who saw the previous post from this morning. I’ve had a lot of people yelling at me to get this up so here it is.

This whole experience has been so amazing. First off I must give all my respect to every mother in the world. What you go through to have your children is nothing short of awe inspiring.

We went to the hospital at 1pm on Wednesday and Evan was here at 7:05. The doctor had settled in for the long haul and predicted a midnight or 1am birth. He was just getting ready to go home for dinner when Kendra started pushing. So of course he stayed and was just as surprised as the rest of us.

This whole pregnancy journey has been one miracle after another. On the 21st of September Kendra was at 20 weeks. We went into the hospital excited to find out we were having an Evan and not an Evangeline. Then came the bad news when Dr. Vered walked into the ultrasound and said, “Kendra, you have to quit your job, you are on strict bed rest and oh yeah, you probably will lose this baby.” It wasn’t quite that dramatic but the part about losing Evan is word for word.

Kendra went through a series of doctors and hospital visits including a 30 day stay at the St. Marks Hospital through the month of November. Every week she had an ultrasound and every week the doctors said, “this looks scary.” The first week of her hospital stay Kendra asked the doctor what her chances were to make it full term and he said, “no chance.”

It’s true that she didn’t make it to 40 weeks, but 37 weeks is considered full term. She made it to 36 weeks, 6 days and 19:05 hours. So technically…Dr. Ball was right. But if they had taken Kendra’s stitch out a day later, she would have made it to the 14th (and 37 weeks) easily.

During delivery Kendra was awesome. Yes, as I said, women deserve respect for going through this. I’m not saying anything new but WOW. Because of Kendra’s situation we never did any classes. Going into it, Kendra wasn’t sure if she wanted medication or whether she wanted to do it natural. By the time she decided she definitely wanted to be numb for this, it was too late. There was nothing left to do but push. Kendra said only one thing while she pushed:     “this sucks.”

I’m sure doctors and nurses tell every new mother how great they do in delivery. But my Kendra was the greatest. The doctor said he’d been doing this for a long time and for a first time mother she ranks right up there with the best of them.

This whole experience is one of the most spiritual I’ve ever had. And I know I can speak for Kendra and say she feels the same. The day we got the news that we might lose Evan, Kendra received a priesthood blessing that said she would carry him full term. Not that she would carry him until he could be born safely, the blessing said she would carry him full term.

Kendra had multiple blessings afterward saying that if she would do what the doctors said she would be able to have this baby healthy and happy.

Having Evan around is a testimony of our Father in Heaven’s love of his children. We are so grateful to Him for everything. We are so grateful for the opportunity Heavenly Father has given Kendra and I to raise one of his precious sons and to give him the opportunity to have a body to grow and learn of our Savior Jesus Christ. We know He lives and loves us and we are so thankful that we were able to go through this experience if only to feel His love around us. We see that love every day when we look at Evan.

Happy Birthday....KENDRA!!! And Ryan

So you are all probably wondering a couple of things such as…WHERE’S THE BABY PICS? They’re coming. But first I had to put this lovely post on the blog because dang it Kendra and I deserve some screen time too! It’s not ALL about Evan. Okay so it is but you must wait because this post is here now and the baby post is forthcoming.

So on December 25th we all celebrated Christmas. Oh wait never mind, I mean we all celebrated Holiday day. Got to go PC right!? So Merry Holiday to all and to all a good Christmas. Hope everyone’s was great. As for Kendra and I we definitely celebrated the birth of our Savior but we also celebrated The RA RA’S Birthday!!! Kendra’s birthday of course is on December 25. So happy birthday Kendra! And then on the 6th of January I had my birthday. So happy slappy birthday to me too! Oh and of course Kendra gave me the mirror and I gave her the hoodie. What a good birthday it was for the both of us. Thanks for all the happy bday notes too.


And since you all want pictures of Evan, here is a picture of my mom’s cat Fluffernutter.

Oh Christmas Tree. Oh Christmas House.

Thank you Ryan for giving me a beautiful (and wonderful-smelling) tree, lighting it up AND putting up all my childhood ornaments... while I watched from the couch. Such a sweet husband. I love it. And you. And the smell. And especially you.

The house looks great too. Mr. Wolf Vanlandingham, our fine pine tree looks especially festive. P.S. DEER!