My Two... maybe three kids.

When I said I had two kids I think I lied. I really have a third child whom I take with my almost as often as I take the other two is an 80 lb black lab name " Jack Sparrow". Jack was dropped off at friends of ours when he was just a little 20 lb puppy. We thought he'd grow to a decent 40 lbs or so... when he doubled that I was a little disappointed. He is a sweetheart who loves everyone and just about everything. He had one besetting sin which has earned him the nickname Harry, as in Harry Hudini. A master of the escape, Jack introduced us to all our neighbors for miles around. We would shut him up in the house for the day and go to work, Jack would consider this his opportunity to go visiting. He loved sitting on our neighbors porch. So we locked him in the house with all the doors closed. The house we were remodeling and had removed the basement stars. Jack jumped down to the basement and escaped out the storm doors and introduced himself to the lovely lady down the street...He brought her a 1/2 gallon of milk .  We aren't sure where he got that but we knew something had to be done. So... Justin, my middle brother, came and installed an underground fence for us. Jack ran away from Justin a couple of times and Justin had to carry him home! He never left us again and to this day we can let him out and he just relaxes in our yard. Well, he  does visit our neighbors occasionally. He was my first baby. I loved him dearly but we knew it was time to try and have a real baby the day we went out for ice cream and took him to the kiddy park to play!

Enter Hailey the Hiccup Monster!


Around this time we decided to take a two-three year assignment in UT, where we currently reside. We had tried for a long time and had disappointments in our objective of getting a child and our plan was to adopt out of the foster care system. We had decided at the very least we would be able to help one or two children out and maybe grow our family. While in Price, visiting and deciding if we wanted to make this our home I contracted the worst flu ever. I was sick for days, then weeks, then I realized it had been about a month. I threw up everyday, several times a day. I ate weird stuff like salt and vinegar chips with lemonade. Now you have to understand that as a general rule I am not an idiot but for a whole six months, due to medical tests and my own hopefulness of my own I had a pregnancy test every month right up until two months ago. Before I went to the Dr. I thought I would cover my basis. Two seconds after  peeing on that stick it said clearly " You are STUPID. How could you not know you're pregnant?!?!" I went out and said to my husband. " I'm pregnant." He said, " You probably read it wrong." Then he went to investigate. He came back and said " lets go get some more and take them." Three test later we were pretty sure it wasn't a fluke. As it turns out I was 2 months along. We had a few scares and spent a few weekends on bed rest and spent 8 months vomiting with such force and volume that it was alarming. I made some very silly assumptions such as " no first baby ever comes early." She was ten days early. The day I planned to get her room in order my water broke but I didn't have any contractions. So they induced me. 8 hours and 20 minutes later a very bruised creature with tufts of red hair entered my life. She wasn't all that pretty but she was full of personality from day one! Also hiccups and screams. She wouldn't have anything to do with anyone but me or her father. Two years later and she is still full of personality, she's improved a great deal in looks and as she often tells me, she is my pretty princess. She's also a lot more friendly...She'll tell you that too!

Baby brudder Blake

My husband and I still planned on adopting. We didn't want Hailey to be an only child, or have her only sibling be a large black dog that she constantly climbs all over. I had begun babysitting when Hailey was three months old so that she wouldn't be a lonely child. She wasn't. I babysat two boys about a year older than her and she loved them ( and loves them still). We went through all the paperwork and processes in order to become foster parents but for reason only God knows we were never able to get any kids. My husband really wanted our kids to be close, but not too close, in age so we started trying again. And once again gave up but kept up all the fun and as seems to often be the case that was when it happened. After Christmas shopping I was sooo tired. I'd been kind of grumpy for the last week or so and I had been feeling very well. My husband said, jokingly, " I bet you are pregnant." That was Saturday. Sunday morning... after thinking about it I thought, hey, I bet I am. Can't hurt to take the test ( I was all stocked up from "trying" months). So I took one. Hey, HEY! Baby number two is on the way.

Randy believed me this time. We only used the one test. This pregnancy took FOREVER!!!! My daughter was informed right away and thus the rest of the world. She talked about her brother for months. After I stopped babysitting (about week 35) she started standing next to my tummy shouting " come out, come out NOW!" In scant three weeks later I was completely of her sentiment. This baby boy didn't want to come out but my body wanted him out. These next few lines are pretty gory so if you are of a week constitution skip them. My hips hurt so badly I couldn't sit or lay down for more than an hour at a time. My all day sickness returned, with a vengeance. I became so ill about 4 days before he was born that there was splatter on the wall BEHIND me. I covered the bathroom... then of course I had to clean it up. That was a BAD day. However Hailey helped me out by sleeping though that. She got so that every time I coughed she'd ask if I was ok. The next day was my Dr. appointment and I was 5 cm. He said you'll be back tonight to deliver. I said “Do you want to bet? If I'm not when can you induce me?" At this point I had lost 3 lbs (jump starts that post baby weight loss) and had been bleeding for two days. Friday morning he said. I waited with great anticipation. I'd been having contractions for a week so Thursday I ignored them. I made bread, I cleaned my house, I mopped the floors, I made cookies. I was almost ready. That night my daughter got sick all over me at about 10:00. Not feeling very well I was moving pretty slow and my husband, being a factual guy and all about gathering information, decided it was time I laid down and timed those contractions. Every two minutes I had a contraction that lasted two minutes. We decided to go. We didn't wake Hailey up we just dropped her off at a friend’s and went to the hospital. My stubborn son decided he wasn't going to be forced out. He also decided I would suffer for trying that move. No drugs. Nothing! There was a lot of leg tapping and deep breathing, but no yelling, screaming, crying or cursing like in the movies. Just two hours after we arrived, before all the registration paper work was done, Blake Christian entered our lives. He was blue. He was wrapped in his cord, but thank God he was screaming bloody murder. Hailey loved him. She adores him. She wanted to hold him for hours. Jack was not as impressed but I hope with time Blake will grow on him as Hailey did. It's been five weeks and Hailey's adoration has not abated. As for me...well I always say that as far as babies go "Better out than in!"