Family of Four

Phin's being promoted to Big Brother.  We are having a baby girl in the Fall.  My original due date was September 28th but they have moved it to October 4th since the baby has consistently measured to that date over the four ultrasounds we have had this pregnancy.  When people ask my due date I still say September 28th...a due date in October just seems so far away.

When I was pregnant with Phin I related pregnancy to a half marathon...this time it has been more like a roller coaster ride.  For months we prayed that we would be blessed with another child and that we would be able to give Phin a sibling.   After months of trying we experienced the hope that comes with a positive test result...followed days later by a miscarriage.  It was devastating.  I have written and rewritten this post a million times trying to find the words to express this loss...and I just can't seem to find them.  I relied heavily on the spirit and on friends that had also lost pregnancies.  I started to think a lot of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego when they said "but if not."  I had to emotionally get myself into a place that if we were not to be blessed with more children I would still see the blessings that we had been given.  We were elated to have another positive test result near the end of January.    

I had my first ultrasound back in February just before Seth's birthday.  I didn't have an ultrasound this early on with Phin so it was a little strange to not see distinct body parts.  This pregnancy has been much harder than Phin's...which I didn't think was possible.  Nausea hit in February, just before my birthday and really didn't go away until May.  I couldn't hide how awful I felt from my family so we told my parents just after my birthday and the rest of my family just after Seth's birthday.  Seth wanted to keep the pregnancy secret from his family until his parent's return from their mission in the  Philippines..  

I  elected to do the quad screening this pregnancy.  During my pregnancy with Phin I thought that amniocentesis was the only testing method so when they mentioned I simple blood test for genetic screening I thought it would be a good idea.  I was at work on April 17th when I received a phone call from my OBGYN.  She told me that the quad screen had come back abnormal with an increased risk of down syndrome. My chances increased from 1 in about 500 to 1 in 57.   My mind instantly flooded with the images of students that had Down Syndrome that I had worked with in the past.  I have always been the therapy provider and now I was imagining myself as the parent.  My background as a speech therapist gave me a very clear picture of how different life would be.  I knew there would be difficulty with feedings, difficulty meeting developmental milestones, endless IEP meetings, etc.  As I hung up the phone I returned to testing a student and my eyes started to cloud up.  I finished testing as quickly as I could and sent the student back to his class and then the tears flowed.  I soon felt the comfort of the spirit and knew that Heavenly Father would give us the child that he needed us to have.  If he was willing to trust us with one of his most special spirits than I needed to trust as well.

The following Friday I had my first appointment with Maternal Fetal Medicine.  Two doctors completed extensive ultrasounds.  They looked for the markers of down syndrome and the only one that was slightly there was a brighter than normal bowel...but they said the ultrasound machine tends to screen brighter.  They also told me that we were having a girl!  After the ultrasounds I met with a genetic counselor and we decided to do a cell free DNA test.  Before I left the office I had my blood drawn again.  This test is more expensive than the quad screen and also much more accurate.

On May 4th we received a phone call with great news that the blood test had come back as normal.  The blood test also confirmed that we were definitely having a baby girl.  I had two more ultrasounds in the coming weeks.  The picture below was from one of them...baby girl was apparently not to happy to be jostled around.

The return of Skeletor.

We can't wait to meet this little one in the Fall.

Welcome Home

Seth's parents returned from their 23 month Cebu Philippines Mission on May 4th.  Phin was born the day before they entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo.  We have had lots of phone calls and Skype chats in-between.  It is sure nice to have them home.  

We hosted a welcome home dinner at my parent's house since it is minutes from the airport.  Reed and Jacque were picked up by their daughter Jamie and brought to the house for a wonderful reunion.

Here is a picture of the six grandchildren born they day before they left and in the 23 months that followed.  

Welcome Home Grandma Jo and Granddad!

23 MONTHS

Phin's personality seems to really be showing more and more and it is fun to see him come into his own.  He is talking a lot more, climbing a little higher and growing up too fast.  He loves animals...but for the most part wants to view them from a safe distance.

He has become a master at waving on command.  He will even blow kisses pretty freely...but he is still stingy with the bumps.  

Phin discovered a love for grapes and rice this month.  I made rice-a-roni one night and you would have thought this kid had a hollow leg by the amount of rice he ate.  He also surprised us and ate a little sloppy joe meat and a little taco meat...I was starting to think he was a vegetarian.  He has an innate sense for when I am eating something delicious.  If I dish up ice cream he will say "spoon" and run to the drawer to get his own spoon so that he won't miss out on any of the deliciousness.

Phin is an independent kid.  He is starting to want to do everything himself.  He feeds himself...tries to dress himself, wants to walk by himself, etc.  

One of my favorite Phin moments this month happened on our way to church.  We decided to ride Seth's scooter over to our ward.  We got off the scooter and Phin was headed towards the door of the church.  He was walking on the sidewalk which is directly next to parking lot.  A car started pulling into a spot and Phin spread his legs and lifted his arm up like he was a super hero and said "stop."  I think he was quite disappointed when his superhero move had no result.  Don't worry kid...we still think you are super...and that maybe you have been watching too many superhero shows with Dad.

Phin loves to be outside.  He says "ice" (his version of outside) when he wants to go outside.  He understands immediately when we say "let's go outside."  I seriously have to drag him inside most days.  He loved being at Grandma Jo's house in Cache Valley where he played all day outside while Seth worked in their yard.

We are having a pretty great time discovering the world through Phin's eyes.  We love you Phinner!

April

We started April off with Spring break for me.  We had fun that week going to This is the Place Heritage Park for baby animal days.  Phin loved seeing the baby goats, chicks, etc.

He also loved riding the train again.  

He was pretty tuckered out and fell asleep before we made it to the first traffic light.

The first Saturday in April we attended two more Easter egg hunts.  The first was at our local grocery store.  They had juice and doughnuts to greet us and then the Phin got to pick candy up from the aisle floors to his hearts content.

The aisle looked like this before we started.

Phin was very distracted at this hunt because very few items were in eggs...he saw all the suckers and knew he wanted to just eat them.  It took a lot of prodding to get him to keep picking things up.

We obviously failed as parents since we hadn't taught him how to pick things up in sweeping motions...next year...next year.

We left before all the candy was picked up because Phin was satisfied with the suckers.

We headed over to the lawn of the Bountiful Tabernacle next.  The retirement home across the street sponsors this hunt.  

I took this picture the first day I let Phin push the small cart at the grocery store.  He loves to push it...but doesn't love when Mom helps.  If I just need to pick up a thing or two I usually cave and let him push his little cart.

The weather in April was all over the place.  It was warm and then very cold.  We were delighted when a snow storm happened to come our way.  We haven't had much snow this year so it was a chance to get out and play.  Seth went to work building a snowman.

Phin went to work playing with a stick.

Phin was pretty fascinated with Seth's completed project and kept saying the word snowman.

He was also delighted with the hot chocolate that Seth made when they came in to warm up.

The snow had all melted by the next day...but Phin didn't mind, it gave him plenty of puddles to splash in.

We spent a weekend up in Cache Valley helping to prepare Seth's parents house for their return from a 23 month mission to the Philippians. Phin had a wonderful time playing outside in the dirt and spending time with his cousins.

After the long day we started a new family tradition and headed to Angie's to polish off two kitchen sinks.  The kitchen sink has two whole bananas, loads of ice cream, two toppings of our choice as well as chocolate sauce, whipped cream and strawberries.

We thought Phin would be all about the sink...but he could have cared less.

In April we also headed over to Jamba Juice for their free smoothie day...yum.

We thought it was going to be a yucky day but while we were enjoying our smoothies we decided it looked pretty decent so we decided to head down to Thanksgiving Point for the Tulip Festival.

Phin fell asleep on the way down.  I woke him up not to long after this picture so that he wouldn't miss our entire trip.

The flowers were gorgeous.

Phin was a little more entertained by the rocks along the path and the fish in the pond.

I also took Phin over to see the ducks and geese at Sugarhouse Park in April.

Phin was very interested...he just didn't want the birds to get too close.

Here he is waving to the ducks.

A sweet family shared some bread with us.  Phin was delighted to feed the ducks...until a goose bit his little hand...then he was done.