Update

I'm not sure why I haven't posted in forever- I guess I have just gotten out of the habit. I'll try to do better, but for now I just wanted to give you a brief update of how we have been doing.

Dallin is enjoying his job as a PA. He finally has a set schedule working Sunday through Wednesday nights. He comes home and sleeps in the mornings. It can be a little difficult to try to keep the kids quiet while he is sleeping but he is a very good sport (probably because he's so tired that not much will wake him up) and a huge help if ever I need him. It makes it so much easier to be able to leave baby asleep in his crib when I go to pick up Kaia from school. There are a million other little benefits of having Dallin home during the day and we are so grateful to be able to spend time with him. Up until now he hasn't really known exactly what to do with his "off" time (other than all of my honey-do's) so when Kaia's school had a sign up saying they needed volunteers to coach the sixth grade football team, I encouraged him to get involved. His first practice starts tomorrow so it should be fun.

I am busy with my children of course, but I am finally settling in and able to do many things on my want to do list. This is new territory for me because I usually have so many house projects, crafts, and other things that I want to do but I rarely had the "me" time to actually do them. With Dallin working nights I have four nights a week (after the kids go to bed) that I can craft, read, plan, or just plain veg without feeling like I am taking time away from my family! I actually purchased fabric for a project and COMPLETED it not only in the same year, but in time for its intended use! (I made trick-or-treat bags for the kids and OK so I didn't actually do Andan's yet, but he really didn't count this year, right and besides 2 out of 3 is way better than none- Hey, I'm proud of myself :)) I have also been able to ride my horse at least a couple of times each week. For a little while I wasn't able to ride (first having a baby and then the horse unable to be ridden) so I was getting a little discouraged and thinking I was crazy for spending our money just having the horses. However, all it took was one time back in the saddle and, for me, every penny is worth it. I know most people don't quite get the investment (of money and time) involved with horses, but I get soooo much joy, satisfaction and sanity from riding that there is truly something missing from me when I am not able to have it. So right now I am so grateful for my husband and all of his hard work in supporting us, for my absolutely wonderful and beautiful children, for a fabulous home to live in, for the uplifting sunshine daily, and for so many extended family and friends that have made me so happy and content to live here in Yuma.

Kaia started Kindergarten this year and is absolutely loving it. She just eats up everything she is learning and is constantly figuring out how those things apply all around her. She is already doing very well with reading (sight words and sounding out short words) and she loves working with numbers and even amazes me with her ability to add and figure out patterns. She is a huge helper and is growing up so fast. Now if I can just figure out how to get her to quit reacting to her brother......

Talmage is still my sweet little boy, but he is a typical three year old boy and I haven't quite figured out how or where to channel his, ...um..., enthusiasm. He is not in as big of a hurry to grow up as Kaia is and for the most part just enjoys the moment whether it be playing in the sand, carrying on great conversations/ scenarios with his toys, getting under his sister's skin (not hard to do), acting innocent, or loving Andan (often a little too much). We love him.

Andan is growing quickly. He is nearly 7 months old and is now crawling and sitting up. He is no longer happy with his usual toys- he wants to explore and see what the world has to offer. (I won't mention that he "explored" my plant in the ceramic pot onto my tile floor since my husband was so kindly watching him while I got some rest.) Andan is always happy and he has the cutest screeching laugh. He loves to eat and gobbles up any baby food I will give him. He loves his mommy (as well as grabbing my hair) and, of course, I am quite smitten with him.

So you see we are doing very well and have so much to be grateful for.

(The pictures were taken by my SIL when we were on a trip to my mom's house this summer)

Andan James Farar

Andan James Farar arrived to our family on April 18th around 4:20 am. He was 9 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long. We all love him to pieces! He is already growing like a weed and at 1 month has nearly outgrown his 0-3 month clothes. Kaia and Talmage Love to hold him, stroke his head, sing and talk to him and help me take care of him. He is a great third baby and takes all the commotion in stride as well as sleeps like a champ. We are so happy to have him in our family! (For all the details of how he came, see the next post.)

A Story to Tell

For the rest of his life, Andan (and I) will have a story to tell about how he arrived in this world. However, this story is not for the faint of heart, so be forewarned before you read on. Andan's due date was April 23 and I had never delivered early with the other two kids so I fully expected to hang on 'til the bitter end. Life had been pretty hectic but I joked that as long as I could teach my Relief Society lesson on the 11th and finish doing my taxes by the 15th, then I would be good to have a baby. The 17th is one of my nephew's birthdays but when I didn't have any contractions by 10:30 in the morning I commented to Dallin, "Well, I guess I won't be having a baby today." His response was, "There's over 12 hours left in the day, that's plenty of time." We both ended up being right- I didn't have a baby on the 17th (barely), but 12 hours was way more than enough for me to still have a baby!

Dallin had to work the night shift (7pm-7am) that night, so I spent the evening relaxing- taking a bubble bath, painting my toenails (yeah, that was a feat-no pun intended), and preparing for church the next day. I went to bed sometime around midnight but woke up at 2:55 needing to use the bathroom. Nothing different that any other night, including the contraction (which up until now had just been Braxton-Hicks) that went with it. So I lay back down and had just fallen back asleep when I felt another contraction. OK. Maybe I should just check the time in case another one comes. Sure enough 11 minutes later came another one. Alright, that was just one interval. I'll have to see if it's consistent. Yup, another 11 minutes later. Let's just check one more. Yeah, about another 10 minutes. By now I can't really sleep any more even though I am wishing I could. I guess I'd better give Dallin the heads up. So, at 3:54 I texted him to call me (I didn't want to disturb him if he was with a patient). Dallin calls me back and I ask him if he has any back up plans for leaving work. He says he'll get the ball rolling. At this point I HAVE to use the bathroom again, but I took my phone with me so I could keep timing the contractions. The next one is down to 7 minutes and the very next one is only 3 minutes later! Meanwhile, Dallin has called back to let me know someone would be coming in to cover him and I let him know that things were progressing quickly. The next few minutes were a little fuzzy because now the contractions were right on top of each other and I was thinking to myself (while clutching the door frame), "Holy cow, give me just a second!" For some reason Dallin called back (yes I answered) and said that his replacement wasn't there yet. At which point I shakily responded that then maybe we ought to call the ambulance. Well, we never had time to because that's when I realized and informed Dallin that I could feel the head! Yeah, I was shocked and a little scared and had no idea what I should do next. Dallin realized the urgency so he let me know he wouldn't wait for his replacement and that he would be on his way. That eased my fears knowing that he would literally be home in 5 minutes. It also allowed me 1 second to think since I wasn't trying to talk on the phone anymore! Obviously at this point there was no turning back. All I could think was, "I certainly don't want to have a baby in the toilet" so I hurried and jumped in our huge bathtub just in time for 1 big contraction that delivered the head. Short breather, one more push and I delivered myself a baby!

What a relief, but now what? This is the point where all the nurses are supposed to take over and I can kick back and relax, right? Well no, I'm all alone with this baby that I have no idea what to do with. As long as he is still attached he should be fine right? (I found out later that a minute or two is OK, but too long isn't the greatest). So I guess we'll just start cleaning up. I turned on the water and luckily there was still a towel nearby from the bath I had taken earlier. Now don't fault me for not immediately scooping up my baby, holding him to my chest, and staring lovinly into his eyes. I was in a bit of a daze- I had just given birth- at home- in my bathtub- all by myself!

Andan was born sometime between 4:17 and 4:22am (I know because of my phone log). Yes, that is less than an hour and a half from first contraction to delivered and less than 30 minutes from when I first notified my poor husband! Thankfully, it was only about two minutes before Dallin (and his mom who had been called to come watch the other kiddos) came walking in. I can't even imagine what went through their heads when they walked in on me and our baby!

Dallin immediately went into Doctor Dallin mode and began quizzing me about how long the baby had been delivered. "Rude," I thought, "where's my welcome home kiss? Where's my smile and loving look at our newest addition?" Again, I was in a daze- I had just given birth- at home- in my bathtub- all by myself! He ran out of the room looking for things and came back to take care of business. He tied off and cut the cord and started working on baby and I was left for a minute to my own, nonexistant, thoughts. Poor guy. We obviously weren't prepared for the events of the evening so he had a hard time finding anything to use to tie off and cut the cord. A shoestring, right? Oooh, gross all of ours are used and therefore dirty. So when he saw the strings on a freshly washed and folded apron he took advantage and cut one off. Brings a whole new meaning to "cutting the apron strings" huh? Also, no suitable scissors could be found, so the kitchen boning knife just had to do. Is anyone still reading this, or have you all already run for cover?

After baby had been attended to and handed over to Grandma (who thus far had NEVER been so closely involved with the birth of one of her grandchildren) Dallin took care of delivering the placenta for me. He then called up the hospital to inform them that I had just given birth at home and that we were coming in. When I was still sitting there, he was a little confused why I wasn't getting dressed to go. "Oh, you mean I need to get up, and put something on, and we need to go, and I can't just sit here and rest?" I thought. Again, I was in a daze- I had just given birth- at home- in my bathtub- all by myself! Well, we made it to the hospital (just a little late) and of course we were the big, famous story. Funny thing, before baby was born I thought how nice it would be since we live less than two miles from the hospital. Little did I know that our shortest baby commute ever still wouldn't be short enough! Baby and I were both fine and I could finally lay back and let the nurses and Dallin take over. I guess my body knew what it was doing by the third time and the doctor who checked on me commented, "Gee, you do a good job delivering, so if you need a job you can come on down to our office."

Everyone keeps asking me if it was aweful, and how did I do it, and so on, but honestly, it wasn't bad. It was so fast and I didn't have time to think about anything other than doing what needed to be done. I could do it again, but mind you, next time around, we will PLAN on either doing it at home or inducing early.

Quite a story, huh? It's one of those things that you hear about somebody, somewhere who delivered unexpectedly at home or in a car, but never to someone you know and I never dreamed it could happen to me. I already know my story has spread far and wide so now I have become one of those somebodies, somewhere who delivered at home- in a bathtub- all by herself!

The Name Game

Well, my belly is getting bigger, I'm getting more uncomfortable, and I am getting close to the 30 week mark, but I am still fretting over a name for our little one. Dallin has kind of settled on the name Andan (or Andon) but I'm still not sure. It's actually a name that I had proposed to him, but when his (as well as another brother's) initial (and continual) reaction was to sing some song that goes "and den, and den, along came John, big bad John..." I kind of got sick of it. Also, Dallin will try to call the baby by name but forget what it is and call him Aiden instead (which I like, but won't use because I think it is too overused now). Additionally, I don't like giving kids a nice name only to have them go by a nickname for the rest of their lives and I know some people will want to call him Andy. Anyway, I still like the name, but those are my concerns with it and I just wanted to get your opinions on it so please let me know what you think! Of course, I'm always open for additional suggestions!

Settle Down

We made it! Barely, but hopefully I'll be able to share that long story in another post. We are settling into our new home and lives here in Yuma and, honestly, I am loving it! The weather is fabulous (perfect, in my opinion) right now and the daily sunshine really does wonders on my mental outlook on life. (For those of you in Scranton, don't worry, you'll be able to brag about the weather in a few more months.) The steady job (with income), a beautiful home, an abundance of family and friends, a sense of stability, and hope for future goals don't hurt either! Even though I still have a lot to unpack, go through, decorate and fix around the house as well as all the new projects I keep dreaming up (like working on a garden, building Talmage a train bed, Kaia a playhouse, and me a filing cabinet) I have been losing energy and ambition quickly. I haven't taken a nice bath in my huge tub yet, but I am of the mindset right now to just let my body and my mind recover from the craziness of the last couple of months. Somehow life, activities, and obligations are already quickly filling up my calendar here. I'd better take advantage of the relative ease and quiet now before we are soon outnumbered by another little one! Unfortunately I haven't taken many pictures or loaded them on my computer, but hopefully I will be able to post some soon. For now I just wanted to let everyone know were are still alive.