T-Minus 1 day

Well as most of you know the newest addition to the Clayton Family joined us on June 25th. Since then it has been a whirlwind of up and downs. There have been so many calls and texts of love and concern. We have had a really hard time of keeping everyone in the loop and don't want anyone to feel that we are excluding them. I have decided the blog is the best way to get the updates out. Daily I will be posting around noon (this is right after the staff meet with us to plan) to let everyone know what happened the day prior and what the plan is going forward.

But to start this story I better back up to all the things I missed posting about in the beginning.

Here is my last belly pic, taken 2 days before my water broke.

I guess the proper place to start this story is my doctor appointment on Tuesday. At my appointment the doctor told me I was dilated to a 2 and the baby had dropped, my fluid was low and I was showing a few other signs of labor. This didn't make my doctor too happy and she order me to bed rest. My belly was only measuring at 28 weeks and because of the SUA problem we worried the baby was just too small to be born so early.

I was pretty distraught about being on bed-rest because I had so much still to get done. Lisa's ( my sister in law) baby shower was on Saturday and I was in charge of it. I had lots of things I still wanted to make for the baby and lots of cleaning that needed to be done around the house, not to mention it is pretty impossible to stay in bed with two children who demand so much attention! .... insert my super hero Chris who literally swooped to my rescue. You can

read all about his incredible-ness in the post below.

I tried to spend the day Wednesday in bed and got a lot of the craft projects done I had been wanting to do but just never had time for. I made these onsies... ( and a matching shirt for Taycee)

This car seat cover..

And I wipes case to match. Thursday I spent all day down at the pool lounging around and watching the kids play with Chris in the water. I got a little bit crampy that night but nothing I would call a contraction.

Friday came and Chris had to go to school to work, I still had Hunter because my mom and dad didn't get back from their cruise til Friday night. I thought he would be able help out enough and I would be ok to spend the day alone. I spent ALL of Friday morning on the phone with exterminators because we had a disgusting mouse infestation. ( that is another story all in itself... gross!!!) I was trying to stay in a chair and not be on my feet too much.

My Aunt Leanna called a little after 11 to ask how things were going, I told her I was on bed-rest and praying my water didn't break. While I was on the phone with her I got up to help Kaden get a drink and felt a small trickle of water when I started walking. I stopped and the thought occured to me that my water might have just broken. It was nothing like the last 2 times my water broke so I also thought maybe I really had lost way more control of my bladder than I realized. I kept talking to Leanna but went upstairs to check things out, long story short I came to the conclusion my water HAD indeed broken, I told Leanna, hung up the phone and started panicking a little. Chris was at work he had taken the train so he didnt have a car, I had 3 kids at home with me, we were all in our pajamas still, nothing was packed in the car for me to go to the hospital...etc. etc.

To skip all the boring stuff I called my amazing friend Jocelyn who jumped right in the car and came over to watch the kids. Don't know what I would have done without her! When she arrived she helped me to gather the things I needed, I put a pad on to soak up the leaking and jumped in the car to drive myself to Salt Lake where the hospital was. At this time I was considered 34 weeks and 6 days pregnant. Way too early. I said a prayer shed some tears of fear and did a lot of pleading on my drive and was amazed at the peace that filled my heart and mind. Heavenly Father sent many gifts to us that day but in that moment nothing was more needed than some peace and comfort.

Once I got to the hospital they made us go through the typical check-in, I stood and leaked water on their floor for about 15 minutes. I actually mentioned to the nurse that I was dripping on their floor and she said "it's ok, we get that all the time." gross. They send me to a triage room so they could check to make sure my water had actually broke. As if the constant trickle down my legs wasn't enough evidence...and about and hour and a half later I was checked into a room and started on pitocin to get my contractions going.

At about 2:30pm I was finally hooked up to all the machines I need to be hooked up to, all the IV's and fluids I needed were in and it was time for the waiting game to begin. We had many nurses and staff come up to talk to us about what we should expect with a baby so early. To be honest I wasn't worried at all, Taycee was a 35 week baby and besides a short nursery episode she was just fine. The lady for the NICU informed us that if the baby was born before midnight ( 34 weeks 6 days) she would be REQUIRED to be admitted into the NICU regardless of her condition. If she was born after midnight (35 weeks) this would not be a requirement. Knowing this I asked my doctor if we could hold back on the pitocin for a few hours so that we could help push the birth past midnight. The answer I got was a resounding NO... mostly because of the risk of infection for the baby after the water sack is ruptured. So Again I started with the praying and pleading. I knew at that point,it was all up to Heavenly Father when this baby came. My contractions were steady but not very hard, the nurses were surprised at how slowly I was progressing, I was sending up lots of thanks.

There was lots of down time with nothing to really do so I had the things I needed to work on the baby shower brought to the hospital and while I was in labor waiting for something exciting to happen I made this...

A diaper cake for the shower. The nurses thought I was pretty comical, I had my hot glue gun plugged in and ribbon everywhere. They said I was the most productive patient they ever had. They also said they could see why I wasn't very good at bed-rest :) I hate doing nothing.

We had lots of fun visitors to help keep me company and at 11 oclock the nurse came in and said she wouldn't even check me until midnight because my contractions were still so mild. I was so excited to here this news. My brother Jason and his fiance Katie were in the room talking with us when I started to notice a pressure that hadn't been there 10 minutes earlier. About that same time Addisons heart rate started to drop significantly. I knew this meant it was time to push. I looked at the clock and it was only 11:40. I got a little panicked and tried to squeeze everything together and keep that baby in for 20 more minutes. The nurse noticed the same heart drops and decided to check me. Sure enough baby was fully ready to be born. We had a sweet nurse and she knew how badly I wanted to deliver past midnight. She looked at me and said "we have 18 minutes, I'll call the doctor and prepare the delivery table slowly." The next 18 minutes were like an hour. I watched the clock and begged it to move faster. The doctor came up about 11:50, checked me and said "this baby is coming" the contractions were on top of each other and she was not liking them. Her heart rate would plummet with each one. I said one last prayer asking for a miracle and a miracle I got. The doctor had told me that i needed to push on my next contraction... but the contractions had stopped. They had been every 30 seconds... but they stopped til about 12:01. Then a big contraction came, I gave 2 big pushes and.... whala Addison Marie Clayton was placed on my chest. She was tiny, and beautiful, and screaming with her little lungs.

One amazing man

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers in my life. My dad, Chris's dad, grandpas, but especially this handsome guy...

We snapped this picture quickly after church before we headed to Grandma Sharps house for a yummy Fathers Day dinner.

WARNING*** What will follow will be an outpouring of mush about Chris.

I can't say enough how lucky I feel to have Chris as the father in our house. He is incredible, I have said it before and I will say it again. He is the most amazing husband and father I know. Our kids adore him, first thing they say every morning when they wake up is... "Hi mom, where is my dad." They always have to know where he is and when he is coming home. I try not to act like it hurts my feelings ;). But I really can't blame him, I count down the minutes til I see him again too. He puts most guys I know to shame. He is one of the most kind, giving, generous, selfless, hardworking, dedicated men I know. And the best part?... he is all mine :D

All of his awesomenss can be easily demonstrated in the last 3 days of life around our house. Tuesday I came home in distress because I had been put on bed-rest. How was I going to do this? I have 2 very active children that demand attention throughout the day, most of which requires me to be on my feet. While I blubbered and panicked Chris hugged, reassured and set to work figuring out a plan. (one of the many reasons he is my perfect other half. When I panic he remains calm and just fixes it.) He spent an hour making phone calls and by the end of the night had a solution to the problem. He then proceeded to clean the house so I could go to bed relaxed. Amazing... right? The next day he got up early and got most of his work in before I even got up he then spent the rest of the day cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and entertaining the kids. Not one murmur of complaint, even though over night his duties literally had doubled. He just did it, all of his work and all of mine. Happily he did it. The next day? Same story... up early to get his work done then he took us all to the pool. I sat poolside relaxed, munched on wheat thins and watched the incredible father of my kids watch, entertain and play for hours on end with the kids in the pool. Today is the first day he has left is my side the house is clean, the laundry done, and several people are on call in case there is anything I need. He is incredible. He makes me want to be better. My children adore him. I adore him.

I know that everyone feels like they are the luckiest girl to be married to whomever they are married to ( which is great! We all deserve to be married to our perfect other half) but I seriously feel as if Heavenly Father hand picked him out the billions just for me. I haven't figured out yet quite what I did to deserve such an awesome guy, but I'll take it.

Happy Fathers Day Chris, we couldn't make it without you!

28

The man in our lives turned 28 a few weeks ago. I am terribly slow at documenting things. Chris's birthday are always hard for me because he does SO MUCH for me on my birthday. Because my birthday falls on Valentines Day he feels the need to spoil and pamper me from sun up to sun down. He is hard to compete with. Not to mention that our anniversary his birthday and fathers day are usually all within a 4 week period. I tend to run out of fun ideas. Luckily for me he is one of the most laid back people I know and doesn't care for a big to do when it comes to himself. He is pretty selfless like that. One of the million reasons I love him :)

I let him start the day out with a nap. Ha, sounds silly but it is something he never gets to do.

While he was napping I cleaned up the house, and wrapped a few presents.

Kaden was SO excited for daddy to open his presents. He said more than once "hey dad this present is for you, but we can share right!" Too bad none of his presents were toys Kaden wanted to have.

He really wanted P90x for his birthday, infact that is all he asked for. Later he mentioned he might want Insanity instead. So... he got both. Along with some much needed summer clothes some wrenches and cologne.

These kids sure do love to be with their daddy. They gave him a few birthday hugs before we sent them to our good friends the Egberts house.

With the kids gone we headed to Tucanos for Chris's traditional birthday meal. We go there every year to use his free birthday meal coupon. It kind of takes the surprise out of the day but I am pretty sure he would be heartbroken if I took him anywhere else. He looks forward to it all year long.

When we came home I told Chris the day had ended, we were just going to have some cake and icecream with the kids and take it easy.... I lied.... I think he knew all along. I had invited all of his friends over for a little suprise party. The started arriving about 6. A huge thanks to everyone who came. Chris loved having you all there and you made the night so fun.

This was the cake I came up with.... use your imagination....stretch it....stretch.... ok its a circuit board. It was the nerdiest cake I could think of. However the idea didn't translate as I had hoped. Regardless it tasted pretty nummy.

Chris and a couple of the friends who came to celebrate.

The highlight of the night for most of the men was playing NBA Jam on the wii. We were able to tear them away to play one game as a group so the women could play as well. As soon as it ended the wii was back on and they were back to playing.

Chris's actual birthday was on Sunday. We had celebrated the day before but I didn't want the actual day to go without note so I made a big breakfast. Chris was at meetings for most of the morning but he was able to come home right before church to enjoy his pancake covered in whip cream with one candle.

Happy Birthday Love! We are so lucky to have you in our lives. I could list a million reasons why you are the greatest but I am saving that for the fathers day post. Like I said... I have to spread out my ideas.

Sand Dunes

Right after Pine Valley we went to the sand dunes with my family. It was definitely a trip for Chris, I had strict orders from my doctor that I was not allowed to ride on any four-wheeler. So I went knowing I would mostly sit around and watch the kids. That is mostly what I did but it was still a fun trip. Luckily I had a few camp partners who weren't too interested in riding either. So we played games and chilled at camp together.

Mom and Katie soakin in some sun while the boys were out riding the hills

Of course there was the typical trip break down. I don't know that I have ever gone on a trip like this with my family where something hasn't stopped working. Luckily these experiences have made my father very handy! Within about an hour it was up and running again. They just had to take apart and put the carburetor back together... twice.

Jason had a few sweet jumps on his motorcycle and got some pretty good air.

Chris is not nearly as familiar with four-wheelers as my family is. We grew up riding them and always went on fun four-wheeler trips. But in true man fashion he didn't want to be left out of the fun and so he tried to jump the four-wheeler off the same hill Jason was jumping his motorcycle...

Not bad for a newbie on a heavy four-wheeler!

He is a natural he'll be jumping the motorcycle in no time!

Just to prove I was actually on the trip.

Hmmm... what could be so interesting in that bucket??

.... checking it out

Grandpa caught a lizard for Kaden. Kaden watched it for awhile then decided it should be free and dumped it back out on the ground. Guess we won't be keeping many snakes or other creatures caught at this house... dang... ;)

Diggin in the sand and showin a little crack.

I guess it was contagious...

They were so proud of their sand castle

Grandma and Grandpa found a pond where there were lots of tad poles. The kids went back with buckets and caught 10 or 20 of them. They were so excited, it reminded me a lot of growing up in Honeyville and catching little guppies at the reservoir. It seems like we always had a big bucket of tiny fishies outside. I was happy my kids got a little taste of that. We did not however bring the tadpoles home. I didnt want to transport them for the 3 hour drive.

Kaden thought he should hold one in his hand... I am guessing it didn't live too much longer past this picture.

It was a fun trip even though I couldn't ride. The kids had a blast and my mom and Katie made for good company back at camp!

Pine Valley

We went camping at Pine Valley with Chris's Family the end of May. Silly me thought it would be warm since we were camping near St. George.... NOT! It was cold... like really really cold. It snowed one day. I didn't pack well for cold weather, but luckily some friend in St. George pulled through with some winter clothes for the kids to borrow. I didn't get lots of pics because it was so wet I didn't want to pull my camera out but I did snap a couple while we were down at the lake fishing.

Dad and Taycee snuggled up. Taycee was wearing grandmas jacket on top of all her other clothes and jackets.

She tripped out of the tent the day before so she had a few battle wounds on her nose.

Daddy keeping her freezing hands warm...

Taycee was trying to return the favor.

My cute little boy in his way to big jacket.

The kids loved to fish, Taycee would try to cast out but would just snag some moss by her feet. She didn't care one little bit though, she would still scream "I got a fishie, I got a fishie!"

Oh how horrid I look. Oh well. The joy to camping is no make-up, and no doing of the hair.

Aren't we an attractive couple?

Kaden fishing with uncle Bent

Even with the cold it was a fun trip. The kids slept like rocks in the tent with grandma and grandpa. My pregnant body didn't do so well the first night so Chris and I went home a little early. Sleeping on the air mattress made both my legs numb, it wasn't so fun. The night we left it snowed during the night and those who stayed woke up to an inch or so on the ground. BRRRR

Luckily we were back at grandmas house warm and showered. :D

Kadens Birthday

Against my will Kaden turned 4. I begged and pleaded and bribed but he did it anyway. It is a good thing another baby will be here shortly or I might have had a come apart at the fact that my baby boy is huge and big and not even close to being my baby boy.

The little stud was lucky enough to have 2 parties. We started the fun off at Chuck-E-Cheese the week before his birthday for a party with Grandma and Grandpa Webre and friends. Kaden had never been to Chuck-E-Cheese and he was in heaven. We had pizza and cake and he played the night away with close to 100 tokens.

He requested a giraffe cake, I thought cupcakes would be the easiest way to accomplish that. That seems to be where the thinking ended. I made a lemon lime refrigerator cake with a cream topping, it's called a refrigerator cake because it is suppose to stay cold. I didn't realize that to make a giraffe it would have to be on a very very long board that wouldn't fit in a cooler. Results? I very melted goopy cake...

Oh well, he squealed with excitement and loved it anyway. That is why kids are so great.

Kaden loved dancing and watching himself on the TV'sWe were glad the Egberts joined us so Kaden could have a friend there.As always he was a very gracious present opener gasping with excitement with every present he opened.The party crew minus Chris who was taking the picture.My BIG birthday boy with Chuck himself.Then on his actual birthday we had another party in St George at Grandpa and Grandma Claytons house. This time he requested a big tractor cake. I thought things through a little better this time.He was oh so excited as alwaysThank you to the dollar tree for providing one of his favorite presents...

He spent the rest of his birthday playing on his new leapfrog from grandma and grandpa. It took a good week before he would put it down.

I think I am in denial that my baby boy is not at all a baby anymore. He is smart, funny, clever, sweet and my bestest buddy. He is constantly making me laugh with the things he says and does. He learns things so quickly and often surprises me by the things he understands and knows. He has such a tender heart and is always the first to share his toy or help out the other kids around. More than once a day he will randomly tell me how much he loves me or how great I am. He does wonders for my self esteem. He is the easiest child to discipline because all I have to do is tell him he is being naughty and he instantly tears up and says "I am sorry mom". His imagination is wonderful and I love listening to him come up with stories. He is a joy to have around and I am so thankful he was sent to be mine!

Here are some of the most recent funny things he has said

Kaden got his first ear infection since he has had tubes so we took him in to the doctor. When the doctor came in to see him he asked him if he had any girlfriends and Kaden said "well I have my Taycee and my mom and my daddy is the bestest boy ever."

The other day he was talking to Chris on the phone at work and when Chris said he had to go Kaden said "ok dad, I promise I will never let you down" I know I am pregnant and emotional but he said it so sincerely that it almost made me cry. Ha

We had just said prayers and Kaden looked at me and said "Mom I can't fly huh" I said "nope buddy people can't fly" and he said "yep, I guess that is just for dragons and Heavenly Father".

I had been fighting Kaden for almost an hour to lay down and take a nap and it just wasn't happening. Finally Kaden came downstairs and before I could talk he raised his hand to stop me and said "mom, mom, mom, I am hungry... I am berry berry hungry. Christopher made me hungry" (??? what?) then he held up his finger, smiled and said "I have and idea, you make me a sandwich and I will watch a show real quiet." haha my little bargainer.

We were in sunbeams talking about things that smell and taste good and bad. I brought up cows and Kaden raised his hand so excitedly, I asked him what he wanted to say and he said "I went and saw cows once, I pulled on their pee pee's and milk came out!" ( Kadens class is 90% girls, and luckily I don't think they quite understood what he meant.) I had to explain when we got home from church what an udder was.

Kaden found an eraser that was shaped like a moose head and he gasped and said to me "MOM WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?" ( he was so excited) I said "I don't know buddy I haven't seen it before, it must have come from one of the junk drawers." he relpied "no mom, Jesus threw it down here for me." I said "oh really?" he said "yeah he threw it down from the sky." then he looked up to the ceiling and YELLED " HEY JESUS, DID YOU THROW THIS DOWN HERE FOR ME??" few second pause... he looks at me "he said yes." then looks back at the ceiling "THANK YOU JESUS" then a few minutes later he said "man, he is such a good boy."

Can you tell he makes me laugh daily? The stories go on and on.

Happy Birthday Buddy! We sure do love you, thanks for being such a bright part of our life.