Jack's Arrival Through Pictures

I had big plans of writing an actual birth story with a huge disclaimer for those who prefer not to read accounts of that nature. Those plans are gone now. I am too preoccupied for that. I have been a little bit busy falling in love with my new little boy. The kid is incredible. I am a lucy, lucky woman! Instead of a textual account, you get a pictural account with brief commentary from yours truly.

The night before Jack was born, we were heading home later than we had planned, and I knew that by the time I had the dinner I had planned on making prepared, it would be close to 10:00. We had to get up at 4:00. Ross took pity on me and let us go to Panda Express for my last meal. It was lovely, and this was my fortune. Quite fitting, I thought. We got to the hospital at 5:15 am. We were so excited!

I am about to lose a lot of weight!

This is the first picture taken of my little Jack Wallace Goodman.

Jack is Ross's maternal grandfather's name.

Wallace is my maternal grandfather's last name.

Goodman is Ross's last name. And mine. Basically- don't complain about the name if you don't like it, because we love both the name, and the men they represent! :)

My dad actually took the day off of work to come and see his new grandson. He called in sick. just to put this in perspective- my dad did not even call in sick the day after he had his appendix taken out. He is just a tad bit excited about this little boy.

Emma is very excited and very bossy about how her baby brother is to be treated. I love it.

Isn't he beautiful?

We waited to give him his first intensive bath for when the girls got there so they could watch. We thought they would like that.

While we waited, Jack and I got acquainted as he stole little bits of my heart with his sweet snuggles and advanced aptitude for feeding.

Emma and Sara LOVED watching Jack get bathed, and have talked about it every time they have been here to visit me.

The first family photo with Jack outside of my belly.

I think he looks a lot like Sara did when she was born.Oh, the yawns. I love them. There are more to come. The hospital network takes forever to upload pictures, so I have just been doing one or two at a time in between feedings, diaper changes, and nap times. I will try to get some more up later tonight for those who have been asking for more pictures. I don't blame you for wanting more- I can't get enough of him and I am holding him right this very second! Can you tell we are excited about this little baby? Because we are. Heavenly Father must really love us!

Happy Birthday Jack

Since Amanda is busy caring for a little one I have decided to bless the blogosphere with my presence and present to you all our new son Jack Wallace Goodman!

Here is the beautiful star of the show, prepped and ready to go. After nine months of waiting and gestating, the big day is finally here.

Here he is!

He is quite a happy little guy

Mommy showing some leg and posing with baby Jack

The cutest little guy in the nursery, in fact he was the only little guy in the nursery,

It was a great day, filled with new joys and new babies, We are so excited to have Jack in our family and to finally have him here with us. Mom and baby are doing great and the girls are very excited, Emma is more excited than Sara, she can't wait to play with her little brother, Sara is realizing that life as she has known it has changed for good. We are all really happy to have him, he is really chatty, and not very fussy so far, we may finally have a "mellow" happy baby. Amanda is doing wonderful and is recouperating nicely, I am sure she will get on here and tell you more all about it. I love him and he is wonderful. See ya'll

My Funny Girls

I have had requets for more pictures and funny statements from my girls. I can't post new pictures because there aren't any. (We got refunded for the broken camera, but have yet to purchase a new one.) There is, however, an unending supply of funny and creative statements from my girls. Here is a sampling.

• I have not bought any new shirts since getting pregnant, and I only have a few left that cover my girth. I save those for when I have to leave the house. The rest of my time spent at home usually finds me in shirts borrowed from Ross's side of the closet. One day Emma asked, "Will Daddy use your shirts when he has a baby in his tummy?"
• One day while my parents were at our house for a BBQ, Sara let out a nice and healthy toot. Afterwards she chuckled and said, "There are bubbles in my bum!" Ross thinks this came from the fact that the previous night a similar incident happened in the tub and caused actual bubbles to come up from her bum.
• Emma likes to be in charge. I am not sure if this is because she is the oldest, or if it is because she is my child. Maybe a bit of both? Anyway, whenever she is with a group of other children, she likes to take charge and is quick to instruct all the other children in the proper way of playing and having fun. Sometimes she takes this instruction a step too far. We noticed this when she kept calling a child on a playground by the wrong name. We tried to correct her, but she just said, "No, I don't like that name. His new name is Kajer." We watched as the boy, who is much older than her, tried to correct her. She was not at all affected by his pleadings and tried to explain to him that his real name was now Kajer because it was a nicer name and would make him happier. He stopped arguing, and went by Kajer until Emma left.
• Sara loves the song, "We are a Happy Family". She calls it 'The Mommy Song' because we always start it with, 'I love Mommy, she loves me. We love Daddy, yesiree . . .' When she is playing with her stuffed animals, she will make up verses for all the animals in the closet. Very cute! 'I love Bunny, she loves me, we love monkey, yes we do, she loves froggy can you see. We love snowman oh oh oh, and she loves tiger and we are a happy family."
• When my sister Heather was younger, she had trouble learning to read. We later found out it had nothing to do with a learning delay, but with a desperate need for glasses. The poor thing was practically blind. No wonder she couldn't decipher all the letters- they were all blurry blobs! Anyway, during this time, my Grandma Wallace lent us a video that one of the schools she worked at had made. It was a funny little thing that taught phonics with puppets and silly songs. Annoying to all adults, but effective for kids. I have been having trouble teaching Emma her letter sounds. She knew what they all were, but for some reason I could not find the right way to introduce the phonic sounds so they stuck. I asked my Grandma if I could borrow her video, and it worked! Emma watched it twice and had all the sounds down! Yay! A funny little habit arose from this though. One of the puppets used in the video is a dog named Annie. Emma now has regular dialogues with her right hand. She calls it Annie. It seems to come in quite handy (pun totally intended!) in the car or right around bedtime when there are no toys available.
• Sara is really upset with me right now because I had her help me make some blueberry muffins. Apparently, I led her astray because the blueberries are not at all blue, but purple, and this dishonesty is very frustrating. She keeps showing me things that are blue and pointing out that the muffins have nothing about them that is even close to that color.

Tender Mercies: Priesthood Blessing Edition

This pregnancy has been kind of hard on me. I have had a lot more pain than I remember having with the girls as my body has grown and stretched to accomodate little Jack. A couple of weeks ago, things got to be too much. I had spent a day moving furniture and things around, trying not to overdo it, but, well. . . did I mention I was helping to move furniture around? I had ANOTHER bladder infection that felt like it might have been spreading to my kidneys. My migraines were out of control, and I was feeling emotionally overwhelmed. It was rough. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, and in reality it wasn't. I know that. It sure felt like it though. I was struggling and I needed some help.

After getting the girls to bed one night I asked Ross for a blessing. He agreed, of course, and asked what it was I wanted a blessing for. I wasn't really sure how to respond and knew if I tried to explain I would break down and I really didn't want to do that. Ross accepted this silence, hugged me, and sat me down to give me a blessing. Have I mentioned lately how much I love that man?

I won't go into details about the blessing because it was very personal and sacred to me, but I will say this. It was inspired. The words coming from my husband's mouth were not things he would have ever said to me in normal conversation. The things he blessed me with were not at all related to anything I had yet expressed to him, and yet, they were exactly what I needed. It was amazing.

Most of the blessing concerned physical ailments of mine- some of which I hadn't even talked to Ross about. Some of the blessing dealt with worries and concerns that I had talked about with Ross, but had never really expressed the deepness of the matters. Some of the blessing was charged with encouraging and praising words for things I was doing and trying to accomplish. Again- some of these things Ross had not seen. He had no idea about my goal to not raise my voice to the girls, he was not yet privvy to my new scripture reading routine, and he certainly hadn't heard my recent personal pleadings with my Savior about preparing myself and my home for my new baby. Those things came from the Lord. Through my husband. Incredible.

The reason for this post was really to express my gratitude for my husband and his worthiness to give me that inspired blessing, and to the Lord for once again fulfilling every extent of his promises to me.

In the last two weeks I have not had any symptoms of a bladder infection. That is the longest I have gone the entire pregnancy. I have had one or two headaches, but no full-blown migraines. My ligament pain has been highly diminished and always dissipates withing a few minutes when it does appear. I have had a lot fewer Braxton Hicks contractions. The charlie horses in my calfs and arches only come on every now and then, and usually go away within an hour.

Ross has been coming home earlier, the girls go to bed easier, my patience has been strengthened, and my Spirit has been bolstered. Even my narcissitic needs have been fulfilled as random people have thanked and complimented me on little things that I have done and said. I am receiving encouragement from strange, but all too welcome sources.

I am getting my lesson plans done faster which has left extra time for playing with my sweet girls and preparing my home for Jack. Ross found a second car that we purchased at a good price with cash. Out of the blue a friend from the ward brought over a big box of toys and dress up clothes that her girls were no longer using. She was going to take them to DI and thought about my girls and asked if I wanted them.

All of the physical, emotional, and even financial burdens that had been weighing my mind and body down a short time ago have all been addressed and lightened. I am happy. I hope I am not opening myself up for something bad to happen, but I have never felt this good and productive when I am this close to the end of a pregnancy. I have two weeks left, and while I feel big and slightly tired, I mostly feel awesome. I have been able to cross most things off my daily lists and still have time to rest, play and snuggle with my girls, and fit in extra projects that I didn't think would happen before the baby came.

I am blessed. I am grateful, and I am blessed.



Also- the Priesthood is pretty darn cool!