A Tiny White Shirt

We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  In our religion, it is customary that a new baby be given a special blessing by their father soon after birth. They are blessed with certain things to help them in their life.  
In our church, men often wear white shirts when performing or participating in priesthood ordinances.

Little Boy, as I carefully ironed your tiny white shirt this morning, I found myself getting a little emotional.

I thought about how many white shirts I will be ironing for you over the years.
About how 8 years from now you'll want a perfectly ironed white shirt for the day you get baptized.  And 4 years later you'll need another perfectly ironed white shirt for your first time passing the sacrament.  You'll want another for the day you leave on a mission and I am sure you'll want one the day you marry your love.

And then the tears welled up in my eyes.  Because, little boy, you have an amazing life ahead of you.
You have parents and grandparents and great grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who love you.  You have a dad who is a worthy priesthood holder who couldn't be a better example of what a man should be.  You have a mom who is going to do everything she can to teach you the things you need to know and you have two little sisters who are obsessed with you.

You will be taught about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  About prayer and the atonement and about how following Heavenly Father's commandments will bring you happiness beyond compare.

Little Boy, you are blessed (and I know this because I was a blessed little baby too).
Don't ever take it for granted and you'll do great!

We love you little Van.  You are the sweetest little boy and we feel so blessed to have you in our family!

Today was a good day!
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Your dad gave you the sweetest blessing.

You were blessed to have a strong testimony.
To be a good example to your parents and sisters.
To find someone you love to marry in the temple.
To be able to provide for your family both temporally and spiritually.

You will be an amazing man one day.  I just know it.
I can't wait to see you grow!











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It was very apparent that you are extremely loved already.

The 3 Kentons!  Kenton C (Grandpa), Kenton M (Dad), and you, Van Kenton

Grandpa is such a goof! 

Meeting Grandma Price

This was one of the more tender moments I have ever witnessed. 

Two spirits, both so close to Heaven.

Comforting each other.

Van has had an upset stomach from the day he was born.  

He doesn't lay on his back like this- for anyone.

He laid there with Great Grandma Price for a good 20+ minutes.

Great Grandma Price kept saying, "This feels so good.  It just feels so good."

We could tell her hands were getting tired but she didn't want to let him go.

We kept piling pillows under her arm so that she could continue to hold him.

Life is so sweet sometimes.

Rough.

Three kids is rough.

I can't get over the feeling that Kenton and I have single-handedly populated the earth.

Everywhere I go I feel like I am overflowing with children.

Shopping has become a total nightmare.

Emme in the shopping cart seat, Van in the back of the cart and Afton trailing along with her "shopper in training" cart.

We're quite the show.

At home, we're dealing with a lot of tantrums.

Emme has told me more than once that she doesn't want a baby.

Afton and Emme fight- a lot!

And, we don't sleep.  Like at all.

Its been rough.

But, I must say, its been good for us.  All of us.

We didn't used to have many tantrums around here.  But now we do.

And now we get to learn about how to change our attitudes.  How to deal with anger and how to make things right again.

I used to hold Emme all I wanted.  But now I can't.

And now she's learning to do some things on her own.  How to ask for help nicely and how to wait patiently until I can help.

Afton and Emme never used to fight.  They would play together for hours.  But now they do.

And now they're learning how to play nicely even when they don't feel like it.  How to share and how to say I'm sorry.

I used to not feel frustrated.  I used to feel in control of everything.  And now I don't-at all.

But now I'm learning to let some things go and focus on only the things that matter most.

It been really good for us.

Its been hard and exhausting and, at times, insanely frustrating.  But good.

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Its crazy that one mini human can change our lives so much.

Force us to grow in ways we didn't know we needed to.

And show us that our hearts can hold more love than we ever thought possible.

Thanks Baby Van, we love you more than you could ever know!

Welcome Baby Van!

Our Little Man, Van Kenton, arrived!  

(a whole 3 1/2 weeks ago- 3 kids has kind of rocked our world!)

The Stats:

born @ 2:44 am, Friday, September 26th

8 lbs 9 ounces | 20 inches

The Story:

I went to my regular weekly appointment on Monday.  I was 39 weeks.
After chatting with my doctor about how I didn't want to go over 40 weeks
(since I LOVED my induction experience with Emme, I wasn't nervous to induce)
My doctor mentioned that she would be spending the night at the hospital on Thursday
and, if I wanted to, we could just induce then.

The idea sounded great- and so it was scheduled!

Thursday was Emme's birthday so I hoped and prayed and I would make it to the induction so that Emme and the new little guy could have different birthdays (luckily it all worked out!)

My mom came in from Idaho and was there at our house with our sleeping girls
 when we left for the hospital at 8:00 pm.
She has no idea how comforting it was to know that my children are 
being watched by the best of the best while we were gone.

We arrived at the hospital at 8:30 pm.

A nurse was being trained by another nurse- and therefore the paperwork and getting set-up process took a while.
They finally got Pitocin started at 10:30.

And then we waited for contractions to start.
It was pretty smooth sailing really.

Like Emme's induction, I got my epidural quickly which made things so nice and relaxing, just the way we both like it! (I told Kenton the other day that we could have saved some money if I went without the epidural- he said the epidural was totally worth every penny :)  
I think he likes the "comfortable, easy" route as much as I do!)   

It was pretty smooth sailing for the next few hours.
A nurse would come in every so often to up the Pitocin.
Baby boy's heart rate was great and we were on our way to meeting him!

A little after 2 am, the nurse came in to check me.
I was progressing consistently and was now at a 7.

30 minutes later, the nurse mentioned that I should tell her if I felt a lot of pressure.
Just then, I did feel a lot of pressure.  I mentioned it to her and she said,
"Great! We're getting there.  I'll come back in 30 minutes to check on you again"

...and then I felt another three pretty "LOTS of pressure" contractions.
I told myself that I would call the nurse if the next one was as bad.

And the next one was WORSE!
I felt as though his head was out.  I looked down and sure enough,
the little guy's full forehead was out!

I woke Kenton up (yep- he was sleeping because nothing was going on!) and told him the head was out.  He figured it was just crowning but when he saw it, he was super surprised!

I called the nurse and she
(along with 14 other nurses- I guess a slow night and a half delivered baby gets you some attention!)
came in right away!  The nurse delivered the rest of the baby and my doctor walked in (from where she was sleeping right across the hall!) to deliver the placenta.

It was pretty crazy!

Everything happened so fast that I had to remind Kenton to grab the camera!
So glad we remembered that!
But we don't have a ton because things happened so fast!

We were then taken to our room.  at 5:30 a.m., all we wanted to do was sleep.
But we had nurses in and out all that day.

 First foot prints.
Look at those long toes!

With all the craziness, Kenton didn't get to hold him for a while.
I'm SO glad this man finally has a son!
He rocks at the "dad of daughters" thing, but men this good should have sons too.

Can't wait to watch him teach my son how to be a REAL man.

The girls meeting Van.
I was so impressed with Afton.
She was so soft and kind and sweet.
She really rocks the oldest child role.

Emme loves baby "ban"
She constantly says, "So toot, so toot"

Man alive I am so blessed!

And my sweet mom.
She held this boy through the wee morning hours while I got some sleep.
She cooked, she cleaned, she entertained my kids.
She's incredible!

First bath.
He hated it.

Can you tell?

The nurse had so much fun washing his hair.
Not all babies have so much hair
and not all babies purr when their head is combed.

It was the cutest.

Looks like he'll tolerate the dress up parties just fine.

The kid was born with some insane fingernails!
That coupled with long fingers that don't fit in the baby mittens, its been rough.

Going Home!!!
We spent less than 24 hours at the hospital.
It felt so nice to go home.

And this picture kinds breaks my heart.

The moment Emme realized she isn't the baby anymore. 

It's sad because she is still so little (just turned 2) and SO loves to cuddle.

But, as I learned with Afton when Emme was born...

a sibling is the best gift you can give a child.

We're so glad to have you here, Van.
You are such a sweet little guy and we feel so lucky to have you!

We're beyond blessed-and sleep deprived :)