Decklan's blessing on Easter

We had the wonderful opportunity to have James bless Decklan on April 8th, 2012, which also happened to be Easter.  It was such a special experience to have him blessed on such a special day.  The talks given (Great job to Jeremy and Tina), the musical numbers by the Ward family along with the lesson in Relief Society were so amazing.  It couldn't have been any better.  My parents came from California, and Bre, Landon and Tana came from Wyoming to spend it with us.  We love having family come visit.  We also did a neighborhood egg hunt on Wednesday the 4th that the kids loved and got my front flower bed all nice with boxwood's, some orange flowers, and purple flowers and then laid down some rubber mulch.  It look so good now!  I always love to make the kids look extra special on Easter and this year we got to add another little guy to match his siblings.  After looking everywhere for the perfect dress for Madyson I finally found it and then found perfectly matching material to make the boys ties.  And since we were blessing Decklan it was perfect for him to wear a little tie for his big day!

The group of kids at the egg hunt

Madyson Easter morning

3 out of 4 kids :)

I can never get the perfect picture

He is such a cheeser

Jayden's starting to look so grown up

My Madyson is a poser!

Payton boy!

Family pictures get harder and harder

Decklan was done!

Ready for his big day

Grandma loves baby Decklan

Grandpa does too!

It's already been 5 weeks

I can't believe how fast time is going by.  The kids seem to be adjusting okay, Madyson had a rough week around week 3, she was rebelling and acting out a lot which is not like her.  The boys haven't seemed to be bothered too much by him or all the attention we are giving Decklan, which is nice.  The first week home mom was was here and she was such a big help.  We were at the doctors almost every single day.  Decklan got really yellow and was Jaundice for about a week.  His levels got to 19.2 which is pretty high, they want them around 10-12 I believe.  So he was put on lights and had to stay in the little bed all day for Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday when they finally said he could be off the lights.  It was so hard to let him just lay in the bed and not be snuggled or held.  The second week my mom was gone and James only took 2 days off and Jayden went of track!!  It was a little crazy but we made it through okay. Not much happened in the second week except his umbilical cord fell off so we were able to give him a real bath, which is so much easier and nicer than a sponge bath!!  In week 3  he started to be awake more often and got a cold and we are hoping it stays just a cold and he doesn't get RSV!  Last week was hi4th week and he turned 1 month old.  He sometimes is awake for 4 or more hours at once, which seems crazy to me.  He has started to become a little cranky at night for a couple hours, we are really hoping that stops soon.  I need my sleep!!  He is having a hard time going to the bathroom which isn't fun, I just feel so bad for him cause he gets so uncomfortable.  I am hoping that gets better with time.  Decklan is such a good baby and is waking up every 3 hours to eat, but goes right back to sleep after eating (thankfully). We are so glad he joined our family and I love him so much, I always want to be holding him :)

First bath, he didn't hate it

Getting his hair washed

He was mad when I got him out, but then happy once he was all wrapped up

I LOVE this picture!

His first time to church (3/18/2012)

Such a sweet face

Talking to mom for the first time (3/21/2012)

He doesn't like tummy time :(

His hair is so long

We quickly took that thumb out of his mouth, even though it's so cute!

He was just posing like this ready for me to take his picture.

PICTURES!!!

We finally have the Internet again and I am finally getting them on my blog.  I feel so delayed, with all my other kids I did the pictures in the hospital.  But since James never brought the laptop to the hospital, I never got it done.  So here are the picture of my handsome new baby boy!

I cut the cord, I think it's so cool

Getting weighed, he was my biggest baby.  A whopping 6 Lbs 10 oz

A little cleaned off and wrapped up with mom

Proud Mom and Dad, we love this baby boy (no picture with the kids, they weren't allowed at the hospital)

His cute hat the hospital gave us

Relaxing at the hospital in mom's bed

I love baby feet

Daddy and Decklan nap time

Going home.  We finally got to take one home with us!!

The kids meeting Decklan for the first time!

His hair is crazy after a bath and when he gets cold

After his bath at home

Such a good big sister, holding her baby brother for the first time

This silly boy is so excited to be a big brother

I love this, he looks surprised

Jayden's a pro at being a big brother

Brothers!!! (Jayden and Decklan)

He is so cute!

Wide awake and not sure what to do with himself.

We have had such a great 2 weeks and hope that he continues to be a good baby and that the other kids keep adjusting well to him like they have.

Decklan Rhodes Shannon

He is HERE!!!  Born 2/15/2012 @ 7:00 a.m. weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long.  Best news of all, he didn't have to go to the NICU!!!

Story(mostly for my memory):

I went to Zumba Monday night after not going for 4 weeks (because I was told I couldn't by my doctor) and it felt so good.  Felt a little sore on Tuesday but was pretty good by the afternoon.  We went about our normal business and walked around the neighborhood to pass out some Valentine's for some of the kids.  After that I went about our normal day and James even came home a little early and brought me and Madyson some goodies.  I noticed I was having sporadic contractions throughout the day but that's pretty normal for me and got ready for bed.  At about 8:30 as I was laying in bed they were getting closer together and stronger.  I told myself I wasn't going to the hospital again unless it was to have the baby, so of course I waited and waited and waited!  I was timing them and they were 2 minutes apart and about 35-45 seconds in length.  I took a bath, made sure to drink lots of water and walked, laid down and sat to try different positions to see if they would slow or stop.  By the time I got dressed and was thinking about going in it was midnight and the contractions were hurting pretty bad.  I got a hold of my neighbor who so kindly came over at about 1 a.m.  We got to the hospital and checked in around 1:30.  At that point I was in quite a bit of pain.  I went into the room to get checked and was at a 4 1/2, but was starting to bleed quite a bit.  They were concerned but not sure what was causing it.  They got me moved to my room and set up with an IV (which o course they couldn't get on the first try), gave me some terbutaline (which stops contractions) to slow them because they were too on top of each other, and ordered my epidural (the guy was amazing!!!)  After all that was done I could relax a little or so I thought!  Decklan's heart started to beat too fast and so they put me on oxygen to try to see if that would help.  It didn't help but after about 2 hours finally went back to normal.  I got stuck I guess you could say at a 7 for about 2-3 hours and she checked me again once his heart rate went down to see about giving me pitocin to get him out and I was at a 10.  The doctor was called and when she got there they had everything ready to go.  I pushed 5 times with 2 contractions and out he came face up of course (he couldn't cut me a break anywhere).  He came out with dark hair and pretty big.  I cut the cord and they took him over to get all checked out.  He was perfect!  They did find out why I was bleeding after looking at my placenta it had ruptured on one part.  I'm so glad I got up to the hospital in time!!  We went home on Friday morning and he got to meet his siblings or the first time.  We are doing well and I hope to get some pictures up some time.  Having a baby and 3 kids is a lot of work even with my mom here.