Endorphins

I took some pictures of Isaac today and decided I can be selfish no longer.  I simply must take a minute from enjoying this little boy and share a bit of the joy I get everyday seeing this happy little boy!  He is four months old now, and he seems to be perpetually happy (as long as he’s fed . . . he IS a guy).  He always has a smile for me and when he smiles, his whole face smiles.  I get a little shot of endorphins every time I look at him! 

Isaac is also a social little guy.  He has focused on faces since he was about a month old, and if you will sit and talk to him, he will smile and talk in return (and who can resist a “goo” from a baby?!) for an hour until he is altogether exhausted from the stimulation.  Most of the time, he is a pretty mellow little guy–which is good, except Evie has nearly stabbed his eye out and he just sat there blinking and smiling at her as it turned red. :s  Speaking of which, Evie really is a good big sister and a help to me.  I’m grateful to say she hasn’t really been jealous of him at all, and even though she may be a little rough at times, she always has good intentions and is trying to love on him.  I don’t think a single day goes by that she doesn’t tell me “Oh! Isaac is sweet!!”

I’m not sure why his hair looks so red in the pictures; it’s actually dark brown.  Yes, he has a dimple on his right cheek.  And yes, I think it’s adorable.

One thing Isaac does NOT like is riding in his infant carrier/car seat for longer than necessary.  So we do all shopping (and various other activities) with the sling.  He loves it.

And here he is . . . so far, the lone heir to the Poteet throne.  The only son, yet, of an only son (Cregg) of an only son (Rick) of an only son (Herb).  And take a look at that double chin!

The one thing that I can hardly wrap my head around is, that one day, you are wondering who is inside your belly and the next you can’t remember ever not knowing them.  I really can’t.  I have to say, no matter how hectic a day it might be (which reminds me . . . story to come), I just have to stand back and look at these little spirits at least once and thank my Heavenly Father for my blessings. 

Dead Skunk in the Middle of the … House

It’s late, and my house is filled with the smell of SKUNK.  One of the joys of living in “the middle of nowhere” (which is, ironically, the center of the universe when that’s where you hang your hat), is that Pepe le Pew is never far away.  Cregg has nearly killed us swerving to miss a skunk or slamming on his brakes and throwing it into reverse at the first sight of black and white.  And tonight, I don’t think I blame him for those times.

Cregg ran somewhere on the farm for a minute this evening.  Meanwhile, I sat down on the couch with Miss Evie while I fed Isaac and glanced out the front window to see our black cat, Cookie, by the road.  A few minutes later, I hear something rustling around the house (evenings out here are very quiet), and casually wonder if Cregg is outside.  It wasn’t long before I take a sniff and reject my inital idea that Isaac has gas.  Isaac doesn’t smell like THAT.  My second idea is one of panic that there must be a skunk in my house (there wasn’t).  I even jumped when I saw Evie’s dark colored shoe peeking out from under the couch.  Pathetic, I know.

Cregg gets home, we discover the garage reeks, and the house isn’t much better.  So perhaps Pepe was after Cookie this time.  Dumb story, I know, but it had me singing a song my Dad used to sing with that smirk that lets you know he thinks he’s being funny (and he is).  It goes like this:  “DEEEEAD skunk in the middle of the road!”  That’s pretty much all there is to the song, except after repeating this several times, it’s concluded with “stinkin’ to HIIIIIGH heaven!”  So while I’m sitting here, still not getting used to the pungent odor, I’m smiling thinking of just one of the many entertaining songs my Dad sings.  What happy memories on such a stinky night.  Thanks, Dad!

A Picture Like This…

Snapped this pic today.  A picture like this is worth any number of hours of labor, sleep lost, tantrums, or watching Dora instead of Law & Order.  I am so blessed to have these two:

And to have this guy.  Love him!

Kiddies

It can be a difficult feat–getting pictures of your newborn awake when he sleeps over 20 hours a day.  What a good little guy . . . I remember before he was born, thinking of a scenario in my head of Evie crying like she can do so passionately and waking the baby up and trying my patience.  Rather, I am more concerned about Isaac waking her up because his crying is a relatively rare and very short-lived experience.  I’m embarrassed to say that he has slept so much and stayed so quiet, I’ve nearly forgotten he’s in there sleeping or still in his car seat. 

But he sure is a sweet little guy.  Evie likes to rub his cheek and say “Oh, sweet!” or “Isaac a cutie!”  So here’s a few more pictures of him wide-eyed:

This picture depicts another of Evie’s favorite “jobs.”  She likes to cover Isaac with a burp cloth like it’s a blankie.  She arranges and rearranges it so it’s tucked right under his chin.

Isaac Cregg Poteet–He’s here!

I’ve been a little slow posting pictures and making the announcement–because I have been holding this beautiful little boy! 

Isaac Cregg Poteet was born Thursday, March 18 at 7:58 pm (ironically, the exact time of day Evie was born!).  He weighed in at a hefty 6 lbs even and was 19 inches long (no wonder pushing him out was a breeze . . . a long day of waiting around and the party happened all at once!).

We are all doing great.  Evie had an emotional week last week–I think my little control freak understood that her life was going to change somehow, but wasn’t sure just what “baby brother” actually meant for her.  But when we finally took the two little ones home (although one of those little ones is not looking so little anymore!!) we were so happy to see her excitement to “hold her! hold her!” (”no, sweetie, hold him“) and to give him kisses and inquire about Isaac first thing after naps and each morning.  One thing about it . . . we feel extremely blessed with these sweet little spirits in our home.  And we feel extremely blessed for all the love and support shown to us by so many dear friends and family members–THANK YOU!!

Push Him Out, Shove Him Out, WAAAY OUT!!

I couldn’t help myself–Bill Cosby is one of the funniest people ever.  I just had to share this video my sister sent me.  I’ve had a few people ask me if I do “natural” childbirth.  I have a great respect for those women with a bit higher pain tolerance who, for a variety of reasons, choose to or have to have their babies naturally.  My own dear mother was forced to have a long and painful labor after a very long and stressful pregnancy.  But my answer to the question is that I wouldn’t mind that much if I, like a hibernating mother bear, slept through delivery.  I know I would be really thrilled to wake up to a new baby after a good deep sleep!  But . . . not likely. 

Wish me luck as I “push him out, shove him out, WAAAY out!” on Thursday, when I get induced.  Pictures to come!

Bill Cosby Himself – Child Birth

Fria | MySpace Video

New Blog–One Needful Thing

So I’ve had this idea for a new blog that just kept coming back to mind.  I finally got enough “pieces” in my mind to put the idea together and this is the start–One Needful Thing, a blog aimed to Christian women.  Take a visit to it and read the first post to get an idea of what I plan it will be about.  Then feel free to let me know what you think or give me any suggestions.  Although I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I don’t plan it to be only an “LDS” blog; rather, I would hope to appeal to Christian women of many faiths.   Let’s see where it takes us!

Little Guy . . . and Amazon Girl

So… ya know how the last post was titled “Little Guy?”  Well, read that one–then I’ll tell you the story of my “small” baby Evie two years later.  I took her in for her two-year well child appointment only to find she is in the 75th percentile for weight at 28 lbs, and is off the chart for height.  Now, I’m 5′5″ if I stand really tall and Cregg’s about 5′11″.  However, my Grandpa Kirby was 6′8″ and Cregg’s Grandpa Fennell is well over 6 foot (funny thing is that my Grandpa Horsley is a good deal shorter than me.)  Hence, we have the potential for a wide range of heights in our children.  So don’t fear, little guy!  Five pounds right now may (well, or may not) turn into off-the-charts come two years down the road.

Little Guy

The last week of February . . . the month before this little guy arrives.  So here’s a quick update of what’s been going on.  Background:  when I was pregnant with Evie, I never really measured larger than about 32 weeks (fundal height), even when I delivered her at 39 weeks.  However, she was still 6 lbs, 10 oz at birth. 

It looks like this is a tendency for me . . . . I measure about 2-3 weeks behind on fundal height (but that is a kind of subjective, estimation sort of measurement anyway).  This time, my doctor ordered an ultrasound at 33 weeks.  They found his head was kind of keeping up with dates, measuring at about 32 weeks, but the rest of his body was behind his head measurement by about a week and a half.   They call it assymetrical growth.  It’s a protective measure–if there is any insufficiency, the head keeps growing and developing and the rest of the body lags a bit.  Do you notice when the baby’s born?  No–it all catches up.  For all we know, maybe Evie was the same way, but we never had a second ultrasound to tell her size for sure after 18 weeks.  As long as the rest of the body is lagging too much–like 3 weeks behind the head–it’s okay, considering the baby continues to grow.    Hmm . . . does that make sense?

So I’ve been doing non-stress tests twice a week (who named those?  I’m pretty sure it would be stressful if they didn’t go well) to monitor if the baby has proper heart tones in response to movement or contractions.  So far, so good.  We had another ultrasound today–growth looked good.  Thursday I will be 36 weeks.  This little guy is pretty little–4 lbs, 15 oz.  BUT!  2 weeks ago, he was a pound less.  And Cregg started out at just 5 lbs, 10 oz (never mind that I could have steamrolled Cregg as a newborn, weighing in at a hefty 8 lbs, 13 oz)!   So he’s little . . . but growing. 

And I think I wish he was a bit bigger for some practical reasons–he still thinks he has room to stick arms and legs out all over the place.  OUCH.  If a small fist busts through my belly button . . . I’ll be sure to post a picture.

Wintery Warmth

Oh, what a busy and delightful time it has been!  I love starting a new year for several reasons, one–the opportunity to reflect on the past year and reorganize, two–the scope of possibilities the future holds and setting new goals and, the best of all, getting to spend a lot of time at home with CREGG and Evie!  One of the things I’ve been doing is organizing and archiving photos from this past year.  I have some as of recent that I love and thought I’d share to illustrate what’s been going on in our lives the past while.

In November, my dad was called into the Stake Presidency in the Burley LDS Stake.  We had the wonderful opportunity to meet and associate with Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve and Elder Chambers from Pocatello (interesting side note:  he taught my Public Finance and Budgeting class at ISU–and is a good enough teacher to make it interesting!  It was great to see this wonderful man again).  I would have sat there all day just to be in the presence of Elder Oaks.  What a sweet, tender man.  He is truly a special witness of our Savior.  It was a special day to support my sweet dad and be with all my family.

For me, what adds all the warmth to this cold season is having Cregg around more.  Evie loves it, too!  (Too bad that about the time I’m going to have to give more attention to baby boy, Creggy will be getting busy, too.  We’ll see how that goes . . . ).   Some pictures I LOVE:

New Year’s Day we had enough snow to go build a snowman–Evie’s first real time playing in the snow.  She enjoyed being pulled around on the sleigh!

I can hardly believe…in January, we also celebrated Evie’s Second birthday.  My “baby girl” is definitely not a baby anymore.  We gave her a big, really soft stuffed puppy she carried around when we went to King’s three months ago.  It was $9 and, after hiding it since then, she didn’t even remember.  It was a HUGE hit.  Two-year-olds aren’t that hard to please.

We were blessed to be able to get together with some friends from out of town over the Christmas season, also.  Curtis and Ashley Crafton were home to visit family and came over for a bit, and we were able to meet our friends, “Bobs” and Heather Roberts when they were visiting in Utah from California.  I can’t believe it had been three years since we’d seen them.  We had a great time and Evie loved hanging out with their boys!

How can we be very cold when we are able to be around family and friends we love??