baby blessing

We were able to do Owen's baby blessing on Sunday, while family was still in town. It was pretty cool to have Dad, Micah, Daniel, and Sam participate in the blessing with Alex. And I was thrilled that Alex stuck with "Owen Knight" for his name... I didn't want "Archie" as the name on the records of the church. We are so happy to have Owen in our family and know that he will continue to be a joy and inspiration to us and those around him. Welcome little guy...you have lots in store for you!

good excuse to get together again...

Luckily, we get to see everyone again in March... because Audrey and Sam are getting married! Yeah! Sam got a dose of our family the past few days - we hope he'll stick around (and forgive us for giving him a cold!). We made Sam sing for Audrey while he was here...pretty sweet. We're looking forward to their wedding in Utah in less than 3 months.

Christmas in Oklahoma

We had Christmas at our house this year, and the best part was having so much family here. Of my immediate family, Mike and Carrie were the only ones we were missing (they're in Africa). It was nice to have someone to cook meals, play games, help with the boys, and just be here. But the hard part is saying goodbye again and not having them here. I guess it's the post Christmas depression... come back everyone!

Owen burrito

Our room tends to be especially cold, despite the rest of the house. Alex wrapped up Owen in so many layers that he just looked like a little Owen country sausage burrito!

a few good men...

more Owen

We're home now. Thanks Alex for posting last night (I guess I have to have a baby to get Alex to post on the blog...) I sent Alex home to stay with Nathan and Jared last night - it was his night to get some sleep (and the last for the next few months!). We're doing well. I have to say that going under general anesthesia just might be the best way to have a baby. The worst part was getting the IV - no one has ever gotten it in on the first try. I didn't have to get an epidural or spinal block - I just took a few deep breaths and the next thing I knew there was the baby. And recovery hasn't been too bad - obviously there is pain associated with being sliced open, but I've been smarter about the medecine this time. With Jared, I took the pain medecine too often and I got a migraine and vomiting. This time I've only taken the medecine about every 8 hours, so I haven't had any other side effects. The afterbirth uterus contractions have been terrible though. I hear they get worse with each child - that's been the case with me.

Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know. The main thing is that we're healthy and we're back home and we're loving little Owen Knight. (Nathan said his name was Owen, so we went with Owen.) You probably can't tell from the pictures, but he has red hair just like Nathan and Jared. They all come out looking the same. I'll have to see if I can find some newborn pics of Nathan and Jared to post...

Owen is here

Owen is here! He was 8 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long. Him and mom are doing well. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy. More to come...

His brothers are excited for yet another boy.

-Alex

P.S. Thank you very much for everyone's help. Kudos particularly to Audrey, Angela, Sharon, Rebecca, Amanda and company for watching the boys.

final preparations

D-Day (Delivery Day) is on Tuesday - we've been busy getting ready for a new baby. We're currently making some instructions for those who will be watching the boys...

maybe this will work if all else fails... just tie them up!


But really, it has been challenging trying to get everything ready for the holidays and arrangements for the boys. It was much easier with Nathan - no other kids to worry about and no holidays. I am excited to see family in about a week, and Audrey was nice enough to use her 2 extra days off this year on us - she will be coming up from Dallas... thanks Audrey! And we have also had so many other offers to help and received a very generous cash gift from Alex's colleagues.

Now, hopefully everything will go well and we'll have some pictures to post later this week. My platelet count is at 73, so I guess I'll be going in for a little snooze...

Santa Claus?

We had our ward Christmas party tonight, complete with dinner and a special visitor. We were getting ready to leave and asking Nathan about seeing Santa... he said, "That was the guy cooking the meat!"

"But how did he get that beard?" asked Alex.
"It was his costume."

Can't get anything by this kid...

full term

I finally made it to 37 weeks. I feel like I'm ready to pop...

(The first shot is at 16 weeks, the 2nd at 28, and the 3rd at 37.)

My latest platelet count was 74 - not low enough to do anything about it, but not high enough for a spinal block. We're still on for the 16th.