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Monday, December 29, 2008

Photos

I took the boys to Kiddie Kandids last Friday to get pictures taken. Parker did a great job just sleeping through most of it. We were lucky though to get one picture of him with his eyes wide open.

Unfortunately, Hayden was not nearly as cooperative. We were only able to get two pictures of him. It made me kind of mad that he was such a brat and then we got a picture that is so sweet.

Hayden really didn't want to do pictures with Parker. We had a cuter one but we forgot to take out the binkie.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Scott!

Hayden and Joe wearing their matching shirts that say
"We Have Footprints on Our Heart"
I can't believe a year has gone by already. A year ago I would have never imagined celebrating my child's fist birthday without him. I know things are they way they are supposed to be but oh how I wish things were different. I has been a very hard year without him. I miss him so much. I love him more than anyone could ever imagine. I wish Scott were here with us each and everyday.

We have had a good day today taking extra time to remember Scott. I felt like I really needed to go to church today. So yes, I took my 9 day old baby to Sacrament meeting. After lots of pondering we decided that for Scott's birthday we would by a few copies of some books we read after Scott died and take them to the hospital to be given to people when they lose a baby. We bought "Gone Too Soon" and "We Were Gonna Have a Baby But We Had an Angel Instead." We took the books along with some cards to the hospital right after church. It was hard for me to try and explain why we were there, but I did OK.


This afternoon/evening we invited our families to go visit Scott's grave with us. We took some pretty white and yellow carnations. After the cemetery we came back to our house for some birthday cake. I made an angel food cake for my sweet little angel's birthday.


We went to the cemetery early for Joe to make us a path to the headstone.





I am so grateful for the support of family and friends. I am so grateful for Joe and his patience with me this past year. I know it isn't easy for him to see me so sad and crying because I miss Scott. He always just holds me and tells me he loves me.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Hospital Photos

The hospital is using a company call Our 365 to take pictures of the baby. It is so much better than what they were using before. To see Parker's pictures go to www.our.365.com the number you need to view the pictures is 22362-2540-06663. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Try clicking on this link and it might let you see the pictures without enteing the numbers and my name.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Pictures

Here are a few pictures of our sweet baby. He is so cuddly, I love to snuggle with him. So far he is doing great. I love him so much.
This is right after he was born as the nurses were cleaning him off

Look at all that hair. It has quite a bit of curl to it. I hope that the curls stay but I doubt they will.
Happy parents


Hayden is so sweet with his baby brother "Karker"

Hayden likes to give his baby "yuvs"


Hayden is a little possessive of the baby. He is fine if Mommy and Daddy hold the baby, but he has yelled at others for holding the baby. He was yelling at my mom for holding the baby. He said, "No, Grandma! Mommy's baby"


Family picture


Gotta love a baby in jammies!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Mixed Emotions

I was so excited to come to the hospital today knowing I was going to give birth to my baby boy but I was also very nervous as I remembered the pain of having a c-section, epidural, IV, catheter, etc. As I entered the labor and delivery unit the desk nurse was with someone and asked me to have a seat and wait for a moment. As soon as I sat down I noticed a box on the counter. I knew immediately what it contained. It is the box that contains the hand and feet molds of a baby who died. I was overcome with sadness not only thinking about my Scott but for the mother and father of that baby, knowing the grief they are dealing with.

The labor room I was taken to was the room right next to the one were I gave birth to Scott. I was so afraid the nurse was taking me to the same room but turned one door sooner. I was grateful it wasn't the same room (I would have asked for a different room). Joe could tell something was wrong and asked me what I was thinking about. I said I didn't want to talk about it but he knew I was thinking about Scott and I couldn't help the tears from falling.

While I was in the operating room Joe sat right next to me and held my hand. When the baby was born I heard him cry a sweet little cry. The tears started flowing immediately. Al I could say to myself is "he's alive, he's alive." I was so grateful for the sounds of a crying baby. I remember while I labored with Scott hoping and praying the doctors and nurses would be wrong and that he would be born alive. I waited to hear the sounds of a crying baby but he was born still and silent.

Oh how I miss my little Scott. I love Parker so much. I love him for who he is but it will never take away from the love I have for Scott and will never replace him. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for each one of my precious baby boys. I am grateful to have Hayden and Parker here on Earth with me. I am equally grateful to have Scott as my angel baby and I look forward to the day when I will be reunited with him. I keep finding myself wishing Parker could talk and tell me about his brother Scott.

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has allowed me to be a mother. Words cannot express the love I feel as I hold my sweet children.

Name

Parker Theron Young

Welcome Baby

He is here. Our beautiful baby boy was born Friday, December 19, 2008 @ 1:04 pm. He weighs 7 lbs 8 oz and is 18 in. I was very surprised to hear the length. It is much shorter than I thought. Hayden was 21.5 inches long so 18 inches seems so short. He is so cute. He has brown hair.

We still haven't picked a name but we are working on it. Hopefully we will decide soon.

It looks like I won't be putting up pictures today. We brought the wrong cord. I will post pictures tomorrow.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Amniocentesis

I had my amnio this morning. I hope I never have to have one again. It really hurt. I tried to stay calm and closed my eyes so I never had to see the needle. I am proud of myself for not crying but it really was painful. The doctor said he needed to go in 4.6 cm. He only could get in 2 cm and then the baby was right there. So he had to start all over again. I hope none of you ever have to have one.

The good news is everything looked great and the baby is ready to be born. I have to be to the hospital tomorrow at 10:30 and surgery is scheduled for 12:00. I will be posting pictures as soon as I can.

I am so excited for tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Naptime

I am very tired today and was looking forward to my last nap with only one child in the house. Who knows if nap time will still get to be part of my daily routine after the baby comes home. Hayden was very sleepy and came to me at 11:45 and asked me to "boo-bye" (rock-a-bye). I told him to go get his blanket and we snuggled for about 15 minutes. He was almost asleep so I took him upstairs to go to sleep. He has been taking naps in the playpen to keep me from having to clean up everything he has decided to take out of drawers and closets. I laid him down and he told me good-night. about 15 minutes later he was talking like crazy and calling my name. I went an peeked in his room and he was jumping on his bed. What does this mean exactly? Hayden can easily climb out of the playpen and terrorize his room. At least the playpen worked for to weeks.

Monday, December 15, 2008

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination


A while ago I read about this book An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: A Memoir by Elizabeth McCraken on The Book Nest. It is about a woman whose first child was stillborn.

There were many parts of the book that stated my feeling so well. Here are some quotes from the book that echo my feelings.

...a person who is dead is a long, long story. You may move on from it, but the death will never disappear from view. Your friends might say, Time heals all wounds. No, it doesn't, but eventually you'll feel better. You'll be yourself again. Your child will still be dead.

I would have done the whole thing over again even knowing how it would end.

I had just stepped over the border from happy pregnancy to grief.

He was a person. I missed him like a person. Seeing babies on streets did not stab me with pain the way I know they stab some grieving women, those who have lost children or simply desperately want to have them. For me, other babies were other babies. They weren't who I was missing.

Before Pudding (Scott) died, I'd thought condolence notes were simply small bits of old-fashioned etiquette, important but universally acknowledged as inadequate gestures. Now they felt like oxygen, and only now do I fully understand why: to know that other people were sad made Pudding (Scott) more real.

My grief was still fresh, grief last longer than sympathy.

I didn't know the woman, but I loved her. I'd felt the same thing meeting another couple on campus, a professor and his wife who'd written me when Pudding died to send condolences and to say that they'd had a daughter who was stillborn nearly thirty years before. All I can say is, it's sort of a kinship, as though there is a family tree of grief.

Twice now I've heard the story of someone who knows someones who's had a stillborn since Pudding has died, and it's all I can do not to book a flight immediately, to show up somewhere I'm not wanted, just so I can say, It happened to me, too, because it meant so much to me to hear it. It happened to me, too, meant: It's not your fault. And You are not a freak of nature. And This doesn't have to be a secret.

That's how it works. When a baby dies, other dead children become suddenly visible.

If you are a mother of a dead child yourself-they will keep coming to you.

I did know him, not with my brain but with my body.

We'd known all along I'd be induce, and I'd said that I wanted to avoid the end of April, particularly April 27, not for my sake but for the kid's; it seemed like a too weighty fact to have in your biography, being born a year to the day after your brother who didn't survive.

Edward (Joseph) had shouldered a great deal in the past few days, he had pushed his enormous pain aside to tend to me.

I find myself thankful for small things.

...she wanted permission to remember her child with pleasure instead of grief. To remember that he was dead, but to remember him without pain: he's dead of course but she still loves him, and that love isn't morbid or bloodstained or unsightly, it doesn't need to be shoved away.
Hopefully you are able to piece these quotes from the book together and make sense of what I read/felt.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Baby Day

I went to the doctor this week and we were able to schedule my c-section. I am scheduled to have the baby on December 19th. I am so excited. I will be having an amniocentesis on Thursday the 18th to make sure the baby is fully developed because it is 18 days before my due date. The best part about having the baby this day is that I will be home from the hospital for Christmas and for Scott's birthday. I hope and pray all is well on the 18th and we don't have to wait another week.

Zoo Lights

Every year Hogle Zoo hosts Zoo Lights. They put light on all the trees and there are lights in the shapes of animals. Since I have a membership my mom and I decided to take Hayden even though it was snowing. We thought since I have my membership and we wouldn't be paying it wouldn't matter if we only stayed for 20 minutes. When we got to the zoo I presented my membership and they said that Zoo Lights is hosted by another company and we had to pay. I was pretty annoyed. Apparently they have a few nights when members get a discount. It happened to be that night so it was $3 a person.

The lights were really neat and it was so pretty with all the brand new snow. It is too dark to see any of the animals though. All day Hayden had been talking about the cougar at the zoo. When we left the zoo he started to cry and say "my cougar" since we never did find the cougar.

It was fun but I am not sure I would pay the money to go again since you are only seeing the light and no animals.





Hayden's Train

Hayden loves Papa's train so much that Grandma took him to the store and bought him his very own train. We set it up at my mom's as soon as we got it. Now it is at our house under the train. Hayden asks for his train first thing every morning.




Papa's Train

My dad has a really nice train under his Christmas tree. Hayden LOVES it. (That really is an understatement.) It is an expensive train and the children are not allowed to touch it. Hayden asks everyday to see Papa's train. We tell Hayden to lay day and watch or put his hands behind his back. It is cute to watch him as he copies Papa.




Notice Hayden's hands under his chin like Papa.

Football

Hayden absolutely loves football. He would play all day if Daddy were willing. He went to to BYU games with his dad this fall and things football=cougars. (I've tried to teach him otherwise. Now he will say "Go Cougars" as well as "Go Utes.")

Baby Clothes


I am lucky that Hayden and the new baby are the exact same season. I haven't had to buy many new things for the baby. I pulled all of Hyaden's 0-3 months clothes out a few weeks ago. I got them all nicely folded in the drawer and hung up. It takes a long time to fold such tiny things.
I guess Hayden didn't like the idea of sharing gis dresser with the new baby. He has emptied the drawer at leas three times. The last time I was so frustrated I said "forget it!" and threw everything in the drawer in a big pile. I guess I need to get that project redone soon.

Tea Time

For Mother's Day last year Joe gave me a beautiful tea set. I have not had an opportunity to use it so I decided to host a tea party. My mom,my sister, Rebecca, and my sister-in-law Ashlie came. I wish Rachael didn't live in Cleavland so she could have come too.
It was a lot of fun but we had way too much food. It was tasty.

This is what the table looked like. I even pulled out my silver.



For the lunch portion I served chicken salad on
croissants, fresh fruit and a delicious salad.

For the dessert I bought yummy key lime and fruit tarts
from Kneader's and made these darling mini cupcakes.

The cupcakes were a ton of work so I'm not sure I will be making them again, but they sure were cute. I hope my guests had as much fun as I did.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Baby Names

Hopefully it won't be too much longer until baby number three joins our family. We have not been able to come up with a name yet. I have decided that I will wait to see the baby before I settle on a name. We at least have a list to chose from, although I am not sure it will be a name from our list. One thing I do know is that Theron (my dad's name) will be the middle name.

I am soliciting help from you. Please take a moment to let me know your favorite name off our list or suggest others that go well with Theron.

Theron Reid (my dad's name, Joe's dad's middle name)
Jacob Theron
Spencer Theron
Parker Theron (Parker is a family name)
Andrew Theron (Andrew is Joe's middle name)
Alexander Theron (most likely shortened to Alex)

New Camera

Joe was so nice and thoughtful for my birthday. He bought me a new camera. It is the Canon SD790 IS. So far I love it.

Conversation with Callie

A few weeks ago my niece Callie (4 years old)was in town. The two of us were in my car and I asked her what I should name the new baby. She likes Spencer best. We then had the following conversation.

Callie- How come Scott had to die?
Me- Heavenly Father needed him to be a missionary in Heaven.
Callie- Scott's a missionary?
Me- Yep.
Callie- But I never even got to see him.

Riley often tells me she misses Scott and that she wishes he didn't die. I am so grateful that my family has talked to their children about Scott. It makes me happy whenever the little ones talk about their cousin.