KASEN'S BAPTISM & DALLIN'S BLESSING

Back on April 30th I had Kasen's baptism pictures taken.  A photographer in our ward had offered to do some baby pictures for us and she said if we committed to those she would do Kasen's baptism pictures for free.  We decided to go just up the road to the Meridian temple site because it will be our temple.  It is amazing it is less than a mile away from our house.  Kasen was pretty excited and it was his first time wearing his new birthday suit.  He was such a handsome boy.  His sweet spirit just radiated out during the session and there was more than one time when I had to blink back some tears.  Kasen is such a good boy and is beyond excited to get baptized.  He truly wants and tries to do what is right. It reminds me of the scriptures that teach that we need to become like a little child to inherit the kingdom of God, and Kasen makes it easy to see why Heavenly Father would want us that way.

On June 4th Kasen was baptized.  We also blessed Dallin the same day.  Dallin was only 3 weeks old and originally we had tried to talk Kasen into waiting for a few weeks/month to get baptized so Dallin would be a little older.  Plus my kids' last day of school was just the day before! However, Kasen knew that anyone with a birthday in May should be be baptized on June 4th in our stake so he was dead set on that was the day he was supposed to be baptized.  As nice as it would have been to wait a little while we were also proud of how committed he was to get baptized.  Kasen has turned out to be very much a rule follower and obedient kid.  Ava has set a good example for him in this capacity.  It was a pretty great day for our little family.  I am so proud of my little family and love them so much.

The circle of life was very evident.  You have your time and then you put all your time into your kids so that one day they will grow up and do the same.  I was pretty blown away by how fast the last 8 years have gone by.  I also felt touched by the significance of Dallin just experiencing birth and Kasen experiencing a "rebirth." I also felt an overwhelming gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the gift of the priesthood and that it has been restored on the earth in the latter days.  I caught a glimpse of how magnificent a power it is and how it truly allows us to gain a knowledge of who we are.

We were so blessed and thankful for how many family members came over for the weekend.  It was really exciting for Kasen.  Here he is with all his 8 yr old cousins and his two closest boy cousins.

Here are the Ericksons!  Such a great support system for our two boys.  It is funny to me how grown up all these grandkids are now.  When Jed and I married John & Coleen's grandkid picture looked like my parents picture.  Again the circle of life.  John and Coleen are now at an even 30 grandchildren.  Dallin is the youngest.

Now my parents have all the young kids!  We were also touched by the support from my family.  It is always tough to travel with kids, but especially when they are this little.  Sydnee even came with her four kids by herself!  Very thankful.  My dad had stake conference meetings that night so my parents drove home right after the baptism - another big sacrifice!  My parents are now at 11 grandkids.  Dallin is also the youngest! (I don't think he'll keep that title with the Foster cousins though.)

Kasen also had two friends come to his baptism: Drake & Elianna.  It was very nice of their families to come and support him that way.  I'm not sure why I didn't get Drake in this picture though... After Kasen was confirmed then Jed performed the blessing for Dallin.  I asked him later if there were any things that he felt in particular while doing this ordinances.  He said he felt like it would be very important for Kasen to spend a lot of time with family/extended family to help influence and guide him.  He also felt that Kasen choosing good friends would be important.  He also said he felt Heavenly Father's strong love for Kasen and his kind nature and that Kasen was a very special and tenderhearted boy.  During Dallin's blessing Jed said he felt strongly that Dallin would have a lot of responsibility he would have to bear in his life.  He felt prompted to bless him with the ability to balance all that would be required of him.  He also felt that Dallin was a very special boy and that it was Heavenly Father's plan that he was born at this time.  Both boys were blessed to have a special ability to listen and respond to the Holy Ghost, serve missions, marry in the temple, and magnify their priesthood throughout their lives.  It was very touching to me as their mother.  My testimony was strengthened on the great blessing the priesthood power is and God's love for us and desire for his children to return to Him.  I was also deeply grateful for Jed and the wonderful person he is.  I don't think their is a greater gift a father can give to his children than helping them know what their relationship is with their Heavenly Father.  Through priesthood blessings, ordinances, setting aparts, etc. a person can truly know of God's love for them through word and feelings.  I asked Kasen how he felt during his baptism and during his confirmation.  He said that he felt really warm and happy.

Due to the size of our numbers we reserved the church and had lunch there rather than our house.  We ordered the giant pizzas from Johnny's pizza and had salad, fruit, and cookies.  It was simple but tasty.  The kids were able to run and be loud, people played basketball, the little girls danced on the stage, and the adults were able to visit.  It was really nice for me not feeling so overwhelmed and that I needed to entertain everyone.  We were at the church for a few hours and then a group went out to a hotel people were staying at and swam.  Some went shopping.  Later in the evening we loaded up the leftover food and went over to Tresa's house to hang out outside.  I'm not sure how it started, but pretty soon all the kids were riding Jeff's sheep.  We had some smores and visited.  It was really great. 

Here are my two babies getting some snuggles.  I love that I can still always say that Kinsley is my girl baby (I think she likes it too.)  Most everyone left early Sunday morning, but a few people stopped by that afternoon.  Dallin got so many snuggles and hugs over the weekend.  He and Mason were spoiled by everyone.  

Friday night my family came into town.  Some of them stayed at a nearby hotel so we went over that night and swam.  All the cousins had so much fun.  Afterward Grandma and Grandpa treated everyone to blizzards.  Pretty much the perfect combo for a kid (and adult :))

Sunday afternoon everyone was so exhausted!  It is crazy to look back and realize that Dallin was only 3 WEEKS OLD!  I can't believe I survived really.  I was still pumping every three hours and getting up 2/3 times a night.  So I was very tired, but my kids and Jed were also exhausted.  Ava never takes a nap and she was zonked Sunday afternoon.  (I also had to include a picture of how high she climbed a tree at Tresa's house during a game of hide and seek!)  We were so happy to have had such a great weekend though and it seemed like a great kick start to our summer!!

DALLIN'S PICTURES

I had committed to doing these newborn pictures of Dallin once he was born.  I had never done actual newborn pictures.  Kinsley was the closest and she was a few weeks old when she got her pictures taken.  The time that worked the best for both myself and the photographer was only 4 days after Dallin was born.  That morning I was thinking, "What have you committed to?!"  Now in hindsight I'm so glad I didn't cancel and we went and did the pictures.  I'm so happy that we were able to capture the true magic and joy we all felt with this new baby in our family. 

My main objective was to get some cute pictures of the kids with Dallin and the photographer sent over some ideas for each child individually.  I thought her ideas were perfect and captured the kids' personalities pretty good.  Ava all snuggled up with him, Kinsley nice and relaxed and just watching him, and Kasen chilling with his new brother.

Jed and I weren't really planning on getting any pictures other than a quick family shot.  The photographer pretty much just ignored that thought and made us take some individually too.  We will probably be thankful for them one day.  I also really wanted a cowboy picture of Dallin which she nailed perfectly.  We used Jed's hat, Kasen's toy rope, and a little horse that came off of the crib mobile.

Dallin truly is perfect in every way.  His little features are perfect.  He is the cutest baby I've ever seen.

Such a little sweatheart.  I think the bottom picture looks like he is an angel coming straight from heaven.  Which is exactly what he did.

The photographer had quite a few props, but the kids all loved the "bird nest."  I thought they turned out pretty cool.  I was so happy to have these pictures because even now a few weeks later as I write this it is crazy to see how small and tiny Dallin was.  His skin was so smooth and pretty.  The photographer also made a video with all of his photos and some live action.  It was my favorite thing of all.  Babies are such huge blessing from heaven.  Dallin has definitely brought a sweet spirit down with him.

BIRTH STORY

I wanted to spend a little more time on a post specifically about Dallin, so here it is!  Dallin's due date was May 15th, but because of Jed's schedule and me wanting to make sure that the OB I had been seeing for the last 9 months was the one who would deliver him we decided to schedule and induction for May 10th.  I had an induction with Ava and it was my smoothest delivery so far so I wasn't too worried about doing it again.  I was worried about my epidural not working though!  About 2 weeks leading up to our date I had progressed and dilated as well.  I was a little nervous I would maybe go early, but never did have any contractions  or anything.  It was pretty nice to plan out all the things I wanted/needed to get done before the 10th.  May 9th, Monday night, Jed gave me a blessing during home evening.  He said things like my body would be strong and able to bear all the burdens of labor/delivery and be able to recover, that everything that would happen would be part of Heavenly Father's plan for me, that this baby is part of my Heavenly Father's plan for my life, that I would be able to overcome any challenges, etc.  Because I was already stressed out about the epidural I can't say that this was one of the most comforting blessings that I have received!  I was 2nd guessing everything Jed was saying trying to figure out what it all meant.  Jed didn't say much afterward, but he later told me after delivery that he was pretty nervous about what would happen too.  On May 9th I got a call from the hospital to get me pre-registered and the nurse said that because there were so many elective inductions on the 10th I should call the next morning to see if/when I could even go down to the hospital.  (I had been told by the OB to come in at 7am.) 

May 10th - So I woke up and called and they said not to come down, but that they would call me.  So I went back to bed for about 30 minutes and then woke up and went upstairs to do some yoga.  Meanwhile, the hospital called back 3x, but Jed who was asleep didn't hear my phone ringing so we didn't answer.  About 8:30 I came downstairs and saw all the missed calls and messages and called the hospital back and they said come in.  Of course it was now morning commute time and so traffic downtown was slow.  We finally got to the hospital right about 9:15.  My OB was waiting for us and after a few signatures at registration he personally walked me into the delivery room!  He was ready to go. haha.  As they started getting me ready I was given the IV (which always hurts so bad!) and the nurse tried to draw some blood.  She ended up poking me about 3x and then gave up and called the lab to send someone up to do it.  At this point I started getting nervous thinking this was a bad sign to the day... soon after the doctor checked me and I was dilated to a 4/5 and almost entirely effaced so they started me pretty heavy on PIT.  I had to get through two whole bags of fluid before I was allowed to get an epidural so I asked them to give me a faster drip because the PIT kicked in pretty quick and the contractions started getting serious.  However, the fast drip made my arm burn and made me so cold I started involuntarily shaking all over.  It was so weird I couldn't control the shaking at all.  Finally, I got through the fluid and they called for an epidural.  The nurse told me the anesthesia guy on call was great and did a great job so I started to relax a little bit.  Then the door opened and in walks this huge she-man saying she was there for anesthesia.  I'm sure the look on my face was priceless.  I looked at Jed and almost burst into tears!  To make a long story short, the lady was not gentle and not very nice either.  She ended up poking me 5x before she found the right spot.  She also told me that I had a crooked spine so it was my fault she was having a hard time getting it in.  By the end I was crying pretty hard and Jed said that it was all he could do not to freak out on the lady watching how rough she was.  But then they started the epidural and it started working really quickly.  It is so amazing to go from contraction pain to no pain at all.  I always kinda' like the feeling of my legs going numb too.  The real test was whether or not the epidural would last though so I felt calmer, but not entirely at ease.  The PIT had progressed me really quickly and the doctor came back in and broke my water.  I don't remember the exact time everything happened, but the doctor came back in at 1:00pm and I was ready to push.  Even though the epidural was working in the fact that I didn't feel any contractions I still felt all the pressure which wasn't fun.  I was so emotionally drained that I had a really hard time pushing.  I felt like I had no energy left.  Luckily I only pushed 5x and the baby was out.  After the head came out the doctor said to Jed, "Okay go ahead and do the rest."  He had asked Jed earlier if he wanted to deliver the baby and Jed said very hesistantly ok.  Jed said that he got in there and on the next push the doctor wiggled out the shoulders and then Dallin just slipped right out.  Jed was nervous that he was going to drop him, but he didn't.  Dallin made one little growl - it sounded like a lion cub growl - and then didn't make another peep.  Jed cut the cord and they handed him up to me.  He kept one hand over his eye and with the other eye just kept scanning all around.  He liked keeping his face mostly covered though.  He made a few faces like he would start crying but never did.  I was surprised to see he didn't have much hair - because my heartburn had been beyond awful.  So that old wives tale wasn't true!  His hair had a pretty red tint to it, but we couldn't tell for sure because he was so goopy and wet.  They let me hold him for quite awhile before they weighed & measured him.  It was a lot different than with my other deliveries.  I wanted them to get him cleaned up, but no one was in any rush.  The doctor didn't have to do much after delivery because I didn't need any stitches so they cleaned me up and took out my epidural.  Overall the delivery went very smooth and was as good as I could have hoped for.  Dallin was born at 1:20 so it took just shy of 4 hours from start to finish. Very fast for an induction!

Dallin weighed in at 7lbs 4.5oz.  He was 20 1/4 inches long.  Each child of mine has gotten progressively heavier with Dallin being the heaviest.  The other three kids were all 20 inches long so Dallin was also the longest child.

Finally they moved us up to the other room.  I kept asking when they were going to take him to the nursery to get cleaned off and bathed.  They said his temperature had to stay at a certain point for so long before they would.  It was driving me crazy.  I wanted him clean!  I think it was about 3 hours before they finally took him and bathed him.  Tresa came down and saw us and then later that night Jed brought the kids down.  They were all so excited to meet him.  We hadn't decided on a name for sure by this point.  My delivery nurse kept talking about her son Kolby so all of a sudden Jed thought that might be a good name.  So of course there was another debate between the kids and they were divided between Kolby and Dallin. 

May 11 - I was really looking forward to a relaxing stay in the hospital with this baby, but that is far from what I got.  I had visitors come and the kids came down both nights, but the worst were the nurses.  I swear they came in every 5 minutes and took forever in the room.  I know they have to do a lot of checking for the first little while but I have never been that interrupted by nurses any other hospital stay.  It was truly annoying - I just wanted peace and quiet!!!  One thing that was fun was face-timing with the kids while they were home.  I would call in the morning before they left for school.  It was always fun to turn the camera around on Dallin and here them all collectively say, "AWWW he is so cute!"

My sister Sydnee and her family drove over from Gooding to see Dallin.  Right at the same time they arrived Jed came with our kids.  Having 8 children in a tiny hospital room at once was not quiet at all.  Especially when they were excited to see each other.  I think Kenny (2 yr old) pushed the nurse call button about 10x.  At one point I saw Sydnee's two boys licking the window and Raleigh/Kinsley were doing a dance routine another time.  It was crazy and hectic and made me really tired! haha.  They brought a very cute floral display in a little blue truck and my kids were very excited to see Dantzel again.  It was so nice of them to drive over to welcome our baby. 

May 12 - Before I was ready it was time to go home.  I was ready to sleep in my own bed, but not ready to be thrust back into real life and other responsibilities.  Jed & Kinsley came down and we were all checked out in the afternoon.  We had finally decided to go with the name Dallin.  It fit him the best.  He looked so cute strapped in his carseat ready to go.  And even cuter bundled up.  The kids asked if Jed would check them out of school early so he went and brought them home and they were so excited to hold Dallin at home.  (Pictures below are them holding him at home and at the hospital.)

May 13 - Grandma Foster arrived Thursday night and played mom duty by going to Ava's last volleyball game.  Then Friday night she went to Kasen's last flag football game. She helped a lot by being an extra set of hands for me with the other kids.  It was also nice to have someone to talk to.  I'm always on a high coming home from the hospital so I have tons of energy and don't feel like I need to relax or slow down.  It was nice for my mom to make me go take a nap or just sit still and chat.

May 14 - My mom stayed with us for two days and it was definitely not long enough.  Saturday morning before she left she went with us to get the family pictures taken.  The kids were all sad to see her go.  Ava was extremely happy to see that she is taller than Grandma now except when she puts her shoes on!

May 15 - Dallin and I got to hang out while everyone else went to church without us.  We both took naps.  Dallin looked a lot cuter napping than I did.  I loved his superhero pose.  When everyone got home they were eager to get back to holding him though, especially Ava.

 May 16 - Sweet little baby!  I can never get enough pictures of him while he's sleeping.  This was our first outing (minus the pictures) today.  Ava had a volleyball party and I couldn't talk her out of going.  Kasen, Kinsley, Dallin, & I stayed in the car while Ava went to her party.  We were just going to watch a movie in the car while we waited.  But Dallin had a dirty diaper so I started changing him on the floor.  It was pretty chilly this day and the cold air caused him to have to go #1 right at the moment I removed one diaper but didn't have the 2nd one on yet.  So Dallin peed all over me, himself, and the car.  I had to strip him down to nothing and wrap one of the other kids' jackets around him.  Ava had to leave the party early because of it. 

May 17 - 1 Week Old - Time is flying.  I realized today while I was feeding Dallin that his head fits into my hand.  Newborns are so amazingly tiny.  I also got my first little smiles from him today.  It is so cute when they smile in their sleep even if it is unintentional.

I took some pictures of Dallin's limbs to remember how long his fingers are, how long his feet are, and how long and skinny his arms and legs are.  He is just a little string bean.

We all love holding this baby!

 May 18 - Making some good poses in his sleep again. Another superhero and a zombie.

 May 19 - Abby, Jordan, & Jaxon came into town for state track.  It was really bad, rainy weather so Abby stayed with us during the meets.  Even though Jaxon seemed tiny the last time she came over, he now seemed ginormous!  Dallin seemed so tiny next to Jaxon.  However, Dallin's fingers were just as long as his cousins.  These two are 7 weeks apart.

It was all fun and games until Jaxon punched Dallin in the bottom pic.  haha. 

 May 20 - This weekend we also had Jed's parents come into town for state track.  Also Susan and her girls and baby came.  Samantha was competing.  It was fun having people come to see Dallin, but it was also really tiring.  I started to finally crash from my hospital high and I was so tired!  I know it sounds selfish, but I was kinda' wishing back to when we lived too far away to have visitors after a birth.  But I'm glad everyone was excited to see Dallin and that he is loved by so many.  He and his cousin Mason are 8 weeks apart so Mason also seemed like a giant next to our little guy.  Everyone wanted to compare fingers again.  Jed's family is really fascinated by how long Dallin's fingers are.  Dallin's fingers were longer than his cousins' this time.  Mason's head was pretty much the biggest head I've seen on a baby in a while and he was quite a lot chubbier. It looked like he could eat Dallin for lunch if he wanted to.  It must be a two month old thing because neither he or Jaxon had much of a neck.  They both also just laid there while Dallin kicked and punched nonstop.

Even with all the visitors, luckily I still had time to have Dallin to myself for a minute or two.  I could stare at him for hours while he sleeps.  Dallin has lots of neck lines so I'm assuming when those start filling in he will have quite the neck rolls!

 May 21 - These boys are my favorite!

 May 22 - Today we dressed Dallin in his first outfit.  Up until now  he has just been wearing pj's all day and nightgowns to sleep in.  This was the first outfit Kasen wore too.  We had to roll the pants for Dallin because he hasn't lost his umbilical cord yet.

 May 23 - We were all pretty excited for our first week without any visitors.  I know that sounds really bad, but we were all wiped out.  The kids had a lot of last minute school things going on which was hard to miss.  During the day Kinsley loved helping me with her brother.  She took her bottle feeding job very seriously.

May 24 - Two Weeks Old  - Dallin had a dr appointment today.  He also had his circumcision done.  It was so sad to think about.  Poor little guy.  He didn't get any shots, but was plenty sore from his procedure.  He would just start screaming if I even started undoing his diaper.  So we didn't do much besides cuddle for the rest of the day.  At two weeks Dallin had already grown 2 inches and gained 6 oz.  He was in the 98% for height and 22% for weight so he is resembling his older sister Ava at this point.

May 27 - I sent this picture to Jed today and he replied, "Sad little alien baby."  :)  Even though I have on mom goggles and think Dallin is so adorable in every moment I do have to admit that newborns look a lot less creepy when sleeping.

May 29 - A rep that works with Jed a lot offered us his crib that his baby (who is now 2) never used once.  Jed tried to pay him for it, but he wouldn't take any payment so we got a nice expensive crib for free.  Jed was able to go pick it up earlier in the week, but finally put it together today.  It seems really big for a newborn, but Dallin seemed to do ok in there.

May 31 - 3 WEEKS OLD! - I can't even believe that my baby is already 3 wks old.  Sniffle sniffle.  I feel a little gypped that I haven't felt any calmness since he was born.  I had planned to just sit and do nothing but hold him and that has definitely not happened.  In some moment of insanity I thought it would be a good idea to have Dallin blessed on Kasen's baptism day which was later in the week.  So the three of us had to do a bunch of errands today.  Dallin did pretty good, but was glad to be home and stretching by the end of the day.  At one store Kinsley said, "Mom take a picture of me and Dallin playing with our dog in a few years." Hopefully Dallin never has to wear an outfit like that! 

We are so happy to have this boy in our family!!!