Ian Christopher

Ian is 6 months old!!!  I can’t believe how cute he is.

He is a smiley happy guy that is always moving, kicking, or bouncing.  He loves jumping in the exersaucer (or your lap).  He is eager to eat almost anything placed in front of him and he is all but sitting up on his own. 

He loves to play with Daddy’s buzzed head and always checks with mom before a stranger holds him. 

The older kids love to “play” with him and Hyrum has come up with jingle for his name that we all sing now.     What would we do without him?  We love you, Ian! continue reading...

Ian was four months old on Saturday!  I know it is so cliche’ but he is growing up so fast.  I took him to his well visit this week… he weighed 15 pounds 10 ounces and is 26 inches long!  No wonder he’s growing out of his clothes.   He is also learning to roll over and all but laughing. 

He is so adorable!  I love the way he smiles just because.   I love the way he always keeps an eye on his mom.  I love the way the other kids are so concerned about him if he fusses or cries.  That’s what I have to remember when I worry that he isn’t getting enough attention.  He has become a pretty content baby that is happy as long as he can be wherever the action (and noise) is.  We love you, Ian! continue reading...

I have to admit that I’m a Dr. Phil fan.  I don’t get to watch it often, but I record it on the DVR and pick and choose an episode once or twice a week to watch while I feed Ian.  He said something today that really stood out to me… “We don’t raise children.  We raise adults.” 

I guess that is just restating the obvious but it reminded me that parenting is not just about now.  As parents our job is to teach our children what they need to know so they can face the challenges of being an adult with the knowledge and skills they will need. The degree to which we do that job has a lot to do with how prepared they are to meet the responsibilities of adulthood with success. continue reading...

Friday was a good day.  I have to blog about it because it was one of those day when almost everything went right.   The kids were happy, they played well together and kept each other entertained (without TV), and I got a lot done.  Laundry was caught up (for the night anyway), I made progress on getting the house in order (again), and I still had time to make Ian’s Easter basket.   When it was finished, I placed it on the fireplace with the other kids’ baskets in preparation for the Easter Bunny.  It didn’t take long for the kids to realize Ian’s basket didn’t have any plastic eggs in his.  Bethany, Hyrum, and Jenna each quickly put some eggs from each of their baskets into his.  His ended up with the most.  I thought that was so sweet. As a mom, one of my greatest desires is to teach my kids to love and serve each other.  Perhaps I’m doing something right. continue reading...

Ian was blessed in church yesterday.  Corey gave him a wonderful blessing that mentioned his namesake Gideon from the Book of Mormon.  He also blessed him to be strong so that he could overcome the challenges in the world today.  

A few months ago Corey and I attended a Stake Conference meeting where Elder Clark spoke.  He is the current president of BYU-Idaho.  He talked of a meeting he was in where a young married student asked Elder Richard G.Scott about having children, expressing concern that she wasn’t sure if it was right to bring children into this wicked world. 

He answered with two questions:  continue reading...

Last week Audrey Lewis sent me proofs of the pictures she took of Ian when he was just 12 days old…they are so adorable! 

We’ve also started to catch a few glimpses of Ian’s smile.  Somehow waking up at night, getting spit up on regularly, and changing many, many diapers is a small sacrifice when I get to witness his sweet innocent smile.  We love you, Ian! continue reading...

So why Ian Christopher…as many of you know we have struggled coming up with a name for this little guy right up until the week before he was born. We had a hard time agreeing on a name we liked that had significance. We always try to choose a name with meaning for each of our kids.

My sister, Lori, has been calling throughout my pregnancy with suggestions and ideas. Shortly after Christmas, she called with a new selection of names…among them was Gideon. It struck something with both Corey and I. continue reading...

Ian Christopher has arrived! He was born in St. Luke’s Hospital in downtown Boise, Idaho on Friday, January 16 at 2:02pm. He weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 inches long. YEAH! (Don’t read on unless you want the details of labor.)

After being dilated to almost 4 cm and over 80% effaced for a week I decided to be induced before the holiday weekend so my doctor (Bryan Hodges) would be available to deliver him. My due date was just four days later.

He broke my water first to see if we could get labor started, but after a couple hours of walking, standing, hot tubbing, and sitting on the birthing ball in different positions, nothing happened so at 11:00am the nurse started a Pitocin drip. I was feeling contractions within 15 minutes and 3 hours later he was born. With Corey’s help as an amazing Labor coach I was able to do it again un-medicated.

The last part was really tough, but when Dr. Hodges let me finish pulling Ian out and rest his warm body on my stomach, it was all worth it. Being allowed to partner with God to give birth is such an amazing experience. When you consider all of the things that could go wrong, but don’t...it truly is a miracle. continue reading...