Visitors

We have had some visitors come to meet he newest Stonecipher. Gracie and Libby brought us dinner Friday night and we invited them to stay and join us and they did. Reagan was thrilled to get to have some Libby time. Libby came dressed in her fancy dress and sparkly silver shoes! She was so excited to meet Baby Bryan. Gracie's mom bought us dinner on Saturday night and spent some time loving on Bryan too! Whtiney's friend,Maddie Hebert, invited her to go see "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" at Casa Manana on Saturday night, so the Heberts came a bit early to pick her up and meet Bryan. Beth and I spent a day a couple of weeks ago making meals to put in MY freezer so I am set on those days that meals are not being delivered. They also brought Bryan a santa bib and a cute little toy. Whitney had a great time and I was thankful that she had the opportunity to go do something FUN!!!

First Bath at Home

Bryan got to have his first sponge bath here at home. He didn't seem to mind it too much, and especially enjoyed the lotion rub down when it was all done. He smelled so good and I liked his little fuzzy hair after it was freshly washed.

Bryan Update

My friend, Shannon, came on Friday and took me back to the hospital for Bryan's follow up appointment. His Bilirubin count was within normal range, so that means his jaundice is clearing out. They weighed him and he had not lost any weight since Wednesday so that is good. They also checked (by weighing him after feeding) too see how much milk he is taking in. He is taking MORE than 4 ounces!!! I had asked how much was average for a 4 day old baby and they said around 1.5-2 ounces!!! Little Porker...The nurse was very impressed with his laid back disposition. He didn't even cry when they striped him down to weigh him! He is just so sweet.
Before our appointment, my parents and my brother came for a visit. It was Jerral's first time to meet Bryan. John had all of the other kids at his parents' house for a Thanksgiving dinner. It was very quiet around here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for this year and every year. We are delighted to have our Baby Bryan here for Thanksgiving. What a gift! We are ALL enjoying him so much. The kids enjoy holding him and just looking at him. Reagan has been hilarious and has asked a lot of questions. A favorite one is from today "Do I have milk in my chesties too?" She has never been around a breast feeding mother so she is really intrigued by all of that. Bryan had a rough first night at home, and although we were so exhausted, John and I both just marveled at how much we love him and how thankful we are to have him home with us. He is beautiful and just a calm sweet snuggly baby. John has been amazing. I melted to tears as we were pulling up yesterday. We were talking about some things in the car as we pulled in and the tears just came....darn hormones, so I entered the house with mascara smudges on my face and was greeted by 4 very excited siblings!!!! They were concerned about my tears, but more concerned about seeing and holding their baby brother. My parents were here as they had come over to stay with the kids so that John could come to the hospital and stay through my discharge. My parents each held Bryan and then hit the road to join my brother and sister-in-law for a couple of days. We had to get some tests done before we could leave the hospital. Bryan had an irregular heartbeat throughout the day of my delivery. The nurses and my doctor were surprised that this had not been caught in the office. They assured me that it was not a big deal but that it should resolve itself. It was difficult to listen the the strange rhythm all day and not hear the usual steady beat that you hear on the monitor in the delivery room. An EKG was performed yesterday and his heart is perfectly healthy and he has been beating in perfect rhythm since about 12 hours old. Bryan also has a different blood type than I do. I am O+ and he is A+. They had to do a lot of tests to watch his level and make sure that our blood incompatibility was not causing and trouble. This puts Bryan at a higher risk for jaundice, so they are watching that closely too. Oh, and poor guy present with an eye infection the 2nd day so I am having to apply ointment into his eye 3 times a day. It just can't be simple for The Stonecipher family. Oh, and he topped his morning off with a circumcision yesterday! (the nurses said he was a champ and barely cried!) We have to always add some weirdness into the equation of a typical situation. So, all is well. He is feeding great and I am also giving him some formula to help him with the jaundice.
We are thankful for our addition today as we celebrate Thanksgiving (not a traditional family meal, but John took the kids to a local Mexican food spot and brought take out home to me!) I am thankful for a husband who deals well with hormones, late night crying babies and four other children! (oh, and at this exact moment he is above me on the roof placing Christmas lights on our house!) What a blessing he is to me and our FIVE children!
I will try to update you and keep you posted on our latest addition. God has been so good to Me!

Jennifer Reflecting on Bryan's BIRTHday

Bryan Baldwin Stonecipher is here!!!

This is John, doing my very first blog. And what an exciting event to blog on!

Today was a great day.

Bryan was born at 5:51 PM, weighing 8 lbs 6 oz, measuring 20 1/2 inches long. He seems to have a sweet disposition so far. He has a really cute little cry, but has not cried much at all yet. Even when the nurse gave him his first bath, he only cried out twice, and when she gave him his first shot, only one little cry. I'm thinking he must be really tough like his Dad (yeah, right), but most likely he's just exhausted :)

The entire day went very well. I prayed early this morning that the Lord would give us a nurse at least as good as the one we had last time with Reagan, nurse Alicia, who had done such a wonderful job. We arrived in the delivery room around 6:15 this morning. After a few minutes, our door opened and I was stunned... "Look who's here!" I said to Jennifer, as nurse Alicia walked through the door! God had obviously been answering my prayer even before I prayed it this morning. You see, Alicia only works part time, and there are 10 nurses on duty at a time, and God gave us Alicia. What a gracious and loving heavenly Father we have!

Alicia got the induction started, and after a while of contractions, Jennifer got set up with an epidural, which went very smoothly. The rest of the day was just as smooth. Jennifer was very comfortable and got to rest some. Around 3:00 this afternoon, nurse Alicia had to leave, and was disappointed that she had not gotten to deliver the baby. But Alicia took great care of us all day long, and made sure we were in very good hands, handing us off to nurse Chris before she left. Chris did a great job as well, and around 4:30 things started moving along. Dr. Robbins and Chris delivered baby Bryan at 5:51 PM. The umbilical cord was torn during his exit, but all was well. I told Jennifer I get to brag now that my Bryan is so advanced he cut his own cord. Kidding of course. I did get to do the honors.

After that, we were very busy with getting Bryan all checked out, getting Jennifer prepped for a room move, calling family, then visiting with family, etc. We apologize for the late notice to so many of you.

I can still remember the night Jennifer told me she was pregnant again. She had waited a couple of nights after she find out, to try and figure out how to tell me. Well when she told me, of course I was very surprised, and my initial reaction for just the slightest moment was a lightning-fast mixture of fear, anxiety, and shock. But the very next second, my heart was filled with joy and gratitude for what God had given us. We had not planned on having any more kids, but obviously God had a different plan for us. And we are SO glad He did! Jennifer and I spent the rest of that night praising God together for what He had done for us, recounting His sovereignty, and expressing our gratitude to Him that He had blessed us and entrusted us with another little one. I quickly came to realize that when we contemplate the miraculous work of God in creating new life, for a Christian the only appropriate response to this kind of news is gratitude and praise. And how grateful we are!

We are thrilled to finally meet Bryan in person. He is so peaceful and wonderful. What a gift. Our heavenly Father is gracious and kind. This miracle of new life never ceases to amaze. We give God all the glory for His goodness to us. Only God can make new life, only He can sustain it. We pray that God will grant little Bryan salvation at an early age, and that Bryan will grow to love God more than anyone or anything else.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and your expressions of your love for our family in these recent days leading up to Bryan's birth. It truly could not have gone better, and we could not be more thrilled or more grateful.

Psalm 100
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us, and not we ourselves, we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Thank you God.

Well....Tomorrow is THE Day

Tomorrow, is the BIG day. John left a while ago to take the kids to his parents' house for the night. We have to be at the hospital early in the morning...so, I am still packing and getting things ready here. I did another run to the grocery store and I am thankful that I took Savannah with me. She is an adult in a child's body! She was such good help. I looked pitiful waddling around the store, but she had all of our list in order and was keeping me on track. John asked if I wanted to go see a movie tonight, but we have opted to stay home, and prepare for the arrival of Baby Bryan tomorrow! You would think that I had never done this before...I am re-reading books, double checking lists of "What to bring to the hospital" and trying to remember the details of labor and delivery...then I get that panicked feeling and start hoping that I can just go to sleep and wake up with a new baby!!!! (not likely, but it is fun to dream!) Our kids are so excited and can't wait to come to the hospital to see Bryan tomorrow. My parents are coming into town and a few friends plan to come to the hospital to see us. So, tomorrow's the day, get up and PRAY! I will try to post on here as soon as I can. I will have the laptop at the hospital, but it doesn't have a card reader, so you may have to wait for pictures....I will do my best! I can't believe that we are having a 5th baby tomorrow!!!! Where did these 9 months go?????

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was Blayne's Thanksgiving Feast at school and the last day of me working at school volunteering for the teachers as I am taking my maternity leave! : )
Reagan and I loaded up this afternoon to go watch Blayne sing some songs and have his feast. Reagan was very disappointed that she did not get to participate in the feast, and as we were leaving the school grounds, it was evident that she was disappointed as she cried.....ugh....the trouble with having to be somewhere at naptime! I took pictures of her so that you can see that my sweet, funny, smiling girl doesn't always smile and think that life is funny!!! Blayne was very proud of his singing and poetry and he even tried all of the foods on his plate at the feast.

Students of the Week

Last week, Blayne was chosen as Student of the Week for his class. Whitney was chosen for THIS week. So we have had a couple of busy weeks making posters and coming up with some "All about Me" type of information. In Whitney's class, they are called Calvin of the week. They get to bring Hobbes home for the week and he gets into mischief while he stays at your house. Whitney was caught off guard by his mischief. After the first night of him getting into things, she made a cage so that she could cage him up at night she was really funny about it.

Happy Birthday to My John!!!!

Today is John's birthday!!!! And it is Blayne's 1/2 birthday. We started our day with cinnamon rolls with candles. (wasn't really thinking when I put candles into hot cinnamon rolls....) The kids were thrilled to give their Daddy's his presents...a Wii game from Blayne, favorite ice-cream from Savannah, Cashews from Whitney and a Symphony Bar from Reagan....Whitney made the observation that ALL of Daddy's gifts were food related except for the Wii game....hmmm. He also received a ticket to a concert that he will be attending later. We sang and let him open his presents in the midst of our busy morning getting ready for school and work. I think that John's hand may be the only part of him in the pictures since he was half-dressed with shaving cream on his face!
We are thankful for our Daddy and for his special day. We look forward to continuing our celebrating tonight as we go out to enjoy his birthday dinner!!!
I go to the doctor again today. Maybe she will send me on over to the hospital to have the baby and that can be the BIG surprise birthday gift for top John's day!!! Seriously, I am fine with waiting another week. I feel like I have about 4 weeks of things that need to get done.