The great outdoors

Having a nine month old helps you see the world for the first time again. We were out working in the yard a couple of Saturdays ago and Eleyna loved every minute. She was picking up leaves and grass and examining-and then tasting of course! She was fascinated by the trees and the sky. It was really neat to watch.

Isn't she adorable in that little pink coat? :)

Thoughts and events from the Christmas season

Here's a little sample of what we've been up to the past few weeks.

This is our new house!!! Bryson has been working hard remodeling some of the interior.
View from kitchen of garage entry and family rm
View from family rm of kitchen and hallway to bedroomsHeather helping load the kiddos on our way to my family's ward Christmas party.

Me loading my handsome Hunter.

The three of us at the party. Bryson was working on our house so we were missing him.
Eleyna opening her first present on Dec. 23rd to celebrate the Prophet Joseph Smith's birthday.

Bryson helping Hunter open his gift. He got the Children's songbook on cd.
Eleyna playing with the wrapping paper afterwards. What a beautiful smile!

We are so excited about our new place and can't wait to move in--hopefully we'll be in shortly after New Year's. One thing I wanted to mention quickly is how grateful I have felt recently for all of the wonderful people who help me to take care of Hunter, but especially for his therapists from Kids on the Move. My physical and occupational therapists are amazing guys. They truly care about Hunter and all of the children they work with everyday. I know that the Savior has a special love for those precious spirits who struggle with imperfect bodies. I think He, along with me, cries tears of joy when He sees His other children working so hard to help improve the lives of little kids who cannot help themselves. I am so grateful to be able to associate with individuals on a regular basis who understand what it means to be a parent of a child with a disability--it helps me to not feel quite so alone.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Eleyna's blessing

We blessed Eleyna on Sunday, July 6, 2008. It was such a special day. I got teary eyed watching all of the men I love walk to the front of the chapel to bless my little girl: my husband, my dad, my Grandpa George, Tyler and Grandpa Rassmussen. What a wonderful bunch! The blessing Bryson gave her was beautiful. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony during the meeting and express how lucky I feel to be the mother of two. I am amazed at the faith the Lord has in me to give me such precious children to care for. He must think I have real potential. :-) It is strange to me that the world might think I am exchanging the best years of my life for drudgery as a stay-at-home mom. I'm not saying that I don't have hard days-I DO! But it is worth it. One of my young women came up to me after the meeting and told me she really needed to hear what I said in my testimony. That meant so much to me! Grandpa George bore his testimony too and said a few things about Hunter. The thing he said that stuck out to me the most was that most people come to earth to learn, but a few people come to teach-like Hunter. So true! It was a very sacred, beautiful meeting. I love my ward more than I can say! After sacrament we headed back to our house for food and visiting with the fam. My mom, Janeen and Leigh all helped me with the food so I didn't have any stress on the big day. Thank you so much girls!

4th of July Parade with the Durrants

Flaming Gorge camping trip

Bryson took us camping this past weekend to Flaming Gorge. I was very hesitant about going with a four week old baby, but it actually turned out okay. We left Friday morning. After we arrived at our campsite, Mustang Ridge, we set up camp. Thankfully we brought our canopy so the kids had some shade to nap in while we unpacked. It was really hot that afternoon!

That evening we walked down to the reservoir and the boys fished for about an hour while Eleyna and I read. It was pretty windy so the only thing the boys caught was seaweed because their lines kept getting blown back to shore. That night we enjoyed delicious tinfoil dinners prepared and cooked by my husband. After we put the kids to bed we roasted marshmallows for s'mores and did a little star gazing. Bry went fishing the next morning early and caught a fish. When he got back he made breakfast for me-the kids and I slept in. He put too much water in the pancake mix but he added graham crackers to the batter so I didn't even notice. After breakfast we packed everything up and hit the road. A good time was enjoyed by all!

Father's Day

The two men in my thoughts on Father's Day were...my HOT husband with the big biceps...

And my awesome dad (who put up with quite a bit of grief from me through the years). What a handsome grandpa!

I love you both.

Eleyna's birth story

Bryson always teases me about how the minute you get a group of women together they start sharing their birth stories. This post is in direct support of that claim, but I'm going ahead with it anyway. Before I even got pregnant with Eleyna I was thinking about trying natural childbirth with my next baby. Overall, I had a good birth experience with Hunter. However, there were enough things that bothered me about the event to motivate a change.

So, for my prenatal care, Bry and I decided we would try a midwife instead of a doctor. Halfway into my pregnancy we realized that some midwives are just as medicalized as doctors. We found a midwife practice that was more in line with what we wanted and switched. About three and a half months before my due date we started attending Bradley classes. The Bradley method (also known as husband-coached childbirth) is a natural birth method that teaches with adequate preparation and education, along with help from a loving, sympathetic coach, most women can give birth naturally-without drugs or surgery. Bryson was very supportive of my desire to deliver naturally. He did quite a bit of reading on the subject and attended all 12 Bradley classes with me, without complaint.

Finally, it came time to put everything we had learned into practice. After a lot of pre-labor during the four days leading up to the real thing, I woke up around 5:30 AM on Thursday and knew that I was in active labor. I woke Bryson up a little while later and we started getting things together to go to the hospital. We were both worried about getting Hunter his morning meds and decided to labor at the house for a while so we could administer them as close to the normal time as possible. This proved to be a mistake.

Bryson was making some phone calls when my contractions really picked up. I was trying very hard to implement all of the relaxation I had learned in our Bradley classes, but I was missing "the coach." The laboring position that provided the most relief was sitting on the toilet. However, things were accelerating at a crazy rate and soon there was no relief to be found. By the time Bry and I were ready to leave I was in transition. (I didn't know that at the time.) Getting downstairs to the car about killed me.

Bryson was sweet to me even though he was now enemy #1. He kept trying to help me relax, even though he was getting yelled at in response. When we walked into the hospital the woman at registration immediately asked us if we needed a wheelchair. (I'm sure my face said it all!) Even though anyone could see I was in hard labor they still made me go to an observation room initially instead of a delivery room. Once I was on the bed the nurse checked me and told us-to our surprise-that I was fully dilated. The midwife was 20 minutes away but we decided to start pushing with the available doctor (Dr. Allen).

Pushing is supposedly the part of labor a lot of women enjoy. For me it was simply very, very painful. It took me a couple of pushes to figure out what I was doing and really move the baby down. During the pushing, Bryson was supporting my right leg. At one point, it felt like he was pushing on my leg instead of helping hold it up. I jerked it away from him and whacked the doctor right in the face with my foot. I think doctors prefer delivering women with epidurals because they prevent things like that from happening.

I definitely felt the ring of fire when the head crowned. Once the baby was out the relief was intense and wonderful. I started crying immediately. The next couple of minutes are kind of a blur to me. Eleyna had the cord wrapped around her neck twice so I didn't get to hold her right away. (She was perfectly fine, but they wanted to make sure.) Our doula, Kirsten, spoke up after a couple of minutes and asked if I could nurse the baby. It felt amazing to hold her in my arms. She was so beautiful. After spending about an hour together, Bry and Eleyna went to the nursery for her bath. Kirsten stayed with me. She gave me a massage and got me something to eat. It was nice to have someone there to take care of me.

When Bryson and the baby got back from the nursery our family had arrived. The entire experience was complete once Hunter was there. I can't describe how it felt to have our little family together for the first time. It was so special!

My recovery has been really easy and Eleyna is doing great. I'm really proud that I was able to give birth like I wanted. In retrospect, if we hadn't done things naturally, we probably would have ended up at the hospital much sooner and possibly needed some kind of medical intervention depending on if the epidural had slowed down my labor. (Eleyna's heartbeat was a little distressed during the pushing which could have been a problem if she hadn't been born so fast.) I'm so grateful to all of the family members who have helped out since Eleyna's birth; in particular, my mom and Janeen. My mom came every day the week after Eleyna was born to help with the kids. I'm so lucky to have her! My mother-in-law stayed with Hunter while we were at the hospital and brought us some meals once we were home. She is always so willing to help out in any way she can.

I don't get much sleep at night lately, but life is very sweet right now. Of course, I would be a complete mess without my best friend-Bryson is my rock, as always. It melts my heart to hear him call Eleyna, "sweetie." He is such a gentle man. I couldn't ask for a better father for Hunter.

I hope you are all ready for some more pictures because we've taken a million! Here are some of the latest.

New baby!

Eleyna Julia Bennett was born on May 29, 2008, at 8:30 AM. We got to American Fork Hospital around eight and she was born almost immediately afterwards. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. She has lots of dark hair which was a surprise! We are so thrilled to be parents again! More to come later...

BIAU 5K Weekend

We had a fun weekend! To kick things off, we woke up very, very early Saturday morning to drive to Salt Lake and run/walk in the annual BIAU (Brian Injury Association of Utah) 5K at Liberty Park. We wanted to participate to support our little buddy Charlie Christensen. We first heard about Charlie on the news the end of April. He is a one year old that contracted pneumoccocal meningitis last winter and spent the next four months at Primary's fighting for his life. He finally left the hospital on May 1st. I don't know how to explain this, but I feel a real affinity now with families that are called upon to endure a child suffering from a physical condition. My heart was instantly touched when I heard Charlie's story. The more I read about the Christensens, the more impressed I was by their optimism and long suffering.

When I heard that they wanted people who supported Charlie to participate in the BIAU race we were all over it. I'm proud to say that Bry and Hunter jogged/walked the entire 3 miles. Me and Grandma Janeen probably logged 2.5 miles (walking very slowly) since we took a short cut after a much needed bathroom break. My thanks to Janeen for being my walking buddy and my cousin Andee to showing up and supporting the cause! The highlight of the race was meeting Charlie and some of his family. It was neat to see both amazing little boys side by side. If you'd like to read more about Charlie, check out his blog: http://www.charliecooperjackjack.blogspot.com/.

Hunter and Charlie
On Sunday we had the traditional Sunday birthday dinner for Bryson at Janeen's. She made lasagne and a yellow cake with chocolate frosting at Bry's request. It was delicious. We managed to squeeze in family nap time both afternoons...life doesn't get much better than that!

Spring Break in Las Vegas

Hunter's favorite thing to do on vacation-SWIM!


We stayed right on the Strip. This is the view from the roof of our hotel.

Bry and I in front of the Bellagio. We went to "O" with my parents. It was incredible!

Celebrating Hunter's 2nd birthday early at Grandpa Brad's.

Sunday visit

Hunter and Grandpa Durrant

St. George Parade of Homes

The Parade of Homes in St. George is something I look forward to every year. This past weekend we headed down south with my parents to warmer temps and non-smogy air for our annual Parade vacation. Bry and I have tons of fun walking through the houses because the style in St. George is really different from the style everywhere else in Utah. A couple of the homes this year were super contemporary. The entire backside of one home was solid glass looking out to some beautiful views. While I do find the contemporary style entertaining, I am always thinking how impossible it would be to raise children in a home like that. (Grubby little fingers on all of that glass!) My two favorite houses were #26 Chateau Enchante and #11 Le Chateau de L'Amour. The weekend went by way too fast, but we had a really good time.

Bryson, Hunter, me and my mom and dad

The last two pictures are in front of an infinity edge pool or endless pool. I want one in my backyard!