Bananas

What a whirlwind the past few months have been. We are back in Oregon from Montana. It is so nice to back. I sure love this house. Jack has never been so cut, bruised, and dirty his entire life - and he absolutely loves it. Dirt is embedded in his nails and refuse to come out, no matter how long he soaks in the tub. He sure loves being outside. I took the first month being back to really help Jack adjust to being in another 'new' place. He started nursery at church (which I'm sure to talk about later.) I was totally enjoying the time, milking the special time we had together until this:

turned into this:

Yes - those dimples are huge!

Little miss Sage Elizabeth Sparks was born the 16th of July at 6:40 pm - only one week late! She was 8 lbs 5 oz and 23 inches long. It was an amazing experience, again. It was a very different experience then it was with Jack too. It went very quickly, whereas Jack took forever to make his appearance. Here is the story:

Around 6 o'clock on the Wednesday morning I was sleeping, having terrible dreams - dreaming that I was having contractions and could really feel them. When I woke a few hours later and the contractions were still happening. I called Joel as the day progressed to tell him that the contractions were 30 mins apart - just to give him a heads up. He said he was coming home. I told him, "No" because we had to wait until they were 6-7 mins apart before going to the hospital.

Lunch time rolled around and contractions were still 30 mins apart. And Joel showed up at the door. I thought he was wasting his time off work because it could still be all night until the baby came. Joel said that everyone at work was freaking out because I was in labor and he was at work. The secretary told him to go home and take a nap. So after lunch that is what the three of us did. Well, the boys did much better than I did, but I did have quiet time.

At 2:30 the boys woke up and I told Joel the contractions were right on top of each other. So he started timing...4 mins apart. We called Bill and went to the hospital. Joel's boss told him to bring a towel in the car, just in case. (The hospital is about 25 mins away from where we live.)

We got to the hospital - dialated to a 5 1/2 and fully effaced. I took a shower and bath and got out an hour later - dialated to an 8. Twenty minutes later they came in and said to start pushing when I got the urge! It was crazy quick. Much sooner then we expected - we were at the hospital for 12 hours before Jack came. So 2 1/2 hrs later seemed way too early - we had a whole night full of activities planned to get through the night.

Not only was this much quicker than Jack but it seemed much less hectic and it wasn't an issue that I didn't want any drugs. They didn't even start an IV. It still hurt like a bugger, but I survived. The nursing contractions afterwards hurt really bad this time round. No tearing this time around, so I was up and walking around much sooner and with much more ease than with Jack.

Joel was a star. I really can not imagine going through this without him. (Hopefully that won't ever be an issue.) He really is my rock.

A shout out to Bill and Katherine who took care of Jack while we were in the hospital. We appreciated not having to worry about Jack.

The other day we went to Tri-Cities to go to Costco. Driving back Joel said the kids did a great job with the traveling. We both sat there in awkward silence soaking that in...kidS...what have we gotten ourselves into?

Here are some picks of Sage that make me smile:

Oh, and why the Bananas? When we talked to my brother Thabo, who is 12, to share the news, I asked him what he thought about having another niece - seeing that Sage makes it 6 - was he really excited like mom and dad said or did he just not really care. He said that it was like bananas. It doesn't matter how many you have but every time you get one, it just makes you happy. So here's to bananas!