Elle Adair Jackson

She is here!!! Our sweet little girl has arrived!! Thursday, October 21st at 7am I was induced. It was a picture perfect labor and delivery...seriously, that is the way to have a baby! For those who want a little more detail, the doctor broke my water at 8am, I started on pitocin at 8am as well, contractions started and by 1030 I had my wonderful epidural. From 1030 til 1245 I caught up on some celebrity gossip with my magazines, LD planned his picks for fantasy basketball and we just relaxed. At 1pm I told them I felt like it was time and we waited for the doctor to show up at 130...by 135 she had arrived. I could not have asked for any better of a day!

Elle was 9lbs 5oz and 22 inches long. No one was expecting her to be so big, especially not the doctor! She is absolutely beautiful and looks a lot like her big sister!

For everyone who has 1 child, you must have a second!! It is so much easier in delivery and recovery. I couldn't believe how much calmer LD and I have both been just knowing what was coming and what to expect. That said we are definetely in the exhaustion phase. Night 1 at home, our sweet Elle was very very hungry and up all night long...and 8am came quickly and Clare was not short on energy. I am so very thankful that my mom is here and will be until Nov. 3rd and that LD's mom was able to come for a short visit.

Clare has done incredibly well in her new role as big sister. She loves Elle so much and at times that is our biggest problem. She is always wanting to "hold baby sister", kiss her, give her toys, etc. We have to be very close by at all times, but I am so thankful this is the way she has decided to approach this new life change.

Thank you so much for all of the sweet well wishes and congrats! We are enjoying very lazy days at home and getting into our new routine in our family of 4 with two sweet little girls!

With a heavy heart and faithful prayers

This is a big week in the life of my family. We have been waiting for more than just this sweet little baby to arrive. We have also been waiting in anticipation for my sister Vanessa's test results.

Some of you may know my younger sister Vanessa was diagnosed with a very rare form of skin cancer called Mycosis Fungoides as an 8 year old. Through prayer she was miraculously healed as we know only our God can do. We all moved on from that part of life without spending too much time looking back. About 8 weeks ago Vanessa had found similar spots on her stomach and walked back into the office of a cancer specialist to be tested. She has shown incredible strength that we know only God can give and has walked fearlessly through this process knowing God has an incredible plan for her life and that His promises are true...always! Below is an email that she sent out to friends and family today and I asked her if I could post this on my blog to share with my friends and ask you to join us in prayer for her.

Our family handles this situation differently than most in the world because of the relationship we have with our God and knowing His love for us. Vanessa is an inspiration to me that even as she lives in Las Vegas, far away from her family in the middle of "crisis" the love of her heavenly Father rings loud and true each and every day of her life!

Thank you for your prayers!

Friends and Family,
I want to thank you once again for your faithfulness in prayer, encouragement and love over the past week as we've waited in anticipation to hear from my doctor.

It is with an authentic faith in all that is to come that my results came back today indicating that my childhood cancer has returned. My doctor is out of town until next Monday however I had the opportunity to speak with those testing in the lab that shared that I have been diagnosed with Mycosis Fungoides. Without the ability to give further information without a doctor, they have scheduled me at the Skin and Cancer Center first thing Monday morning (10am PST) to discuss all of the details from treatment, growth and next steps from my doctor.

I called my family and shared with them the same thing I will share with you - God has called us on an adventure. And I don't believe He has called me to go alone, but for all of us to go together to experience a new side of His character than ever before! When I was 8 years old I learned the faithfulness and power of a God who heals! That God has not changed and continues to be just as faithful and just as powerful. I shared with you when I first started this journey that I may not know when, where or why...but I know my God! And that has not changed either...I know my God!

It's with that in which I invite each of you on an amazing adventure! An adventure to watch God at work within the life of a 24 year old girl who is ready to experience what the blind man experienced when he was healed, what Moses experienced when the Red Sea parted, and what Peter experienced when he walked on water- ready to experience what happens when our faith does not grow weary and tired, but instead moves forward expectant of a miracle!

Chasing Him,
Vanessa

Waiting, waiting on our sweet little girl...

Oh how familiar this feeling is. Just a little over two years ago I had multiple posts on waiting for the arrival of Clare. I was SURE this time would be so different because my body "already knew what to do." Nope...I think somehow my body missed the signal on how to put itself into labor. I am now 39 weeks and 3 days, and thankfully the end is in sight. Since Clare was a 9lb baby and 7 days late I will be induced on Thursday...just two more days!!! I was certain that we would not make it to the induction date, and even though I convince everyone each night that tonight is the night...I wake up in the morning realizing it will most likely be Thursday.

My mom came in last Tuesday, she has already been here a week and we have all been loving it!! We have had lots of fun adventures in our waiting week! We have had a diaper shower for little sister, organized ridiculous amounts of clothing, went to see Toy Story 3 for Clare's first ever time in the movies, eaten at yummy restaurants, added a few scarecrows to our autumn decorated home and done lots of playing!

Below are a few pictures from our adventures. Two awesome friends offered to throw a diaper shower for "little sister" as we've all been calling her and I cannot tell you what a huge blessing it will be to have a huge stash of diapers since we currently have two in them. It was such a sweet and fun time to celebrate this little girl with some great friends from our church!

My mom and I had gone to see "Eat, Pray, Love" (which I was not a huge fan of) on Sunday evening and saw that Toy Story 3 was playing at the dollar theater. I suggested taking Clare which was a huge experiment for so many reasons...it was 3D so she had to wear glasses, she's never been to a theater, and she's never watched a full length movie. But with it being the dollar theater I didn't feel bad if we needed to leave an hour into it. Let me tell you, this girl is going to LOVE going to the movies! She wore her glasses the whole time and did not move an inch. She kept talking really loud in the beginning about Buzz and Woody, but once we got going she didn't say a word. I was truly impressed with my normal wiggle worm 2 year old!

As most of you know we keep our names a secret. Well, with Clare we had her name from the day I got pregnant and never looked back. It has not been the same with this little girl. We had one we were pretty set on, but not fully committed to. Two nights ago I freaked out a little and decided there was no way we could name her that. I just all of a sudden did not like it at all and I was sure I was going to go into labor without a name for our little girl!!! So at 11:30 on Sunday night LD and I both sat in bed with the baby name book. We still do not have a name...but we are working on it. This is SOO not like me!!! Say a prayer God reveals a name to us!

We have had fun, we are organized, house is cleaned, fridge is stocked, everything is in place...we just need our sweet little punkin to arrive!! So excited to share pics of our sweet little girl!

Happy 2nd Birthday Clare!!

I am sure every year, every parent says it is so hard to believe their child is such and such age. But I'm also sure every year it is just as astonishing! I cannot believe Clare is TWO!!

We had an extremely fun filled weekend celebrating her birthday! Friday night we headed to Red Robin and had dinner as a family. Of course they brought over a huge sundae and sang to her. LD and I both were ready for her to start crying because her face was so serious, but she just took it all in...and loved her special dessert!

Saturday we went with our friends Min, Kimmy and Ayden to Lazy 5 Ranch to celebrate. Ayden is just two months younger than Clare and it is such a blessing for her to have a friend who is doing the exact same things she is! It was SO hot out, but everyone had a blast. As soon as we got onto the wagon a big elk stuck his head under Clare's feet and licked her arm and that was the end of feeding the animals for Clare. She loved the wagon ride and pointing to the animals, but she did not like when they were all up close to her. For our out of state fam and friends, Lazy 5 Ranch is this huge ranch where you can take a wagon ride or ride a car through where the animals live. You actually get to feet bison, elk, giraffes, ostrich, water baffalo...I can't even remember what else, right out of your hand. It's crazy! We were 2 feet from some beautiful zebras but you aren't supposed to feed them because they bite and I was a little freaked out about them myself! After that big adventure and some serious naps Clare opened all of her presents and she had a bunch that had come in the mail from our wonderful family and friends. We are so blessed that our friends and family want to celebrate our daughter even though we live far away and cannot celebrate with them! LD and I got Clare a kitchen and the rest of the day was spent playing with toys, and more toys, and more toys!

We are now less than 4 weeks from bringing home another baby girl!! My mom will be here Oct. 14th and they will induce me by my due date (Oct 23rd) since Clare was so big and so late :) I feel like we are ready and I have no doubt our big two year old will make an amazing big sister!!

Happy Birthday Clare!! We love you!!

She continues to amaze!!

I have posted pictures every time we have had them taken by Christine at Dimples and Curls Photography and she just always always amazes me!! We talked about doing a maternity shoot and I was so unsure about it, but she made me feel so comfortable and incorporated so many family shots, and sweet shots of Clare and I. These pictures will always be such a sweet memory of this special time in our life! Thank you so much Christine for using your gifts to bless others!

Awful, horrible, no good, very bad....WEEK!

Gross, I know. just in case you wanted to know what hand, foot and mouth disease looked like!

Beware this blog post may not be uplifting!!!

I am usually a very positive person. I'm the one who if you ask how I am I say "great" and I usually feel like its very accurate. Not this week... Thankfully I didn't see anyone to ask me how I was doing, but if you are curious, I was not good!

On Tuesday I found a spot on Clare's tongue and knew it was hand, foot and mouth disease...again! I don't know how we have gotten it two times, but it is gross. The first time Clare had it was not bad, didn't last long, and we powered through. This time, this no good sickness took us by STORM! Clare developed blisters on her hands, her feet and all over her mouth (cheeks, tongue, roof of her mouth). Also from having it once already we knew there is no medication...just some motrin and tylenol.

Clare would scream "teeth hurt" over and over during the day, all day. She is an avid thumb sucker at night and not being able to suck her thumb meant she couldn't sleep. So she would scream for an hour, sleep for an hour and then wake up screaming again. The first night I rocked her for 3 hours, and the second night she slept with me while LD slept on the couch since he had to work the next day. She also did not eat one bite of food from Tuesday-Sunday. During the day we didn't leave the house and she screamed all day long. I normally have a very easy happy baby and she turned into a child I hope and pray I never see again. It was not pretty!

After 5, yes 5 days of this craziness her mouth started to heal. At this point we were both running ragged and by time LD walked in the door from work I was usually already in tears (and I am not a crier!!)

Last night Clare actually slept through the night and is sleeping peacefully now during her nap. Right now she is not sucking her thumb and if this sickness cured her of thumb sucking I may have to erase this post and call it all a blessing, but time will tell!

Here are some things I learned this week (in hindsight of course):

- No matter how blessed you are, and I am mighty blessed, you still have days that bring you to your knees

-When your kids get sick living 12 hours away from your mom is not a wise idea

-An almost 2 year old girl who has no sleep or food for 5 days should not be seen in public

-With God as my strength all things are possible, even when they seem incredibly overwhelming.

Today I am so thankful for my daughters sweet disposition, her joyful heart and her love for people. I know that as we bring another sweet little girl into our home in the next 2 months we will have difficult days...but God will see us through. I have no idea how I would make it through difficult times if it wasn't for His love and promises!

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

My sweet Bella-boo

Look...someone's been sleeping in my bed!!!

The only furniture she's allowed to sleep on....

Searching for bunnies

Caught in the act!!!

Best friends :)

Anyone who knew me pre-Clare knows thats my sweet cocker spaniel Bella was my first baby. She was incredibly spoiled and treated like a human in many ways. I feel like she deserves a little love shout out on the blog for being such a great dog!!

Bella is the most maintenance free dog anyone could ever have. She has a little doggie door in the dining room and goes in and out whenever she needs to. We feed her twice a day and other than that requires not much attention. Bella is so so sweet with Clare and very protective of her when we are out walking.

I recently decided that Bella was no longer allowed to sleep on our bed during the day. She's never been allowed in bed with us at night, but would curl up on top of the covers during the day. Well all of a sudden I started finding her UNDER the covers of my made bed. Yes, she would seriously pull the covers back with her paws and crawl under. It was comical, ridiculous...and gross. So poor Bella is no longer allowed on our new couch or in our bedroom. So here is a pic of her new favorite place to sleep, even though she doesn't fit very well.

Thanks for being such a sweet dog Bella...even as you continue to get demoted as we add more children to our home!