Slumber Party at Grandpa's!!!

 One of our gifts to our kids for Christmas this year was to give them a kid-free night, so we had a slumber party for the grandkids on the Friday after Christmas. Riken is still too young to sleep over, but five of Ken's grandkids, aged 6 months to 9 years, were here. We had a blast! 3 year old Haiden made door hangers for himself, his sister and his cousins (with a little help:)

 We bought them all matching jammies and got them all to sit relatively still for a photo.

 The Dads warned us when they left not to leave both babies on the floor at the same time, as 9 month old Rylee would attack 6 month old Oaklee. I like this look.. Rylee's like "What? I wasn't bugging her."

 K, this one means a lot to me. Haiden has taken a long time to warm up to me. I've tried to respect him and give him his space, try to sit down and play with him or read to him if he seems like that's ok, but never like force him to give me a hug or anything. When I was holding Oaklee and Haiden came and climbed up on my lap, on his own, I had to have a photo. He's even smiling:) He usually looks away when I get the camera out, so this is huge.

 Andrea's kids are so full of life and personality. Zane got a new MP3 player for Christmas and has headphones in his hoodie. He was listenting to a random assortment of Michael Jackson, the Dixie Chicks and the one Eminem song that Ang allows him to listen to.

 Alec is more serious and analytical. He's setting up the Millionaire Monopoly game as soon as they arrived. He was the first of Ken's grandkids to really welcome me into his life, and he always has a hug for me when he sees me. If Ken happens to go over there without me or he goes to a soccer game or something when I have a college class, Alec is always bummed that I'm not there. He's a great kid.

Rylee is ready to walk, into everything, full of energy and not cuddly at all. So when I sang "la-la-la", the song that always lulled my own babies to sleep, I was in heaven when she fell asleep in my arms.

Having the kids sleep over was a wonderful experience for us. I'm sure I didn't do everything exactly the way the Moms would have wanted things done, but everyone had a good time. I got to bond with all five of the kids, and Ken was remarkably patient through the whole night and into the next morning. I think we'll do this on New Years Eve from now on, since we're just boring old people who don't want to go out to parties. We'll keep the grandkids so the parents can have fun on New Years and not worry about getting home to the babysitter. 

Riken

My beautiful daughter, Ashli, gave birth to this beautiful baby boy, Riken J Brown, on December 14, 2012 at 6:18 PM. He weighed 6 pounds and was 19 1/4 inches long and he is perfect.

He took his time getting here, though. On December 7, Ashli was dilated to a 3 and 50% effaced, so we were all sure she would have Riken that weekend. Here, she and Mack are waiting for an ultrasound to see if things were in order for Dr Bailey to induce her.

Alas, they were not. So Ashli and Mack went Christmas shopping and did tons of walking Friday night. And Saturday. And did everything that is supposed to induce labor. She bounced on an exercise ball for hours on end. And still went another week without moving beyond a 3.

Then finally, on Thursday, December 13, they decided to admit her to the hospital after her doctor's appointment. She told us not to run right over to Nephi, as it could be HOURS before she delivered him after they started Pitocin. Tyler was at my house when the call came from Ashli, and we managed to wait a whole hour before we headed to the hospital in Nephi, where we waited all day and all night. Zack certainly made it entertaining.

He told me the "You're not a monk" joke at 1:00 in the morning and went until 2:18 am. Official record at 78 minutes before I got mad and Tyler told him he better wrap it up.

Ken was a trooper. He had spent the day Thursday working near the Utah/Nevada border, and had his boss drop him off at the hospital in Nephi on their way back home to Sanpete county. At about 1:30 Friday morning, he was so exhausted, he finally just fell asleep on the floor. I drove him home at 4:00  so he could work that day, then I showered and took a nap before I headed back to Nephi.

We all continued to wait for little Riken to arrive on Friday. Ashli's blood pressure had gone up to 156/95 on Thursday night, so they had to put her on mag and lower the Pitocin. She had a long, rough night Thursday and was so glad to get her epidural Friday afternoon. Once she hit an 8, she was at a 10 and delivering him within an hour. She started pushing at 6:00 and he was here at 6:18. Ken was the first one to hear him cry, and he waved us all over to hear him. It was the most beautiful sound in the world!

My sweet daughter sent Amanda Pay out to get me right after Riken was delivered, so I was there for this amazing moment. Riken was just mad at the world, crying and frustrated. And then the nurse told Mack that he could hold Riken's hand. As soon as Mack touched him, Riken immediately stopped crying. He knew exactly who Mack was, and he calmed down the second he felt his touch. It was a moment I will cherish forever.

 I got to see Mack hold his son for the very first time. Awesome:)

Then this. Ashli and Mack have been married for just over 3 years. She had a hard time getting pregnant. They were just about to start fertility drugs, had the prescription and everything, when she got pregnant a year ago. She miscarried at 9 weeks, and it was devastating for all of us. And then.... she became pregnant with little Riken. Her pregnancy was SO hard in the beginning. She was SO sick, throwing up all day every day, and lost 17 pounds. She's a tiny girl anyway, and she didn't have 17 pounds to lose. But she did everything she could to take care of herself and Riken, and had a great attitude through the whole thing. I think she ended up being less than 10 pounds above her pre-pregnancy weight at the time of delivery, and 6 of it was him. So after all that, the moment she had waited SO LONG for and been through so much to get, was finally here. I love the look on her face when she is finally about to hold her baby for the first time.

 
 
 

Everyone thinks Riken looks like his Uncle Tyler (holding the football). He holds his mouth just like his Mom's and has Uncle Zack's nose, though.

Zack and Tyler are SO excited to be uncles. They love this little guy so much. They spend every moment they can with him. He's a tremendous blessing in our family.

His Grandma adores him.

His Grandpa is proud.

 

And he's a tremendous blessing to our family. A wonderful Christmas present.

And even more amazing than we all imagined he would be.