Baby Grant

So, with the new job and a baby being born I have had a very difficult time finding time for writing down anything. Grant Ryan Ashby was born January 25th, 2008, was 7lbs even, and 20 inches long. I will attach several pictures. I have felt for a while that the birthing process was a scary and somewhat gross event. Maybe this feeling was intensified during Lily’s birth. The placenta began separating from the uterus wall before Lily was born and so it was a very bloody and scary situation. I remember feeling so helpless and not knowing why there was so much blood and not knowing why everyone was running around in emergency mode. Well, Grant’s birth was quite the opposite. Dr. Hodges was so calm and so patient. He just continued to talk to us the entire time. Grant’s face was pointed down and Dr. Hodges patiently worked on him until he finally turned around (thankfully even without forceps). After Amy pushed a little and got his head just barely out, Dr. Hodges coached me as I delivered the baby and then Amy reached down and pulled him completely out. It was a very moving and spiritual experience for me, unlike any of the others. I was so thankful to him for being so calm and patient. He commented that it was one of the best births he had been a part of. April and Shane Dittrich had there new boy, Collin, born the day before Grant. They were just a few doors down from us in the hospital and it was fun to hang out with them for a couple days without any of our girls. They are such good people and we sure do love them.

Well, Grant is doing pretty well now. All the kids have been sick for several weeks now and we had to take the two youngest to get anti-biotics. Grant’s doing a little better now that he’s been on medicine. Still, Amy gets very little sleep at night and we’re finding that Grant is somewhat of a screamer. We borrowed a bouncer from Shane and April Dittrich yesterday. It vibrates and plays music and I’m hoping it will help. I think it’s been difficult for Amy to have a screaming baby, to not get enough sleep, and to have three girls that are acting up because of the lack of attention they’re getting. Bethy got up in the night for three nights straight, pulled down her pull-up, and wet on the floor. I didn’t know what to do. Things are going okay now that we are rewarding her for every time she goes in the toilet in the night, but I didn’t enjoy paying for the carpet to be cleaned. That Bethy is costing me a fortune.

Maybe things would calm down a little if I didn’t keep adding to the chaos. I’ve talked to several realtors this past week and I think we are going to try to sell our home. Amy really wants to stay in the ward (probably move to the Meadows), but I’m not sure we can afford it. The critical thing is that we live in a 1200 square foot house with four children and it is pretty cramped. This is the worst housing market in 25 years, so I’m not real optimistic about selling, but we’ll see what happens.

Work is going well. I feel like I’m able to be creative and somewhat of a student. I study approaches to economic development and planning and then try to implement those ideas. It’s actually quite fun. Add to all of this, my calling with the young men and life is extremely busy, but very fulfilling and very good. I love being alive at such a wonderful period of the world’s history.