Funnest Day Ever, Take 2

Look familiar? I wish it didn't, but almost a year ago Lauren had a broken elbow. Now Spencer has a very similar injury. Other arm and he looks to have a couple of hairline cracks above and below the elbow, but essentially the same thing. How could this happen again you ask. . .

Evening had settled on the little Stanley Family of Southern California. Mom was preparing dinner, spaghetti, and Dad was dutifully holding a fussy baby while a rambunctious preschooler climbed on him like a jungle gym. To prevent any squashing of said fussy baby, Dad instinctively shifted his position on the couch to give the precariously perched preschooler more room. Sadly, the preschooler also shifted and instead of scaling Mount Dad he slid onto the floor, landing rather awkwardly on his left arm. When his crying was not soothed by his older sister fetching his Precious, his froggy blankie, or Mom bringing an ice pack, it was decided that a trip to the ER was needed.

Ben gave Spencer a blessing and then took him to the ER around 6:30. Fortunately the new hospital had opened since Lauren's accident so they did not need to travel as far. The experience was still slow and frustrating, especially with Spencer in pain and they did not return until 10 pm. Spence does handle pain better than Lauren, that or it isn't as bad a break as Lauren's was. I'm leaning more towards the former personally. The doctor put a splint on at the hospital and Spence is going to see the orthopedic specialist on Friday once the swelling goes down to see if he needs a cast or just keep the splint. The doctor said he may be out of a cast or splint in three weeks. Hopefully that is the case. Once again at least Spencer isn't missing any swimming.

Merry Christmas!

We wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We aren't going to be getting a card out this year, but we did want to express our love to our family and friends and our gratitude to Heavenly Father for all our blessings this year, not least of all our new and healthy baby girl. We look forward to next year and all the challenges and adventures it holds for us. In this time of uncertainty in the economy, politics, and morals of our society the constant we can hold fast to is the Savior, whose birth we celebrate at this time. May we come to Him and faithfully keep the covenants we have made so as to be safe and secure in times of turmoil and chaos. We love each of you and thank you for your friendship, love, and examples to us.

Gotta love Spencer's eyes.

I'm not sure exactly what Brenna and Spencer are looking at.

Sweet baby 3 weeks old and still sleeping well. Last night she had two, five hour stretches. I think she's growing.

Sleeping like a baby. Thankfully she actually does.

Here's a video of Brenna awake. She is also hungry so she cries a bit, but it's a cute cry.

Gingerbread Recipe

This is the recipe they hand out at the Scovil Bakery in Nauvoo. I like it the best because it isn't so heavy on the molasses. I do prefer the gingerbread fresh out of the oven. Once it has cooled off it isn't as good in my opinion.

1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Molasses
3/4 Cup oil or lard
1/2 Cup hot water

Combine - rinse molasses out of the cup with the hot water.
Add: 2 eggs

Mix together the following:
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves (this isn't actually in the recipe but I like the flavor)
6 or 7 cups flour (use 1/3 whole wheat - I don't because I don't have a wheat grinder I can use right now)
Use more flour if needed

Add dry ingredients to the egg/sugar mixture. Refrigerate dough. Roll out and cut with cookie cutter. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

You can also use the recipe to make cookies to hang on the tree. If making a house cut out the peices of your house with a pattern and bake them for 5 minutes. Remove the gingerbread from the oven and use the pattern pieces to trim off the excess cookie that has expanded during baking. Then return the gingerbread to the oven and finish baking for another 5 minutes. This will help when putting your house together so the pieces are close to the size and shape of the pattern. I forgot this step last year and it was kind of tricky getting the roof to stay because it no longer linged up with the walls.

Fun with Grandma

Grandma Snow was able to come out and help for a week. We all had a lot of fun with Grandma. We built a gingerbread house, went to Claim Jumpers to eat, went to the beach, walked around the Temple, played with a little Yorkie puppy at the Spectrum, made Hedgehog's cake, made light saber bread sticks, and played lots of Settlers of Catan. It was a really fun week.

Of course the kids had to play in the water at the temple.

It was very sunny and bright. Even when not looking directly into the sun I was still squinting horribly.

Merry Christmas from sunny California.

The finished gingerbread house with the two chief architects.

Brenna's first trip to the beach. It was very windy and chilly. We did not dress for the trip and were a bit cold. Brenna stayed bundled in her blankets so she didn't see any of the beach. Oh well, she was alseep anyway.

Spencer and Lauren loved the beach even if it was cold. That did not stop them running in the surf and throwing sand. Spencer even got knocked over by a wave and drenched. He didn't complain but he sure was shivering when we got back to the car and cranked up the heat.

We made gingerbread cookies along with the gingerbread house. Spencer put all his cookies on one branch. He nibbles them and licks all the cookies low enough for him to reach. I don't think the rest of us will be eating any of the cookies now.

This is when we were at Claim Jumpers. Spencer is extremely picky, but he'll eat the calamari. It is long and looks kind of like french fries, which is I think why he eats it. He is a funny guy.

We made the gingerbread into Jedi Knights holding light sabers. The one with the green ear muffs is Princess Leia.

So much chocolate! We had fun decorating and eating the candy. I think I may have to give up chocolate for a bit since it seems to give Brenna gas. Woe is me!!!!

The Tooth Fairy Experiment

Lauren put her tooth under her pillow to see if the Tooth Fairy really would come to get it and leave her something. (How she intended to be sure it was the Tooth Fairy and not mom and dad I don't know) To be sure that the Tooth Fairy didn't miss her she put up a few notes. She wrote these entirely by herself. She often will write little notes and things and it is so fun to see her phonetic spelling and word placement on the paper. She often will not leave enough space between words and write sentences within sentences. Hopefully with my translation you'll be able to understand what she wrote and where.

First she put up just an arrow pointing to her room.

That wasn't sufficient so she wrote a little note on her door. It says "I am this room."

This note says

"Love Lauren

S. Please write

how (with this)

are you today"

The part in parenthesis is supposed to be a new sentence and refers to the pen taped on the wall.

Incidently, the Tooth Fairy was fine and she congratulated Lauren on her first missing tooth.

Lauren's Big News

Lauren has lost her first tooth! It's been loose for awhile, but stubbornly hung in there. Last night I tried wiggling it to see if it was ready to come out. It still seemed to be pretty well attached so I left it alone, plus Lauren was getting a little anxious about it hurting too much. It fell out today during school. It was the end of the school day and time to salute the flag. Lauren wiggled her tooth to make sure it was still there and it fell out in her mouth. She brought it home in a plastic baggy and will now perform an experiment to see if the Tooth Fairy is real. We've told her a little about the Tooth Fairy but she is skeptical. She thinks it's just mommies and daddies who leave stuff under pillows, but she is willing to give it a try and see if it works.

You can kind of see in the pictures that her permanent tooth came in behind the baby tooth. The baby tooth was pushed forward and to the left so Lauren was starting to look pretty snaggle-toothed. I just hope the permanent tooth will move forward into place on it's own.

7:30, midnight, 4:00, 7:00

Also titled, Brenna at One Week.

Those are the times that Brenna woke up last night to eat. Finally I have a baby who knows that nighttime is when you sleep a lot. Lauren and Spencer didn't sleep like this at night until they were about 4 months old. Perhaps this is why I feel like I have so much energy.

I pulled down some baby toys so Lauren and Spencer could 'play' with Brenna. I showed them how she would track a sound with her eyes. They got a bit too excited to try and didn't take turns. Poor Brenna had four rattles wildly flailing around her head and didn't know where to look.

Spencer's rattle had a mirror on it and he liked putting it right on Brenna's nose and saying, "Here you are, baby." I'm sure she'll be impressed with that in about 2 months.

Needless to say we are having lots of fun with her. She has good color so no jaundice fears and she is gaining her weight back. On Tuesday she weighed 7 lbs 4 oz, just what Spencer was at birth.

I Am Thankful For Epidurals

Brenna Ani Stanley was born a little early. She still weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20.5 inches long. I can only imagine what things would have been like if she came closer to her due date.

She didn't come on Thanksgiving Day, thankfully, so we were able to enjoy the day with friends in LA. Here is the last family picture of us as a family of four. I did lose my mucus plug right before we left for our friend's house so I knew she'd be coming soon.
The next morning I awoke at 2 am with contractions. They were pretty strong and for the first two hours they were consistently about 5 to 7 minutes apart. The next two hours they were about 7 to 10 minutes apart. The strength of the contractions increased but they were irregular so I wasn't sure if I should go in to the hospital or not. I'd been having false labor for the past three nights already.

(24 hours old)

By 10 am I decided it was time to get checked out because the contractions weren't stopping. The minute we dropped off the kids they did stop. I went about 40 minutes without a single contraction. They began monitoring me at the hospital and at 11:40 they checked me. I was dilated 6 cm so they let me stay. My contractions were pretty hard but still really irregular. I walked a bit trying to get them more regular. That helped.

(Very happy big sister)

I didn't get an epidural because a part of me really wanted to see how far I could go before I needed pain relief and for some reason I kind of wanted to see what things were like for women before modern medicine. Boy am I ever grateful for modern medicine now. By 3:40 pm I was at 8 cm and had had just about enough of labor since I'd been doing it since 2 am. Plus I was also getting scared of the impending delivery. I asked for an epidural and they put in my IV. They were getting my epidural ready when my water broke at 4:10. Everything happened really fast at that point.

(Very excited big brother)

I was progressing too fast for an epidural so I got to push naturally. It was awful. The worst pain of my life and the only way to get rid of it was to make it worse by pushing. *shudder* Fortunately I only pushed for maybe 5 minutes, but it was the longest 5 minutes of my life. Brenna was born at 4:36 pm.

(2 days old)

If I had to do my next labor like this I honestly don't know if I'd have any more children. The thought of feeling that pain again just terrifies me. I am in awe of all the women who have had multiple babies naturally. They say you forget the pain. Let's hope so. Either way the next time I am going to request my epidural the minute I walk into the hospital.

(Proud and sleepy father)

The kids were so excited to see Brenna at the hospital. They were both really cute at home with Ben. Lauren thought I would be in the hospital for 3 weeks. Spencer really missed me the first night and kept trying to leave the house to go find me. I had a wonderful surprise when I came home from the hospital today. Ben and the kids had cleaned the whole house. They even vacuumed the carpets and everything. It was so nice to come home to an uncluttered, clean apartment. Thanks!

Online Benefit for a Cousin

On October 22, 2008 my youngest Uncle and his wife had their third child. She was named Josephine and though full term only weighed 4 pounds 3 ounces. She was soon diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a genetic condition that usually results in still birth or death within the first week. Only a handful of children survive to their first birthday. Josephine has reached the one month mark and is at home with her family right now. We are not sure how long this precious little spirit will be on earth, but already she has performed a marvelous mission. She has been such a blessing in the lives of my Aunt and Uncle and our extended family. Reading my Aunt and Uncle's thoughts as they have lived through this difficult time has really strengthened my own testimony and gratitude to Heavenly Father for His wonderful plan for us. Here are a few pictures of my newest cousin.

Josephine is three weeks old in this photo. Such a tiny, sweet little girl.

I absolutely love this picture. It is my Aunt Clara and Josephine in the hospital. It is so tender and peaceful. The feeling my Aunt and Uncle use to describe this whole event has been peaceful and I know it is because of their faith. Little Josephine has taught us all about God's plan and His love for each of us here on earth.

Tomorrow there will be an online benefit to help raise money to pay for hospital expenses and medical care for Josephine. Please check out this website http://sweetbabyjosephine.blogspot.com/ for great Christmas gift ideas and handmade crafts. You can also read a little more about Trisomy 18 and my Uncle's family. Thank you so very much.

Three Cups of Tea

I highly recommend this book! It has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for months, but once I finally picked it up I couldn't stop reading. This is such an inspiring true story of one man's quest to change the world for the better. Greg Mortenson was climbing K2 in Pakistan when he met a village of people who saved his life and he repayed them by building a school for their children. That sparked his quest to build schools and women centers for the poorest people in Pakistan and Afganistan. He emphasizes education for girls inparticular, noting that the fastest way to improve infant mortality rates, hygiene, and community life is to get the women of the village educated at least through the fifth grade.

The story is truly amazing to see how he started with nothing and now runs the Central Asia Insitute (CAI) building and maintaing schools in parts of the world where war has ravaged the people for centuries. It is so inspiring to hear how he is combating terror by giving children a balanced education. His schools never teach Western culture, but they teach math, science, langauge, English and other basic classes. His way of fighting terror sounds so much more effective than our military bombing everything and then leaving destruction in our wake without helping to rebuild. Thousands of madrassas have sprung up in Pakistan and Afganistan teaching Jihadist Islamic ways and indoctrinating children who have no other options for education. Greg's work is opening people's eyes to the fact that most Muslims are not terrorist and are in fact the warmest, friendliest people in the world. The people he works with are so poor and education is the best way to help them and their communities and make the world safer. I really hope the book becomes a movie because it is just incredible what he has been able to do and how he does it.

Protestors, Music, and Peace

Yesterday, Sunday, we had the honor of being the site for the latest Prop 8 protest. I was quite worried how things would play out since I’ve seen some pretty upsetting pictures* and heard stories of other protests that sound very difficult to handle. Fortunately the whole thing was very civil. The protestors remained on the street and never entered the church property, though that may have been because of the number of security personnel patrolling. They did have some very interesting signs and said some nice things as we drove past. Our ward meets at 11 am and the crowd apparently dispersed at 1 pm so we did not have any trouble leaving, but the 9 am ward that leaves at noon did have some trouble from the protestors and additional police had to be called in to quiet them down.

A few months ago our music coordinator approached me about playing a violin piece during Sacrament meeting. Organizing the little trio took some time and finally we were scheduled to play and I was asked to pick a song. I chose “The Lord is My Shepherd” and we were set for playing on November 16. I think it was more than just coincidence that we played yesterday and that the song just happened to have phrases such as “In the midst of affliction my table is spread. With blessings unmeasured my cup runneth o’er.” and “They rod shall defend me, they staff be my stay. No harm can befall with my Comforter near.” I was so humbled to be able to play for my ward that Sunday to offer hope and comfort and bring the spirit. I know the Lord sustained me and I played better than I would have on my own.

One sister stopped me in the hall afterward and said, “We should all be singing the praises of your mother because she made you stick with the violin and now we have all been blessed by your talent. God bless your mother.” She let her daughter quit the violin after two years and take up flute instead and she wishes she had made her stick it out. I do want to acknowledge my mother’s efforts and attribute much of my talent to her. She made several reluctant musicians ‘stick it out’ and I am so grateful because playing the hymns of the church brings me more peace and comfort than anything else. The rest of my talent comes from my dad who bought a very nice violin for me just before I went to college. Though it never did take me to the BYU philharmonic it has served me well in performing for family and friends and inviting the spirit into meetings as well as lifting my own spirits.

Lifting my spirits is what music is doing for me now. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to stand with the prophet even though I was called upon to do things that took me way out of my comfort zone. I am grateful for the thousands of faithful Latter-day saints who did the same and more. It was amazing to see so many good people faithfully keeping the covenants they had made in the temple. We won the battle, but the fight continues. We still need to stand strong and be humble and loving. I don’t know how all the protests and lawsuits will end or what will happen in four years when there is another election. I do know I will continue to stand with the Prophet for therein is my safety and peace even when protestors and persecutions rage.


* In case anyone is curious, here are some of the pictures of some of the protests. Fortunately, from what we have personally seen, they are becoming a little more peaceful over time: