Living the Gospel Joyful

Last weekend was the General Women's Meeting and it was fantastic.  I was particularly struck my President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk entitled, "Living the Gospel Joyful."  The whole talk is wonderful and inspiring and gave me so much to think about.  Here are my favorite parts:

"It is good to remember that you are always a child of God.  This knowledge will carry you through the most difficult times in your life and will inspire you to accomplish remarkable things...You will always and forever remain a daughter of God.  Your Heavenly Father has high aspirations for you. 

[Heavenly Father] not only knows what is best for you; He also anxiously wants you to choose what is best for you.  

Once you understand the true nature of God and His commandments, you will also better understand yourselves and the divine purpose of your existence.  With this, your motivation for following the commandments changes, and it becomes your heart's desire to live the gospel joyfully.

You are loved.  You are dear to your heavenly parents.  The infinite and eternal Creator of light and life knows you!  He is mindful of you.  Yes, God loves you this very day and always.  

He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits.  He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles.  He is aware that you reach up to Him in heartfelt and hopeful prayer.  He knows of the times you have held onto the fading light and believed - even in the midst of growing darkness.  He knows of your sufferings.  He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short of failed.  And still He loves you.  

And God knows of your successes; though they may seem small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each one of them.  He loves you for extending yourself to others.  He loves you for reaching out and helping others bear their heavy burdens - even when you are struggling with your own.  

He knows everything about you.  He sees you clearly - He knows you as you really are.  And He loves you - today and always!

He loves you not only for who you are this very day but also for the person of glory and light you have the potential and the desire to become.  

More than you could ever imagine, He wants you to achieve your destiny - to return to your heavenly home in honor.  

Trust in the saving power of Jesus Christ; keep His laws and commandments.  In other words - live the gospel joyful."

ABC

So sometimes I swear Jacob is a little genius.  Maybe everyone feels this way about their children, but seriously, I wonder sometimes.  All of a sudden, about a month ago he started saying his letters.  The first day I was a little stunned but kind of thought it was a fluke thing.  We have some magnet letters on the fridge and he brought them over to me and said a couple of the letters - and was right!

But then he started knowing all his letters.  The kid is a genius.  Now he just goes around pointing out all the different letters around the house, on his toys, in his books and he gets them right!  I am amazed.  Maybe this is the normal time for that, I really don't know, but either way I am so proud of my little guy.  I am so happy that a whole new world of letters and numbers is opening up for him.  It makes me want to start doing preschool with him right now!  But then I remember that I have a three week old little girl and I think that all just let it be for right now :)

I love this little man. 

Family

We are so lucky that we were able to have lots of family come and visit us after we had our little Sarah.  My Mom was able to be here literally minutes after I delivered Sarah and it was so wonderful to have her here.  She was definitely Jacob's best friend and he was so sad to have her leave.  She was such a big help with Jacob and also just being there for me when Mark had to go back to work.  It was such a comfort to know that I had a little time to ease into things because she was there.  I cannot say thank you enough to her and the service that she gave to me and our little family.  We miss you!

A little over a week after I had Sarah my Dad and sisters were also able to come out and spend some time with us.  They were only here for about a day and a half but we were thankful for the time we got with them. 

And then this last week Mark's Mom was able to come out and stay with us.  It was great to have her here and we are so thankful for her coming and spending some time with us.

We are so thankful for the huge amount of love and support we have received from our family and friends.  We are incredibly blessed.  We love and thank you all!

Newborn

One of my good friends took some newborn pictures of our little Sarah and I am in love with them.  She was able to capture so many of Sarah's sweet expressions.  

I love this little girl.  

Birth Story

The time leading up to the birth of Sarah was definitely a confusing time.  I assumed that labor and delivery would go the same as it did with Jacob and it proved to be very different.

About a week before Sarah was born I started to feel some sharp pains in my lower back.  At first I didn't pay too much attention to them because I have lower back pain for the majority of my pregnancy.  But then it occurred to me that these were probably contractions that I was feeling.

Before with Jacob, I never had any contractions before my water broke.  Once I did begin to feel contractions, it was all back labor.  So that only confirmed in my mind that that must be what I was feeling.  I started worrying about "timing" my contractions and was just really confused about the whole thing.

But then at about 4:15 Thursday morning I woke up to my water breaking.  We had been packed and ready to go so we just got dressed, picked up Jacob and loaded up in the car.  We dropped off Jacob at the Zurchers and headed over to the University of Colorado Hospital.  

Once we were admitted and settled in they checked me and I was dilated to a four.  I actually wasn't really feeling any contractions very strongly at this point.  They told us that they would give me a couple of hours and see how I was progressing and go from there.  This time went by really fast and definitely let it settle in that our little girl was coming!

At 9:30 AM, they checked me again and I was still only a four.  So they told me that they were going to put me on Pitocin to speed things along.  They had put me on Pitocin with Jacob as well but it still took quite awhile so I just assumed that it would be the same with our baby girl.  Quickly after I was started though the contractions became more frequent and painful. 

At 10:30 AM, I was given my epidural.  By 11:00 AM, my nurse came in and asked me if I would lay on my side to help get little sister more active.  So I laid on my side and almost immediately began to feel a lot of pain.  But the weirdest part for me was that I had a very strong feeling to "push."  With Jacob, although I was "pushing" for over three hours I never felt like I needed to push.  It was really painful and I just kept thinking it would go away, but after a couple of minutes Mark was convinced something was wrong and went and got a nurse.  

I am so glad he did!  Because they came in and it became immediately apparent that this little girl was coming and coming fast!  The doctors came in and started preparing the room.  I asked them if it was okay to push and they told me to try and hold it in if I could while they prepared.  Well...there was no holding this little girl in!  On my third push she was out!  She came at 11:20 AM.  And although she was so much faster than Jacob it was a lot more painful!  Ouch!

Grandma Clegg arrived just after Sarah was born - so fun to have her here!

I immediately fell in love with this little girl.  I feel like it is such a blessing that I have always felt such an immediate connection with my two children.  

That night when it was just Mark and I we decided on her name.  We love to be able to look at our sweet little babies before deciding on a name.  And I love how each time we both have just known what they should be called.  We love our sweet Sarah and we feel like her name fits her just perfectly.  We can't stop looking at her!  She is beautiful and we our so proud to be her parents.  We are so grateful that she is here safe and sound.

We love you sweet girl.  

Sarah Esther

We are incredibly excited to announce the birth of our daughter

Sarah Esther

She was born on September 11th at 11:20 AM.  She is 7 lbs 10 oz and 19 1/2 inches.  She is beautiful and has brought such a sweet spirit to our home.  We love her and are so blessed to have her as a member of our family.

Our little Sarah was given the name of Esther as her middle name in honor of her great-grandmother, Esther.  This is Mark's paternal grandmother and we are so happy to pass on her name and legacy to our little Sarah.

We love you baby girl.

The Waiting Game

I think it's about time for a pregnancy update post!

We are definitely playing "The Waiting Game" now.  I will be 38 weeks along on Friday and couldn't be happier about that.  Mostly because Jacob was born at 38 weeks so I have definitely gotten my hopes up that little sister will make her appearance here 

really soon.  

Little Sister is just looking great!  Her heartbeat continues strong, she is measuring right on target - everything looks great!  As my doctor told me yesterday, we have every reason to believe she will be a perfectly healthy little girl.  

However, despite all of that, it has been a difficult week and a half for me with anxiety about the pregnancy.  I have a sweet friend here in Denver, who was expecting her first little girl the same week ours is due, and she was born two weeks ago stillborn.  My heart just aches for her and her sweet husband.  I cannot possibly imagine what they are going through.  They have been in my thoughts and prayers every day.  

Although my anxiety over my pregnancy is nothing compared to what they are enduring, it has been difficult in it's own way.  I have just been really anxious.  I worry constantly about the movement of the baby and if things are feeling "right."  

I told my doctor last week at my appointment about some of my anxieties and he has been really thoughtful.  I still worry a lot and just can't wait for little sister to come so we can love her and start this next chapter in our lives.  

So for now we are just waiting.  She can come any day now!  

WOOT WOOT!