Savanna Rae Stewart

 Savanna Rae Stewart

7 lbs 9 oz

20 inches

3-22-11 @ 11:22 pm

We are so happy to welcome our little Savanna to our family.  After having a few scares this pregnancy (profuse bleeding at 14 weeks and ecogenic bowel), we're relieved to announce that she's perfectly healthy!  The ecogenic bowel can be a sign of an infection, a blockage, cystic fibrosis, or down syndrome...but hers was apparently just caused by the bleeding.  This pregnancy has been quite a roller coaster, from thinking that I was having a miscarriage, to countless ultrasounds, meeting with specialists and genetic counselors, and now having a beautiful baby girl with no health problems (aside from a little jaundice).  We're SO blessed! 

The delivery went really well.  I had contractions throughout the night of the 21st, but they weren't very regular...so I sent Randall to work.  I continued to have contractions throughout the day and they started getting pretty regular around 5:00.  I was afraid of getting rejected from the hospital like I did with Cameron, so I waited a while before heading in to the hospital.  I also think I was still a little bit in denial because I NEVER go into labor early.  Cameron was 8 days overdue!  So going into labor 9 days early was just crazy to me.  By the time we gathered everything up, dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa Stewart's and went in to the hospital it was 9:30.  The hospital accepted me (yay!) and I got my epidural and had my water broken by about 10:30.  I got a little nauseous...threw up once...then had a baby after 1 1/2 pushes at 11:22 pm.  I thought we were going to have a double birthday (Lydia's Birthday is the 23rd) but apparently Savanna wanted her own day.  I'm still going to combine their parties, so she might as well have taken her time!

We are LOVING all the dark hair!  It's totally worth all the comments I've been getting about the mailman, milk man?, UPS man...

The kids LOVE to hold her and are SO excited that she's finally here.  They have been very gentle with her and I haven't noticed any jealousy issues so far.

It's been pretty tough the last couple of years, but it's now officially impossible to take a perfect picture with all 5 children.  Oh well!  They still look adorable.

Carter is 8!

We've had a really crazy couple of weeks celebrating Carter's 8th Birthday.  First of all, Carter was SO excited to be invited to the scouts Blue and Gold Banquet even though it was a few days before his Birthday.  They had a contest for cake decorating and I decided that it would probably be easier for him to do fondant than frosting since it's play-doh-esque.   It's a good thing that we started early, because it took Carter a lot longer to color and roll out the fondant than I thought it would.  Even though it ended up taking HOURS, we had a great time.  He won the award for "Best Overall" and was completely bursting with pride.

That weekend was his "Birthday weekend" and we took him to Texas Roadhouse for his Birthday.  The next day we got together with the Brown side and on Sunday we gathered with the Stewarts.  I've gotta say, I'm a little tired of cake at this point.  Carter got a new bike, a couple of Wii games, a new shirt and tie, a light bright, and some action figures.

The following weekend was even more exciting.  My little Carter-Cutie got baptized!  He was so happy, and I loved seeing Randall use the power of the priesthood to help him take that monumental step towards eternal life.  We had great support from family and actually managed to fit about 70 people into our house for lunch afterward.  Luckily the weather was pretty nice so we were able to spill out into the back yard a little bit.  I really should have taken more pictures of everyone, but I was too busy chatting.  To all of you that were taking pics, please feel free to send them my way.

I feel so blessed to be Carter's Mom.  He's been so much fun, and honestly quite easy to raise (with the exception of potty training).  He's very good about "choosing the right" and obeying all the rules.  He even loves to correct others when they're not doing what they're supposed to do...no matter what they're age/size.  He's always coming up with big ideas to recycle garbage stuff and turn it into something useful like a spaceship, or a pencil holder.  He loves to help me when I'm making dinner by being my "chef" or "waiter,"  and I can always count on him to go get a diaper or put a movie on for the little kids.  I can't believe how big he is, and I love seeing him turn into a responsible young man.  He makes me smile every single day, and I love him more than ever.