Dear Emily and Paul,

As holidays approach, I find my thoughts turning to you. There are never any words someone can say to make these special moments and memories any better. I think of your strength, your faith, your will to carry on. I admire you more than words could ever express! Please know that at our home Ashley is never far from our thoughts or our fondest memories of the few times we had with her! Our holidays will always have a little piece of her with us, especially as we think about the true meaning of this Christmas. How grateful we are to know that Ashley is never far away and that she is patiently waiting for the rest of us to return! 

Ashley, we love you! For your sweet spirit, and all the silent things you will continue to bless each and every one of us with! You were truly a chosen spirit and one worthy of the highest place! Please say hi to others that have gone on also! Let them all know of our love, and desire to return! We hope you like the ornament on our tree that’s just for you! I found it a perfect way to help keep you a part of the season! We love you, we love you, we love! We will never forget! Love, The McKenna’s

Santa!!

I know they are getting old, but this morning was our church Christmas party! They still very much love the guest of honor!                                                                                                                                                       

I Couldn't Resist!!!

Smile!

I think that the best part of babies is when they start to smile!!!There is nothing better than a baby looking at you and not having a care in the world! Porter’s smiles are still hard to come by, but here are a few that took me an hour to catch the other night!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

Porter!

At two weeks I wanted to do a new post, but time has quickly passed! I can’t believe that Porter is five weeks old today! Yesterday at the doctors he weighed in at 8 lbs. 14 oz. Three weeks ago he was only 7 lbs. 6 oz. so he’s quickly gaining ! He still doesn’t sleep well at night. We are spending hours and hours awake each night, hoping that the next will be better. Some nights he isn’t just awake, he’s screaming and nothing we do makes it better. Monday night he screamed the majority of twelve hours. To make matters worse Cole woke up with croup and we were dealing with two instead of one!   Last night went much better and even though Porter was awake for two hours straight in the middle of the night he was happy and didn’t cry at all! He smiles in his sleep sometimes and every once in a while we can get him to half smile for us while we’re talking to him. I’ve even noticed him laugh on occasion and it is adorable! Today I wanted to take a few pictures of him and here are a few!                                                                                                                                    

Braxton the Super Hero!

Last Monday while home alone with all three kids, I started having this excruciating pain in my upper right abdomen. I started crying from the pain and was just hunched over trying to figure out what was wrong and how to get the pain to go away. In the mean time I was trying to help a screaming baby and give Braxton a practice spelling test.

Braxton then came to the rescue. He insisted on stopping his spelling practice, but I made him finish. He insisted that I give him Porter to hold even though he was crying. I remained calm long enough to calm the baby, finish his practice, and then I handed over the baby while he was fast asleep. Braxton then insisted he put Porter down so that he could make me dinner! I told him no that I just wanted him to hold Porter and I didn’t need dinner. He was in survival mode and all he could think of was that I needed to eat dinner.

He knew that Dave was worried and that when Daddy got home we were going into the er. He wanted me to eat first and when I kept saying no, he then switched gears and asked if the hospital would feed me! Then he asked what about Porter you are the only one who can feed him. He thought of everything and was even trying to hold my arm while I was moving around just to make sure! Braxton I love you!!!!

More Pictures....

I sent an e-mail to my in-laws asking for pictures that they took when visiting the hospital. All of these are from about three hours after Porter was born. I didn’t realize how tired I looked until I saw the one where I was holding him!                                                                         

     

Porter's Arrival!!!

The long awaited day has finally arrived!                                                                       
 Born: November 4^th             Weight: 7lbs. 1 oz.                                                                                                               Height: 19 ½ in.                                                                                                                      

The day started at 5 a.m. for me. I got up and showered, did my hair, and got ready. I called the hospital to see if they had room for me to come in to get induced(I was on the list), and they told me to come in at 7:30. Around 8 they came in and started the pitocin. I was already at a 3 and more than 90% effaced. The nurse said she thought we would have the baby by noon because everything looked favorable. After not having drugs with Cole, I asked for my epidural right away. They came in and put it in within the half hour. Dave can’t handle the needle so he went in the hall and I sat there all by myself while they did the whole thing! The doctor put the meds on a slow drip because it was early on and he didn’t think I needed very much. It was just enough to take the edge off and I could feel everything still the whole day. When I had one with Braxton I couldn’t do anything because it was too strong and I liked feeling like I had a little control in the situation.

Noon rolled around and still no baby! I just watched tv and took a few naps while Dave listened to a book, and worked on some downloads for Braxton. They broke my water around then. At 2:45 the nurse came in to check me and I was between a 7 and an 8 so she called the doctor and told him he had about an hour before he needed to come in. Within five minutes I started feeling tons of pressure and it was happening every minute. I thought I would wait for the nurse to come back, but they started getting so intense that for the first time the whole day I pressed the button for her to come back. She came in and checked me and I was more than a nine and he was ready to come. For the first time that day she pressed the button to release more pain meds and turned down the pitocin. She wanted the doctor to get there in time and didn’t want me to feel what was going on any more so that they could hold off a little longer.                                           

The doctor was called again and told he needed to come right now. It took about twenty minutes, and he checked me as soon as he came in the room and said , “yep this baby is coming now!” I pushed five times, maybe for no more than three minutes and we had a baby!!!! He was a meconium baby and they whisked him away as soon as he came out so they could make sure he didn’t swallow any of the poop. Luckily he was just fine, otherwise it could have been a big problem for him. After about fifteen minutes I FINALLY got to see my baby for the first time! He was perfect and so much worth the wait!                                    

After about an hour they took us to my room, and later that night my parents came to visit, Dave’s parents came with his brother Jorgen, and my friends Whitney and Hayley came also. It was an ideal day, without any complications, or pain!

                                                                               

Porter's First Week!

I can’t believe that our little guy is already a week old!! It has gone by so fast, it’s become a blur. It has been busy and he’s been such a trooper. We’ve been to the doctor’s, on a fieldtrip, to parent teacher conferences, and much more! Today we aren’t doing much of anything.

Porter so far is a good baby! The first few days were really rough. Nursing wasn’t working very well so he was spending 45 minutes or more each time screaming. Once he latched on he was fine, he just gets mad immediately and had no patience in wanting to wait to figure it out. I finally figured out that if I gave him a bottle for a second, he would latch on right away after I took the bottle away. After a few days of being a trooper he’s become a pro and it’s getting a little bit easier for me. The other boys didn’t nurse so this is all new to me.

He pee’s through everything which is a good sign, but makes lots of extra laundry! He’s started spitting up the last day or two, but it’s not too bad yet. Braxton would throw up whole bottles and this isn’t even close to that! He has no sleep schedule and no matter how hard we try he stays up most of the night! He is totally worth all the sleepless nights!                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
       

Grandparent Week at Preschool!

This month at preschool is grandparent month! Lucky for Cole his are visiting and got the chance to go. For fifteen minutes they got to come in and talk about things that they like to do. It was exciting for Cole to have them visit!