A Few New Pictures

Steve, Bennett, and Quinn are downstairs playing with the electric train, so I thought I'd take a second and slap up a few pictures. I don't have time to put them in any particular order, so I'll just tell you that the ones where Quinn looks younger were taken when he was about 2 1/2 months old and the ones where he looks older were taken when he was about 5 months old Bennett's about 2 1/2, in case you can't keep up.

These brothers love each other.

Little Mister's new funny face. Bennett's in the background putting on his pj's.



Everything is hilarious.

Church was exhausting, and now you want a photo shoot?

Practicing a little air guitar. Is two months old too young to start rockin' the free world?

"Been a long time since I rock and rolled..."

Think I should try out for the touring company of Aladdin?

Thanks for the crazy hat, Auntie Shelly! My bro and I have made good use of it!

Go, Ducks!

Quinn is almost 5 1/2 months old now. He's so sweet and happy, and big and healthy, too. His favorite new thing is giving us baby kisses--he gets really indignant when he wants to kiss you and you don't bring him up to your cheek. He knows what the word "kiss" is and he'll give you one if you ask--it's so precious, and I'm sure I'm not biased at all. He and Bennett must give each other at least 100 kisses a day, which never stops being adorable. We're so blessed to have such sweet boys.

Bennett is such a sweet, smart kid. He sings all the time (and gets pretty darn close to the right lyrics and the right tune most of the time, too). He's learning lots of words in Spanish and he recognizes a good share of his letters and numbers--in fact he taught himself to write several letters last week before any of us realized he could do it. He's a funny, affectionate, helpful, all-around adorable kid. We're so proud of him--we just wish more of our friends and family could get to know him better.

We're planning to be in Portland for Christmas, which we know is a tough time to try to fit in any non-required visiting, but we hope we'll get to see at least a few friends while we're there. We can't wait!

Mamma and the Cute Boys on Tour

My best friend from high school is getting married this coming weekend, so we're making a quick trip to Portland. Steve can only stay for the weekend, but the boys and I will be staying with my parents for at least a week (the first week of August). If you're going to be around and you wanna see some of this cuteness:

come find us! We'll be at my parents' house, and I'm guessing that if you know me well enough to want to see me, you know where mis padres live. If not, call me or take your chances with leaving a comment here to give me your number. I won't have much access to the internet, so if I don't get back to you, please don't take it personally (unless I just don't like you)!

He's Here! (edited in red because I forgot stuff)

I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long for news...I was waiting till I had the pictures downloaded off the camera (we have a new thingy for pictures and I don't know how to use it, so I had to wait for help).

Without further delay, here's our newest family member:

Quinn Reuel Stevenson Kortan
Born May 5, 2009 at 8:03 p.m.
8 pounds 10 ounces, 20 inches

The meaning of Stevenson is pretty obvious. Quinn Reuel means "wise and strong friend of God." Reuel is an ancient Hebrew name that comes from the same word as Ruth, which is my mom's middle name. (It's also the name of at least one of the fathers of the Church of Christ, and my nerdiest friends will recognize it as one of the Rs in JRR Tolkien's name.)

I'm having trouble getting a space between the paragraphs and it's driving me nuts.

Here's how it went down for those of you who are interested in my agony: The doctor was busy with a procedure when we arrived at the hospital, so they didn't actually start the induction till we'd twiddled our thumbs for almost 2 1/2 hours. Then 4 hours later, we discovered the first round of medicine didn't do much, so we had to wait another 4 hours to find out the second dose didn't do much. We were pretty freakin' bored and irritated by the time anything started to happen (and the fact that I'd only gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before didn't help). The doctor broke my water at about 5:40 (I was at 3 cm), and I got in the Jacuzzi tub a few minutes later--I was in hard labor by around 6 p.m. and at 7 cm before 7 p.m. when I got out of the tub. The doctor had gone home for dinner, but the nurses called him when they realized I'd gone from 7 cm to 8 cm in about 5 minutes. He told them to call when I got to 10, which wasn't much later. At that point I was pretty much incoherent with the pain and I informed them that I was pushing no matter what anyone thought about it. I only got a few seconds of rest between contractions, and I felt like I was giving birth to a speeding freight train (with sharpened wheels). I have no idea how long I pushed, but thank goodness it wasn't 2 1/2 hours like last time--it hurt so much worse this time that I would have passed out if it had lasted much longer. (The doctor lives 5 minutes away from the hospital, but he only got there in time for the last 3 or 4 pushes.) I was screaming my fool head off for the last hour or so of labor--probably did permanent damage to Steve's hearing. I'll never make fun of actresses for over-acting in labor scenes again--if I had been on a movie set, the director would have told me to take it down about 10 notches. The nurses are lucky I didn't rip their faces off for annoying me with all of their "breathe, breathe, don't let the pain take over" crap. If I hadn't been busy getting ripped in half by a freight train, I would have told them that since I'm capable of screaming the place down, I must be getting some air into my lungs. The end of the story makes it all worth it, though. We have a beautiful, robust, precious, sweet, healthy, perfect baby boy who we love. And I'm miraculously still able to walk.

Here he is in car seat ready to come home from the hospital

At home with Daddy and his adoring big brother

Big brother and baby brother in their matching pajammies with Grammie and Granddaddy

After his first bath

After church on Mother's Day with 4 generations (4 1/2 days old)

Feeling a little snuggly

His hair isn't nearly this red in person, but it might have a bit of red in it

Sweet little baby face

Quinn is a sweet, easy-going baby--only cries when he needs something and actually gets the concept of sleeping at (if not through the) night. He's snuggly and adorable and alert, and he's already trying to smile and hold his head up.

Bennett loves him so much! In fact, the only problem we're having with him is keeping him from smothering the baby with affection. All he wants to do is hold and kiss "baby bwrother." It's so sweet and we're so proud of him.

Quinn is begging for his lunch, so I have to go. Sorry for keeping you waiting so long!

This Is It!

I'm going to the hospital at 7 a.m. to be induced. As long as things go well, it looks like our little guy's birthday will be Cinco de Mayo.

Feel free to guess birth time and birth weight...and feel free to pray that I can deliver him without having a C-section--he's likely to be quite a bit bigger than Bennett, whom I was barely able to deliver after pushing for 2 1/2 hours. I'd really like it if it wasn't quite so brutal this time.

Wish me luck!

It's About THAT Time

Well, my due date is May 8th, but my doctor all but promised me he'd induce on the 4th or 5th if nothing has happened by then.

Anyone want to make a guess as to birth date and birth weight?

Anybody Still Reading This? PLUS: A Challenge To Display Your Creativity and Taste

I know it's been a long time since I posted. I've been busy gestating a tiny human being--get off my case!

Lots has happened since my last post--Christmas was great, I spent all but a few days of January and February sick with various cruds, and Bennett turned two. He is such a big boy! We didn't get his 24 month appointment till about 5 weeks after his birthday, but when we actually saw the doctor, we discovered that our "little" man is 36 3/4" tall and 33 lbs. 6 oz. That puts him around the 90th percentile for both height and weight. I told you he was a big boy! He got lots of praise for his verbal and social development and his robustness in general. It's nice have a professional confirm what we knew already--we have a smart, sweet, healthy boy. And he has very good manners, too--just ask him, he'll tell you "I have nice manners." That kid cracks me up!

Bennett is looking forward to having a baby brother in a few weeks. He likes to pat my tummy and say "Hi, Baby Brother! I love you!" My due date is May 8th, but the doctor says there's not much chance I'll make it till then--the fact that I had pre-eclampsia with Bennett pretty much guarantees I'll have it this time, too. I hope I make it till May, though--I like emeralds better than diamonds! Heehee!

I still have a problem, though...we're having a hard time choosing a name! Please, dear and esteemed friends, gimme a little help. Forgive my cut-and-pasting from an earlier post, I'm far too lazy to retype this stuff...

The only problem with having another boy is that literally all of my favorite boy names have been used by friends of mine in the last 2-3 years. Seriously, who knew my friends had such good taste in boy names? I'm either going to have to bend my "k sound" rules or use a name one of my friends has already used (and risk losing one more friend from my already dwindling collection)...unless one of you geniuses is able to come up with a good one that meets my very exacting criteria:

1. Must have a postive meaning (and while things like "from the willow grove" and "running stream" might be quite lovely and lyrical, they don't count in my book)

2. Doesn't start with a K sound or with a B (not my style to use alliteration in names)

3. Doesn't end with a K sound (messes with the ears when said with our last name)

4. Not so popular that my kid will have to go by Tank K. throughout his school career (think lower than #50 on the Social Security baby name popularity lists for the last few years--but preferably not even common enough to appear on the list)

5. Not the name of one of my friends' children or one of my relatives (unless it's one of the few relatives who actually deserves to have my child as their namesake)

6. Has to be a real name spelled in a predictable fashion, not something made up--I am way past the age where making up a name for my baby is cute (FYI: in my opinion, that age is 18--and since I didn't even have my first kiss till I was 19, I missed that window of opportunity)

7. Not likely to be co-opted as a girls' name in the next few decades.

I realize that you kind of have to be psychic to work with 4, 5 and 7, but that's part of the fun. If you suggest a name that we actually use, you will receive a framed photo of the corresponding child along with a handwritten thank you note telling you how grateful he is to you for saving him from being named Hey You. Let the suggesting commence--and the first person to suggest Pilot Inspektor is going to get a mouth full of Chiclets. And by Chiclets I mean teeth.

And since I'm such a nice person, here are few names that I like but I can't use for reasons alluded to above:

Andrew/Drew
Blake
Cade
David
Dominic
Dylan
Eric
Ethan
Isaac
Jacob/Jake
Jack/Jackson
James
Joshua
Kael
Luke
Matthew
Nathaniel/Nate
Nicholas/Nick
Owen
Patrick
Riley
Sawyer
Spencer
Thomas
William
Zane

Seriously, I really need some help.

The Queen of Bad Timing

Leave it to me to go for two months without posting, then post something that I sort of wish I'd never posted.

It's not the end of the world, and as far as I know, the baby is okay, which is the most important thing.

But on the moving back home front, we got some very disappointing news today. A letter arrived from Boeing telling Steve that they regretfully have to cancel their offer of employment because of recent economic setbacks. So we're still stuck in Idaho with no friends, no money, and a job at a lousy company where the work is so physically demanding that it is crippling Steve's hands. So that kinda stinks.

We're not giving up on getting back home someday, but that "someday" is pushed back into the fuzzy gray future once again.