Cheri Ann's birth story according to Gramma!

The birth of every one of my children was different and unique and special in their own way. 

After each of my children were born, I would write down each and every detail of their story

 from my perspective in their baby book.

I don't know if they enjoy reading or hearing about the details as much as I do

 but I'm grateful that I wrote it all down

 so that I could remember exactly how I felt and what my thoughts were during that special experience.

I don't even know if Kimber has written Cheri's birth story yet, 

but I thought that I better write her story from my view, a Grandma's perspective,

 because I am getting old and will probably forget all the details if I don't write it down now.

So I'm posting this with a warning, this blogpost is for me and for Cheri Ann,

 so it may be long and lengthy, filled with lots of details that would only interest me and hopefully Cheri 

and a few other family members that were involved (namely her mom and dad:)!!

With that, I'll begin.  It all started Tuesday morning, November 20th, two days before Thanksgiving.

I woke up that morning with great concern because I realized that I hadn't really gone over a "plan"

 for how and when Kimber was supposed to notify us if and when she goes into labor.

Even though I didn't think that she was going to go have this baby for a week or so,

I knew that Kimber and I needed to have a conversation and lay out a "plan."

I'm OK with not being there when she delivers but I did want to know when she goes into labor, 

arrives at the hospital and would kind of like a play by play report, if possible:)!

So when Kimber called me that morning, I brought it up and told her how we needed a "plan" 

for how she was going to let us know if she was in labor, when she checks into the hospital, etc... 

About halfway through the conversation, 

I could tell that Kimber wasn't really listening to what I am saying, 

that she has something else in mind 

(later she told me that she thought it would be fun to just call after the baby was born and say,

 "Oh hey, I just had a baby!" and surprise us.)  Sometimes she can be so difficult:)!

I could tell that I wasn't making much headway so I let it go, thinking,

 I've got time to work on her, maybe I'll have Allie call her and see if she would listen to her.

Later that afternoon, I called Kimber but she didn't answer. 

 I had an important question, so I texted her and I waited and waited.  

This is unusual because Kimber has pretty good phone skills and if I call or text her, she gets back to me right away.

Finally, around 5 pm CA time, (8 pm NYC time), she texted back and said,

 "Sorry, I haven't answered your calls or texts.  

Brett got off early and we have been hanging out this afternoon."

Brett getting off early on a Tuesday afternoon is highly unusual for him and should have tipped me off,

but I didn't even suspect anything because Kimber's due date was 9 days away

 and she looked and felt way too good to be ready to go into labor.

So it wasn't even on my radar.  Plus Mark and I were busy packing and driving to the airport,

 where once we checked in, gone through security and waiting to board our plane, 

we got a call from Kimber telling us that she had checked into the hospital.

She sounded so calm and cheerful that I really didn't believe her.

Apparently, she went to her doctor appointment that day and her blood pressure was still high.

Her blood pressure had spiked up after the week after they had been evacuated... understandably!

Her doctor wasn't too concerned at that time, but this week it was still higher than it should be

so her doctor didn't want to take any chances and told her to go directly to the hospital and check herself in.

Kimber was completely caught off guard and asked if she could go home to pack a bag

 (yep, that's right, she hadn't even finished packing her hospital bag yet.  It was on the list of "Things to do.")

Her doctor laughed and told her to grab a cab and head straight to the hospital now!

 During her labor Kimber felt so good that she took the time to Instagram photos of riding in the cab 

and checking herself into the Morgan Stanley hospital at Columbia all by herself.

Brett hurried and got there as soon as he could after stopping by their apartment

 and gathering up a few things and packing up a hospital bag for Kimber.

So when Kimber texted and said that Brett got off work early

 and were just "hanging out", she technically wasn't lying.  

She just left out a very important detail, they were hanging out at the hospital.

The only reason why she called and let us know what was going on 

was because after being at the hospital for about 5 hours, 

Brett ran out to get some dinner and bumped into Lyle Schofield.  What are the odds?  

Lyle, who is doing his orthodontic residency at Columbia University, 

is from Granite Bay and his family lives right around the corner.

Brett had to explain why they were in Lyle's neck of the woods so he told him that Kimber was in labor.

When Brett came back and told Kimber that he saw Lyle, 

Kimber was worried that he might talk to his mother, who perhaps could run into me in Granite Bay

 and mention that she knew that Kimber was in labor and she would be busted.

Hence, she quickly made the phone call before word got out in GB and I heard from other sources.

At that time, she felt good.  They were about to start a slow drip of pitocin
 and she was a couple of centimeters dilated but felt good.

We asked Kimber if she wanted us to change our flights and come out to NYC

and she was like, "Oh, don't do that!  Who knows I may not even have this baby right away. 

We may just be hanging out for a couple of days!"

I explained to Kimber that the hospital is not a hotel, 
that once they check you in, they don't want you "hanging out."  

They check you in because you are going to have a baby usually sooner rather than later.

Little did I know that Kimber was more right than wrong.

So we flew to Arizona, went to bed and woke up in the morning with no baby.

We texted and talked to Kimber off and on quite a few times on Wednesday.

She had an epidural so she was feeling surprisingly good... 

good enough to have all of us visit with her on google+ chat that afternoon for over an hour.

At that point she was about 5 cm dilated.  Things were progressing slowly

 but Kimber didn't seem to be getting discouraged.

She was in good spirits and very patient, which was good... very good,

 because her pitocin drip accidentally got unplugged for quite a few hours.
Luckily, she kept progressing on her own anyways.

Once she got hooked back up to the drip, things started moving along but now it was Wednesday night.

So we went to bed with no baby yet... I could hardly sleep that night, the anticipation was killing me!

 This is what we woke up to Thanksgiving morning and the text read,

Our Thanksgiving Blessing

Cheri Ann Crandall

7 lbs 12 oz

5:40 am

Mom and baby are doing great!

We were thrilled and relieved that she had finally arrived and all went well with the delivery!

I spoke to Kimber a couple of hours later, after they got settled into a room and she sounded great! 

 A little tired but good! Happy that Cheri arrived safely and that she didn't have to have a C-section!

I was too!  With such a long labor (36 hours) I went to bed on Wednesday night

 thinking that they will probably have to do a C-section.

But her doctors were patient and so was Kimber and most importantly, 

the baby was fine so they didn't have to.

 Later that day, we all got on google+ chat to visit with Brett and Kimber and see Cheri for the first time!

She was awake and alert and we are all mesmerized by her 

and pretty much agree that she is the most beautiful baby ever!

And this is our first look at the entire Crandall family with it's newest member, Cheri Ann!

Thank goodness for technology!!  It was almost like we were right in the room with them 

enjoying those first hours with their new baby!

 Our dearest friends, Mark and Liz Skinner and their daughter, Carly 

came the very next day to visit Brett and Kimber and baby Cheri! 

They were so kind and brought them some pumpkin and pecan pie!

SO grateful for sweet friends, who took time out of their vacation to visit these two I mean, three!

Thanks Mark, Liz and Carly for taking the first family photo of Brett, Kimber and Cheri Ann!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!  One that we will never forget!

We are so very grateful for baby Cheri and for her safe arrival!

Truly a Thanksgiving blessing!

Thanksgiving in Arizona

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday down in Arizona with my family this year.

Ashley and Brooke flew down and meet up with us there for 5 days of fun 

with my dad and my siblings and their families that live in the valley. 

 It was so good to spend time with my dad and you just can't beat that warm Arizona weather in November!

On Wednesday, we went over to watch my nephews, Josh and Zach run in their school's turkey trot.

Zach was very happy to see his grandpa and happy to pose for a picture with him.

 Here is Zachary and his classmates at the start line.  

 And the first graders at Ryan Elementary are off and running.  
They had the kids going between the backstop and the brown pole on the right at the beginning of the course.
Unfortunately, a few of the kids weren't paying attention and ran right into the brown pole, taking it head on.
I'm not quite sure why they had the course routed that way and 
it actually took more than just a few kids running into the pole
before they decided to change the course and have them run around the brown poles.

 It was a long course for these little first graders 
so by the end, Zach was just casually walking to the finish line.

And then as soon as he crossed the finish line he stopped and posed for a photo.

 Josh on the other hand, was not messing around at all.
Here he is crouching at the starting line, totally into it, anticipating the start of the race.

 And there he goes.

While Josh is racing, Grandpa is strolling around the blacktop with cousin Tammy's little boy, Brody.

 Aren't they cute?

And here comes Josh as the finish line in a full on sprint,
 passing this little girl on his left.

And then he was happy to pose for a photo with Grandpa, Brody and me.

Early Thanksgiving morning, these three participated in the Mesa Turkey Trot.

Dad and Ashley ran the 2 mile while Brooke ran the 10 K.

Grandpa came to watch the kids.

He was such a good sport getting up that early, waiting around

 and walking all over the course to see the girls and Mark run the race.

These two are the best of buddies!

And they are off!

When we spot Ashley and Dad in the mass of runners,  
Ashley realizes that she is on the wrong side for photos, 
she crosses over about 5 lanes of traffic to say "hi!" to us and pose for pictures!

Yep!  Those are my 2 milers!  You can see that it is all about the photos this race!

Don't worry... Ash only took our a couple of little runners making her way over to us!

SO excited to see her momma and Brooke cheering her on!

One more thumbs up as she passes us!  
I think for a moment Ash forgot that she was running a race.

And here they coming around the last turn, heading to the finish line.

Ash having way too much fun with her dad.

And Ash and Dad sprinting to the finish line.

These two were very proud of the red "participant" ribbons that they earned!  
Nice job!

And of course, this kind of award deserves a "lunge" photo!

Meanwhile, this little turkey was warming up for the 10k 
and found another turkey that was trotting that day.

And the 10k has started and Brooke is the one with pink shoes near the front of the pack.

Here comes Brooke with this guy trying to chase her down.

Love the pink skort and the matching pink shoes!
Look sharp, run fast!

Brooke as she passed us.

And here comes Brooke on the last leg of the race. 
Notice the same guy behind her... he is still chasing her!

Grandpa wore his BYU shirt because he wanted to match Brooke

just like Dad and Ashley were matching too.

Grandpa with his turkey trotters after both races!

And so was Dad.

Grandpa loves his Ashley.

The little girls pose for a lunge photo together!

Cute!

Love my little girls!

The prize for winning your age group is a frozen turkey.

Brooke and Dad went over to the table to check out the turkeys 
and decide which one Brooke would pick out when they announce her age group.

On their way back, from inspecting the turkeys, a little tiny girl that was probably 9, maybe 10 years old,
 came up to Brooke, pulled on her shirt and asked her "how old are you?"
  Brooke told her she was 19 years old and the little girl excitedly said, "YES!" and ran away.

Brooke and I looked at each other and started laughing hysterically
 because we both knew that she must have ran really fast
 and thought that she probably won for her age group but then saw Brooke picking out her turkey
 and worried that Brooke just might be in her age group.  
Yep!  Brooke's age group was 16-19 and the next age group down is 9-15. 
 She thought that Brooke might be 15 years old!  The story of Brooke's life!
Even in Brooke's moment of glory, she is quickly put back in her place:)!

The Bear (or should we say turkey that day) and her dad having a moment after the race.

And Brooke is presented with a turkey at the awards ceremony.

Ash couldn't be prouder of Brooke and her turkey!

Like Sonya said on Instagram, "Brooke will run for money or food!"

After the successful Turkey trot, we took our pumpkin and brown bag apple pies 
over to my sister Susan's house and joined all the other family in town for Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm embarrassed and kind of ashamed to say that I didn't even pull my camera out that afternoon. 

I think I was just a little tuckered out from the turkey trot:)!

But we had a fun time with everyone and really appreciate Susan hosting dinner!

On Friday, we met up with our dear friends the Scott family at BJ's.

Brady and Karen were some of the first people that we met when we moved to Granite Bay 22 years ago.

Kari was my main baby sitter and she LOVED these two girls.

When Brooke was a newborn baby and I was a bit overwhelmed with five little ones,
 Kari would offer to take Ashley at church and then take her home with her to play.

Those two had so much fun together and have kept in touch after all these years!

It was a fun reunion and we enjoyed every minute with the entire Scott clan!

Brady and Karin.  Wish these two still lived in Granite Bay.

We sure miss them and their kids!

We got to meet Arin's new husband, Sean.  Aren't they an adorable couple?!

That is Molly, Kari's little girl, that is sitting on Arin's lap.  I don't want to start any rumors:)!

Arin and Kimber were cheerleaders at Cavitt Jr. high together 
and Karin and I had so much fun going to all the games and competitions together.

The entire Scott family and my sweet dad with us that day!

Afterward lunch, we met up with my other siblings at the movie theater
 to see "Lincoln" which I thought was excellent and so did my dad!

It was a wonderful trip spending time with my dad and family in Arizona!