Wednesday, September 30, 2009

What a Wonderful Big Sister Kiersten is!

The other day Kiersten was holding Grant and rocking him in the recliner that's in his room. All the sudden I hear Kiersten, "HELP, HELP, I NEED SOME HELP!"
I run in the room and ask her whats wrong.
She says, "Is it OK that he's doing this?"
He had the hiccups!
I told her , "Yes he just has the hiccups! It's OK!"
She said, "I was just worried that he might choke or something!"
Kiersten is such a great help with Grant! She just loves every minute she gets with him and wishes she didn't have to go to school so she had more time to hold him. It's so nice to have a 8 year old helper around!

Recycled Snake

The kids school fair project this year was to make a desert animal out of recycled goods. It couldn't be bigger than a piece of paper. So this is what the kids and Justin came up with. A Rattlesnake made from gun shells! The kids were in heaven making it with their dad! I think Justin loved the project just as much.
They were so excited to take it to school and we even finished it before the due date! Pretty good after just having a baby we think! The kids each wanted to take it to their classroom to show their teacher before they had to take it to the computer room. Hunter made sure to ask if they were going to get the snake back after the fair! He fully plans on it decorating his wilderness themed bedroom. The kids teachers were very impressed and really made the kids feel like they did a great job on their family fair project. Thanks Justin for helping the kids with their fair project! You are an amazing DAD!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

What A Catch!

We feel like we caught a HOME RUN when Little Grant came into our family!
Isn't he adorable? I just can't get enough of this little guy!

Grant's First Photo Shoot

Grant's first professional photo shoot at 5 days old. Having a studio in our basement is really going to come in handy with a newborn!
It's amazing how having a baby helps you to feel closer to our Heavenly Father. The moment Grant was placed on my chest after he was born I was filled with such love for him, as I have been with the birth of all our children. And you start to realize that our Heaven Father and Mother love me and you even more than that! I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the Plan of Salvation. I am so thankful I know and feel Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love for me.
Excuse my fat ex-prego face, but I just wanted to capture me with Grant during the first few days of his life. I would have like to of waited until I lost some weight but who knows how long it will be until that happens :( I could just look at him for hours! I love feet pictures!
The kids were happy to be taking pictures with Grant and of course they all wanted to be the one to hold him, so there are lots of pictures.
I love these pictures of Logan looking at Hunter. Grant is one luck boy because he has a beautiful sister that adores him and two funny brothers that are going to teach him everything they know...............kinda scary!!!
Grant was wide awake for the photo shoot and he must already know that taking pictures at our house is serious business because he was on his best behavior!
We are so blessed to have such beautiful kids!
Grant is just going to be adored by his sister and brother!
Hunter's turn to hold Grant. He did a great job and is a great Big Brother!
Logan's turn.............so far Logan is being very gentle with his baby brother. Logan is quite attached to me right now and doesn't want to leave the house even to go with his dad to the store or to his Grammies house, which is not usual for him. He keeps saying, "no I stay with my mommy and "Brant."
Kiersten and Hunter have about the same size of feet! I forgot to take pictures of Grants hands and feet............guess it's time for another photo shoot!
Just so handsome!
I love his little features............hands, lips, ears, nose.
Justin is just loving being a Daddy again, especially with a happy baby. One thing I must say about Justin is that no matter what he is wonderful with newborns. He takes after his father, because he is one of the few men that love to help with a newborn. Justin changes diapers without being asked, with our other fussy babies he would take them and walk the floor with them to give me a break. Justin is just a wonderful father and our kids are lucky to have him! I am grateful for all his help!
Just adoring his new baby boy!
How nice it is to be surrounded by handsome Men!
Justin loves his Grant!
I love how Grant is looking up at his Daddy out of the corner of his eye!
Newborns are just so precious!
I love how awake his was. You just have to wonder what they are thinking about.
Doesn't get any sweeter than this!!!
He started to wrinkle up his face...............it's just so fun to watch all the facial expressions babies have.

Kids with Grant

I have never seen our kids so excited! It was better than Christmas morning! We got home Wednesday night and boy were the kids ready to meet their brother!
Kiersten is going to be a wonderful help. She already wants to know when she can start changing diapers! Kiersten said, " Ahhh Mom, he is just perfect! How do I already love him so much?" She is going to be a wonderful mother one day!
Logan was so happy to finally hold Grant or "Brant" as he says it. Justin said we need to ask Logan's speech teachers at preschool to work on the letter "G" sound.
Hunter loves his brother Grant. and was way impressed with his Mohawk. Hunter asked if we could do Grant's hair like this everyday!
No too sure about some lovin' from his brother, but he'll just have to get use to it!
So Sweet! So far Grant is a wonderful baby but we know that can change. After having 3 colicky babies we are a little worried that Grant is too good of a baby and that one day we'll wake up and the crying will start. But until that happens we are loving every second of having a good baby!!! We have more than earned a good baby, but that's what we thought when we had Logan, and he was really colicky so we hope for the best. Justin and I never knew having a newborn could be this fun, what a difference a happy baby makes.................hope it stays this way. Kiersten even complained today that Grant doesn't cry enough! I never would have thought anyone would say that about one of my babies :)
The kids were so excited to put Grant in the swing for the first time! Love my kids!
Hunter is a great helper and just adores his little bother!
See Grant's already getting use to the kisses and lovin'.
Logan is just thrilled too be a Big Brother!!! i have found Logan sitting next to Grant while he is sleeping and i ask Logan what he's doing he says, "I no wake him up, i just talking to my little friend!" So sweet! Logan always wants to know where his "little friend " is.
So Sweet!

Goin' Home

Grant is all ready for his first car ride home to Pima!!! This kids picked out this cute Ducky outfit for him to wear home. They are so excited to see him! Hunter is so excited because Grant has a natural Mohawk! It's so cute how his hair just does this Mohawk thing on it's own, I knew Hunter would think it was COOL!!! Cute Little Ducky Bum! I love how the car seat just swallows him up!

He FINALLY came............a Labor of LOVE!

GRANT DAVID CLUFF
Grant was born on September 21, 2009 @ 5:56 p.m.
He weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 inches long
His head measured 13 and his chest 12.4
He was born at Banner Gateway Hospital in Gilbert
Ahhh....... holding onto his Daddy's finger how precious!
This is our Wonderful Dr. Susan Kudlinski! She has delivered all our kids and we just love her! For the last three kids we have traveled down to Gilbert just so she could be our Dr. I have never been so happy to deliver a baby in my life and Grant is our forth kid! So here is how his story begins.............we went in on Sunday September 20 at 3:00 p.m. for a scheduled induction. They started me on Pitocin around 4:00 and around 7:30 I started to have contractions. The contractions got stronger and we walked the halls to try to help things along. I was at the maximum dose of pitocin but nothing was working to get me to dialate, so at midnight the dr. decided to stop the pit and give me a sleeping pill to let me just some rest and we would start again at 6:00 a.m. Did I mention I had no pain killer during this whole time because I was waiting to dialate so I could get the epidural! YIKES!!! The nurse came in at 5:30 to wake me up so I could take a shower before we got things started. I got started on the pit and this time they were more aggressive jumping the doses up in large increments to try to jump start things. Well it finally worked, slowly but surely. Around 11:00 they said I was in active labor and was at a 3 so I got my epidural and was much relieved! I started pushing around 4:15 and pushed for 1 hour and 45 minutes. I was about 5 to 10 minutes away from having a c-section. I kept telling myself that if I wasn't close to having him out by 6:00 I was done. It was the hardest labor I have ever had. I always have to push a long time but for some reason this time was more wearing. Maybe because I had spent 2 days having strong contractions up to this point I don't know. We had a fabulous nurse RaKay Dance. She did such an amazing job helping me through the birthing process and Justin of course was a wonderful coach! The nurse said I was luck to have such a patient Dr. because she said most Dr. wouldn't let me labor so long and hard. I am grateful things worked out and I didn't have to end up having a c-section after all that time working to get Grant here.
One funny thing happened, once Dr. Kudlinski came in and I was still pushing she was getting her gloves on and she looks down and says in a paniced voice, "Stop Pushing I Need to Get My Gloves On!" I said , "Really stop pushing?" She hurried and was able to catch Grant! With all our other kids Dr. Kudlinski was in the room the whole time I pushed, but this time she just kept checking in on us because she said we were in good hands with our nurse RaKay, and she was right. My mom was in the delivery room with us just like she has been for all the other kids deliveries. This time I think she got pretty scared because I was having such a hard time getting Grant out. She said she cried much of the drive home, she knew how close I came to having a c-section! One Happy Daddy! Justin was such a great coach this time. Usually he is pretty quite and doesn't say or express a whole lot, but this time was much different. He said all the right things and really helped me keep going when I felt like I had labored as long as I could. Thanks Sweetheart for helping get Grant here! We are so grateful to have this new, sweet spirit in our family! The next day all clean and sweet as can be!