Jackson Leonard Rucks

Jackson Leonard Rucks made his grand debut into this world 1 day before his due date on Tuesday July 7, 2015 at 1:49pm. Weighing in at a whopping 8, yes EIGHT, pounds even and was 21 1/2 inches long.

Parker and Brooklynn were both born in the cold winter months, so this summer pregnancy was kicking my trash. The temperature here in Boise was over 100 degrees for almost a week straight (the week before my due date) and to say I was miserable was a complete understatement. My whole body hurt and my feet and ankles were so swollen.  

Tuesday Morning, July 7, Jared woke up extra early (5:30am) to get to work early cause we knew baby was going to be coming soon, so he wanted to get as much work done as he could.... at 5:45am, i rolled over in bed, and thought for a minute that i had peed my pants.... but i couldnt control the liquid! I went into the bathroom and told jared i thought my water had just broke, but i wasnt 100% sure. so we waited a little bit... i wasnt having any contractions, so i just paced the house... around 6:15am my contractions started up. They weren't awful, just uncomfortable. 

The kids woke up around 7am so we got them going for the morning, all the while my contractions were getting stronger and stronger. by 8:30 i was very uncomfortable, my contractions were coming about every 2-3 minutes. I told jared it was time to go. parker and brooklynn were outside jumping on the trampoline with grandma, so we said good bye, as we were walking back through the house my mom asked if we could bring her cell phone outside, and good thing she asked for it, cause jared and i were about a mile away from home when we got a call from her saying we had locked them out of the house! so we had to turn around and drive back home to let them back inside. at this point i was pretty sure i was going to die from the pain. a bit dramatic? possibly.

after arriving at the hospital they took us back to an exam room to see if i was dilated and we learned that my water had indeed broken, and that i was dilated to a 4. I immediately asked for an epidural, we were whisked off to a delivery room and nurses started coming in from all kinds of directions getting me hooked up and set up. the nurse anesthetist showed up about 9:45am and by 10:30am the epidural had kicked in and i was finally numb and comfortable. i still have no idea how woman birth babies without one. it blows my mind. guess my pain tolerance is just not that high! it was by far the best epidural i have had. it numbed me enough to not feel the contractions but i could still move my legs and feel a little pressure for pushing.

after things finally calmed down i was able to take a little nap while we waited. by 1:00pm i was completely dilated. I was nervous for pushing because i've had to push over an hour with my last two pregnancies. plus i had a feeling this baby was going to be much bigger than my other babies. (I kept telling everyone he was going to be an 8 pounder) i started pushing at 1:20pm, and to my great surprise, Jackson made his grand entrance into the world only 30 minutes later! He did need a little help coming out so they used the vacuum on him. he now has a big bump on his head where a little blood has pooled under the skin due to the vacuum. the doctor said it could take a couple of months for the body to break down that blood and for the bump to go away. i wish it was a little bump, but im sure when we go out into public i will get lots of questions on it, especially the older he gets!

i am so happy that he made it here relatively smoothly and safely. and im so, SO happy to not be pregnant anymore. his jaundice levels were fairly high, so we had to stay an extra day in the hospital, but it seems to be clearing up. 

Parker is loving having a little brother. The day we came home he wouldn't leave his side, it was cute. Brooklynn really doesnt seem to have an opinion one way or the other. but eh, thats okay. she has taken a greater interest in her own baby dolls though. 

rexburg trip

facebook reminded me today that 2 years ago, jared graduated with his masters degree! how is it even possible we have been in the Boise area for 2 years already!?!? we have really enjoyed our time here so far, and really don't have any plans to leave any time soon. jared's job is going great, we live in a great neighborhood and ward, we really can't complain.... EXCEPT.... we have no family here. and it kills me! i hate not living close to family. luckily jared's WHOLE family is just a hop, skip and a jump away in idaho falls, and my sister carissa and her family are just up the road from them in Rexburg. it's about a 4 hour drive to IF and 4.5 to rexburg, so we have made quite a few trips over that way since we have lived here. last week, jared flew to California for work, so i threw the kiddos into the car and drove over to rexburg for the week. i'm glad i did, we had a great time seeing family.

 cutest cousins around!

 parker and kyler were the best of friends all week and for the most part played pretty well together with limited fighting.

 brooklynn is turning into quite the sassy, spicy little girl and would scream NO, MINE! everytime she was around brant. poor kiddo became almost scared of her :(   i dont blame him though, she is quite the pill. 

 while we were there, carissa and kyle were moving just a few yards away into a bigger town home, so i was on kid duty all week. we took lots of walks and went to the park and played outside a lot. the kids loved it. 

when i was growing up, my dad was stationed in spokane, washington.... i had an aunt and uncle and cousins that lived in seattle at the time, which was about a 4 hour drive, so we made lots of trips over to see them. my mom and aunt would pile all the kiddos into the suburban and we would just party. flash forward 15 years, and here carissa and i live 4 hours away from each other and are now piling our kiddos into the back of my MINI VAN! EEEKKK!!! where has the time gone, and how is it possible that we are old enough to be responsible for a car full of kiddos?!?! 

Quick Update

the last time I sat down to update our blog was 5 months ago?!?! i'm not sure why i havent been updating much anymore... just being lazy..... but after going back and rereading old posts, i am sad i havent kept a better record of our family. so it's time to get back to it. without stressing my self out trying to play catch up, here's a quick overview of the last 5 months!

 Brooklynn turned 1, and thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake

Parker turned 4 and we had a successful first friend birthday party at our house.

 we introduced Brooklynn to Santa.....

 and survived a plane ride with 2 kids to colorado for chirstmas.

got to talk with our favorite sister missionary on christmas morning!

found out we are expecting baby number 3

and learned that baby is going to be another boy!

decided we didnt want to put 3 kids in the back of our tiny car, so we upgraded.... to a mini van :(
never ever ever thought id drive one of these..... but that's a whole post on its own. maybe ill write that story next time......

October Picture Overload

it's totally crazy that october is already gone, because it actually went SO. SLOW. with parker asking me EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. if it was halloween yet, i was about to pull my eyeballs out!!! next year we are definitely making a cute countdown so he doesnt ask me 5 MILLION times. but what can i say.... he was so excited to FINALLY dress up as captain hook, that all the asking was totally worth it when he woke up on Halloween morning and said with a HUGE smile on his face, "MOM! it's HALLOWEEN!!! YA-HOOO!!!!"

but before halloween could come, we had to make a trip to the pumpkin patch. and lucky parker, he got to go TWICE this year. We went one morning during the week with his preschool class, and it was so fun. and so nice because we were pretty much the only ones there, minus one or two other small preschool classes.

 on our way to our field trip! it should be documented that i left brooklynn with a babysitter.... shocking i know...!!!!!!

then we went again with aunt diana, uncle chuck and our cousins marcus and charlee who drove over from Idaho Falls and stayed the weekend in boise.

 brooklynn is clearly not a fan of selfies......

 come one now kids... cant you PLEASE just both look and smile at the same time?!? is that too hard to ask?!?!?

 oh he had SO much fun running around with these two. 

is that a real/nice smile i see from parker?!? its a miracle!

after the pumpkin patch, we headed out for some dinner and swimming at the hotel, which parker and brooklynn both loved. made me miss our apartment pool.....

we also carved and painted pumpkins at some point during the month...

Finally halloween made it's debut! We had a pretty low key day though. spent it at the library, and having a fun halloween lunch. 

parker decided back in the summer that he wanted to be captain hook, so i took that idea and ran with it! we all dressed up as characters from peter pan, and i do have to say, this might be my favorite family costume we have done yet! :) 

 oh be still my heart! can you believe i found that skirt and wings at the DI for less than $4?!?! Holler!

 wait, whaaat?!?! is this for real?!? are we really all staring and smiling at the camera!?

 hands down, cutest trick or treater out there!

i hope my kiddos always want to dress up matching their mom and dad! :) 

and that my friends, was october..... now bring on Brooklynn's first birthday, thanksgiving, parker's 4th birthday (whaaat?!?!) and CHRISTMAS!!!!! (which i will for sure be making a countdown too!)