Simplify, simplify, simplify . . .

Holland Rose

Holland Rose is a month old now.  She's smiling a bit.  Mostly out of the right side of her mouth, like a pirate.  I'm proud.  And when she does, her dimple pops.  Awesome!

Our bathing beauty loves to dip her feet. 

She loves her baths.  We spray the water out of the handheld thing at her feet and she lifts her feet and moves them in front of the spraying water.  Its pretty cute to watch.  Its my favorite part of the night.  Yeah, she'd stay in the tub pretty much forever if she could.  She cries each night when I take her out and we towel her off. 

Our friend JessieAnn Baird made the cute hat.

Jenn says she smiles a lot in the morning hours after I've gone to work.  Makes me sad that I miss it.  She definitely loves her mama.  Just when I think there is absolutely no way to soothe her and there is absolutely no way she could still be hungry, . . . hand babycakes over to mama and instant sootheness. 

I rule.  Don't mess with my Mohawk.

So two lessons I've learned: uno . . . mama has magic powers, and dos, my baby Holland Lop is a bottomless pit.  The girl can pound it.  She eats so much.  Did I mention she grew two inches the first two weeks?  And I don't know what's normal . . . but is a dirty diaper at every feeding every two to three hours normal?  Meta-bo-lism!  So if you're ever watching Holland and you're thinking, "she couldn't be hungry!"  The answer to that is, "oh yeah." 

My two girls.

She's over her jaundice but she's still pretty dark as you can see in the pics.  I think it must be Papa Turtle's Cherokee blood coming through because she's not snowy white like Jenn and me.  Sometimes Jenn calls her Coconut because she's kind of a nutty light brown color.

Ooh.  Who dat?

And she has this cool natural mohawk thing that happens to her hair.  Don't know how.  But her little chicken feathers just stick up in the middle. 

She loves Nana Dori.

She's been sleeping four to five hours at a time at night, then eats for an hour or so, then back to bed.  So not too shabby, I guess.  Not that I really have anything to do with anything at night.  Jenn, thanks for taking such good care of Holland at night, while I'm sleeping.  Wake me up if I can do anything. 

I love it when I come into the room after being away for a while and as soon as I say something, Holland turns her head toward me.  Jenn says, "Do you hear your daddy?"  Makes my heart go pitter-pat.  Maybe she likes me!

Actually, she kinda likes it when I hum in her ear or blow raspberries in her neck.  That can usually get a little pirate smile out of her.       

Brady, Grandpa Tom, Grandma Mary.

We enjoyed having Grandpa Tom and Grandma Mary last week.  They came all the way out here from Rexburg (aka Hoth) with Ty and Brady to help us a bit with our move and to see the baby.  Its was fun having them.  They were great help too.  We hope to be seeing them in a couple weeks when we go on our Tour de Hollanda through Nevada, Utah, and Idaho.  Woop-woop!



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It feels like a bit of a sacrifice.  I'm not gonna lie.



If you know us, you know we've agonized like never before the last few months.  We've had to make some tough decisions.  The last year or so has been one of struggle and learning for us.  A new house to build, my family moving away, I fell off the roof and broke my foot, financial woes, some illness, and it goes on . . . so we struggled to find some peace.  We fasted and prayed, attended the temple, and I kept at my job teaching institute.  We were desperate for help and wisdom.  We decided to simplify.  To pay off debts.  To offload stuff.  We felt it was the right thing for us to do.  And now the house is sold and we are on our way back to school, so I can wrap up my English degree and get into CES, maybe, hopefully, vamos a ver.  Its been an adventure mostly because its tough in the present tense and we don't know what will happen in the future tense.  Its an adventure in contentment . . . an experiment on faith.  I confess its due in part to all those nights months ago when Jenn and I would read Neal A. Maxwell to eachother before we went to bed.  I love that guy.  I miss him. 

An angel?  I dunno.

Adam and his family are on their way here right now.  We're excited to have a little time with him and Amy and the kids.  Isaiah and Maddox are growing up so fast!  We're hoping for some Mo Mo stories to share after weeks end.  Stay posted. 

K.  Peace out.  Do a good job, friends. 

Holland Rose --

Holland Rose Evans



She wasn't too happy here. 



"Aaaaah.  Its nice to be home."

My girls. I got two of them now. And I love it. I'm the guy who was never gonna have no one, and now I'm the guy who is always gonna have some one. Or some ones. I'm swimming in tender mercies.

This last Tuesday morning at 8:35, Holland Rose was born. She did real good being born. You shoulda seen her. And so did Jenn. My girls rule dot com. I still can't believe all that moms have to go through to bring life to, um, . . . life. So some specifics . . .

She's beautiful. 

Jenn went into labor around 3:30 pm on Monday afternoon, her contractions about 5 minutes apart. I confess that I didn't really now how labor and delivery was gonna go down. It was all just myth and mystery, mystery and myth. But no longer. I've left the garden and seen a bit of the toughness of reality. But it was Jenn that experienced it.  I love you, Jenn. 

Jenn suffered through the labor pains at home as long as she could, then around 8pm we went to the hospital where we were given the awful news that Jenn was only dilated 1.5 (is it cm? or sonometers?). They sent us away. We went to the mall and tried to grab a Jamba Juice. But as soon as Jenn put it down, she brought it back up, but with masterful aim -- right into the garbage can outside. Nice shot, Jenn. I'm sorry you're going through this.

Looking into Momma's eyes.

Jenn tried walking around the parking lot, but the pain was intense, so we called Uncle Frank and he let us crash at his house for a few hours. Jenn climbed into the bath and tried soaking away the pains. But there was little relief. We sat in Uncle Frank's spare room, in the dark, waiting for the next contraction, then breathing it through, then grimacing through the next one. Finally, Jenn turned to me and said, "I'm sorry, this is the only one we are having. Let's get outta here." We went to the hospital and thankfully, she was dilated to a four, so she was admitted. An hour later, Jenn had an epidural and she started talking to me again. We actually slept for a little while. Around 4 in the morning the midwife checked Jenn again and she was a 7. So they broke her water and it wasn't long after that that Jenn started to feel like pushing.

I've never observed anything quite like birth. It was miracle of miracles. Life to life. Pain then life. Blood, water, and spirit. Then she was here, with a squirm and a cry. Perfection. She had all her fingers and toes. Holland was full of fight and spirit, kicking against the nurses, pooping on exam table, and had a head full of dark hair and a cry like a hoarse kitty. Not a horse kitty. She has a dimple on her right cheek.  Some light brown hair on her head and strawberry blonde eyelashes and eyebrows.  She's beautiful and perfect and we love her to bits.

We stayed in the hospital for three days. Holland was a bit jaundiced so the doctor wanted to keep us so she could observe her. We go back to the hospital tomorrow to see if she's improving. But we got her home just in time for her to watch the American Idol results show with us.

So here we are now. At home. Jenn is sitting over there in bed, holding our little Holland Rose. She's sleeping like Rip Van Rose Winkel. We can't take our eyes off her. Every little thing she does is magic. We're a mess. Cut us slack. We're first parents and old 'uns at that.

We're glad to be home and glad to be a family. What an adventure in contentment we have ahead of us.

My two girls.  I love them.

Holland Rose