August 2022

 August was a busy and very exciting month in our family - take a look:

The month began with me in Boise, Idaho, where I had traveled a few days earlier so I could be present when Megan gave birth to our first grandchild, who was due on July 29.  Well, July 29 came and went with no baby, and we celebrated with lunch with my sister Kathi and her daughter (Megan's cousin), Amanda and Amanda's kids.  It was fun to see them!

The next day, July 30, Devin celebrated his 25th birthday and still no baby.  Devin said he had a good birthday in Logan, but the best part was getting a video call from Autumn:

Megan and Mitch and I hung out, played games, went to the movies and the mall and cross stitched (Megan and me) to pass the time as we waited for baby to come. He was scheduled to be induced no later than August 5, but then the doctor's office called saying there was a scheduling conflict at the hospital, so they moved Megan's induction date to August 6.  Well, apparently, baby was having none of that and early in the morning on August 5, Megan's water broke so she and Mitch went to the hospital and by later that morning, she was in full labor.  I joined them at the hospital and after laboring several hours, Megan chose to have an epidural and the rest of the afternoon was spent napping, playing card games and waiting. By late evening, Megan was ready to push and after 2 hours of difficult and painful pushing, Evan Grant Patrick was born, weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long.  He is just absolute perfection!!

The first few days after his birth were pretty difficult with no baby nursery (due to Covid - so dumb!) so Megan and Mitch could get a break and some much needed sleep, and then Megan developed postpartum preeclampsia, which meant she had to spend an extra day in the hospital while they worked to get her dangerously high blood pressure down.  It was a stressful time for everyone and we were all SOOOOO happy when Megan was given the all clear and she and Evan could come home from the hospital.

Baby Evan loves being snuggled by his dad in the baby pouch

Evan in his coming home outfit

Mom and Evan home from the hospital!!

Just a couple of days after getting home, Evan had to be readmitted to the hospital for an overnight stay because Evan had dangerously high levels of bilirubin.  It was a very difficult 24 hours for Evan, Megan and Mitch and they were all relieved when his bilirubin levels came down enough that he could come home again.  While being treated, Evan had to spend 2 1/2 hours of every 3 hours under the bili lights and as you can imagine, he did not always like being there and it was torture for Megan and Mitch to listen to him cry and not be able to hold him.

But once he was home, everyone enjoyed lots of snuggle time with Evan, who loves to be snuggled.  We were all happy to oblige. :)

Bryce flew to Boise on August 13 to meet Evan before driving home with me a few days later

Here is Evan's official birth announcement picture:

And the first official family picture and picture with Evan's Baba and Lala :)

We sure love Evan and it was SOOOO hard to leave Boise after being there for 3 weeks and to come home.

We spent the next few days getting caught up on things that needed to be done at home.  We also went to the temple (one of my favorite things to do with Bryce) and we had my sister Kim and her husband Tim come stay with us for a few days for their granddaughter, Jessie's, baby blessing.  That was a super fun event and I was happy to see my sister Becki there with her daughters Bella and Sara and Bella's newborn (and out of the NICU) twin babies. :)

Becki is holding Finn and I am holding Meda

Six days after getting home from Idaho, I decided it was time to drive to Boise again and get some more time holding Evan. :):). So we drove on August 22 after Bryce was done with work and I spent my birthday snuggling and loving on Evan.  It was awesome!  We stayed for a couple of days more (Bryce worked from Boise and I just enjoyed time with Megan, Evan and Mitch.

I also received a very special phone call on my birthday. :)

Speaking of special people, Autumn is doing so great on her mission.  Sister Christensen was added to her companionship with Sister Dilling and the 3 of them are getting along great.  She is happy and had a very happy day at the end of August when Neela, a woman she has been teaching, chose to be baptized. We miss Autumn like crazy, but are so happy she is sharing her light with the people of Winnipeg.

Delaney started her final year at the U and is doing student teaching in art and film.  Levi started back for his second year of his master's program at USU and is excited about his classes this semester.  Seth started his Junior year at BYU. :)

We ended the month with a bunch of YSA activities to get to know the new members of our ward who just moved in at the beginning of the new school year.  Bryce got thrown into the pool at the opening social, something he apparently deserved after throwing a bunch of people into the river at the YSA campout in July. He took it well:

We also drove to Park city to have dinner at our favorite restaurant, Riverhorse, as a belated birthday/anniversary date.  It was amazing, as always.  We also visited our favorite bookstore, Dolly's and picked out a book for Evan. <3

That's it for August!  See you next month.