Kent's birthday!

The kids made Kent a FABULOUS birthday cake for his birthday last week. It took me a minute to let go and let the kids do it the way they wanted. Kent said, "I don't care what it looks like, Natalie. Just let them do what they want." See why we love Kent? He is such a great dad with the right kind of attitude. We are thankful to have Kent in our family and grateful for all he does for us. We hope you had a great birthday. You are wonderful! :)

A lovely day for a round of golf

Ethan got a set of golf clubs for Christmas and he has patiently been waiting for spring weather to use them. Now that spring has hit Sunnyside, Kent and Ethan went out to the course to play a round. When they finished, Ella and I met up with them for some mini golf, while my mom stayed home to bond with Cannon.

Ethan and Ella were missing Cannon because they both kept calling this baby dinosaur "Baby Cannon."

Ethan hit the ball...

Right into the hole and it bounced back out!

Ella hit the ball...
Again and again (and again about 30 more times)...
Until she finally just dropped it in. We all cheered as if she had just made a hole in one and she was so proud of herself.

After golfing, Ethan and Ella did a couple rounds on the go-carts.


This picture was taken right before Ella crashed into the fence.

After golfing, we ran home, I quickly fed Cannon, then left Kent home this time to bond with Cannon. We picked up Grandma and Benjamin (a friend of Ethan's) to see Alice in Wonderland. I was nervous about it being to scary for the kids, but we decided it would be okay if we left in the middle of the movie. Well, the kids loved it! Ethan thought the battle scene was awesome, Ella loved the good and bad queens. I loved the colors, the creativity, and the story of Alice finding inner strength. Ella makes us play Red Queen vs. White Queen with her barbies. She keeps telling me she needs to go see that movie again. We also love going around the house saying "Off with their heads!"

A Day at Daddy's work

We took a trip into Kent's office for Cannon to meet everyone. We made popcorn balls for Ethan and Ella to pass out to all the employees. I can't believe we are now a family of five

Angel Baby

As many of you know, my first two babies were very difficult. Well, this time around has been a different story for us. Cannon has been so calm and patient. He sleeps well, lets Ethan and Ella hold him without crying, and only lets out a little squeal when he is ready to eat. Kent and I have been pleasantly surprised that a baby can be so enjoyable. All of the "hearing test experiments" that we did on him demonstrated how worried we were that he had to have something wrong in order to be so well behaved. Now that we have had him in our family for almost two weeks now, we know that he is just a calm spirit. We couldn't be happier to have this experience of seeing what an angel baby is like. I am just crossing my fingers that it will last.

Cannon's First Tubby Time

Ethan and Ella are wonderful older siblings. They loved helping me give little Cannon his very first bath. We turned on the hot shower to fill the room with steam so Cannon wouldn't be cold. As you can see in the picture, Cannon did not love it. He would rather be swaddled in a blanket.

The last 10 days

Since Cannon's birth, we have already fallen in love with this little person and feel so thankful for the blessings of his life. The day after he was born, he didn't pass his hearing test. We weren't too worried because they saw lots of fluid in his ear and rescheduled him another testing to be done after 10 days. As we were about to be released from the hospital, Cannon's temperature dropped, so the Pediatrician wanted to keep him a few extra hours to monitor him and make sure he wasn't fighting an infection. Luckily, after being in the warmer for a little while, he returned to a normal temp and we were able to take him home. Grandpa and Grandma had helped Ethan and Ella put together a birthday party for little Cannon. There were posters, balloons, even cake and ice cream!





At Cannon's check up 2 days after delivery, he had already lost nearly a pound and the Dr thought he had jaundice so we were sent to the hospital for testing. The next three days continued that way, where we had to go to the hospital and prick Cannon's foot to monitor his biliruben levels. On the third day of testing, he finally was out of danger and was not considered jaundice. I hated poking at him so much. He is such a calm baby, so when he cries it breaks my heart. Speaking of calm, we were a little worried that he was too calm. I know- that sounds crazy to not just be thankful (which we are) but after our two older kids being nightmare newborns, this seemed too good to be true. The fact that he did not pass his hearing test started to concern us. Cannon can sleep through anything. We started to notice that he didn't respond to loud noises as we expected him to. While he was sleeping, we popped a balloon next to him and he didn't even startle. So we popped another one with the same result. Okay, maybe he is just in a deep sleep? The next day we took him to Ethan's basketball game. The buzzers went off, the referee's blew their whistles, people yelled and clapped. Nothing. He slept through it without any repsonse. I was trying not to think too much about it, but my I couldn't completely ignore it. Later that night, Kent downloaded some dog whistle noises on his phone that we put near Cannon while he was asleep. Nothing. We played the themesong for Spongebob as loud as we could. Nothing. We clapped and shouted. Nothing. Kent and I looked at each other, trying to be brave, then I went to the bathroom to wash my face and get ready for bed. The emotions let loose. I cried and cried. After all that little guy has faced throughout my pregnancy, all the odds that he has beat, he still keeps facing new hurdles. I felt ungrateful asking Heavenly Father for just "one more miracle" for this little baby. I thought about the heavy bleeding I had during the first trimester and read that trauma can cause hearing loss. I feared that there might be a connection there. I also read that jaundice can cause hearing loss and since he had been border line after birth for jaundice I was nervous. Kent heard me crying and came in to comfort me. "He is perfect no matter what." he said. I know that to be true. I am so thankful for my husband and the man he is. I always trust him and know that he will always take care of his family. We prayed together and waited. Two days before the follow up hearing test, Cannon had another Dr. check-up. I expressed my concerns to the Dr. and he checked Cannon's ear canals. He said they are a bit kinked instead of completely straight, which should straighten out in the next few months. He also told me that if the bleeding during pregnancy caused any hearing loss, most likely it would have affected his vision too, where Cannon's vision is right where it needs to be. I left with more hope of a positive follow up test. Two days later, we returned to the hospital to have the hearing test repeated where he passed without complication! We are so thankful for the many miracles that we have been blessed with. Cannon is the mildest, most calm baby we could have ever asked for- and we did ask for that! :) He loves to be held and his older siblings love to hold him. We love our little Cannon and are so thankful for his part in our family. The first morning after we brought him home, Ethan and Ella both climbed into our bed looking for little Cannon.

Cannon's Birthday Story

In a nutshell: Cannon was delivered on his own, without induction. Perfectly healthy boy!


If I could write the way I would love for the delivery of my last baby to be, that is what happened. Since this pregnancy has kept us on our toes from the beginning, it was no surprise when Louie kept flipping to the breech position in the last weeks before birth. With his situation, the Dr. told me she would try a version and induce immediately to keep him from needing to be delivered by C-section. With the induction date scheduled for February 26th, my parents drove up from Utah two days earlier to be there to help with the kids. Prior to Feb 26th, Kent and I felt a little nervous being induced with Louie not being quite 38 weeks. We went into our appointment on the 26th with intention of finding out the weight of the baby and if my body was showing any signs of delivery to make the induction go more smoothly. The ultrasound showed us that he was still in correct delivery position (thanks to Jory) and he was approximately 6 pounds and 6 ounces. The Dr. checked to see if my body was preparing for delivery and told me I was dilated to a 4. Dr. Iovino also told us that we could go ahead with the induction and be in a good situation. We discussed our concerns of inducing before his lungs might be mature enough, but the fear we had that he would flip to breech position if we waited. She advised us to wait just a few more days and then be induced the following Tuesday night. We felt good about that decision and went home to get our last days of shopping and "going out to dinners" in before the big day. It was nice to be able to get a few more last minute items, spend time with my parents, go to Ethan's basketball game and attend church. After my Dr. checked me on Friday I began having irregular contractions at 7 minutes apart. They never got closer but sometimes they did get stronger. They lasted throughout the day and then stopped when I went to bed. Sunday night, the contractions got more painful but nothing to be concerned about. We had Jory and Kathy's family come over for some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls my mom had just made. Every time I'd have a contraction, Kathy told me "you have the look" that I was ready. Well she knew what she was talking about. We all went to bed and at 2:30 in the morning I started having contractions strong enough to wake me up and keep me awake. They were coming every 5-6 minutes but I could talk through them so I wasn't sure if this was "real labor" or not. I didn't want to bother my Dr in the middle of the night if it wasn't for sure so I hung out for a few more hours, relaxing in the tub, curling my hair, putting on make-up and getting my bags ready. Around 5:30 they were now every 3-5 minutes but still manageable. The last thing I wanted was to be sent home from the hospital for false labor. Since we live about 30 minutes from the hospital, I decided that we should go now so if they did send us home, Kent would still be able to make it to work on time. We got to the hospital around 6:30 and I felt silly because I had done my hair and make up and walked in feeling ok to tell the nurse "I think I might be in labor." They brought out the wheelchair and Kent and I laughed at each other because I did not need a wheelchair so I must not be in true labor. As we walked back to the room, the contractions were getting stronger and I was crossing my fingers they weren't going to send me home. The nurse wanted to check to see if my body was doing anything before she called my Dr to the hospital. When she checked me she said, "We are going to keep you here and call your Dr. You are dilated to a 7." I was surprised and excited. Contractions continued about every 3-5 minutes but I could handle them and Kent and I were still joking and having a great time. My Dr. came in about 20 or 30 minutes later and broke my water. I was told that I could get an epidural at anytime so I decided to wait since it was tolerable and I didn't want the epidural to slow things down. The anesthesiologist had a surgery that would last only 20 minutes then he would come check on me. As soon as my water was broken is when the joking and laughing stopped. The contractions started getting stronger and right on top of each other. I no longer had the option of having the epidural because the Dr. was now in surgery. I kept getting very hot so I would ask Kent to fan me off. He was fanning to quickly so I told him to stop fanning me. Then my back was hurting so bad I asked Kent to massage it. The second he touched me, it felt so painful that I told him to stop touching me. It was then that my Dr. turned to Kent and comforted him. "In every delivery, there is a certain point when the woman becomes very irritable. She doesn't mean to be, but it is completely normal." Was she apologizing for me? Oh boy. Well, the time came for Cannon to arrive and he did. We were so thankful that our adorable, little wrinkly man has been brought to our family. Meeting his eyes with mine for the first time was one of the most rewarding moments of my life. I am so thankful for Kent being such a great coach and putting up with my irritability. I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for trusting us to be parents of this precious little spirit. We already love him so much.

Cannon Rigby Copeland

Born Monday, March 1, 2010
7 pounds and 6 ounces
Measuring 20 inches long

More to come when I get a chance.