Another road trip...

We went on an unexpected adventure at the end of March starting in California and then making our way back to Kansas! It was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of friends and family that we hadn't seen in awhile. Jackson also got to meet his great-grandparents, grandparents, and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins!

We flew to California and stayed one night in San Jose where Lindsey's family lives, then drove to Santa Rosa where Josh's family lives and stayed for 2 nights. We then got in the truck we purchased from Josh's dad and drove to Salt Lake where we continued seeing family and friends! Lindsey and Jackson then flew back to Denver from SLC with her mom and grandma, and Josh drove the rest of the way home to Kansas. Josh has officially driven coast to coast now and Jackson is now a seasoned traveler! He did awesome both on the flights and on the long car rides! What a trooper we have! It was good preparation for our flight to Miami in only a few weeks and taking him out of the country to St. Thomas.

We also celebrated Lindsey's 26th birthday on March 30. Time flies huh? It was a great trip and we were lucky to have been able to have such an adventure! We took many pictures so have fun looking at them!

Jackson is fussing but one of the better photos of all our family so far.

Grandma VW and great-grandma Day came to visit Jackson over the conference weekend

He loves his bath time!

Loves the warm water but a bit afraid too! Doesn't he look a bit concerned?

Cute little feet!


The Stokers meeting Jackson

The Cruz's

Aunt Ronda and little Noelle

Aunt Allison, Chloe and great-grandma Day

Great-grandparents Day...four generations in this picture!

Love him!!

Aunt Cyndi
cousin Meagan
Uncle Bill
Grandma Neuman seeing Jackson for the first time!!

Great-grandma VW
Great-Grandpa VW
He likes sleeping in laundry baskets! :)

Labor and some family pics

Well I thought that I would post a little bit about the labor story...just in case anyone was interested in hearing it! As most of you know while we were living in Miami I was going to a midwife and had intentions of having our baby naturally...meaning no meds, iv's, ect. In fact, I wasn't even going to be in a hospital but a birthing center. And I was really excited about it and completely trusted the midwives. After moving to Kansas, I had to change my plans a bit. There aren't any midwifes in the area nor is there a birthing center...but I still wanted a natural birth. Luckily I found a doctor who was very open to fulfilling my birth plans.

Not only did I want to birth our baby naturally, I was kind of in a time crunch. Let me explain... my doctor is also my employer and he was scheduled to go out of town last Friday (the 13th) with his family, but he wouldn't go unless I had delivered. Believe me, I know how hard this guy works and I did not want him to stay in town for me! I was approaching 40 weeks with no signs of labor. I even asked to have my membranes stripped last Tuesday and I was so "locked up" that he couldn't get in to strip them! My mom also arrived that same day, wanting to play with a baby! Well normally I wouldn't have cared...a lot of women go past their due dates without any problems-except I didn't want to be the reason my doctor stayed home. So I started trying the "natural" ways of inducing labor for example primrose oil, castor oil, spicy foods, etc! Something must have worked because on my due date (the 12th) I woke up at 5:30am to use the bathroom and my water broke. No contractions yet, but I was excited because I knew that the baby would be here soon! At 9am I went in to the office to let my doctor know I was in labor, he checked me and I was only dilated 2cm. So I went home and walked on the treadmill to try to get things going. By 2:45ish my contractions were coming more regular but not very painful. We decided to go to the hospital at 4:30ish. My contractions were coming about 5 minutes apart but still not very intense. They checked me, still at a 2 but 90% effaced. At that point I was still pretty comfortable because I remember Friends was on and I was laughing at it. As time went on I started to get more and more uncomfortable during the contractions and eventually the contractions became so intense that I was getting nauseous and lightheaded. At this point I was very grateful for Josh who was rubbing my lower back and that helped me a lot! The nurse came in at 8pm to hook me back up to the monitors and after seeing how uncomfortable I had become, she decided to check me (I hadn't been checked since I came to the hospital). So at 8:15ish I was dilated to an 8, 90% effaced, and a 0 station. They didn't want to call the doctor yet because I was a first time mom and they assumed it would take a few hours still. Good thing someone changed their mind because when the doctor arrived at 9pm and checked me I was ready to go! Jackson was born at 9:16pm. That last hour and a half or so was extremely intense and at one point I felt like my whole insides were trying to come out...the nurses noted it as a "ring of fire" and that is a perfect description of what I was feeling. It only lasted a short time though and once Jackson was here, all the pain disappeared! It was pretty incredible. People keep asking me if I'd do it natural again...I'm not quite sure yet! As time continues on though, I think I could do it again, so we'll just have to wait and see I guess!

Enjoy some more pictures of Jackson! He is our "little burrito" and words cannot express just how much we love this little guy. What a joy it is to have him in our life!




With Grandma Van Woerkom

With Grandpa Van Woerkom

Jackson and Uncle Steve

Daddy and his little buddy.

Grandparents Van Woerkom

With Aunti Nina

Don't know why he looks so red in this picture! Thank you everyone for all the love and support that you haved shown our little family at this time! We are so grateful for your calls, comments, letters, presents, etc! We love and appreciate all of you!

Our beautiful baby boy

We are so excited and proud to announce the birth of our baby boy, Jackson Scott Clark, born March 12 at 9:16pm weighing in at 8lbs 5oz and 21 inches long. He has blond hair and dark eyes so far, with the longest little fingers and toes and the cutest nose on the block! We are so in love with our little guy and can't wait to get to know him better! Enjoy the pictures! PS We are all doing well!!



He didn't want to let go of Daddy's finger during his first bath.

A blondie! With dark eyes so far.


First family photo

Daddy and son

Josh got to help in the delivery, Dr Slavens let him scrub up and catch the baby.

Dr Slavens showing him off

Strong, healthy boy
Don't know why this one is upside down!

His cute little feet...don't know why it's turned

Jackson's first car ride, and coming home from the hospital

We love you our precious little boy.

The Road Trip

The trip from Miami FL. to Colby KS. produced an interesting video! It's kind of long but definitely not as long as the original trip, check it out! Special thanks to Mark Stoker for the production help!

Colby House Part 1

This is the main floor of our house. The basement is still a work in progress so I haven't taken any pictures down there yet. I know some of you are really wanting to see the orange shag carpet with the great pole in the middle of the room, but you'll have to wait a bit longer. Sorry. We are loving our home and we are officially ready for our baby! I am 37 weeks and am having small contractions that really don't hurt, just pressure...I'm pretty sure it's still going to be a couple more weeks until he makes his debut. We'll keep everyone posted!

The living room from the front door

Living/family room

This angle is taken from the kitchen doorway.

Kitchen eating area

Our kitchen

View from the doorway that leads to the garage and basement.

Baby boy's room! It's ready for him!

His little friends are waiting patiently in his bed.

View from the door

Guest/second bathroom

Guest bedroom on the main floor

Master bedroom

36 weeks and counting...

Here I am at 36 weeks pregnant...I can't believe how big I've gotten! I'm huge! But baby is doing well and we are getting soo excited to meet him!

This is a picture of the house we are renting here in Kansas. After a long, hard search we found the perfect place and feel it was an answer to our prayers! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms and a full basement with sweet orange shag carpet! We'll post pictures of the inside soon.

Josh's newest thrill is going to the truck stop and playing on the quarter machine. He and Mark played it for hours during their ride out from Miami so now he's hooked! It's pretty funny to watch!

See how intense he is?


While Josh drove from Miami, I was able to spend time in Utah visiting family and friends. Below are some pictures...

Sara Marie and Janell (friends from college)

Me and Di (also from college)

Jamie, Marlies, me...Bad picture (sucks seeing people you haven't seen for 5 years when you are soo pregnant!) Marlies is prego too but next to me you can't tell!

Marlies and I (she's an old friend from junior high and highschool)

Kansas Update...

For all of you who didn't know already, Josh and I moved to Colby, Kansas. Where is that you ask? Well it's a tiny little town in Northwest Kansas, about 60 miles from the Colorado state line (I think) and around 3 hours from Denver, right off of the I-70. We miss our home and life in Miami but we are really excited to start a new chapter of our lives here in Colby. I accepted a job working in a family practice clinic here and am excited to start working as a "real" physician assistant (I am now board certified! Yay!). Josh plans on pretty much taking over the town, and he will also be caring for our baby and attending classes at the local college.

Josh and I are currently living in a hotel...yep, a hotel. Apparently there aren't too many rental options out here and well to buy a house right now is a little sketchy so we are living in a hotel. Each day we venture out hoping to find something that will spark our interest, turn our head, or just anything that we can live in without having to put a down payment on!! We are searching and really do hope to find something to live in before the week is over (I mean if we were living at the Ritz or something then maybe we wouldn't mind but the Days Inn???) Plus, hotel living adds up fast...all while our "stuff" sits outside our window in a Uhaul truck.

Josh spent 40 hours driving from Miami to Colby last week (while I enjoyed seeing friends and family in Utah) and he video recorded his trip. As soon as we get settled we will show pictures of our new town as well as Josh's adventure across the country. In the meantime, we are alive and well and miss all of our family and friends very much.