An island getaway...

We had the opportunity to take a dream vacation to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands for the first week of May. Wow! What a beautiful place! It was so much fun being able to spend some time with family, bask in the sun on gorgeous white sand beaches and snorkel in crystal clear, turquoise water! Jackson was a trooper and we couldn't have asked for a better baby! He not only hung out with us daily at the resort pool or on a beach but he took 2 ferry rides across the Caribbean with hardly any complaints! What a man we have! He continues to grow and astonishes both Josh and I daily with all of his progress! He now rolls over from his stomach to his back and holds his head high while having tummy time. He is working really hard on imitating our facial expressions and amazes us at how advanced he is! Below are several pictures from our trip; hope you enjoy them!


Jackson entertained us with all his new "tricks" our first night at the resort.

Waiting for the ferry on Jost van Dyke, an island in the British Virgin Islands.

Jackson napping on dad's lap while sitting in a hammock on Jost van Dyke

I liked this picture I took of a palm on the beach at our resort.

This is the view from our resort balcony. We got to watch the cruise ships come in and out of the port.

Another angle of our view from our room.

Jackson hanging out with us at Cinnamon Bay on St. John. Kenny Chesney sings about this beach and bay and we could see his home on the hillside-no Kenny sitings though! :)

A picture of Trunk Bay on St. John

Our little family at Megan's Bay on St. Thomas

Aren't my men sooo cute? I love them!

Josh and I at Megan's Bay
Grandma showing us how it's done at our resort gym!

It's never too early to start working out! Josh and Jackson doing sit-ups.

This is on the beach at our resort our first night in St. Thomas

Cute baby Jackson at 7 weeks

Thanks for the great trip Dad and Mom and Grandma and Grandpa! We loved our time with you and are so grateful you let us tag along!

Smile!

Jackson is now 6 weeks old; I can't believe how fast the time has gone! This also means it's time for me to go back to work. It's a very bittersweet experience for me: I'm excited to start working and learning to become a better PA, but I hate that I have to leave my little guy at home. I feel like I'm not doing my duty as a mother. I already am looking forward to the day when I can be the mother I want to be: home with my children. Luckily, Josh is an amazing dad and I know our son is in good hands.

Jackson started smiling at us a week ago. We've tried hard to capture it on camera and it has been difficult but we did our best! Enjoy his cute little smile! He also "coo's" and makes little noises as we get him to smile. We love it! For the most part he is a very happy little guy and a joy to be around, we sure love him!





This next photo is what I'm trying to use as his birth announcement. I'm hoping to figure something out soon so I can get it sent out before he gets much older! Anyone have any ideas?

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.