An Experience of A Lifetime!

In August I surprised my very pregnant niece Evelynne with an unexpected visit. You see, I led her to believe that there was no way I could come for a visit this year. She was expecting her fifth child and her due date was August 22. Jessica's daughter Maya was getting baptized on August 23 and I was hoping that the baby would come while I was there so I could enjoy both blessed events. With the help of her sister Jessica my "partner in crime" we schemed how we would surprise her. We drove over to her house,we had her come out to the car. Jessica told her there was a surprise for her out in the car and to close her eyes. She sat on the steps with her eyes closed and I sneaked up and sat beside her. She had no idea I was next to her. Jessica told her to open her eyes and when she saw me she screamed, laughed and than cried with excitement. She even made me cried. Words can not describe how fun much we had pulling this off.

These are Evelynne's four daughters. Tessa, Olivia, Mariel Ana and Gisele. They were surprise to see me as well. I love these girls they are an added blessing in my life.

Evelynne started having contractions on Saturday afternoon August 16th. They were about ten minutes apart and they were off and on all afternoon and eventually around midnight they stopped and Evelynne decided to get some much needed rest. Her mother, her sister and myself kept watch over her. Around 5:00 a.m. Things started happening again and we knew this was it!

The twist to this story is that Evelynne was having a home birth with a mid-wife. This would be her second home birth. She really was prepared for this and knew what to expect. Back to my thoughts about child birth. I really thought I understood what this process was all about. I was anxious and excited for this blessed event. It turned out to be much more than I ever expected!

It is amazing to see what a woman's body goes through during childbirth. You watch your belly grow month after month. To know that there a little life inside you and that it can fit in such a small space. And then to watch this life come out! I was in awe! I have to admit it was hard to watch her be in pain. I thought watching my own c-sections was hard but not as hard as watching a natural birth. My hats off to all you dads who have been there for all your babies. I can understand why it's hard for some dads. I'm not sure most women actually watch themselves give birth. I know I would of never watched myself. In the end I find it to be nothing short of a true miracle. I have to admit I thought Evelynne was a little nuts, but the truth is that I think she is an amazing woman. It is who she is, so close to nature and in tune with her own body. I'm glad I had my kids by c-section. I know I couldn't of never been able to handle natural childbirth, but I'm grateful for the experience to watch it happen. It makes look at children in whole different light. They are a gift and a miracle! I can appreciate the bond of motherhood and now understand why work so hard to protect them. We are like mother bears, but we go through so much to get them here.

After so much suffering and struggle finally elation and joy to see such a sweet spirit. Evelynne gave birth to Max Evan Stockman on August 17 at around 7:00 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs. and was
22 inches long. There was a lot tears and shouts of Joy! A beautiful boy with lots of black hair, big hands and big feet. It was an experience of a lifetime and pretty cool he was born on my 24th wedding anniversary.
Just a side note the only reason I was able to be there was because Alan volunteered to watch my daycare kids for me. It was great that I could experience this with my sister Elena (Evelynne's Mom) and her sister Jessica. Evelynne you have my respect and thanks for such allowing me the privilege of being a witness to a the miracle of life. I love you more than words can express!!

cutting the umbilical cord.

A welcome kiss from Tia Jessy

Proud Abuelita,very proud Tia Ana.

Happy Belated Birthday Monica

I was out of town so I wasn't able to post a blog honoring Monica's birthday. It's a day I could never forget. She was our first born and with that came much anticipation of who she would look like and a lot of worry about how the delivery would go. I remember being so nervous and excited all at same time. I wanted to do everything natural. I didn't want any drugs and I made Alan promise me that no matter how hard things got not to let them give me drugs. You can guess what happened next. Things did get hard and after a few hours I was begging for drugs. Alan was true to his word and refused to let me have them.

Well, you can say I got pretty ugly and the poor man had no choice but to let me have my way.

Though the drugs gave me great comfort they did nothing to speed up the birth of this little one who was trying so hard to come out. After 12 hours of labor the doctor was concerned that the baby was in distress and wanted to do a C-section. I wanted to try just a little longer and he gave me a half hour. Alan gave me a blessing and it was decided to do the C-section. It was something I feared all along, but after the blessing I was comforted and knew it was the right thing to do. She was born looking a little blue because the cord was wrapped around her neck. She was born on Tuesday evening, August 19, 1986.

I remember that it was several hours before I got to see her for the first time because I was so drugged up from the surgery. But she was quite the sight to behold. To me she was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. She definitely was the cutest baby in the whole nursery. She was a very happy baby and she had a winning smile. She loved to be in the middle of the laundry pile when I would fold clothes. Her favorite stuffed animal was this purple bunny that her Abuelita Hernandez bought for her. We had to take it everywhere we went or she would fuss. She was such a daddy's girl and her daddy was her world. When she got fussy she would always calm down when her daddy would hold her. When she was older she loved to go to work with her dad at the TV station.She would even pretend she was doing news updates in front of the camera.

Monica had many admirers. Her cousin Ben was one of her biggest fans. When she was born, he loved to help me take care of her. He would feed her and hold her. Monica loved him just as much and to this day they are just as close.

She had other admirers like her Tia Ines and her other cousins Evelynne, Jessica, Eric, Jason and her Tia Elena.,Tio Marco and her Grandma Pilbeam.

The rest are just some of my favorite pictures of Monica. Here she is blowing kisses for Mom.

She had the biggest brown eyes we've ever seen and they would always capture everyone's attention.

The girls loved it when Aunt Helen came to town and putting curlers in their hair was so much fun.

Here is Monica when she was two. She loved all the Disney characters and Minnie Mouse was her favorite.

This picture was taken when she was two.

Here she is in deep thought at age four.

Being a big sister was a big job but one that she took very seriously. Sometimes she even forgot who was the mom. She was so good at entertaining her siblings.
She took dancing lessons and loved all the fun dances she learned. It was fun to watch her. She was a quick learner. This was from a performance at The West Acres Mall in Fargo, ND.
She was always a loyal friend. This picture was taken at girls camp. These girls she has known since she was three years old. The two girls on the left Kimra and Chelsie are married now. It 's hard to believe that my girl grew up so fast and she's now out on her own As parents we dream for our children and hope for the best. It's hard to watch those milestones because with each one you know you're letting them go. From the minute they take that first step, lose that first tooth, go to kindergarten , and get baptized, they are becoming independent. They are learning to govern themselves. The rest is just a blur and if you think it gets easier with the next one, you're sadly mistaken. So, all you parents out there, hold on to your little ones, take a long look at those little faces everyday and enjoy every toothless smile every freckle and don't sweat the small stuff. Oh, and don't forget to tell them that you love them everyday.


To my girl Monica,we love you ! You were our first gift and may you treasure yourself as our Heavenly Father treasures you so that you can be a gift to yourself , to your young man (who also loves you) and a gift to the world. Happy Birthday, you are a celebration of Love!!