And then there were 5

A party of five, that is. Brodie was born on a Tuesday morning in June. We had gone to bed late the night before, trying to finish everything that we (read "I") procrastinated on doing. I think I subconsciously thought that if I didn't do it that he wouldn't come until it was done. Maybe you can use that excuse when you're waiting around to go into labor naturally, but not such the case when you are scheduled for a c-section. Silly me. The thought of 3 kids was really starting to freak me out. After going go bed, I laid there trying to relax and hurry and sleep, hoping I could just sleep for the next 5 hours without a kid waking up or my having to pee. And then I started having contractions, off and on. All. Night. Long. With the other two pregnancies I only experienced braxton hicks contractions and wasn't sure what was happening at first. But they freaking hurt. I kept thinking something might be wrong because I didn't know what real contractions felt like. I was eventually able to relax and sleep in between so nothing too serious, plus we were going to the hospital in a couple of hours anyway so I was trying not to worry. After delivery, I found out I had been dialated to a 3, which I have never gotten to, and makes me wonder had we not scheduled the section for that day if Brodie would have tried to make his appearance anyway. 

My last section with Finn did not go well. I was not completely numb and I felt quite a bit of the surgery and was in a lot of pain. After surgery one of my nurses thought I had a post-op hemorrhage and so they were "massaging" my stomach/uterus alot, ya know, the one I just had major surgery on, to try and slow the bleeding. Found out from my dr later that it wasn't that bad and he thinks that because my nurse was new she may have just been a little excited. Oh. Gee thanks. Because of this experience I was scared to death to deliver Brodie. I had spoken with my dr multiple times about it and he let me know that he would not let that happen. If they couldn't get me completely numb and comfortable that they would put me under general anesthesia, which I did NOT want because then you don't wake up for hours and miss that time with your baby. Thankfully after speaking to the head of anesthesia before my surgery and letting her know what happened I was able to have an amazing delivery -- despite having to get TWO spinals. The first one went the same and I found out that it only numbed the left half of my body. Being half numb, they sat me up and gave me another and it worked magically. Whew!

 On our walk to the OR in our fancy hospital garb. Layne was excited he got to wear actual scrubs this time around instead of just wearing the full-body white jumpsuit over his clothes.

 Right after delivery. One of the nice nurses volunteered to take pictures. 

 When you get someone to take pictures and they are also trying to do other things, sometimes they don't get the shot you were hoping. Oh well. This is the first time I saw Brodie. And at this hospital, they let dad and baby stay while mom is getting closed up. It was so nice having them there to distract me.

 Getting skin-to-skin after surgery for our ride back to our recovery room. Not the most flattering shot, but I was pretty emotional. :)

 Measuring our little chub-a-lub and finding out he was quite a bit bigger than either of his older siblings.

 Relaxing after all the commotion of getting weighed, bathed, measured

 Lucy and Finn meeting their new baby brother

 Despite the crying, I'm pretty sure Lucy has this same smile on her face every time she gets to hold him. 

 The crocheted hat -- the nurses said it was the only one that size that they could find. None of my kids have been able to wear the little pink and blue hospital hats because their heads were so big, haha. 

 Getting ready to go home. 

 Lucy burping Brodie

 Brothers <3 font="">

 Eyes open

Our three little munchkins 

A New Year

I'm not one for making resolutions and with all the social media out there now, blogging has been on the bottom of my list. I never got into the habit of doing it anyways. But I know how much I love seeing pictures of friends and family and reading about adventures on others' blogs, so I'm going to try and make an effort to try and blog this year. It might become a little trickier come June with the addition of Baby Burt #3 but I will try my best because I sure do love seeing pictures of new babes and reading about birth stories and experiences (although I don't know that I have ever shared or recorded either of mine thus far). 

I'll just update a little bit (without pictures, sorry). We moved to Northern Minnesota last March for Layne's job. He does project controls for a retrofit project on a coal plant up here. The summer was rough because we are renting a really old house without a/c and the mosquitoes up here were the worst they have ever been in years. They love my blood. And Lucy's. Hopefully this year they are not that bad although I probably won't be spending too much time outside during the first of the summer. The winter has definitely started up here and has been very cold so far. I'm not excited for the next two months of it, but hopefully it won't be record breaking like last year. 

Anywho -- its dinnertime so I gotta run, but hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures and more to talk/update you with. 

Snippity-snip!

I chopped off all of my hair! The humidity does not agree with it or rather the lack of effort I put into doing my hair lately. Having two littles definitely makes prettifying myself a little harder when one doesn't sleep much, then wakes up at the crack of dawn, goes back down for a nap right as his sister is getting up for the day and she barely naps in the afternoon. Oy! I tell you the lack of sleep is KILLING me. We had a good thing going before we moved but spending 6 nights together in a hotel room when mom coddles you because she doesn't want you crying and waking your sister up really does a number on a babe. So right now he's on a wake-up-every-2ish-hours streak and I'm ready for it to be over.  

Back to my hair...so I've been wanting to cut it since before I had Finn. He's 7 months old. I think I waited long enough. I just hate finding a stylist that I get along with that does exactly what I want and is helpful because someone like me doesn't know what looks good for my face shape or what style will work with my texture of hair. I need a professional to tell me. And boy oh boy did I find a keeper today! Her name is Stephanie and she is AmAzInG! I'm in stylist love! Seriously. She did such a great job and I went in knowing I wanted a change but didn't know exactly what. And she did to my hair what even I didn't know I wanted and I am freaking loving it! I haven't had to style it myself just yet, but with the length I can already tell it is going to take considerably less time getting it together and looking somewhat cute for my handsome hubster.

So are you ready for pics?

BEFORES:

This beauty was taken after our aquarium visit - I usually just shower and then throw it into some kind of bun because its hot and humid and blow-drying my hair for 10+ minutes makes me want to pass out...and its annoying when I walk outside and it frizzes out like nobody's business.

 The length - SUPER long. If I had more time I could do all kinds of fun things. But I don't.

AFTERS:

So off it went!

Don't mind this selfie and the major eye-bags and pasty skin. Did I mention I haven't been sleeping? Focus on the new do. What do you think?

 The back - SUPER crazy short. Somewhat A-line bob. And I love it!

It is amazing what a new hair do can do for your self esteem and how it can make you feel like a million bucks (at least me, anyways)! I was struttin' my stuff all the way out of the mall, through the parking lot, into the minivan and during the entire 8 minute drive home. :-)

P.S. I love these two. Finn will just hang out with Dad and smile and touch his face. Layne will make funny faces and noises and Finn will just talk and laugh back. Its so cute! Our lil Finn is too sweet.

Fishies!

There is a lot of neat-o stuff to do here with kids and Lucy is just about the age that its fun to do it with! She's still a little young, but she gets excited and looks at things. But mostly she just wanted to run around like a crazy person, picture-crashing all the parents by jumping into the background of the photos they were trying to take of their own children. She also likes to just run, with her head down, not paying attention to what (or who) is around her. It can be tricky at times, but this turned out to be a successful trip. The playground at the end was probably her very most favorite part. She was easily the youngest, although not the smallest kid there and when it was time to leave, you bet there was a crazy tantrum that followed. Lame. If anyone has any advice on how to curb those darn things, I will take it! This girl can throw some crazy tantrums...usually while being held because we need to leave somewhere and she ends up sucker-punching you in the nose while shrieking and screaming bloody murder. Oh, fun times of parenting a two-year old. :-)

Here are some pictures of our adventure. Sorry if some are blurry. The aquarium peeps were very particular about no flash photography because it stresses out the fish and then Lucy hates the camera now so she won't pose ever and when I do try to catch her being cute, she sees the camera and turns or moves quickly causing me to snap a blurry pic. 

Kansas!

SO much has happened in the Burts home since the last post. Seeing as how I post like every 4 months, I'm pretty sure lots will happen between each post anyways, but A LOT has happened between these two posts. Layne's time with Bechtel came to a close the end of July and he accepted a job offer with a company called Burns & McDonnell in Kansas City, Missouri. So we packed up our family and moved westward. We rented a Uhaul trailer that Layne pulled with our truck and I drove the minivan with the two kiddos almost 30 hours to our new home from Phoenixville, PA. Oh. My. Goodness! I underestimated the length of time it would take. I figured that we made the 12-hr drive to Lawrenceville in about 12 hours with both kids so why not plan for 11 hours that first day and then the 7.5 hours the next. Oh boy. I didn't take into account that we were driving separately so that we both had to pump gas and then walk the dog while I change/feed Finn. Plus, I was driving so when the kids got restless I couldn't just hop in back and give them another toy or see play peek-a-boo with Finn or give him his binky and rub his cheek so he would fall asleep. It took us 14hrs to make the trip with multiple stops. Bummer. And I underestimated how tired I would be. Usually Layne and I take turns driving and with him driving the majority. I drove the whole way. And so did he. And then that overnight stay in a hotel consisted of Lucy running around the room at 11:30 at night because she slept for a few hours in the van before we got to our hotel so of course she was WiReD! I don't think I went to sleep until 1am. And then Finn woke up multiple times. Its just been a bummer.

We have been living in the Drury Inn since we arrived here last Thursday night. Thankfully we got a 2 room suite with a separate bedroom so that the kids can be put down and we can still watch t.v. and talk without waking them. We didnt' have enough time between Layne accepting the job offer and moving here to go house hunting in between so that was the first thing we did Friday and Saturday. We found a small 2 bedroom apartment that will work because its nice and cheap and we're hoping we can buy a house next year. It will be rough because it is small and both kids will be sharing a room this go around. Up until now Finn has been sleeping in our room with us. Hopefully he becomes a better sleeper. Quick. Or Lucy gets used to his crying and sleeps through him. 

Now that we have a place to live we were able to explore a little bit today and we went to the Deanna Rose Farmstead. Its got goats that you can feed, cows, fishing, pedal tractor racing, hayrides, a play ground and its free! I have a few pics and a funny video of Lucy. She really liked the mommy cow until she turned to look at Lucy and got a little too close for comfort. I crack up every single time I watch it. Every. Single. Time. 

So...I'm sure I've missed a lot of details but that's the gist of it for now. I'm uber sleep deprived and can't wait to be out of this hotel. Hope you enjoy the pics!

Come visit and we'll take you, too!

P.S. We will be living just on the other side of the Kansas/Missouri border, but heard from numerous people that the area is better than Kansas City and when the time comes, the schools are MUCH better so Layne will be working in Missouri, but our address is in Kansas. So. Wierd. Never ever ever in a million years did I think I would ever call Kansas home.

 

Where to Begin?

In a week it will be 2 years since we moved to Pennsylvania. We like it for the most part but would love to move closer to family soon, especially with 2 kiddos. It doesn't sound like Layne's job will be slowing down anytime soon so it looks like we will be here for at least another year or even two.

Lucy will be 2 in July but everyone that meets her thinks she is almost 3. She has the sweetest personality and super duper friendly. Until a stranger tries to get too close, then she goes all quiet and nervously clings to mom or dad. She can talk up a storm and also tries to mimic every word you say. She also makes up some funnies. I call her owies an "owie" or "a boo-boo." She combined the two and calls them her "boobies." Its pretty funny. And embaressing when out and about when your child starts saying "boobie hurt?" Haha. Speaking of hurt boo-boos, Lucy broke her arm about a week ago. During a playdate with our besties, Lucy climbed onto one of the toys and was about a foot off the ground when her friend came up and pushed her backwards. She turned and fell sideways, but caught herself wrong and broke both bones in her right forearm. Good thing our little lady is a lefty. After a week in a splint she got her cast put on yesterday and was such a little champ. She was smiling, sweet, and friendly to all the drs and nurses that came to see/treat her. The nurse putting on her cast said she needed to come talk to all the other kiddos and tell them how to behave. Thank goodness littles heal quickly and the doc said she only needs to wear her cast for 2 weeks.

Finn is getting to be a little chubby baby like his sister was, but not quite as chunky. At his 4 month well-baby, he weighed 17lbs and 26.5inches long. He is so different than Lucy. He smiles all the time. He coos and talks quite a bit more, too. Lucy would but when you were talking to her. He will talk for 10min in his carseat on the way to the store. He doesn't sleep. Ever. Well, he does but only when being held by yours truly and rocked/bounced. We finally invested in a swing so I could have some relief and "free time" to play with Lucy, clean up, eat. Its been nice. But slowly his nighttime sleep hs gotten worse and I am worried that its because of the naps in the swing. My pediatrician recommended I read "Solve Your child's Sleep Problems" so I bought it, but its long and everytime that Finn is sleeping and I have the chance to sleep, I'd rather do that than read. Maybe one day we'll figure it out.

Anywho, hopefully I can be a bit better at blogging, even if its just a few snapshots of what we're up to. We're getting internet soon so then you can have more than just phone pics.