Fun in the Tub

We decided to bathe Brayden with his brothers one night, and Logan and Keadon were so cute with him. They are great big brothers, and just adore our newest addition to the family. It's hard to believe Brayden is going to be 5 months old on Saturday. Time sure does pass quickly!

Easter

Easter morning was kind of a funny experience. The night before, Logan had been talking about how "Mom and Dad" were going to hide the Easter eggs, and he and Keadon would find them in the morning. However, when he woke up on Sunday, he said, "The Easter bunny came!" haha! I'm not sure when he decided it was the Easter bunny instead of us, but Ross and I got a good laugh from that one.

Keadon was pretty tired, so he didn't care too much about anything at first. Eventually he warmed up though and had fun finding a few eggs and eating candy.

 

End of March

My mom flew up to visit March 25th and was able to stay for an entire week! We had so much fun and are grateful we were able to spend time with her!

March 21, 2012

Snow day! It snowed a lot (for this area) one day, so we just had to take advantage. We didn't have much snow gear because we didn't know we would need it, so we tried to make due with what we could find lying around the house. The kids didn't seem to mind though! They still had a blast!

This is Keadon smiling for the camera right after he decided he was cold enough to come inside. haha

March 5, 2012

Logan turned 5! We didn't do a party this year, but we did invite our good friends the Wolfleys over for cake and ice cream. Brooke was sweet enough to make the cake for Logan, and he loved it!

 

 

February 10, 2012

To celebrate Valentine's Day/our anniversary, Ross surprised me with tickets to a Brad Paisley concert. Our amazing friends watched the boys for us (we sent Brayden to one house, and the other two boys to another) until almost midnight that night! The concert was SO much fun! A few of the highlights were:

**At one point while Paisley was singing, he stopped, signed the guitar he was holding, and handed it off to a random audience member.

**Later during the concert Paisley noticed a girl trying to film the show with her camera. He then took it from her and recorded a few close ups of him singing, and he even scanned the crowd with the camera to give the full effect.

**Paisley moved closer to the back of the auditorium for a couple of songs because, as he put it, he used to sit in those same types of seats when he was young and wanted to make sure those audience members got their money's worth too. (The concert was on a college campus.)

Brad Paisley was a phenomenal entertainer, and I highly recommend his concert. He really showed appreciation for the fans, and the special effects used during the performance were great.

Scotty McCreery was one of the opening entertainers

The Band Perry was the other act. Kimberly was really fun to watch perform. She had tons of energy, and you could tell she was having fun!

Not the most flattering picture, but it's still a memory!

Carrie Underwood hologram

Catching Up

I can't believe it's already been almost 5 weeks since Brayden joined our family! Time sure does fly. I admit we are still trying to adjust to our new situation, but we are healthy and happy (most of the time). :-)

Brayden is the funniest kid. He makes the weirdest grunting noises that I hope to one day be able to record because there is NO way to describe how they sound. They definitely make us laugh though! He is also the biggest crier out of all our kids, and when he's mad, he does NOT let up. However, he is also really sweet and definitely knows his mom. Yes, I realize a lot of it is because I'm the food source, but I still love how he usually quiets down/looks at me instantly when I pick him up from his bouncer or when Ross hands him to me. I love knowing he depends on my for everything.

Christmas was great. I always dreaded having a December baby, but I've decided it is SO special. I found myself reflecting upon the birth and life of our Savior constantly and more deeply during the weeks leading up to Christmas, and I felt a connection with his dear, sweet mother like I've never felt before. Having a baby is always a blessing, but I feel I was blessed even more than usual to have one during this special season. 

Below are some family pictures we had taken the day after Christmas. (It was my brother's gift to my mom.) I admit I wasn't thrilled to be in pictures with so much baby weight left to lose, but I'm glad we have them. It's a nice memory. Plus, they didn't cost me a penny! Thanks Ty :-)

He's Here!

For those of you who haven't heard, we welcomed our newest son (Brayden) to the family December 5th @ 11:02 p.m. It came as a pretty big surprise since he wasn't due until December 17th! I've been trying for a very long time to write out Brayden's birth story, but it's just not flowing the way it should... (I blame sleep deprivation!) Anyway, here is what I have managed to put together. Forgive me if it seems choppy. :-)

I woke up Monday morning and noticed things seemed a little different with my body. I didn't think much of it though and continued to go about the morning as usual. Around Noon, I realized it was possible my water had broken. I decided to wait it out a couple more hours to see if there was any change before I called the doctor. I wasn't...leaking...a little while later, but around 2 pm (I think) I just felt like I needed to call his office anyway. I spoke with the nurse and explained the situation, and after consulting with the doctor, she told me I should come in to get checked out. (Did I mention Ross was 3 1/2 hrs away at this point?!)

I got a babysitter for the kids, sent Ross a text letting him know what was going on, and I arrived at the doctor's office around 3:30 p.m. After checking me, testing the fluid, and looking at it under the microscope, my doctor called me the "mystery patient" of the day. (Apparently the pH balance indicated it was amniotic fluid, but he wasn't able to see the crystals that are normally visible in the fluid.) We talked about what I had been experiencing up until that point, and after looking at all the evidence (for lack of a better term), the doc told me he strongly believed I had a high leak, and even though he wasn't going to be able to deliver me (he wasn't on-call until 7 a.m. the next day), he wanted to do a Pitocin induction ASAP.

Well great...my husband was still hours from home, my own doctor wasn't going to be at the birth, I hadn't washed baby clothes or packed my hospital bag (both things I was planning on doing that night), and I simply just wasn't ready emotionally. Not to mention I had been planning on doing a natural birth this time around but had been told Pitocin makes that nearly impossible because of the strength of the contractions. I had been feeling like the baby would come early, but I hadn't expected him to come almost 2 weeks before his due date...while Ross was out of town.

I hurried home and threw a couple of essentials in a bad and headed off to the hospital. I think it was around 6 or 6:30 pm when I was finally checked in and situated in my room, and Ross showed up--with a delicious sandwich he made himself--not too long after that. I was started on Pitocin and decided to continue with my plan for a pain-med free birth.

It was really weird to be able to walk around, sit in the jetted tub, etc. during labor. With my last two births, my water broke before I even started feeling contractions, so the hospital wouldn't let me sit in the tub. (They said it increased my risk of infection.) Additionally, I'd requested the epidurals pretty early on both times, so I was stuck in bed for the majority of my labor. Anyway, Ross was by my side the whole time, and he and I both made sure to stock up on plenty of pudding and graham crackers while we were waiting. Yay for a doctor who allows eating up until active labor!

A few hours later, I finally got to the point where I felt I couldn't take the pain anymore, so the nurse checked me one last time. Thankfully, I was fully dilated and ready to go! Luckily the on-call doctor was nearby because it was taking everything I had not to push that baby out! (It's pretty amazing how the body naturally begins pushing when it's time.) She set up as quickly as she could, and after a whole 2 min of pushing, Brayden Nicholas was born.

I honestly didn't even notice the pain very much while I was actually pushing. It definitely hurt, but the pain took a backseat to my desire to be done with the whole process. After Brayden was out, I felt a great sense of physical relief, but I could still tell I wasn't quite done. It took a few minutes for the placenta to be ready, but once I delivered that as well, I felt even better. I was exhausted, but other than that, I didn't really even feel like I'd gone through childbirth. (Brayden was a different story though. He cried off and on for HOURS after he was born.)



It was really cool because the hospital has a policy where the nurses are required to leave the baby with Mom for the first hour after birth. I was able to feed my new baby as soon as I was ready (and he latched on perfectly), and we were able to spend some time bonding as a family right in the beginning. Once the hour was up, he was taken to be weighed, bathed, etc., but ALL of that was done in our room as well. Pretty awesome!

**As a side note, the on-call doctor said it was strange because my placenta had already begun to calcify (a sign it was getting old), but there were also signs it was an early birth. (I don't remember what they were now.)

This birth had not gone as expected, but my new baby was (and is) healthy and whole, and we love him to death!

Right after he was born

The next morning

We all have a nerdy side, right? :-)