Blessing Day

Last Sunday we gave L a blessing at church. We had a white outfit that K wore when he was blessed, but it had short sleeves and short pants, and it was too cold to reasonably put him in that, so he got dressed in his Sunday best.

Oh my three kiddos!

Our sweet littlest boy.

We were so grateful that Grandma and Grandpa could be here for his special day.

My good looking kids.

Sisterly love.

Winter Storm Nemo

The day after Winter Storm Nemo (which in Saratoga was nothing to talk about) we woke up to a beautiful sunny day and about a foot of fresh snow. It was also Saturday so Dad was home, what to do? Go sledding!!

Even Mom got in on the action!!

This is what L did.

1 Month

Birth Announcment

Bath and Tummy Time

Here is L's first bath ...

He does not like being naked, or cold, so being bathed on the bathroom floor was not his favorite thing.

Here is his first shower ...

He loved it, and was very calm afterwards.

This guy has so much hair he needs it combed.

Little Bear

Here is tummy time. You can't tell from these pictures, but he actually really enjoys being on his tymmy. I am seriously impressed that at 3 1/2 weeks he can raise his head as high as he does.

It's not his true sentiment, but I've titled this one "Mom and Dad, I'd like to tell you what I think about tummy time ..."

Siblings

K and C have been in love with their new baby brother from first sight. They got to come to the hospital the first night he was born, K held him first and you could tell he was in heaven. Even today he is constantly in his face and commenting on his every move and holding him as much as he can.

C loves him too and will, once a day, thank me for her new little brother. She will hold him too, but not as often and not as long, and only if he is clean smelling and not crying. At the hospital she held him for a few minutes but was more interested in a lollipop she had acquired at the gift shop.

The kids came by the first three days for short visits, but the fourth day they closed the hospital to kids under 12 due to flu season. That was hard for all of us. I desperately wanted my family together, and at that point didn't know when i was going to get to go home, and the kids didn't understand why they couldn't visit anymore. 

Thankfully it only ended up being a day and a half before we got to go home. The kids were very excited to see us, but even more excited for the lollipops that L brought home. Silly kids.

They have been amazing big siblings. I can't get them to change a diaper, but they will bring me the diapers and wipes, but that is it. C is struggling with sharing attention, and exerting her opinions, but we are all enjoying the new addition.

I love my THREE kiddos!!

Welcome Baby!!

Logan Matthew

January 8, 2013

8lbs 15.4oz, 20in

The birth story:

With a scheduled c-section, the birth story is not supposed to be very exciting, however Logan's birth story was pretty exciting for me. Logan's due date was January 25th and his c-section was scheduled for January 17th at 39 weeks. The first week of January I started having mild contractions. I had a full night of contractions that were 8 minutes apart, however they never got stronger or closer so I didn't go into the hospital for it. Also at this time I started feeling less movement from the little guy, which concerned me enough to go into the hospital to be monitored, which turned out fine. I also lost my plug that week, and when that happened I had a feeling that we weren't going to make it to the 17th.

During my appointment on the 4th, even after several nights of contractions, I was only dilated to a 1. The doctor had no intention of moving up my c-section date, but she agreed that I would probably not make it to the 17th. After this appointment I called my folks and let them know the details, and we all decided that it might be in everyone's best interest for them to come earlier than they had planned, and they moved up their arrival date by 5 days.

Tuesday the 8th I woke up about 1 am with contractions that were a lot more intense than I had had previously. They were about 5 minutes apart, but I still didn't believe that I was in labor. I ignored them for about 45 minutes then decided to take a shower and shave my legs just in case. These contractions were way intense, and they were constantly 5 minutes (or less) apart, so I decided that it was time to call the doc and head towards the hospital.

At 3am, I called my friend who was "on call" for this possibility and couldn't get a hold of her, so ended up calling my neighbor who was not at all expecting my call, and she wonderfully came over. 

I got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors to see what was going on. After about 1/2 a hour of sitting around being monitored they finally decided to check my progress and realized that I was 4cm dilated with "bulging waters." This got everybody moving quickly and within 30 min I was in the OR.

Here I am in labor. I was smiling, but really not happy. I was not supposed to be feeling labor, and really it is no fun! I kept saying, "this is not fair."

Logan was born at 5:01am. During the c-section, when they got to the pulling out part, I remember them saying "look at all that hair!" As they were stitching me up they got the call that he was a half an ounce short of 9 lbs. No wonder I was so uncomfortable!!!

We hung out for the required amount of days, and on Thursday I was ready to go home and be with my family. I had been having high blood pressure for awhile and so they decided to do some blood work before sending me home. The tests showed that I had high liver enzymes, so they wanted to keep me another night for observation. Friday morning I had higher liver enzymes, still had high blood pressure and they let me know that my red blood cell count was dangerously low, so they wanted to keep me another night for observation. My parents were here so Matt got to finally spend an evening with me. We had our Friday-night-date night in the hospital.

 Saturday morning my liver enzymes were lower, so that was good, but my RBC was still low so they gave me the option of a blood transfusion or going home and being on bed-rest. I chose the bed-rest.

Thankfully my parents had made it into town on Thursday night, so I was able to commit to bed rest. So Logan and I went home to start our "new life" ...