Dying Easter Eggs!

Easter is just around the corner and we are always looking for any excuse to celebrate around here so Easter Egg dying it was this Thursday morning!

I love how each year Lincoln gets more and more into each holiday activity and he was so excited to dye eggs this year. So much so that he eagerly joined me on a grocery store run to buy...eggs. That's it. No treats, no trip to Trader Joes to find the sasquatch (and earn a sucker), we went to buy eggs and he was ALL ABOUT IT.

I can't wait till Finn is old enough to join in on the fun as well! There's more Easter fun to come with the holiday quickly approaching this Sunday, so look out for more festive photos!

Finn's Newborn Photos

Similar to when Lincoln was born, we had family friend and photographer, Jennifer DeBarros capture some newborn family photos of our newest addition. Time is flying by and I wanted to be sure to post these before too much time had past.

That being said, I won't bog down this post with too many words...that will come with Finn's first monthly update which is already fast approaching!

St Paddy's Day Weekend Recap 2018

This past weekend we celebrated St. Paddy's Day the best way we know how! With leprechaun's, parades, corn beef and beer!

Our Saturday started out like most Saturday's with a trip to gymnastics. It was pajama day so Lincoln had fun playing and jumping in the comfort of his pajamas and this mama was grateful for not having to get him dressed (ha!). After gymnastics we made the trek downtown for the parade.

Spokane is a fairly small city with not a ton of traffic, but I swear it took us 45 minutes to go 3 blocks on Saturday. Apparently everyone had the same idea of parking in the mall garage for the parade because from the time we got off the freeway to the time we got downtown took FOREVER. We made it though, and after grabbing a quick bite to eat at the mall food court, headed out to watch the parade.

The parade did not disappoint and Lincoln got his fair share of candy along with an eyeful of trucks, leprechauns and various other parade peeps!

That evening we headed back home for Corn Beef and Shepard's Pie with my parents. Lincoln and I also whipped up some green inspired dessert and made Mint Chocolate M&M Cookies with Mint Ice Cream. After too much food and beer, we all headed off to bed.

Sunday was a pretty laid back day, but we had a TON of leftover corn beef so my parents came back over and we made Corn Beef and Irish Cheddar sliders to have to round out the weekend.

Through it all, our newest little side kick was a trooper and tagged along (and slept) through most of the fun!

Welcome Baby Finn!

I am so excited to share that our newest little addition has arrived. Finn Augustus Alexander was born on March 1, 2018 at 1:59 PM via C-section. He weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long. We are so overwhelmed with happiness that he is here and can't imagine what life was like before he got here. Beware this is a picture heavy post!

Let's go back to where it all began....

Wednesday started out like any normal day. I went to work. Kevin and Lincoln went to school and we came home, made dinner, went through our usual nightly routine and I laid down to put Lincoln to sleep. Lincoln wanted to fall asleep in mommy and daddy's bed, and we obliged since we knew the countdown to baby Finn was close. We just didn't realize how close.

After I put Lincoln down, I stood up and thought I was about to pee my pants. It was around 8:30 PM, I ran to the bathroom and "thought" my water may have broken but wasn't quite sure. With Lincoln, it had been a sudden gush, but this was just a bit of a trickle. However, every time I stood up, more would come out, and soon I was laughing because I honestly thought I just couldn't control my bladder anymore.

I called for Kevin and told him that I thought my water had broken and we should probably call my mom to have her come up and stay with Lincoln. We got ready for the hospital, my mom arrived and we headed down about 9:30. At this point I was starting to feel contractions but nothing too intense or crazy. They checked us into triage to make sure my water had broken and see how far along I was.

Once they confirmed it, and told me I was only 1 cm dialated and about 40% effaced they checked us in. I wanted to try for a VBAC and they were ok with it, but I wasn't able to labor at home at all because of it and had to be constantly monitored. By 12:30 AM I was in a ton of pain and was asking for the epidural. They checked me again and I had gone to 3.5 cm dialeted and 80% effaced. At this point they thought I was making pretty good progress and would be on track for a VBAC. The gave me an epidural which brought a ton of relief and had to hook me up to a bunch of monitors and put a catheder in.

One thing I did not anticipate with the VBAC was that they wouldn't let me out of bed or move around. I was miserable. I had to lay on my side hooked up to a million machines and could only move when they'd come in to rotate me every hour or so. By morning, I was really feeling the pain again and because I couldn't move to get comfortable I was pretty over it. They came in that morning to check me again.

I had made zero progress overnight. That was the first round of bad news. They told me I could wait it out but the closer I approached to the 24 hour mark, the less likely I was going to be able to have a VBAC. They were going to give me small amounts of pitocin, but again because of the VBac, could not give me more than a 4. We waited till 10:30 when they checked me again. Still no progress.

Finally at 12:30 the doctor came in and checked me once again and confirmed that again I had made no progress. I asked him the likelihood at this point (almost 18 hours into labor) if he thought I was going to be able to have a VBAC and he said, there was always a chance but the fact that I had stop progressing for almost 12 hours meant the likelihood was pretty small. Finn had already started to try and descend into my pelvis as well but there was no where for him to go since I hadn't dialated yet. Because of this the window of us having a regular C-Section as opposed to some kind of emergency situation was getting smaller and smaller. I looked at Kevin and the doctor and just told them, let's do this. Let's get this baby out. C-section it was.

They prepped us for surgery and we headed down around 1:15 PM. They got me on the table and prepped and Kevin got to come in. At 1:59 PM they pulled Baby Finn out and let Kevin cut the cord. He was perfect and healthy and it was amazing to hear his little cries as they prepped him and brought him to me. Kevin and I were both crying, happy tears of course, as we met our new baby boy.

After they sewed me back up, I met Kevin and Finn in recovery where the got us ready to go down to Maternity for visitors. Everything went so smoothly and was so different from the emergency situation and NICU stay with Lincoln.

Soon after we were in maternity, my mom brought Lincoln down to meet his new baby brother and it was the sweetest thing I've ever had a chance to see. Lincoln is so very excited to be a big brother. He's adjusting really well, while we do have some emotional moments here and there, he's so proud and loves Baby (banana) Finn so much. We're only 5 days in and being a mom of two is hard and scary, but also really awesome. I can't imagine being without my boys!

I may not have got to have a VBAC and if we have any more babes, a C-section will likely be my only option, but I can honestly say this was a million times better than last. Baby Finn is healthy. Lincoln is so excited to be a big brother, and we are slowly settling into be a family of four.

Baby (banana) Finn we love you so so so so much.