Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas! We hope your day was magical, ours was! Kids just make the holidays, I am always extra excited for them every year. And this year was amazing, such a sweet spirit a new baby brings to Christmas. It was a rough and painful 12 hour trip to UT to my parents but we made it at 2:30am the other day. Stitches and long drives do NOT mix 😭 So grateful to be here in this beautiful snowy wonderland with tons of help with baby and the twins! Excited to get feeling better so more people can see the baby. Trying to heal and rest and avoid germs for now. 

Have a wonderful New Year everyone!

Cutest little man!

So, I am absolutely, totally, completely and beyond exhausted (8 hrs sleep in 5 days is not enough) and will post more about his birth and other things later. But man, is he cute or what?! Already has changed a ton and he's only 5 days old. He is so sweet, smells heavenly, is an even bigger champ at nursing after we got his tongue/lip ties revised on Wednesday by a super awesome doctor (more on that later), he loves to smile at his sissy, he's so tall he can't fit in any newborn clothes, he absolutely  hates dirty and wet diapers, has an insane and totally wild head of adorable hair, and loves to look at the Christmas tree! We are so much in love. Here's some pictures 🥰

He's here!!! Our beautiful baby boy is here!

Will post more later, but he is here!!! Arrived this afternoon, exactly a week early. Weighed 7 lbs 4 oz, 21 inches long, 4:11pm, TONS of brown hair, cried and poo pooed right away, and is insanely adorable and so, so soft! We are all just smitten 💙💙 I am so proud of myself for doing an un-medicated birth! I struggled a little (ok, kind of a lot) in the beginning but pushed through and things got quicker and easier. The birth assistant was starting to worry that he had an arm by his head or something because I was having a hard time in the earlier pushing stages, but I powered through! Turns out he just has a big ol' noggin, ha ha. More to come later when I'm more rested but I wanted to post something 😀🥳 Can't believe we have another miracle baby ❤

9 more days - come on baby!

Holy smokes, I'll be 39 weeks in just 2 days!! What is going on?! I feel like he is going to come soon, but we will see. So exciting!! I am still thinking this whole "letting things happen when they happen" is weird because I was induced with the twins lol, but I'm hanging in there. I'm feeling very big, sore and winded. We went on a walk the other night and I had 5 pretty good contractions but none lasted longer than about 15 seconds and they quit after we got home. While my sore body is hoping he doesn't go over his due date, I am pretty happy that I am hanging in there and will likely go full term or pretty dang close. Woo, go me!! 🥳 My feet, face and lips have gotten more puffy the last couple of days and I was hit again this morning with a strong "nesting" feeling and want to deep clean my whole house, ha ha. But me, my Dad, two of my sisters, my Granny and my niece, have all already all lost out on our family baby guessing contest of when he will arrive 🤣 I guessed the 8th. Was for sure thinking he'd be a little early! Blake's fam mostly guessed more towards his due date or just after. 

I did some partial squats (bc my bad knees can't do full squats) yesterday along with some hip rotations on my birthing ball (medicine ball) and it did look and feel like it helped him drop some. I could actually breathe and sing to the twins last night at bed time, ha ha. Normally I sound and feel like I just ran a marathon. Those exercises are supposed to be great for opening up your pelvis and encouraging baby to get fully into birthing position. I really hope my water breaks or I have some verrry strong/unmistakable contractions when he does decide to come because we live an hour away from the birth center, ha ha. Blake's worst fear is me delivering on the drive there or at home. So, keep his anxiety in your thoughts and prayers, ha ha. 

Cameron and Claire are beyond excited and are freaking out because "Christian is ALMOST 40, Mom!!!" I am really looking forward to bringing our sweet baby home and watching the twins be in complete awe over him. They feel like they have been waiting a whole lifetime for him to get here! Cameron informed me the other day that Christian will be sharing Cameron's bed with him and that he will be taking care of him, ha ha. He said, "I'll let you know when I need something mom! If he gets hungry, I'll say Mom he needs your huggies!!" 🤣 That's what the twins call boobs/nursing, ha ha. 

I have been craving pumpkin pie, cinnamon rolls, and anything tasty and carb loaded SO BAD the last few weeks! So my sweet mom has been making us allergy friendly and sugar free treats we can all eat like pumpkin ice cream and crustless pumpkin pie topped with coconut cream and pecans. So danggg good!!

37 weeks & 15th anniversary!

Hello, 37 weeks! And painful false labor contractions and baby jabs from Christian, ha ha. I swear he is armed with tiny forks and knives. You know what I'm talking about fellow moms...the painful sharp twinges in the last weeks of pregnancy that stop you in your tracks and take your breath away. I read in an article that it is called Lightening Crotch. Yes, it's a real thing, ha ha. I got me a birthing ball and I'm hoping that'll help! Also I'm getting another massage next week and going to the chiropractor 🥳 The chiropractor has been so helpful with the low back and tailbone pain, and the massages with relaxation and back pain. My massage therapist, Stephanie, is amazing! I also finally finished my Hypnobabies online classes this week and just need to work on my hypnosis audio tracks. I have already been using some of the things I've learned in my classes to help with the pains I'm having. I am really looking forward to using these and the other techniques during labor! I am so curious to see how it will all help me to have a more positive, calm, and beautiful birth. I HIGHLY recommend that all moms do this program! 

I had my 37 week appt via telehealth yesterday. The night before my appt I had intense nausea and back pain starting at 11:30pm. Ended up vomiting Exorcist style an hour later. I was so unbelievably sick out of absolutely nowhere and only twice. I was like...am I dying?! Am I going into labor and gonna be one of those women who vomit all during labor?! Do I have severe food poisoning and need to go to the ER?! It subsided quickly but it was sooo crazy. The midwives said it was likely hormone related or my body just really needed to get rid of something and fast. I didn't have a fever or keep vomiting. Just had the shakes/chills and some mild nausea for about 20 mins after. So it likely wasn't a bug. But anyways, fun times, ha ha. Only 17 days left!! This little guy is still perched quite high up most days, so who knows when he will come. But we are so excited for him to arrive! I cannot believe it is December and that he is almost here. Just hoping and praying that my labor isn't too quick because we live an hour away from the Birthing Center, ha ha. My parents will be here tomorrow! The twins don't know my Dad is coming for a few days also, so they'll be thrilled! We have been counting down the days for weeks and the kids are getting impatient for Grandma's arrival. Cam is very much looking forward to "all the cakes Grandma is gonna make me!" and Claire is excited to make crafts with her. It'll be such a relief to have her here! Especially after the other night. If I would have been going into labor we would have had no one to watch the kids and I have no clue what we would have done except have to take them with us or hope we were able to get a hold of someone in the ward at 1am to come sit at the house while they slept 😬 We don't know many people or have any extended family closer than an hour away, so it would have been interesting for sure, ha ha. 

I CANNOT believe it has been 15 years since we got hitched!! How time flies. So very, very fast. I never would have imagined years ago that we'd be spending our 15th anniversary nesting and resting and waiting for baby #3 to arrive. How blessed and so very lucky we are! We went from being terrified of never having any children at all, to getting beautiful miracle twins after almost 10 yrs of marriage and now another miracle baby at 15 years with no treatments! Life never turns out how you had planned, but boy, am I glad it went the way it did! Love this guy lots! He has been so helpful while I've had to rest the last couple of weeks. He just got done shampooing all the carpets and has done a ton of other stuff like make a tether ball for the twins. And he also surprised me (well kind of because he asked permission before he bought it - "so I wouldn't kill him", ha ha) with a very beautiful platinum diamond eternity band for our anniversary! Of course I didn't say no, bahaha, it was a smoking deal at Costco. He liked the Star Map I got him and the new boots he has been wanting for forever. The star map is a constellation map of the exact date, time, and location of when we got married. Since the 15th anniversary is your crystal anniversary, I got the star map because the lady who makes them on Etsy uses Austrian crystals on her maps. It looks much better in person, I'll have to take a better photo later in the sunlight. Here's to many more years of ups, downs, laughs, cries, kisses, hugs, annoyances, and gratitude!! Love you Blakey ❤❤ I am so grateful for you, our beautiful growing family, for what a hard worker and excellent provider you are, and what a fantastic and "very silly!" Daddy you have become! Families are forever ❤