TOP 5

We've been so busy this last month that I have severely neglected blogging so here are the TOP 5 things that have happened.

1. Mark graduated!! He got his masters degree in Religious Education with an emphasis in military ministry. It was such an overwhelming day for me and I've never been more proud of him. When I think about all the nights he stayed up into the wee hours to do his homework so that he wouldn't have to sacrifice spending time with me and Boston in the evenings I still get so emotional. He was such a dedicated student but has always been an even more dedicated father and husband and that's what stands out to me most about his schooling.

2. Since we had family in town for the graduation we decided to bless Lincoln that same weekend. I am often reminded how lucky I am to be his mother and I love him more than words. I feel like we have finally adjusted to life with two kids and are enjoying it more everyday.

3. I quit my job. This was pretty sudden and brought on by some unexpected changes at work. I had a lot of uncertainty about it at first and wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing but it has definitely been such a blessing. Since neither Mark nor I will be working all summer we just get to have fun with our boys and it's completely worth sacrificing my income for.

4. We took a quick trip to Montana which was one of the blessings that leaving my job afforded us so we could visit my grandpa whose health has been steadily declining. Even though he's on oxygen 24-7 and gets out of breath just walking to the kitchen he still woke up early every morning to make us breakfast and it was so touching to me. The last day we were there he was admitted to the hospital and pathology reports came back positive for lung cancer. He's now undergoing chemo.

5. We remodeled our condo and put it up for sale. This was another benefit of having family around since my dad is the handiest man I know. He helped us do a granite tile counter top in our kitchen, install new marble vanity tops and tile our shower. We received great reviews from the realtors that have come through and are hoping for a decent offer.

Picture Overload!

We were lucky to have our friend Kaela who is a talented photographer in town visiting when Lincoln was born so she took some pictures for us before going home. Thanks Kaela!!

All sick.

Photo taken by Kaela Cusack.

All my boys are sick. It started with Boston waking up sick last Wednesday and then by Friday Mark had it. I was hoping that Lincoln wouldn't get it but sure enough yesterday I noticed he was getting sick too. Ahhhhh! What an awful time to get sick ... but is there ever really a convenient time to get sick? I'm sure I've been exposed to it too but for some reason I still feel okay. Somehow I usually manage to avoid getting sick when Boston and Mark get something. I'm hoping that I can pass my immunity to Lincoln and that this won't last long. Boston is still the sickest of the three of them and maybe this is weird but I started giving him bottles of breast milk everyday hoping that it will help him recover. Do you think it will make a difference?... I don't really know but I figured it can't hurt.

P.S. Lincoln's one amazing night of sleep did prove to be a fluke and he's back to waking up every four hours.

P.P.S. I will post more pictures from Kaela's photo shoot soon I promise.

A Miracle!!

Lincoln has been a really good sleeper. Recently he's started to get into a routine and has been going to bed around midnight, waking up at 4am to eat and then sleeps until 8am. I thought that was pretty good for a 3 week old so I was surprised on Sunday night when he went to bed at 10pm and didn't wake up until 4am to eat... a 6 hour stretch was so exciting to me!

Then last night something even more amazing happened ... Lincoln went to bed at 8pm and didn't wake up until 4am to eat and then went back to sleep until 9!! I couldn't believe he slept 8 hours straight!! I don't think Boston was doing that until 12 weeks and even then it was exciting! I don't know if this will become his new normal or if it was just a fluke but either way it was marvelous!! Maybe a good nights sleep isn't as far off as I thought.

I'm sure some of you are thinking "Oh no he must not be eating enough if he sleeps that long" but I assure you that is not the case. Lincoln has been growing like a weed. He was 7 lb. 13 oz. when he was born and by 2 weeks he was 8 lbs. 9 oz. so I was shocked at three weeks to find out he was already 9 lb. 11 oz!! At this rate he's going to become one chunky baby!!

A tribute to my mom.

My mom is pretty amazing. She sacrificed two weeks out of her time to come stay with us and help out when Lincoln was born. I'm impressed she was able to put up with us for so long and I cried the day she left. She had such a magical way with Lincoln and Boston and I don't know how she does it. She's such a wonderful woman and one of my personal heros. We love and miss her very much and are looking forward to their next visit in April when Mark finally graduates!!

Do as I'm doing...

Boston has been such a little copycat lately and it's fun to see all the stuff he's picking up on.

One night while my mom was staying with us he put on her reading glasses and started typing on her computer like he was hard at work.

He likes to wear my headbands and always has an ingenious way of doing so. Here's one of many.

He loves walking in other people's shoes and he's actually pretty good at it.

This is one of my favs... he put on my nursing cover and even kept looking down the top because he must see me always doing that. You can tell by the look on his face how thrilling he thought it was.

We're grateful for all the laughs he brings to our home.

Lincoln's Birth Story...

Lincoln was a VBAC which stands for vaginal birth after cesarean. I had a c-section with Boston because he was breech (feet first) and since it was planned I never got to experience any of the joys of a vaginal birth like contractions and having my water break, etc. I have no complaints about my prior c-section because it was still a great experience and I had a really easy recovery but I still wanted the "natural" birth experience. So here it goes:

Tuesday March 9th:
10am: Dialated 1 cm. and 50% effaced. My midwife said I was measuring big and that she thought the baby would be "at least 9 lbs." and that he might be too big to fit through my pelvis so she stripped my membranes to try and speed things up. (Thankfully she was wrong on both counts!)
11pm: I was having contractions 7 min. apart and they were getting unbearable so we went to the hospital (I wanted drugs!)
11:30-12:30: When we got there I was dialated 2 cm. and 90% effaced (yay progress!!) They gave me pain meds and monitored me for an hour ... nothing changed so they sent us home. I was just relieved to have some temporary relief from the pain. They said it would last about 6 hours.

Wednesday March 10th:
1:30-3:30: I was finally able to get some sleep.
3:30: I woke up with really painful contractions that were 5 min. apart.
5am: I woke up Mark and told him we needed to go back to the hospital (I wanted more drugs!)
5:30: I was 5 cm. and 90% effaced. Yay, more progress so we knew this was the real thing!! I said "Is it too soon to ask for an epidural?" Thankfully it wasn't.
6:30: I got my epidural and they checked me again. The midwife said I was at 8 or 9 cm. and fully effaced. My water broke and she told me that the baby was coming really fast and she didn't think I would make it until 8am (shift changes).
7am: My contractions were really strong and really close together ... I was in heaven because I couldn't feel any of it. With each contraction the baby's heart rate would drop and take a while to return to normal so they gave me a shot to stop my contractions.
8am: no baby, no contractions.
9am: contractions start again.
10am: they are getting closer together.
11am: they are getting really strong and the baby starts to descend ... he's at zero station when they decide they need to stop my contractions again. I'm starting to realize this is going to be a long day because we're just going in circles.
12pm: no baby, no contractions.
1pm: the dr. comes in and starts talking about the possibility of a c-section if his heart rate starts dropping again. I kind of just zone him out because I'm so focused on having a vaginal birth.
2pm: contractions start.
3pm: Lincoln has descended to +2 station and they tell me I can start pushing. I was so exhausted and didn't think my pushing would be very effective since I was so sleep deprived but they were very encouraging.
3:30: The midwife keeps getting called out of the room by the Dr. who is telling her he's not comfortable with the situation - he's watching the baby's heart rate on a monitor from another room but I keep pushing.
3:45: The Dr. comes in and says "This can't go on any longer we need to get this baby out right now and my colleagues agree that we need to do a c-section immediately." I cry "No!" and he tries to tell me my baby will be brain dead but for some reason I just don't believe him. The midwife asks him if he can at least try forceps first and the Dr. said the baby was still too high for that to work.
3:50: They start preping for the c-section and I start pushing like my life depended on it. When the Dr. comes back in the room he observes that the baby is now low enough and that the forceps might work. He grabs the forceps and tells me to push.
4:03: Lincoln was delivered with the cord wrapped around his neck twice, his arm, and then his abdomen. No wonder he was in distress, poor guy.

My first chance to hold him. He was having a hard time breathing which is apparent by his flared nostrils in this pictures so they had to take him to the nursery right away and hook him up to a machine that helped to inflate his lungs. After an hour he was breathing well enough on his own.

After his first bath.

This first video captures his first cry which was such a welcomed sound because it took a while and it was making me nervous.