Seaside

Mikey's sister, Erin, and her husband, Taylor, invited us to go down to Seaside, FL last week.  Taylor's parents (Tony & Lynn) and his brother and sister-in-law, Gahrett and Winn, all came...along with our sweet nephew, Jack and his cousin, Lyla.  Everyone was so much fun and got along wonderfully...they welcomed our whole crazy crew in like part of the family.

To be honest, I was TERRIFIED about making the 5+ hour trip down with two toddlers and a 2-month old...but it truly went WAY better than expected.  The kids were so good considering the time they spent in the car seat...and Mikey was pretty well behaved too.  ;)

Seaside is GORGEOUS.  Every nook and cranny of that town is beautifully constructed and laid out so cool.  It's a fabulous place for families...everything is walking distance, most people bike or walk to dinner, shop, beach, etc.  Not much car traffic, and it feels very safe.

The water was crystal clear and the sand was soft and white and oh so nice between my toes.

As silly as this sounds, one of the best parts for me (probably because of the relaxation it provided) was the fact that everybody had little kids...so trips up and down from the beach for naps and snacks and shade was no big deal.  Everyone kinda did whatever they needed to for the kiddos, and we enjoyed the time together without any pressure to spend too many hours in the sun.  Parks and Marlee had a blast and Finn was a little angel, being so adaptable to whatever we were doing.

Huge THANK YOU to the Wards for allowing us to join your trip...we had a blast!!

Finn is 2 months

My sweet little guy is 2 months old already.  What?!?!

He is such a joy and I am shocked every.single.day at how perfectly his personality fits into our family.  He is so good and so flexible and so easy going.  Having two toddlers would be MUCH more difficult if he were high maintenance, but he is so content in almost every situation.  He will nap in his bed, in a swing, in the car, on the beach, in a stroller, in my arms.  When he is awake, he is totally content watching Parks and Marlee play.

For the past couple of weeks he has been SMILING!!!  It just warms my heart seeing that sweet face light up and his coos are the greatest sound ever!

At 2 months, here's some FFFs:
- 12 pounds exactly at his 2 month checkup
- size 1 diapers
- size 3 month clothes
- eyes are turning blue and hair still looks strawberry blonde
- is getting so strong...he holds his head up for a long time and look around.  he also pushes off with his feet when he is on his tummy and can push himself across the floor.  i also figured out that if i prop him up on the arm of the sofa, he can stand!  :)
- is nursing really well and also takes a bottle well (I try to give him a bottle once every few days)
- slept 7.5 hours straight to celebrate his 2 month birthday and has been doing about 6.5-7 hours consistently
- is the sweetest most huggable kissable little guy ever  :)

I LOVE YOU, Finn-Man!

Finn is 1 month old!

Finn is such a sweet, easy baby.  He loves to snuggle and would sleep all day if I let him stay on my chest.  His older brother and sister LOVE him to pieces and constantly want to kiss his head and hold his hands.  Most of his "wake-time" is spent with me or another adult sitting close to protect him from this sweet but intense sibling love.  ;)


At one month, here's some FFFs (Fun Finn Facts):
- wearing size 1 diapers (we had to switch over around 3.5 weeks old)
- wearing 3 month clothes.  i feel like he grew out of the newborn stuff immediately!
- has dark eyes...they were dark brown for a long time but are starting to show some blue now...so I don't know what they will end up as.
- has some light colored hair, similar to Parks' that has almost a slight hint of red in it
- holds his head up really well when he is  on his tummy at an angle (ie. laying on my chest)
- sleeps with his arms completely out and loose.  this actually blew my mind since parks and marlee needed to be swaddled TIGHT every time they went to sleep.
- he is nursing very good.  i gave him his first bottle at 4 weeks old and he took that very well too, so hopefully he will just be a really good eater all around.  we can usually go on a 3 hour schedule in the morning (8, 11, 2) and then he gets hungrier in the evening so it's closer to 2 hours.
- wakes up at night to eat twice...but has now made it 3 nights with only 1 feeding...progress!!!
- he doesn't really love a paci, but has taken one a few times when we were out of the house and he needed settling.
- seems very content and is happy to lay in a seat on the porch or in front of the window and look at the trees and lights

I love this kiddo so much and he just fits in our family so perfectly.  What a blessing!!

Finn's Birth Story

Finn Michael Richardson was born on May 16, 2013 at 11:12pm.  He weighed 8 pounds, .4 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.  He was and is perfect!!

My entire pregnancy went pretty smooth.  I had some bad heartburn, and couldn't sleep towards the end, but that's all par for the course.  Because I had a previous c-section and wanted to attempt a VBAC this time, I had an ultrasound at 39 weeks to make sure everything looked OK and it was safe for me to continue the pregnancy.  All was well, and I made it within 48 minutes of my due date.

I had my 40 week appointment with Dr. Carter the morning of the 16th at 11am (a Thursday) and everything looked good.  She predicted I wouldn't make it through the weekend.  She was right!

My mom had come to that appointment with me, and we headed to CMO to pick up the twins and grab some lunch after that.  We ended up going back to her house and hanging there with my dad while Mikey was working...and made plans to cook out that night when Mikey got there.  

We put the twins down for a nap around 2:45.  I laid down with Marlee to try to nap and felt TERRIBLE.  Just really uncomfortable and crampy.  Around 3:30 I had my first full-blown contraction and decided I wasn't going to fall asleep so I went downstairs and sat on the porch with my parents.  We started timing my contractions around 4:00 and they were coming every 5-6 minutes.  Of course I was in denial for a while, but after an hour I called the doc and he said to come in.  I hopped in the shower (after encouraging advice from Kim to do so...I will blog our conversation later) and headed in.

We got to the hospital a little after 6:00pm (Mikey took detailed notes for me as I asked, great hubby!).  I had to stop and put my hands on my knees once as we walked through the parking lot because the contractions were so intense.  

We went upstairs and they put us in a room right away to start filling out paperwork.  I was Strep B positive so they wanted to get 2 doses of antibiotics in me before the baby was born.  However, I checked in and nobody even came into the room for the first 30 minutes...which delayed getting the meds in me!  That was a bit frustrating.  We got there right as the nurses were having their shift change, so it delayed us getting started and ended up making me not have time for the second dose.  Everything was OK and Finn didn't get exposed, but I would've been a bit more upset if something went wrong.  

The nurse tried to get my IV in and blew 2 veins, so then they had someone else come in and try.  The second nurse got it the first time.  (I've never had anyone blow a vein on me...and I always get comments about how great and big my veins are, so I was shocked she blew 2!)

Dr. Cook came in for the first time at 7pm and I was at 5 cm.  He also said "You have a great pelvis" which Mikey thought was HILARIOUS.  I wasn't in a laughing mood at that point.  My contractions were about every 3 minutes, lasting about 30 seconds and very strong.  Not fun!

I got an epidural a little after 8pm (they had to get a bag of fluid and a dose of antibiotics in me before they could start the epidural).  Last painful contraction was at 8:17pm!!! Woo-hoo!  It did make me get a little nauseous and very tired so I rested and Mikey found the NBA playoffs on the TV to watch.  He noted that it was ironic that the first uninterrupted basketball game he has watched in 2 years is on a 17" tube TV.  Poor Mikey...this was really tough on him.  ;)

I got checked at 8:45 and was at 7cm.

Checked again at 9:15 and was at 9cm.

9:45ish I started feeling pressure, was at 10cm and the nurse called for the doc.

Doctor Cook was there within a couple minutes and said it was "Go-Time."  He broke my water and said he would be back shortly to check again.

At 10:30 it was time to start pushing!!  Lots of people came in the room, but it was very calm and actually a nice experience.  It still hurt even with the epidural, but it was manageable and I was able to recover in between contractions.  I pushed for about 45 minutes and Finn made his appearance at 11:12pm.

They put him on my chest right away (so thankful for this...I didn't get to hold Parks and Marlee until they were over a day old).  After I held him for a few minutes, the nurses took him to weight him and do the Apgar stuff.  He got a 10!!  Then they gave him back and I nursed him...he latched right away and did great.

I had a full term baby!  The experience of having Finn was completely, 100% new and different from having the twins.  While I remember overwhelming fear and worry the first time, this was happy and celebratory.  I am glad we got to have the "normal" experience this time.

Finn

So, we finally decided on a name.  Drum Roll.....our incoming little guy will henceforth be known as:

Finn Michael Richardson

I've received some mixed reviews, but Mikey and I like it, and Marlee and Parks say it really cute, so that's all that matters, right?  ;)

My favorite reaction so far:

Grandpa:  So have you named that kid yet?

Me:  Actually, we just decided today on "Finn Michael."

Grandpa:  Huh?

Me:  Finn Michael

Grandpa:  What?

Me:  FINN MICHAEL RICHARDSON (loud)

Grandpa:  Say it again...

Me:  FINN MICHAEL!#!%!$!  As in the "fin" on a fish.

Grandpa:  Oh.  Hmmmm.  Well....I guess I will call him "fish.

NO MOMMY, NO MOMMY, NO MOMMY

Parks' favorite word for the past few weeks:  No.
My least favorite word for the past few weeks:  No.

I am going to lose my mind if he goes on one more rant of "No Mommy, No Mommy, No Mommy..."

It's hard not to laugh sometimes, because it is just his go-to phrase, and even if he wants something, he starts with "No, Mommy" and then processes for a few seconds before frantically correcting to "yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Parks, do you want a cookie?"
"No Mommy, No Mommy, No Mommy"...[pause]...."yeah, yeah, yeah!!!!"

I hope this passes....quickly!!


Marlee has recently developed an extreme fear of BUGS!  She loves her little sandbox in the back yard, and will play with such focus for hours...but if anything that even remotely resembles a bug enters her area, SHE.FLIPS.OUT.  She freezes...she can't run away, she can't take her eyes off it, she just screams for me to come get her.  It's really sad, but so sweet too...because as soon as I pick her up, she turns at it with disgust, points her finger and authoritatively says "GET OUT BUG!"  I love it!!

Is it bad that I have considered buying some fake bugs to put in all the "danger areas" in the house, like my desk drawers and near the cleaning supplies?


Oh...and one more thing for today...I am down to 16 days til my due date.  Yikes!  I've been feeling light years better as far as the debilitating heartburn, but my hips are starting to move (I think) and it makes it difficult to get around...especially to chase kiddos.  Not much longer, I can do it!  He is also getting super strong and he kicks me so much from about 8pm - 3am.  Starting to get some strong (but irregular) contractions, too!  Tick, Tock....

4 weeks left

I had my 36 week checkup today and everything is looking good.  Kim came over and watched the twins while I went to my appointment...and I had to wait the longest I've EVER waited.  I waited for the doctor for over an hour and the actual time with her was under 5 minutes.  Lovely.  

I am measuring right on schedule, and actually feeling tons better than I did a couple of weeks ago.  During the week leading up to my 34th week (AKA...the time I delivered the twins), I think my nerves and anxiety of going into preterm labor again took a major toll on my body and I was feeling terrible.  We had some sickness rampage through our house too, which didn't help.

Now I am feeling more positive about hanging in there for a few more weeks.  

I really can't believe how quickly it is approaching!!

Big Sister:

Marlee is getting so independent, and loves to help whenever she can.  She is going to be such a great big sister.  She arranges her stuffed animals on chairs and tells them to "SIT!!" 

Today she walked in looking like this...

Is she the cutest girl you've ever seen or what?

Big Brother:

Parks' favorite word these days is BIG.  He loves it.  He also enjoys putting trash in the trashcan and cups/forks/etc. in the sink...which is AWESOME for me.  Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling too hot today.  Actually, he was literally feeling HOT so I gave him some tylenol and he perked right up.  I don't know if allergies can cause a fever, but I think that might a big part of it.  I hate when my kiddos aren't feeling good.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a fresh day for him.

I've got to figure out how to post pics to my blog without having to put them on instagram first.  I am so lame.  Sorry, Kim.