As of late.

Don't you love when you haven't blogged for so long that you don't even know where to start? Well, I don't know where or how to tell you all what's been going on the last couple weeks but I will share a few favorite memories! 

 First snow storm of last year. It's been the first year with Knox that things are really just getting more exciting each year with him! 

These two make my heart feel so full! Being a mother brings so much light in my life. As Knox gets older, the easier it's been to do day to day things. He can walk faster (funny, I know but have you ever tried carrying a 18lb baby in their carseat from the very back of the parking lot into the store with a slow walking child? yeah, your arm is about to fall off by the time you get to the finish line.), he can help clean up after himself and is so much softer to Finn! 

  I was nursing Finn and it was a little too quiet for quite some time. I went looking for Knox and found him like this. He was taking a cup of water and filling it up and dumping it out. There was water everywhere but I couldn't get over how cute he looked with his shirt on top of his head. 

Watching snow storms and getting a Jamba on cold days and visiting this hard working Dadda!

Fun adventures riding in the sled and building a snowman after the big snowstorm. Then catching Maddie stealing the snowman's arm seconds later. 

Celebrating his 2 1/2 year birthday with a impromptu photoshoot! 

My favorite activity I did this Knox this year so far! We spent 2 days (having a baby while doing DIY projects makes things take longer) making this fun play dough! You guys, it's literally the best play dough ever! And we play with it at least 3 times a day for a good hour each time. He has been so good with keeping the colors separate so they don't mix. When he's ready for a new color he puts it back in the container and says, "Mama, green one please?" He's getting so good with his manners and has always been such a good boy cleaning up after himself.

Here's the play dough recipe if any of you are interested. It feels so close to the store bought play dough and smells really yummy. 

You will need:

white flour - 1 cup

warm water - 1 cup

salt - 2 tbsp

cream of tartar - 2 tbsp

cooking oil - 2 tbsp

Jello (pick the colors you'd liked) - 1 3oz pack

Mix all ingredients into small saucepan. Keep stirring till most the lumps are gone. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until it thickens into a ball of dough. This step does take a little while. Just keep stirring, you'll know when it's ready when you won't be able to stir anymore. Once you've finished, put it on a floured cutting board to let it cool down (about 20-30 minutes). Once it's cool let the little ones knead it, adding in flour until it is no longer sticky (about 1/2 cup). At this point, you can add in extra food coloring to make the colors more vibrant, or even add glitter. I like to keep things simple, so this is how it looks with just Jello. 

I think that's mainly everything our little family has been up to. Just living each day at a time with fun little adventures! I don't want these little guys to grow up!

Oh and happy leap year!! It's just hitting me that I should have planned something fun for us today. Whoops! Maybe I will 4 years from now. ;) Plenty of time to plan! 

Finn 6 Months

Rolls around everywhere.

Can sit up for longer periods of time.

Loves food and still loves his milk.

Sleeps through the night and in his own room.

Loves screaming.

Loves to eat his little toes. 

He wasn't having pictures this day so it's so sad that we don't have very many. 

Finn 5 Months

Finn turned 5 months old on the 9th and I can't get over how big he is getting. He is tall, pretty chubby and has a big head! He is now in 9 month old clothes. Where'd my baby go?!

Sleep... What sleep?! But for real, this kid is seriously struggling at night. He slept better as a newborn than he does now. We are currently trying Baby Wise. It helped a little bit but lately life is so crazy that it's hard to stick to a schedule. And Finn isn't the best eater during the day. He likes to eat in complete silence and that's a little difficult with a 2 year old in the house. So, he leaves all his meals for the evenings when everyone is sleeping. I'm not sure how to fix this but I'm going to be working on it. 

Finn can now roll from his back to tummy and tummy to back. He only does it when he's wants to though. Which isn't very often because he's very content with just chewing his fingers and toes. Which I love when he chews his toes. I think it's the cutest thing in the world. 

He can also sit up now for just a few seconds then he gets overly excited and loses his focus and falls. It's cute. We will work on that more too!

He's stopped taking bottles all together a couple months ago and still no luck with that. I'm thinking we will try a sippy cup soon. Last Monday, we gave him oatmeal for the first time! I don't find that as exciting as most parents probably do. All the constipation and food allergy worries get the best of me. But he has to start sometime. Anyway, we gave it to him that morning and a couple hours later he was the grumpiest baby and didn't sleep more than an hour and a half that night. So, we've decided to wait and give it a try a little later. 

Finn, Mommy loves you so very much and so does Knox and your Daddy! We love watching you grow and learn! And we love your sweet, happy spirit! 

Finn's Birth Story

At 36 weeks along, I was checked to see if I was dilated or effaced. To my surprise, I was dilated to a 2 almost a 3 and 80% effaced. With Knox I had no progress with dilation at all and had him 4 days early! With how far I had already progressed my doctor expected me to go even earlier with Finn and gave me high hopes of having him by July 31st! July came and went and no Finn yet. I had secret hopes this would have been our last family picture with me at a little over 37 weeks pregnant.

 Five days before my due date at midnight,  I woke up with contractions that were 5 minutes apart. I had tested positive for Group Strep B (and wasn't with Knox) so I knew I couldn't labor at home like I like but my doctor said I could wait a few hours before coming in. After 3 hours with constant contractions, I got up to finish packing my bag. I noticed that by contractions had stopped completely. Big bummer! Two days before my due date I had an appointment and was dilated to a 4 and fully effaced. They knew how hard this pregnancy had been for me and I was struggling to move around because of my pelvic pain and him resting on my sciatic nerve. They asked if I wanted to be induced. We had family visiting from Minnesota until Saturday and it was so tempting to say yes so they could meet Finn. I let the staff know I really wanted to think it over and would let me know. I knew my body knew what it was doing and almost would feel guilty being induced because it wasn't even my due date yet! Trent and I talked and decided we'd wait till Friday morning and call if that is something we wanted. Friday morning came and I had been having contractions off and on most that day and decided we'd wait. That day, we scheduled to have family pictures of all of the Weston side because it'd been 2 years since we were all together. I was big, uncomfortable and taking photographs of everyone. Even though it hurt, I was really hoping it'd just put me into labor. So... here is what I looked like on my due date!! I'm on the far right in the black dress. Huge, I know! 

Friday past. I could barely walk. I was in so much pain. Saturday came and still no baby! I was starting to regret my decision on waiting because by this point I was in bed all day with so much pain and our family had left to go back to Minnesota. At 1am, I woke up with contractions that were 4 minutes apart! I waited about an hour and half and they were now 3 minutes apart so I woke Trent and we got ready to leave for the hospital. Dan (Trent's dad) gave me a blessing and it's amazing the peace a blessing ALWAYS gives! We took off to the hospital and I kept telling Trent they are going to send me home because I was certain my contractions would stop again. Even though they were now 2 minutes apart by the time we got to the hospital and they were still so mild! I planned on getting an epidural but with Knox I labored for 19 hours and really didn't want to be stuck sitting in a bed all day. 

We got all checked in around 4:30am and they started me on my antibiotics. I had to at least get one full dose of them before Finn arrived which takes about 3 hours. Trent and I just sat there in the dark talking for a half hour about how excited we were and we couldn't believe that he would finally be here soon. We talked about what we thought he'd look like. If he'd have red hair like Knox did, how big he'd be, etc. We both decided we should get some sleep before things got eventful. 

Fifteen minutes later, I turned to Trent and told him my contractions were getting pretty bad. I was debating on whether or not to get my epidural. After another 5 minutes I decided I wanted one. We called the nurse but she was helping another patient so a different nurse let us know she'd pass the message along. An hour went by and still no epidural. I was in so much pain with contractions coming every minute and a half. I couldn't catch a break. My nurse came in to check on me and I asked her what the status was on my epidural and she told me she didn't know I had requested one. She messaged the anesthesiologist to come right away. To keep me comfortable during the wait she gave me a temporary pain medication that felt amazing but made me dizzy. I didn't care though because for a few minutes my contractions were mild again. 

About 20 minutes later the anesthesiologist arrived and got my epidural started. He got it in but realized he didn't have it in the right place so he'd have to remove it and try again. He got started on the new one and I turned to the nurse and told her, I had a lot of pressure and needed to push! She was getting ready to come check me but then we heard this loud pop! My water broke! I felt so much relief but a few seconds later this crazy amount of pain came even stronger and increased even faster! The anesthesiologist hadn't even gotten my epidural in yet and I was shaking so hard trying to hold still so he could get it in the right place. Tears were streaming from my eyes from all the pain. I was struggling to catch enough air. I couldn't keep from holding my breath during each contraction. I told them that Finn was coming and that I needed to push! She went to check me and he was crowning. The nurse paged Dr. Blackett who was the on call doctor to come immediately. She walked in as the anesthesiologist finally finished. I had progressed from a 6 to a 10 in 15 minutes. After my first push, I turned to Trent and told him I couldn't do this! I was in so much pain and I couldn't even focus! I was apologizing to the staff for crying and being a big wuss. I pushed a second time and was just having such a hard time. I remember Trent sitting next to me trying to help me with my breathing. Counting during each push. Cheering me on. Telling me I could do this! The nurse called the anesthesiologist to come back (he was gone maybe a minute) and she told him to give me what they give women for emergency c sections to get me comfortable quick. He put it in my IV but once he injected it, I had my last final push and Finn was there. (Only 4 pushes just like it was with Knox!) My eyes were still closed and I heard the staff and Trent say, "Oh my goodness, he is a big baby!" I open my eyes and there he was! Finn was here! I looked at him and felt like I already had known him for so long! They placed him on my chest for some skin to skin while we waited for the cord to stop pulsing so we could cut it. 

Trent and I looked at his tiny little hands and all his cute little features. I couldn't believe that after 9  full, long and hard months he was here. I had forgotten everything and was just in complete bliss. I didn't expect my heart to feel even more full than it was! I can't even describe it. It was just a crazy amount of love. 

They took Finn to be weighed and examined after we had cut the cord. No one could believe it! He was 9lbs 15oz. Not even my OB was expecting me to have a baby this large. At my 40 week appointment I was only measuring 37 weeks! 

After only 6 hours of labor and a couple more hours of quiet bonding time together, we were moved to a different room. A big thanks to the amazing staff at the Logan Regional Hospital! They are the best. Especially, this time around. I didn't not have one bad nurse! Loved them all! And Ann Blackett is amazing too!

We loved welcoming this sweet baby boy!

Finn Ace Weston

9lbs 15oz

21 inches long

Born at 7:21am

8/9/2015

Look at the chubby thighs he already had when he was born! I was dying! To much cuteness!

  

The best part of a fresh baby is their newborn smell and snuggles! I couldn't get enough of it all! Oh how I miss this stage already! Why do they have to go and grow up?!

Later that evening, Trent's parents brought Knox to the hospital to meet his new baby brother! Thanks mom for taking these pictures with my camera!

 As you can see, Knox wasn't quite sure what to think of Finn. After a few minutes of holding Finn he wanted down and was playing with all the buttons on my bed, giving everyone hugs and kisses that were in the room. He acted as if Finn was not even there.

 By the next morning, Trent went home to see Knox and spend some time with him and brought him by later and you can tell he liked Finn so much more the second visit. Maybe it's because the room wasn't crowded with lots of visitors?

And he loved him even more when we finally were able to be released from the hospital and be home! 

Newborn pictures I took of the sweet baby Finn at just 9 days new! Which is extremely hard when you have a toddler who insists on keeping brother awake and thinks it's funny to crawl over mom while she's taking them. Next baby, I'm hiring someone.