8 is Great!

This very day, eight years ago I married my best friend! Happy 8th anniversary, Shawn Michael! Our journey together started long before our marriage ceremony in 2004. We met in the fall of 1995 at a Deer Park HS football game. I was a sophomore and Shawn was a junior. I still remember that I was on a "date" at the game with someone else and Shawn turned around, introduced himself to me and then asked what I was doing there with that guy!! Haha!

I saw Shawn a few more times later at school, but he really caught my eye at a softball game. It was in May 1996 and I had moved up to varsity from junior varsity for the playoffs. I heard this guy yelling really loud from the stands for one of my friends and just being really funny and I thought "I have to meet him!" Come to find out it was Shawn. We were formally introduced, began dating and the rest is history.

We broke up for 6 months during my junior year and then for 2-3 weeks during my freshman year of college, but other than that it has been the two of us since May 1996! Shawn has always been able to make me laugh and I absolutely love that about him. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that he is perfect, because we both have our shortcomings, but he is perfect for me. I think we are a great team and compliment one another.

I love the godly man he has turned out to be; putting others first and trying to help people who are less fortunate than us. He is a great father to our three children and loves them to bits. I appreciate the sacrifices he makes for our family and the hard work he puts in to provide for us. I always feel safe and secure when he is near. Happy anniversary to my handsome hunk, I love you!

I saw this sign upstairs today. This was our "sign-in book" at our wedding; a huge canvas I made.



And on our wedding day.



Last one: our latest family picture together. We need to take another one soon.

Pretty as a Princess

Allyson is completely obsessed with being a princess these days and I absolutely love it. She is my girly girl with sass. Now I'm not staying that she won't put her older brother in a headlock in a moments notice, but she does enjoy the frilly stuff.

This morning she was reading a princess book and I was soaking it up and was able to record some.

After reading about the princesses she wanted to look like one.





In the picture above she told me "You can be the queen!"

Jase had a first today . . . feeding his little brother a bottle. He asked if he could and when I said yes, he was so excited! So glad that he loves Finn and wants to help out!

School Update

This week we've gotten back into the swing of school since I've had Finn. The routine as we knew it is no longer! I am thinking (and praying) that we will find a routine soon. Also, if we leave the house before we have our lesson that throws us off as well. We are operating one day at a time with an infant, toddler who isn't all too interested in potty training and a homeschooled Kindergartener.

Over the summer we have been reviewing all of the consonants one by one to make sure he knew all the sounds, could recognized pictures with the beginning sounds and could write all the letters. Well, I think developmentally he is passed that stage. So this week we wrapped up the consonants and moved onto vowels and are now more focused on sounding out words and writing them. Hindsight I should have started him on this from the get go, but what's done is done and I think it was a good review for him. Below is a pic of him and our new curriculum book for reading; he is excited about it.



Allyson is right there with us when we are having our lessons. Here she is coloring with "cold pink" instead of hot pink.



When we're not learning, the kids have taken a liking to our old iPhones; they have turned into iPods when synced up to the wifi. It's crazy how well they can maneuver on them, especially Allyson!



The week before last a lot of our friends came down with a stomach bug and we thought we dodged a bullet. Earlier this week Shawn had a bout with it and then last night Jase's tummy was not feeling so great. He is fine this morning, but I stayed home with him from church to make sure we did not keep spreading it around. {Like the bed head?}



Today is promotion Sunday at church, where the kids move up to a new Sunday School class; it coincides with starting a new grade in school. I'm bummed that Jase missed his first class in the new department. Oh well. On the other hand I'm happy that Allyson moved out of the nursery, I know she will love her new class and enjoy Little Learners during the main worship hour. Alisha is in Little Learners this morning and said that Ally is having fun!



This week we will be getting ready for Allyson's party. I feel good on where I'm at with planning, just need to wrap a few ideas up and go grocery shopping later in the week. :-) So fun, I really enjoy party planning!

1 Month Old

Dear Finn Michael,

You are getting so big and growing too fast. Today you are 1 month old. You enjoy being held and like baths, now that your umbilical cord fell off and you can get completely wet. You really love laying on your changing table and staring outside when I open the shutters. I can't believe how many times you have peed on me already, way more than your brother or sister did! :-)

You are already loved by so many. Your daddy loves coming home from work and giving you kisses. Any time you cry your big brother Jase is always right next to you and peeking in your crib to check on you. He never passes up a chance to hold you! And as for your big sister Allyson, she thinks you are the cutest thing and calls you Booger Bear like Mommy!

We are so blessed to have you part of our family now and cannot imagine life without you. Praise God for the miracle of life!

All my love,
Mommy

4 Week Update

I ventured out this morning with all 3 kiddos on my own. Finn had a 9:30 doctor appointment to recheck his weight and stool. Much to my surprise I was able to get all of us ready and out the door, only a few minutes behind schedule. I got to the doctor's office and they told me I was not on the schedule for today, but tomorrow. OH NO!! I'm pretty sure I made it for Monday, keeping up with my Mon/Wed doctor routine, but there's no telling. They went ahead and fit me in . . . so thankful! I did not want to do this again in the morning!

His weigh in was great at 8 lb 15 oz!! 11 more ounces from last Monday! He is 21 3/4 inches long, he has grown an inch since birth. His doctor was really happy with his weight and I was as well!! His stool turned out just fine, no blood. I was a little worried about the color of his split green pea poop, but the doctor said that was fine and when it is colorless that's when she gets worried. Great news all around! Praise the Lord for a clean bill of health.

Now his little hiney is pretty red this morning and I'm thinking it is the formula since he had 3 servings of it yesterday. The formula he is on makes his poop pretty watery and a little more acidic than normal. Since they do not think he has a milk allergy, they said I can put him on a regular formula (less expensive) and watch his stool for blood. We'll do another test on his stool at his 2 month appointment.

I decided to press my luck (remember that show? No whammies, no whammies, stop!) and take them into HEB for a few essential items. We went to the newly remodeled store on Fairmont, so it is very spread out and spacious. Ummm . . . bad idea on my part. Finn was not a happy camper about 10 minutes into it and this was the first time Ally has not sat in the basket. One word: craziness! What was I thinking?!? I ended up having to carry Finn, push the basket, and corral the other two. Geez! You should have seen the looks I was getting!! I will definitely remember this moment for when I see a mom having a not-so-fun trip at the grocery store. At one point I just grabbed items and put them in the basket. I got the wrong bread and milk! We'll eat and drink it, but it was like I was on that show Supermarket Sweep and was just throwing things in the basket, whatever product I saw first. I am not one to ask for help, so when they asked if I needed help out to the car I said no. The sacker must have felt sorry for me because he just grabbed my bags and said he'd help me. So thankful for that! At this point I'm definitely not ready for trips to the store by myself with all 3. We survived, but barely.

Weekend TV

Yesterday morning Jase came in my room and said he found a show on TV to watch. He told me that it was kind of like Wipe Out, which we may have watched 1 time. I walk out into the living room and he has American Ninja Warrior on! Haha! I asked him how he found this show and he said that he just did the channel down and came across it. If you've never seen it, it is a pretty hard obstacle course people are attempting to finish and then will then qualify for the next round, ultimately competing for $500k. Yesterday it was an American Ninja Warrior marathon on TV and Jase was beyond into it!!

And as for Allyson, she is so into princesses. I bought her a Disney Princess sing along DVD last week and she absolutely loves it! I mean she gets giddy watching it . . . I love it!

Princess Party Planning

Last night I ventured out on my own (for the first time) and met my mom up at Hobby Lobby. I have not had a chance to plan/shop for Allyson's birthday party, so this was my chance! I originally wanted to a Princess Tea Party and have tea cups and saucers with vintage prints everywhere. Simple yet classy. And Ally loves to play tea and serve people, so I thought this would be perfect. Then as I was at HL I wasn't finding what I had in mind and then started thinking about the Disney Princesses and how much she loves them right now and I know she'd love a Disney Princess party! So, I changed gears. While the vintage tea party would be so sweet, I know I do not have enough time to pull together what I'd want to do for it and she will love the Disney theme.

My mom and I were all over HL looking at things and getting ideas for the party. I showed her a cute craft I found on Pinterest and she thought it was a great idea and wanted to help me do it. Off to the fabric section! As we were getting what we needed we heard the announcement "the time is now 7:45 and we will be closing in 15 minutes." Why do they have to close at 8:00?!? Then we hear "the time is now 8:00 and we are now closed, please bring your selection to the front to check out." At this point I am in panic mode! We are still in the fabric section and my mom is getting some things cut. Then I hear "We closed 5 minutes ago, please come to the front." Yikes!!! As I'm walking up I the front I pass every HL employee and I try not to make eye contact! We were the second to last customer to check out!

Next, we decide to head to Party City to look at Disney Princess items. The clock is steadily ticking on us as we drive over there. I was able to pick up all the paper goods, which was great! As we were rushing from isle to isle we heard the oh so familiar announcement "we will be closing in 5 minutes." Geez!!! Then, "it is now 9:00 and we closed!" Again, we were the second to last customer to check out. Time to call it a night and head back home!

I feel a lot better in terms of preparation now. I had nothing for her party before last night and now I have her theme nailed down and can start focusing on the details. I can't wait to show Ally a few of the things I bought last night, I know she will love it! She keeps telling me that her birthday is tomorrow! Below is a sneak peek of some things I picked up!

This and That Thursday

Thursday already? I blink and he is over 3 weeks old! I love our little Finn and can barely remember what life was like before him. Isn't that crazy, he's only 3 weeks old, yet it is hard to imagine life without him?

Last week at one of his doctor appointments, the doctor heard a heart murmur, so I took him to a Pediatric Cardiologist yesterday morning to get it checked out. He had an EKG and all checked out ok. Praise the Lord! This poor little guy has been to so many doctor appointments already. I am hoping this trend slows down.

Grandpa and Grandma Leonard came over this week and visited with the kids. It was nice to have them over.




Nanny got to feed Finn a bottle this week and she enjoyed it!

On Tuesday, Finn's umbilical cord fell off . . . so glad!! He liked the bath so much better since he was able to get his belly wet.

Today I felt like my rear end never left the couch from nursing and holding Finn. I'll spare you the details, but it was "one of those days" and I needed some fresh air. After getting Finn situated we drove around, picked up a drink from Sonic Happy Hour, dropped off mail at the post office and then visited the park for about an hour. I love the blue swing there . . . it will be a new hot spot for us! Jase had fun playing on the par course and exploring nature. I'm glad we got out for a little bit; we need to do it more often.

Update on my hard drive. It crashed from the fall and the IT people weren't able to retrieve any data from it. :(( My dad was having lunch with a friend and he was telling him about it and he offered to take a look at it. Fingers crossed, I hope they are able to get some pictures back. I have just been sick about this all week, it's like I cannot take my mind off it. I am so thankful for this blog and the pictures I have posted on it.

3 week check-up

This morning I took Finn in for his weight check appointment. He was 8 lb 4 oz, 1 oz shy of birth weight. The doctor does like to see babies back at their birth weight by 2 weeks and he is 3 weeks today, but he didn't seem too concerned. I took in two of his diapers to have the stool tested for blood and they were negative, so great news! The doctor said the blood could have came from a tear in his rear last week. Since there was no blood in his stool, the doctor doesn't think he has a milk allergy. He said for me to get back on diary, but to keep him on the hypo allergenic formula for now. Since we changed a lot of things last week, we'll keep the formula the same and add diary back to my diet. I made another appointment for next Monday to check weight and stools and we'll go from there.

So for now I will keep breastfeeding and supplementing to top him off. The whole breastfeeding has really been a struggle for me. And honestly it has been for all 3 kids. I wish I had enough supply to solely nurse him, but that isn't the case. I am on the road to coming to terms with that, but it is definitely an inner struggle for me. I'll feed him what I can and give him formula when needed. I have also been taking Fenugreek to help increase my milk supply, but I stopped taking it yesterday afternoon. TMI, but I think it has been the cause of some major gas! Haha! For both me and the baby. And actually I have had less gas today (I told you TMI) which has been great and Finn has been less fussy as well. And to be frank, I don't think it had a big affect on my milk supply either. Hopefully Finn's tummy will continue to feel better.

I did quite a bit of research on dairy in foods, so if anyone ever has to go dairy-free, let me know . . . I can help! :-) And no, I have yet to have a huge malt, maybe tomorrow! I did pick up Chick-Fil-A for lunch, which was nice.

I am posting this from my phone tonight. On Friday my daughter decided to pick up my laptop from the couch and drop it 2 feet onto the floor!! I saw her do it and could not believe my eyes. She is not one to tear up things and I don't think she fully understood what she did, but it is definitely not working. I cannot even turn it on! Of course I have a lot of files that I would hate to lose, but most of all I don't want to lose my pictures. It has been a while since I have backed up my pictures on our external hard drive. I called customer support and since it will not turn on in safe mode there is not much they can assist with over the phone. They also said that it is probably not a software issue, but more than likely the hardware is damaged, which could mean my memory. :( A friend of my mom's offered to take a look at it. I hope they are able to salvage my pictures. All I can think about is our pictures from Disney that I have yet do anything with. Ugh! I can't think about it too long or I get depressed!

All and all a great report for Finn today. So thankful for that! Praise God!

Here We Go

Little Finn has been having a lot of bowel movements these past couple of days.  I started giving him 2 oz of formula twice a day per the doctor's request.  Well this morning I noticed he had blood in his stool, which is not what a Mommy wants to see.  I also think that his stool has been kind of mucusy these past few days as well.

I called the doctor and got an appointment for 11:20 this morning.  I brought 2 of his soiled diapers in and they test positive for blood.  The doctor said that more than likely Finn has an allergy to milk.  My options are to: 1) Eliminate all dairy from my diet if I want to continue to breastfeed and/or 2) feed him a special formula (Alimentum) that has the milk proteins already broken down and it should not result in an allergic reaction.

I would still like to breastfeed, but that means no more real butter, milk, yogurt, ice cream, etc.  Yikes!  I came home from the doctor and I had no idea what I was going to eat.  Most processed foods contain some form of dairy in them.  I was going to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but my bread contains dairy.  I opted for a salad with Italian dressing and snacked on some almonds.  Later I made some oatmeal and then had spaghetti for dinner.  This is definitely going to be a challenge and an adjustment for me . . . I love cheese!  It is time that I cut back; eating blue bell every night probably isn't ideal.  :/

I take him back to the doctor on Monday morning for a weight check and they'll check his stool again then.  It could take over a week (if not more) for the dairy to get out of my system, so the blood still may be present in his stool.  Until then, I will continue to watch him and keep a close eye on his diapers.  So, here we go . . . fruits and veggies for me!  Wish me luck!

2 weeks old

Hard to believe my little man Finn is 2 weeks old. We love him so much and can't imagine what our family was like before he arrived.

My girlfriend photographed my sweet baby boy this morning. Look at this precious pic of him. I think he looks so angelic asleep like this. She did a great job with him!

Wii Happy!

Let me start off this post with "yes, we are behind the times!" We do not own a gaming system! My mom tried to buy one for Jase a couple of years ago, but we thought he was a little young for it at the time, so we did not end up with one.

Every time he goes over to my mom's or Shawn's parents' house he wants to play the Wii. It is like a treat for him when he goes over there. Well my mom and dad really do not use theirs at all, so they decided to let us borrow theirs for a while. Can I tell you how excited Jase was to hear that?!? My mom brought it over this afternoon and Jase could not wait for Daddy to hook it all up.



Shawn was setting up Guitar Hero for Jase to play and Shawn had to "test it out" before Jase could play. Next thing you know, Jase says "Daddy, are you going to let me play? I'm the one that wanted to play this in the first place!" Shawn and I both laughed!

Earlier this afternoon our church had a singspiration after the morning service and Shawn was going to sing "Forgiveness" by Matthew West. I got little Finny all ready and we made our way up to the church to watch Daddy perform. He did a great job and I was glad we could all be there to support him. Everyone loved seeing Finn for the first time. :-)

Olympic Outfits

We have been Olympic junkies lately. So much so that we record them and I will watch them with the kids the next day . . . Jase is into it!! One day this week we were watching the Olympics and the men's synchronized swimming came on. Jase says "Do they even have underwear on?"

I chuckled and said "Yes, that is their bathing suit."

Jase replies "What kind of bathing suit is that?"

I explained that it was a speedo and that the divers wear them. It was funny and an interesting conversation. Since then he has commented on the long distance swimming bathing suits and the men's gymnastic outfits and whether they have underwear on and when they wear pants versus shorts. He is very aware of the dress attire.

First Dr. Check-up

This morning I took little man to the doctor for his first check-up.  The doctor thought he looked great.  He has gained 2 oz since leaving the hospital and hopefully he will be back to his birth weight by Monday.  The doctor said that if I wanted to supplement a little at this point I could or wait and see where his weight is on Monday and go from there.  She recommended that I try taking an herb, fenegreek, to help boost my milk supply.  I told her I had just taking it!  Haha!

She said that Finn did not look jaundice at all, which was great to hear.  Jase had a touch of jaundice, probably because he was not getting enough liquids, and we were sent to Texas Children's Hospital at 9 days old (same as Finn is today).  It was pretty scary because I didn't know what was wrong with him and Shawn was out of town.  Me, my mom and Jase ended up waiting in the main waiting area for like over 6 hours and then didn't end up leaving until around 10 pm.  And then to top it off we weren't really given a solid diagnosis.  Basically we were told to keep giving him plenty of fluids.  Ummm . . . thank you!

Finn was completely wore out after his first outing today and took a long nap this afternoon.  And actually I was too!  It was my first time to leave the house since coming home from the hospital last Wednesday.  He's still up right now, but he better start getting sleepy REAL fast.  We do not have any plans tomorrow, so I am hoping we all sleep in, the older kids included.  I had forgotten how much work it was to get ready with a newborn.  I woke up at 6:00 and took my shower while Shawn was still home.  From 6:30 - 7:45 I was tending to Finn, either nursing or getting him dressed.  The appointment was at 9:30, but had to be there at 9:00 to fill out new patient paperwork.  I'm so glad Jase's alarm was set and he got himself dressed and came downstairs on his own.  What a blessing.  I got Ally up and dressed, fixed her and Jase's hair and brushed their teeth.  My sister came over and drove us to the appointment since I am not supposed to drive until next Monday.  We ended up getting out the door on time . . . miracle!!

Finn this afternoon

He looks completely different to me when he is asleep versus when he is awake.  And even when he is awake he usually has his eyebrows squeezed together and is so serious looking.  I happened to have my phone handy earlier and was able to get a shot of him relaxed without wrinkled eyebrows!!  This picture doesn't show it, but his eyes are a deep shade of blue.  Shawn has blue eyes, so I'm curious if he will as well.  Time will tell.