Minnesota-- "where's the snow?"

We made it here to Minnesota and we are so excited! This new adventure started on our way,  pugga helped us SO MUCH by driving our moving truck. We were able to make it all the way to Missouri and saw Liberty jail before we stopped for the night. Such a spiritual place to visit, I really enjoyed the tour and Finn was captivated by the life size replica complete with Joseph Smith.

 Far West was gorgeous, we stopped by that on the way out the next day. It was super peaceful early in the morning and it's surrounded by rolling hills and farm land. That mixed with the sweet spirit that resides there made it such an incredible place to be.

Pugga and Finn racing, getting Finn ready for another long day in the car

 This was definitely the best moment of the trip. Home sweet home for the next 2 years. The first thing Finn said when we told him we were in Minnesota was "Where's the snow?" for weeks leading up to moving we kept telling him that it was cold in Minnesota and that we could build snowmen and go sledding, so he was pretty disappointed when it was summer .

 Finn was so happy to have all of his toys back that he prayed about it for days after we got here. This kid has been such a trooper these past few weeks !

 Our apartment doesn't have AC which at first we were like "WHAT????" then we remembered "oh yeah, we don't live in a lava pit  Houston anymore" so with the windows open at night, a couple of fans, and nakey babies we are getting along just fine : )

We have a few weeks before Daniel starts school to explore our new home and we didn't waste time. we went to a fun farmers market where they were doing a live cooking competition, I was in heaven!

 

We checked out the Como Zoo. It is free fifty free! and was totally fun, it had everything from gorillas and tigers to Sparky the Seal.

 

 We went shopping for winter clothes at some fun Outlets. Having Daniel has made everything so much fun especially for me "hands free shopping, like what??" The only thing that got Finn through the long day was the promise of a giant popsicle at the end and it didn't disappoint

We went camping at one of the 10,000 lakes and had a blast. Both kids did really well. Our thin Houston blood was unfortunate during the cold night, but from what we have heard if mid-fifties was giving us trouble we're in for a treat this winter..... game faces officially on.

Bottom line:
 WE. LOVE. MINNESOTA.
It has been a fabulous couple of weeks and are excited for many more to come. 

as crazy as it gets.....

hopefully because these past few weeks have been CA-RA-Z!

We've been packing up to move to MN for weeks and it was finally becoming crunch time to get out of our house. We had 1 week left to finish up everything when we got a bit of a scare. Sunday morning after a long sleepless night we took B's temp and it was at 103. Finn had NEVER spiked a fever this high so I was really nervous. We called the dr's office and they told us that because she was so young (4 weeks) that we needed to go directly to the ER. When we got there they explained that they follow a certain protocol for babies this young with such high fevers. This protocol was a long painful 48 hours in the NICU complete with all kinds of testing. B was such a warrior and even with that darn high fever that kept coming back and making her feel terrible she was such a sweet baby, we got a lot of mommy daughter snuggle time, and all the nurses were smitten by her. Everything turned out ok and with a rash that showed up the day after the fever broke it was concluded that she had won the battle against Roseola.

with the fever bugging her she couldn't sleep very well unless she was in someone's arms so it was so sweet to finally see her peacefully asleep all on her own.

SO we made it out of the hospital by Tuesday and needed everything ready to go by Friday um yikes! Then an angel straight from heaven swooped in and made everything possible, my sweet sister Betsy and Cambo. Finn was so excited to have his cousin to keep him entertained and I was so grateful for Betsy!! In those quick 3 days we were packed up and ready to head to Utah.

We packed all 6 of us- B, Finn, Cambo, Betsy, D, and myself into the car and started our 30 hour drive. After spending one night in Dallas with D's family we drove the rest straight through. Daniel was a machine and drove all but 5 hours of the entire trip but B gets team MVP, we had to wake her up to feed her most of the time!

Um how long??

We fit like a glove...a tight glove

We made lots of fun stops

When we got to Utah we had fun hiking,

Catching fish with our bare hands...?

 Longboarding,

Looking for buried treasure,

Going on motorcycle rides--D's first one,

 Hanging out with our Besties!

and going to the 4th of July Parade.

 After a few fun days in the valley we headed up to Moose Hollow near Ogden for a family reunion. There Finn was overjoyed by how many cousins he had to play with! and B got A LOT of snuggles.

Re-enacting the BOM story of "Ammon and the Arms" with light sabers made from pool noodles

B loved Parker! It was so surreal to see my first little nephew, now old enough to pass the sacrament, hold my baby girl. Um I fighting my sister to snuggle him and change his diapers only yesterday right?!

 After all this fun it was time to face a 30 hour car ride back to Houston, where we are currently staying in a 1 bed room sublet for 3 weeks, until we finish our move to MN for D to start Grad school.

If it wasn't for Team Umi Zumi Finn probably wouldn't have gotten back in the car

We drove the first 8 hours caravaning with my brother Cory and his family, which is lucky because about 6 hours in we ran out of gas, and coasted into a gas station with our car dying out 50 yards away from the pump. Then about an 1 1/2 after saying goodbye to them in Denver our car dyed again. This time it needed a new Surpantine belt. We stayed in Limon Colorado for the night and found a mechanic in the morning that diagnosed the problem and ordered the part. We had a lazy morning swimming at our hotel before we hit the road again around 3 in the afternoon.
We pulled into D's parent's house around 3 in the morning slept like babies for a solid 4 hours until our babies woke us up.
We had a relaxing morning and afternoon with D's mom and Grandma House, and left for home around 2. Finally back in Houston grateful for such a fun trip and already missing everyone like crazy!

B meeting Grandma House for the first time

B's Blessing Weekend

 We blessed Betsy when she was almost 2 weeks old. It was such a special weekend and she was surrounded by so many people who love her so much!! Her Aunt Callie and Uncle-Father Grant came down on Friday night and we were able to spend a few hours with them on Saturday where B got to meet sweet little Emery for the first time.

They were instant BFFs with matching PJ's to prove it.

 

Then her Pugga, Grandma, Aunt Jamie, and cousins Ellie and Luke joined us Saturday night. Finn was so excited to see his cousins and LOVED every second he got to spend with them!

Finn and Ellie got a long so well, my favorite conversation we over heard when like this--

Ellie: Hey Finn do you love me?

Finn: Yes

Ellie: Good cause I want lots of kisses

Finn gladly obliged 

By then end of the weekend we had to limit the amount of kisses he was giving her :) 

 

Ellie was so cute putting Finn to bed, she read him a book and sang him songs, then tucked him in with a kiss

The next morning B had lots of help getting ready. She is so lucky to have such an incredible great-aunt Rebecca who preserved the very dress that I was blessed in. It was a gorgeous hand made dress from the Dominican Repulic and it fit her perfectly.

So lucky to have such doting Grandmas!

Getting pampered is hard work! So she peacefully fell asleep in her car seat on the way to church, smoothest morning a momma could have asked for........

 We got to church with a few minutes to spare (it was a "blessing day miracle!") so we decided to take some family pictures. As we pull sweet B out of her car seat we find a massive amount of neon yellow poop covering the back of her sparkling white dress. Of course she would have the very first blowout of her life right now.
We shot a couple of pictures really quick while everyone was ready then rushed to the mother's lounge for some serious clean up.

These were the best smiles Daniel and I could muster

By some miracle the dress came clean and, thanks to some quick thinking by Aunt Jamie, perfectly dry and we were all sitting in the chapel during the opening song like nothing had happened. few!

The blessing was absolutely incredible. B is so blessed to have such an amazing daddy. It was such an incredible experience to sit and witness the power of the priesthood in action.

He is officially wrapped around her little finger

 I had no idea that I was capable of loving these 3 people this much. It makes me so grateful for the blessing of this gospel and for the knowledge that I have that my family will be together for eternity.

B's Debut

How can 9 months, that seem to drag on and on into what feels like 9 years, be followed by the fastest 3 weeks of your life!?
But yes world, I have 2 children and our little family of 4 is still alive and dare I say it thriving! (all thanks to my incredible mom---post to follow) 

So let's get down to the nitty gritty, and talk Natural Childbirth.

I had what I would call a very common labor experience with my first son Finn. It was full of lots of drugs and unneeded interventions. I walked into the hospital without doing any research or having much of an idea at all about what the whole labor experience entailed. I was excited to not feel any pain, and come out with a baby. Well I definitely got a healthy baby, but the journey getting there was far from what I had expected. The epidural worked like a dream for the first 6 hours, but I was being maxed out on pitocin *(a synthetic version of oxytocin) so after 6 hours I started to feel intense contractions. After trying to just manually give me a higher dose of pain medication (but it still not holding up) they decided to re-administer the epidural. This worked just in time for me to get Finn out. But after the trauma of the intense contractions created by the pitocin, I had a fever and that made them nervous that Finn might have gotten an infection. He was quickly whisked away to be tested and given antibiotics. I spent the next 2 hours alone in my hospital room while Daniel stayed by Finn's side waiting for answers. Turns out, aside from the trauma of birth, he was just fine and after 4 very long hours I was finally able to hold my baby for the first time.

*Pitocin can be very hard on your body and your baby, while it does the trick at speeding up labor, it isn't quite as good as the real thing. 

Oxytocin says to your body "Hey, I think it's time to start moving this baby towards the exit" 

while Pitocin would shout "Get this baby the hell out of here!"

With all the anxiety and stress that surrounded me, I felt like I missed out on the promised excitement and joy of the whole experience. In the end I did come out of it with a beautiful healthy boy and I was so grateful, but I knew that there had to be a better way for me to get the same result.

With this second pregnancy I hit the books, determined to find a method that was much more rewarding for the both of us. As I began doing research I became very passionate about the idea of natural childbirth. I was not into the idea of giving birth at home in my bathtub, but I loved the concept of complete control over the decisions that need to be made during labor. Daniel wanted all the security of a hospital, and I wanted the option of pain medication just in case I lost my nerve.

We found the perfect happy medium!  A group of midwives here in Houston that came with amazing recommendations. With them I would deliver at Texas Children's Hospital, but would get all the support and one on one care that I was hoping for.

fast forward 9 long months

My Mom gets into town on May 12,  I am due on the 21st and I'm just sure I will go into labor early.... at my appointment on the 20th I'm dilated to a 4 and 50% effaced but no promising contractions.  I was determined to go into labor on my own. That week was full of walking, castor oil, nipple stim, spicy food, acupressure, jumping jacks--anything ever rumored to induce labor, I was doing it.
Almost a week goes by and I'm still uncomfortably massive, sleep deprived, swollen, and very grumpy.

Finally Sunday night the 26th (5 days overdue!) I began to feel painful contractions, I laid in bed trying to fall asleep, scared that if I got too excited or told anyone I would jinx it and everything would stop. But by 3am they are too intense for me to stay in bed, I would say on the pain scale I was a 5. I get up quietly (careful not to wake my sleeping husband, because if this is really labor than he has a big day a head of him.......?) and wake up my mom in the next room. She and I decided to take a walk around the block and by the time we got back the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and hurting like a mug. I was really in labor, YAY! So I call the midwives and they tell me to start heading to the hospital. I wake Sleeping Beauty, and D and I check in at 6am.

I am now 100% efaced and dilated to a 6. They didn't give me an IV because I didn't want one. I loved that. They also whipped out an exercise ball and let me turn on my own music, so if it wasn't for the damn painful contractions coming every 2-3 minutes I would have been really enjoying myself! I was pretty exhausted in between contractions which apparently happens on purpose--your brain releases hormones that make you sleepy so that your body can relax, which allows that baby to move further down into your pelvis. I got in a hot bath to take some of the sting out of my lower back and it was then that I began to really understand why women on TV start to yell during labor. My mother in law describes contractions as someone taking barbed wire and wrapping it around your stomach and then pulling it as hard as they can, oh and also they're sliding a bowling ball through your pelvis..... she nailed it.

Now I was back in bed, only dilated to a 7, and my water still hadn't broken. I was so grateful that I was with my sweet midwife Theodorah because she was a genius! She could tell that my water was buoying the baby above my cervix, keeping me from dilating all the way, and suggested that we brake my water. After she did that, she could tell by feeling the top of the baby's head that she was facing the wrong direction. To flip Betsy she had me turn all the way over onto my left side. After this, things moved much quicker. I have heard that OBGYNs are skilled at getting the baby out--they are trained surgeons and when it comes to emergency situations they are absolute wizards at saving lives. Midwives are skilled in childbirth. Through their experience they know the ins and outs of how a baby should be delivered vaginally and rock at making that happen in the smoothest way possible. 

My water was broken at 8:08 and by 8:30 we had our sweet baby girl. Those 20 minutes, however quick, were stinkin' rugged! The contractions were off the pain scale and seemed to never go away. Luckily it was soon time for me to push, and after 3 or 4 she was out HALLELUJAH!

Now as terrible and painful as these last 5 and a half hours were, it was nothing compared to the happiness and absolute bliss of the hour that followed. They placed her up on my chest and as they rubbed her down I was in complete awe of the entire experience. In that moment I would have done it all over again if I had to. She was absolutely perfect and precious. The hospital calls this the "Golden Hour," you aren't supposed to text, call, or facebook for that first hour so that you can spend it bonding with your baby. The midwives practice delayed cord cutting which meant they waited a few minutes after Betsy was born to cut the cord. Aside from the health benefits that this is rumored to have for the baby I loved that this required us to stay close. I was instantly able to breastfeed her and spend a few moments gazing into her brand new eyes.  This was a calming peace after such a whirlwind. She was strait from heaven and all ours, I was overcome with love and amazement. In that moment I was so grateful that I would not only get to raise this precious spirit, but that she would be a part of our family for eternity. That made all the aches/pains/emotional roller coasters of pregnancy, and all the pain that natural childbirth could throw at me, completely worth it. We had created life, what a blessing it was.


I was so lucky to have gotten to experience natural childbirth. The gratitude I feel to have had a smooth labor without any complications is immeasurable. Two healthy babies and two very different experiences later, I am excited to someday face another labor and delivery room empowered and ready to take control so that I have another rewarding experience.