Tuesday, July 12, 2016

birthdays galore

Darrin celebrated the big 3-0 at the end of April.
He got some boring gifts, some shirts and such, but I don't think he minded too much because I also made him a special peach blondie cheesecake.



Mr. Logan turned 5 about a week later. 
He was excited to have a few friends over to help us eat the cake and ice cream.
This is an age I have a few memories from, so it's fun to realize he might remember some of the things we do together.



And Mr. Bennett turned 3 just a week and a half ago.
He loves to make us laugh with silly faces and silly words.
I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he picked a cheesecake-I'm still not sure if he really likes cheesecake...



Friday, March 11, 2016

4 months

This month, Danny:
Weighed: 14 lbs 11.5 oz (30th percentile)
Measured: 26 inches long (85th percentile)

I'm not too sure about all these measurements...

Danny is pretty good at tummy time. He doesn't seem to mind it too much.


Until mom takes too many pictures of him...


He started using the bumbo this month. He isn't a huge fan. He'll sit in it for a while but then arch his back and try to get out. It is the most handy when I'm doing my hair to put him in it in front of the mirror. 


One of the things I remember from Danny's blessing was that he would be a strength to his mother. I loved hearing that and I feel like it is already true.

3 months

Danny turned 3 months just after the new year.
This was the first time I had a very new baby at Christmas time. Having a baby (brand new or not) around Christmas makes me so emotional. Every time I would see a nativity scene, I would think about Mary holding her brand new baby, Jesus Christ.

Darrin's sister and her family came to visit during Christmas, so we went to see the lights on temple square and their beautiful nativity. It was freezing! Danny is there, but he was sleeping :)


I took pictures of the boys for the Christmas card. Here are a couple outtakes. Who knew the 2 month-old would be easier than the 2 year-old?



After Christmas was almost over, the boys were tucked in bed, I thought back on the day and realized I hadn't taken any pictures of Danny (that wasn't really the case...) I felt awful. He woke up crying shortly after and I took it as a sign that I should take some pictures of him by the Christmas tree :)



Logan and Bennett like to lie next to Danny when I set him on the ground


He started smiling very easily this month and sleeping better, which makes for a happy mama!

2 months

I'm really behind in posting these, but at least I am, right? 
At two months, Danny:
Weighed: 11lbs 13 oz (45th percentile)
Measured: 22.75'' long (40th percentile)

The most exciting part of the last month was that Danny was blessed. I always feel so close to heaven when I hear Darrin bless our kids. I love that family was able to come and I'm so grateful we are closer to family now.


(Hannah, Angela Grandma Enos, Grandpa Enos, Hailey, Bennett, Logan, Rose, Me, Danny, Darrin, Natalie, Grandma Bronson, Michelle)


Our little family of 5


The man of the hour



Bennett started helping bathe Danny. He likes to keep Danny warm by pouring water over his belly.


I think Danny is a daddy's boy, or is Daddy a Danny's boy?  :)


They love their little brother!



Wednesday, November 18, 2015

1 month

The first month always seem to pass so quickly.
Now he's 6 weeks old and I can't believe where the time has gone.

This month:
-Daniel gets all kinds of snuggles from his big brothers
-Logan mostly calls him Danny
-Logan asks daily to hold him


-He loves his pacifier and the swing
-He rolled over (but has only done so twice) (Oct. 25th)


-He met Grandma and Grandpa Enos when Grandma came to stay with us to help out (thanks mom!!!)


-Grandma caught him not paying attention during his first family home evening


-Bennett calls him Danny and Daniel and usually asks to hold him after Logan asks


-Bennett is always touching or trying to touch his face or head


-He got his first bath at home from Grandma. He didn't appreciate it :)


-He dressed up for his first Halloween as a Lost Boy from Peter Pan


1 month: November 6, 2015


at the hospital



Here was the first time Logan and Bennett met Daniel.
As you can tell, they were so excited.



Bennett had to get his hands in there!




Grandma and Grandpa Bronson watched the boys for us while Darrin and I were at the hospital, so they brought Logan and Bennett and met Daniel too.



Bennett made himself comfortable on my bed watching cartoons and eating skittles.


I missed my boys--even more than I thought I would so it was nice to get some snuggles when they came.


Friday, October 23, 2015

Daniel's birth story

*Warning: this is really long...

I had an appointment with my midwife the morning of my birthday, October 5, 2015. When she checked me I was dilated to a 3 and still 80 percent effaced. I had dilated 1 more centimeter since the week before. My midwife said she thought that it would be soon, but not to get my hopes up in case it was still another week or two away.

That night I was having such strong Braxton Hicks contractions that I had a harder time sleeping than usual.  They eased up a bit by the time morning came, but I had crampy feelings in my lower belly and lower back. Of course I was Googling early labor symptoms all morning wondering if today was going to be the day. I was hopeful, but trying not to get my hopes up, just like my midwife said.
Around 3:00pm I started getting mild contractions. I went about my chores, trying to be as relaxed as possible to make sure I wasn’t getting the contractions just from over-exerting myself. After feeling several in a row, I started watching the clock a little more carefully to see if they were regular or not. By 4:00, I noticed the contractions were coming about five minutes apart, but were still quite mild. I casually texted Darrin asking if he would be annoyed if I made him come home and it was a false alarm. Of course he said he would come right away, but I told him to hold off another 30 minutes so I could make sure they were still regular contractions.

4:30 came and I told Darrin he should probably come home. If this would be anything like my other births, baby would come fast and I didn’t want to wait too long to get to the hospital. I certainly didn’t want to give birth in the car!

I started dinner for the kids and texted my neighbor that I needed to head to the hospital and would bring Logan and Bennett over soon. Darrin got home around 5:00 and we calmly got our things together, dinner ready, and the car loaded while I breathed and swayed through the contractions that were still about 5 minutes apart. We dropped the boys off at our neighbors house with their plates of dinner.

The ride to the hospital was relaxed, but I was still nervous that this was a false alarm. My other labors came on fast and strong. We decided to wait until my progress was checked at the hospital before we had Darrin’s dad and stepmom come to get the boys.  We got to the hospital at 6:00.
At the hospital, they led us to our room and eventually got me connected to monitors. After getting some information, the nurse had to leave for a bit. When she got back, she checked me and I was at a 4. The nurses changed shifts, so I met Des, my nurse for the birth. They had me connected to the monitors for close to an hour before she let me get off of them so I could walk around. She checked me again and I was only at a 4 and a half. What?! I had only progressed half a centimeter in more than an hour? I told Darrin that this might be a long night. That was around 7:30.

Darrin and I started to walk down the hall to go see the babies in the nursery. When we saw a large empty room we thought maybe we misunderstood where the nursery was. It turns out it was just empty J We turned around and I started getting stronger contractions, ones I didn’t want to walk through. We headed back to our room so I could sit on the exercise ball. The contractions kept getting stronger. I was getting nervous that I would have a really long, hard labor. I was planning on a non-medicated birth, but I was starting to get worried that I couldn’t handle it. The contractions got strong enough I had Darrin push on my back through them.

The pressure felt so different than with Bennett’s birth, it was more toward my back. I told my nurse that I felt like I was already having urges to push. She told me my bag of waters was coming down a little so that was probably why I felt that sensation.

The contractions were getting even stronger and I was barely getting any relief between them so I decided to lie down. Darrin stepped out to get some more water for me when I had a strong contraction and pop went my water. It was really loud and exploded everywhere. It surprised both Des and me. Darrin got back and was standing nearby when Des started changing the sheets on my bed. That just bugged me because she kept having me move my legs or body so she could get the new sheets on. Then she had me switch to my left side, which was so miserable. Contractions were right on top of each other and I was yelling through them. I was gripping the bars on the side of my bed through the contractions and thinking I couldn’t do this.

The midwife on call showed up and came up to my face and told me how well I was doing. She moved toward the bottom of the bed and was talking with the nurses when all the sudden I felt his head and said, “he’s coming!” As I spread my legs, I heard sounds of surprise from the midwife and nurses in the room. The midwife said, “I guess I’ll do this one gloved!” and I pushed again. “There’s his head,” I immediately pushed again. “There’s one of his shoulders. Maybe you should put your legs up…” As I started to put my legs up, my body just knew what it was doing and pushed again. (All these pushes during the same contraction) Baby was out! I felt such a quick release of pain that I was relieved. I had done it. He was born at 8:43pm. I had gone from a 4 and a half to him being born in about an hour.

He was a little purple when he came out and they set him on my belly as they stroked him trying to get him to breathe better. I heard someone say something about taking him and I almost started crying and said, “no, don’t take my baby,” I wanted this baby to stay with me. Darrin cut his cord and they took him to the infant bed to check him out. 




After a few short minutes he started breathing better on his own, so they placed him on my chest.





That moment was just as beautiful as I had imagined. Finally, a healthy baby that I could just hold for as long as I wanted.