Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend, we went up to my parent's house on Saturday and Drew got to meet all of his great-grandparents (my mom has the pictures, I'll try to post some more soon) and then on Sunday we went over to Derek's brother's house for another Easter Dinner and hung out with his family a little bit. We tried to do an easter egg hunt in the morning for Linnea and it eventually worked, but man she woke up grumpy I almost took everything away from her so she wouldn't even get all of her treats, but she cheered up eventually and had fun finding the eggs. Derek wanted to start a tradition for the present our kids get from the easter bunny, he is going to give them kites each year and then when the weather lets us we'll all go fly them as a family I think it's a cute idea. So this year Linnea chose a batman kite (yes I have a girly girl :) ) and she loved to fly it with dad they had a lot of fun. I hope everyone had a great Easter holiday! I am grateful for Easter and the message that it reminds me of. Knowing that Christ died for us so we can all live forever with our loved ones and that we can be forgiven of our sins is such an amazing gift. I can't imagine not being with my sweet little family for eternity. I still struggle with death, it is a fear of mine to lose my husband or my kids, but I am slowly gaining a stronger testimony of eternal life and the sealing power of the temple!

This is what our family does most of the time now!

Cute girl and her daddy heading to church


Adorable boy, how can you resist that face!

Life...

Well we're working on our 2nd day home and it has been great...my house isn't super pretty, but who cares :) Linnea has surprised me so much with Drew, she loves him...she asks to hold him, she always tries to give him his binki, she ran up to him this morning when he sneezed and said "you ok, you ok baby?" She has to do whatever he is doing. I put him down on a blanket for floor time today and she had to have her blanket down right next to him also. I love my little kiddos...I still feel pretty tired especially in the afternoon, but it has been wonderful having my two kids together and adjusting to our new family. Little Drew is eating better, but we still have a hard time getting him to wake up sometimes to eat so it's a work in progress, but hopefully soon he'll get on a good schedule and get chunky :)

Introducing...

Andrew Derek Childs

Our little man has finally arrived!

Born April 17, 2011, 4:56 pm

7 lbs 14 oz.

19 inches long

We are so in love with our little man. I started having contractions on the morning of the 17th, around 3:15 am and they stayed 20 minutes apart for HOURS!!!! I sat around thinking this must not be real or I was disappointed because I thought we'd have a long labor like Linnea's was (I heard your second seems to go fast so I was hoping for that) Well eventually I started having contractions coming every 8 minutes and they were getting pretty strong. Then about 30 minutes later they were coming every 5-6 minutes so we called our neighbor to let her know we may be bringing Linnea over at some point in the day. I was nervous to head to the hospital since with Linnea and this little guy we had been sent home so I wanted to make sure when we went we stayed. About 10 min. after calling our neighbor I felt like we better go now. So we grabbed Linnea's bag and took her over when we got in the car my contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart already!!! So we got to the hospital a little before 3 pm, they checked me and said alright your at 6 cm! So we called my mom to tell her to get down to the hospital since we were progressing so quickly. My contractions ended up being right on top of each other so right after we got off the phone with grandma they said "o your at a seven!" Then 10 minutes later I went to 8 the quickly to a 9 then finally a 10. I went from a 6-10 in just a little over an hour thankfully! Unfortuantley grandma didn't make it he came so fast, but she arrived right when he was out. We had such an amazing nursing staff who really knew about natural birth and Derek was sooooo AMAZING I would not have been able to reach our goal of no medication without him, because trust me once I hit an 8 I was really wanting pain relief. I had a hard time controlling the urge to push I started having the urge at around an 8 so thankfully the doctor and nursing staff really helped me try to control that urge! Finally it was pushing time within 4 contractions we had our precious baby in our arms!!! He came out crying which was such a relief since Linnea was not breathing when she was born. He has copper hair and blonde eyebrows and eyelashes! He is perfect! We finally decided about an hour ago that his name is Andrew...completely different from what we had originally planned we were soooo set on Hayden and then he came out and it did not seem like Hayden was his name. So now we have baby Drew! He is a little slow at eating, he doesn't show much interest in it and doesn't root very often, but we're working on it! Linnea didn't seem too interested, but she did pat him on the head when they met and she is having a blast with Nana and Pupa!!!!! I am so in love, I love how quickly such a little person can mean the world to you! Welcome to our family little Drew!

Update

Well I officially made it through this week of fieldwork YAY! That was our big goal since now if I went this weekend I would only have to make up 4 days after the baby was born, what a stress relief since I feel that is do-able, not fun, but do-able. Well I had some drama on Monday, well technically Tuesday morning and I got in trouble from the sister for not sharing, but basically put I thought my water broke since I woke up in a puddle at 2am. So I thought ok here we go, we made sure we had everything packed, we woke up my parents to let them know, we gathered our little sleeping princess into the car and headed to the hospital. Well they set me up to test to see if my water had broken ( I was waiting for the results before I called my friend who offered to take Linnea once we got to the hospital.) Well it sure was hard for a little two year old to sleep in a hospital room with her brother's heartbeat on the monitor, her mommy all strapped to machines and nurses doing weird things to me :) Ok so once again the tests came back NEGATIVE for amniotic fluid. I was so grateful when that happened at 28 weeks, but at 39 I kept thinking what the heck else am I supposed to think a big puddle of water is? So I have decided my little monkey inside of me likes to make me wet the bed :) I guess all the bacteria and other stuff that you have when your pregnant can mask the smell of pee so we had know way of knowing what all this stuff was. So we walk in the door at 5:15 am put Nea back to sleep and my alarm goes off at 5:20...time to wake up and go to fieldwork. Needless to say I was a zombie, but they were nice and let me go home at 12. Now that it is Friday I am grateful I was able to finish this week, but at the time I had mentally gotten to the point of preparing for labor and coming home with a baby I was not a happy camper when I left without a baby on the outside. Well I did have a doctor's appointment today and he is for sure on his way soon I am dialated to 3 cm 80% effaced and he is at -1 station, which was clarified by the doctor as halfway down the birth canal....so yay I haven't dialated for four weeks past a 2 and so now a little bit of progress is being made. Pretty exciting. I know he'll be here next friday since I'm getting induced so we'll just have to see if he waits another week!

"Exceptionally Low..."

Well I went to the doctor today for my check up so I thought I'd update. ( I didn't update last week because the doctor I saw was a putz and told me absolutely nothing) New doctor comes in all bright and cheerful and asks me with a lot of excitement, "since you're so close would you like me to strip your membranes?" I quickly said no way, and went on to explain that this little guy needs to stay in as long as possible due to school. So he said he could understand that and we proceeded with the check up. He told me I would have a lot of pressure as he checked for the baby's head since baby's heads are clear up there right.... about two seconds later his eyes get big and he says "Your baby's head is exceptionally low!" So of course that gets my attention and I ask what does he mean by that and I am told "you might not want to hold out for your due date, don't be surprised if it's earlier than that!" Ok Linnea came 5 days early so in my mind that is all I have to go on so it's not a huge surprise, but now our prayers have changed to please just let me get through this NEXT week of fieldwork because then at least I would only have to make up 4 days instead of two weeks! Anyways I am still at 2 cm, I forgot to ask how effaced I was and he forgot to tell me, but I guess we'll see what the next few days bring for our little guy and our family. I can't believe how fast it has gone I don't feel ready. I know I'm a second time mom, but I think with each new addition I'm going to feel a sense of being unprepared and nerves! I feel like there is still so much cleaning and organizing to get done before an infant that needs all my attention joins our family and here I can remember thinking "O it's still months away" well now it could be days to just two weeks!!!! Here we go!

Life is sweet!!!

Our St. Patrick's Day dinner, we hate corned beef so we just had roast beef and cabbage :) Linnea liked her little shamrock!

Just our sweetie getting ready to go to church

Well I thought I would update the blog since it's been awhile. Our life has taken a turn for the better I feel like, not that it was bad before, but for a while there I felt sad. I felt extra guilty due to more hours at fieldwork, I felt Linnea was almost depressed and thought it was because of a new baby and I felt Derek was stressed with issues at work and with school. The last few weeks however I have come to appreciate our little family so much more. Linnea has been pretty sick and has an ear infection. Now that that is all under control she has been the sweetest little girl and I fall more in love with her each day! Anytime I stand up and grimace due to the wonderful comforts of being 9 months pregnant she runs over and says "you ok mama?" with the most genuine concern I think a person can have. She cuddles with me everyday when we get home and thankfully I feel that she is beginning to adjust to the thought of "her" baby. The last few days she actually pats my tummy and will say baby or just pat it. She told me that she is going to help me give the baby a bottle and binki. A few weeks ago all we got out of her was "no baby" or "no boy" I still feel that she will have an adjustment when he arrives, but I am very grateful for her tenderheart and know she will love her brother so much even if it takes a little time.

Derek had his 25th birthday on Saturday and I am so grateful for him. I don't know how I ever landed such an amazing person. He is so calm and patient and the extent of him being stressed is saying " I'm kinda stressed, and would like a hug" he is such a good daddy and so encouraging to me to meet my goals with the childbirth, and school and work someday. He wants more than anything to see me at home with our kids which I am so grateful for because I know when he gets the chance to go full time in school he will be so dedicated so he can get finished also.

Fieldwork is almost over, I have two more weeks to go and then I can say see ya school...I never want to go back :) I hope that our little man stays in, but at the same time I am not stressing about it anymore I can't help it when he comes and I know that I was prompted to go to school and also we knew it was the right time to have another baby so the Lord will give us a way to finish all of our goals. I am pretty sore most days because he is dropping so of course it puts more pressure on my back and lower body, but it's not too bad. I'm really excited for him to come and have a little newborn in our house again. They are so precious and I do miss the baby stage. Well life is wonderful and I am so grateful for all the blessings that have come into our lives over the past few months and even days. I've truly noticed the Lord's hand in helping us get through school, deal with finances, help Linnea through her difficult days and so much more.