Age: 3 Months

Height: 23 3/4 inches (50th %)

Weight: 13 lbs 0 oz (30th %)

Milestones: He's a rolly little dude! He can do full rolls. 

Favorites: He loves his mom, the tula, dad, brother and sister, his paci, cuddling and kisses. 

Best Moment: We love snuggling. He is the most lovey little dude and is always in the carrier or held. He loves being in the bath and when he wants to snuggle in close or when he gets excited he rolls on his side, brings his legs up and his arms in like a little ball.
Worst Moment: Not really any bad moments excluding the colic and projectile vom. When he had his shots he had a high fever and his poor thighs were so sore for a couple of days. 

Health: He's growing really well and all the concerns we had at his birth are resolving themselves. He's growing big and strong! 

Eating: He LOVES to eat. He eats all the time. He doesn't eat as much as his brother but he snuggles a lot more. Still breast feeding and no introduction to any foods for probably three more months. He does get formula sometimes when I'm at school. 

Extra comments: Everything is going really well now. School is rough being away from him but it makes me cherish the time home even more. I love his wrinkly little head and his squishy and soft thighs. He loves to suck on him bottom lip and is finally getting some little arm rolls. He always looks surprised and can actually be sat down for a couple minutes. He smiles all the time and loves the sound of the hair dryer.

River: 1 Month

River Jayce Jude! 

Our big boy is already 1 month! Where has the time gone? He's done a lot of growing and gotten a million snuggles so I am going to do a mini update of his first month and then go over some of my favorite moments we've had with him :) 

Age: 1 Month

Height:  22 inches

Weight: 10.6 lbs, +3lbs

Milestones: Is eating a ton and cuddling considered a milestone? If so than that's what we do. Really though, he is focusing on things and awake more. He still would like to just cuddle on mom all day but now he's playing more :)

Best Moment: My favorite moments are just cuddling with him and I love wearing him in his carrier.  My very favorite time was when we first came home from the hospital and we slept together all day for the first four days or so. I love bonding with the little being that grew in my belly for nine months.

Worst Moment: He HATED the Dr's office but didn't make a peep during his heel prick. He just screamed the whole appt 

Health: He's doing amazing. He's growing like crazy and hitting/surpassing all of the milestones he should be. We have another appt for his heart and a check up with shots next month but ever all he seems to be doing really well. Foster was even sick and River managed to stay healthy eve though everyone else caught a strain of it. 

Eating: Obviously eating is going great. He's my little chubby boy! Him and Foster were less than a pound different in weight when they were born but River is already two pounds more than Foster was at this age. 

Extra Comments: This month has flown by! He's been with us the entire time, work and all and is always held or in the carrier. He's our baby baby and he's already getting spoiled rotten. And I love it! 

Meeting Brother and Sister

After I was a little more functional Lo and Foster came to meet their new little brother. Lo was immediately smitten while Foster was a little more stand offish. Foster wasn't sure how to act with the new baby so he started testing the limits in the hospital but he adjusted well since we've been home. Lo has been at her dads since we've been home but I'm not worried about how she'll be with River at all. She is absolutely in love with all babies and is such a good big sister. Whenever someone else would hold River in the hospital she would ask them if she could hold him again. 

The Morning After Part III \ III

I could write about how River slept on me all night, about all the family that came to celebrate him or all the kisses he got from dad. I could say how I exhausted I was from a day of laboring and a night of recovering from a c section, but, instead, I think I'll just leave these pictures here so you can see the love for yourself that was all around the day that River was born. 

OR. Part II / III

The OR is a strange experience. It's something very medical for a very personal experience. It is the farthest thing I could have imagined ten months ago when I was planning my perfect home birth. While I planned what I would have wanted in a c section I never really considered it a possibility. My body knew what to do and while I was transitioning in what I would consider a perfect way, but my sweet baby was having problems. 

Labor. Part I / III

I've decided to split River's birth story into three separate parts. There is just too much to put into a single post. When trying to figure out how to split it up I was trying to think of all the different emotions I felt and what needed to be talked about where. In reality, the best emotion I have to the day of River's birth and the next couple of days after is distance. I felt like an outsider watching what was happening with zero control. I completely gave up any control I had and put my faith in my doctors and nurses that they would do everything they could to get River and I through labor safely. 

39 Weeks Bumpdate

I wish I had some fun and exciting news about big changes and that my Dr is pretty sure I'm going to go into labor today...in fact, I am actually already in labor and didn't even know it.....but yea, that's not the case. I had my appt today and there is basically zero change from last week. I am still 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced. That is the same I was with Foster when I was induced. We set an induction date for next Wednesday, June 3rd (my due date) at 5:30 am. I am still getting a ton of blood work done and if there are any changes for that then it could be sooner. 8 days isn't far away at all! I am really bummed that it's looking like I won't get my 100% natural birth that I want but I am just so thankful that River has made it to term that I am trying to focus on that instead :) 

38 Weeks Bumpdate

We have made it so far! I am so excited to be at the end of this pregnancy! Two weeks tops and little River will be here! But most likely sooner after talking to my Dr....but he also thought River would be here by 34 weeks, so what does he even know ;) I am 2cm dilated, 70% effaced and his head is not longer moving up and down, it is engaged. I am a little more skeptical that I will be going too soon just based on my previous pregnancies and how I have been progressing this time around. 

With Lo I was 3cm and 80%-90% for over a month then was induced and with Foster I was 1cm and 75% for over a month and only made it to 2cm then was induced. My body just likes to keep babies cooking! I was 1cm and 25% allllll the way back at 28 weeks to 34 weeks. So for at least 6 weeks I stayed the same, and it could've been for 10 weeks because I stopped getting checked from 34-38 weeks. 

37 Week Bumpdate

This has been a pretty good week! And it went by really fast! I keep saying this but since I have gotten into the last trimester the weeks are flying by. Especially since I have been off of bed rest. We managed to get baby's hospital bag packed and the nursery 95% finished. This week we are going to clean out our room (we are moving some books out to our shed and cleaning out closets) and getting our bags packed for the hospital then it's pretty much all upkeep from there! I do have a ton of work to keep me busy these last three weeks....and they happen to be weddings....so that is super exciting and also crazy stressful. WEDDING SEASON IS HERE PEOPLE! 

River's Nursery Reveal!

Oh my goodness we are getting stuff done this week! Ok, kind of. It's not like we had a ton to do with the nursery. We used a lot of Foster's old things and just remade them for little River. If you want to see what the nursery was like before click here. So you can see we did repaint the crib and dresser. The room was just too dark and we wanted to add some pops of color. We added prints all over the room (a new obsession of mine) and just revamped some of the old pieces. Nothing too fancy and I wouldn't say it is 100% done yet but we are officially ready-ish for a baby! I say ready-ish because I definitely underestimated how many of Foster's clothes were just unusable from spit up. They were just bad. We only have around 10 outfits from 0-6months but after 6 months we are set! That just means I get to shop at some of the mama shops on instagram that I have been eyeing ;)

Baby # 3 Hospital Bag (AKA Cut the Crap)

If you've been following my blog for awhile odds are that you have already checked out my previous hospital bag for Baby #2. I stand by that list, it's a good list, but this is baby number three and I was ready to seriously trim the fat and am only bringing stuff that I thought was 100% necessary. Before getting too excited and packing your bag, call where you plan on delivering and see what they provide. Most hospitals will cover some, if not all, of the things I have packed but I am putting them into this list because if my hospital didn't cover this stuff, this would be what I would want to have with me. 

36 Week Bumpdate

Wow! We are at 36 weeks! How crazy is that?! time is flying by now and this week has been absolutely insane. I finished school, helped/hosted some baby showers, went on walks, worked a ton, got larger and by the end of the week baby River dropped! and he dropped hard. All of these pictures except one are from early in the week and you can see the difference. It's a crazy feeling when baby drops, your tummy gets smaller (again, not these pics, I'm huge!) and you start walking like you're holding a ball in between your legs. I had my Dr's appt on Tuesday, everything looked great, I gained 8....yes, 8 lbs and am measuring 4 weeks small...he dropped that much! My Dr. is shocked that I made it this far (which he says every week) and doesn't think I'll make it to next week. He wanted to check me at the appt but I opted out. I'm sure I'll get checked at my next check when he does the Group B Strep test as well. These past two days I have had crazy strong contractions, they make me stop in my tracks and I have to consciously breathe through them. They never get consistent though. I'm hoping I make it to 37 weeks! That would be such a huge milestone and was my next one after 34 weeks. If I do manage to go full term the Dr decided to induce me the week of the 3rd. He said he could do it at 39 weeks rather than 40 but I'd like to give River that extra week to cook if I can :) My bp has been great and the protein and seizures have been controlled so I don't see a reason why I wouldn't make it!  

35 Week Bumpdate

I'm just going to jump straight into my update this week because, while I had my long appt., I haven't heard anything back from them and I don't see my Dr. again until the beginning of next week. No news is normally good news! 

34 Weeks Bumpdate

So! First update from my Dr's appt yesterday. I was feeling pretty nervous with Bryson being out of town for a firefighters conference that he would miss the birth because I have been dilated for a couple of weeks now; but I was a 1 cm for a month with Foster then was induced and I was a 3 for awhile with Lo and then was induced. So a 1 isn't too worrisome for me, but I know some ladies go into labor at a 1. 

33 Weeks Bumpdate

Can we all just agree this is a little mini Bryson?!

First, I thought I would do a quick update before getting into the weekly update. This section may be a little tmi if you get grossed out and don't like talking about cervixes, but if you love it- you've come to the right place. ;) 

32 Weeks Bumpdate

It was another eventful week, and I'm not talking about dying eggs or a fun, family filled Easter; it was filled with more trips to the hospital. A slightly shortened cervix (2.7 instead of 2.8), finding out I'm 1-2 cm dilated (instead of closed and hard), talks of being transferred to the hospital, strict bed rest, hour + long contractions, a whole lot of petty, selfish emotions, and some very, VERY unwelcome comments about how I am putting baby in danger by not being on hospital bed rest or in my bed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

Mental health is important too. So if I want to go out and sit for an hour or I relocate outside on the grass to watch the kids play- I don't need anyone's opinion about it. I am laying down a majority of the day and pick and choose the couple of things I do a week, all of which are relaxing and don't involve rock climbing, biking, or jumping jacks. So thank you everyone for your opinions, but unless you're my doctors, please, keep them to yourself. 

To answer another question I have been getting a lot of this week: 

Yes, I am due early June.

and

Yes, I'm sure.

;) 

Easter + A Gender Reveal

So we'll just cut to the chase. I know you all can't wait to see the pictures of the kids hunting their eggs and playing with bunnies and finding out what we're having is last on your list ;) buuuutttt I thought I would start with our exciting news that we have kept a secret since week 16! (Or maybe even before) 

We were originally not planning on finding out what we were having but you all know how rough this pregnancy has been and how many ultrasounds we have ended up having to have so it's been impossible not to tell that we are having a....

31 Week Bumpdate

This was a busy week! I didn't realize how busy until I was uploading pictures to add to this post for Life Lately and decided I'd better make another post for life lately and just keep this one for baby update or it would end up being  a crazy long post. 

This week I got all dolled up for maternity pictures (sneak peek here) that ended up being a total shit show. We were all exhausted because we were watching my niece (she's 7 months) and she was having some tummy issues the night before so we were all exhausted. Foster absolutely refused to take pictures with me and Lo looked super bored in them. So they ended up being just of me and hopefully, we're able to take some lifestyle pictures down the road. 

This may sound silly, but this is such a big week for me! When we started having pre-term labor problems at 24 weeks it was my goal to make it to 31 weeks so there would only be 9 weeks left. Single digits make all the difference for my mind set. I have been setting a lot of little goals since 24 weeks, like pass the FFN test, keep my cervix at 2.8 or higher....just little "goals" that I really have no control over but by setting them as a future "goal" it makes me feel like even though I am not able to control it, my body is taking control and doing what it needs to do. My goals have been weekly, but I am going to set a big goal to make it to 34 weeks! 3 weeks away doesn't seem too far out. The weeks have been going by a lot faster from 28 weeks then they have from 12-27. 

30 Week Bumpdate

Do you ever have days when your selfies just turn out pretty dang ok? Me neither, especially with the fat face I've been rocking lately. Thank you pre-e swelling. So I had to document a day when I actually got ready and was feeling pretty good about myself! We went to church and then to Target before I had a bridal consultation. 

I over did it and ended up sitting in the car waiting for Bryson and Foster to finish shopping and felt pretty crappy the rest of the day but I am still trying to find my limits and after laying in bed day in and day out when I finally get a chance to do something I normally over do it by trying to do everything in one day. I'll get the hang of it these next two and half months!

29 Week Bumpdate

This week has been sooooo much better than last week. Nothing eventful has really happened and we have just been hanging out at home. Lo and I went on a date night to Cinderella  a couple of nights ago but that's about as crazy as it's gotten around here. Lo had her very own cookie booth at the beginning of the week! She sold over one hundred boxes of cookies in under two hours, not too bad. Her Aunt T and miss Claira came and helped out. Claira kept trying to look up at us but then the sun got in her eyes and she would cry and look back down then be fine. It was adorable and hilarious at the same time.