This weekend we had Foster Brady's second birthday party! I seems like just yesterday we were throwing his first birthday. This year he wanted a Minion birthday party so we did a super simple swimming minion party! I was sure we were going to get rained out but instead it was the perfect shady and warm day for swimming. He had lots of friends show up and the big kids swam the entire time. 

We started the day with homemade Mickey Mouse pancakes and bacon then we went to Mamy and Gramp's house to set up for his birthday. While I was setting up Bryson went to grab fruit, veggies and candles and on the way back he picked up Taco Bell so we could eat before the party. Foster had a burrito and taco that he quickly fed to the dog.

Instead of a cake we had minion twinkles but my favorite part of the whole day was when he grabbed one of the veggie trays and brought it over to his little table to eat all alone. When everyone was singing him Happy Birthday he didn't know what to think so he screamed at everyone to stop. 

River was unimpressed with the days shenanigans and just wanted to be held the whole time....wait, that's every day. Lo was so busy swimming with everyone I saw her maybe 5 minutes the whole time and besides that she was swimming around the pool. 

Like any good mom I took a plethora of pictures that I couldn't narrow down, so enjoy 934093275 pictures from Foster's second birthday party! 

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. 

Lo's Kindergarten Graduation

When we started Lo in kindergarten a year early we had no idea how amazing she would do. We knew she would learn to read and add but I had no idea that her already huge heart could get even bigger. She is still the most kind hearted, spunky little girl I know and I am so proud of her for continuing to be sweet and sticking up for other people. 

What I wasn't prepared for was her sudden dislike in vegetables. If you have been following awhile you know we eat a ton of veggies in our house. My kids love veggies and normally we have that instead of meat but now veggies "aren't cool". Well, I just didn't know that ;) In her bio she said her favorite food was "spaghetti without the veggies".... smack talk at dads cooking during a graduation, ouch. Another thing I wasn't prepared for was the "new" slang. Did you know the word stellar is coming back? It is. 

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.