Family Photos

I love this smile. What a silly kid.

Easter

 Since Easter Sunday was also General Conference the boys dressed up the week before. Beckett and I missed it but Darla got this cute picture of Lincoln and Ryan. Lincoln had the cutest bowtie and suspenders. 

We had so much fun with Grandma Darla coming to help. 

The first Easter Bunny we saw was at the Chocolate Cafe, a local restaurant. Linc loved to wave at the bunny and took a picture with him only if I held him. 

Easter Sunday we did a little egg hunt in our front room. Lincoln loved getting the eggs or more importantly the treats inside. The eggs were filled of fruit snacks and smarties. 

Towards the end of the hunt Linc got the hang of it and was finding eggs on his own.  He and I did another small hunt after his naps. That one was more about finding the eggs then eating the treats. 

The Village did their annual Easter Egg Hunt Monday after Easter. 

We had the giant, scary bunny come. Linc didn't scream but he did cling fiercely to Daddy.

 Look at Lincoln eye that bunny down. 

Lincoln did great finding the eggs on the playground. Luckily we practiced Easter Sunday.  After the big hunt Ryan and his dad went golfing while Melanie and I let Linc play his heart out on the playground.

Random pictures: 

Whenever Beck does tummy time Linc loves to get down in his face and play with him. Its adorable but also terrifying. Linc loves to give Baby Beck kisses and hugs too bad he doesn't realize how big he is compared to itty-bitty baby. 

I am constantly surprised at how Linc reacts to Beck. The first week at home Lincoln ignored baby and stayed far away, unless I was nursing then Linc would come and whine to be held and yank Beckett's legs and arms. Now 3 weeks home Linc loves Beck. Whenever he hears him cry in another room Linc will put his hand to his ear and say "baby?" Linc will then go and pat Beckett's belly or back.  These brothers will forever make my heart sing....hopefully ;) 

Heart Melted!

Yesterday we decided to see if Lincoln would hold Beck. Be still my heart, it was the most precious thing in the world. 

Lincoln has been keeping his distance from Beck, the only time he will get close to him is when I'm feeding him and then he only wants to look at his clothes. 

At first he only wanted to point out the different animals on Beck's outfit. He also tried to get Beck to play with his bus so we quickly got rid of that. 

kisses for brother

He was amazed to discover that Beck has toes like Linc and hands.  If you look close at this picture Linc is holding his foot while he looks at Beck's. He kept looking at his feet and pointing to baby's feet and showing us his hands then feeling for baby's. So cute. 

I think this was one of the first times Linc realized that baby brother is just a mini Lincoln. He was enthralled with his feet and hands. (We kept him away from Beck's face) 

Looking at Beck's fingers.

So cute!

After Linc went to sleep last night we gave Beck his first bath. He loved the warm water on his head and didn't seem to mind the whole tub thing. 

Presenting Beckett Evans Woodbury

Beckett Evans Woodbury

March 18, 2015 1:27am

weight: 8lbs 7oz

length: 20 3/4 inches

head: 14.5cm

What a crazy amazing adventure we had on St. Patricks Day. March 16th I was having contractions on and off all day nothing that made me stop in my tracks though. I could tell they were getting stronger so around 10pm my walking buddy, Ali and I went on a walk around our complex. Nothing changed so I went to bed. All night I was getting contractions on and off. Around 3am I noticed they were in a pattern and a lot stronger. I woke Ryan up and we timed them and debated going to the hospital or not. At 4am we made the call to our neighbor, Sara who agreed to watch Linc. To the hospital we went. 

At the hospital my contractions stopped coming in a pattern. I was only dilated to 1cm and 50% effaced so I was worried they would send us home. We spent 2 hours walking around the labor floor. My contractions were still very strong but they were in no pattern at all. I would get 2 strong ones close together then nothing for awhile. They checked me again and I was still at 1cm but effaced to 70%. They called my doctor and he let me decide if I wanted to stay or go home. I was surprised how nervous I got about going home so we stayed another 2 hours in triage. This time we were both exhausted so Ryan slept and I tried to relax. After 2 hours I was dilated to 3cm and 90% effaced so they put an IV in and took us to a room. 

We got to our room and since I was a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarian) they had to hook me up to the monitors. I wasn't allowed to eat anything in case we had to do a Csection again so I was chained to the bed with no food. At noon my contractions stopped. They disappeared. No where to be seen. This freaked me out I did not want to go home. I got up and walked in place next to the bed. I did everything I could think of to make my contractions come back: danced, jumping jacks, squats, lay down, sit up...nothing. They were gone. 

My nurse, who hadn't been very helpful, came in and told us to prepare to go home since my labor had stopped. She dropped that bomb and then left. Needless to say Ryan and I discussed thoroughly the possibility of another Csection. I did not want to go home since I didn't know when they would want me to come back. I also felt so bad for pulling people out of their lives, Ryan missed school, Linc was at a neighbors and my neighbors had to take on another kid. I was just ready for this kid to join our family and get on with our lives. Ryan kept me sane and kept telling me we shouldn't call Csection. (One of the perks of having a Csection is anytime after 39 weeks I can ask for a Csection and get one no questions asked) The nurse came back in and said they would let us know at 4pm if we would be sent home or if my doctor would come break my water after office hours.

So from 12-4 we sat and worried. No contractions would come no matter how much we tried to get them going again. We were both frustrated, sleep deprived and hungry. Our room was not a fun one to be in. 

At 4pm they checked me again. I was still 3cm and 90% effaced nothing had changed. Dr Cavallo said he would come break my water after he was done at the office. They also switched nurses. Our new nurse assured me that they would not be sending us home. She assured me that this happens to some women, not a lot but some. She also made sure I was prepped for an epidural and ordered me some good food. They hooked me up to an IV for the epidural. (My contractions had been very painful and with the thought of breaking my water I knew they would get worse) 

As soon as I had the IV going my contractions came back. HARD!!! I ate as much as I could in between contractions. Before my contractions would build up to a peak of pain then go away slowly now they were sudden peaks of pain, no warning and they were long.  At 5:30 Dr. Cavallo came in and checked me. He said he would break my water at anytime so I could have it then or wait til my epidural. I decided to wait till after my epidural, best decision ever. I got the epidural and then they broke my water at 6pm. Right after the epidural Dr. Cavallo checked me and I was at a 6+. I strongly believe that the fluids and the food kicked me back into labor in a big way! 

They gave me Pitocin as well to get my contractions on a pattern. Since I had my epidural I wasn't even aware of the Pitocin or my contractions. I was finally able to sleep! 

Around midnight I started feeling Beckett moving down and could tell I was almost ready to push. They checked me and I was fully dilated but since I wasn't feeling any pressure to push we decided to wait and let my body do the work. I am so glad we waited. When it was time to push Beckett was at a +3 (+5 is crowning) so after a few pushes we called the doctor in and got to business. 

We pushed for 30 minutes or so and Beckett was born at 1:27am! They immediately put him up on my chest and started scrubbing him off. We cuddled for a good 90 minutes. The doctors finished their business and let us be. The nurses didn't rush me at all. While we did skin-to-skin Beckett started nursing on his own, it was amazing. Ryan and I just sat and enjoyed our new bundle of joy. The nurses waited for us to give them the go ahead to weigh him, bath him etc. It was wonderful.

The nurse traded me a boxed lunch for Beckett. While she weighed him I scarfed down my turkey sandwich and then fell into a deep sleep.  I don't even remember Ryan holding him for the first time ;(

We spent 2 wonderful days at the hospital then we came home. It amazes me still that we brought Beckett home after 2 days, we weren't allowed to hold Lincoln until well into the 3rd day. So far Beckett has been a wonder baby. He eats, sleeps and poops better then any other baby I'm sure.  Lincoln is aware of Beckett but doesn't seem too concerned. He did feed him a fruit loop yesterday, put it straight in Beckett's mouth. Luckily I was holding Beckett but it made me realize how closely we'll have to watch Linc for this first little while. 

Hooked up to my IV fluids for the epidural. I was so excited! 

Welcome to the world Beck! 

Me scarfing down my boxed lunch. 

What a cutie. One of my good friends made me this hat, it fit him perfectly. 

My boys! Notice Linc's dog made the picture as well. 

Dad and his sons. Lincoln was asked to smile for us. That is the face we got. Love it! 

First family picture. 

Giving brother kisses. He is so hesitate around Beck he only has touched him a few times. Lincoln mostly just stares at Beck from a good distant but I can tell he's getting braver. It won't be long before these two boys are wrestling. 

Valentine's Day 2015....and some other stuff

Valentine's Day is pretty low key when your husband is a grad student and you're expecting another baby in a month. 

We went to IHop the night before as a family to avoid the crowds plus kids eat free and Lincoln puts his food away like a champ! 

On Saturday, actual Valentine's Day, my friends & I got together for a fancy breakfast to celebrate Emily's birthday. It was fun to have a gal-entine's day. I'm so thankful for the wonderful friend's I've made here. We laughed about pregnancy woo's and other womanly things. All of us in the picture are pregnant or nursing.

 

We realized we were the loudest table when we took the picture and the restaurant got very quiet. Oops. 

While I was out with the girls Ryan took good care of Lincoln. 

I got Ryan a copper card, the size of a credit card, with a small love note engraved on it. His wallet is small and I thought it would be fun for him to have a love note that will last forever. Then we both agreed to buy a used Wii game system from a neighbor. I'm actually loving it. After Linc goes to bed we play a few rounds of whatever game we're feeling. 

I feel like since Linc has gotten older its harder for us to have good quality time together. After he goes to bed Ryan has to go back to work and I'm usually exhausted. We're trying to make more time for each other even if its just 20minutes a day without phones or tv. I'm surprised by how fun it is to challenge Ryan to a video game....he usually stomps on me slash he ALWAYS stomps on me.  It's fun to have time waster fun. 

 Saturday was super snowy so we kept inside as much as possible. Ryan worked from home and spent time with Lincoln. We all made a romantic trip to Costco for our monthly shopping trip. 

We got Lincoln a cute red shirt to wear on Valentine's day and thats about all the fuss we put into the day. 

Sunday church was cancelled due to frozen temps and slick roads. Since we're 9am church I have a feeling we'll get canceled church more since the roads don't get paved until later in the day. We did get invited to go to another ward's sacrament meeting when the roads cleared up by 1 but Linc refused to nap at his normal time. After a long battle he finally went down at 12:45 and I was too exhausted to fathom getting him up and out to church.  

At our apartment complex each hall is encouraged (with a good budget) to do a hall party. This year our hall reps kept it low key and it was awesome. Sunday evening we just had pizza at the community center and they took our pictures for Valentine's Day. The fun part was they ordered pizza from all over town so we got a good taste of the different local shops. Bonus we got to eat take out pizza on Sunday without breaking any Sabbath rules ;) 

The pictures turned out really cute which was nice since we didn't have any together time on actual Valentine's to take a photo.  

All in all a wonderful holiday. 

Here are some random pictures I pulled off my phone. Gotta love camera phones.

This is the gate that leads to our Frosty store. Too bad its buried. 

Linc is getting so big. He's really into putting things in order. He's constantly taking toys from one location to another all day just organizing them. 

 This lady saved my life. The other day we had to mail off a package at the post office which is the worst place to take a small kid. She finished her stuff just as we walked in. Rather then rushing out and on with her list of to-do's she stopped and played with Linc the whole time I was there. I kept checking that she was ok with him, she told me that she hopes someone will do the same for her grandkid. I started crying, hormonal happy tears at her kindness. The post office went smoothly and it brightened everyone's day. The postal workers even noticed and were more patient then usual. Kindness really is an everyday miracle you can do for others. 

The library continues to be my favorite place of all time. They had the local zoo come and bring some animals to show the kids. Linc got to see a tortoise (not a turtle) a toad (not a froggie) and a bunny-rabbit. I laughed at how the zookeepers were quick to correct me when I was explaining the different animals to Linc. Sorry folks but my kid knows turtle not tortoise and froggie not toad. 

Linc apparently had a rough nap. He woke up with a bloodly lip and a very dazed look. 

Mornings are our only time with Daddy and we soak it up. Mommy sleeps in later and Linc gets to play and read with Dad until the bus comes to take him to school. 

Linc loves this game and whenever he sits on our bed he wants to play it. 

This kid is a child after my own heart. He loves books! At storytime he doesn't want to sit on my lap (probably cuz my lap is over-run by baby brother) Linc sits right in front of Miss Sandy. 

The other day at the grocery store he got a cookie from the bakery. A HUGE sugar cookie the size of his head. I kept a close eye on it but after he had eaten about half of it he shoved the rest all in his mouth while I was picking some crackers off the shelf. I turned around to this face.... 

...look how smug he is with his accomplishment. 

He loves spoons right now. I haven't fed my son in over a week. He won't let me, he does it all himself now. 

Grandma Darla & Grandma Ann sent Linc a valentine's card with stickers. He put all the stickers on baby brother. 

Linc has started sleeping just like his daddy. Legs crossed and up. I don't know how they find this comfortable but both my boys sleep the same.

One day after nap Linc wouldn't let go of my hand. He was completely healthy and happy but he just wanted to hold my hand all through lunch. My heart melted

Linc loves my baby belly. He will randomly come up and give it kisses. Embarrassingly enough he has to kiss my skin so he'll just yank my shirt up and kiss my belly whenever he feels like it. 

This kid LOVES the snow. Which is good cuz we're getting a ton here. The back windows are half-way covered and its supposed to keep snowing the rest of the week. Ryan will have to shovel them out so we can get some light in. 

At the doctors office waiting for his last round of shots till school! 

This kid is 19months, 21 pounds and 31 inches!