Lizzie is 2!

I'm really slacking with this blog lately since having Flynn, but I have to write about my baby girl turning 2 years old! Lizzie has brought us so much joy these past 2 years. She's the one who made me a mother and made Tyler a father which is a precious gift. She has developed quite a personality. Everyone who meets her says she is the funniest little girl. She is a social butterfly. She loves playing with other kids and gets excited when people come over or when we go visit friends and family. She is also strong willed; she knows what she wants and gets very upset if she doesn't get it. Lizzie is so smart. Her vocabulary is growing every day, she knows her ABC's, counts to 10, and knows quite a few animals by name and sound. That's another thing, she LOVES animals. Her favorite movies are Frozen and any of the Winnie-the-Pooh ones. It's so fun to watch Lizzie grow, even though it's happening too fast. We love our beautiful little girl!

We did our best to give Lizzie the best day. She played with her new kitchen toys all morning and had pancakes for breakfast. We took a trip to the zoo in the afternoon since it's one of her favorite places. After the zoo, it was party time! We threw Lizzie a Frozen themed birthday party. I got some fun food ideas from Pinterest and it was just too easy to find decorations; Frozen is everywhere! We ate good food, opened presents, and ate cake. My favorite part of the day was watching Lizzie's face light up when we all sang happy birthday to her. She had so much fun. It was a great day.

Calligraphy on the food cards done by yours truly. 

Recipe for sandwich recipe  ^ here

Flynn at 1 Month Old

Flynn has been with us for a month already! It's been a month of adjustment and exhaustion but also joy. Even though he doesn't do much right now, I love to just watch him whether he's sleeping or taking in the world around him. At 1 month old, Flynn wakes up 1-2 times at night. His longest stretch of sleep has been 7 hours. He is a great eater and nursing has been so easy with him. He likes baths now that he can actually bathe in a tub. He hates the carseat, and is still getting the hang of a pacifier. He smiles almost every time his daddy holds him. He likes tummy time but doesn't hold his head up too well yet. Oh, and I'm very happy that he still has some hair! Crossing my fingers it doesn't all fall out like Lizzie's did. We love this precious boy!

Daddy's Day

Happy Father's Day! I'm so glad we have this day to celebrate the fathers in our life. I don't know where I'd be without my Dad. He has been such a great dad and has always taken care of us. He is a wonderful example of integrity, kindness, and faith. He is always honest in his dealings with others including in his profession which is he is so passionate about. He is one of the nicest people you'll meet and a total softy - like, he'll cry if you give him a thank you card. And then there's his firm faith in God. He is unwavering in his beliefs and religion; I admire him for that. I'm forever grateful that he is my Daddy.

Of course, I can't let Father's Day go by without a little tribute to my husband, the father of my children. It seems to me that Tyler was made to be a father. It took me a little while to be brave enough to start having children, but Ty was ready long before I was. And he is so good at it! He has an impressive amount of patience (which I lack). He works very hard to provide for us, but makes sure to find time in his busy day to spend with us. He loves his children so much and would do anything for them. His children love him too, Lizzie is always excited when he walks through the door. And Flynn...well we're pretty sure he loves his daddy too, he hasn't really told us. My love for Tyler grew when I married him, and it grew even more when he became a father. We're extremely blessed to have him in our eternal family.

Flynn

He's here! Baby Flynn has finally arrived and we are so in love with him. Here is his birth story:

My due date was May 29th. I scheduled an induction date for June 1st but I was pretty confident our little guy would get here before then because I was already dilated to 3 cm a few days before the due date. Well, I was wrong. My due date came and went. It was funny going out in public where people would ask me when I was due and I would respond, "yesterday." Then watch them get nervous that I was going to pop any second. So I ended up being induced. I was nervous about it all since I've never been induced before. One upside was that since it was scheduled, I could better plan Lizzie's living arrangement while Ty and I stayed at the hospital. My parents were kind enough to take her for those days. I went into the hospital around 7 am but wasn't started on pitocin until around 9:15. My first nurse was new and tried twice to get an IV in me; it actually hurt pretty bad and I have bruises to show for it. For the third time, a more experienced nurse did it and a bunch of blood spewed out in the process. I started getting way dizzy and nauseous. Once the IV was in and started working, I felt better. I've never had such a rough experience with an IV before! So that wasn't the best start. The doctor broke my water an hour or so later, by then the contractions were getting stronger so I just went ahead and ordered the epidural.  The anesthesiologist had a hard time putting it in for some reason, so he had to do it really slow. I could feel so much pressure of the needle going in and I was hurting from contractions at the same time. My epidural with Lizzie was way easier, so I wasn't expecting this. I don't know why needles were such a problem on my body this time around. Well the good news is the epidural did it's job perfectly...at least until delivery. Labor was really quick, and I was ready to push around 12:50 pm. When I started pushing I realized the epidural was not working as well anymore, I could feel quite a bit and boy did it hurt. I seriously don't know how women do all this without medication. Thankfully I only pushed like 3 or 4 times before Flynn made his entrance into the world. He was born at 12:54 pm on June 1, 2016. When he first came out, he didn't make any noise and was blue. Ty and I were both worried but the doctors and nurses didn't seem phased by it. They just patted him until he started crying a few seconds later. What a relief. He weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz, 21.5 inches long. 2 oz lighter than Lizzie was, but taller by 1.5 inches. He is healthy and perfect.

(excuse the bad quality of the first 3 photos...they were taken from a phone)

^ Such a good dad!

^ Lizzie meeting Flynn of the first time 

^ She's not sure what to think 

^This photo was taken after we took her monkey stuffed animal out and put Flynn in haha 

First family of 4 photo!

I still can't believe we have 2 kids now. It's been a little crazy around here but we have had a lot of help from family and friends. I'm dreading the day Tyler goes back to work and I'm left with these kiddos by myself! Lizzie seems to be handling it all well so far. The first time she met Flynn in the hospital, she was not too interested in him but she's getting much better. She calls him "baby" or "Fin"and we did get her to give him a kiss once which was adorable. Now she likes to help out by giving me his diaper and giving him his pacifier - or at least trying to. When he cries she gets really concerned and says "a cry" in a sad voice. She's already a good big sister. Ty has been more than wonderful. He has been doing all the laundry, cleaned out our cars, and gets up in the middle of the night with me to help with Flynn. I love my little family more than I can express and am looking forward to getting to know Flynn as he grows and develops.

Spring Tulips

Spring is such a wonderful time of year. Spring means sunshine, sandals, and flowers. And one of my favorite flowers...tulips! Well, we got to dance through some tulips today. Ok maybe it wasn't literally dancing. But, still appropriate to write about in this blog right? This was our first time at the Tulips Festival at Thanksgiving Point and we loved it. Check it out if you haven't yet, it's beautiful!

 Logan, looking all cool in his sunglasses.

Best friends skipping along

You could try to look a little happier, Lizzie.

Entrance into the "Secret Garden"

Em and Logan, love this picture!