Chillin' With Dad

Brynlee is the most chill baby I've ever seen. Both of our other kids had to be walked around the house or rocked whenever they were awake. I remember walking around with Brayden until 5am the first couple weeks after he was born. Brooklyn wasn't as bad, but still had to always be moving around (in hindsight they both ended up having really bad heartburn and reflux, so that could have something to do with it.) Brynlee is a completely different story. She doesn't make a sound, first of all. I don't think I've ever heard her cry. The first two nights she was up ALL night, but all I had to do was lay her next to me (I'm on a queen mattress by myself upstairs while Josh is downstairs with the 2 other kids). We just lay by each other and talk, look around, and she'll nurse. I drift in and out of sleep while she just hangs out wherever I put her - the bassinet, the bouncer, the swing...doesn't matter. I still can't believe how low-maintenance she is. I'm always putting her in her bassinet throughout the day thinking she's asleep, then I'll go check on her 20 minutes later and she's just looking around! Thank you Brynlee for being so stress free. We LOVE your sweet spirit in our home. Her she is chillin' with her daddy:

Gifts for the Kids

One thing that helped Brayden when we brought Brooklyn home from the hospital was the basketball hoop we had waiting for him when we got home. It was his first hoop and he has been obsessed ever since. So we've been planning on having special gifts for the kids at home when we brought Brynlee home. We got this cute little doll set for Brooklyn for her birthday 2 months ago, but kept it hidden until now. She loves it, and loves that she has her own baby to take care of while I'm taking care of Brynlee. Brayden even plays with it as much as she does. Here's Brooklyn playing with her baby:

For Brayden I've been wanting to get him a real basketball hoop for the driveway. I've looked on KSL and found plenty, but since we don't have a truck to go pick it up we've been out of luck. Well...the house 2 down from us is vacant and has been for sale ever since we moved in. Every time I drive past it I think to call the realtor and ask if the homeowners would sell us their portable basketball hoop that's in their driveway. I finally emailed the realtor and got no response. A few days before the baby was born I noticed a truck in their driveway so I stopped by and it happened to be the homeowner. I introduced myself as the new neighbor and we talked for a few minutes. I asked if we could buy their hoop, and he said we could just take it! I couldn't believe it! So after we dropped the kids off at the Ericson's the night before the baby was born, Josh and I walked down and rolled the hoop to our house. It's adjustable so we put it down to 7ft. When my mother-in-law brought the kids home a few hours after we got home from the hospital, it was the FIRST thing Brayden noticed before they even got to our house. He has been SO excited ever since. He loves shooting his hoops and is getting pretty good. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I will soon!

Coming Home

It's always SO hard for me to leave the hospital after having a baby. The 2 days in the hospital are really my only days off, so coming home is always bitter sweet. Here I am dressing Brynlee for the trip home:

 Such a sweet, peaceful little girl:

 Brayden is so in love with Brynlee. He is always wanting to hold her and snuggle with her:

 A few hours after we got home my brother and sister-in-law visited us and brought us dinner. It was fun to hang out with them for the evening before the Ericson's brought our kids back. Here's a picture of my neice Paige and their twins Meg and Ty with little Brynlee:

Brynlee - Day 2

The rest of the hospital stay went as planned. Josh had to do some work on Thursday, so Brynlee and I chilled together in the morning and afternoon. I brought a bunch of photography books, so I was reading them and practicing during the day. Here are some pictures I took while we were hanging out:

One of the chapters I read was on taking pictures of flowers. My mom brought me this beautiful rose, so I got to practice a little bit on the flower:

For dinner, the hospital provided a "couple's" meal. They brought in a cute little table all set up with flowers, a special dinner, and sparkling cider. It was really neat to have a little "date" together, since that isn't going to happen again for a while.

We had a few more visitors on Thursday evening.

The rest of the night Josh and I spent together with little Brynlee. After he helped me get ready for bed around midnight, he went home to get a good nights sleep. I am SO grateful for such a great husband that is also a wonderful father. Josh has been such a great support throughout the pregnancy and throughout this week. Thanks sweetie for everything! I really enjoyed the time we got to spend together at the hospital.

Brynlee Lynn Ericson - Day 1

She's here!!! I can't believe how quickly the past few days have flown by. We dropped the kids off at the Ericson's on Tuesday night so we could go to the hospital early Wednesday morning. Here I am on our way out:
We quickly got checked in and hooked up to everything. The doctor broke my water around 9:30 and I go the epideral around 11. Here I am just chillin':
Everything was going pretty steady and we thought we still had a few hours to go. I started feeling some pressure, so my doctor came in to check me. Still thinking we had time left, he checked me and said "Oh! Let's have a baby!" Apparently the head was already on it's way out. He quickly put his stuff on, sat down, and I started pushing on the next contraction. Half way through my first push, he told me to stop and start breathing. I thought I was getting ready to push again...um...nope! Her head was already out. He asked if I could see her head and I was able to look down and see her, then without any more pushing I watched her slide right out. It was one of the neates, most fascinating experiences to watch her come out as I felt her leave my body since I wasn't focused on pushing. By this time Josh was sitting in the chair because he almost passed out. He never had issues with the other kids, but because she came so fast he apparently couldn't handle it very well. He did manage to stand up to cut the cord. She weighed 6 lbs 6 oz and was 18.5 inches long born at 12:59pm. I still can't believe how easily it all happened. No tearing, cutting, or other major issues. We feel very blessed with how well it went and that she made it here safely and is as healthy as could be scoring a 9.9 on the Apgar scale.All the nurses quickly cleaned her up and did what they needed to with her, then Josh and I got to enjoy some time with our new little girl. After enjoying the afternoon together we were moved to our room and continued enjoying our new little miracle. Josh gave her a bath in our room so I got to watch. With our other 2 kids Josh gave them their first bath somewhere else, so I loved being able to watch this time. We had a lot of family and friends visit, and it was fun to have the energy to enjoy the evening with everyone.
The Ericson's brought the kids down for a couple of hours and it was fun to spend time together as a family of 5. Brayden has been extremely anxious and excited for the baby to come. So when he walked in he couldn't wait to see her and hold her:

Brooklyn, on the other hand, was a little more hesitant. She hasn't really understood that a baby was in my tummy and was going to come out. She didn't want to see her at first, but after a little bit she did sit with me and "hold" the baby and touch her toes:

Our family of 5! I still can't believe we have 3 kids! I still don't know how I'm going to manage hauling these 3 kids all around, but we're excited to add little Brynlee to our family:

The Cabin - Part 2

Sunday morning again the kids slept in, which means we all slept in. The Nick and Kesha made a yummy dutch oven breakfast and then we just hung out for the afternoon. I love this picture of all the kids watching Mickey Mouse:
Boston and Brooklyn have SO much fun together. It's really cute...I can see a romance in their future (although at this rate Brooklyn will be atleast 6 inches taller than Boston :)
Cute little Easton:

Steve, Rachael, Aaron, Jake, and Mariah all came up for the afternoon. Here are Brayden and Brooklyn shooting arrows with Aaron:

I love taking pictures of this girl. I'm still learning how to use my camera, so it's fun to have kids willing to let me keep taking pics.

Of course at the cabin it's ok to pee anywhere...well that's the boys' philosophy.

Horseshoes!

All in all it was a fun weekend. We got home by 9:30 on Sunday night so the kids weren't totally wired. Thanks everyone for coming up with us and for helping out so much with our kids!

The Cabin - Part 1

We went to the cabin again this past weekend. We've been wanting to go again before the baby comes, but haven't been able to. We mentioned it to Nick and Kesha, and they had plans so we decided it just wasn't going to happen. Well, their plans fell through so last minute we decided to pack up and head out. I was hesitant to go, not wanting it to be too stressful since I can't do much, but it ended up being a perfect weekend. We headed up on Friday evening, stopping to visit Josh's grandma in the hospital. We met up with Nick and Kesha in Park City and ate at one of Josh's Mexican restaurants. We finally made it to the cabin around 10:30. We got the kids to bed and stayed up pretty late playing games.

Saturday morning we all got to sleep in. All 4 kids slept in, which is rare but greatly appreciated. We enjoyed the morning hanging out. Mike and Natalie came up, which helped out SO much with the kids. After lunch I put Brooklyn down for a nap and everyone headed out for an afternoon hike and to go fishing. Natalie and I stayed behind and played games and talked. Here are a bunch of pics from their hike. Boston had a little fishing pole that they took turns using.
Nick tried teaching Josh how to fly fish:

These two are becoming such good buds:

The boys are one year apart, although Boston is the same size as Brooklyn. He's really smart and talks really well, so they get along great. He kinda bridges the gap between Brayden and Brooklyn so the 3 of them have a riot together. It's really fun to watch them all.

They caught a couple of fish. Brayden is ALL boy, and is never afraid to touch anything:

Cute little Easton. He is such a chill baby and was so good the entire weekend.

After they all got back from the hike we had a quick dinner and put the kids to bed. We again played games until WAY too late, but it was a lot of fun.