Beckam Parry Lindquist

My pregnancy with Beckam was by far the most difficult.  I was in a lot of pain and discomfort for the last 3 months.  I was scheduled to be induced the 29th of November.  On Monday the 26th, I went to Dr. Joseph for one last check up. He said I was at a 1 and that everything looked good to go for that Thursday.  When I got home, I took a long nap and woke up with contractions.  They weren't terrible so I just took it easy but by the time Adam was awake and the kids were home from school, they were pretty painful.  I started timing them and they were anywhere from every 3-9 minutes.  Wow.  I can't believe how easily we forget how painful those things are.  Ouch.

We called the on-call doctor and explained the situation and he said to come on in to the hospital.  We dropped our kids off at the Pruett's house and were at the hospital by around 9 or 10pm.  They weren't expecting us (we thought we would be going to Trinity hospital but since the on-call doctor was at University, we just went there) so we had paperwork to fill out and were in triage for a while.  Adam had accidentally dropped my hospital bag off at the Pruett's house when we left our kids and their stuff so Shalynn drove all the way down to get it to us.  They were jerks and wouldn't let her stay so I only got to see her for a minute.  Granted, I was in so much pain, I wasn't great company anyway.

I was ready for an epidural the second we got there but it always takes so long!!  I finally got put in a room maybe an hour later and was asking very regularly for an epidural.  When the anesthesiologist finally got there, I wanted to kiss him.  After I got the epidural, only half of my body was numb so I had to lie on the left side for HOURS to try to even it out.

We went to University hospital because the on-call doctor was already there for someone else but we never even saw him.  I was dilated to an 8 for so long.  They said once my water broke, I would dilate quickly and be ready to push. I kept asking them to break my water.  Do something.  Make it happen!  The nurse kept making excuses why the doctor wasn't coming to check me.  By 7am I still was an 8 and still hadn't seen the doctor and I wanted to new nurse.  My own doctor came in and was ticked that the on call doctor hadn't called him or checked me.  He immediately gave me a little pitocin and within minutes, my water was broken and I was ready to go.

Turns out the cord was wrapped around Beckam's neck a couple times but I had no idea.  Dr. Joseph was so calm and just had me keep pushing.  It only took about 3 pushes and our big fat baby was out!

 Look at those hands!  He's like the hulk. That was a rough day for him. He fractured his left clavicle on the way out, although he didn't show as much distress as we thought he would.

 Meeting him for the first time. 

 I LOVE Dr. Joseph.  Best. OB. Ever. 

Adam and I had struggled so much to come up with a name for this little boy.  A few weeks before the birth, we had narrowed it down to Gray or Beckam.  When we got to the hospital, we still hadn't decided.  Sometime in the middle of the night when we were waiting for something to happen, we decided on Beckam.  It was such a relief to have a name for him!

The kids came to visit that night and it was so fun to see them with him.  Then it was nice to have those crazies taken back home. Kids are loud.

 Shalynn was trying to figure out how that huge baby had fit inside me. She's funny.

I had a lot of friends come and visit, which meant so much to me.  I was missing my family so much and wishing my mom and sisters were there so having girlfriends come see me was so much fun.  Thanks, Jayme, Dantzel, Chelsea and Shalynn!

My baby daddy. Hot right?

Steed's Dairy Farm 2012

We love going to Steed's Dairy Farm every fall.  Every year they have new things to do and see.  I was a million months pregnant so it was nice to just sit and watch the kids play for the most part. 

 The kids loved this zip-line.  They were only supposed to get 5 turns but there was no one in line so they just let them keep going.

 

I was so impressed with Penny.  She was so brave and wanted to do it by herself. 

 She LOVED it!

 Penny and Bridger wanted to get their faces painted.  I love what they chose. Girly girl Penny had to have a pink crown and Bridger chose a cute turkey.  Brody saw Bridger's and had to have the same thing.

 I was finding corn kernels everywhere for weeks after this.

 

Halloween 2012

I've always wanted to do a theme costume idea for our whole family.  Last year after Halloween, I went and stocked up on dress-up costumes at Wal-mart for 90% off.  They had a ton of pirate stuff so I planned to all dress like pirates this year.  I was feeling overwhelmed because my pregnancy was so taxing so I'm so glad I had most of the costumes ready to go!


I never thought I would be able to say I put eyeliner on my husband.  It was weird.


We had a chili cook off and trunk or treat at the church and it was a lot of fun.  Then on Halloween our kids went trick or treating throughout the neighborhood and brought us home a ton of candy.  Thanks, kids.

Bonus- Adam went to Bridger's class dressed up in his pirate garb and read them a pirate story with his pirate voice.  Then he passed out pirate fruit snacks and chocolate gold coins.  It was epic. Plus we got 2 uses out of his $40 costume so that's a plus.

Pumpkin Carving

Every year, we carve pumpkins with the kids.  And every year, we regret it.  It sounds like a fun idea that will bring good memories, but usually this is how it goes:  The kids are excited to pick a design for their pumpkins and then when the top of the pumpkin comes off and they have to get their hands gooey and gross, they lose interest so Adam and I end up finishing everyone's pumpkins while they destroy the house.  Soooo, this year we decided to just color on the pumpkins.  We got some permanent markers and I cut out some jack-o-lantern vinyl. They loved it!  And so did we. 

Then Bridger had a daddy and me pumpkin carving day at school and we, being the awesome parents that we are, totally forgot about it.  He was a good sport about it and said he had fun doing it with a friend and his friend's dad but we felt like total losers. He really wanted to carve a pumpkin with Adam so we sucked it up and got the knives out. 

This time they were total champs!  Bridger was still a little squeamish but they all did it mostly on their own and they had a good time.

School

I feel like I'm always playing catch up.  I used to be so good at blogging and I'm not sure why it has gotten so much harder to get it done.

The boys started school at the beginning of August.  Brody is in 2nd grade and Bridger is in Kindergarten. 

I'll be honest- I was a little worried about how Bridger would do with behavior and with learning new things.  Whenever we tried to work on him with learning to read or letters, he seemed uninterested and would get frustrated easily.  I guess we're just not good teachers or good at finding ways to make it fun.  He LOVES school and is doing really well.  He is learning to read quickly and has amazing handwriting.  When I dropped him off at school, I walked him to his class and he clung to me for dear life. I had to pry his fingers from me and then he ran out of the classroom and I had to chase him down and stick him back in class.  It was heart-breaking but also, in my head I was like, "Dude.  You're 5.  Stop it."  His sadness didn't last long and he has loved it ever since.  His first progress report was very complimentary.  His teacher loves him.

Brody has always loved school and learning and done really well.  This year is no exception, although he is responsible for more things than in previous years, which is an adjustment.  He is kind of a forgetful little boy.  He has a good attitude about school and loves math and reading.  The boys ride the bus together and get to sit together every day.  I love seeing them as best friends.

Penny gets to stay home with me.  She is potty trained now (YAY!!!).  She was such a champ.  I thought it was going to be a nightmare but she got it down in 3 days and is now learning to go less than once every 20 minutes.  We play with friends, run errands, play play-doh, color and read books.  She loves watching anything with a princess or someone wearing pink.  She'll even choose power rangers because there's a pink power ranger.  She's as girly as they come, which is what I always wanted, but it also means psychotic meltdowns, like when she has to take her princess nightgown off when it's time to go to the store, for example. She loves to sing and dance and eat sugar.  She's a lot like her mama.

Bye-Bye, Binkies!

She looks really happy, right?  That's because she has no idea what is about to happen.  Not really.  A while ago, we decided that Penny was old enough to get rid of her binkies.  For the longest time she only had them in bed but we figured if we didn't do it now, it would just get harder to wean her.

We rounded them all up and put them in a little bag that she decorated with stickers.  She was so excited!  Then we went out to the mailbox so we could send them to the binky fairy.  Turns out the fairy takes binkies from big girls and takes them to little babies who need binkies.  Sounds so gross and unsanitary (plus it's a lie) but it seemed like a good story at the time. 

A few hours later we went back out and she found her prizes from the binky fairy.  A little barbie girl, some princess stickers, and a shiny pin wheel.  She was so happy and excited.  She wanted to sleep with her new doll that night. We tucked her in bed with her favorite blanket, bear and new doll and sang her a song.  She smiled and then when we were ready to leave the room, she got a confused look on her face and said, "Binky?"

Ummmm....weren't you there for the last 5 hours when we were doing this? You got the doll.  The binkies are gone.  She was so so so sad.  She cried and cried and there was nothing we could do to comfort her (besides give in and give her the binkies back, which trust me, I thought about it).  She cried for over 2 hours and it was heart-breaking.  I went in after 2 hours because she was not breathing right because of all her crying.  Once she calmed down, she fell asleep.  So sad.  The next few weeks were rough.  She didn't cry a ton, but she didn't love bed time like she always had. 

Eventually, it passed and she's a happy little sleeper again. Hallelujer!  So we're binky free for a few months until the next one comes and we force them into a binky addiction.

Audrey's Visit

 My sister Audrey hadn't come and visited for a while so it was SO FUN to have her here for almost 2 weeks.  I got to meet her yummy sweet baby Remy and get to know him.  Unfortunately, I was gross sick with my pregnancy for most of the time she was here so there was a lot of lying on the couch and doing nothing.  I also felt bad because there were times when I felt like helping her with the baby but I was just too stupid sick. 

We had a lot of fun despite feeling gross and having a baby's schedule to work around.  We laughed so hard so many times, which felt so good!  She is so funny and makes me laugh.  I love the comfortable feeling I have being around my sisters.  It's a natural friendship that I'm so grateful I have.

I love your face off, Audge!!!