Finley Blake Yeafoli

I haven't anticipated the birth of any baby like I have Finley's. After Eliza lost Harper, the image of her having a healthy perfect baby was hard to imagine. I was nervous almost her whole pregnancy that something would go wrong, so when July 11th came, I was so excited. Eliza and Tony graciously allowed me to be in the O.R. with them when Finley was born. The doctors and nurses, especially the anesthesiologist, were so inclusive and inviting to me. They found out I wanted to be a nurse so they explained everything they were doing and even allowed me in for the spinal tap. As they cut through each layer, I was fascinated by the human body and by medical advances. How could they be slicing my sister open so effortlessly and without worry? When they got to the sac and right before they cut it and the fluid spilled out, I could see the baby's nose and lips pressed against it. The water was broken and her purple/white face popped out and they pulled her out. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

Eliza's first time seeing Finley.

 This little fatty was 8 days early and weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces.

 Eliza with Dr. Wilkes. They're besties.

 I will have a special bond with Finley forever. I saw her come out of a uterus.

 Audrey was really nice to let me have this experience. Eliza could only have one extra person in there and Audrey was very selfless about it.

 Grandma's 14th grand-baby. Side note- she's a hot grandma.

The day after Finley was born, I took my kids to meet her.  Beckam wanted nothing to do with her but the other kids loved her and were so gentle with her. I was surprised when Brody asked for a second turn. He's not the baby-loving type.

My mom was so nice and practically forced me out the door and watched my kids so I could go spend time with Eliza and Finley at the hospital. It was so nice to sit in a quiet hospital and snuggle with her and listen to her little sounds. Eliza was encouraged to go for walks to speed up her incision recovery so I decided to go on a walk with her. We just went down the hallway, turned around and walked back. I was holding Finley and Eliza was using the rolling bassinet for support. Three steps out the door and we got yelled at because apparently it's against the rules to hold a baby in a maternity ward. It was so dumb. So we did what the bossy lady told us and we put her in the bassinet. I don't know why they don't trust people to walk around with a baby that they are going to be taking home and raising for the rest of their lives.

Bridger Turns 6!...and then we waited a while and then celebrated.

Our poor sweet Bridger was born 5 days after Christmas.  That's rough, huh? I bet you thought these were Christmas pictures.  Nope.  I didn't have birthday wrapping paper but I sure did have 5 extra rolls of Christmas wrapping paper.  I'm awesome. At least he didn't seem to mind.

 They're doing a birthday present happy dance.

 Adam wrote a really nice card for Bridger's birthday.  I'm reading it to him.  Oh- and my parents were in town during his birthday, which never happens around here!

 Bridger's big gift this year was a big remote control Jeep. Brody somehow always convinces Bridger to let him play with it instead of Bridger.  Sometimes Bridger gets a few minutes of play.

I always try to make his birthday feel like a special day instead of a rushed "get her done" right after Christmas.  Until this year.  I had been so overwhelmed with having a new (very needy) baby and adjusting to 4 kids that the thought of a birthday party was daunting.  We do friend birthday parties only on the even number birthdays so it was Bridger's year.

We waited a month to have his friend party because of how close it was to Christmas and me having a baby. I had pinned a whole bunch of cute birthday party ideas on Pinterest and really wanted to do a cute party for him. But I realized early on that wasn't going to happen. Bridger saw a commercial for birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese and they showed a ticket machine where the birthday kid gets to go in a machine and they blow tickets in the machine and you get to try to catch as many as you can.  He was sold.  And once I looked online and saw that they take care of pretty much everything (read:clean up), I was sold too.  I booked it online, invited a few friends and made some cupcakes.  That's it.

Chuck E. Cheese isn't my favorite place.  It's crowded and their food isn't that good and it's just kind of a lame place.  But after this party, I will have a hard time ever doing a party anywhere else.  It was so nice to not worry about anything and just enjoy watching Bridger feel like a king.

 He got a special crown with tokens in it, a birthday boy ribbon, and a HUGE Chuck. E. balloon.

Bridger inside the ticket blower thingy.  There were some tickets worth 50 or 100 tickets and he got WAY more than I thought he would.  Adam observed it before he went in and told him which direction to face and how to cup his hands.

Safety first. Those little tiny pieces of paper are DANGEROUS.

 Kavi, Bridger, Miyah, Garrett, Aidan (hiding his head), Brody, Michael, random kids we don't know.

It was so awesome.  And only $85 for 8 kids, TONS of tokens, pizza and soda for kids and adults, and all the other fun stuff.  Totally worth it!

Bridger is such a great kid.  He's so sweet and sensitive to other people's feelings, artistic, creative, thoughtful, funny and just amazing all around.  We love that boy and feel so blessed to be his parents.

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.