Duane Elwyn

I feel like it was yesterday that I wrote the post about my grandma's passing. Although there is great joy that they are reunited, I'm sad to have to write a similar post so quickly after. 

My grandpa passed away two weeks ago, on August 12, just 4 1/2 months after my grandma. We were on vacation in California, but we had visited him only three days before. I am so thankful for that hour I spent with him. I introduced him to Max and then just sat by him, holding his hand. He looked very sick, and I knew he didn't have much time left. My grandpa tried to hold Max's squirmy hand, and Max gave my grandpa some of the biggest smiles I'd seen out of him. 

I had a special bond with my grandpa and even though I know he is so much happier now, living with my grandma and free of all his ailments, I'll miss him very much. 

Grandma & Grandpa

I was always his favorite (I think all the grandkids thought we were the favorite!).

My dad and Grandpa

My Grandpa baptized me when I was 8 years old. I remember being nervous  that my feet would float up so he stepped on them.

Our family at the funeral. It was really nice to see them again, but I'd rather not have these unplanned family reunions anytime soon.

Max's first month

Our first month with Max was kind of a blur to me. It was almost a solid month of visits from family, which I'm so thankful for. McKay had a hard time dealing with the baby taking our attention from him, so having family to entertain him and give him extra love really helped his adjustment. I'm really glad I took so many pictures or else I might have forgotten some of the fun stuff we all got to do.

My parents were here for the first couple of weeks. McKay instantly had a special bond with my dad and I hope Max will too! 

McKay was so glad Bubbe was here to make sure he got to have fun every day. He got some one-on-one time with her by going to see a movie and going to the library for story time. I loved that the house was clean, trash was taken out, and the laundry was all magically done. We really missed my mom when she left!  

Even though McKay kind of had a hard time, he always LOVED Baby Max. His favorite thing to do is to hold the baby. In fact, now at 6 weeks, Max gave his very first smile to McKay. I hope they'll be great friends! 

Our next visitors were Sean's dad and Betsy. They were also so helpful with entertaining McKay. They took him to the zoo and to the flight museum to see all these awesome, old planes. Talk about little boy heaven! 

Aunt Pam came up for a day while she was with her kids in Utah. She is too good to us and spoiled us with an awesome dinner out (she made sure I got to pick where!!) and wore out McKay by taking him swimming. She also held Max whenever possible! 

Sean's mom was here for a week and it was so wonderful with her here! Max went through a really gassy phase and it was super stressful at first and I'm so thankful she was here to help us deal with that! She also cooked us some of the best meals and made sure I was able to get some much needed rest.                                         

While Kim, Taylor, and Logan were here Sean made the brave decision to cut off all his hair. He's had long hair for over a year so it was a huge change. I was the one to cut and shave it and even though I'm smiling in the picture, it was pretty scary!! 

It turned out GREAT and he looks so good! 

We went to Rigby Lake with Kim, Taylor, and Logan and I'm so glad we did. We almost didn't because it was pretty windy and not super warm that day, but it turned into the perfect lake day. 

Now my company is all gone (but Becca's coming in 3 weeks!!!) and I'm trying to figure out life with two kids. I have moments when it's great and I feel like I've totally got this - and then moments when things are super overwhelming and I feel like a terrible mother. Hopefully the latter will fade as time goes on and we'll grow into a good routine. It is hard to remember life without Max, and I'm so glad to be a family of four! 

Birth Story

I was induced at 5am on May 29th (5 days before my due date). We got the process started and things were going just fine. I had my mom and Sean at the hospital with me, while my dad was home with McKay. We spent the first few hours chatting, watching Arrested Development, and eating strawberry flavored ice chips. Then around 10:30am my contractions were starting to get pretty painful so I asked for an epidural. At that same time my doctor came in to break my water, and once he did things started to progress pretty quickly!

My contractions came on SUPER intense (to the point that I didn't know how any woman could possibly give birth without drugs!). Luckily (or so I thought) the dr came in to do my epidural. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was (he blamed it on my curved spine) but it took this guy 45 minutes and TWELVE pokes to get the job done. Imagine trying to be still that long and curved over your huge belly while having horrible contractions. Needless to say, I was hating that guy the whole time.

Right after my epidural was in the nurses starting becoming concerned because the baby's heart rate would drop each time I had a contraction. They quickly gave me a shot to stop my contractions and paged my doctor. Once he was there he told me that even though I was only dilated to a 6/7 I needed to start pushing and that we had a short window before they would need to do an emergency c-section. I pushed for around 20 minutes and then the doctor used his little suction vacuum thing to pull the baby out.

Max was very gray when he came out and I only got to hold him for a minute or two before the team of doctors from the NICU rushed in. They worked on him for a little while and then took him to the NICU. His cord was really twisted which was the problem. Sean went with him to the NICU while my mom stayed with me. I had to stay in the recovery room for 2 hours, which was really hard to not see him until then! Thankfully Sean would text me pictures and videos to keep me updated. 

We got really lucky and Max only had to be in the NICU for two days and was off oxygen after the first day. It was also really hard on McKay since he wasn't able to go see his new baby. He would get really upset whenever he came to the hospital! 

Max is now a month old and is doing great. Putting on weight like a champ and trying to survive all his big brother's hugs and kisses!

Introducing....

Maxwell Benjamin Edwards

Born May 29, 2013

Birth story to come later...

Just an hour old - Max spent the first 48 hours in the NICU

McKay loves his "cute baby!"

First time they got to meet. Not getting to see Baby Max while we were in the hospital was really hard for McKay.

"Hey, Brother."
(Said in Buster's voice from Arrested Development)

So many cute outfits! The left one was worn by Ari, and the right (Duckies) has been worn by Lillia, McKay, Ari, and now Max. It's a family tradition!

We're SO glad you're finally here, Max! 

Last Pregnancy Post

 Here's what we've been doing the last couple days while waiting for Baby! 

Our neighborhood Memorial Day Picnic

Fun at the park with Daddy!

Breakfast in bed for Mommy

Tonight - Being induced TOMORROW!!!!

When you're 9 months pregnant and working full time...

...blogging is about last on your to-do list. Sorry. 

Here's been our week, in pictures

McKay giving his My Little Pony a bath because she was sticky.
Note to self - this is a fantastic way to kill time and get his hands super clean. He did this for at least 15 minutes! 

The fantastic Room Mom's decorate our bulletin boards for Teacher Appreciation Week each year. I actually cried when I saw mine! It is so incredible!

My selfie at 35 1/2 weeks. This was a week ago and not long after the baby dropped (even though everyone tells me he's too high still - he has in fact dropped!).
As of today - almost 37 weeks - the baby is around 6 lbs!!

The ladies I work with, were so kind to give me such a nice baby shower! I got a lot of  cute outfits for baby as well as tons of bath supplies for him. Such a relief! 

McKay's gifts for his preschool teachers and speech teacher. Today was his last day. 

Little Man at his last day celebration. He's really going to miss "My Dawn" AKA Miss Dawn.
She's been such a good teacher for him! 

Easter Weekend

Last weekend was Easter and it was a bittersweet one for my family. It was wonderful to see everyone - especially since we hadn't planned on it - but it was sad to say goodbye to my grandma. Her funeral was as upbeat as any funeral can be, I suppose. It was mostly family, and we knew the last thing my grandma would've wanted was her family, all together, crying for her. Instead we celebrated her life in memories, which was very sweet.

Sean was awesome to take care of the kids during the services. This is at the lunch afterwards - the kids thought he was the best jungle gym ever! What a good sport!

Sweet Lilly!

My dad with Chad's kids...

...and then with mine and Becca's.

Okay, so this was the funniest part of the weekend! Sean had Becca's phone during the funeral (because Lilly was playing a game on it) and he decided to pull an early April Fool's prank on her. Normally I think pranks are mean, but this one was too funny! He changed his contact info in her phone to say "Cat Facts" and then deleted all their prior texts. Then starting the next day he would text her with some crazy cat fact every hour on the hour, like it was from some crazy cat fan page. He only did it for a day and 1/2 but it drove her nuts!!!! I took this picture of her about 30 mins before she finally decided to call the number and realized it was actually Sean. She was pretty pissed, but I think once she gets over the annoyance of it, she'll think it was funny. At least the rest of us did! 

Mine and McKay's first time dying eggs. I'm guessing this was Becca's first time too  ??

Lucky boy got to hunt for eggs twice on Easter! First at Taylor and Logan's (where we stayed)...

...and then at my uncle's house where the rest of my family stayed. 

The kiddos showing off their eggs! Here are Becca's kids, as well as two of my cousin's kids. They all had a lot of fun together.

With grandpa after Easter dinner.

I love my family!