Saturday, October 30, 2021

Chase’s 12th Birthday!

We are so blessed to celebrate our Rock Star’s 12th birthday! His actual birthday on Tuesday was chaotic now that he and E are in public school and those mornings are just too crazy early and hectic to attempt birthday pancakes. Plus the fact that 3/5 of the kids are still asleep when we leave for drop-off. LOL!

We celebrated with family last Sunday, had a birthday dinner at his favorite restaurant (Culver’s!) after Owen’s t-ball game on Tuesday, and extended the festivities to this morning for our traditional birthday pancakes. I think he really enjoyed having a birthday week!












Sunday, October 18, 2020

Cinco | 3 Months

Y'all, it's hard to keep this blog updated. Sweet Cinco turned 3 months old in September and I still haven't taken his 3-month pictures! He'll be 4 months old in less than a week. I'm telling you... I'm starting to realize there's something to be said about being the youngest of five... I'm going to owe Cinco some apologies when he gets older! LOL!

Regardless, here's a quick pic of him at 3 months having fun in the bath!


Overall things are GOOOOOOOOD with this sweet baby! He's such a champ! He eats about every 3 hours during the day, and usually sleeps for 8 or 9 hours at night. He's so happy and smiley! Our only real struggle is the continued spit up issue, and he's taking Pepcid to help with it. I'm not sure how much it's actually helping, though. I'll talk to his pediatrician at his 4-month well visit later this month to see what else we can do.

A big milestone for this sweet muffin was his first time in the Jumperoo! We bought this for LO 13 years ago... and all of the boys have used it since, too! For the record, his feet do hit the floor... he's just "mid-jump" in this pic with his legs curled up. Hahaha!


Just for fun, here are the boys in the jumperoo!

CHASE:


E:


SQUISH:


Another fun milestone during month 3 was Cinco's first trip to the beach! We had a blast! I should definitely write a post on that first family trip out of the house since COVID hit!


Guess that's it for now! I obviously should start working on his 4 month post sooner than later! LOL!

I just love my sweet Cinco! 💙

Friday, August 28, 2020

Cinco | 2 Months

My sweet Cinco is officially 2 months old! It's SOOOOO exhausting being SOOOOO adorable!

My apologies for the terrible white balance... I promise he isn't still jaundiced. I accidentally deleted all of my LR presets when trying to clear space on my MBP, and, combined with the forced upgrade to the new version of LR, my editing skills are seriously lacking.
I was glad to finally bust out the Nikon to take some proper photos of my sweet munchkin. Too bad I wasn't able to take his 1 month photos last month. Those first four weeks with this guy were especially difficult!
I mean, look at this face. Totes adorbs! I just *assumed* that as my 5th and final kid, he'd be a walk in the park. Us youngest kiddos are the best! But he apparently had other plans...
I really couldn't complain, though. I just couldn't get enough of him! Those sweet toes... chunky thighs... sweet coos... it was all worth it!
Owl booty, y'all!
We've been working a bit on tummy time. It's not his favorite, but he's doing better each time!
What a wonderful idea to have a photo session literally just a few hours after his 2 month vaccinations! To my surprise, he was simply wonderful. But those poor chunky thighs with their tweety bird bandages!

Please also take note of the gorgeous gray knit blanket... my beloved most favorite aunt on the planet made that for my sweet baby! She's literally the best.
This journey has been quite difficult with the added stresses and unknowns and inconveniences of COVID-19. Our family has been hunkered down for 168 days and counting... and it's not been fun. But we are doing what we need to do to keep our sweet little family safe and healthy. There's nothing more important! 


Oh, and just for fun... here's a 2 month pic of another one of my boys... any guesses?? Lots of similarities in that sweet face!



Sunday, July 26, 2020

Cinco | 1 Month

Sweet Cinco is one month old! Silly mommy was SO exhausted from all of the unexpected doctor visits, appointments, and procedures all over the Upstate that I couldn't pull myself together to grab the Nikon and take proper photos. So here are a few pics of my sweet one month old babe!

Enjoy!




Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Cinco’s Birth Story

It’s Cinco’s birth day! We are so excited!

Last night, we enjoyed our final night as a family of 6 by snuggling together in our bed to watch The Floor is Lava on Netflix. It was so great to spend that time together with my crew!

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1c99HQTAFszLkaELDykFBSNf8xVvQOfH6

For starters, this birth story is already unlike my previous four! We were able to sleep in our own bed last night rather than head to the hospital the night before the induction. It was lovely to get about 3 whole hours of sleep in my own bed (LOL!) and shower at home before heading to the hospital.

I called L&D at 5:30 AM as instructed, and they asked me to arrive between 6:45-7:00 AM. We are packed and ready to go! My mom (Mona) and her sister (Aunt Jo) will be staying with the kids while we’re in the hospital. We are so thrilled to have them here with us! It’s been a L-O-N-G 103 days of quarantine for the kid, hubs, and I! I’m so glad the kids will have my mom and aunt here to love on them!

We have about 45 minutes until we head to the hospital. There’s so much more to come! 💙

9:15 AM | We arrived at the hospital a little after 7:00 AM, got through the admission process, and settled into our room. My nurse, Jocelyn, has been awesome. She got me hooked up to the IV (only 2 tries!) and was able to get the Pitocin started around 8:20 AM. Dr. French broke my water around 9:00 AM and said I was at 3cm. Got a way to go! My kiddos usually take a good 12 or so hours to debut once the Pit is started, so we’ll see just how late it’ll be before Cinco arrives!

Big mama is ready to meet my sweet babe!

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1_O8FP_5lrhBC4zY7MbWNgIABy-GxRQKU

12:18 PM | Not much to report! I moved from the bed to the birthing ball and am now settled into a rocking chair. My nurse Jocelyn was placed on another case, and Whitney took over for me. She’s been great! We’ve got my Pitocin up to 10 and I’m still just feeling increasingly mild to moderate contractions. I plan to wait for them to get a bit worse and frequent before pulling the trigger on the epidural. Baby Cinco is handling everything great! 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1PJepwxBi7zH9zFr7x1l3cAqzaJ5Y6Lbj

1:17 PM | Still not much to report. Contractions are still pretty mild, so they’ve bumped me up to 14 on the Pitocin. I’m hopeful I’ll be feeling ready for that epidural soon because that would = PROGRESS! And I’m ready for some progress... and a Jimmy John’s sandwich! 🤣

2:45 PM | Contractions started to increase so I asked for the epidural. The anesthesiologist was next door and was able to come right over once my IV fluids were in. The epidural was probably the most painful one I’ve ever had, but it eventually kicked in and made my life much more enjoyable! Lol!

My nurse, Whitney, checked me after the epidural took effect and said I was at 4cm, 80% effaced, and 0 station. We’ve still got some work to do!

Hubs and I were able to FaceTime with my mom, aunt, and the kids before their quiet time at 2:30 PM, and it was so great to see them! I miss them bunches and can’t wait to bring home baby Cinco tomorrow. 💙

5:15 PM | Making progress! Moved up to 6cm. Waiting and praying for a safe arrival SOON!

5:50 PM | 9cm!!

10:45 PM | He’s here! So sorry for the lack of updates, but as you can imagine, we’ve been a bit busy! I won’t have an official birth announcement to share until tomorrow as hubs and I are still trying to finalize his name, and we’d like to discuss it with the kids in the morning to make our decision before making anything public. Thank you for being patient with us as we try to soak up every precious moment of this experience for the VERY LAST TIME! 💙

Baby Cinco
June 24, 2020
7:07 PM
8 lbs. 8 oz. • 20 3/4 in.