Blessing Day

We blessed Lenox on July 6, 2014. While it was beautiful blessing, it was not our best day.

Earlier that week, Mike, Leah and I were sick over the Fourth and even had to cancel the barbeque that we had planned to have at our house. Addie was able to enjoy all the festivities and I thought she had escaped death (seriously, we all felt terrible....I'll leave out any more specific details than that). Sunday morning, Addie woke up and was feeling awful. We couldn't skip church because we had family in town and a bunch of friends here that were coming to our ward for that. And if I'm being totally honest, his little outfit wouldn't have fit if we waited much longer. So, what's a girl to do? Call her mom. My mom suggested calling a friend that usually watches the girls, and luckily, my friend was able to come over and watch Addie and help me get things ready for church. Dani was a serious life saver that day!

I snapped a few quick pictures of Lenox before we left for church. Each time we have blessed our kids, something has come up that has prevented me getting the pictures I wanted, but, that is fine. This little outfit was Mike's when he was a baby. My mother in law gave this to me as a gift when I was in the hospital and I just fell in love with it. It was a little snug on Lenox, but the bonnet really brought out his chubby little cheeks. I bought those booties for him, and I thought they finished off the outfit perfectly.
Mike, his dad, my brother and the bishop stood in the circle to give Lenox a name and a blessing. It was short and sweet and very simple. I am so grateful to Mike and that he has been able to bless our three kids.
I left church early, right after the Sacrament, and got home right after Addie had an, ahem, episode... We had a quiet day after that and I was able to reflect a little on how lucky and blessed I am to have my family and the love and spirit that each baby has brought into our home.

If you are curious about what happens when we bless a baby at our church, it is very similar to a christening. Go here to read more about it!

Updates

Having 3 kids has limited some time I've had for blogging. As you can tell, it's been since June.... BUT I do love using Instagram to keep friends and family updated on our lives.

Since I know everyone is dying for an update here goes:

JUNE- We really enjoyed a quiet June and I honestly can't think of much that happened in June. I know we used our pond and played a lot, but it was a blur.

JULY- We celebrated the 4th with Mike's family all being in town. We took the girls up to West Yellowstone and went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Playmill Theater. If you are ever in West Yellowstone, make a point to see a play there. They are amazing! We also went to my new favorite parade in St. Anthony for Pioneer Day. The floats were so amazing and there was so much candy. On the 19th, we celebrated Leah's 3rd birthday! How is she 3?? She is such a spunky little girl. She does whatever the heck she wants (climbing up our huge slide, putting on a ton of makeup, sitting on the dogs, complimenting Mike on his work clothes and me on my breasts when I am nursing).

AUGUST- We bought a boat! We loved going out on it, but this August gave us some crappy  weather and we weren't able to go to much. We started grain harvest, and then it started raining, and it kept raining. Luckily it dried out enough to start harvesting right at the end of August, right when my parents came to visit. That was a fun trip! We went swimming at Heise Hot Springs, and a bunch of things that I honestly can't remember right now. Addie started kindergarten and turned 5 later that week. How is she old enough to be in kindergarten?? She is so smart and is such a kind girl. She is very in tune with what her body needs.

SEPTEMBER -  My cousin Katie, her dad and her 3 kids came to visit. For a week we had a 5, 4, 3, 2, almost 1 and an infant under one roof. It was crazy, but so much fun. We spent a day in Yellowstone and some time at our pond. It was so much fun to see her and spend time with her! Leah started preschool. She goes twice a week and loves it. She doesn't love when I drop her off, but she always does fine during class. We also got an outside dog. He is a black lab mix, which I have decided is my favorite kind of dog. They are just the nicest and obedient dogs. And cute! At the very end of the month, we started Spud Harvest.

OCTOBER - Spud harvest was ok, but we had a week of rain in the middle where we couldn't do any work, and that stunk, but that's life. Its so different to me to have so much of our livelihood depend on the weather. It is a fact that will take me a while to get used to. We've done a ton of Halloween activities and we've almost lost Addie at everyone of them because she is Queen Elsa, just like every 3rd girl in the US this year. Leah is a cute little Anna and Lenox is a hunter. Also this month, Lenox turned 6 months!! And the stinker is trying to crawl.

That's us. We are looking forward to a family trip, the holidays, skiing and my brother's wedding!

 

Newborn Pictures

When Lenox was a week old, I had my friend Brooke Robinson come and take pictures of our little guy. She had never taken pictures of newborns before and, for me, she knocked it out of the park! I love them so much. All of the pictures captured him and how sweet of a baby he is. They also make me a little sad because he is growing so fast.

Lenox Matthew Huskinson

On Thursday, April 24th at 5 AM, Mike and I headed to the hospital to deliver Lenox.
When we got to the hospital, we were taken to our room and I had a bunch of pre-operation questions to answer, I had to get my IV in which took three tries, I got into my gown and got all prepped for surgery. right at 7 AM, I was wheeled into the operating room. I was pretty nervous and I got a little shaky. The nurses were so concerned and gave me a bunch of warm blankets. The spinal block is the easiest thing ever. They brought Mike in, all scrubbed up, and he sat down by me. I started to feel a bit of tugging and I heard the suction, which kind of grossed me out. Mike stood up to watch over the screen. Then I felt them really push on the top of my stomach. And out he came!

He was crying beautifully. While the doctor held him, I heard him say, "He's got the trajectory, but he's gotta work on his aim." I was cracking up. They wheeled the baby away to the nursery to get cleaned up and weighed and Mike went with him while they finished closing me up. The doctors and nurses chatted while I was getting stitched up, and they were cracking me up. The nurse came back and said that he weighed eight pounds, one ounce. I'm pretty sure he was about 20 inches long. I was so surprised by that. I did not think that he would be that big, but it explains the amount of pain I was in the last three weeks of my pregnancy. He is just a bigger baby than my other two.
Once surgery was over, they wheeled me back to my room. The doctor came in and updated me on everything and said that after a few minutes they would bring baby in once they were sure I was doing fine. As it turns out, I lost a lot of blood during the surgery and almost needed to get blood, but thankfully, the doctor didn't tell me that until the next morning.
About an hour after the baby was born, they brought him into me. I only had to wait about 15 minutes in my recovery room before I got to see him. I looked at him and fell in love. He has the most beautiful round cheeks and blonde hair I've ever seen. He was a little fussy, so we started feeding almost instantly. It was like we were old pro's at it. Mike said that he had been trying to nurse since he was born.
We spent the next couple of days in the hospital, enjoying time just the three of us. I feel like my recovery has been really good. I was pretty nervous about delivering at Madison Memorial Hospital, mostly because I feel like it is a baby factory. But I had 2 stellar nurses that really helped me a long. My night nurses and all the other nurses on staff were amazing as well, but I just didn't get to know them as well. The second day nurse I had actually requested that she would be my nurse for my 3rd day in the hospital. My doctor was great and I didn't feel just like a number to him.

We decided on the name Lenox a while ago. Sorry to all the people that we said we didn't really have a name yet. We just didn't want to tell and I didn't want to make up names. We did really want to see him first before we made a final decision. There were a few other names in the running, but none of them stood out like Lenox. Lenox was Mike's grandfather's name. I never met him because he passed away when Mike was about 18. Matthew was my mom's younger brother. He passed away suddenly when he was 10 and my mom was about 20. Matthew is one person that I cannot wait to meet. Every story I hear of him just paints the sweetest picture.

We are so happy to have Lenox here. The past few days have been an adjustment and I think we have a bit of a bumpy road ahead, especially for Leah. The girls just love him, but Leah is feeling a little neglected because I have to spend so much time with him. We will adjust and everything will work out. The next few weeks will be hard with Mike having to work long hours and late into the night. Luckily, I've got my siblings here and recruited to help and I also have some friends to pawn off the girls for a few hours here and there. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, but we will survive.

I am so happy to have Lenox as my little boy and I know Mike is loving having a buddy, even if he is only 5 days old.

Last Days

Well, we are getting down to the last 7 days of being a family of 4. I can't wait to have this little guy out. To answer all the questions I get (every time I see another human being while running around town or at church)....

• I am feeling pretty tired. Chasing two kids while having a large baby (for me) throwing off my balance is difficult. I have lots of "To Do" lists to keep me focused and moving, albeit slowly, but moving.
• The baby dropped and holy moly, that is uncomfortable. I have never had a baby drop and walking, sitting, standing, anything hurts. I'll leave it at that. There isn't much we can do unless I start contacting either.
• We had an ultrasound today because he has been measuring a little small, but he is estimated to weigh 6 pounds 13 ounces and with another week in there, he'll be over 7 pounds, which will be my biggest baby yet.
• Yes, I feel ready. I have diapers, little clothes, blankets, car seat. The only thing I am actually nervous about is our night times. Leah still wakes up once a night (I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that she is just a crummy sleeper; we have tried so many different tactics) and only wants me, so this will be an interesting transition.

We have started planting grain. The busy time of year is just getting started. I can't believe that we are there again. The girls have loved the tractor rides and spending time with Mike in the trucks going to get the grain to plant.

The big truck is always a fun adventure for the girls. Leah fell asleep on this ride. I don't know how since they are the loudest trucks ever, but when that girl is tired, there is no stopping her from nodding off.

Check out Leah's face. She really loves riding with Dad. When he says he needs to go to work, she asks to ride in the tractor with him.

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures taken way back at the end of October. I am in love with them and wanted to share some of my favorites.

The pictures were taken by Leslie Leavitt Photography.

So, Its Been A While....

It has been far too long since I have updated our blog.

Here is basically a snapshot of the past few months.

December 11 - We found out we are expecting a BOY! I am so excited. Mike is excited. The girls are so excited to have a brother

Mid-December - We took a trip to Washington. We stopped in Seattle and enjoyed friends and some great seafood. Then we headed down to Vancouver to my parents house and we celebrated Christmas with them. We did presents, went up to the mountains to go sledding and there was no snow, played with cousins and really just enjoyed each others company. My mom and I also hit up some of my favorite consignment shops down there and found some really good deals on baby boy clothing.

Christmas - Mike's family was all here. We played outside in the snow, a lot. we spent 3 days up at the ski hill. I didn't ski, but it was fun to see my two girls ski. Addie loved having her cousins all around. Especially her twin cousins that are just older than her.

In January, Leah started going to the Toddler Lab up at BYU-Idaho. It is twice a week and she loves going. She doesn't even say goodbye. She just goes right in and plays. I have loved having a few minutes by myself twice a week. I go grocery shopping, clean the house, or shower. Sometimes I even just sit and relax and watch crappy daytime television. Mike has been taking Addie skiing a lot and the girl can ski. We just have to make sure that her blood sugar stays up or she has huge meltdowns on the hill. But she can ski anywhere on the bunny hill and he's been taking her up the main lift and she mostly skis down the cat track, but she can do it! I am so excited for her.

Last month we didn't really do a ton. Mike started to re-do our living room and paint Addie's room. We did a family ski day and I went up and hung out at the lodge. Mike took Leah up the lift, and she fell asleep about halfway up and then he had to carry her the whole way down, asleep. When the girl falls asleep, you can't wake her up. Mike and I also took a little overnight trip together, without kids. We just headed over to Jackson and enjoyed meals without children and we window shopped. It is always so nice to get out together and just be the two of us. But, I always start to miss my kids and feel guilty that someone else is watching them. But that time away from them is really good for my mental health. Leah is also potty trained! Ok, just during the day, but still! YAY!! We are still working on nights, but I am not pushing anything. She is my "I can do it myself" kid and if I push, she pushes back, so we are just going with the flow.

On the menu for this month is mostly the same as the last month. And Mike will start working again. We hit our one year mark here in Idaho at the end of the month. It has really been one of the best years that we have had. 2013 has been really hard also. There were some trials and heartache, but thanks to the Gospel and my husband and my family, we were able to move forward. Although the last year was difficult, it really was good. We have really settled in here and made some great memories.