St. Patty's Day

The day before Logan was born was St. Patrick's Day. The kids woke up to find our leprechaun had left us Lucky Charms and green milk for breakfast. (And a rainbow Skittle treat.)

No getting pinched here - my St. Patty's Day cuties!

After picking Corbyn up from preschool I took him to Kindergarten Registration... How do I have a kid old enough to be starting Kindergarten in the fall?!

And then we took turns doing initiatories at the temple, ran errands, did laundry, and got everything ready to head to the hospital the next morning!

I was planning on making Shepherd's Pie for dinner, but ended up making green pancakes instead because the end of the day got a little busy!

Logan's Birth Story

Labor and Delivery called Tuesday night to tell me to be at the hospital at 7:30 am for my version. I had to come fasting just in case they ended up needing to do a C-section.

When we got there Wednesday morning they did a quick ultrasound and he was still head down (hooray!), so we got to skip the version and start the induction process. They got the oxytocin and an antibiotic going (because I tested positive for group B strep this time) and I started my Gilmore Girls marathon. I was starving the whole time and Rog will tell you I was not very happy about that! I ate about a million cups of ice chips with snow cone syrup to try to fill the empty void that was my stomach, but it really didn't help other than to give me something to do!

Around noon I got my epidural and around 1:45 Dr. Drewes broke my water. With Peyton it only took an hour from when he broke my water to when she was born, but this time it took a little longer because I was only dilated to a 3 or 4 when he broke my water. Around 3:00 the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 5 or 6. Soon after she left I started to feel a lot more pressure and pain, but it wasn't too bad until about 3:30 when it suddenly became almost unbearable. I was screaming for Rog to get the nurse in there to check me. She finally came and said I was to a 10. Everything was set up, but Dr. Drewes still had to get dressed. Finally I was able to push. Logan basically just slid out and was born at 3:48 pm.

He started crying immediately, but was very purple. After 4 minutes he was still purple, so they called the NICU team in. They got him looking a lot better, but still wanted to take him to the NICU to help him transition. While they were working on him, we were all wondering how much he weighed. He was 8 pounds, 13 ounces which I took as a victory.

I got to hold him for just a minute before they took him off to the NICU. (If it looks like I was crying, I was. I think it was the lack of food more than anything, but I couldn't stop crying for a few minutes after he was born.)

Rog went with Logan to the NICU and my nurse got me a box lunch which at the time seemed like the best meal I've ever eaten in my entire life!

Logan had a lot of fluid in his lungs, but they kept saying he'd be out of the NICU in no time. We'd experienced this same thing with Corbyn, so we really weren't too worried. I got to stop in the NICU to see him before going down to my room in Mother & Baby. 

After dinner my parents brought the kids to see us. My dad went up to the NICU with Rog to give Logan a blessing. They were still saying that he'd be out of the NICU soon, but did an X-ray of his lungs just to be safe. After the kids left, I went up with Rog and the NICU doctor told us that from his X-ray it looked like he had pneumonia and would likely be in the NICU for 7-10 days. I was completely exhausted and totally unprepared for that news. 

As soon as we woke up the next morning we went up to the NICU and found a much improved baby. Over night they had given him some medicine to open the vessels in his lungs (they gave the same medicine to Corbyn immediately, so it makes us wonder what would have happened if they did the same for Logan) and he was soon taken off the breathing machines. They did another X-ray that looked much better and the test for pneumonia came back negative. Because he had officially been admitted into the NICU, he had to stay there for the rest of his hospital stay, but luckily it wasn't going to be the 7-10 days they had told us the night before.

He was still hooked up to a lot of wires, had a feeding tube down his nose, and an IV in his umbilical cord, but at least we could hold him. I was able to start nursing him and he caught on immediately! I was so relieved! From that point on I spent the rest of my hospital stay going up to the NICU every 3 hours to feed him. I didn't tear at all during delivery, so my recovery was pretty quick - a huge blessing because I was going back and forth a lot! 

The kids came to visit again Thursday afternoon. They had just started letting kids visit Mother & Baby again, but they still weren't allowed to visit the NICU, so they couldn't meet Logan yet.

Friday morning was crazy in the NICU. They got about 6 new babies (all tiny and in scary condition), so I didn't know if they'd have time to get Logan discharged that day. Luckily we had an awesome nurse who worked her tail off all afternoon to get him discharged. I was officially discharged at 4:00 and then we spent the next 4 hours up in the NICU getting Logan discharged. He had to sit in his car seat for an hour and a half and pass a bunch of other tests to prove he could go home. I'm sure this is warranted for the "real" NICU babies, but it seemed a little extreme for our healthy baby who was pretty huge by NICU standards.

We finally got him home and the kids were literally bouncing off the walls because they were so excited to finally meet their brother!

They took turns holding him...

And then insisted he try out his swing!

We are so grateful we got to bring him home with us and that he is healthy and doing so well. Corbyn said Heavenly Father made the medicine magical and I believe he is right. I am grateful for the Priesthood and the many prayers that were offered in our little boy's behalf. We love our little Logan and already can't imagine our family without him in it! 

He's here!

Logan Ririe Phillips

Born March 18, 2015 at 3:48 pm

8 pounds, 13 ounces and 19.5 inches

We are so happy to have him here and healthy after spending a few days in the NICU.

More pictures and the birth story to come!

Weekend Highlights

*Friday night was our turn to watch the kids for our date night swap, but no one ended up bringing their kids over. So we went to our new Walmart to check it out. 

*I totally splurged on the iBaby Monitor (works with my iphone, so I can play with the kids outside while Logan is sleeping - our old monitor wouldn't even work on our front porch). So we did a little rearranging in Logan's room to have the crib in the ideal position for the camera. I also set up the pack 'n play in our room (our version of a bassinet) and moved the swing downstairs. 

*Rog's mom and sisters (Kenzie and Marti) were in town, so we had a girls night out to go see Cinderella. Even Peyton got to come! I think she would have enjoyed it more if it was earlier in the day (she was getting pretty tired near the end), but she did great all things considered. I thought it was very well done and can't wait to add it to our Disney movie collection.

*Rog and Corbyn got to join the girls for dinner at Red Robin before the movie and then they went home to watch the Avengers. Corbyn had never seen the whole thing and he loved it!

*We couldn't pass up the ultimate Pi Day (3.1415), so we picked up a pie at Village Inn. We got the limited edition Mint Brownie Blast and it was amazing! Even Rog enjoyed it and he's usually not a huge fan of mint.

As a side note, I had another NST this morning and Logan is head down again! Praying he stays that way until Wednesday, so we can skip the version and go straight to the induction! Also hoping that since he apparently has so much room in there to do all this flipping, he won't be another 10 pounder.

Five on Friday

1. I decided we all could use haircuts, so on Monday night I cut Rog and Corbyn's hair. And then on Tuesday Peyton and I got ours cut at Craig's Cuts. Mine turned out a little shorter than I was hoping for, but it will grow. It was Peyton's first time getting hers cut in a "salon." She was pretty nervous, but did great when it was her turn. 

And yesterday when I did her hair in pigtails, I was dying over how cute they looked with her freshly trimmed hair.

2. I finished my 4th book of the year, French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon. It was for my book club and I have to say it wasn't my favorite book ever. It had some good points, but for the most part I thought what she was talking about would be pretty hard to implement in America. For that reason, I enjoyed the end a lot more than the beginning (when they came home from France and realized the way they learned to eat in France doesn't work in America - at least without some adjustments). As soon as I finished, I started reading The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - A Love Story. I'm loving it and haven't been able to put it down - I'm already over halfway done!

3. On Tuesday I had a NST just to make sure Logan has enough fluid and is still doing well. Everything looked great and he was perfectly head down. The next day I had my 38 week appointment and found out the little stinker had turned on me! This new development has given me a whole list of new things to worry about... Prolapsed cord... Version... C-Section... Right now I am scheduled for a Version next Wednesday and then depending on the results, either an Induction or C-Section after. I'm just hoping and praying my water doesn't break and he turns head down on his own before then!

4. Yesterday Rog was finally able to have his LASIK done. Everything went well and he is already seeing perfectly today. And as I put in my contacts this morning I was really feeling jealous - especially because the soonest I could have it done is 3 months after I am done nursing Logan!

5. Last week our new JoAnn opened and this week our Walmart opened. We had a JoAnn before, but it was so, so old and only had fabric and a tiny selection of other crafts. And we have a Walmart in Springville, but it will be oh so nice to have one literally a mile away (although I definitely would have been more excited if it was a Target). It's so fun to watch our little Spanish Fork grow up! 

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My birthday was on Thursday, so we celebrated the whole weekend (which is how all birthdays should be).

Rog only had one class on Thursday, so he decided to skip it and spend the whole day with us! I slept in a bit and then opened my presents from Rog and the kids. I got Wackee Six Card Game (want), a big soup pot (need), a mother's necklace (wear), and 400 Calories or Less with Our Best Bites (read - it's not out yet, so we pre-ordered it). 

The mother's necklace is quite possibly my favorite present ever. 

We had lunch at Kneaders with my mom.

I spent most of the afternoon working on Logan's quilt. I finally finished cutting out all the pieces which was quite a job on this quilt. I've been making much faster progress since then!

It happened to be my turn to host dinner group that night, so we had a favorites night. I made Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas and everyone else brought their favorite sides to go along with it. After dinner we exchanged our favorite things. Mine was a $5 gift card to Culver's because their concrete mixers have quickly become a favorite of mine since they opened in Spanish Fork a couple months ago. I haven't got too many, but I have a habit of looking to see what the flavor of the day is when I pass by (which is pretty much every day). 

On Friday we watched Mockingjay - Part 1 for our date night. We had planned on watching it in the Spanish Fork theatre, but when we realized it was at Redbox, we couldn't justify paying the theatre price, so we just rented it and watched it at home.

On Saturday we went out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with my family. We had planned to get there at 4:30, but didn't get there until closer to 5:00. So we had to wait for an hour and a half! Good thing the food is absolutely worth the wait! And luckily the Lego Americana Roadshow was at Fashion Place, so that helped pass the time.

Peyton fell asleep on the way home and then again under her towel after her bath. She was one very tired girl!

On Sunday we had Sunday dinner with my family. I made my favorite Sweet and Sour Meatballs and this delicious Funfetti Sugar Cookie Cake. I might try it with a different frosting next time, but the cake was perfection.

It was a great birthday weekend! Here's to one more year in my 20's - I better make it count!

Last Week

On Tuesday we had a snow day. We were out on our morning walk and it went from nothing to total blizzard in about 30 seconds. It snowed hard for a couple of hours, the kids had a blast playing in it all afternoon, and then it was basically gone the next day. I was most excited that Peyton got one more use out of her snow boots. (It's killing me that she's only worn them a handful of times. At least they were only $10!)

I've pretty much finished everything on my to-do-before-Logan-comes list. (Although I keep thinking of things to add to it, so I'll never really be done!) My hospital bag is packed, I'm preregistered at the hospital, his closet is stocked with diapers...  

Rog has been wanting me to make freezer meals for after he is born, but I told him we were just going to do a big Costco run with our rebate check instead. Freezer meals done and done!

We've been working on finding the right seat belt extender for Corbyn to make sure all three kids fit comfortably in the backseat of our car. After 3 failed attempts ordering from Amazon, I finally figured out you can order directly from seatbeltextenderpros.com and it helps guide you through the process by just clicking on your car make, model, year, etc... (As opposed to on Amazon where you have to measure the seat belt/guess which one you need.) It should arrive in the next few days and hopefully it will be the right one this time!

I've been wearing Rog's shirts to bed which meant Saturday morning after Corbyn got dressed for the day, but before I got dressed for the day, we were Batman twinners.

Just days after our snow day, it was back to beautiful spring weather. The kids enjoyed their Saturday afternoon at the park with dad.

Sunday afternoon Peyton watched Tangled while wearing her Rapunzel dress and holding her Rapunzel magiclip doll. So glad I have at least one girl to be my princess!

(We also celebrated my birthday, but that's a post of its own. Stay tuned!)

Weekend Lovin'

Friday night was our turn to watch the kids for our date night swap. I signed up knowing Rog would be gone, but my mom came to help and it actually wasn't too bad. For the most part they just played together!

I did have one activity planned. I cut off the ends of baby carrots and tied them together in groups of 3 to make clover stamps. It was a good activity that all the kids could participate in.

Late Friday night Rog got home. I tried to stay up, but ended up falling asleep probably 15 minutes before he got home!

In the morning the kids were so excited to have daddy home! Rog is always the "fun parent," but even more so when I am less than a month away from having a baby! He brought them each an Itty
Bitty - Ironman for Corbyn and Rapunzel for Peyton. 

McKae and Anthony moved into a house in West Jordan on Saturday. We all went up to help because there was no way we were sending Rog off after being gone 3 full days! And of course we wanted to see Grandma Dixie too. (She had come from Colorado to help.)

Last time she was here I saw this sign at Kneaders when we went to breakfast there and almost bought it. She saw it at the Kneaders she works at and bought it for me! It fits perfectly in the spot I hung our advent calendar in December - which is great because now I don't have 2 random nails the rest of the year!

That night we went to dinner at Gurus' to celebrate Jared's birthday.

On Sunday Rog didn't have any meetings after church (a rare occurrence), so we enjoyed having him home all afternoon and evening!

I decorated for St. Patrick's Day - something I have been looking forward to for a long time because it means that it is March (the month that Logan will be born)! 

Corbyn's r and b letters in his room had some water damage from our humidifier. I finally got around to sanding off the paper, touching up the paint, and applying new paper. Rog thought I looked funny using the power sander in my pearls and 36.5 weeks pregnant.

I also sanded blocks to put together this quick St. Patrick's Day craft.

We rounded out the weekend trying out this pizookie recipe. It was absolutely amazing, but I paid for it at 3 am with a serious case of pregnant lady heartburn. 

It was a great weekend made perfect with the return of our favorite redhead!