Adjusting to Two Kids. An update on our life.

So, just a heads up. I'm not trying to be negative and complain in this post :)

Here's an update on baby Gavin.
Gavin has grown 1/2 inch since he was born and gained almost two pounds. He now weighs 9 lbs. 10 oz. Big boy. Obviously my milk is doing him some good. He is a good eater! He grunts a lot..which is different from Liam. He already has a deeper voice haha. Pretty much he sleeps, poops, and eats. Sometimes smiles in his sleep. Which is like the sweetest thing ever. He is a little bit jaundice, but Uncle Justin (who also happens to be our kids' doctor...) says he's okay. Gavin was also circumcised yesterday...poor little guy. Haha, he was really swollen so Devin took a picture and sent it to Justin. My apologies for sending pornographic pictures Justin, lol. We are paranoid parents, obviously. Anyway, he's been doing really well. He eats about every 3-4 hours. Luckily at night it's closer to 4. Hopefully to get better soon!

Update on baby William.
Liam. My sweet, happy, fun, loving baby boy. Well, when we brought home Gavin that changed a little bit. Don't get me wrong...he loves Gavin. But apparently he has noticed a change in our home and he now is EXTREMELY demanding of our attention. He is really whiny all the time. And has been pretty ornery.  But other than that..he is still the smartest kid ever :) He will say anything you want him to say. He is happy and so much fun--as long as you are doing what he wants. He loves swimming and going to the park. He loves holding baby Gavin, but gets mad when we try to help him hold the baby. If he sees or hears Gavin he says, "Baby, Gavin." And he finds him and gives him hugs and kisses. He also likes to find his nose, ears, eyes, fingers, hands, toes, head. Most of the time he tries to be  gentle. But doesn't really understand that fully yet. Let's see..William also loves to skype to Grandma Trena these days. My mom finally has internet in her new house so she likes to skype all the time!! :) We are excited to see her in a few weeks! Oh and today was our first day of no binky. We cut off the nipple and gave it to him for nap time. I felt terrible. He was in bed and crying, "help me help me...binky" over and over. So I went in and got him and had him come snuggle with me while he watched a movie and fell asleep. He sort of chewed on his fingers a little bit until he fell asleep. Hopefully he doesn't become a thumb-sucker. Wish us luck.

I had to put these pictures- The reason for the one on the left is because Liam shared his blankets with Gavin. Liam NEVER shares his blankets. And Liam thought it was fun to swing in the baby's swing. Haha. Hopefully he doesn't try to sit there when Gavin is in there!!

Update on me and Devin

  I'm doing great. I feel WAY better than I did after I had Liam. I honestly don't even feel like I just had a baby...except for the whole breastfeeding, engorged, milk overload. Yeah, that is worse this time around. But other than that everything is great. I'm hoping to be able to go swimming soon :) And Devin is doing really well with his internships and research. He usually goes to school for 5-ish hours a day.

As for the adjustment...it has been really hard. For me at least. Mostly Liam has been hard to deal with. He has started hitting  when he is mad-so that's really hard to deal with. Thank goodness for Devin having a flexible schedule this summer. He has been amazing. And I don't know what I would do without him. Probably never have any more children!! But here's my confession- I'm probably dealing with a little bit of postpartum depression. I just don't totally feel like myself! It's been hard to get motivated to be happy. But, Devin and I sat down and made a "happy list." Everytime one of us feels bored or depressed we have to do a happy thing! Haha. It's not like i'm feeling terrible and can't function. I just feel different. I'll just blame it on all the hormones going on in me right now..but it's probably because my life has changed SO much even in just the couple of weeks we have had 2 kids! Don't get me wrong- I'm really really really grateful for my babies. I love my family so much and I know that Heavenly Father understands me and what I am able to handle. He wouldn't have let me have these beautiful babies if He knew I couldn't do it. We are so blessed. And I am even more blessed than Devin I think. He has been so amazing and helpful to me. I love him so much...I am SO blessed..

Wehadababy. It'saboy.

Have you ever seen that commercial where the son is calling home from a payphone or something, and he doesn't want to pay so he just says "We had a baby. It's a boy" but the words are all run together? Anyway, Devin's been saying that lately.
But yes, we did have ANOTHER baby. And it's a boy! :) Haha. Welcome to the world Gavin. Here's the story..
So my doctor didn't even check me at 36 weeks 5 days. Almost 37 weeks. Can you believe it? Well, I was disappointed because I just wanted to see if I was making any progress. Well, the next 2 appointments were even more disappointing. NO CHANGE AT ALL. I cried after both appointments because I assumed he would come at least 10 days early like Liam did. Anyway, I was just expecting to go over my due date at this point. Crying to Devin every night. Looking up at least 5 times a day what kind of tricks I could do to go into labor. The problem with that was that your cervix had to be somewhat changed in order for anything to work. So I was depressed.
Well, Saturday the 26th came along and Devin and I packed up and headed to seven peaks. It's about a 10 minute walk. It was opening day at seven peaks and it was FREEZING. Thank goodness the water was pretty warm. Liam had a blast playing. I did a little swimming too. :) Then we started our walk home. First contraction! I got excited but didn't believe it. I kept having random contractions throughout the day up until 5pm when I had hard contractions about every 3-5 minutes. So I knew I was in labor. We called Jessica and she came over and stayed the night with Liam. Devin and I headed to the hospital. I really wanted to stop at the store and buy a new toothbrush and some chapstick. Devin wouldn't let me...But we got to the hospital (Orem Community) and I was dilated to a 3. An hour later I was a 4 and 90% effaced or something. I got my epidural around midnight. Got checked an hour later and was a 5. Doctor came in (all tired..haha.) and broke my water and started me on pitocin. An hour later I was fully dilated and fully effaced and READY to push!!!! I was really happy. Everything went soooo fast compared to my experience with Liam. Thank goodness. By the way- sometimes I tell myself in my head that I'm going to try the whole labor and delivery thing natural. But it will never happen and I Don't recommend it. Epidurals are awesome and I enjoy NOT feeling like i'm going to die for a minute every 2 minutes. :) Haha.
Well, the doctor came in. He was making jokes and being funny throughout the whole experience. And a couple pushes later and I had a baby!! Gavin Dennis LeBaron was born at 2:58 a.m. weighing 7 lbs 12 oz and measuring 21 inches long. Apparently they are right when they say your second kid is usually bigger (Gavin was 1 oz and 1 inch bigger than Liam).
First time to hold my new baby boy.

 keep in mind, the picture below was taken around 4am. One tired momma.

 Liam didn't want to be held down.

 Bath time! He hated it! haha.

I don't have too many pictures from the hospital. Devin was in charge and, well, he doesn't love taking pictures..so most of them are from my phone! My friend Richelle also did a photo-shoot of some newborn pics of Gavin, so i'll post those soon! Ahh, many more posts to come on this sweet baby boy!

Anxiety

Remember how it's kind of cool to have one kid? You can pretty much take them with you wherever you go--sort of like a pet. It gets harder when they are older and have other things in mind than being held in your arms (like running away from you making you chase them or screaming because they don't want to be buckled down).  But it's almost like it's "trendy" to have one kid.. hahah.
Well--I'm officially full term with this baby boy. Holy cow am I feeling anxious. I'm really excited to not be pregnant anymore. I have more aches and pains and exhaustion than I've ever had in my life- but I'm really nervous to be a mother of two. I keep praying that this baby is just as easy/sweet/smart/fun as Liam. But what if he's not. I know i'm going to love him no matter what but what if he's difficult! haha. Anyway...It's just kind of popping up on me here all of a sudden that I will have 2 kiddos this month. AH!

Anyway. Since I last posted -- Easter, my birthday, my mom coming into town, Devin leaving for Europe, getting bigger and biggger..Liam getting smarter every day...

Oh--and I just have to share how cute Liam is. He absolutely loved my brother when we went to Idaho this past week. It was adorable. He is really good with names. He learned Zach, grandma, Kayla, Tye, Ada, and called my niece Meow (her name is Kady..i think he thought we were saying kitty..lol it was hilarious). He also learned how to say owl and make the who noise, Happy Birthday Mommy,  light, on, off, down, and tons of other things since Devin has been gone. I can't believe how fast he learns and how quickly he is growing up.
Here's some pictures from the past month-ish.
Dying Easter Eggs

 Bradon got mad when he couldn't throw the eggs in the yellow anymore.

 Liam took out all the candy from the eggs before putting it in his bucket.

 Liam doing some sun bathing

 Liam loves swimming in our pool

 Haha, silly kids..

 Uncle Zachy

 Trying to open the door so we could go to church!

 Tye took me to see the Lucky One on my birthday :)

 36 1/2 weeks pregnant.

Here are some pictures from Devin's Europe trip that he has sent me. I love that I'm able to skype with him at least 4 times a week. It makes the whole him being gone thing bearable. Although today we were able to skype with him and Liam was laughing at Devin making faces with him..it was really sweet. And then Devin said he had to go and Liam got really sad and kept shaking his head saying, "uh-uh, daddy." Then I told Liam to say bye-bye, daddy had to go night-night...He cried and kept trying to open the computer back up saying daddy for like 15 minutes.. It broke my heart. Anyway. We are excited to see him in a few days!!!

 Devin in some country..

 This was apparently a work of art. I'll have Devin do a post when he comes home...

The Busy Life of the LeBaron's..

I have been meaning to do a post for..umm a month now. Oops. I just am out of energy again and when I actually have time I hate the idea of blogging! But, this is my only journal SO here goes! It's really long. Don't feel obligated to read it!

Since I last wrote, my babies have grown so much. Let's start with William.

He is seriously the cutest thing ever. I keep wondering how I'm going to love another baby as much...but I know I will. :) William started to JUMP! haha. We've been trying to get him to jump for months now, but about a month ago he finally was able to jump off the ground (both feet at the same time) and get like 1 inch in the air. Now he likes to show off. For example, we went on a walk up Rock Canyon, and every time someone else would come by us on the little trail he'd say, "Hi" (in the cutest voice ever) and then jump. He's a little show off.

Umm in the past couple months Liam has been sick, he got hives all over his body, had a bloody nose, got burned with a curling iron, and has fallen down countless times. Oh did I mention he almost drowned? I figure I'm always writing about all the good stuff, so I'd add in some of the not-so-good that happens too. But through it all..he's a tough one. Boys will be boys.

Liam is so good at communicating. He's seriously a little Parrot. I'll have to make a list for future reference on all the words he says/signs he does. Anyway, he amazes me every day.

Some of my favorite things Liam does:

-Says prayers. Every night before bed we'll say, "Okay Liam let's say prayers and go night-night." He folds his arms all the way to his room and goes to his little spot on the twin bed we have in there and Devin and I kneel down. We say prayers and when we say Amen Liam says "night-night" haha.. We're working on Amen. :)

-He's so sweet lately. Sometimes he'll just randomly want to snuggle and give me hugs and kisses and rub my back.

-Everytime he goes down a slide or does something "fun" he says Weeeee!

-He's obsessed with "rub-rub"...anything you rub on your hands or body (lotion, hand-sanitizer, wipes, lol..) And now he will bring me a bottle of lotion and say "rub-rub. Knee" and help me put lotion on my knees. He's crazy.

And this list will never end so i'll just stop there.

Here's some photos from our trip to New York/ Wisconsin and just others of Liam that I love.
Helping mommy pack to go on our looong trip!
Being silly in the car.
Doing some laundry before coming back home to Utah
Such a cute smile..playing at the park in NY with grandma Trena
Yay slide!
His first time being on a horse. This horse is enormous. Liam loved Alice.

Started warming up to the doggy. In the past couple months he's not so scared anymore :)

Baby/Pregnancy Time:

Baby is getting HUGE! I'm so nervous he's going to be like 10 lbs. Ah.

Discomforts:

I started feeling tired again around 29 weeks (while I was traveling alone with Liam on an airplane..haha of course). So I get pretty exhausted quickly..But it's not as bad as it was the first 20 weeks. So, that's good. I have to wake up at least 2 times a night to pee. Heartburn is terrible. I had to buy my first pair of maternity jeans. I've gained 20 lbs already...but doctor says this is good because I was "underweight" when I got pregnant. I just have aches and pains all the time! And I can't nap as much as I want. Baby is always in my ribs or kicking me in the bladder. Seriously, if I start walking for 2 minutes I feel like I'm going to pee my pants.. and then I go to the bathroom and it's like 2 drops.

Things I enjoy:

This little guy is always moving. Which is a comfort because I'm never concerned if he is okay. I enjoy Devin giving me back massages and letting me borrow his clothes (lol, my shirts aren't long enough to cover this big belly so I wear Devin's a lot...but the good thing is he still weighs 50+ lbs more than me...so i don't have to worry about weighing more than my husband..). I only officially have 8 weeks left. So i'm hoping I really have like 6 weeks left. Liam came early, so why not this baby too? :) Umm.. I can eat whatever I want and not feel bad about it. Ha ha. I shouldn't have that attitude but oh well. He seems to enjoy what I eat!

Pictures:
27 weeks Pregnant.

32 weeks 1 day Pregnant. Sorry about the face...I hate having my picture taken.

Other than that nothing too crazy is happening. Oh wait JUST KIDDING- Devin's finishing school. Devin is trying to figure out what he's doing this summer for school/work. I just got my last project for work until after baby boy comes. We are going to Idaho this weekend for Easter. My mom will be here in 3 weeks. Devin will be gone to Europe in 3 weeks and a couple days. We've been trying to go outside for walks, playing in the park, BBQ's, swimming, and whatever else we can do outside. Liam is always asking to go outside. It's hard sometimes because there is no park right by our house..I wish.

Anyway- the next couple months will be REALLY busy. Maybe i'll find some time/energy to blog some more. Maybe not. Wish me luck--actually prayers are appreciated when it comes to Devin being in Europe and me going into labor while he's gone. I'd really like that to NOT happen :)

The past month

This past month has been so busy....let me catch you up.

Devin has been doing tons of school, working 3 jobs at BYU, research, intramurals, looking for internships, and trying to fit in some family time. While I watch Liam, make a baby, try to save money, try to keep the house clean, and tons of sewing. Pretty much Devin is gone from 7-5 every day. He comes home and we eat dinner. Then he watches Liam while I sew dance costumes for work. It's really sad because we don't get to spend a ton of quality time together...but sometimes it needs to happen. I am so grateful that I am able to be at home with my baby boy though. And I'm glad Devin is so helpful when he comes home..because taking care of Liam can be exhausting. Especially since he has been sick, and teething, and picky with everything he eats, AND doesn't want to sleep. Ah. Well, we love him. Normally at the end of the day I can't think of any of the naughty things he did...I only remember when he was being sweet :)

Liam is now 14 months. He is seriously getting so smart. His new favorite signs are "again" and "help". and "drink". He is so funny. He will sign "drink" to me and then sit on the floor and I give him a drink. Silly boy. His favorite things to say are "mama" "dada" and most recently "uh-uh" while shaking his head no. Not helpful when I'm trying to feed him. But still adorable.

Today we had another ultrasound/ doctors appointment. Baby is doing great. He weighs 1 lb 7 oz, and his development puts his due date at May 30th instead of the 31st...but they didn't change my official due date. Bummer. :) This little guy is always moving. I love him already.

Here's some pictures from the past month...

Liam at McDonalds playing on the piano during our new "playgroup"
Staying entertained watching his movie.
Playing pool with dad.
Visiting dad on a warm day at BYU campus.
Playing outside our apartment complex on a not so warm day..
This was me pregnant at 22.5 weeks.

And here is our baby at almost 24 weeks. It's kind of blurry, but his hand is up by his face. So cute already! :)

Family Updates

So Liam is now 13 months old. I don't know if i'm going to continue to do monthly posts..but i'll probably just update every time he does something new/cute.
Liam has gotten SO SMART. I can't believe it. He knows a few signs..
more, eat, please, finished (all done), bath, and we are working on 'again'. He usually just claps his hands when he tries doing that one. Anyway, I can't resist when he comes up and communicates with me telling me he wants to eat please. It's the cutest thing ever.
Lately he has been making this cute face every time he see's his reflection. It makes me laugh.

Here's the new face he makes. This isn't even the best picture of it.

Since the weather has been so nice we've been able to go outside almost every day and play. Liam loves to be outside.

Liam learning to color with dad


And now for a pregnancy update: I am 19 weeks (hopefully half way done hah..) We have another ultrasound on Tuesday. This one will measure how big the baby is and how he is developed. I'm excited. I love ultrasounds. As for my body- man i'm getting huge fast. I'm way bigger than I was with Liam at this point. And this baby is sitting really low. I think i carried Liam higher, but who knows until he gets a little bigger I guess. But I've been having sciatic nerve pains. No heartburn thank goodness. And I'm already feeling braxton hicks contractions I think. But I can also feel this little guy moving all the time. Devin has even felt him a few times. We are so excited!

Christmas Break

Christmas break was awesome!! It was so nice to spend with family. We were able to spend the evening of the 22nd with Devin's family. Mostly we had dinner and opened presents. The LeBaron's were packing and getting ready to leave to Arizona/Texas in the morning. (We were really jealous not to be joining them...but that's okay). We were spoiled. Thanks for all the gifts.
Then we went to Idaho the next morning. Christmas break was a lot of fun. Devin made a bed for my nephew. It's super cute! And I did some sewing, plying spades with my family, and watching ridiculous movies. Devin and I were given a date night for Christmas from my parents. It was so fun! We went shopping, out to eat, saw Sherlock Holmes 2, and went swimming. It was my first night away from Liam, so I was a little nervous. But it was so nice to have a little break! Thanks mom for watching him.
Favorite things about Christmas break:
-Spending time with family
- Playing on my dad's ipad
- Liam following my dad around. He LOVED my dad and always wanted to be by him or be held by him. So cute. He loved my siblings too...but not as much.
- Date night
- Sacrament meeting on Christmas morning. It was beautiful. It was mostly the choir singing and a little Christmas narration. It helped me get in the spirit of what Christmas is really about.
-Bowling with the family (I did HORRIBLE).

Anyway I really enjoyed this Christmas. It was pretty relaxing and nice to spend with family. I'm so grateful for my Savior and the chance we have to celebrate His birth!

Here are the only pictures I took. I forgot my camera so all I had was my phone...

Proof that Liam couldn't get enough of Papa.