Smitten

 

Can you tell that this girl is a hot commodity over here!

Who could blame us, she is so scrumptious.

 

I don't know why but this is my favorite when babies sleep with their feet tucked under

 and bum in the air.

 



Meeting Grandmother for the first time.

 



Soaking in snuggle time and inhaling her yummy newborn smell.

 



Are you seeing a trend?

Sleeping baby and somebody always cuddling her.

 



Marcie made her a "fascinator" headband.

 



 

which she wore on her first date with Henry!

 



 

Rusty begs to feed her. He does a pretty good job.

 



 

Love that she is getting old enough to see faces.

 



and gives you the best SMILES that make you melt.

 



Easter

 

 

Easter was as simple as could be this year.

We went to Grammy and Papa's for our annul Easter egg hunt.

 

 

The Easter bunny had an extra delivery at our house this year!

Love that we get to have a pink basket now.

 



Lindi stayed home with mom while the boys went to church.

However, she did get dressed up in her first Easter dress for pictures with brothers.

 



 

Cutest little Easter chick

 

Back tracking to Spring Break

This was the week I was supposed to have my baby. Insert frowny face. Stephanie planned to be in AZ that whole week because it was their spring break too. Collin's birthday was on Tuesday so being the nice sister that she is and thinking I would have been home with a new born she offered to have the boys that whole day. With no baby she still insisted on taking the boys off my hands. And boy did they have a fun filled packed day! They did more things then we do in a month!

Donuts are a staple birthday breakfast in our family so on her way to pick up the boys she grabbed some pieces of fried heaven from Mid Western Meats down the street from us. When she walked in with 2 dozen I about died! We usually get half a dozen for our Saturday breakfasts. But no worries, they were GONE by the end of the day:)

 

So excited to see their cousins and give them their presents. Which they spoiled by telling them what it was before they could open them.

 



 

After stuffing our faces they were off to Jump Street!

 



 

My mom and Craig met them there. Why are quarter machines more popular than anything else? 

 

 

Play days are not complete without Chick-fil-a!

 



No rest for the weary, off to the children's museum

 



You would think they would be conked out in the car but no, more playing time at our house in the front yard! This is where we finished off the last dozen donuts:)



I can't remember what I did that day, probably passed out on the couch wearing one of Casey's t-shirts. I was most grateful for the peace and quiet.

The next day, still no baby. So we had a little swim party at our house. It was the first week of really hot weather which the New Mexicans were most grateful for. I guess it was 50 degrees when they left to come here.

Then Backyard Taco for dinner!

I had nothing planned to keep the boys entertained all week because I was playing each day not knowing if I would be high tailing it to the hospital. But I am so glad they could spend time with these guys. I felt so bad Lindi didn't make it while they were here but I think she knew it would be nice for me to spend some time with Stephanie since we don't see each other very often.

But the best news of all is the Stephanie is due with a baby GIRL in August!!! I am so happy Lindi will have a best girl cousin so close in age!!

Oh, but I can't forget that the week ended with a big bang when our tree fell on top of Casey's truck in a  wind storm. Nice.

The first couple of weeks.

Two days after coming home we had to admit Lindi to Cardon Children's hospital for jaundice. Major bummer. At her 2 day check up her pediatrician thought she looked yellow. Since it was the weekend he told us to go to the ER to get her blood drawn to check her bilirubin level since the labs wouldn't be open. I think we were in denial that she would have to stay because we didn't bring any over night stuff with us. Sure enough, the ER physician walked in and without even drawing her blood declared her a pumpkin and sent us up stairs for photo light therapy. I think the hardest part was having to watch her get her IV line in. Pure torture. Makes you appreciate your children's health.

Luckily she only had to stay one night but that was one night too long! We were happy to pack our non existing bags and head home! I looked, smelled and felt like I had been camping for a week! Who knew old, dried up breast milk could smell so rotten. Gag.
.

Finally we could relax and start enjoying our family of 5! I think Lindi knew in heaven what she would be getting herself into with 2 crazy older brothers. She is the most content baby ever and can sleep through any amount of noise and chaos.

 

EXHIBIT A

 

 

EXHIBIT B

 

 

However they are so sweet with her and love her more than anything!

 



 

I have a million head shots of her on my phone

and think her life size bows are priceless. Casey may say otherwise...



I soak up our snuggle time in the wee early hours of the morning. She loves daddy's side of the bed after he leaves for work.

 



 

And if you have met Lindi then you know how much she loves to sleep!

Grandpa and Lindi took a solid 2 hour nap together:)

 



Life with our little girl is simply the best!

 

 

A Baby Story

 

 

 

I was a week over due and miserable. Miserable! I delivered this baby with a Maricopa County maternity plan instead of with my normal OB. They don't really cater to inductions like most doctors do. Even when a severely done being pregnant lady calls in begging and pleading. They still said no after I proclaimed my husband needed to be out of town for work for a week in a few days (yes, that part was true). Desperate as ever I took the advice from my mom who had heard to drink raspberry leaf tea to self induce.

 

Monday morning with no signs of labor I set out to get me some tea then go home and OD on this magic juice. I thought for sure Trader Joe's would carry a plethora of tea choices but of course they only had 5 different kinds to choose from. So my next stop was Walmart. They had the opposite problem than Trader Joe's and had 30 different teas but of course not raspberry leaf. By that point I had to pee or something and my elephant cankles had given out so I gave up and went home. Later that afternoon I was determined to have this baby by the next day so I sent Casey to Sprouts to try one more time. He was gone probably an hour and came home saying he finally found it about 10 seconds before giving up. Sprouts has a freakishly huge health section I tell ya! As I was scrapping together some dinner and brewing 10 packets of tea Lane out of now where starting crying hysterically that his ear was hurting. I said a few bad words in my head then loaded him in the car  to twilight hours and waited an hour or so to find out he had an ear infection. After getting prescriptions and kids in bed I could finally drink my tea! And drink I did. About a gallons worth.

 

About 10pm I hopped in bed, still with no signs of labor and instantly fell asleep. At 2 I woke up with contractions. Not super painful but the kind where you know you wont be falling back to sleep. I layed there for an hour then woke up Casey to let him know that eventually we will be hitting the road to the hospital but not yet so get all the sleep you can. I took a shower, packed my bags, said goodbye to my bed for a month and got things ready for the boys. By then my contractions were pretty painful and consistent but I still thought I could wait it out a little longer before we needed to leave. By now it is 4:30 and I forgot that we had to drive to Phoenix and didn't know when rush hour would hit so I woke up Casey and called my mom and off the hospital we were!

 

I was at a 6 when we got there and the nurse said that we would be staying. I quickly responded saying good because they would have to drag me out there. By the time I was in my delivery room with an epidural it was 6am. Casey and I enjoyed some time together chatting and before I knew it I felt a huge amount of pressure and knew it was time to get this baby girl here! With my entourage of doctors and nurses, since it was a teaching hospital ( I think I counted 6 or 7 in the room) and about 5 pushes our Lindi Lou came at 9:30am on the dot!

 



 

 

 

I couldn't believe what a chunk she was, 8 pounds 12 ounces, 21 inches.  And all of that dark, long hair she had. And still has! She was love at first sight. We both couldn't stop starring at her. We instantly said how much she looked like Rusty but was long like Lane. She has a dimple chin like her dad.

 

 

After the company left and we were situated in our recovery room we started talking names since we had nothing chosen. Not even a few strong possibilities. After a lot of throwing names around Casey said what about Lindi for Lindblom (my maiden name). I instantly got chills and knew that was her name. Originally I always thought I wouldn't give my girls a middle name because I don't have one and if I couldn't pick a first name how was I going to choose 2 names. But for some reason after saying Lindi a few times we threw in Lou after Casey's grandma and I got even more chills. So now we have our little Lindi Lou who we can't get enough of!

 

So I guess the tea worked!!!