Here, Jason

Jason just threatened to start writing about economics and finance if I didn't update the family blog, so I'm getting my act back in order and posting what we've been up to the last month, which 95% has to do with Brighton!

My  mom came out for a week, and though of course, she was a HUGE help to me by playing with the boys and holding the baby, I also forget how much I need a cheerleader those first few weeks when the task of successfully mothering another child feels so insurmountable.

I also really needed my mom to help me take all these pictures!  I had a handful of outfits and accessories I needed reviewed so we just kept taking more and more glamour shots of this doll.

The boys are cutest older brothers!  They just dote on their little sister and love to pet her hair, find her binky, and make sure that all of the baby equipment is in proper working order.  Lincoln had a few meltdowns in the first few days after we brought B home, however.  A series of attention-seeking acts like the baby powder episode below helped us see that he needed a little more one-on-one time.  He's great now, and quite the responsible man of the house when Dad's away.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Brighton

Baby Brighton Belle has Arrived!

We have a baby in the house!  Introducing Miss Brighton Belle!  

Born Feb. 2nd, 3:02 am at 9 lb. 2 oz and 20.5"!  We are just so relieved that everything regarding the birth happened the way it did, because it could have gone so wrong!  

We've gotten over 50 inches of snow dumped on Boston this week, and it has really been crazy with the treacherous roads, driving bans, and subways shutting down.  Just keeping our car unshoveled and accessible has been a full time job for Jason.  The first biggest storm hit last week, and knowing there would be absolutely no way we'd be able to make to the hospital without an ambulance and a monster plow in front of us, I made sure to sit down with every contraction and took several naps to make sure this girl didn't get delivered at home!

Last Sunday, contractions started coming every 15 minutes throughout the entire three hours of church, and even though they weren't painful yet, I was sure this was the beginning of the end.  They continued throughout the evening, but stopped completely by 11pm so I went to bed.  Two hours later, I woke up, definitely in labor with strong contractions every two minutes.  We called Marc & Diana to see if someone could come over to stay with the boys, but soon scratched that idea and just put everyone in the car and sped to the hospital.  I made Jason run a red and drive well over the speed limit, and for good reason.  

(Brighton was born on Jason's half birthday!)

We pulled up, I ran in to MGH and said, "I'm definitely in labor, I need a wheelchair, take me up to Labor & Delivery" while Jason handed the car + sleeping boys to Diana (bless her heart!!) who drove them home and put them back to bed.  Jason met me in triage where I could barely do anything but scream at this point.  I was dilated to an 8, and my water broke as soon as they started wheeling me to a room.  So cool!  I knew I was in for it on the pain factor after that.  

In the delivery room, I demanded that epidural, but they said I could probably have her in about 5 minutes if I wanted to hold out.  Absolutely not, give it to me.  SO MUCH PAIN!  I really felt like a diva but I couldn't stand it.  They said I was nearly fully dilated, but I decided that if I could avoid having to push unmedicated, I'd do anything, so they gave me a spinal which offered immediate numbness and I could only express, "Oh, I am SO happy!"  It took about four contractions with Jason at my side to get this little girl out (without any tearing!!), and everything was right in the world again.

I wasn't extremely surprised when she came out to be 9 lbs. 2 oz. on the scale!  I had been telling my doctor for weeks and weeks that I will have a monster child if I have to go full term!  I begged for an early induction nearly every chance I got, but no dice.  I felt like Maurice in Beauty in the Beast, who cries out in the middle of the blizzard, "Will no one help me!?!"  Everything turned out fine, obviously, and the second monster blizzard started probably the minute she was born.  All schools closed, subways shut down, cars disappeared, but we were safe in our cozy hospital room!  What a blessing!!  Even the next day when Jason tried to come visit us, he was stuck in 2 1/2 hours of absolute gridlock around the hospital.  Not even the ambulances could move, which again, goes to show that had I got into labor on quite a few of the other days this week, Brighton's birth story would have been frightfully different.

THANK YOU to all our family who have been praying for us and our safety this week and thank you a million times over to Diana for taking care of the boys!!!

Brightly is a peach, and I can't get over how happy I am to have a little girl in my arms.  From what I can tell over the last few days, she can be a little bossy and has a scream as shrill as a siren, but she can sleep for hours and hours straight at night and just loves to be held.  What fun we will have!!  Welcome to life as a family of 5!

Just Waitin'

I figured I should dump all the latest pictures before the blog becomes all about the baby!

Parley refers to himself as "The Monkey" and can eat an entire bunch in one sitting.  Here was a pie from our ward's Christmas party pie contest.  I actually don't like pie at all.  Gross.  Most of this went into the trash after the party.

Sweetheart Diana threw me a baby shower!  Not everyone gets a shower for their THIRD baby, so it was such a treat to be showered with adorable baby girl things!  There is so much squealing going on around here, organizing all this pink!!

We started noticing that Lincoln was unable to extend his thumb fully, and it turns out he had a "trigger finger", where the tendon just needed to be loosened.  It was a very fast and simple procedure, but he still had to go under and get his entire arm casted for a week so that he wouldn't pull off the dressing.  Cast care for a week is about all I want to do again.  Its kind of a hassle making sure it doesn't get wet, helping the boy use the bathroom, fitting winter clothes over the bulk, etc.

 He was a champ about it, really.  It mostly was just itchy for him, but I think he liked the attention at church :)

Uncle Travis came to visit for a weekend!  I've had four years to refine my Freedom Trail Tour, but it was probably still fairly pathetic for this historian!  Good thing his work is sending him back to Boston this coming weekend to tour some more.  Hey, what a great weekend to have a baby, right?

I fear that this little sweetie is in for a rough period of being demoted to "middle child" status.  Poor guy.

And the sewing projects are what are keeping me sane!  

Cycle for Survival

Hi all,

I thought I'd tap this network too to reach as many people as possible, so apologies for the redundancy of my facebook post! 

I'm participating through my work in Cycle for Survival, which raises money for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to research treatments for rare forms of cancer.  This is particularly important to me as I lost my own dad to a form of bone marrow cancer when I was 15 years old.  Medical advancements are such nowadays that if they had been in place back then, he might still be alive today.  Research for these rare forms of cancer are, in part, thanks to people like us who raise money for this cause.  Please take a moment and give what you can. You may donate or find out more information about the program at the link below.

http://mskcc.convio.net/goto/fightforsurvivalJM

Don't just "Like" this. Contribute!



Thanks everyone! (How can you not donate with a cute little face like that...)
 

Blessing Gown

Here's a little more on the dress, and a few of my thoughts on why I've always wanted to do this!

WHAT I DID WITH MY WEDDING DRESS

Cake and Laptops

 A long time ago, aka October, my parents sailed through Boston on a New England cruise!  I got to further improve my Freedom Trail presentation for a number of my aunts and uncles and Grandma Richardson.

Earlier this month, I got to partner with Cake Boss and throw an in-home party with some friends!  You wouldn't believe the amount of product they sent.  Boxes and boxes of pans, mixes, tubs of frosting, fondant, tools of all kinds, and sprinkles galore.  You can see it all HERE on the blog.  So much cake!

And once in a while, I rope Jason into doing a review for me so that he can have something new and cool.  You can read his review on our new Dell Inspiron 2-in-1.  What a natural :) 

Check out that cute goatee that lasted all of 24 hours, maybe.

Festively

Here are some of my holiday recipes and project ideas!

SPARKLING SORBET FLOATS

QUICK CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR CRICUT

APPLE BLUEBERRY POMEGRANATE PIE

The Holly Jolly

It was a very merry one, for sure!  Christmas is 10x more magical in every way with kids!  Being a parent at Christmas time is simply the best.

The big gift from Santa was a workbench!  (It was a gift from my boss who has a partnership with Step2.  I feel like it was my end-of-year "work bonus"!)

Unpictured are Marc & Diana and Mom, who flew out from Idaho to spend the week with us!  We've all had so much fun visiting, venturing downtown to see the lights and get hot chocolate, making wassel, and playing games each night.  Its been SO nice to have family come to us this year and the boys really love their grandma!

 The gift I'm totally jazzed about is our new bObi!  This is a $700 robot floor sweeper!  Of course, it is a free review item that I will post about next month, but it arrived on Christmas Eve, and it just had to go under the tree!

We didn't get any snow, did you?  The first day we do, we're taking out our Snowman Kit from Travis & Holly!

There is a LOT of building going on around here!  What a great toy for these boys.

"Jake and the Neverland Pirates" was another Christmas theme this year.  These two have quite the pirate imaginations, and now they have an armful of toys to pretend with.  I feel very prepared and armed with entertainment ammo for hours and hours in indoor play.