I had a baby!

Obviously I am EXTREMELY overdue for a post.  And surprise, surprise.  A LOT has happened.  As you know from my previous posts, I was pregnant and due in April.  Well here it is August and I haven't even posted about the fact that I had my baby and everything went great.  So let's go in order shall we?

Here are a couple of shots from my maternity shoot.  These were taken the day of my baby shower- so March 14th.  

The next weekend I headed up to Chicago with my mom to go see my little bro play his final water polo games.  He did a great job! Walking around Chicago at 35 weeks pregnant probably didn't end up being the greatest idea however...

As you can tell from the pictures, my face was really swollen, and worst of all- I couldn't even get my shoes on from my feet being so swollen!  I swore I wouldn't show this picture to anyone- but you just have to see this! I didn't have ankles! I was soooooo swollen!

When I got back to St. Louis, I had an appointment with my doctor and it came as no shock that I had gained 9 lbs in 2 weeks- and it was all water weight from swelling.  Up until this point, I hadn't really had any issues and really hadn't gained that much weight.  I guess that changed!  On top of my swelling, my blood pressure had also sky rocketed.  So I was put on bed rest until the end of my pregnancy.  That ended up being 3 weeks total.  As you can see from this pic- we got out of the house anyway.  I just had to have my feet up at all times and always had to be doing calming activities.  In general I stayed in my bed, but every once in a while, I got up and allowed Ben to take me to the botanical gardens. :) 

We also got the nursery all ready for the babe to arrive!

With my blood pressure and swelling issues, I was finally scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks.  Here I am right before heading over to the hospital at midnight on April 14th.  

My birth experience was honestly incredible.  And I'll tell you why, because I know the word incredible isn't usually a word someone uses to describe a birth.  Giving birth has always been my number 1 fear in life.  I grew up with horror stories of how painful it was for my mom to have me (thanks mom! :) and I just knew that it was going to be the most miserable and painful experience that I would ever go through.  And yet it wasn't like that at all! I was extremely calm 90% of the time and it honestly wasn't that bad! I was so shocked.  They put me on pitocin around 1AM and then my doctor broke my water for me at 7AM.  I got my epidural around 7:30am.  The epidural I got didn't end up working so well, so I actually ended up getting a spinal tap just in time to start pushing.  My blood pressure was continuously rising, which meant that I had to get an episiotomy and the little babe was vacuumed out.  So I literally pushed for 11 minutes.  I started pushing at 5:00pm and he was born at 5:11.  And the best part is that thanks to my spinal- it didn't hurt at all! And I felt great! I could NOT believe it.  I felt on top of the world because I had just conquered my biggest fear.  I couldn't stop thinking about it the entire time I was at the hospital.  I still can't sometimes.  Which is why I describe my birth story as incredible.  Because it was so much more doable than I expected.  Plus I got an adorable, healthy baby boy out of it!

This is when my parents see him for the first time.  I thought it was so sweet that they both burst into tears!

As far as the stats go.  We named him Flint William Fisher- after my dad (Flint) and Ben's dad (William).  He was 7lbs 11oz and 21in long.  Born at 5:11pm.  

Heres our family pic as we are getting ready to taken him home!

Proud Dad taking him into our house for the first time.  

He looks like a ginger, doesn't he?

Here are a couple of shots from his newborn shoot:

And just like that a month had gone by!

We blessed him in May- doesn't he look darling in his outfit?!

He was 6 weeks old on his first flight- ready to go to Uncle Parker and Aunt Torie's wedding!

4 generations with my Grandma, Dad, and baby.

Pic with the bride and groom.  All of the Finlinson siblings and in laws.  

The original 3 Finlinsons:

After the FABULOUS wedding- the fam (minus the honeymooners) went on a little vaca to San Fran- which was awesome! I love that city.  So gorgeous.  

When we got back to St. Louis, it was our 2 year wedding anniversary.  Being married really is the BEST thing ever. I literally wake up every morning and just can't believe how lucky I am to have found Ben.  He is the best husband and I can't get over it!!

In case you are wondering what kind of grandparents my parents are... Here is a good picture to describe: (They didn't know I was taking this picture)

And just like that- he was 2 months old!!

Flint had his first road trip to Ohio for my sweet Aunt Johnnie's funeral.  It was good to see family, even though for a sad reason.  One good thing- the Flints wore matching outfits :)

After the funeral we went to Hocking Hill- a beautiful park

After getting back Flint attended his first birthday party with mustaches as the party favor :)

Flint made his Dad these awesome posters for Father's Day.

Then we headed out to the Fisher Family Reunion and got another 4 generation shot with Ben's mom and Grandpa Wilson.  

We went camping for the reunion.  Flint did great! He slept through the night both nights and was a dream baby.  I really am so lucky!

Caught my boys taking a snooze in the tent and had to take a pic!

I stayed a couple of extra days longer than Ben to spend time with my brother and his wife in SLC.  So I flew home with the baby by myself! We had a layover in Vegas.  He was a champ on the plane! I seriously have the best baby!

Then I headed down to Oklahoma City to join Ben for his first away rotation for Orthopedic Surgery.  We were down there for a month and stayed with some friends who happened to move down at the same time.  That worked out well! 

He turned 3 months in OKC.  And time really is flying.

We also got to take him swimming for the first time in OKC, which was so fun! He loved it!

We did the Canal boat tour in Bricktown, which was a lot of fun.  

We got to go to Zoes Kitchen for the first time- one of my dad's clients.  It was very good!

And we checked out the historic stockyards in OKC as well.  Overall, we really enjoyed Oklahoma.

I also started up a new business! It's called Baby Biscuit Bow Ties.  I make clip on bow ties for babies, or at least that is the main focus.  I also make matching ones for dads or older children.  I just opened up a week ago- so far so good! Hopefully it turns out ok.  

Now we are in Columbia, South Carolina for Ben's 2nd away rotation.  I'll have to let you know how it goes. 

Aside from what we've been up to, I've also been thinking a lot about motherhood.  And how simply incredible it is.  I seriously just sit around and feel like bursting at the seams with how lucky I feel and how much love I have for such a little person! And I just marvel at the fact that I grew this little guy inside of me for 9 months and now he is a person! It has been so amazing to watch Ben become a father and see how much he loves our son as well.  I didn't realize how much I would like being a mom, but I really truly do! Flint is so mild mannered and has such a pleasant demeanor almost all of the time.  He rarely cries, unless for a good reason.  It is so fascinating to watch him learn and grow so much every day.  Just the simplest things amaze me.  Like him realizing he had feet today.  He was entertained for hours on end with just playing with his feet.  And to think that just yesterday he couldn't figure out how to grab his feet.  It's such a simple thing, and yet it's amazing to watch him learn how to do things and figure out his little body.  I was worried I would be so stressed out with a new baby and resent the fact that I couldn't do a lot of things that I used to be able to do (like go out past 8pm or go to a movie theater without worrying about a babysitter), but motherhood has been such a relaxing experience for me so far.  I have truly enjoyed every moment.  I do realize that I might change my mind once he is able to run around and destroy my house, but for now I feel like life is near perfect.  And I don't really miss going to the movies.  Sitting and watching my baby seems much more fun. :) It does help that we live by my parents who are willing to watch him when I do want to go out though. :) Anyway- I recognize that everyone's experience with motherhood is different, and it's not always easy for everyone.  I don't tell you all this to make anyone feel bad.  I guess I'm mainly wanting to put good vibes out there for mothering since it's so easy to get bogged down with negativity these days.  Anyway- those are my 2 cents.  More details to come soon hopefully!

Lent

Well it's that time of year again: Lent.  No, we are not Catholic, but for the past few years, I have found great strength from celebrating lent and giving up something for God.  So I continue to do it, and now I have forced Ben into it as well.  :) This year we both gave up Facebook.  I gave up Facebook for the first time that I decided to do Lent and it ended up being an amazing experience.  I don't feel as strongly about it this time around, but I will admit that it has felt good to not look at it for 2 weeks now.  I'm sure I've missed out on a dozen or so life changing announcements- such as engagements, weddings, and pregnancies.  But that's ok, right?  Facebook has a lot to offer that is really great, but I know that I check it way too often and in a way it has become an addiction for me.  So it's definitely good to take a break every once and a while to gain some perspective.  I could go on for days about the damage of social media... but I will spare you all and not. :) 

Ben and I have also decided to dedicate ourselves to writing in our journals every single day for Lent and reading the scriptures together every night.  We are reading a "Life of Christ" challenge that breaks up the gospels into 45 days of scriptures describing the life of Christ in chronological order.  So far we really like it and I can definitely say that it has made a difference in our home.  Writing in my journal has always been a habit that I have had throughout my life, but I will admit that since being married, my habit has fallen short.  So it's been good to get back into it.  

Overall, I would definitely recommend giving Lent a try, if you never have.  I liked that this year we gave up something and committed to something- I think that made it a little more meaningful.  And you also get to go to Fish Fries on Fridays if that's something that you like to do. :) We went to our first one last week, and it was actually very fun.  It's kind of a fun little tradition, at least in St. Louis.  

Other than that, life continues on.  I'm 33 weeks pregnant now.  Which means I'm 7 weeks away from my due date.  Yikes! How did this happen? I can't imagine what it's going to be like to have a baby of my own, but from what I hear, it's the best.  So I'm counting on it :) 

Bringing in the New Year

So despite the fact that the title of this post is "Bringing in the New Year," it is in reality, a post about July 2014 until the present, which incidentally includes brining in a New Year.  And of course I've been horrible with the whole keeping up on the blog thing, but hey here I am updating now (with a probably not-so-sincere commitment to posting more in the year 2015.) Plus life seems like it was so much more exciting when you post a bunch of pictures at once- even if they do cover a 6 month span, right? 

For Christmas 2013, I got Ben tickets to a journey concert to a Journey concert, which wasn't happening until July 2014.  A very in the future type of gift, but I had to get the tickets once they went on sale especially when it's for the hubby's favorite band.  I'm honestly not a huge concert person, but I will admit that this was a VERY good concert.  We created new memories and now every time I hear Journey on the radio I fondly remember this night with Ben and listen to the song as opposed to going on to the next station.  They were great live- I would go again!

This was also the summer of weddings- beginning with wedding of our friends Jake and Charissa in July.  I was a bridesmaid and Ben was a groomsman, thus the matching dress and suspenders. :) 

Next stop: Portland.  Unfortunately with Ben being in his 3rd year of medical school, having him come with me wasn't really an option.  So I met up with my dear friends for my old roommate Angela's wedding.  It's been so fun attending all of our weddings.  They all came to my wedding and now as the rest of us are getting married, it's been fun to be able to attend.  

Here I am with the lovely bride and groom- they look great, don't they? 

After the wedding in Portland, Levi, Taylor and myself had a day to spend before heading back home.  We spontaneously drove up to Seattle for the day- which was awesome! We went up the space needle, had delicious Greek food and attended a parade/Seattle festival that they apparently do every year. Still not sure what is was for exactly, but it was great either way.  And Seattle is beatiful.  

This guy's birthday was in August.  Isn't he cute? His birthday included garage saling (his favorite activity that I rarely participate in), going to Goodwill outlet (same idea as the garage saling) and opening presents.  Including a very special present- a book called "From Dude to Dad." It was so hard to keep it a secret, but I finally let the cat out of the bag- I am pregnant! (In reality I only "kept it a secret" for 2 days and don't worry- he was the first person I told.) Ben didn't understand at first because he knew we were going to be getting pregnant soon, which is why he thought I was giving him the book.  Fortunately it clicked though- he is very excited to be a dad!

August also included an unexpected trip to Utah due to the passing of Ben's grandfather.  I never had the chance to meet him, but from all of the stories that I hear, he was an amazing man.  We also got to spend a little time with Pook and his girlfriend (now fiance) Torie.  

I was back in Utah in September for wedding #3.  Emily made a beautiful bride and it was good to see my friends in UT once again.  Ben was not able to come with me again with med school and all, but it was still a good time.  

I waited until Halloween to announce to the world our good news.  We posted this picture on facebook as our announcement.  My first trimester was at a close at this point.  My pregnancy in general has been very very smooth.  I really can't complain.  Yes, I got sick here and there, but it really hasn't been bad.  

We went and supported Ethan at the swim state finals.  I had a reason to pull out my old Lindbergh shirt, which was crazy.  E rocked at the finals- we were so proud! 

We went to the symphony to hear the youth state orchestra perform.  The tickets were cheap and the kids were really good! It was a great date night.

For Thanksgiving break, we had our gender reveal party.  It was perfect timing because we found out the gender the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, which is also right when Parker and Torie flew in town for Thanksgiving.  We had everyone guess what the gender was:

Then we had a gender reveal box filled with either pink or blue balloons that we opened:

And voila- blue ones popped out- It's a BOY!  I knew from the beginning that he was a boy.  I don't know why.  Even at the ultrasound before we saw the gender I kept referring to him as a him.  Motherly instinct I guess.  We are both very excited for him to come.  The ultrasound made it so much more real because he actually looked like a baby as opposed to a jelly bean.  The ultrasound in general was one of the most incredible experiences.  Both of us were in awe as we watched our baby swim around, roll around, wave, wiggle his toes, and kick.  I will say being pregnant is so much cooler now that I can feel him kick.  It's one of the best feelings in the world.  Despite the fact that he is kicking 24 hours a day I feel like.  :) 

Thanksgiving break also included a trip to Pappy's.  Anne, Torie's mother, came in town as well.  It was so fun to meet her and have time to get to know her and Torie better.  (At this point they really are engaged- he proposed in October.) So I have a new sister-in-law, which is both crazy and cool.  Crazy because it's weird that my little brother is getting married and cool because he picked a good one. :)

After Thanksgiving, we went to Anheuser-Busch to see the Christmas lights.  I had never been before and they were excellent.  And free! I would recommend it to any in St. Louis that have not been.  

We got our pic with one of the Clydesdales.  If I'm remembering correctly, his name was Thomas.  

More lights:

And then there was the Christmas tree.  Wow.  Ben got me a 9 foot tall fake tree for free on Craig's list for this year.  And this tree nearly killed me.  It was a pre-lit tree that all of the lights were burnt out on (thus the freeness) and Ben thought we could just cut the lights off.  10 hours later (literally), we only have 1/3 of the lights cut off.  So we left the rest on and just put new lights over the rest of them.  (You can't even tell).  I like a lot of lights.  I mean a LOT of lights.  That's what makes a tree look good, right? And I admittedly don't know how to do something half way when it comes to this.  So I wrap every single branch with lights and run out of lights 1/3 of the way up the tree.  3 trips to home depot later, and many tears and hours later (including a burn out of all of the lights in the tree), the tree was finally finished.  I think the words "I hate Christmas" may have escaped my lips on multiple occasions during this.  Sigh.  It doesn't help that I'm not THAT big of a fan of Christmas in the first place (I know, I know, don't judge me).  But the one thing I enjoy about Christmas is decorating my tree.  My mind might be changing about that now ;)  And my tree is still up for those of you wondering.  Normally I take my tree down on December 26th but with going out of town, and the idea of taking down my hours upon hours of work, I just haven't been able to do it.  (I am starting as soon as I finish this post though, I promise.)

Here's my 22 week pic:

As I mentioned earlier, we went out of town for Christmas this year.  It was my first Christmas away from home.  And it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  (My first Thanksgiving away from home was not a pretty event).  We spent the week of Christmas in Utah with Ben's parents.  We had a lovely Christmas even dinner featuring the traditional cordon bleu.  

We got together with my besties at Elise's home in SLC.  It was great to see everyone.

We saw the tree of Life in Draper.

And the lights on Temple Square.  This is the spot that Ben proposed to me 2 years prior. The rest of trip included lots of Cafe Rio, In n' Out, seeing the Hobbit, shopping, and relaxing.  A good time.  

We spent the week of New Year's in Cancun with my family for Ethan's senior trip.  And it was awesome! I had never been to Mexico, so it was a first for me.   We saw Ruins:

Including Chitzen Itza (below) and Ek Balam (above).

This is Ben at the top of Ek Balam.  The ruins were my favorite part of the trip.  And Ek Balam was awesome because you could climb on it.  You can no longer climb Chitzen Itza.  

We also brought in the New Year at our resort where they had a little party going on for all of the guests.  

We went downtown one night to a restaurant called "Perico's."  It was very fun!

We finally had to come home and go back to reality :( We are now getting ready for Baby Fisher to come in April.  Here Ben is at Buy Buy Baby, overwhelmed by all of the stroller options.  :) 

And we just attended the fabulous wedding of my friend Emily at the Sheldon Concert Hall.  This heart was by the coat rack, and a perfect photo op.  Ben was happy, despite his efforts to be silly and grumpy looking for a pic.  

Whew! I think that sums up my past 6 months.  Here's to a fabulous 2015!