ThankGivens

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Easter Weekend

This year we had the privilege of visiting with all of our families throughout the weekend.

To start, we had an easter egg hunt and brunch at Jeff & Naz' house on Saturday

Harper & Aunt Marianne!

Hunting Eggs at Jeff & Naz's house

After brunch, we decided we needed even more time with family so we went home for a quick nap and went right back out to the park with everyone.

How cute are these cousins!

Cousin Lineup - Nailed it!

Harper's thrilled to be here... really.

Well at least Hailey's diggin' it

One of our first family of four photos

Here are a few more snapshots that Grandma Sue put together of our day!

On Easter Sunday we woke up and dressed hailey so she could find the eggs that Mr. Easter Bunny hid in our yard.

Ready, Set, HUNT!

In the playhouse

All over!

Her loot... And Harper giving up on tummy time in the background.

Frozen Temporary Tattoos!

After we'd sufficiently Eastered-Out our house, we were off to the next festivity... Easter brunch at my sister-in-law Megan's family's! The kids had a BLAST hunting for eggs in the garden. Trent even started helping the younger kids find some eggs.

Hailey, Trent & Cruz

Aunt Meg giving some pointers to Hailey

Hailey's on the move!

Counting their loot!

Not sure about this whole Easter Cuteness thing...

Snuggles from uncle Kev

After a quick nap at home, we made one last Easter visit over at my dad's house.

Grandpa & Hailey

Glammy & Harper

Can't believe how much family time we got in over the weekend! You better believe these girls are going to grow up knowing the meaning of Family.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Introducing: The Givens Quad Squad!

Harper's first weeks at home and getting used to life with the four of us has been quite the whirlwind! Sleeplessness aside, we've been doing pretty great and Hailey has been thrilled with her promotion to big sister! Sure, I could use a few extra ~~hours~~ weeks of sleep, but I really can't complain with the cuteness overload that's currently going on in our home.

Typical... Everyone's asleep but me... And yes, Hailey is sleeping holding a balloon

Proud Papa

Morning snuggles!

All bundled up after Harper's first bath at home!

Sleep... Harper's actually doing pretty well all things considered. She's up 1-2 times per night to feed, which isn't generally terrible, until she fights falling back to sleep and once she does, her 2 year old sister wakes up with a nightmare and needs to be comforted. That's when zombie mommy kicks in... Fortunately those nights are rare, even though they seem to last FOREVER in the moment.

On the plus side, Harper is eating well! Maybe a little too well.... I'm generally nursing her every 2-3 hours during the day, and every 1-2 hours in the evenings during her nightly bewitching. It's a glamorous life of nursing, burping, spit up and the million diapers in between. Fortunately there are plenty of snuggles too, which somehow makes up for all the gross, exhausting parts ;-) I have nothing but respect for stay at home moms, because honestly this is the hardest work I've ever had to do in my life. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond grateful that I get to have these 3 months off of work to be with Harper and Hailey, but whoa. Keeping those girls fed, clean and generally alive while attempting to get our house relatively clean, launder our spit/poop covered clothes and have food in our kitchen is no joke.

Too cute not to snap a picture of!

I could stare into those baby blues all day

Dreaming of her future modeling career

Venturing out solo with my girls for the first time! Jamba juice for the win!

Sisters!

Post-bath sass. And Hair fro.

Harper's hair stands STRAIGHT up after a bath, defying gravity and conservatives alike. No, we do not style it that way... something I'm frequently being asked about. I mean, WHO has time to style a newborn's hair?!!? I consider it a successful day if I can get my own teeth brushed.

I DID however attempt to headband that glorious fro...

Get this dumb thing off my head!

We'll try again after your next developmental leap. I'm no pediatrician but think one of those major milestones is "First Happy Hair Accessory". Hailey of course skipped that one and went straight to the "Messy Hair Don't Care" phase. I pretty much fail as a mother of girls when it comes to the hair game.

Curls and spikes... and everything nice. That's what my girls are made of.

Fun fact: you can see Harper's heartbeat through the spikes in her hair...

Harper's nursery is getting a little more decorated, but we're in no rush as she's still in a portable crib next to our bed (we did the same with Hailey until she was about 10 weeks old) and I'm in no hurry to be tracking down the hall for for Harper's 3am feedings.

Nursery decorating! It's a start...

One month in and Harper has yet to get into the whole pacifier life... which is foreign territory for us because Hailey has been in love with her pacifiers since 10 days old when that glorious thing stopped her crying. Hailey still religiously uses her paci's to sleep (yes, we're working on that) so it'll be interesting to see if her sister doesn't end up using one.

Look mom! Baby Pacis!

Just us girls!

And just to show that we haven't completely forgotten our first born...

We're in trouble if both girls have this much energy...

Fun in the yard!

Still trying out this whole bike thing

My little gazer

Sup!

Roar!

Hand me down onesie from Hailey!

I don't think the matching shirts will EVER get old to me

Hailey has BLOWN OUR MINDS with what a great big sister she is. From day one, she's been infatuated with Harper, or as Hailey calls her "Hopter". Hailey loves cooing at her sister, helping mommy grab wipes, burp clothes, or whatever is out of reach as I'm nursing and singing to her when she's crying. I was stoked that Hailey would have a sister, but I had no idea how beautiful it would be to watch her become so adoring and protective so instinctually from the start.

Sister Love

Yep, I'd say life is good, God is great and though we've got our hands full, we've never had so much to be grateful for.

But let's go ahead and end this post like this...

THIS IS WHY WE DON'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

It's A GIRL! Harper Jo Has Arrived!

Well after much anticipation, SHE finally graced us with her appearance! Harper Jo Givens was born!

Harper's original due date was January 21st, which we bumped up a few days to January 17th once her measurements started coming in, so when the 17th came and went, I was convinced this child was never leaving my belly. BUT in the same fashion as her sister, Harper Jo arrived exactly on time on the 21st... two due date babies! Joe had even given me the request to go into labor that day, as it would fit in nicely with his work schedule... what can I say, I aim to please?

Warning: The upcoming labor story is not for the weak of stomach, so continue reading at your own risk...

Wednesday night (the 20th) we went to sleep, and at 10:30pm just as I started to settle into the giant crater my belly and I were carving into the mattress, my water broke. Just to be sure I hadn't peed myself, I got up and walked to the bathroom and sure enough, water was broken! I woke up Joe to let him know his request for labor was accepted... he began to freak out, in true dad-fashion. My mom was called to come over and watch Hailey as we packed up for the Hospital.

Oh yeah, the hospital... Due to a new job and new insurance, this was my first time delivering at Kaiser, but I was fully confident that things would go smoothly because they JUST finished building a brand new hospital one year ago, only a couple miles away! WOO HOO!! So when Joe called to let them know to water-proof the red carpet they were about to roll out for us, we were hit with a giant curve ball... They were FULL. We could not come to the new hospital where I was prepared to deliver. Instead, we were told to drive 30+ miles away to San Francisco, in the middle of the night, to deliver there. WHAT?!?!?!?! Imagine a gigantic, hormonal, leaking pregnant lady being told to divert her plans... I was a mess. Fortunately, Joe and my mom calmed me down and got us packed up for our slightly-re-routed journey.

Once we pulled up to the emergency entrance at Kaiser San Francisco, I was wheeled into labor & delivery and hooked up to all the right monitors and IV's. Things were getting REAL. At first (as with Hailey) I didn't feel any contractions, but I knew they were not far away... A couple hours later they were there... in all their intense glory. Rocking out to Hall & Oates on our jambox in the delivery room, Joe slow danced with me, rubbed my back, and let me crush his hands through every miserable contraction. By about 4am I was 4cm dilated. Not bad, and much better progress than with Hailey so I was feeling optimistic that I might be able to do this epidural-free... Fast forward 4 uterus-wrenching hours later to 8am when I was checked again and I was at... 4 centimeters. WHAAAAAAT!!?! Plan B... flirt my way into the Anesthesiologist's heart for the best Epidural he had ever injected. After explaining that it took 10 hours to get the epidural adjusted for Hailey's delivery, they were able to administer and adjust my epidural this time in only one hour. As we were informed, my spine is likely curved just enough that my right hip doesn't go numb with a normal epidural. But as it turns out, you can numb anything with nerves and I ended up with a VERY strong epidural, sending me into la-la labor land. A healthy dose of Pitocin put me on track to (now pain-free) active labor.

HEYYYYYY Epidural Man!

Oh, I get to push a button for more pain relief? pushpushpushpushpushpush

From 10am to about 3pm I was singing along to more tunes and making small talk with my lovely nurses. The doctors and nurses were all very friendly and helpful women (4 of which were pregnant!) - my infamous Anesthesiologist was the only male I saw! I was in good hands. Joe was looking a little under-nourished so I sent him across the street to Target to get some snacks and such. Bad timing on my part, because while he was there I was checked and the doctor said I was 10 cm and we could start pushing once they got set up. I called Joe and gave him the news that he'd have to leave the dollar section and get back fast so he could help catch this baby. I'd say that rattled him a bit and he ran back in a hurry.

So here we were, doctors and nurses set up and me ready to push. We even had a pediatrician on hand because there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, so baby would have to get checked for that being cleared out of his/her mouth and lungs and such. Funny story about pushing... thank goodness for stirrups because I had NO feeling in my legs. That super strong epidural was in full effect and I didn't feel a thing. The doctor had to tell me when a contraction was happening which was when I could push. About 20 minutes of pushing like that and baby was coming out!!! AHHH!!! Well, sort of...

I was told later that the baby's cord was wrapped twice around her neck and then, a shoulder got caught so baby was stuck... not a good combination. There was some urgency to get the situation remedied, so the doctor had me push no matter what... even when my body wasn't contracting because baby needed to get out and that cord needed to come off. Fortunately the pushing worked (and even more fortunately my epidural kept me unaware of all that was physically going on! yowzahs) Baby was out and Joe got to announce.... IT's A... GIRL!?!? A healthy... BIG... GIRL!

Back story to this - during our 20 week ultrasound, we told the tech that we didn't want to know the gender, but the tech never said to look away... so I looked. And I was 80% sure that I saw... something down there! Then I proceeded to google-image search boy versus girl ultrasounds and I was fairly certain that I saw boy bits... So even though my certainty faded with each week, Joe and I were thinking we had a boy cooking this whole time. So SURPRISE! GIRL!!!! What can I say, I'm not an ultrasound tech. sheesh.

Harper Jo Givens made her way into this world at 3:56pm on Thursday, January 21st, 21" long and weighing in at a whopping 10lbs 3.8oz. That's right, I just delivered a baby larger than the size bowling ball I'm comfortable holding. The nurses were all very impressed, especially after the doctor made prediction of a 9 lb baby only hours earlier. And to all the epidural haters out there.... don't talk to me until you're 10+ lb baby gets their shoulder stuck on the way out...