Back to Normal? Never.

Our lives have been turned wildly upside down with the arrival of our third little man, Kellan! He is deliciously soft, sweet, smells like heaven, and has completely captured all of our hearts! We are absolutely smitten by this little kitten! Chase tells me almost daily that he has "big heart" or "big love" for Kellan. Landon is constantly greeting Kellan in the morning with a sing songy, "Cute Baby!!" They shower him with kisses hugs and affection and he reciprocates with the most heart melting smiles imaginable. Nothing about having a third child has been easy from pregnancy to labor to life after baby. I was warned that the 3rd child was the hardest for many of my friends and family so I thought if I imagined it being really really hard it couldn't possibly be as hard as I had imagined. It is...and some. I've had to throw schedules, planning, and naps out the window. I've had to realize that some days I just won't be able to keep the house clean, or get in a workout, or even cook dinner, and definitely not all three! We would not trade in our newly hectic lives with baby Kellan for anything though. When he smiles and coos at us it makes all the hard work totally worth it! Also, he's growing up way too fast. I had my first break down yesterday when I was looking at how long he is and how fast he's growing. We've talked about making him our third and final babe and looking at how fast he's moving through these precious infant days is tearing me apart!

I'm not even going to try to catch up on everything I've missed blogging about because, let's face it, I can barely remember what happened yesterday! So, I'll just try and recap the bigger events we've had occur in the past few months.

Kellan was born January 1st just 12 minutes shy of having his birthday on January 2nd and dangerously close to being delivered via c-section. I was induced 2 weeks early according to my due date and MUCH too early according to my body. I was only 25% effaced and maybe 1 cm dilated. During my pregnancy I had excess amniotic fluid (there can be too much of a good thing) the term for such a condition is called polyhydramnios. I have had like a gallon too much of amniotic fluid during all of my pregnancies and it's never concerned my doctors before. I had a new doctor (regrettably) with Kellan however and they jumped all over this and could care less about my previous medical history. They ran multiple tests, sent me to specialists, and ordered high risk ultrasounds to try and figure out what was causing my polyhydramnios only to find out what I had been telling them all along was in fact true (shocker). My wee little water babes like very cushioned homes during their 9 month residency, in fact, they demand it! They induced me early because there was no cause to be found (????) and they just said, "well, you're full term, we might as well just get that baby out!" Who wouldn't want that, right? Me. I was perfectly happy waiting out the rest of my pregnancy and being able to deliver naturally again. I pictured it being just as enjoyable as Landon's delivery and thought I'd even go without an epidural this time. In the end we agreed to induction. It was a long, hard, and painful day and the only thing that kept me happy was that at the end of it all we would finally get to meet our sweet boy.

My mom was able to come out for a week after we brought Kellan home and she spoiled us and pampered us the entire time. Chase and Landon loved their long outings to the park giving Kellan and I a chance to sleep, we had a constantly sparkling house, stocked fridge and cupboards, and hot, delicious meals 24/7. I seriously have the best mom I could ever ask for. She made life SO easy for us while she was here!

A couple weeks later luck struck again and we had more visitors! Kyle's parents came for Kellan's baby blessing as well as the Mackey's. We has so much fun catching up and playing games and staying up late just enjoying the full house. Chase still talks about what a dream come true it was to have his beloved cousin Payton to play with all day long.

Here's a recap of some of the things that have happened since Kellan's arrival...

Chase and Landon took swim lessons and both did wonderfully!! Chase can swim a good distance on his own and Landon is doing great with his kicks and arms he just can't keep himself afloat for very long and sinks like a rock!

We are doing a program called Parents as Teachers that we LOVE!!! I will have to go into depth more about that in a different post. It's a free program provided to families (made possible by cigarette tax dollars) where our "Parent Educator", Pam, comes out 2x a month and does fun developmental activities with the kids and me. Today we made Ziploc bag books. Chase chose a letter and looked through magazines to cut out things he found that started with the letter "C" and put them in the Ziploc bags we'd taped together. After he was done he told us a story with the items he'd put in his book. Landon did the same thing but with things that make sounds, he found a dog, cat, car, etc. and he told us about the sounds they make when he read us his Ziploc book. Pam even brought something for Kellan! She brought me a bunch of information on baby massages and different techniques and strokes and the importance of baby massage and attachment formation for babies. Very interesting stuff! I'm excited to make that part of our daily routine.

Kyle started another position at Apollo Group. Another step in the right direction to where he'd like to end up and he really likes the work he's doing.

I got released from YW's, a very bittersweet experience. I was relieved of the burden that the calling had become but I knew I'd really miss the girls. They were SO sweet and put together the most thoughtful and sweet thank you card. I got released, officially, the week before New Beginnings and I wasn't planning on attending, but a few of the girls insisted that I come to it so I gave in. I just LOVE those girls to pieces! They surprised me (and embarrassed me) by taking some time at the end of the program in front of family, the bishopric, old leaders and new leaders (none of which had any idea what they were doing) and called me up to present the card and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I got to give each of them a hug and tell them how much I'd miss them. And I still miss them a ton!

I got to relax for no more than 3 days before I was given a new calling as the CTR 5 teacher. It had been almost a year since they'd had a reliable teacher for this class and people kept asking to be released or not accepting the calling at all. Sad. I absolutely LOVE serving in the primary and I adore my 9 little 5 year olds. They are so smart and say the most profound things sometimes! They make me realize just how incredible this young generation really is.

                                         Chase and Landon at swim lessons!

That's all I can think of for now...I can't guarantee I will be more consistent about updating, but I'll try. Three kids are no joke!! At least I'm a little caught up now!