2 weeks!!

Our sweet little Davin is 2 weeks old now! I can't believe how quickly the past 2 weeks have gone!! It has been so fun to have a little baby again, but I have forgotten just how much work it is and how long it takes to get out of the house when we go anywhere! Oh, and let's not forget how much stuff we have to take with us now - I feel like a brand new parent all over again. :-) But, I'm loving it!

Here are a few fun things about Davin:

- He is so mellow and sweet!! He hardly ever cries!

- He is super smart (I may be a little biased, but you wait and see!!). By day 2 he learned how to hold his binkie in his mouth with his hand and can even put it back in if it falls out. He is also trying to hold his own bottle - so cute!

- He has great head control and tries really hard to sit up. It looks like he is doing mini crunches.

- He LOVES to sleep! Definitely my boy!

- He is wide awake every morning from 1-4 am.

- He LOVES music and sometimes when we sing to him he will sing along - ok, he just makes noise, but I like to think he is singing. :-) On the rare occasion that he is upset over something, he can be easily calmed with a quick song.

- He doesn't tolerate milk (sad) so we had to switch him to soy and he is a much happier baby.

- Davin loves to listen to stories and will stare intently at the person talking to him (if you can catch him awake!!)

- He loves his brothers and is the happiest when they are around. They get more smiles than any of us. His brothers just adore him too!

- He is super ticklish everywhere! His whole body spasms if you touch his back, head, face, stomach, ears, or feet and sometimes it sounds like he giggles a little.

- He is very stubborn! If we don't get him what he wants when he wants it he doesn't get upset, he just makes us wait until he decides to take it. Usually it's his bottle and he will purse his little lips until he decides he is ready. It's so funny!

- Davin has the biggest feet and longest toes of any newborn I have ever seen! His feet don't really fit in any of his newborn clothes (even though the clothes themselves are a little big because he is so small!) and his toes curl around your finger. It's so cute!! Someday he will grow into those feet.

We are so blessed to have this sweet little guy in our family! We love him so much!!

A baby story...

On Thursday, February 11th, I had a doctor's appt which was great because I had been feeling awful. At the appt my blood pressure was 189/104, which is really dangerous for both me and the baby. A few minutes later the doctor came in to let us know that she was sending me straight to the hospital - to have a baby!! She didn't feel like we could wait anymore since my blood pressure was now out of control and I was feeling so bad. Before we left we had an ultrasound to check the baby's size where we found out that he was breach! This kiddo had a habit of doing gymnastics so it wasn't really a surprise that he was breach but I was disappointed because that means a c-section!

At the hospital we talked with the doctor to see about any other options - I was really opposed to a c-section if possible. She said that I could stay the week in the hospital to manage my blood pressure and check eveyday to see if the baby turned, or we could just do the c-section in the morning. Not too thrilled with either of those options! We decided to do the c-section in the morning - then the nurse came in to tell me that if I promised to follow STRICT bedrest then the doctor would send me home and I could be seen in the office each day waiting for the baby to turn so we could induce. YEAH!! If we are going to wait I would rather do it at home. Before we left we had to have another ultrasound to make sure baby is ok - he was doing great, in fact great enough that he flipped over as we were watching. YAHOO!! Now we get to stay and start the induction!

A few minutes later the medications were started and we hoped to quickly get this show on the road. By the next day not too much had happened so the doctor broke my water and started me on Pitocin to make things move faster. I thought for sure this labor would go quickly because Brayden's had, but nope - it seemed to go on forever!

Finally by Saturday I was having hard enough contractions to get the epidural. Not too long after that labor stopped! About this same time the baby was having a hard time too - his heart rate kept dropping and wasn't recovering quickly. The nurse was doing everything she could and finally the only thing that would keep the baby stable was to have me on my back with oxygen on - so I had to stay that way until delivery. The only bad thing about this position is that the epidural wore off, except for my legs, which were completely numb. About 1:40am on Sunday everything was set up and I could start pushing. Then, 3 hard pushes later, at 1:55am, little Davin McKay was born. He is perfect and we couldn't be more thrilled!

Despite being 3 weeks early, Davin is healthy and absolutely fabulous! His brothers adore him and are wrapped around his little fingers. They are all so cute with him! The first morning we were home Brayden was talking to him telling him how much he loved him, and Brayden had tears in his eyes. Then, as he left the room he told Mark that he loves Davin so much that it makes him cry and he didn't know he would love him so much! Tarell wants to spend every minute holding Davin and Landon just loves to sit with Davin no matter what he is doing. It is so cute!!

Special Delivery

Davin McKay Mariano

made his appearance 3 weeks early, on February 13th at 1:55 AM.

The past few days have been exciting, scary, and absolutely wonderful - I will post the details later!

But, for now.....vital stats:

6 lbs 7 oz

19.5 inches long

a head full of dark hair and so HANDSOME!!

Check back soon for the exciting details!

SNOW!!!

Since last year we have been promising the boys we would go to the snow for the day so a few weeks ago we finally made good on that promise. We drove to Flagstaff early one Saturday morning and found the snow-play area by Snowbowl (the ski area). It was perfect! Tarell has played in the snow before but Brayden and Landon hadn't so it was a whole new experience for them. I'm not really sure what Brayden was expecting but he was a little shocked.

When we first got out of the car we got all geared up and Brayden made a mad dash to the top of the small hill we had claimed. He immediately sank to his thighs in the snow but he continued on his trek. Once at the top of the hill the cold hit him and he ran back down yelling about how he hated the snow because it was too cold. As soon as he got to the bottom he sat down, in the snow, and proceeded to take his shoes and his socks off because he had snow in them. (Brayden HATES having things in his shoes!) It took a few minutes to talk him into putting his shoes back on and just dealing with the cold so he could have fun. He finally did! It took everything in me to not laugh out loud at him (I know, meanest mom ever!!) but it was so funny! After a few minutes he joined in the fun and had a blast. While he was trying to decide if he really did want to play or sit in the car Tarell and Landon had taken the sleds to the top of the hill and were already having so much fun. In the end we all had a great time and can't wait for next year. Next year I can sled too!!

Baby update

I just got back from my doctor appointment and thought I would update. So far everything is still looking great. My blood pressure is holding steady, still high, but not so concerning as a few weeks ago. Because I've been deemed "high risk" (because of the blood pressure) I have had a ton of appointments and careful monitoring. I now see the doc twice weekly for testing, which includes an ultrasound to check fluid levels and a non-stress test for the baby, as well as monthly ultrasounds. Even though I feel like I am ALWAYS at the doctor it's been nice to be able to see this kiddo more often. The difficult part has been that I see a different doctor each week - this practice is set up differently than others so I don't see the same provider, instead I see whoever is there that day. Unfortunately that means that I sometimes get different answers to questions and dates and such. But, at least they all agree that this baby is looking great so far.

Today we found out that he is approximately 4 lbs and 11 oz and right on target and he has been doing somersaults and is now head up (first time ever!!)! It looks like he will be a little bigger than Brayden but I also think the doc will let this guy stay in-utero a little longer than Brayden did. We got some cute pics (unfortunately our scanner isn't working though!) that showed him sucking his thumb. We also saw that he has huge pinchable cheeks and a ton of hair! He has a very similar profile to Brayden so we are pretty sure they will look alike, but we will see. We just can't wait to see and hold this little guy.

I asked the nurse practitioner today when she thought we might expect to be induced, assuming I would be based on the other doctors thoughts. She didn't seem to think that I will need inducing early at all, which is kind of disappointing for me - this bedrest is getting old!! One doctor told me that she wanted to induce me around 34 weeks, another said around 35 or 36 weeks, another said keep cooking until 39 weeks, and then today not at all. Oh well, I just want him to be healthy. I would like to be induced though - the thought of just going into labor kind of scares me. With Brayden I was induced at 35 weeks and once my water broke I pushed twice and he was out within 20 minutes. If that happens with this one we are in trouble because we are about 30 minutes from the hospital. Oh well, I'm sure there is a U-Tube video we could watch to figure out how to deliver this baby in the car if necessary, right??

We can't wait for this little guy to make his appearance, no matter when or how, which could be anytime betweek 1-6 weeks. He is so loved already and will definitely need to be ready for lots of attention

"Best Christmas EVER!!!"

That is what the boys kept saying on Christmas Day, and each day for a week after. I know we slightly spoiled them, or rather Santa slightly spoiled them, but it was fun.

This collage customized with Smilebox

A picture collage by Smilebox

Where does the time go??

The past few months have gone by so fast and I am so obviously far behind with updates. So, here we go with an update....Halloween was fun! We had a Storm Trooper, a ninja, and a garden gnome. We had 3 days of Halloween - a trick-or-treat night at Brayden's school, the ward trunk-or-treat, and then a festival at the park. Good times!

Just a few weeks later Brayden turned 6!! I can't believe he is 6 now! We celebrated with his favorite breakfast before school - waffles with whipped cream and a big "6" candle and hot chocolate. Then just 3 days later Landon turned the big 4!! (unfortunately I can't find the pictures of his big day!! Bad mommy!!) That weekend we had a party for the boys and rented a huge bouncer at the park. They had so much fun and still talk about it. I will forever rent a bouncer for birthday parties - it was so entertaining!

Tarell's football season ended! He did such a GREAT job and had a blast! We can't wait for the next season to come around. He has really gotten into football lately and it's been fun to see. He tries explaining the game to his brothers and it's so fun to listen to.

Thanksgiving was fabulous! My brother and his family were here from China and it was so fun getting to know their sweet family. They have 3 of the cutest little girls ever and our boys had so much fun playing with their new found cousins. We can't wait until they come back someday. I know we too pictures but can't find them. I don't think I should be in charge of the camera anymore!

Latest baby news - things are still moving along and this little guy is growing nicely. My last ultrasound last week showed him moving (which I feel ALL the time!!) and he weighs about 3 pounds now. Right about where he should be. My blood pressure is still really high so the doctor ordered me to stop working and get more rest! He figured this would bring down my stress level - little does he know that staying home with 2-3 kids everyday and worrying about money will only bring more stress. I guess I'll have to work on it. This last week I spent a few hours in the hospital getting fluids. I was super dehydrated after spending 15 hours not able to keep anything down at all. Then 2 days later Brayden got strep throat! So far there hasn't been much resting - maybe after Christmas. I see the doctor in a week and then after that I have to start going 2 times per week until the end, which will probably come about 35 weeks. The doctor's goal has been to keep this baby cooking until about 35 weeks (anything after that will be a bonus) and depending on how the baby is I could deliver. So, we could have this baby anytime after January 20th! I can't believe it's almost the end! We are praying every day for a healthy baby - keep us in your prayers too please! We will keep everyone updated.

Last - today is my darling husband's birthday! Of course, true to form, I took no pictures! Sorry honey!! We had all the local family over for dinner and cake and ice cream. It's always so great to have family over - we love you all! Mark is having a hard time believing he is the big 37 now! I love you sweetheart and hope you had a great birthday!!