Enzo: 1-2 weeks old

March 20-24

During this stage, I held Enzo as often and as much as I wanted. I couldn't get enough. I hardly put him down, which made it hard to do anything. But my awesome MIL was here to help. I also had a hard time sharing him and letting other people hold him. This is the first time I've been like that as a new mom.  But it was wonderful to just soak it all in.

(Anyone know why there are gray bars through my pics?!-Sad!)

I just love the way babies look as newborns! It goes so so fast! I think the newborn stage is difficult on purpose so at the time we aren't too sad to see it go :)

Sigh, precious

Rachel came up about a week and a half after Enzo was born.

Aunt Rachel and all the grand babies!

About this time Enzo got a really bad diaper rash, that ended up lasting 4-5 weeks :( It was so so so stressful for me. He didn't seem in too much pain, but it looked horrible! And with a messy diaper several times a day, it was nearly impossible to treat. I went to the dr 3 different times to get help with it. I used everything I could think of and read about on the internet. I spent so much that month on rash treatments. And spent a good amount of time blowing cool air with the hair drier on his bum. I think it ended up being something called impetigo, which has red open sores. Stopping the use of wipes in favor of cotton balls dipped in vaseline helped a little bit, but in the end it was a combination ointment that worked. It was prescribed by his pediatrician and cost me $80; it was an anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and strong antibiotic ointment that he called pink swizzle, even though it wasn't pink.

Introducing Enzo Strong Munk

March 15

Welcome to the world baby!

Born at 7:54 am on the Ides of March 2012, via c-section.  7 pounds 13 ounces; 21 inches

I don't really know where to start. I think one of the reasons I waited so long to make this post is because I didn't want to share it. I wanted to keep it all to myself.  And since my mind isn't all here, I don't know how much I remember.

Off and on a couple weeks before I was due, I wouldn't be able to stand up straight because it would hurt my hip/pelvis so bad. I could wait a min or so and it would stop. We originally planned to have the c-section on the 15th (because that would work better with Jon's schedule), but at my previous appt, I decided I wanted it to be earlier, on Tuesday. I didn't find out til later that unfortunately the hospital was booked. So, unless I went into labor on my own I'd have to wait til Thursday. At first, I wanted to go into labor, but then I remember how hard Zac's delivery was (c-section after 14 hrs of labor) and decided that I'd rather NOT labor first, and that would make for a better recovery.

The day before delivery, I had things I needed to do to get ready for the baby, and I was in charge of cub scouts and because of scheduling conflicts we had a St. Patricks Day party scheduled for that afternoon.  As the day went on, I got more and more uncomfortable as I tried to get stuff done and my pelvis was hurting really bad. I had to walk bent at almost a 45 degree angle so it wouldn't hurt. Because of awesome friends in the ward, I was able to skip out of scouts and take it easy. And Jon came home from work early to help me too.

I was also very very very nervous about the c-section this time. With Max I was just so excited to be done, that I didn't care about the surgery at all. But this time I was stressin'. We left our house about 6:00a and went to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. I really wanted my boys to be with us after Enzo was born, so Maryanne met us at the hospital to watch the boys during delivery.  The spinal worked great. But my spine must have been at a weird angle, because my shoulders and neck were SOOO sore. The kind anesthesiologist massaged them and they felt better. Also, my blood pressure was dropping, and I wanted to pass out. They gave me some meds to bring it up and I felt better after a bit. Although my blood pressure stayed low the whole time in the hospital. I had to be on the IV for more than 24 hours later (what a pain).  After Enzo was out and I heard him crying I had so much peace and joy. I felt so content.

He was pretty fussy while they were putting my back together. All the medical staff commented on how vocal he was-haha. That worried me. But he's been great and only cries for select needs which are pretty easy to meet.

I had no expectations for feeding after the difficulty I had nursing my other two boys. I had hopes though. Unfortunately, a nurse assured me she was certified for lactation, yet gave me bad advice which I couldn't see at the time. We left the hospital with a shield, SNS, binky and a baby that liked to bite or "chew", instead of suck. But it was great to see his weight start to come back up before we left the hospital.

We got to see the boys everyday I think. Which was so nice. I wish I had gotten a family picture there. Or even just more pics. There is only one of me and the baby in the hospital on my phone but its really bad quality. The food was really good. Jon was exhausted. The baby had great sleep stretches for a newborn. And it was just so lovely to have him here. I feel like I recovered a lot quick this time. I was even able to walk to the bathroom by myself that evening!

All ready to go home. These are newborn size and they are still so big on him!  I wish I could just cuddle this stage all over again!

Hi

I am alive as you could tell from my Facebook page.  Looks like Blogger's gone and changed things up since I was last here. About a month ago, I stated on FB that I had the intention of catching up on blogging by the end of June....not so sure thats going to happen, but I'll get started on it.

Baby #3 rocked my world, along with the attendant postpartum depression (which I escaped with the last two babies).  Here I am 3+ months later, getting more functional in cleaning, cooking and getting out and doing normal things. (We went to seven peaks last week for a couple hours and it was successful :) My brain still has yet to completely arrive; perhaps it won't? Sometimes I have a hard time talking because I can't even articulate the words that can express what I want to say. A fellow mother at church stated, "my kids ate my brain"-so true!

On a more positive note, I absolutely adore our new baby boy, Enzo. I'm enjoying all these baby stages so much more this time around and the icing on the cake: he is such a good baby! Sooo much easier than the other boys. Now I can see why people might have several children ;)

Disney on Ice-Toy Story 3

 The week before the baby was due, Jason, Jon's brother, offered us 4 tickets to Disney on Ice-other than take it easy and get ready for this baby we didn't have any plans. So we decided to take them. Friday, night I was having some contractions but not really painful. I was a little concerned for Saturday so I ended up drinking as often as I could. It was about 85 ounces of water that day. But at least it kept the contractions at bay.

All these pics were taken on Jon's phone since I forgot to bring the camera.  We parked at the Gateway Mall and spent some time at the Clarke Planetarium waiting for the show to start.

Going inside

We'd never been to anything like this show before. I had asked a lady at the planetarium who'd clearly gone to the earlier showing, what to expect. I'm glad I asked b/c it gave us the opportunity to inform the boys what they could get BEFORE getting there. Until we saw the prices, we said they could each get a toy and a snack. Some of the snacks came with a toy and were more spendy.

All the Toy Story 3 loot.

The boys had a really great time!

We got nachos, popcorn and drinks. Max REALLY REALLY wanted the alien hat, that came with the cotton candy, so that was his toy. And Zac chose to get Bullseye. He has a Buzz and Woody that would go great. But he hasn't been able to find the Woody toy :(

Thanks for the tickets Jason and Kari!

Projects

I've been following a few blogs where the ladies are expecting babies shortly before me, and they are doing nesting series' which I've enjoyed as I can't even remember what kinds of things need to be done to get ready for a baby. Through reading about their projects I've had barely enough motivation to do some of them.

I've always wanted a tag blanket for our baby since they started to be popular a some years back. It was really simple to make and I also made one for Wesley, Rachel's baby, and he loves it.

I also saw these carseat blankets and wanted to get one for our baby. But I didn't know where to get one and one of the blogs I follow made one that I had seen previously on another blog, here and here and I was inspired to make one.

I really liked this fun print.

I also decided to make some new receiving blankets so everything wasn't hand me downs.

Zac had the week before the week I was due off so I decided we'd do a bunch of fun things to spend time together before the baby gets here and to make some memories. Some of the things we did were: go to the Kamas pool, meet up with Nani for lunch, read, we went to the Lorax movie, went to breakfast with just Zac (I go with just Max about once a month), hung out with our friends the Nemelkas, and shopped for craft supplies. I anticipated doing more crafts like this onesie (which we didn't get around to, we'll have to do it later), popsicle stick structures, little bean bags, an emergency clutch for me and these altoid tin games. The last two are the only ones I got around to doing. 

They boys each got to pick their own theme, paper and stickers. Unfortunately, Roberts Craft is closed, and JoAnns didn't have a very good selection of themed matching elements.

If you can't tell these are tic tac toe games and the boys are pretty excited about them and the parts that they got to help with. I saw them on pinterest (source here- scroll down about half way) a while back and thought they would be fun to make with the boys.

These are the tops. the boys picked the stickers to go on the front and also painted on the modge podge.

Here are the insides. They glued the paper circles to the magnets.

And the backs, they modge lodged this too.

While thinking about all the "luggage" I'd be carrying around with a new baby, I didn't want to have a diaper bag and a purse. I found a diaper bag that is more purse like. But I also know I wouldn't have room for all the potential stuff I'd carry in a purse. So along with my wallet, I wanted something else small that I could put the little essentials in that typically sit in all the purse pockets, allergy meds, hair ties and bobby pins, a jump drive, gum, tylenol, bandaids, lip gloss, etc. I found this idea on pinterest (here). I went to so many places to find a pot holder that I thought would work well, unfortunately it doesn't have the pocket like the one in the tutorial, but it was the best I could find. I went to target, bed bath beyond (orem/park city), walmart, crafts stores, tj maxx, and I finally found a somewhat stylish one at World Trade Market in Park City.

Valentines Treats

 I'm trying to get caught up on blogging so I can post about our baby. Tomorrow morning is the scheduled c-section. I seriously have so much anxiety I want to puke. And I can't even imagine what it'll be like tomorrow while I wait for over and hour to go into the OR. Anyway...here's my attempt to keep up the record, even though I feel really yucky.

Lexie wanted to get together and make cake pops for Valentines this year. I told her I was really tired, but if she drove the project then we could do it.  I got all the supplies and she did a good part of the work.

We were talking to Rachel on gchat while we were dipping the cake balls.

The finished pops. Lexie finished most of them because I had to head to scouts.

We packaged them in a cute little cup. Unfortunately, they were very top heavy and had a really hard time staying up right if the slightest tip came by.

I volunteered to help with the sugar cookies for Zac's Valentines Party. I ordered them from a local bakery and they were VERY yummy. I just used canned frosting, that I dyed vibrant purple and pink.

 Kindergarteners and their sprinkles....

These are the Valentines that I did this year for both boys.

In an effort to give more purpose to our days, I decided we should make special Valentines for the boys' teachers--especially because I forgot to do Christmas presents. We made these mini wreaths. The boys helped to wrap them with yarn, and chose the colors and placement of the flowers. I forgot to take pictures at home so this is where is was hanging in his classroom on the window of the main door.

Then I purpose ordered extra sugar cookies so I could enjoy some and so I'd have extra for my Visiting Teachees.

I really love the vibrant purple color,

And I love these sprinkles.

Big Snow

Some weekend near the end of January, we finally got some big heavy snow. They even closed Hwy 40 between Heber and Park City for a while. The boys had a great time playing outside...til Zac gave his hat to the snowman and got soaking wet that is.

The snowman they made all on their own.

While daddy was snow blowing. (We bought this used snowblower back in November thinking if this year was anything like year, then we'd really need it.  Especially, since I wasn't in a position to shovel feet of snow at a time.) But as it turns out, it was so mild there were only really 2 times that we needed it.