~Barrett meets G&G Mortenson~

Kevin's parents came over today to meet our new little man! He was pretty excited to meet Gramma but not so sure about Grampa!! :-)

Then we all ventured over to Kevin's brother Duane's, house to play in his new pool! The girls were so excited! Although, once Payton got wet, she wasn't too happy about it and immediately wanted to get out of the pool...it MAY have had something to do with the fact that Kevin tried to drown her going down the slide and taking her completely under the water before she even had a chance to get used to things!! :-)

Alexa loves to make a splash!!!

And little Barrett just maxed and relaxed on his first big outing since coming home from the hospital. Not a bad life at all!!

..::Barrett's Birth Story::..

Here it is...Barrett's story, together with a plethora of pictures for all to enjoy!

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Last week, my doctor scheduled me for an induction on April 18, 2011, due to me measuring so far ahead for the past couple months of my pregnancy. I was only too willing to be induced a week early as I was already quite nervous about having a huge baby! So I was advised to call the hospital at 5:30am on Monday morning to see if they were ready for me to come for my scheduled induction at 7:30am. AND THEY WERE!!!! Yay....we got ready and off we went! I was in my room by 8am and hooked up to pitocin by 8:30ish. My nurse said I was already contracting on a pretty regular basis which surprised me because I wasn't in any pain. I was still at about 4cm dilated and just felt some random tightening and things stayed this way for a couple hours (with Alexa at 4cm, I was crying through the contractions and with Payton, I already had my epidural!!). Then my doctor broke my water around 11:30 and the very next contraction had some kick to it! I tried to be brave for about 3 or 4 contractions until they were already getting too intense and so we summoned our nurse and asked for my epidural STAT!!!

Things got much better after that and I actually progressed quite quickly but we waited around for a bit until my doctor was available. As soon as she came in and checked me, she said I was good to go and after about 15 minutes of pushing...

...this sweet bundle of joy entered this world!

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Barrett Michael Mortenson

9lbs 15 oz, 21 inches

April 18, 2011 at 5:10pm

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Here is my wonderful doctor, Dr. Amy Schneider, who delivered Barrett!

What a proud new daddy!

Since it was already dinner time when Barrett was born, Kevin quickly went home to get the girls and my mom to come meet him before it was bedtime for the girls.

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Here's Big Sister Alexa. She was soooooo excited to meet her new baby brother!

And Big Sister Payton, who wasn't so sure about all this!

But once the girls opened their gifts from Barrett, Payton was all smiles!!

Then Gramma Jenny got to hold him for the first time!

Our sweet kids!

I can't believe we have THREE now!

And our new little family of five!

We had a wonderful nurse who was there for me every step of the way! (I need to go back and consult Barrett's journal that I keep for him though as I can't remember her name for the life of me!!)

Baby Barrett's first bath...it was kinda cool to be in the room when this happened as they took the girls away to have this done when I had them.

Me and my sweet little man! He is soooooo worth the long, painful 9 months it took to get him here!

Finally, he's snug as a bug in a rug!

The next day, my mom brought the girls back to see Barrett again! Payton was much more eager this time to see and hold him! Kevin brought me some beautiful flowers and the girls made me a cute card!

We couldn't bring home our new little man home without putting something UofA on him!

All ready to get in his carseat for the first time and leave the hospital!

We are so blessed! Barrett arrived safe and sound and he's healthy as can be! And we have two beautiful girls who bring us so much joy. I am so grateful for these sweet spirits my Heavenly Father has entrusted me to take care of in this life!

We were welcomed home by Alexa who had been busy with Gramma making us a chalk sign on the driveway. I loved it...she had done the same thing with Gramma when Payton was born too!

All tuckered out and ready to begin his life! We love you Barrett and are so grateful you are a part of our family!

~Barrett Michael Mortenson~

He's here!!!

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Barrett Michael Mortenson

April 18, 2011 at 5:10pm

9 lbs 15 ounces

21 inches

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More pictures and his story to come...but just wanted to get these up for now!

My Last Day...

...of being pregnant!!!

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Yay...the day has FINALLY come! Tomorrow, I will be able to meet our new little man. I can hardly wait. Physically, emotionally, mentally I am SO ready! This pregnancy has been a challenging one and I'm now looking forward to the challenges of having a newborn in the house! I wanted a picture of me with my girls one last time before their world gets turned upside down but it turned out blurry! Oh well...

I thought it'd be fun to do a pregnancy recap! Wowza, I've gotten big this time! I'm also looking forward to shedding this pregnancy weight!! :-)

See you tomorrow little man!

~Gramma's Here!!~

Since my parents were here back in February, Alexa has been counting down on her calendar to the day that Gramma Jenny would be back in preparation for Baby Boy's arrival! Well, the day is finally here!!! My mom arrived late Thursday evening and the girls were sooooooo excited to see her first thing yesterday morning! After Alexa got home from the football game this afternoon, we turned on the sprinklers for some fun with Gramma! Looks like all had fun!! :-)

Spring Football Game

Kevin is doing quite a good job at instilling a love for Arizona sports in our girls! He's been talking about the Spring Football Game for quite some time and Alexa was super excited to go on a daddy daughter date to it. I'm not sure if she was more excited at the prospect of meeting Wilbur and Wilma the Wildcats or spending time with her daddy!! And as you can see....she DID get to meet Wilma! Yay!!! However, Wilbur was unable to attend the game that day, maybe next time!!

..::Baby Bump Update: 9 1/2 Months::..

38 weeks

OY VEY!!!! Well, I'm a little surprised this big guy hasn't wanted to make his appearance yet. As of yesterday's doctor's appointment, I am just about 4cm dilated and 70% effaced with my doctor thinking my water could break at any moment. And as of last Friday, I was 3 cm and 60% effaced...but yet nothing. I had another ultrasound last week which showed baby boy ranging in the 8 lbs 6 oz area so we're hoping, praying, wishing that he comes in under 10 lbs when all is said and done. So far, no contractions or anything to speak of...but my mom comes tonight so we're good to go now. Maybe that's what he was waiting for??!! My babies have seemed to go according to my own personal plan so perhaps he's just following in his sisters' footsteps! Regardless...I am scheduled to be induced on Monday and cannot wait to be DONE being pregnant! This has been a hard one, to say the least! Come on baby boy...come on, I'm sooooo ready to meet you!!!

::Date Night::

We figured with baby boy making his appearance in the next week or so, we had better get in one last date night before it gets rather difficult to do so. So we tried out a new restaurant downtown and then went to the historic Fox Theater to listen to the Tucson Symphony play. It was such a fun night with my Mr.! We had a great time together and are sooooo ready to meet our new little man now!

~F-f-f-f-freeze Tag!!~

Kevin's parents came into town yesterday to spend the night on their way up to Phoenix this weekend. The girls were sooooo excited to see Gramma & Grampa! As soon as dinner was over, they were outside playing freeze tag, one of Alexa's favorite games right now!

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And Payton just sat by, content to dig in the rocks! The picture on the left is what she does when I tell her to smile!! Silly girl!

..::Playgroup Fashion Show::..

Alexa got the idea to have a fashion show with her friends. She wanted to send out invitations and everything but with me being sooooo pregnant and tired these days I just kept putting her off. I finally had the bright idea to combine it with playgroup that would be at our house and so she did up her invitation and I emailed each of the girls' moms to let them know that they needed to come dressed up for a diva-tastic fashion show. And here are all the little divas!! It was so cute. Alexa spread blankets out down the hallway for her runway and then had me turn on music (of course I picked my fave - Bon Jovi!!!) and away they strutted! It was a fun playgroup day!

Outside Fun

We absolutely love having a yard!! Kevin was outside today watering the grass and checking on our new grapefruit tree and little garden and so the girls just had to join him. And it was definitely warm enough to get a little wet. Why not, right?!! The girls enjoyed racing through the sprinklers with their daddy!

"I do do"

One of Payton's favorite sentences/sayings right now is "I do do". She wants to do everything and I mean EVERYTHING on her own. Which means it takes us sooooo much longer to get anything done. I have to plan an extra 10 minutes when we go in the car anywhere just to allow time for her to get into the car on her own and then into her car seat on her own and buckle herself in. It's Fab.U.Lous! Today, she wanted to change her own diaper. A friend gave me a bunch of left over size 3 diapers she had and so I had them just laying in our closet where I'm keeping all of baby boy's things and Payton thought it was fun to take each one out and then try and put them on her. Funny girl!

Adorable

It's a good thing she's so darn cute...cuz the 'TERRIBLE TWOS' are rearing their ugly side big...big...BIG time these days!