Introducing.....

Daniel David Dynes

We are so excited to welcome little Daniel into our family. :) This pregnancy seems to have flown by and yet taken forever at the same time and it's still a little surreal that he's here, even though it's been almost 2 weeks. I forgot how hazy the newborn days are and having a toddler has definitely made it that much more challenging but we've been blessed with a couple of really amazing kids and that makes it so much easier.

This is going to be a little long so hopefully it's not super boring to read! haha

These last couple months have been pretty crazy as far as pregnancy goes. At 32 weeks I was told that he was breech and they would monitor that. At 34 weeks he still was breech so I started looking for ways to encourage him to flip head down. I started seeing a chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy and flipping babies (at the recommendation of the chiropractor I see for my general back problems) and did Spinning Babies. I spent what felt like half my life upside down, rocking back and forth, and even "meditating" and telling him to flip (I don't normally buy into that kind of thing but I was desperate!). At 36 weeks he was still breech so we scheduled an external version for February 25 if he didn't flip on his own. Then we would induce or go for a c-section depending on if the version worked or not. I was pretty nervous about it, mostly because I had heard it hurts a lot, so I started getting more intense about encouraging him to flip, so that no matter what happened, I would always be able to tell myself that I had done everything I possibly could.
The day before the doctor appointment that was kind of our deadline, we decided to try one last thing and went swimming with Kollyn at the Provo Rec Center. I did handstands and flips in the pool for about 40 minutes total and I'm pretty sure that's what did it because the next day, we checked baby's position and he was head down! It was a huge relief! I cancelled the version and subsequent induction/section and started feeling more calm than I had in a while.

At my appointment on March 2, I told my doctor that I wasn't interested in going past March 10, which was a week after my due date. We set the induction date for March 8 since that was the day my doctor was going to be on call and I kind of wanted him to be the one there since we've been through this whole process together.
March 7 I got a call from the hospital saying that I was on the list and that they'd call me the next day with the time. That's when it started getting really real and I was starting to get pretty nervous. I hadn't been induced with Kollyn, so this was a new experience for me, but I was ready and feeling confident in the decision we'd made.

Last bump picture! 40 weeks 5 days.

March 8 came and I was so nervous I didn't get to sleep until about 1 am. I wasn't planning on them calling super early, but at 6 am my phone rang and they asked if I could be there in an hour. I woke David up and called my mom. My mom called my sister and she came over to be with Kollyn until my mom got there so we didn't have to wake Kollyn up. I packed up my hospital bag (I don't usually do that until the last minute because pretty much everything I want is stuff I use on a regular basis) and we left as soon as my sister got to our house. I love that we live just up the street from the hospital. :) 

The view from our delivery room. :)

We got checked in and set up in a room at 7:30. They started monitoring Daniel's heartbeat, but he was not happy about it. Through this pregnancy, once he was big enough to move around and I could feel it, anytime something or someone touched my belly he would start going crazy and move around and kick like he was trying to get rid of this intrusion on his space. So monitoring his heartbeat was a challenge. He was kicking the monitor, moving around so that it wasn't able to pick up his heartbeat anymore, and just overall making it hard for them to get the 20 - 30 minutes of consistent heart monitoring that they needed before starting the pitocin. My doctor came in and tried to break my water around 9:30 or so (after doing some checking to make sure Daniel was ok because some of the readings on the monitor were worrying to my nurse) but he wasn't able to actually break it so we decided to wait. I was at 2 cm when he checked and David decided to bet that Daniel would be born around 4:30 that afternoon.

At 10:30 we were finally able to start pitocin because Daniel had settled enough for them to get the readings they wanted. I was able to walk around the room (dragging that IV stand behind me) and bounced around on a ball for a little while to help Daniel come down (he was extremely high) and it seemed to help because she checked me around 11:45 and I was between 3 and 4 cm so something worked. They were monitoring the contractions but I wasn't really feeling them yet, which was nice. Laura and Melissa came to keep me company for a little bit while I was bouncing and that was a lot of fun. :)

At 12:30 I started feeling the contractions and they started getting painful so I asked for the epidural. It was a much faster insertion this time than it was with Kollyn (an hour and a half that first time, this time was only about 5 - 10 minutes) but it only was working on one side and I started getting really hot and sweaty. They had me roll over onto my right side to help get the medicine over to that side and it helped a little, but I could still feel the contractions, mostly in my tailbone. 

At 1:30 my nurse checked me and I was at 5 cm. I texted Lynnzie, our amazing birth photographer, so she'd know and could head on over to the hospital because we
At 1:35 my doctor came in to break my water and said, "You're at 7 cm now". I was in shock. 

At 1:46 I was checked again and was fully dilated. My nurse had to run off to find my doctor to tell him to come back and barely caught him as he was getting into the elevator to go back to his office and 3 other nurses came rushing in to get everything set up.
My epidural was no longer working at this point and I was feeling so much pain I don't really remember much of what happened next, other than me crying a lot because I was not happy about having to feel everything. ;) 

At 1:54, after about 6 - 8 pushes, Daniel was born. 6 pounds 14 ounces. 18 inches.

It was all so fast, our photographer wasn't able to get there in time for the actual birth, but I still am in love with the photos she got. I was so lucky to find her on Facebook when I did. :) 

My two adorable kiddos. :) We definitely win the kid lottery. They're both so stinking cute!

Officially there are 4 of us. :)

Laura and Melissa were able to come right after he was born and it was so fun watching them react to him. :) 

Aunt Karin stopped by too. :) We love having so many aunts and uncles nearby. They spoil these kids for sure!

My mom stayed with Kollyn while we were in the hospital and we are so grateful for it. I was glad David was able to stay at the hospital with me. 

The first day Kollyn wasn't so sure what to think of him, but now she is obsessed. She is always asking where "brother' is and wanting to help feed him and hold him. She gets very concerned when he  cries and wants to help him. She gets excited when he opens his eyes and says, "Brother's awake now!" and likes to have him lay on the floor next to her while she plays with her toys. And he loves watching her. When he hears her voice, he turns his head to find her. He seems to focus on her, even though I know he can't really see that well yet, and hearing her voice calms him down usually. He already loves his sister and she loves him. I am so excited to see the two of them grow up and see how they interact with each other.

I am more and more in love with David every day. He is seriously the most amazing dad and these kids are so lucky to have him in their lives. He loves them both so much and it's been so fun watching him with a baby again. He is so cute and always wanting to snuggle with Daniel and always willing to hold him or feed him or sit with him. He gets up at night even though he's just as tired as me and he always makes sure to spend time alone with Kollyn so that she doesn't feel replaced or unloved. All while working exceptionally hard to be able to provide for us. I am so lucky to have him as my partner through this. I definitely wouldn't be able to do it without him.

We are lucky to have this little man in our lives. He's a very calm baby and very rarely cries (except the couple days and nights where his formula was causing gas issues and he wasn't sleeping well). He is a HUGE snuggler and I love just sitting and holding him. Kollyn wasn't a huge snuggler so this is something I'm excited about.

It's crazy how alike these two look. These were both taken when each kid was 1 day old. Daniel is on the left, Kollyn on the right. They have the same nose, the same eyes, and the same round face.

 He has a lot more hair than she did though. He has a lot of blonde hair where hers was kind of reddish before it all fell out.

It's hard to think that it's only been 2 weeks. We're all slowly adjusting to this new normal. Kollyn took more time than we did, but I think she's getting better. He is sleeping really well at night (only 2 wake-ups a night) and is eating well. It took us a couple days to find the right formula for him, but now that we have he's happier than ever and super smiley (which I choose to believe is real smiles and not just gas). He is a blessing in our lives and we are excited to watch him grow and learn. 

February 2016: New Bed, Hitting the Jackpot, and Kangaroo Zoo

February was spent preparing for baby boy and spending our last little while as a family of 3. We tried to do as much as we possibly could to help K understand what was coming and doing things together that she loved to do. We went to the aquarium a lot, the last free zoo day, and countless trips to the Provo Rec center to go swimming. It's been a pretty emotional month too (pregnancy hormones for the win I guess) thinking about how things are about to change and how she'll handle it.

She loves her new big girl bed! It made the transition to her new room so much easier and she seems excited to go to bed now. :)

She LOVES to paint! She could do it all day if I let her. And when it's dry, she gets really excited to go hang it up in her room on the wall.

Here are just some of our adventures this month with our little miss cutie. :) It was so fun trying out some new things with her!

Provo Beach Resort. She loved the toddler area and the carousel. She ran around and played for a good 2 hours and didn't want to leave when it was time to go home. We even played a couple of the little arcade games and she picked out the little prizes she wanted. Her favorite was a small bouncy ball.

We also wen to the NickelCade with her and she loved it. She ran around and rode the carousel 3 times (once on each animal of course). She liked playing the games and watching the tickets come out.

She even hit the jackpot on one game!!! It was over 200 tickets and she sat there next to it and watched all the tickets come out. She kept showing up some of them and saying, "I won!" and was so excited about it. :) We let her choose her prizes since she was the one that won, and she had so much fun picking out what she wanted. She chose some candy and a little plastic airplane toy. I love watching her make choices like that without any prompting.

For Luke's birthday (Can't believe he's 2!!) Karin and David invited us to come to Kangaroo Zoo with them and it was so much fun! Kollyn loved going down the slides and bouncing around on everything. She keeps telling us how we went "jumping a Luke's birthday!" and how she wants to go back. David had fun running around with her too and I think she loved having Dad be a big part of that experience. 

This girl just loves to be outside. We got her a little tricycle for Christmas and she asks to go ride it every day. She doesn't really use the pedals yet, but she walks it around and just has a blast. Thankfully it's been warm enough for us to go out everyday just like she wants. We'll walk to the park quite often so she can play for a while and it is so good for her to get outside. She is so much happier when she does (and so are we!) and it's good for us to get out as well.

Loving playing with Luke at his house in the backyard. Their neighbors are awesome and let the kids jump on their trampoline whenever and Kollyn has so much fun with that.

Church has gotten more fun with her now. She likes to bring her special toys (right now it's her Peppa Pig family sets and her Star Wars model ships) and part of her play is making sure they all line up and then playing with them. She loves going to nursery and basically runs there as soon as sacrament meeting is over. 

We have had a great month and love this little girl so much. It's hard to think about her not being our only child but we are excited to see how she and little boy grow up together and watch their relationship grow. We have a feeling that she's going to be a fantastic big sister once she gets use to things being a little different and are hopeful that they will grow up to be best friends.

January 2016: New Year, New Friends, New Fun

January was a pretty low-key month for us, which I'm glad for as we've been spending most of our month preparing for this little boy's arrival (less than a month away now!) and relaxing before the craziness of having a newborn sets in again.

December 28 David's grandpa passed away. He was such a sweet man and I'm glad that I was able to spend time with him and get to know him. He was a great example of a lot of things for both David and I, and I'm glad that Kollyn now has some memories of him. Even if she won't be able to fully remember as she grows up, we have pictures and will be able to share those memories with her.

All of David's siblings were able to fly in for the funeral. It was so nice. They haven't all been together in a really long time (not totally sure how long but it's been a while) so it was fun to see them all even if it was for a sad occasion. We're lucky to have the knowledge of eternal families that we do, which made it a little less sad. 

It was a beautiful day for the funeral. Not cold, and not windy. David was one of the pallbearers along with his brother and cousins. Kollyn was very well-behaved during the funeral (minus one outburst where she yelled about something) and the graveside service. 

Kollyn and Luke had a lot of fun playing together while the Dynes siblings practiced their musical number for the funeral. :)

We spent a day with the Dynes cousins and Kollyn had a blast playing with Jane and Miriam. David challenged Jack and Paul to a Lego spaceship building contest and they were entertained for hours, so I got to watch these three interact and it was so much fun! Jane and Kollyn are only a few months apart in age and Miriam is so kind and gentle with them. I love that K has cousins so close that we can interact with and she loves looking at the pictures of her and Jane and Miriam. 

Once a week, David meets with the start-up company he is helping start. We were definitely led to these people and it's so much fun that our kids are all so close in age. K loves Lily and Sarah and May and when I tell her David has a meeting, she gets so excited and asks to go play with her friends. Even though May and Lily are both a year younger, she loves playing with them. I love watching her interact with them. She and Sarah have some similar personality traits and it's fun seeing how they play together since they're the same age. She just loves people and is so social so I'm glad we have the ability to be around these friends. And I love being able to get to know Jacqi and Amy and Gwen. They're amazing women and I'm blessed to be able to have them as friends.

She is a silly girl this one. :) She loves her Batgirl hat, but it's still much too big for her so when she wears it, it definitely looks a little funny. She likes to put her hat on and then find David's had and make him put it on. :)

This is her "alligator Halloween". She was going to wear it for Halloween this last year, but decided that she didn't want to. Now she asks me to help her put it on at least once a week and she just sits around and plays while she's wearing it.

We've been preparing for little boy to come. We decided it was time to change Kollyn over to her new bedroom (previously known as the toy room) so that she didn't feel like baby was replacing her and had time to adjust before he gets here. My parents had her come spend the night and David and I spent that evening and the next day moving things, putting up her name and pictures up, and making sure it feels similar but different. She helped pick out a new rug, a lamp, and helped move some stuffed animals in there. So far, the transition has been good. :) She did have a hard time with just a mattress on the floor, so once we got the toddler bed delivered and set up, we were a little nervous but she's had much more success with that. We think she likes feeling a little more enclosed, similar to the crib, since that's what she's use to. She loves being a big girl. :)
We took away her binkies the same night we moved her into her new room. We'd been telling her for a while that once she moved to her big girl room, she'd have to stop using binkies because they're only for babies. We took her to Toys R Us and let her choose a stuffed animal to replace her binkies. She choose a penguin that is almost the size of her and she loves it. She makes sure she has it every night. She calls it her "big penguin" because she also has little penguins she loves. The only downside that we've had since taking the binkies away is that she no longer takes naps. She has quiet time instead for about an hour an a half, sometimes two hours, where she just plays in her room. She actually loves it. :) I was pretty worried about the transition and how she'd handle it, but she's taken it like a champ.

I've been wanting to put this up in her room for a while, but decided to wait until she was in her big girl room. She loves to point out the letters and tell us what each one is whenever we're in the room. I also love that I now have a place to share her artwork as well. She loves to paint and color and I feel bad just kind of putting them on the fridge and then throwing them away. This way she can choose to save one or two (it'll be more than that haha). She loves to point out her pictures to us. She is especially proud of her pumpkin she painted around Halloween.

I made this quit for her as her "big girl blanket" that she has on her new bed. She loves it and that makes me happy. :) I've never done one before and with the help of my mom (and David) I was able to get this one tied and sewn in just a couple hours. Kollyn helped pick the fabric (kind of, these were the two she didn't say no to) and they do match the "theme" of her room, pink and brown. She loves to snuggle with it and makes sure all of her stuffed animals (there are about 5 of them every night) are tucked in with her at night under this blanket. I'm glad she likes it. I was worried it would just be another blanket for her, but she seems to really like it so I feel like I did a good job. Even though I did make a few mistakes.

Now that she's out of the "nursery", we have been setting up everything for baby. She has finally accepted that this is "brother's room" and has seemed excited to help us get things ready for him. She seemed to enjoy helping me put his clothes in the dresser and get his crib ready for him. She likes to point out that there's "brother's room" and "Kollyn's room" and she'll point to each room. I'm glad she's kind of getting it and doesn't seem to be upset about the room change. She liked showing me his clothes while we were putting them away and got really excited when she saw the few that have sharks on them. :) I hope she's this excited when she sees him and we bring him home. I am a little worried about that transition, but hopefully getting her a new baby doll to feed and play with will help her. And I definitely plan on having her help me with whatever I can to help her feel like a big girl.

And since it's the winter, free day at the Zoo is back! We love going to the zoo, even if it's kind of chilly. That's what blankets, coats, and gloves are for, right? Kollyn loves the zoo and has not stopped talking about it even though we went almost 2 weeks ago. We saw the elephants paint using a special brush (also we saw them poop and she will tell that to anyone who asks). We saw the lions right up by the glass, and she was loving the tigers, polar bear, and zebras. It was too cold for the rhinos and giraffes though, and she is very quick to say that as well. 

That lioness was assessing Kollyn. Luckily she decided K wasn't what she was looking for. ;)

Since we got in for free, it was totally worth it to pay the $2 for the carousel ride. She didn't want to do it alone, so I got on the anteater with her, and after that she was fine. She said "Wheeee!" and pointed out how it "goes around and around". She likes carousels once she actually gets on them.

Thanks to Mountain America Credit Union (funny enough, we do not bank there, I just follow them on Facebook for the contests) and their "Name a Penguin" contest (the name we submitted didn't win, full disclosure) we are now the proud owners of a year family membership. :) We've been twice since we got it and K loves it. We went and saw the shark feeding, but weren't able to see too much so we'll try to go on a different day when it's hopefully less crowded. She was enthralled by the penguins, the poison dart frogs, and the jellyfish. She runs around and says, "Ohhhhhhh!" at everything she sees, even if she has no idea what it is. She's always asking what something is and seems to remember because she'll come back to a tank a little while later and very matter-of-factly tell us what it is, like she thinks we don't know. They also do penguin feedings every day and we are excited to go see that sometime. They also have piranha feedings and archerfish feedings, both of which I would be interested to see.

David has found a new job working for a company based out of California called Well. They are a tech company that has a software that matches physical therapists with patients needing in-home care. He is very lucky to be able to work from home until they build an office out here, which will be at least 6 months, if not longer, and I am very thankful for that. This pregnancy has been really rough and I've definitely not been fully functioning so he's been able to help out with Kook on the days when I'm just feeling so nasty. I get random fevers (we aren't sure why) and am still very nauseous and lack an appetite, so having his help is invaluable. K is LOVING having her dada home with her and it makes me just so happy to see the bond and relationship that they have. I predict she and he will have a very special bond the rest of their lives. He is a very involved and amazing dad. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better partner in parenthood and life. Seriously. He's amazing. I've been feeling pretty anxious about adding this new baby to the mix and figuring out how to adjust to everything, and figuring most of it out on my own most of the day. This job came at the perfect time and knowing he'll be here for the first few months to help out has really helped lessen my anxiety.

I am starting to get really nervous about baby, since my due date is less than a month away. With baby boy being breech, there is the possibility that we will induce at 39 weeks. I've been seeing a chiropractor that specializes in pregnancy and Webster's Technique to help flip babies as well as my regular chiropractor, and while he hasn't flipped down yet, we have a couple weeks before we will try the manual inversion. So in about 2.5 weeks, we could possibly have this little boy. Thinking about that has really started the mini freakouts and I'm anxious, but excited as well. I'm eager to see his personality as he grows to see how similar he and K are. I'm eager to see how she takes to being a big sister. I think she'll do great because she LOVES babies and our biggest issue might be her loving him too much, but I am nervous that she'll start acting out to get attention as well. We will hopefully be able to figure out how to make her still feel loved and that she has our attention. It'll be interesting to see and I honestly can't wait to see how they interact as they get older. Hopefully we can encourage them to be friends. :)

December 2015: Selfies, Christmas, and Snow, Snow, Snow!

December was busy, as it always is with the holidays and visiting family and friends.

On the 12, we had my family Christmas party. Kollyn sang Twinkle Twinkle for everyone and was so proud of herself when she finished (though she never really finishes because she just starts over once she gets to the end). She loved watching the girls do their gymnastic routine, listening to them play the piano and violin, and listening to the boys' poem.

She likes to play the piano whenever she sees one, so naturally she had to sit there while Kayla played and "play" the piano right along with her. She loves music and I love how excited she gets by it.

She's gotten really into the selfie function on my phone. She loves watching herself while we take a picture. She says "Hi" to herself while we're waiting for it to count down and asks to take more pictures right away. She's even starting to actually smile for pictures and I think it's so much fun!

December 17 was the Sirviso Christmas party. We are blessed to be involved with this company, it has definitely been a blessing for us even though it hasn't started paying off yet. I haven't seen David so excited about something in a really long time (I honestly don't know if I have ever seen him this excited about something that isn't Kollyn) and I love that he has something to help him feel productive and like he's contributing and doing something good. He loves being a part of it and has put so much effort into making it succeed in whatever way he can and I am really excited to see it take off. I definitely believe in the product and I love the friends that I've made in the other wives during this journey. It's definitely a special camaraderie that we have developed and I have been very lucky to now call these ladies friends. :)

Naturally, David had been counting down to Star Wars Episode 7 since its release was announced and was so excited to go see it. We had tickets to the midnight showing but I wasn't able to go to that. He ended up giving my ticket to a friend and I'm secretly (though not very secretly) relieved because I don't do well with midnight showings, they make me grouchy and tired and I will never see their appeal. haha. Luckily though, I'd won tickets from America First Credit Union for their private screening the next evening (Friday) and we were able to go that night with Adam and Carlee. It was a lot of fun and the movie wasn't bad, which made me happy. I may not be a huge Star Wars fan, but I do like Harrison Ford. ;) It was fun to have a nice date night (Thanks Melissa for watching K for us!) and go see a movie together. :)

December 20 we had a fun Christmas party with David's family. His parents flew in the day before and we had a great time eating dinner, making and eating donuts, and letting the kids run around wild for a while and visiting. It was fun to get together and watch Kollyn interact with her cousins. I'm always so intrigued by how social she is and how much she loves being around other people. 

Christmas Eve we spent the day at my parents' house and K was very excited about it. We played games, made cookies, and decorated said cookies. She had so much fun putting on the frosting and sprinkles and it was fun to see her get so into it and try to execute what she saw in her mind on each cookie. She was very engrossed most of the time and did not want to stop when we ran out of cookies. 

Her frosting the cookie. :)

Christmas Eve we also were invited to attend Aunt Mariolina's annual Christmas Eve Italian feast and as usual, it did not disappoint. She makes such amazing food (I really need her to teach me how to make some things) and K clobbered her meal and even ate seconds of several things, which is pretty unusual for her. She even pet their dog and that was a big deal because usually dogs scare her. We definitely ate too much and don't regret it one bit. :) Then we headed over to Karin and David's house to spend the night. David took his Xbox One over and after about an hour trying to set it up, we all played Perfect Dark for a while. It was a lot of fun. :)

Christmas with kids is so special. I love watching her get so excited about things. Each present was the best thing ever for her and she was so excited about them. A magnetic Elsa and Anna dress-up, shark socks (courtesy of our amazing friend Tiffany) that she wears as much as possible, new clothes from Sierra and Michael, and a Peppa Pig house and family. David's mom bought that for her and she has loved playing with it pretty much every day since. We take it with us when we go places and she loves it. She had never seen Peppa Pig before, but now she adores it and asks to watch it all the time.

They have their two very seperate interests, sharks for her (thanks Erika for the stuffed shark, she literally has to take it everywhere with us) and cars for Luke, but they play really well together for the most part,, even if she does annoy him (usually on purpose) by taking his cars. It's so fun watching these two grow up together and I can't wait to see how their relationship grows as they get older.

All bundled up and ready to go sledding! :) It snowed about 12 inches Christmas Eve night and so after we opened presents Christmas morning, we bundled K up and went out to sled down Karin and David's driveway.

She LOVED it! It was so fun watching her get so excited about it and run back up saying, "Again! Again!" over and over. She kept asking to sled and had so much fun. We tried to build a snowman for her but the snow wasn't quite sticky enough. She had a lot of fun throwing it around though! This was the first time all winter we've actually been able to play in the snow and she was so happy and didn't want to go back inside.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, some adorable K in the snow videos. ;)

Me and her sledding

Her and David sledding

Last one, I promise. ;)

Her throwing "snowballs" :)

We spent Christmas Day with Karin and David as well (and stayed that night there as well) because of the amount of snow and  us not trusting our car to get out of their driveway and back to our house since the roads weren't super cleared. Kollyn was not unhappy about it at all and had a blast playing with Luke all day. We are so lucky to have them so close and that they're always so willing to let us essentially invade their home. :)

We had friends over for New Year's Eve and rang in the new year with games, dinner, and plenty of snacks. :) We love having so many great friends that we love getting together with as well. We have been truly blessed in so many ways to be able to call these people friends. And we especially love that so many of them have little kids around Kollyn's age and that she gets along so well with them. It makes it so much fun to get together and do things because the kids love to play together and usually entertain themselves really well which leaves us all free to play games, chat, and snack on  delicious things.

We've had a very busy December, and we're really glad that the season has wound down because it was really crazy, but it was also so worth the crazy and we love that we have so much family so close that we get to celebrate with. :) Thanks to all our family and friends for making 2015 an awesome year and we look forward to everything 2016 has to offer!