Wow, it's interesting to take a glimpse at life right before the pandemic hit. We had no idea what was coming by this point. All I was thinking about at the beginning of the Winter season of 2019-2020 was preparing for Christmas and Flynn's imminent arrival! (and yes, I am still very far behind on my seasonal recaps but I will persevere!)
I always seem to have a "to do before baby is born" list with each baby. Well this was my last item on that list. Sam had bought a TV a while back for gaming but realized it was just too big for how close he sat to it at his desk. So it had been sitting on the floor next to the wall in my bedroom for months. Finally I asked my dad for help figuring out how to mount it in the kids play/school room. Not only was I planning to use it for school purposes, I also thought it could be really helpful when there is a baseball/football game on that Sam and I want to watch and the kids have totally lost interest and are starting to fight each other. They can watch their show and we can enjoy the game until it's their bedtime. We ended up having to get Wi-Fi extender since that room is a dead zone in our house but otherwise it worked out perfect!!
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| Left to right: Jane, Atlas, Xan, Flynn, All 38 weeks |
Once all my to do items were finished, the only thing left to do was wait on Flynn to arrive! Since Atlas was 11 days early, Xan was a week late and Jane was born on her due date, I had absolutely no idea what Flynn would decide to do. I felt like he truly had a 4 week window where I needed to be prepared for him any day! We stayed busy though and the days went by pretty quickly. Pappaw brought his new truck over to show the kids and they were so impressed! They were thoroughly entertained while I just sat back and watched them. I'm sure my dad was busy fixing something for me real quick. He's cool like that. :D My days from here on were always me making plans and then tacking on "as long as Flynn isn't here by then." to the end every time.
I felt too pregnant by now to sit through a movie in the theater. But Frozen 2 had just come out and I knew how much Jane wanted to see it. So Sam took her for some daddy daughter time and I stayed home with Atlas and Xan. The picture above is them watching something random because I have no picture from their movie date. Sam said he intentionally didn't take a picture because it was a moment just for them. As much as I would have loved a picture, I respect the special regard he had for their time together and love that only the two of them share that memory. Jane still says Frozen 2 is her favorite movie. White dress Elsa is like the most beautiful thing to her.
Because my first three kids birthdays had sort of a pattern, (Jane 5/24/14, Atlas 2/26/16, Xan 4/8/18) I was kinda hoping Flynn would be born on December 9th and if it went past that then the 19th was good too. I know I'm weird. Well once the 9th came and went and I let go of that date then I was happy Flynn stayed put at least a few more days because I got to squeeze in a playdate with my longest friend, Mindy. I always enjoy our time together so much. It's so fun to still be so close to my elementary school friend, we have sooo many memories together. Our kids are even 2nd gen Heart home school kids now. :D It makes my heart so happy!
So as I said once the 9th came and went and no arrival from Flynn, I was hoping for the 19th. Plus there were two events on the 14th that I wanted to attend. First was Free Santa photos at the community center (which is in my Holiday 2019 blog post) and the second was Jane's Kinderstars Meet At Rowland Ballard! It was the first ever Kinderstars meet held at our home gym. It was so nice for it to be so close. :) If it was any farther away I'm not sure I would have been comfortable going being only 2 days from my due date and known for having increasingly faster labors. It was perfect event. Jane did wonderful! I remember during the meet for the first time in my pregnancy I started feeling very uncomfortable. During a walk earlier that day Flynn had shifted and I realized at the meet I was in considerable pain every I switched from sitting to standing and vice versa. I started thinking the 19th sounded pretty far away... Even though it was just 5 days. Haha! So yeah, I told Flynn it's ok. We can do this now, we don't have to wait until the 19th, I'm done being in pain. I thought for sure I'd be in labor that next morning because of the pressure I was feeling. But nope, just a regular Sunday. I went to the park with my mom and the kids and let her keep up with them while I watched. I remember getting in and out of the van was super hard that day. I really couldn't imagine doing this for days on end. So props to all the moms out there that have to deal with that kind of pain through their whole pregnancy.
Thankfully that next day, Monday, on his due date, 12/16/19 at 2:29pm Flynn was born! The thing I was most afraid of for Flynn's birth was that he would come so fast that no one would have time to get to me and I'd have to give birth on my own. Since my births had gone from 14 hours to 6 hours to 2 1/2 hours. I'm so grateful that was not the case. My water broke first at 5:40am before any one had gone to work that day so Sam was home and my mom was able to get to me in like 5 minutes. To my astonishment my labor started slow for the first time! In fact no contractions came until my midwife tried some natural methods to get things going after a few hours of nothing! Once contractions did start regularly it only took about 3 hours. It was very surreal for me at first to know my baby was on his way and yet not be in tremendous pain yet. Every other time my labor started strong from the very beginning. But then I worried that there was something wrong because labor wasn't starting. Thankfully everything was fine and I wish I would have relaxed more during those first hours. But otherwise it was a perfect birth. It only took one push! I was so surprised to find out he was only 6lbs 6oz! So tiny compared to my others but still very healthy. Sally said that him being so much lighter might have been the reason my contractions started so slow. She also said it looked like the placenta had started to shut down which was why he didn't put on the extra weight at the end of pregnancy. So it's a really good thing he came when he did. All that considered just reaffirmed to us that we would like Flynn to be our last baby. We are so grateful for our precious 4th child. I can't imagine life without him. <3 If you'd like to read the whole birth story you can click here. :)
The next two weeks were spent recovering and bonding as a family of 6! I feel like by the 4th time doing this newborn thing we had it down. Smoothest first two weeks that I can remember. We realized it was best for Sam and my mom to both be off the day of the birth of course and the next day after. Then after that my mom took the first week off and Sam took the 2nd week off. That way my mom could stay at our house with us the first 2-3 days and then take the older three to her house for a sleepover the next 3 nights or so. The first week is when I need the most help so it works better for her to be with me that week because she can take the kids away to her house to give me a completely quiet house to rest in with my newborn. I'm much more recovered the 2nd week so I can handle the kids being around all day because my kids don't care if I'm recovering they'll still ask for everything and climb on me and try to give hugs to the new baby and that can be hard to deal with for me the first week after birth. Of course life with a newborn is always an adjustment and pretty tough but it was as smooth as I could have hoped for. All of the kids were completely in love with Flynn and there was no intense jealousy that I could see. Big shout out to my mom to being such a HUGE help and blessing to us throughout the recovery process. She did so much cooking, grandkid entertaining and cleaning for me. It was not unnoticed. Thank you Marmee!!! While looking through pictures I realized that pictures of my mom or Sam during this time are virtually nonexistent. They were both so busy keeping up with the other three kids, the house and food I didn't even have a chance to snap a picture of them!
Since Flynn was born on a Monday, we skipped two park days and came back on the last park day of 2019 New Years Eve to be exact! it was Flynn's first park day! He wasn't too sure about it yet. ;) I thought I was being smart by bringing the wrap carrier to keep him warmer, but he was not happy in it for very long. Atlas had to go potty while we were there and that was hard to figure out! It definitely was a day or figuring what worked at park day with 4 kids, one of them being a newborn. All in all it worked out and the kids had fun!
My super sweet park ladies threw me a tiny shower at the park on the first Tuesday of 2020. My friend Christina texted me and asked if I was planning to come that week and when I said yes she responded with "Good! We're going to throw you a little shower at the park to welcome Flynn and to thank you for being the Park Day organizer." They blessed me with diapers and a few newborn sleepers since Flynn was so much smaller than I was expecting. I felt so much love. I love my Park Day family! <3
Our first event outside of Park Day with Flynn was going to Jane's gymnastics friend Bristol's birthday party. She was having an ice skating party and I knew Jane would be in love!! We left Atlas and Xan at home with Sam and my mom and I took Jane and Flynn with us. I watched while Marmee and Jane skated. They had such a good time! I loved seeing the joy on Jane's face. She even figured out how to turn in a circle while she was there. We'll definitely have to make a trip back next year. Happy Birthday Bristol!
Sorry for the picture overload here! Later on the same day we went Ice Skating my sweet friend Mindy came to take family pictures for us! <3 I love them soooo much!! That first one is my number one fave. I mean how in the world did she manage to catch Flynn looking at the camera too?? So great! The kids had lost patience with pictures after the first couple of family shots but we were able to catch a few more single pics with Flynn after a couple of trampoline jumping breaks. ;) They are just perfect. Thank you Mindy!!
The second week of Januray Sandra/Kokoo came to stay with us for a couple of days! She brought us some frozen meals! Such a blessing. I had specifically requested Lasagna and Chicken Pot Pie because her's are the best and of course they were as delicious as always. She kept the kids entertained while I tended to Flynn. It was such a nice distraction as we were getting back to regular life with Marmee and Sam both back to work. Flynn was at the stage where he wouldn't let anyone else hold him for longer than a couple minutes and then he'd want me back. It was super sweet to feel that momma magic touch so strongly, but hard not to have any breaks.
Speaking of breaks, this post is already long enough so I'll break for now and come back with Winter Part 2 very soon! :)
Romans 12:9-18
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
