Snuggles

It has been nearly three weeks since Ryan joined our family and that means it has been three weeks of non-stop snuggles at our house. Ryan is the cuddliest baby and is happiest when he is curled up on someone's chest. Since there is no shortage of people in our house who are willing to hold him, he gets snuggles pretty much any time he wants. It's debatable who enjoys it more, him or us. I have always loved newborn snuggles (honestly who in the world doesn't?!) but this time around they are extra amazing. I appreciate just how wonderful it is to be able to simply pick up my baby to hold him without having to disconnect him from anything first. I enjoy walking around the house with him in my arms without being connected to any tubes or wires. I love having him peacefully sleep on my chest without constantly monitoring each breath to make sure that air is moving in and out of his lungs. When he sleeps - which he is a great sleeper - I can actually sleep myself instead of just lightly dozing while listening for nearly silent cues that my baby needs something. He is still a newborn and is waking up frequently at night, but all I have to do is feed him, swaddle him, and lay him in his crib and we both go right back to sleep. He's never even had his days and nights mixed up. He does think that if he is awake he needs to be eating but you won't hear me complain about getting to spend more time nursing my sweet baby. He can be very vocal when he is unhappy (meaning he has a very loud cry- or maybe it just feels loud because we were so used to Ellie's silent cry) but he consoles so easily it never is much of a problem. What I am trying to say is after everything we went through with Ellie having a typical newborn is pretty simple and enjoyable. One thing is sure he has us all completely wrapped around his little finger.

Looking at all these pictures makes me miss my big kids.  It's been over a week since they took off to Utah with Grandma and Grandpa. The house has been a little too quiet without them. Good thing we'll be back with them tomorrow before Ryan starts getting used to life as an only child. The break has been nice, but I can't wait to have my kids back together under the same roof again. 

The Great Room Swap

I spent most of my pregnancy ignoring the fact that I was actually going to have a baby. But at 35 weeks nesting caught up with me and suddenly I realized this baby was going to be here in a few short weeks and we needed a nursery. And thus began the great room swap. 

Brynn and Miles were begging to share and room and Mason was adamant that he not share a room, which made the decision to move Miles into Brynn's room a no brainer. Before moving Mason into Miles old room I wanted to paint it so my little sidekick and I took on the project one day. It nearly put me into preterm labor, but we got it finished and Mason's furniture moved over. Last but not least was setting up the nursery. I was worried about how I would feel turning the room that was once Ellie's back into a nursery, but surprisingly, getting out and organizing all the baby stuff made it all seem real and for the first time I couldn't wait to hold my baby and rock him in his nursery. And just like that the great room swap was complete and we were ready to bring our baby brother home.

 
Now for some before and after pictures. Keep in mind that the rooms were not staged for this, but rather these pictures were taken after Saturday jobs were completed when the kids' rooms are most presentable. They are far from perfect, but this is an accurate representation of what their rooms are really like.
Before

Mason's Room

Brynn's Room

Mile's Room

After

Mason's Room

Brynn and Mile's Room

 With two stuffed animal lovers sharing a room I knew we needed a creative solution for storing their many stuffed animals. So Scott whipped up these Zoos for each of the kids. I thought they turned out adorable.

Nursery

And now our nursery is complete!

What a Day

June 19, 2016 was quite the day of celebrations for our family. 

It was Brynn's 7th birthday!! 

Even though we celebrated early with her birthday party and birthday dinner we still tried to make her feel important on her special day. She wanted to make her own birthday cake with Grandma and chose to make a giant cupcake like Ellie's.

 It was Father's Day.
(insert instagram Father's Day Collage)
There is nothing that makes me fall in love with Scott more than the incredible father he is to each of our children.

Last, but not least, it was the day we brought Ryan home from the hospital.

These three were all good sports to share the spotlight with each other on their big day. Personally, I couldn't have picked a better way to celebrate than just being all together at home.

Welcome Baby Ryan

On June 17th we welcomed Ryan Wallace Murray into our family. I never thought I would describe a c-section as a perfect birth experience, but that is exactly what Ryan's delivery was. After having two previous c-sections, I was required to have a scheduled repeat c-section. For how much I wanted a VBAC with Ellie, this go around all I was concerned about was having a smooth delivery without any surprises, and a planned c-section sounded like a great way to achieve that. The doctor wanted to schedule my delivery for 39 weeks to decrease the chances of me going into labor beforehand. That put me being scheduled on the 17th, which is already Whitney and Rachel Faye's birthday. It's one thing if I were to go into labor and have a baby on their birthday, but it's another thing to schedule it for their birthday and I wanted to avoid that. I also wanted to avoid Brynn's birthday on the 19th which pushed the possible days closer to my due date. As the day grew near I was more worried about going into labor on Brynn's birthday and Whitney insisted that I schedule for the 17th so I wouldn't risk having the baby on Brynn's birthday. So 6-17-16 was the day (which our nurse pointed out has the same numbers going forward and backward...kinda cool).
We were the first scheduled case and arrived at the hospital bright and early at 5:45 am. We sat patiently in our room and went through all the motions of getting changed, answering questions, signing papers, all the while we were both getting more and more anxious. Finally after what seemed like forever, they took us into the OR where I was given my Spinal and prepped for surgery. Dr Kling made the incision over my old scar, but he was such a big baby it was a real struggle to get him out of the smaller hole Miles and Ellie had come out of. At 7:26am, after a lot of tugging and pulling they finally got him out. I heard his cry first. It was a LOUD and strong cry. Then they brought him around the drape for me to see. I was thrilled to see a big and healthy baby. I wasn't surprised when he weighed in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and 20 3/4 inches long. He looked so much like Miles but had hair like Mason and Ellie, although it didn't look as dark as Mason and Ellie's! I felt a flood of relief! This was about the time during Ellie's delivery when our whole world started crumbling and I think my entire pregnancy I had been nervous for this moment. It was like a wall came tumbling down and all the excitement and love I had been holding back in fear of being hurt again came pouring out.
From this point on, my experience was nothing like my previous c-sections. After both Miles and Ellie were delivered I got a quick look at them and then they were whisked away to the nursery to help them with their breathing and I didn't get to see or hold them for hours. This time my baby never left my sight. Scott held him next to me while I was stitched up and we both were in complete aw that he was really here. Then I was moved to a recovery room where they immediately started skin to skin. Having my beautiful baby lying on my chest was quite possibly the most wonderful moment of my life. The feeling of happiness and joy I felt was overwhelming. Pretty soon he naturally latched on and began nursing. Every little thing he did was magical to me. I did not take a single second of these precious moments for granted. Looking back I know there were several nurses bustling in and out of the room monitoring us, but at the time I hardly noticed them. I felt like the only people in the whole world were Scott, me, and our beautiful baby boy.
A few hours later when we were all settled in our room, my mom brought the kids to meet their new baby brother. Of course they were completely smitten. Mason had a permanent grin on his face and was one very proud brother as he held and loved on his baby brother. Brynn was quite the little mother and very quickly picked up on the fact he liked being held up against her chest more than being cradled in her arms. Miles was so tender and sweet with him. The first time he held his baby brother without any promptinghe began sweetly and very softly singing twinkle twinkle little star to him. My mama heart nearly burst right there.
After the kids had left it was time for his first bath. It wasn't until after his hair was washed and dried that we realized exactly how much hair he really had! It was thicker and longer than even Mason's but it was more the color of Brynn's hair as a baby. With his little nose being a little bit smushed from the position he was inside, he even had a look of Ellie to him. He was turning out to be the perfect mixture of all our babies.
Later in the day when the kids came back again they each brought a toy they had picked out at the store for him. Miles was so excited to give him the rattle he chose and really wanted him to play with it right then so he gently shook the rattle for him the whole time.
The kids were anxious for us to decide on a name, but nothing was jumping out at us as an obvious choice. We wrote our top names on the white board and tried out different combinations throughout the day. The kids all had surprisingly strong opinions on what we should or should not name him and the only name they all agreed on was Ryan. Pretty soon they all started calling him Ryan and by the time we were required to fill out the birth certificate information we decided to follow their lead and name him Ryan Wallace. Our little Ry-guy.
We stayed in the hospital for 2 days and during that time Ryan was a good baby who liked to eat eat eat and slept wonderfully, as long as he was in one of our arms. We were anxious to get home with him and decided to cut our hospital stay short a day and head home on Brynn's birthday and Father's day.
We've been home for nearly a week now and here is what we have learned about Ryan. He has never had his nights and days mixed up, he sleeps for 3-4 hour stretches at night in his crib (the pack and play in our room for now), he thinks that if he's awake he needs to be eating, he poops whenever you wipe his bum making for some tricky diaper changes, and he is most content when he is snuggled up on our chest.
Welcome to the family Baby Ryan. We love you more than you will ever know.