Gobble 'til you wobble!

My new man!  

Classic family shot.....baby's crying, Salem looks like she been through hell and back, and Andrew & I both haven't slept in DAYS!

Thanksgiving was definitely different this year!  We ordered all the food from New Braunfels Smokehouse and didn't bother making a single dish.....other than homemade banana bread and Salem made us all cupcakes! Andrew's parents were here to spend the holiday with us and help out with the adjustment of another little one around the house.  We couldn't have done it without the extra sets of hands these past 2 weeks.  Salem is getting better, but we're still taking EXTRA precautions by keeping her well away from Tavin. This has been THE hardest thing to do.  All I want is to have my two babies sitting in my lap, playing, Salem holding her baby brother, and we're having to give it some time.  The disappointment on her face KILLS me every time I tell her that she has to keep her distance from him.  Oh well, in a few days.

Have a great weekend!

And then there were 4!!!!

You'll have to excuse the randomness of the picture order.  Things have been a BIT hectic around here.  Salem came down with a 103 temperature among other illness symptoms. BUT....here you have the newest Quinn additon!  Enjoy!  

 Just hours before his arrival!

Story now, pictures later

We welcomed baby Tavin Andrew Quinn into the world on Saturday, November 22nd, @ 8:40 PM.  I FINALLY got the okay to head to the hospital around 2:00 that afternoon.  By the time we arrived, got checked in, and had the pitocin running through my veins, it was 4:45 PM.  I opted not to use drugs again and go all natural.  Labor was quick, I pushed for 30 seconds, and he was here!  Tavin was way bigger than anyone imagined and weighed in at 6 pounds 4.8 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long!  Did any of you guess it right?  I had the inches down, but was off on his weight.  We were discharged late last night, but have found ourselves having to drive all the way back to Wiflord Hall every day this week for a daily weight check on him.  He's dropped to 5 pounds 11 ounces (which is in the 10% range that doctors don't like to see you go over.)  So, as a mother, I am stressing, yet again, over the idea that I may not be able to produce enough milk for him.  I'm fine with bottle feeding, but I REALLY wanted to see if I could make breast feeding work this time around.  I'll have to see how it goes once my actual milk arrives.  

Now we're working on the normal sibling adjustments that everyone goes through and thank goodness we've had lots of extra hands around to help us out.  My mom and stepdad left this AM, and Andrew's parents are now here until friday.  Tavin was born on my mom's birthday and what a specail gift he was/is!  

I promise to post pictures in the AM. I'm exhausted and going to work on catching up on some much needed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's!  Check back tomorrow for photos of little Andrew....he looks just like him and Salem!  

Delayed

I am aging right before my very eyes.  I haven't slept since they informed me of what was/is supposed to be my induction today.  I attempted to fall asleep at 12oo and had my alarm set for 3am to head to the hospital, only to call and find out that they have "quite a few beds full and to go back to sleep and call back at 8."  WHAT?????? GO BACK TO SLEEP, are you KIDDING ME?????? Andrew, of course, stripped down and zonked back out in NO time; I, on the other hand, know such a thing wouldn't happen even if my life depended on it.  How am I supposed to catch some zzzzz's when I'm scheduled to be giving birth sometime today?  Seriously.  

So, instead, I sit here trying to figure out what in the hell to do with myself to kill time for 3 1/2 hours while everyone else in the household is doing what I SHOULD and wish I COULD be doing.....sleeping!  I'm so envious.  

Will keep you posted. If it doesn't occur today, trust me, you'll know.  I'll have a nasty blog about it later this afternoon; or, you'll hear from us sometime Monday afternoon with photos of our precious!  

SATURDAY IT IS!

Another induction will be the outcome of baby Tavin on Saturday AM!  We're excited, but it still hits you like a ton of bricks.  It's also weird having your choice of days to choose from when exactly you want your child to brought into this world.  We decided to roll with this weekend for a number of reasons:

1) It's my mom's birthday and she's here visiting!

2) So my mom and stepdad have the opportunity to even meet the little guy (they fly out Monday AM)

3) In my opinion, the sooner the better

4) Wilford Hall should be WAY more quite during the weekend and I'm the ONLY induction being done on Saturday.

Why are they inducing you ask?  Well, also for a # of reasons.  My belly is only measuring @ 33 weeks (2 months behind schedule), I haven't gained a single ounce in 6 weeks and I'm shoving all and everything I can into my mouth, and Tavin has only grown an estimated 3 ounces in 3 weeks (which isn't sufficient enough.) 

AGAIN, I'm not surprised.  The SAME things ALL happened with Salem, but at an earlier rate. Most women and babies pack on the pounds the last few weeks of pregnancy and in our case, the exact opposite happens.   

So, with all of this, I have a TON of things to accomplish within the next 24 hours.  Salem has holiday photos in the AM, followed by birthday celebrations (mine and my mom's), Thanksgiving, and Christmas in the PM.  We thought we would do it all up while we're together instead of sending gifts in the mail over the holiday rush.  I also have a LONG LIST of the "last minute to do" things before we head to the hospital.  Just keep your fingers crossed that it all works out.  We have to call labor and delivery at 4 AM Saturday morning to see if they have room for us.  If not, they'll just keep pushing it back day- after- day.  I can just feel the gray coming through on my newly colored red hair.  

Just 1 more day.....

until I feel as if I can relax a little.  My mom and step dad are flying in tomorrow afternoon for 5 days to "cover" for us in case we happen to go into labor.  If it were, by chance, to happen tonight, Salem would have to go over to Knox's house and I've been stressing over that for weeks. Janelle, Knox's mama, just had a baby girl 6 weeks ago; so I feel as if it would be too much for anyone in that situation to handle.  I feel physically ready (he's been moving more than usual these past few days); however, emotionally I'm not there at all.  I think all pregnant women get to that point where you feel as if it's never going to end and your going to be huge and miserable the rest of your life!  Yep, I'm basically there!  

I'm also trying to cram too much into such a short period of time.  I'm having guilty feelings about Tavin coming along, so I'm doing everything and all that I can on a daily basis with Salem.  So far today she's been to the dentist (okay, not exactly fun, but at least we did it together???), the library, park, lunch outing with Knox, and I took her to get her favorite...ice cream!!!!  Now she's napping and I should be making one of my 199 meals that I'm freezing, but instead, I'm venting and shoving as many sour starburst's into my mouth as fast as I can.  

I have this weird and unrealistic idea in my head that life is going to come to a complete halt the day we bring him home and that we'll NEVER be able to get out and enjoy all of life's beauty ever again!  So that is why I'm basically killing myself trying to let Salem have the time of her freakin' life!  I love it, but hate it all at the same time. You should see a 10 month pregnant beast trying to crawl her fat ass in and out of various inflatable jumping castles at our nearby indoor jumping gym.  It isn't pretty and we'll just leave it at that!  

So, I'm looking forward to having my family here!  My mom's birthday is this weekend and we'll also be celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, and putting up all the holiday decor with them!  It'll also be nice spreading out the present overload for Salem throughout the next month (Andrew's parents come next week and we'll be doing the same with them.) 

Time for me to get a crack-a-lacking on more of those meals that I'm nesting over.  That's another thing, I also feel that I'll never have time to cook a meal in my life ever again, so I'm cooking and freezing things up a storm....what an idiot!  I'll probably have more time than ever because we will be stuck in the house all day!  Someone stop me, please!  

WAY false alarm

Imagine your little angel (that would be a child I'm referring to), coming into your room @ 6 AM to crawl in bed and cuddle with you. You see, this is a daily ritual in our household for the past month or so.  I'm usually awake, so she comes in our room and we just hold each other, talk, read books, and wait for the Today Show to start. This morning, however, was different.  She was tired and wanted to sleep a little while longer with her mommy and daddy. How wonderful!!!! So, Salem and I were spooning, when all of a sudden, I felt myself get wet......only to realize that it wasn't my water, but urine running down by entire body from my sweet Salem.