Welcome Baby Morgan!

So this IS a bit late, but we brought our newest one home about 2 weeks ago and things are going really well! Here's how things went:

On Wednesday night (January 6) I started having pretty regular contractions. They went on all night and were getting more and more painful. I called Brett at work at about 3am and asked if he could come home because my back was hurting so much. He came home and we just kept timing my contractions. I called up to labor and delivery during the night and (of course) they said I should come in because I had had 2 previous C-sections. I didn't go in and instead went to town in the morning and saw my regular doctor. They monitored my contractions and since they were pretty regular and I was dilating, he sent me to labor and delivery and scheduled my C-section for that afternoon. I guess everyone was nervous about letting me labor after 2 C-sections because the week before a woman had a uterine rupture during a mild contraction because she had a previous C-section. Scary!!

So I called Brett and he had to find a way to get to town (I, of course, had the car and the carseats because I was not expecting to be staying in town!) He ended up getting into town around 2, just when the doctor came in and said they could do the surgery right then (my contractions were pretty close together at this point). We waited for Brett and as soon as he got there, we went down to the OR.

Morgan was born at 2:57 and was 7 lbs 7oz and 19.5 inches long. Brett went upstairs with her and I had to sit in recovery for almost an hour. But she is so cute and looks JUST LIKE the other 2 girls did when they were born!! She even has a similar cowlick to Ryann's!










When the girls came up to see us, Elle pretty much freaked out. She would not come near me or Morgan and cried the whole time she was there.


Ryann wanted to hold Morgan the whole time, and kept asking us to make her open her eyes. She wanted to get toys for the baby and does not believe us that she can't play with toys yet. It was pretty cute!


We came home from the hospital on Sunday and I have been feeling pretty good. It's weird that it took me FOREVER to feel better after I had Ryann, but I have been feeling pretty good this whole last week!

Last weekend my parents came up and stayed at a hotel in Blackduck. They brought up so much for us!! THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!! We have plenty of groceries and diapers to last us a couple weeks! We all went up to let the girls swim on Sunday and Elle had a blast! She had no fear in the water. She kept laying on her back and floating all by herself. And Ryann wasn't scared either. The last couple times we took her swimming she was scared to leave the stairs, but this time she walked all along the edge of the pool all by herself.



So things are going well in the Wallin house! I will let you know if I still feel that way after venturing into town with all 3 kids by myself.....I might not feel so good after that!

2010 Outlook

So 2010 looks interesting. I will soon learn how to live my life with a 4-year-old, 14-month-old, and a new baby. Right now, I imagine my days spent at home, afraid to go anywhere because I will have to carry Elle on one hip, and an infant carrier on the other! How do people do it?? My mother-in-law had 3 boys in 4 years and she survived.....plus 2 additional kids shortly after. So it must be do-able.

Brett just asked me if I had any New Years Resolutions. Yes, yes I do!

#1 Lose the 30 pounds I gained this pregnancy, along with the 20 I never lost from Elle's pregnancy, and the 10 I never lost from Ryann's pregnancy....yuck! 60 pounds! I know I can do it because from the day I met Brett until our wedding (1 year later) I was able to lose 50 pounds. So I REALLY need to be motivated to do it!!

#2 Breast feed the baby for a year. This was a goal with Ryann and Elle, but because I was working and then pregnant, I was not able to do it. I really, really want to make it a whole year! Here are my reasons: it is FREE and formula is about 180 dollars a month; it is good for the baby; it is easier than making and cleaning bottles; and it will help me lose weight.


#3 Have more PATIENCE!! I have NEVER been good at this. Now that I am able to stay home with the kids, I need to be more patient. I find myself snapping at Ryann all day and it is not fair to either of us. I see so many behaviors in her that she is learning from me, and I don't want her to be impatient as well. So my goal is to watch myself and react with PATIENCE as much as possible!! This will be harder than losing all that weight since I have been this way for so long. It will be really hard to change this part of myself.


We have so much happening this year! In 7 days we will have our new little, yet to be named baby here.

Then we have Ryann's 4th birthday! We are planning to invite some of her friends to go bowling - we have never taken Ryann bowling, but it sounds fun.

In April our whole family (Mom, Dad, Me, Brett, Ryann, Elle, Baby, Emily, Ben, Mary, Kaytie) will be going to Disney World! We have been planning this trip for months and we are soooo excited!!

Hopefully we will do lots of camping this next summer. Last summer was pretty cold, but we still managed to camp a few times. We plan to take another trip to the North Shore.

We also have Brett's older brother's wedding in August! Sean and Jenn are getting married and we are really excited for them! We love Jenn, and feel like she is part of the family already.

After that - who knows! Ryann will start preschool in the fall (we are still looking into sending her to Heartland Christian Academy, if we can afford to) and after that, we'll see!

Happy New Year!