Love

With him smiling at me like this every time he sees me, it makes sense that I rarely get anything else done other than kiss those chubby cheeks.

Four Months

I'll bet you were wondering how our Finley boy was looking at four months, huh? Well I'll satisfy your curiosity and provide you (mom) with a peeksie at the boy. I am adding the monthly laundry basket pose and also a few others because he was in a bad mood when I took the laundry basket pictures and I need to retake them. He is still our chunky monkey and we love him! A few fun things he has started to do: Reach for things Reach for things and grab a hold of them Giggle Squeal(a lot) And an oldie, but a goodie...EAT (surprise, surprise, based on the pictures you can see he is our little gordo) Well, we love him! Enjoy!

Baby Sleep Help!

Okay, I have been staying home as much as possible for the past week in order to get Finn on a good schedule. I was totally bad about nursing him to sleep, giving him naps in the car seat, etc for too long and he became EXTREMELY dependent on it. In fact, Mike has never put the boy to bed. Sad. So now, I need your help. If you remember, can you guys give me nap advice? How to do you get your babies to nap well? At around what age do your babies start napping longer? Finn sleeps about an hour at a time now that I've done a little training, but he always is cranky when he gets up and I can tell he is cranky. He almost always wakes up crying. Is one hour at a time normal at three months? I have nothing to judge it by, as Benson used to nap for hours on end and still slept 12 hours at night. Finn is a whole new ball game. Thanks for your help!

Whadju say bout my Momma!?

...That's what I think Finn's saying in this picture...either that or, "Who you callin' chunky monkey?!"

Two to Three months

Here is my Finley boy at two months and then again at three months. He is not really growing length wise (in my opinion) but quite a bit width wise. We love our Buddha Baby!

Diaper Boys

Well hello there. Just thought I would post a few nakey pics of my kids, because let's face it, who doesn't love nakey pics of little babes? I can't stop myself from looking at these. Here are some three month pics I quickly took of Finn one morning and Benson. The Benz was easily coerced into picture taking because he would NEVER turn down an opportunity to be naked. I especially love seeing the picture of my chubby baby Finn next to my skinny man Benson. I love my boys.

a few pictures

I am writing this with one hand so forgive me!

Here are a few pics of the fam recently. Most of Benson. We had to start taping his diaper at night because he always unzips his pajamas and takes it off. You can imagine how fun it is to clean up a two year olds pee at 3:00 every morning.

I turned 27 about a month ago. I choose extreme moose tracks ice cream as my treat, as usual. mike did a GREAT job pampering me and Benson threw a minimal amount of tantrums as a present. I honestly felt very young to be turning 27, not old. Probably because our waitress, when she found out it was my birthday, started telling me how she was so old, and how when her last birthday rolled around she felt soooo old. I asked her how old she was and she was 27 too! When I told her that we were the same age she looked skeptical and then in shock. She told me she thought I was a LOT younger than that. Ha ha. At least I don't feel like I'm soooo old!

Benson loves to cook and play in water as activities now a days. I give him piles of ingredients and he stirs them together in a pot a calls it his soup. It keeps him entertained forever.

The other day Finn was crying, so I heard Benson say "It's okay Tindee, here" and walked in to see him giving Finn one of his toys. I told him it was so sweet of him to help his brother like that. I guess he really liked to praised, because he just kept adding toy upon toy on top of poor little Finn. By the end of it all, Finn was crying and covered in 10 lbs of toys, Benson was beaming, and I was laughing and taking pictures. I love brotherly love!

One of the pictures is of Finn's blessing day. We were lucky to have Mike's parents and younger siblings drive down all the way from Adrian, MI and his Nannie and Poppa drive down from St. Joseph, MI. Thank you for coming, we love you!

Finn is getting so big and will be three months in a week. When is the stage that I have to stop calling him my "newborn" and stop using the "I just had a baby" or "I have a newborn at home" excuse? I never want that time to get here...

Dump!

I havn't posted in a while, mainly because I haven't had a computer in a while! We are loving life right now (okay, we really don't like the lack of sleep) with our new little bub. He is a happy little guy and its really easy to get a smile out of him. He loves his older brother and will always smile really big at him. We love watching them interact with each other, even at this really early age. He loves talking and will always respond to what you are saying to him with cooing. He also loves being in eye sight of us, most happy when we are talking right next to him. He loves bein held and prefers to be held all day (if I had the arm strength for it, I would). His personality at this age is very different than Benson's was. Benson was such a chill little thing, content to sit by himself in the bouncer all day if we wanted him to, or content to be held all day. He was just content with whatever we did with him. Finley, on the other day, knows what he wants and knows how to get it. He is not content just chillin by himself, he wants to be with us always but we don't mind because it's so fun to snuggle a baby again! I feel like I am slowly becoming more of the mother I would like to be. I am not there yet, by any means, but slowly these two babies are developing patience, love, compassion, trust and the ability to wake up early (cheerfully)...all attributes I want as a mother! Thanks boys!

Here are some pics of our recent happenings. We have only caught Finn's smile on camera a couple of times but I am working hard to get some more.

To explain a few of the pictures. Sometimes on Saturdays Mike gets up with the kids and lets me sleep in. I usually wake up to something similar to what is happening in the picture with Mike and Benson with blankets on their heads and capes on running around the house like superheroes. I live with all boys.

I tried taking Finn's two month pictures and I wanted Benson in a few of them. The result? the picture of Benson looking miserable holding Finn on the white chair. He looks like such a teenager in that picture to me.

Benson recently discovered the Thomas the Tank Engine underwear grandma brought him for when he is potty training. He loves it and asks to slip it on over his clothes all the time. He was sorely dissapointed when he found out that underwear over your Sunday clothes is not church appropriate. He really wanted his nursery friends to see his Thomas underwear.

One night I was making roads out of tape for Benson and I to play trucks with. When we were done, it was time for bed but Benson was mad and throwing a fit. In a desperate attempt to calm him down, we started taping him to Mike. He thought it was hilarious and they ran around taped together for a while. Oh, how I love my boys.

Angelic Mothers

Well, Camille just left to take her mom to the airport after being with us for 2 1/2 weeks. Having had both of our mothers present to support us in this hard time of life I just want to give a shout out to mothers.

Elder Holland once said, "...when we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods. Some of them gave birth to us, and in my case, one of them consented to marry me. Indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind..."

After being helped in a way that we could not help ourselves, I must say thank you to the angels who took care of us for this last month of our lives. Thank you Mom (Camille's and my own) for being there when we needed you most. We have felt God's love through your tender kindness.

We love you

She's a Champ

I (Mike) would also like to add that Camille was a champ. I am a pansy when it comes to medical things (some would argue in others areas as well...but that's not the point). She was amazing, she had some pretty hard contractions (I watched the spike in the graph, they were pretty high) and she held on the whole time. I could tell that the nurses loved her. She wasn't stressed out, she didn't yell at them, or call them names; on the contrary, she was very kind to everyone and held her cool despite the pain. She thanked everyone for everything. It was actually pretty cute, the nurses and others kind of smiled at her gratitude...it made me think that maybe they weren't always appreciated by others. I'm very grateful for the Holy Spirit that calmed our hearts about the epidural. Everything went well in the end, and the most painful parts were fortunately mostly painless! Thank goodness for modern medicine.

Anyways, I just wanted to give a shout out for my awesome wife who has a stronger stomach and a bigger heart than her husband. I love you Camille.

Birth Story

I love me a good birth story, so I thought I'd write about Finley's birth for you! Is it your best day or what?

As an introduction, Benson came to us through a C-section. It was not expected, not wanted, but really needed in the end. We prayed and really felt good about it. I originally went in to be induced with him, but after several large contractions his heart rate went too low and the doctor had to get called in specially from his golf game. We know that because he was still in his golf clothes when he walked in to give us our options. That being said, this time I was anxious this whole pregnancy to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after C-section). I talked with my doctor about it at every appointment and she constantly reassured me that I was a good candidate for it (ps...I went with a practice with 5 different female doctors. It was nice to have a woman, but didn't really make that big of a difference for me. I honestly wish I could have tried a midwife, but I was too nervous being a VBAC. I just wanted the baby and I to be safe. Maybe in the future) Anywho, the appointments were wonderful, everything was great. I was told that they don't induce VBACs unless I showed some sign of progress (my cervix had to get into a certain position, I had to be a certain amount effaced, a little bit dilated, and my cervix had to be almost fully ripened on it's own) before they would induce me. Did you know they don't typically induce VBACs without these signs first? I didn't, and it made me nervous because if I went over (which I had with Benson) and I wasn't showing any progress they automatically had to give me a C-section. Something I was avoiding at all costs. I got pretty desperate at the end and tried just about everything to get the baby out on his own, but he was stubborn. At the last appointment I almost cried when she told me I made enough progress to get induced instead of waiting for the c section so we scheduled the induction for the 21st. I was terribly nervous that everything was going to go wrong again, especially because I was convinced that I had to have the c section with Benson because of my epidural. I had low blood pressure already and it affected me funny the first time. Which was why I was going to try to go natural. Ha. Mike's mom arrived the night before, and that night I got a blessing that everything was going to go great. I felt peaceful. We got to the hospital and hour late, but come on, she scheduled us for 6:30 AM and I knew they wouldn't deny me if I arrived late so we took our time. When I got there they did the normal prep work and then hooked me up straight away to the medicine. Contractions weren't bad for a while, but then they came and broke my water (which, by the way, was PAINFUL. Mainly because she had to stretch me out to a 3 manually before she could break my water. Ouch. Wouldn't recommend that everyday) Contractions got really painful after this and combined with the medicine, it was just getting worse and worse. I tried listening to that stinkin Hypnobabies at this point but I just couldn't stand her telling me that I was having a pain free calm birth and that I was feeling absolutely no pain when I most certainly was in a lot of pain. Plus, she was way too calm and all I wanted to do was punch her in the face...so we turned off the hypnobabies CD. I would totally recommend that course for the first part of labor, just not when it gets hard. Anybody who tells you childbirth doesn't hurt at least a little bit is lying. There is some degree of pain involved. But I digress. At this point I was really wanting the epidural so we called in the nurse and then it was just a waiting game for that wonderful wonderful anesthesiologist to come in. Those guys are miracle workers, heroes of our day. Meanwhile, I had told my poor husband before we walked into the hospital that under no circumstances should he let me get the epidural. But, the moment I said I wanted one he was calling the nurse for me telling her to get in there. Atta boy, Mike. I'm glad he did. The epidural was instantly relieving and awesome, so we played some games, watched some movies and took a nap while we waited for Finn to make his arrival. We had a great time, we felt like we hired a babysitter for a date or something. I don't remember how long later but the nurse came back in to check me and said I was at a nine and to wait to push because she was going to get a doctor. At this point the baby was already crowning and about ready to come out. My poor doctor was running around like mad trying to deliver three babies at once (It was literally like Father of the Bride part II, when the doctors were running around to the different rooms) This next part is my favorite part of the story. Pushing was easy and fast, about fifteen minutes. I never got this experience with Benson so I was LOVING it. What an awesome and spiritual experience (it sounds weird, but it truly was) to see one of your kids being born. To be the first person in the world to hold him and talk to him. To hear his first cry. It was a deeply personal and amazing experience and that's about the only way I can describe it without lessening it. I will always have that ingrained into my memory. That's about it at that point. I will write about the hospital later but thought I would give you some quick details. I know I wanted natural labor, but I am so grateful that the epidural worked and everyone was healthy. I'm grateful for an awesome nurse who talked me into the epidural and said my experience was just a freak accident, and that would almost never happen again with the second one. Anyways, I will write more later but that's how it all went down. We love our new little family of four!

what he really looks like

My sister came and captured a few shots of what Finn really looks like. Here is one for preview. And for the record, his name is Finley Michael DeVries.

Meet the Bub

We had a baby! And not just any baby, a DeVries baby. We think he is rather wonderful and we are having so much fun just cuddling with him and trying to enjoy every minute with him as a newborn because, as we found out with Benson, they turn into two year olds before you know it! He was 8 lbs 6 oz, 21 inches (big baby, I know. Was it a result of all of the chocolate I consumed during pregnancy? I guess we will never know.) He looks a lot like Mike and has his eyes and dark hair. I can now say that I am madly in love with three different boys. And its awesome. Here are some pics.

Boring

Sorry our blog has been so boring of late (though, was it ever that exciting?) But I have an excuse, I am growing a baby that we are due to meet in one week. Exciting, isn't it? As recompense for having neglected the blog in all of my tiredness, here are a few forgotten pictures of October. We dressed up as bacon, toast and eggs for Halloween (TOTALLY stole the idea from the Freemans, who were in our ward a few years ago. Forgive us?), made a trip to Goebberts (local pumpkin patch) to play around as a fam, and Mike and I carved pumpkins and roasted pumpkin seeds after Benson went to bed one date night. It was a GREAT month and I'm so glad we took advantage of the fun local events going on.

Just a quick update

Okay, these pictures aren't amazing and I don't have a ton to say, but here are two goodies from the past month. Our little Benson Dean turned two on November 2nd. We love him more than ever and think he is wonderful. More updates to come on the magical world of two. There is also a picture of me included. I have been very opposed to pictures this time around, mainly because I am HUGE! But, you can't help but laugh at yourself once in a while. Yesterday I was shopping with Benson and I turned around to the sympathetic face of a complete stranger. All she said was "You look really uncomfortable" I didn't know how to respond. Ummmm, thanks? I guess? What I really wanted to do was yell, "If one more person makes a comment about my size, I will punch them" Okay, not really punch, but give them a stern talking to. Maybe that's the eight month pregnant lady hormones talking in me. See guys, this is why I haven't posted in a long time. I'm a pregnant roller coaster of emotions. Annnnnnd with that being said, enjoy the pics.

Sickie

Benson Dean got pretty sick about two weeks ago. It started with a fever and a really, REALLY swollen lymph node in his neck. So big that I took him into the doctor just to check the lump on his neck. Then he wouldn't eat anything, then his eyes got puffy. It was weird. After many trips to the doctor, lots of prayer, and one almost trip to the hospital, it was declared he had strep throat. Thank goodness! It was a crazy two weeks and we were absolutely exhausted, but mainly we were worried for our little guy. This is what he looked like those two weeks, just slept on our chest and cried about how much he hurt. So sad (I added a picture of what he looks like normally so you can compare)

3 years

3 years ago today, we got hitched! 2 years ago in October, we we a few days away from meeting Benson for the first time. Last year around this time, Mike was graduating and we were a few months away from moving to Chicago and this year we are a few short months away from meeting Baby Brother. Time flies when you're in love :)







Such a happy life :) Happy three years to my awesome husband! Three years, two college graduations, one and a half kids later and one big move across the country, our adventure is just beginning! I love that handsome guy I got married to three years ago.