One Month Later . . .

And we're still alive!  It's been tricky adjusting to the demanding schedule of a newborn, but we're slowly getting the hang of it.  Luckily he's cute and we adore him, or we would have given up by now!

Here are some super fun pictures of the little man.  They were taken by a friend when he was 10 days old.  Thanks, Jen, for hauling your kids over and then crawling all over my bed.  You're so talented!

Bigger News!

When I say bigger, I really mean BIGGER!

Fischer Cory Maughan

May 22nd, 2012

10:49 a.m.

9 lbs. 2 oz.

21 inches long

 We are all desperately, need I say hopelessly, in love with this handsome little man.  He timed his birth perfectly  (My mom decided last minute to fly in the day before.  She hadn't even been here for 24 hours, by the time he was born.) and thank goodness for his own mother, he came quickly!

His sisters are in high heaven, and Dad loves to call him, "Pal".  

Half the pictures from that day are with my face smashed up against his.  I can't get enough of being close to him or his delicious smell and softness.

He has two wonky toes, that you can kinda see in this picture.

He's a hungry little fellow, and eats super well.

We'd been a very comfortable family of 4 for almost 5 years, so this is a big change for us.  How quickly you forget about the sleep deprivation a newborn comes with, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  

Welcome Fischer!

Here is his birth story:

I was getting antsy.  I never want my babies to come before they are ready (lesson learned from experience) but two of the girls due on the same day as me had their babies a week early.  On Sunday night, we went for a walk and I swear I had a 40 minute contraction during to whole outing.  We got home, nothing.  That same night my mom decided to fly in the next day.  

Monday: Tessa and I picked Grandma up at the airport, had some awesome waffles, and headed home.  My mom sent Cory and I on a date to see the Avengers 3D.  I stuffed myself with popcorn candy and even drank a caffeinated beverage in hopes of sparking something within me.  Nothing.  

6:00 am Tuesday morning; I had a really good contraction and felt a pop.  Tiny bit of leaking fluid, but nothing like the gush with Emory.  Contractions every 5 minutes for the next hour.  I waited to wake up Cory until a pillow-bitingly painful contraction.  We got up and showered (where my water truly broke) and made plans for the girls for the day so my mom could come to the birth.  By the time we got in the car, I was super unhappy.  That was around 8:00 am.  It takes 25 minutes to get to the hospital, and at that point I thought I might die before we made it there!  Luckily, time had no meaning to me that morning, because all of the sudden we were at the hospital.  We checked in and they checked me (I was 6 cm) and I ordered an epidural STAT.  Unfortunately, another girl came in 5 minutes before me and she was a 6 too, so she got the Anesthesiologist first.  (Let's not mention the fact that she didn't give birth for another 6 hours, were I could have been enjoying numb bliss for the hour before I pushed my giant baby out!!)  At this point, the contractions were intense.  Cory can attest to that, because he was being so sweet and attentive, and I literally could not let him (or anyone) touch me.  I remember him rubbing my back and whispering words of encouragement, and me just putting a up my hand in his face, like the "talk-to-the-hand" gesture.  I feel bad, but at least I wasn't screaming at him!  I also remember the just holding the bars on the sides of the hospital bed like they were the only things that were keeping me from losing it.  The nurses and doctors would peek their heads through the hand holds when they needed to ask me questions.  (It makes me laugh out loud to think about that now!)  When I finally got my epidural, the relief was minimal to non-existent.  Good thing that by the time I got it, I was ready to push.  When I was getting ready to push Tessa out, the nurse had me do a couple test pushes.  On the first one, she yelled, "Stop!  Get the Doctor!", because Tessa was so close to coming.  Not so, on this go around.  I felt like I was pushing for an eternity.  (In actuality, it was 45 minutes.)  At one point, I thought, if somebody would just tell me how many more pushes it will take, I can do this.  As long as the number is not over 2, I can do this.  (My mom and Cory can both attest to this by the look in my eyes.)  Finally, the doctor said 4 more pushes.  He lied, it took 5 and I will hold that against him forever.  As soon as Fischer's head was out, everyone laughed and said I was pushing out a small  toddler.  Once he was all the way out, I grabbed him and pulled him up on my chest.  He was perfect!  After a while they took him over to weigh and measure him.  They laid him on the scale, and it read 8 lbs. 10 oz., with blankets and everything, so we were thinking he weighed a little over 8 lbs.  They zeroed out the scale and up popped 9 lbs. 2 oz.!  There was a combined gasp from Cory, my mom, and the Doctor.  I think the Doctor was the most surprised, because he said he prides himself on guessing the weights of the babies he delivers pretty closely.  I flopped back on the bed and didn't feel so bad about having such a hard time, and decided there and then we are done, because my babies are getting bigger each go around.  Emory = 3 lbs. 14 oz. Tessa = 7 lbs. 7 oz.  Fischer = 9 lbs. 2 oz.  I really don't think I could birth an 11+ pounder!  Cory ran home to get the girls and they were there within a couple hours of the birth.  They got to help give Fischer his first bath,and then left to have some fun with Grandma.
What an amazing experience and I wouldn't have changed a thing!

Big News

We have a LOT of big stuff happening right now and this is one of them;

I know it's not good to be proud, but I am so "well pleased" at the years of hard work Cory has put in to get us to this point.  He is so excited and often, randomly, turns to me and says, "Guess what?  I'm gonna be a Dermatologist!"

Indexing

There has been a huge push (basically shove) into, over, and about Indexing in our Ward and Stake.  If you don't know anything about it check it out here.  Since they've been trying to get the youth into it, and Cory is in YM, he's all "Indexing Gung Ho".  A friend said to me a while back, "If I have time to check blogs, surf the internet, and Pinterest . . . I have time for Indexing."  So I decided I had time too.  And guess what?  It's fun!

Our entire Sacrament Meeting on Sunday was based around Indexing and Family History and I'm glad I'd already gotten started, or else I'd have felt very guilty.  This cool quote did stick out to me though;

Archibald F. Bennett recalled, “Sister Susa Young

Gates related to me that she once asked her

father [Brigham Young] how it would ever be

possible to accomplish the great amount of

temple work that must be done, if all are given a

full opportunity for exaltation. He told her there

would be many inventions of labor-saving

devices, so that our daily duties could be

performed in a short time, leaving us more and

more time for temple work. The inventions have

come, and are still coming, but many simply

divert the time gained to other channels, and not

for the purpose intended by the Lord” (“Put on Thy

Strength, O Zion!” Improvement Era, Oct. 1952, p. 720).

Cory and I went to the Temple last week and I truly felt and gained an evener greater testimony about the importance of doing Family History, Indexing, and Temple Work.

Elder David A. Bednar put it perfectly when he said,

It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and to tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead (see D&C 124:28–36). And I urge you to help other people identify their family histories.

As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.

Easter

The day before Easter, our Ward had an Egg Hunt.

It was a beautiful day and the girls had a lot of fun with their friends and the Easter Bunny.

The only downside was that Cory had to work.

We had our own egg hunt with Dad later, and the excitement almost came across as pain in this picture.

On Easter, we enjoyed going to church and a baby blessing.

After church, we had Classic Easter Dinner with the Parkers. It was way good, and afterwards we attempted a substitute Old Main Egg Roll down our own Hawksview Avenue!

The kids had so much fun doing it, and were all tuckered out after running up and down the hill so many times.

I was amazed at how often the egg would obliterate and the whole yolk would continue to roll down the hill!

Spring Break

Fairly last minute, we got invited to Utah for Spring Break. 13 hours in the car later, we were there and no worse for the wear! It was a fun-filled week packed to the brim with activities and family. My mom gave my a Baby Shower for "He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named," and it was Awesome.

A few members of Cory's family came down, lots of my family was there, close friends and a ton of Ward Family members literally "showered" us with gifts! I really don't know how we shoved it all in my car to come back home.

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium, had playdates with friends, visited the Clark Planetarium and Mars,

gorged ourselves at Leatherby's,

walked around the new City Creek Mall,

saw Popcorn Popping,

went to The Hunger Games (well, the girls didn't go to that) and fished a weird calcification-thinger out of Emory's mouth. (I can't even tell you how creeped out I am by this thing. Emory has her 6-year molars coming in and she'd had a little flap of gum that kept bleeding when we brushed. Then, one day she tells me there's something hard back there. Sure enough, there is. I tweezer-ed that thing out and am still speechless. It looks bigger than it was, maybe an 1/8th of an inch long.)

We also made Sushi!

There was lots of playing in the backyard, walks and just hanging out with family, too.

Thankfully, my mom drove back home with us and we got to play with her for a couple days. We walked/rode across the Union Street Railroad Bridge on the nicest day ever.

Tessa and I took Grandma out to lunch and this monster grilled cheese had Tessa's name on it.

What a great Trip, thanks!

St. Patty's

I love how excited kids get over green milk and four leaf clover pancakes! Luckily, Dad didn't have to work on St. Patrick's Day, so we had a yummy breakfast and went to our friends for Corned Beef and Cabbage.

We had an impromptu Treasure Hunt, that was very entertaining and a jump-off with this "Skip-It" type contraption.

A fun day, over all!