Grandma's Fischer

I'm so, so, so grateful that my mom could come and help out the first two weeks after Fischer was born.  In fact, I would pay exorbitant amounts of money to have her back on a full time basis  !It's been so fun to have her at all the births of our children.  (Technically she was still at the airport in Atlanta, but she couldn't have come in the OR anyway.)  And I'm so grateful that she's traveled across the country to help each time; Atlanta, GA for Emory, Phoenix, AZ for Tessa, and Salem, OR for Fischer.   Here are some of the pictures she took while she was here in Oregon.

I really don't want to show this picture, but have to.  My face says is all.

Right after I grabbed him.

Love the squishy face!

My face looks much happier now.

He's almost too big for the warming bed!

Happy Dad.

The Big Mister.  See . . . he barely fits in the photo ;)

The Wonky toes.  His fourth toes tuck almost completely behind his third toes.  I love it!

Little/Big sister is so in love!

Big sister likes him too.

Random baby spiders on our friends grapevine that creep me out. 

The many faces of Fischer:

Too precious, and this onesie is a muscle shirt on him now.

At his 2 week appointment Fischer was 22 1/4 inches long (97%), 10 lbs. 3 oz. (97%) and his head was 36 1/2 inches (50%).  What a stud!

Before and After

Time, at our house, is now distinctly divided and described as Before Fischer and After Fischer.  I often ask myself what I did before I had him.  Did I laze around the house all day?  Did I run errands whenever I wanted?  Did I clean my house and myself on a regular basis?  Yes, I did.

Here are some of the things we did the last few weeks before Fischer arrived.

We went to the coast, knowing full well that it would be awhile before we'd make it back.  Pacific City is now one of my favorite places to go!  It was a fun day trip with friends and we need to get back out there.

Cory also planned a surprise Get-Away weekend for all of us about a month before the baby came.  We went to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. 

It was fun, but not the girl's favorite. 

Funny story:  We walk into the museum and start walking around.  We realized there is an ENORMOUS plane inside the museum.  We made it all the way around and were about to leave, when we looked back and realized we hadn't checked out the Big Plane.  We almost didn't go back to see it.  Turns out it is the Spruce Goose! I love the movie The Aviator, so I would have been so sad to not realize the Spruce Goose was here in Oregon.  (We found out even more crazy things about Howard Hughes.  He filled all empty space in the plane with beach balls, so it wouldn't sink if it crashed . . . sounds logical to me.)

After the museum, we drove in to McMinnville and ate some of the best sandwiches of our lives.  It could have been that we were starving, but seriously, it was an out of body experience!  It's totally one of those places that looks like it should be on Triple D.  

Then we headed to Portland for an over night stay.  We roamed Powell's and got some food from the Food Carts and just enjoyed our swanky hotel room.  In the morning we headed for donuts, and enjoyed the Saturday Market.  On our way home, we stopped at Washington Square for some shopping.  What a fun mini-trip, thanks Cory!

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!