Miller Extended Family Christmas

The celebrating did not end on the 26th. Saturday we went to Monticello to meet the extended Miller family at Monicals for pizza - yummy! Sunday morning we went back to Monticello for the official celebration. Lots of gifts were exchanged and we were treated to a delicious lunch. Once again, Finn was a big hit. He's great with crowds and doesn't mind being held by anyone. He's a good little guy.

We were hoping Finn could bring luck to the Bears. No such luck.

Miller Family Christmas

Here are some pics from the Christmas celebration with the Millers. We had a great Christmas with everyone. Finn got some great toys and books. The cousins loved to be around Finn.
It was tricky getting all the kids to sit still (especially Aidan) long enough to take a good pic. This was the best one I got. Aren't they all so cute!
Aidan is especially excited about Finn. Now he has another boy on his side. He'll have to wait a couple years, but help is on the way.
Uncle Jer, Aunt Amanda, and Aunt Emily all get their turn with Finn. The kids entertained us with a finger puppet show.

The little dude was all tuckered out by the end of the night.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was pretty low key for us. We got up and took a family picture and had breakfast. Wes's brother and family were not getting into town until late so we would be celebrating Christmas with his family on the 26th. We napped and then headed to St. Joe to hang out with Grandma Kandy, Great Grandma Eagan, Aunt Amanda, and cousin Corinne. Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Emily, and cousins Maddie and Aidan arrived around 10:30. Everyone was excited to meet Finn.

Christmas Eve

We went to Springfield Christmas Eve for the Payton family Christmas. We didn't take too many pics for some reason, but we got a cute one with Finn and Memaw. Finn also got to meet his cousins Josh, Ashley, and Aaron and his Aunts Tara Sue and Deby and Uncle Mike.

We had a great Christmas with my family. Finn got lots of goodies including a super cute Glow Worm.

Family Pics

I have a lot to catch up on. We have had a busy week and have lots of pictures to share. Here are some of the family pics we had taken. Finn slept through most of them, but we got some with his peepers open.

My Little Joey

Wes and I decided that we picked the wrong name for Finn. We should have named him Joey because he is like a baby kangaroo. He loves to be attached to the front of one of us. His favorite place to sleep is nestled on one of our chests. He is laying on mine currently. This is a picture I took while he was sleeping on my chest the other night. It was so cute because he had his arms wrapped around me.

Busy Week Continues

We got our family pictures taken Thursday and they turned out pretty well. Of course, Finn was asleep most of the time, but he woke up near the end so we have a few pictures with his eyes open. We spent a good amount of money on a picture package and also got a CD with the pictures on it. We tried to use the pictures from the CD to make holiday cards, but Walgreens said we needed a copyright release. If we purchased the images and have a CD, I don't know why we need a release too. I guess we won't do holiday cards this year. We will be doing really cute birth announcements though so watch for those.

Grandma Kandy babysat Friday so that Wes and I could go out for a few hours with his friends from work. We had a nice time, but I was ready to be home by 11. I was missing my boy!

Saturday, we took Finn out to dinner with Grandma Kandy and Great Grandma Eagan for a co-birthday celebration (G-ma Eagan Dec. 15, me Dec. 21). Finn slept the whole time and didn't make one peep.

Wes dressed Finn in his "I love my Mommy' sleeper in honor of my birthday yesterday. He was looking pretty cute. Grandma Kandy braved the cold to come over and babysit again so that Wes and I could go out to dinner for my birthday. We went to Silver Creek. It was delicious. Here are a couple pics we took right before we left.

Big Week So Far

This has been a busy week for us. Monday I went to get a haircut and run some errands - my first solo outing - and Finn and Wes had a boys afternoon. They must have worn each other out because after I got home, I took this classic father/son picture.

Tuesday we went to see the lactation consultant. Mr. Finnegan gained quite a bit of weight since our last visit. He now weighs 9 lbs. 6 oz. He's definitely eating well. In classic Finnegan form, he peed all over the place as soon as we took his diaper off to weigh him. He loves to pee in the open air and make a mess in his newly changed diaper. What a stinker!


Jill and Maya came to visit Tuesday evening. Maya is a great babysitter in training. She helped change 2 diapers.

Tomorrow we are going to get family pictures taken. We bought a super cute little outfit with a sweater vest and tie, but Finn has already outgrown it. Luckily, we bought it at a consignment shop so it only cost us $4. Guess he'll be wearing those overalls again. Everything else is either too small or too big. Hopefully I'll have some pics to post tomorrow...

Grandpa Will's Birthday

We took our first mini-roadtrip today to Springfield for Grandpa Will's birthday celebration. Finn got to meet Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Wayne, Uncle Jason, Aunt Kris, and his cousins Donoven and Austin - oh, and Riley, too. It was also the first time Finn fit into some newborn clothes. He looks awfully cute in his overalls and little shoes.

Finally a pic with mom!

Uncle Jason and the family check the little guy out.

Cousin Austin couldn't wait to hold Finn.

Mr. Popularity made the rounds and pretty much slept the whole time.

Time with Dad. Looking so big in his overalls!

We've had lots of visitors over the past few days. Of course the grandparents have been here. Jill, Maya, and Karen brought us dinner Wednesday. Gay brought dinner yesterday. Last night Tyler, Allison, and Emma came over and so did Grandma Kandy, Great Grandma Eagan, and Uncle Randy. We should have had the camera out to document the visitors.

Here are some pics we've taken over the past week. He changes everyday!

Thanks Aunt Jenny for the play mat!

Finn is really alert after his 9:00 feeding. Wes calls him the man of 1008 faces. Here is his inquisitive and happy faces and one big yawn.

Wes had been peed on 3 times, pooped on twice, and puked on once so Finn and I decided he needed some love. We put him in his "I love Daddy" onesie and swaddled him in his Cardinals blanket.

Finn's Birthday

And what a day it was. I am fuzzy on the timeline of the day, but here is what I remember:

I had been having mild contractions all day that were anywhere between 10-20 minutes apart. After midnight they started getting a little more frequent, but were still mild. I searched online awhile to see if I was being a paranoid first time mom or if I should go ahead and call the hospital. I finally decided at about 1:30 to just go to bed and if the contractions were strong enough to wake me up, I'd call the hospital. I had just drifted off to sleep and my water broke. I woke up Wes and off we went to the hospital driving through the first snowfall of the year.

Like I said, everything is a bit fuzzy for me, but I remember several hours of continued mild contractions and no dilation. At some point I was given pitocin to help me along. After 11 hours of steady contractions growing increasingly stronger, I finally gave in and got an epidural. It was magnificent. I continued to have contractions for the next se4veral hours, but never dilated past 8cm. At some point, Finn started reacting negatively to the contractions. His heartbeat would dip during the contraction and then would spike after it. I also had a fever and the doctor was concerned about the affect these things were having on Finn so they decided to give me a c-section. I was really disappointed, but was also concerned about Finn.

At 11:00 they wheeled me to the operating room and Finn was born at 11:27. He was 8 lbs, 1oz and 20.5 inches long. As soon as he was born, they held him up for me to see and then took him to the other side of the room. Wes was called over to cut the umbilical cord and then they took Finn away. We later found out that he had some respiratory issues and at some point his veins collapsed and there was a lack of blood flow. I don't remember all the details because the neonatal doctor came to talk to us after we got back to the room and all I heard him say was "he is doing fine now." Because of these things and the fact that I had a feve4r during labor, they decided to keep Finn in the NICU. He was on oxygen and antibiotics, but was eating well and responding normally. Wes got to go see him that night, but I didn't get to see him until the next day and we didn't get to hold him until Tuesday. We got to take him to our room Wednesday at about 5am and we all headed home Thursday early afternoon. It was not the way we expected things to work out, but we are just grateful that he is healthy and is doing well.

He is steadily gaining weight and is a great little guy. He sleeps from about midnight to 9am without any fuss and we have to wake him up for feedings (knock on wood).

Thanks, Sheryl!

I taught with Sheryl in both Urbana and Champaign. She started a blog after her son Trenton was born and created a new one after the recent birth of her second son, Oliver. Since she moved to New Jersey, I have checked her blog often to see how her family is doing. Since we have family and friends from Virginia (and New Jersey :) to California, I thought we could start a blog to keep everyone updated on how Finn and the rest of our family is doing.

Finn is currently sitting on Wes's lap while we watch the Bears try to come back from blowing the lead with less than 2 minutes to go. Oh, Illinois sports...

I'll be back soon to post Finn's birth story and some pics.