2021 In Review: A Rough Year

Welp, Tommy's five (FIVE!), and Jonah's19 months.

What. even. the heck?

Aren't they handsome??

Tom's in preschool and thriving, having an outlet three times a week for that massive brain of his has been so good for him. Honestly, what they're learning is more of a cute little review for Tommy (who reads books on the solar system with little to no help, thank you very much), but it's been good for him to interact with kids his own age, and to get his feet wet with the whole school thing. He loves his teachers, Miss Laurel and Miss Lynda, and he comes home so proud to show us the latest project they've been working on. I go to his first parent teacher conference next Tuesday, and I'm so excited to hear how he's doing socially!

He's a good little climber.

Tom gave me about a zillion flowers 
when we were camping in Island Park.

The boots and the swimmies and
that smile have me SWOONING.

First day of preschool!

This boy works hard and plays hard,
and when he crashes, he crashes hard, too.

Jonah is thinning out (I'm not crying, you're crying), but he's still a very solid little fellow. At their most recent check-ups, it was discovered that Jonah's only 11 pounds behind his big brother; he'll catch up in no time! He prefers growling to words, but he has a handful that he uses regularly, including but not limited to: no, yes, uh-oh, WOW!, nomnomnom, up, arf!, Papa, Nana, Dad, and MOOOOOOM! He loves Gramp-O better than anyone or anything; the other evening, he saw a picture of Gramp-O and started crying because he couldn't have the real thing right that minute. He's a love-bug who has been known to cuddle with anything from blankets to toy trucks, but he's extra lovey with his stuffies, especially his orange Care Bear (which he lovingly calls bear-bear).

How can he be so cute??

He ate apples like a normal human for about a month.
Now, if given a whole apple, he'll chomp on it, and spit
out little bits of skin, leaving them all over the house.

I love this picture.

I love this boy.

And he loves his stuffies.

We've had an eventful year with seemingly extra stress, and even if I'm on the verge of a mental and emotional breakdown, I've got to give my boys credit for how well they seem to have dealt with the changes. 

Our biggest news of the year is that WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We finally decided that Idaho wasn't in the cards for us, so we started looking at houses all over Cache Valley near the beginning of the year, and what a freaking market it was. We didn't have the option of being picky, because everything in our budget didn't stay on the market for even a full week. We bid on 6 different homes, between Smithfield and Hyrum, offering $40-50k above asking price, and we were outbid every dang time. 

Our supposed failure to win a bid was a hard pill to swallow, so we took a little break to lick our wounds; we ended our lease in our apartment (where we'd lived our entire marriage!), moved into my older brother's basement apartment, and lucked into the dreamiest Spanish-style house that never hit the market. (I say "luck," but really, it was an answer to prayers, and I have no doubt that God pulled all sorts of strings to get us into our home.) We closed on August 2 and got the keys on August 24. 

We love her.

There was lots to do to get it move-in ready, so we spent as much time as we could on nights and weekends working on the house. Andy did the lion's share, and I'm so grateful to him for his hard work.

We moved in Halloweekend, and being in our very own home in the charming-est neighborhood in my hometown has been what dreams are made of.

In other news, Andy and I are commuting from Brigham to Logan every weekday, which has been a little stressful. We had a babysitter all ready to go in August, and Tommy fell of her tramp and broke his arm within 2 hours of his first day there—his second broken bone in 9 months' time. Our sitter was offered a job she'd applied for months earlier, so she watched the boys a total of three times, and we had to search for another sitter after school had begun and childcare everywhere was full. My folks ended up watching the boys until we found a sitter we felt good about; I don't know what we'd have done without my parents and all their help. Words fail to fully express my gratitude.

We love Gramp-O and Gramm-O!

In the midst of house renovations, the Great Sitter Search of '21, and Tom's broken arm, Jonah got pukey every weekend, and Tommy got a pressure wound on his hand (between his thumb and first finger) from his cast. When I tell you that this wound was heinous and left Tommy and (mostly) me traumatized, it's not an exaggeration. It was a horrific laceration, and getting him to hold still so the doctor could remove the offending portion of the cast has given me PTSD. Long story short: we ended up going to wound care in Logan a few times to see a specialist; the nurses there were so calm, and bless their hearts for working with wounds for a living. Woof. The doctor and nurses were astounded at how quickly Tommy healed; they knew he'd heal fairly quickly, especially in comparison to the typical wound-care patient—but man alive, my boy's wound sealed itself up not unlike Wolverine. 

WARNING: if you don't do blood, skip these pictures. Only one is truly graphic, but I'm putting Tom's pressure wound here for future posterity.

August 17, the day Tom broke his humerus.

Finding a comfortable position for sleeping was hard!

This was two weeks in. The doctor kept him in a soft cast,
so we switched the outer color every couple of weeks.

September 14, 5:01pm.
I was equal parts prayers & swears.

Poor buddy. I gave him lots of 
ibuprofen over the next few days.

This was two days later, before we 
got specialized care for his wound.

September 26.

October 1.
ASTOUNDING!

Jonah's pukey-ness ended up being, I think, stress. It went away when we moved into our house. Hip, hip! HOORAY!

Although 2021 will go in the books as ridiculously stressful for our little family, we've learned a lot about ourselves individually and as a crew. We've recognized our blessings along the way, and we're so grateful to have each other.

And our beautiful old home!

and then we were four

My pregnancy with Jonah was really quite easy; I had pretty heinous heartburn, but no nausea, no cankles, and more energy than I thought I'd have while simultaneously growing a human and chasing a preschooler around. I'm so grateful it went so smoothly.

This was my last bump pic.

We found out Jonah was a boy at about 10 weeks with Sneak Peek. I was honestly a little shocked it wasn't a girl, because this pregnancy was so different from my pregnancies with Tommy and Benji (who I miscarried in March 2019). We had a girl name picked out (Sunny Kate) and were a little stumped on what to name a boy.

We were surprised he wasn't a girl, but thrilled; we had fallen in love with the idea of two boys when I was pregnant with Benji. We were stuck between Jude and Jonah, so we asked Tommy which he liked better; he wouldn't even say "Jude," just kept saying "Jonah" on repeat, in the cutest little voice, and we kind of forgot about Jude (which was initially the frontrunner).

He was so little, pre-Jonah!

 

Anyway, Jonah's due date was May 25, but when Dr. Peteresen offered to strip my membranes a couple weeks early, I let him.

I had my appointment at exactly 38 weeks and had no idea how quickly it would work, or if it would work at all. I went home from my appointment feeling a bit crampy, wondering "Is this labor?" (you really do forget!), but I it didn't get truly uncomfortable at all that evening.

The next morning, I woke up just after 5:30 (after a terrible night's sleep) with contractions, so I laid down on the couch and started timing them; they were about 4-5 minutes apart and pretty uncomfortable, so I told Andy, "I think we're having a baby today" and got all sorts of emotional thinking about how Tommy's life was about to change dramatically and he didn't even understand what was coming, blah blah blah...

I called my folks, and Andy went to work quickly just to get some pressing things done. As soon as my folks got to Logan, I texted Andy (who had been at work for less than 30 minutes), because the contractions were more intense and closer together (3-ish minutes apart). 

When Andy got home, he and my dad gave me a blessing, and then we made our way to the hospital at about 9:00. There were a couple of ladies doing temperature checks (because Covid), and one of them saw me stop to breathe through a contraction in the parking lot, so she met us at the entrance with a wheelchair, and boy was I grateful to be wheeled into L&D! We got checked in very quickly, thanks to pre-registration. I was already dilated to a six, and the contractions were really uncomfortable, so I told my nurse I wanted an epidural as soon as possible. I got a Covid test ("the swab that touched my brain," as I like to call it) during a particularly painful contraction, so I didn't really notice how uncomfortable it may have otherwise been. 

At around 10:15, I got my epidural, also during a particularly uncomfortable contraction. (My contractions were so close together that there was no avoiding it.) 

My nurse came to check on me around 11:00, said I was at a 10, and that my water had just broken; she called in the cavalry (the on-call doctor, since it was Dr. Petersen's day off, plus some NICU nurses). 

Everything about the delivery was so surreal, and so different from Tommy's delivery. One of the nurses asked Andy about the hat he was wearing, and Dr. Erica Smith (the on-call doctor) replied, "It's a fly fishing company." Then the NICU nurse asked what Andy's favorite fishing spots are, Dr. Smith talked about fishing in Alaska, and the whole thing was so pleasant. 

I pushed through three contractions, and Jonah was here. Amidst talk of fly fishing. I didn't even have time to cry because it all happened so fast.

He was born at 11:13am, and I felt like I'd been waiting my whole life to meet him

his strawberry hair knocked me dead

7 lb 12 oz and 19 inches of perfection

My sweeeeeet boy!

So. I was in labor for less than 6 hours, and in L&D for just over 2. The whole thing was pleasant, and so was my brand new son. 

Having a baby during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic was interesting and scary; we weren't entirely sure Andy would be allowed to be with me, and we definitely couldn't have any visitors. But we were also left alone as much as possible, which meant we could focus on each other without interruption.

I was initially crushed that Tommy and Jonah couldn't meet in the hospital, it was a moment I'd been anticipating and looking forward to. But when they finally got to meet, in our own home, it was more beautiful than anything I could've dreamt up.

My folks took Tommy home with them for a couple of nights and brought him back on the morning of May 14. I was a weepy mess watching Tommy meet his little brother for the first time, and there was such a profound feeling of peace, having us all together. We were complete!

Their meeting was so tender and sweet!

Gramma Orgill and her littlest grand babies

MY BOYS

Tommy was sweet to make sure Jonah always had stuffies to love on

We ARE complete. Jonah is the sweetest little caboose, and he makes our life so much brighter. We all know 2020 was a bit of a crap-storm, but Jonah made our year one of peace and joy.

brothers

 Tommy has a brother. We call him Jonah, and he's a chubby little dream.

Birth story coming soon. 

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Tommy and Jonah.

Tommy loves reading to Jonah/fall 2020

family pictures/October 2020

Tommy loves Jonah, but hates cooperating for pictures/Thanksgiving 2020

Matching jammies on Christmas Eve

Matching outfits on Christmas Day

I feel so lucky I get to be their Momma. They like each other, they love each other, and I swear Tommy has been waiting his whole life to fulfill his role of being a big brother.

More later.