Life Lately in Pictures

Since I haven't posted much since Finnegan was born, I figured I would just post a bunch of pictures since we are now taking MILLIONS of pictures!

Our first real family outing to Long Trail Brewery!

At Tom's cousin's wedding where Finn slept the whole time !

Sleeping on dad's lap at the wedding.

We attempted the NY State Fair and saw the butter sculpture!

A little catnap at the Fair.

Only two hours at the Fair since Finn wasn't a fan!

Homemade Sangria!

He thinks his name is funny when mom says "Finnegan!" in a high pitched voice!

Took a day trip to walk around Lake George!

The start of our brewery tour at Fiddlehead.

Magic Hat!

Family picture at Magic Hat.

Busy day in Burlington!

Finnigan's Pub in Burlington so of course we had to get a drink [ even if it's spelt wrong! ]

Allagash White at the pub.

HeadyTopper at the pub.

Oh the Vermont State Fair [ a liiiittle smaller than the NY ]

First trip to the Rutland "mall." 

Overload of Finnegan Pictures!

Since Tom and I have decided that we don't want to post a ton of pictures of Finnegan on Facebook, we thought the blog would be a better spot since most of our friends and family follow it. Not that we won't post pictures at all on Facebook, we just don't want to post hundreds of pictures there. 

So here are a ton of pictures for family and friends and followers to enjoy...you've been warned!

P.S. I'll post a birth story at some point over the next couple of weeks [ it could take awhile to write ] so that some of the pictures make more sense!

Waiting for the midwife to come to the birth center at the hospital and break my water!

This was the first time I had ever been admitted to a hospital before [besides when I was born] so obviously we had to document the proof!

Finnegan Hartin Poole

Excuse my massively puffy face, but I almost had to have an emergency c-section so they pumped me full of saline which I didn't end up needing so ensues the swollen face!

My love for this man doubled when I saw this for the first time...

About to give Finn his first "bath."

The only part he liked, having his hair washed.

Loving his swaddle!

My mom holding her first grandchild!

My dad holding his first grandchild!

Getting ready to go home!

Obviously we needed a close up of his adorable going home outfit!

About to leave the hospital! Don't let Finn fool you, he loves the car and passes out the second it starts to move!

Just a few more since he's just so darn cute!

His hand is by his face 90% of the time - also part of the reason he was stuck during labor!

Passed out in Aunt Jess' arms.

Ubu decided to join us on the couch this morning even though there was only about an inch of room for all 76lbs of him!

My Birth Plan

As my due date has come and gone I figured I would post about my birth plan. As some know or may not, we are using a midwife and I'll be giving birth at a Birth Center that is attached to a hospital so that if an emergency does come up we do have help right there. We do use the L&D nurses and we've met a bunch who are sooo nice and all say they prefer working with the midwives since the atmosphere is so much more relaxed.

We actually don't have to put too much in our birth plan because a lot of what we want is already protocol not only for the midwives but for the hospital in general. I'll give birth and stay the next 36-48 hours all in the same room which is huge and soooo nice, its like a hotel. Some of the things we want that are standard is not being asked if I want medication - not even the nurses will ask unless I seriously bring it up; I want to labor in the spa tub, walk around, try different positions to help relieve pain and use the birthing stool, squat bar and birthing ball; wait to clamp the umbilical cord until it stops pulsating; have skin to skin time right away with the baby for an hour or longer; withhold all weighing, measuring, shots, etc. until after skin to skin time; dad gives baby first bath if wanted and in room; all newborn procedures done in room and in front of parents. There's more that I'm sure I'm missing but they keep it all as natural and as instinctual as possible. So in addition to all of that, here is the rest of our birth plan:

My Birth Plan:

I only want Tom present. My parents may visit me when they first get to the hospital but no one else is allowed to see me under any circumstances.

I am very private and modest and want to be as comfortable as possible and I’m not sure that is possible with new people present.

I prefer minimal internal exams or at my request only. (Midwives only do this once every 4 hours instead of the standard 2 but if I don't want them at the time I don't have to)

Concerning GBS Antibiotics: I want to start them once I have reached 6 or 7cm. I am hoping to only need one dose. I will try a heplock but only if I can have it in my forearm, not in my hand. I have a huge needle phobia and do not want this to be an issue. 

I do not want to be told when to push and do not want any counting while pushing.

Language about time is not okay. I do not want anyone to say, “you’re almost there,” “it’s almost over,” “it will be over soon,” or anything that has to do with time when I am pushing. It is ok to say “you’re strong,” “your baby’s moving forward,” etc. (As a marathon runner I hate when I still have 3 miles left and the crowd is cheering "you're almost there" when in fact three more miles is still a long time and is still very hard, even the last 100 yards is hard and from my point of view feels like forever away.)

Tom would like to catch the baby. 

We will provide clothing, hats and blankets for our baby as our family has a history of sensitive skin - we will be using organic clothing. 

I’d like Tom to stay with the baby at all times if I cannot be present.

I plan to breastfeed exclusively. 

I would like Tom to give the baby his first bath and with water only – no soap – again due to sensitive skin.

Please do not administer eye drops to my baby.

Please delay the administration of vitamin K and PKU testing until after breastfeeding and bonding. 

Please, no HepB vaccine for our baby. 

If C-Section if necessary due to emergency:

Tom should be present at ALL times.

I would like to have immediate contact with the baby.

I admire Baby-Friendly hospitals and would like skin-to-skin with the baby, keeping the mother-baby dyad together during the repair and recovery, and encouraging unlimited breast-feeding, even during initial recovery period. 

I would like Tom to stay with the baby at ALL times. He is to be the first to hold the baby – I want limited nurse interaction with the baby and have Tom perform any procedures possible.

So there it is. Not everyone will agree with what we want but we feel it's what is best for us. We also know that our birth may not go as planned which is why I wrote a part about a possible c-section but I want to try my hardest to have the birth go as planned. Here's to hoping he comes soon!!!

34 Weeks

How far along?: 34 weeks 

Maternity clothes: Still mostly non-maternity with stretchy skirts and dresses. I got a new stretchy red skirt from J.Crew and its so cute and I can wear it after so double plus!

Best moment this week: Going to Maine for our best friend's wedding! All of our college friends were there and we had a TON of fun all weekend catching up.   

Symptoms: Still a little tired but not as bad as before, but still pretty exhausted after a long weekend in Maine. 

Movement: So active! Tom even saw my stomach moving for the first time since every time I saw "look my stomach is moving!" he stops moving and Tom can't see it!

Food cravings: Nothing really.

Have you started to show yet?: Oh yes! Everyone at the wedding was so nice and said I was all belly and looked awesome - making a pregnant lady feel great even if it is a little bit of a lie!

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Mood: Happy that these next few weeks will hopefully fly by with all we have going on so he'll be here before we know it!

Looking forward to: A relaxing weekend. Tom has to work this weekend but I have nothing to do but nest! I have had the urge to nest a little but I'm exhausted at the end of the day so this weekend the house will be getting a deep clean!!!

Tom took some maternity pics of me on our way to Maine when we stopped in Ogunquit, ME and went to the beach. My dad grew up in Maine and went there as a kid a lot during the summer and I can see why! Here are a few more of the pictures!

You Want How Many Kids?

Tom and I get this a lot when we mention how many children we want. By the way, we want 4 although we know it is really up to God how many we are blessed with. We are hoping to not be blessed with more than that but if it happens it happens and we will figure out how to deal with it. I have one brother and Tom has two sisters (although he  only grew up with his older sister as his younger sister was adopted when he was a senior in high school) and as much as we love them we both want our kids to have multiple siblings and have a big family. My mom is one of four, my dad is one of two, Tom's dad is one of five and tom's mom is one of five with 5 (I think) other step-siblings so we both grew up with big extended families and LOVE that. So basically we want our children to have lots of siblings because we see how awesome it is through our parents.

We know financially it is more difficult to have 4 kids, but once Tom and I pay off our student loans (in hopefully 5-7 years) we will feel like millionaires considering our monthly payment is 2.5 times our mortgage right now. But we also know that our children will not be in the latest and greatest clothing and we're fine with that - they grow so fast anyway that to me it seems like the biggest waste to spend a lot of money on their clothes. We know that eating out will be a treat but that's how it is with us too since we only go out maybe once a month or on a special occasion.

College tuition is the only thing we know we will struggle with having 4 kids. Most people believe that their children should take out loans and that as parents they do not owe their kids a paid college education. But Tom and I believe education is the most important thing we can give our children and want to give them the best they can get. We also do not want our children to have to be in the insane school debt that we are in as it is a huge financial burden and if God forbid we were to loose our jobs there is no way unemployment could pay even half of our payment thats how much we owe. My parents paid almost all of my education but Tom's parents were not able to and he got very limited financial aid as he was in one of the most competitive physical therapy programs and they don't give scholarships so his loans are massive. We have already decided that we will be starting a college fund for each of our children as soon as they are born and then we will help out a much as we can so that they leave school with very minimal debt.

We are already planning a family vacation to Disney next July for our Little Man's 1st birthday :)

We still plan on taking family vacations every year by making sure we save throughout the year. We both love to travel and my parents traveled everywhere with my brother and I - from Hawaii to Europe - and we want our kids to travel to amazing places as well. Growing up my parents believed traveling was more important than having a summer camp or having "toys" like dirt bikes or 4 wheelers and as much as I wish we could have a summer camp and travel to Europe that won't be an option with 4 kids so traveling wins. Again, this means we will have to save and skip eating out except for special occasions, but traveling is important to us and we want all of our kids to experience that no matter how many we have.

So yes, 4 kids is "a lot" to most, but it is just right for us and we can't wait to grow our family :)

Blogging and why I suck at it

When I started this blog I thought I would post at least 4 times a day, join in link-ups, meet new friends, be witty [ I need to face the fact that I'm not an I never will be ], and that I would take way more pictures and post tons of them. Well that didn't really happen. It did for a little while and I have at least kept up with weekly bump updates but thats about it. I know I have a tendency to take on a lot at once [ I blame that on you mom :) ] and end up very overwhelmed but on the other hand I hate not being busy so it's hard for me to find that happy medium - and I'm pretty sure I have yet to find it, not sure I ever will either!

Life has just gotten in the way with Tom and I being gone almost every weekend and working full time plus having freelance work on top of that its all a bit much. So maybe I should aim for two or three posts a week and make them more interesting than just a link-up. 

I've tried to make blog friends, but again, I'm busy and I always have the intention to comment and just seem to forget because I get side tracked with other things on my agenda. 

Tom and I have gotten better at taking pictures - he even takes some and says "You can put these on your blog!" [ so the exclamation point may be an exaggeration ]. But then I forget to post/don't have time and then it just seems out of date to post something about our weekend that took place three weeks again [ i.e. our Ithaca weekend where we actually took a lot of pictures ]. And I had all intentions of posting about our weekend in Maine this past weekend but with the Boston bombings it just didn't seem right and I didn't want to write a post on Boston since everything makes me cry right now and that surely would too. 

So I promise to write more in-depth posts that are actually meaningful and I promise [ maybe ] to post more than once a week [ most of the time ]. Maybe I'll even begin to post design things although I'm not sure how interesting that will be to anyone. 

And I'll just add one of those Ithaca pictures for good measure!

My hot husband at breakfast at the one and only CTB of course!

*And FYI my inspiration for this post was Amber - thanks! [ and yes I mean to comment on your post and forgot :) ]