Merry Christmas & Molly/Grandma Arrived!

We arrived home from the hospital on Tuesday 12/22 and had a lot of fun getting adjusted to our new routine right before the Christmas Holiday Fun!

Napping Cutie

Figured out I have to Swaddle this guy with hands OUT

He must have been in the womb with his hands near his face at all times :)

 Awesome Delivery from my Team at Work

Personalized Book Bag for New Big Sister Maci

Yummy & Cute Baby Boy Gift Basket 

They are the Best!

 First Sponge Bath!

Loved the Towel (Thanks Rogers) but didn't care for the water!

 He Sleeps a Lot per Maci - I am ok with it!

Christmas Eve
Maci went to school for a few hours for us in the morning while we took Connor to his first pediatrician appointment.  He weighed in at 6lbs and 13oz when we left the hospital on Tuesday and that was the same weight on Thursday.  Everything seems great with him and we aren't having jaundice or hip issues like we had with Maci.  I am not worrying that we are having weight issues again as I have been religiously pumping vs dealing with a picky nurser again.  I see how much he has been eating but just to be safe and given Maci's history, we are going to have him hit the pediatrician again this coming Tuesday for a weight check.  I am excited that we see Dr Pat who is our favorite Dr for Maci to so if nothing else, he gets to meet my fav Dr!

After Pediatrician, we headed home for a feeding, picked up Maci around lunch and then ate at Potbelly as a family.  However, I am queen anal around germs so Connor really just sits in a car seat with a blanket over him the entire time :)  We then headed home to get in the holiday spirit.  We watched several movies, listened to carols, tidied the house etc.  We made Skyline (Ohio Favorite) for dinner and Face Timed with my side of family/friends who were at the annual Maury's Tiny Cove Christmas Eve dinner.  Then it was about time to get everyone ready for bed and await Santa's arrival.

Little Man in his Snow Man Outfit - Thanks Jamie & Richard! 

 Chilling with his Fat Buddy Boomer

 Attempting to do a true Swaddle & Nap in Crib

Only time his eyes are open :)

 Hands in the air again!

 Laying out Reindeer Food

 We Met Santa & Helped him Lay Out Gifts

Christmas Day
Maci woke up around 730a, just in time for a Connor feeding.  We headed downstairs to see if Santa came and Miss M was quite excited to see the princess dresses and Minnie Mouse that Santa left for her.  Clint made a nice wood burning fire in the living room and we played Christmas music while opening gifts.  Miss M was at such a fun age this year - she actually understood what it meant to open a gift and would react so strongly to every item.  She also wanted to stop opening gifts and open to play with every single toy she received :)  She also enjoyed helping Clint, Me and Connor open our gifts, limited compared to her loot!

Stamp Markers & Lipstick (Minnie Mouse Chapstick)

 Hat & Monkey from Gilroy Grandparents

 Play Dishes from Aunt Meghan, Uncle Nicholas & Cousin Preston

 Rapunzel Doll from God Mommy Christie

 Connor & His UPS Bus from Grandma Gilroy

 Elsa Doll (Favorite Gift) & Play Food from Aunt Meghan/Uncle Nicholas

 Thanks Aunt Trish for my Princess Gear

 Holding Brother on Christmas Day!

 Scared to Stand by the Fire

Cool Kinetic Sand

 Princess Sticker Book

 Sweet Girl

 Frozen Magnetic Dolls

 The Girl and her Loot - She Must be Good

After presents, we made some family breakfast and then spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon cleaning up, opening/playing with toys and just enjoying our little family of 4.  My heart was so full the entire day :)  Around 230p Maci and Clint took naps but I got some jolt of energy and re-organized the entire play room, upstairs toy box and game closet in the house.  I was able to pack away all gender neutral baby toys for Connor, made a pitch pile of mainly junk McDonald toys, created a sell pile of girl items that we no longer need and lastly a give away pile ready for Goodwill. Ahhh it felt so good to purge after introducing all sorts of new toys into the house - I love organizing!  Alas it was 430p and I had to start getting ready for our fun family dinner out at Benihana.  It is quite interesting attempting to get 4 people out of the house.  Clint is a huge help but I still end up being the one mainly preparing 3 of the 4 people in order to leave the house.  It also doesn't help when lil guy pees on himself and Maci runs around singing Christmas carols :)

Napping with all her Dolls

Family Pictures Before Dinner!

Maci was a really good girl at dinner.  She was allowed to bring her Elsa doll and she was mesmerized by the chef most of the meal.  She was very excited to get corn with her kids meal and loved the Yum Yum sauce!  I was so happy to have a cocktail and to get out of the house in normal clothes!

Family Selfie

 My Dinner Buddies

 Little Mans Dinner Plans

Slept the Entire Time Under a Blanket in the Car seat 

Do NOT Touch the Baby!!  ;-)

After dinner, we came home to watch a movie and I zonked on the couch in no time - I think the sleep deprivation started to set in - ugh sleep issues!

Saturday - Grandma & Molly Come!

We were so excited to pick up Mom & Molly at the airport around 1030a.  Maci must have said 100 times "Dad, you and Connor stay in the car and Mom & me will go in to get them."  She was so excited and held my hand the whole time as we waited at the bottom of the escalator.  Finally we saw Molly's hair and Maci ran to the both of them to give big hugs!  We grabbed some bagels on the way home, got situated with their bags and introduced them to Connor.

Grandma & Connor Rocking

Later in the afternoon, Molly and I ran to the grocery for the week and bought some champagne for NYE later in the week.  It was again nice to get out of the house and my first time driving since having Mr C - I like feeling normal again.  I ended up hitting a WALL late last night and headed to bed with a pounding headache after the 9p feeding.  I long for uninterrupted sleep again!  Clint felt a bit better so he hung a bit longer drinking his nog and Jack with my Mom & Molly all while watching HG TV - mom's fav.

Sunday - 

Maci has gotten a bit out of control being in the house with all of us.  She is so excited they are here, hasn't napped in 2 days, is out of her routine and gets told to be quiet all the time for this new little baby.  I can feel for her but she is driving me nuts.  I think today my mom and Molly realized why I said she will go to daycare for at least a few hours each day this week while they are visiting.  She needs to go to daycare to be in routine, play with other little kids and burn energy.  In order to burn energy today, Clint took Maci out in some of the newly fallen snow.  My mom joined them for a bit while Molly and I relaxed around the house.  Later in the afternoon, Molly, mom and I headed out for a little shopping at Nordstrom Rack and TJ Maxx in our neighborhood.  Molly and I then cleaned my closets/drawers in an effort to purge some more and prepare to sell maternity clothes.  We ended the day with some dinner and now are enjoying a Vikings win on Sunday night Football.  It is exciting to see my 2 favorite teams having such good seasons - let's keep it up!

Ready for Snow

 Grandma & Connor Cuddling

 Molly Reading Maci to Sleep

Yes, she is already asleep - No Naps will do that to an almost 3 Year Old!

We are looking forward to an entire week with Molly & my mom.  In addition, I am excited for NYE and the feeling of a new beginning that comes with each new year.  We were so blessed in 2015 and hope 2016 just keeps getting better!

Lots of Love & Wishing you a Safe & Joyous New Year!
Clint, Kellie, Maci and Connor

Special Blog Edition - Welcome Connor Michael Mondell!!

Connor's Birth Story :
Well we had an eventful weekend/early part of this blessed Christmas week!  I know I missed updating the blog this past Sunday night but for good reason.  Basically all last week was contractions every single night like ground hog day but eventually I would fall asleep and then have the whole thing happen again the next night.  However, on Saturday we took matters into our own hands and did some good walking at Mall of America (very desperate measure seeing as it was the last Saturday before Christmas) :)  However, I was getting really scared this baby wasn't waiting for the 28th and I didn't want to be in a hospital on Christmas if possible.  Saturday evening contractions started to happen a bit more regularly and stronger.  In addition, I just felt "off" and couldn't sleep.  Finally at 5a I told Clint I couldn't take it and we decided to call the on call Dr with the contractions sometimes hitting 5 mins apart.  She sent us into the hospital and THANK GOD for our good friends the Cassem's who basically took on Maci as their own for the last few days.  We were at the hospital until about 11a when we made the call that while I was having contractions, they weren't the kind to be strong enough to progress dilation.  The nurses and doctors swore we would be back but they also believed I would be more comfortable at home to attempt to rest, bath, eat etc.  At the same time, the on call doctor convinced me to consider a V-back (vaginal delivery post C-Section).  She helped me understand the small risks, easier recovery, rationale for why I was such a good candidate (breach babies are the best as there was nothing wrong with the mother/baby, just positioning of the baby) and his head was SO low.  Of course, I wouldn't agree to this until she did an ultra sound to prove it was indeed the head - been through that rodeo once before!  So there we were back at home and basically up for over 24 hours.  I was able to sleep for 1 hour but these darn contractions were fierce.  However, while intensity kept picking up, the spacing was still varied.  By 7p, I didn't care if they were only about 7 or 8 mins apart - I needed pain management!  We called the Dr who was the same one from earlier in the day and said, come on in.  Thankfully I was at 4 1/2 centimeters at that point so the contractions had been causing me to progress so we were admitted, a baby was coming!  I struggled through some contractions and finally said I was ready for the epidural.  Thankfully, this epidural seemed to work better than the one with Maci.  After the epidural, the Dr broke my water and confirmed I was already at 6 centimeters.  I was quite pleased to hear I was progressing so quickly since I had the last time with Maci but that was due to pitocin.  I really wanted to avoid that drug but I also wanted to avoid a 24 hour labor/delivery as well.  So we have the epidural (ouch) and we are attempting to get some rest.  Well that lasted 1 hour.  I called the nurse back in saying I felt somewhat sick to my stomach to see if I could have any anti nausea meds in my IV.  While she is in the room I literally "LOST IT."  Clint can attest to the CRAZY Kellie that came out around that time.  I was now at about 9 centimeters - yes 6 to 9 in one hour - I guess I should say I am lucky but that means TURBO labor - per my Dr.  The epidural that had been my friend was now not working for one band of space across my groin area.  Therefore, every single contraction (2 mins apart) were being felt and causing me to FLIP THE HELL out!  The nurse and Clint said I did great but I was saying things that could make anyone blush, telling Clint to stop talking like I wasn't in the room and encouraging my nurse to "figure out a way to get this baby out now!"  Pretty sure I said I cant do this 100 times.  We eventually decided I needed another epidural since it should have been providing more comfort and seemed to have come out of my spine a bit.  So yes, epidural #2 (Ouch!) and an anesthesiologist who kept asking "Pain or Pressure" - I was about to give him Pain Ha :)  As soon as that epidural was in and I was checked - we were fully dilated!  They debated letting me labor down, to allow the head to come even further.  However, it was pretty low, I was losing my shit (per earlier notes) and they knew the pain may not leave.  So at 320a I started to push which I am told by multiple medical professionals I am good at - probably because I wanted that kid out!  Especially when the Dr promised I would immediately feel better once that occurred :)  Thankfully due to my great pushing and with the help of a vacuum (Mr Connor's head was a bit stuck) - I had a baby in my arms by 335a!  Fortunately the vacuum caused no issues and only some bruising on his face, not the vacuum but probably pressure of his face pushing against a bone for so long.  It was such an emotional moment and I felt like a true warrior for having gotten my "shit" together, focusing and getting him out when it mattered!  Clint will tell you that he has a new found respect for me - not that the C-Section wasn't crazy but I think he knew how much I had to do this for it to have happened - very sweet :)

 We had some words about the kicking and LOW head the last few weeks ;-)

It was so nice to hold my baby right away and cuddle with him while medical procedures were finished on me vs laying in an O.R. while Clint and baby headed off.  He was a huge (for me) 7lbs 4oz and 20 inches in length.  All initial checks came out great!  We were in our new room by 530a and at this point I had been up for basically 48 hours - Ahh I was delirious!  However, I had so much adrenaline pumping that we took some time to announce his arrival.

First Daddy & Connor Picture

Around 9a on his birthday (Dec 21st) the Doctors started rolling in and I remembered the constant interruptions that is being in a hospital.  It is funny how the first time I wanted every Dr visitor to come in so I could share our story, ask questions etc.  This time, I wanted to get some sleep!  Mr C got his first bath that morning and we were able to dress our buddy.

The day went on with cat naps here and there - some bad hospital food and fortunately no real eventful moments.  I was progressing nicely and so was he.  We found out there should be no reason that we wouldn't be sent home late morning the next day.  WOW what a difference after 4 days in the hospital last time but man were we ready to hear that this time!  So today we mainly wrapped up checks, had C circumcised and packed our bags.  We were sent on our way with well wishes around noon.

Oh and what was M doing this whole time you wonder?!  Well she had a ball with the Cassem family which includes her BFF Natalie.  The pictures from their slumber party last night are so freaking adorable.  I hear they were fairly talkative until 10p but finally crashed.  At one point they heard Natalie say on the monitor "Maci, you are too loud and hurt my ears" - Yep sounds about right!

Once we got home today, we did some tidying around the house and unpacked while Maci was taking her nap at daycare.  Dad went to get her at about 330p and I got the camera ready.  Maci didnt disappoint with her reaction!  She was looking all over for him and then kept talking about how all he does is sleep.  She was so excited to see him in all his baby gear - bouncer, swing etc.  Then she wanted to hold him but was quick to take a few pictures and then ask to have him promptly removed from her :)

We are now attempting to settle into being a family of 4 and on such a fun holiday week!  We are so excited for Christmas with our best gift and to see Mom/Molly starting the day after Christmas!  Thank you to each and every one of you for all the sweet well wishes and congratulations!  We are over the moon right now with our blessed life and family.  We look forward to catching up with each of you soon.  In the meantime, enjoy this adorable moment from this evening - who doesn't love daddy?!

Lots of Love & Merry Christmas!
Clint, Kellie, Maci & Connor