Best News!!

The best news of all was the arrival of our sweet new baby boy. Lincoln Alan Schmidt was born on February 11th at 4:10 pm.

How about a little birth story?

I went in to be induced at 7:00 am on February 11th. I was given some sort of tablet to get me all ready for labor at about 9:00. At 1:00 I was started on pitocin and the doc came and broke my water. Things definitely picked up after that! It wasn't long before I started having contractions. I can't remember how long after, but eventually I called for an epidural and all was good with the world again! :)

After a bit I thought I would get comfortable and take a nap for a until it was time to have a baby! As I was settling down, I started to feel a little funny and uncomfortable. I thought maybe I was just feeling some contractions, but the longer I sat there the more pressure I was feeling. I asked my mom to go get the nurse to check me just in case. When she came in we could tell nurse Julie thought I was being silly and there was no way I was even close to ready. And when she checked I was only a 6. While she was in the room, though, I guess she noticed something on my monitors because she got a concerned look on her face, gave me an oxygen mask, and told us she was going to get her charge nurse. Out in the hall I heard "O.R." and was praying they weren't referring to me. All of the sudden nurse Julie and the charge nurse came in started unhooking me, told me the baby's heart rate was dropping and they were going to take me to the operating room in case it didn't come back up and they needed to do a c-section. NO!!!

Thankfully my doc came in said hold on a sec, everything's fine! The babe's heartrate was already coming back up. Then he checked me and I was at a 9!! Take that nurse Julie! We were going to have a baby! The reason I felt uncomfortable was because the baby was descending like crazy all of the sudden (also the reason his heart rate dropped for a bit).

This is me as the nurses were prepping everything for the delivery.

Then it was time to push! I pushed through 4 or 5 contractions (about 12 times) and he was here! It was fast and crazy and awesome.

Here's our beautiful Lincoln. He weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long (just like his brother!)

My awesome doc, Dr. Barmeyer.

Grandma and Lincoln

In the car on the way home.

Parker meeting his baby brother for the first time! :)

We are all absolutely thrilled (even Parker). Lincoln is such a great baby. He eats great and sleeps even better. Unlike Parker, he doesn't look EXACTLY like Sam, so I can claim this one. He even has a little dimple! Parker already loves him and is constantly oohing and ahhing over him, and loves to hold him and give him kisses.

Heavenly Father has blessed us immensely in the past couple weeks, and we are humbled by all that we have been given, especially this sweet little man.

Good News.

As Sam was being discharged from the hospital on Monday, he got a call from someone in the admissions department at Emory University in Atlanta offering him a full scholarship!!! I'm so proud of my awesome hubby!

We're still waiting to hear from some other schools, but Atlanta may be our new home this Fall!

Bad News.

We have had a CRAZY couple weeks around here! It started with the birth of our gorgeous baby boy (more on that later) and continued with Sam ending up in the hospital for some emergency surgery.

Last Thursday I got a call from Sam as I was pulling into the driveway of my grandmother's house (almost 2 hours away) that he was going to the hospital. He had been having troubles with his gallbladder for a couple months and actually had a surgery scheduled to have it removed in the beginning of March. But he had a pretty serious attack and the pain persisted, so he went to have it checked out. He was admitted on Thursday night, had surgery Sunday morning, and FINALLY came home Monday afternoon.

Needless to say it was a long few days! THANK GOODNESS my mom was here until Saturday. He is recovering well and should be back on his feet in a couple days! Silver lining: Sam was planning on taking this week off anyway, but now he can use sick days and save those vacation days!

Newport

Last weekend we headed up to check out Newport Beach. It's one of those things we wanted to check off our list while we're still living in Cali and before this baby comes! We drove by the Newport temple, grabbed some lunch, and walked around and explored a bit! We also stopped and got a Balboa Bar before heading home. Yum!

Christmas Day

We had such a fun Christmas morning...and then afternoon at our house! Parker was present-ed out by about 10:00 so we had to take a little break and then finish later! I wish everyday could be Christmas because we had such a fun time watching the man get so excited about everything!

I hate videos of myself (especially first thing in the morning with no make-up), but here's one of Parker's reaction to all the gifts.

Trying out his new chair from Grandma and Grandpa Scholl

Opening a present, granola bar in hand

Of course he wanted to play with each gift after he opened it. He loved his train from Great Grandma and Grandpa Best

The aftermath

That evening we headed over to Jim and Terri's house for Christmas dinner. The food was delicious, so was the company, and Parker continued to be spoiled!

Opening more presents with daddy--I think by this time he had had enough!

With (my) Grandma Scholl and Aunt Vicki

Some of the crew at dinner

Our first Christmas on our own was definitely a success!

Christmas Eve

This was the first year we spent Christmas away from either of our families. I think it was a little bittersweet for us. We definitely missed our parents and siblings, but also really enjoyed spending so much time, just the three of us! Ashley's extended family in San Diego also took good care of us and fed us on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve we spent some time at David & Solveig's new house, where Parker received his first round of gifts!

A new airplane from Great-Grandma Scholl

Later that evening we opened our traditional Christmas jammies. Parker was really getting the hang of ripping off the paper.

I wanted to take a family picture by the tree, but Parker was not having any of it. Here are some I snapped while trying to set up the camera.

After Parker was in bed Sam and I enjoyed some peace and quiet, and fondue!

Then we got to play Santa!! I told Sam that setting up all the gifts made me feel like a parent for the first time!

Free Music!

Did you know you can download a whole holiday album for FREE on iTunes? It's not totally lame either!

Check it out!