i heart december "mail time."

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merry merry christmas! finn's first!

bad mom alert. bad mom alert. this is one of the only pictures i snapped on christmas morning! i did however have them in matching festive pajamas so give me some credit there... here's what happened: our sweet liv woke up christmas eve morning with that dreaded throw-up virus. talk about heart-breaking! i mean to have the pukes is bad enough...but on christmas eve...the one day you WANT your children to be running around the house wild with excitement. i honestly have never seen her so sick. all our christmas eve plans went down the drain but at least i was able to snuggle with my little girl all day long. that's all she wanted was for me to hold her. so that's exactly what we did. that night, i asked her if she wanted me to help her write a note to santa to put beside the cookies. it said, "dear santa, on christmas i will feel better. that's it. love, liv." 7am rolled around...and our girl was back in full effect! i have to remind myself every single time how resilient kids are. it really is kinda amazing. we had a great, great christmas. i don't know which gift i'm loving most right now...the keurig coffee maker, my sonicare toothbrush or the adorb minnetonka boots. the day after christmas we went to kentucky for the week for a much-needed visit with family. a good time was had by all!

christmas card 2011.

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3 months!

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how we roll.

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instagram intervention.

i need one. almost as much as I need a pinterest one. and yes it's 2:58am and i'm a-bloggin. call it momsomnia. call it passing the time while your kiddo is getting milky... (yes he's 11weeks old and still loves his middle of the nite feedings.) anyways, wanted to post these goodies. happy christmas week!


1.) daddy smirk


2.) a mini fir for the dance teacher


3.) wrappin things up


4.) those stinking cheeks

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daddy!

everytime dutch walks in the door from being on shift...liv squeals his name and runs as hard as she can to be swept up in his arms. it gets me every time. as much as I'd love for him to be home every night...i really am so proud of him. he sees more disturbing sutuations in a 24 hour period than most of us have seen in a lifetime. he loves his job and I love him. snapped this sweet moment yesterday. he brought her home a pink fire helmet. the perfect accessory for all her princess dresses.


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schnizzle's back!

which means our 3 year old is a complete angel. gotta love that.



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2 months.

this pic was taken too late tonite & he got 4 shots at his doc appt today. so my sleepy dude wasn't really feelin our photo shoot. 2 month stats: healthy! thriving! and weighing in at 14 lb. 8 oz. seriously? this kid likes his tittee pie. haha.


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pic o the week.

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snugalicious.

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finn judson barrett.

i have tried to sit down and write about our son's entrance into this world so many times. to be completely honest, it was a bit too "raw" until now. it's difficult to even find the words to explain the emotions we've experienced the last 6 weeks of our lives. but i'm gonna try to find the words...so here the story goes.

i started having contractions about 10 minutes apart on wednesday, sept 21. they stayed consistent but still not close enough to go to the hospital. i labored all night and into the morning. the contractions were strong but not the "holy crap. this is it." kind. so i cuddled with liv knowing it was probably the last night she was my "only child", shaved my legs, finished packing my hospital bag & tried to rest, ha. dutch and i took liv to school thursday morning. the contractions were coming about 7 minutes apart. we then went "mall-walking", snagging starbucks and some new pjs for me. we walked a lot. all the while dutch timing with his "contraction app." we were excited. anxious. giddy. we knew it was getting close. finally about 11:15 am...i said, "it's time honey. let's do this." we arrived at the hospital just before noon. i wore a superwoman shirt. fast forward 10 hours. it was push time. (i'll spare you all the labor details.) but i will tell you it only took 4 pushes. and i'm not quite sure that's something you brag about or not...haha. but let's just say this momma has some push power. ;)

it's a boy!! o-m-g! what an awesome awesome surprise. one of each! should have known i had some testosterone flowing through my body the last 9 months. dutch and my mom were in the room with me. we were all exstatic of course. bring on the bow-ties and the suspenders. and we shall call him finn judson. it was important to dutch to have an irish name (his family is irish.) and finn had been the only irish name we both loved. judson is dutch's & his father's middle name. it wouldn't be long until we realized how perfectly fitting the meaning of his name, "giant warrior" would be.

they placed our son on my belly as dutch cut the cord. we were overjoyed. they took finn away to get his stats, get him cleaned up & suction him. and then they suctioned him. and sunctioned him. and sunctioned him. i looked over at dutch & could tell by his face something wasn't as it should be. just about that time, we got the news that our lil guy indeed had fluid in his lungs & would need to be admitted to the NICU to have a doctor check him out. the next 72 hours are honestly a complete blur.

the fluid in finn's lungs was more than just fluid. it was an infection, a bad furious infection. pnuemonia had set in and our son was a critically ill little boy. the pnuemonia caused finn's right lung to partially collapse & he had multiple tears in both lungs. he was put on life support. hearing the words "your child is in critical condtion" come out of a doctors mouth literally rips your heart out of your chest. you hear these stories where parents have babies that are sick. your heart breaks for them. but you just know "it would never happen to you." and if for some crazy reason that it DID, you can't imagine how you would react. i really contemplated on whether or not to post pictures of him while he is in the NICU. as much as i wanted it to be just a "bad memory" it's much more than that. it's an experience that surprisingly changed our lives for the better. of course, you couldn't tell me while it was happening. leaving the hospital without your baby in your arms truly (for lack of better words) sucks. dutch and i would literally hold each other up sometimes leaving each night.

of course i was a complete hot mess to say the least. the tears did not stop falling. i could not sleep. i could not eat. i was still in shock that this "supposed to be happy time" wasn't going as i had "visioned" and was more like a living nightmare. as much as i hate to admit this, i was more than just sad. i was mad. actually mad at God. that's so hard to write down but i just want to share how much i learned. i'll never forget this certain moment. i was sitting in a vacant hospital room while the doctors were attempting to put a pic line in finn. i was all by myself pumping my boobs so they could hopefully feed my breastmilk to him through a feeding tube. i was alone. and desperate. then something happened. God opened my eyes. he made me realize i had to not only have faith. i had to completely 100% LEAN on my faith. He had chosen ME to be finn's momma for a reason and it was then i realized how blessed i was to have this little boy. sick and all. i got peace. peace in my heart. this was all going to be in the "rearview mirror." i thanked God it was "just pneumonia" and he wasn't terminally ill. i went from "mad" to "thankful." soon after, we finally caught a break. the antibitics were working and finn was getting stronger. dutch and i were finally able to hold our son for the first time when he was 8 days old and after 2 long weeks, we finally went home as a family of four.

somehow, going through this experience made me fall even more in love with my husband. i really can't even tell you how amazing that man is. liv was and still is an absolute ray of sunshine. she kept our spirits lifted and was a nurse favorite. ;) it's funny how the things in life that you think are SO important can so quickly become so insignificant and downright just dumb. not only do i know i will be a better mom...i will be a better christian, wife, daughter and friend. we truly were BLOWN AWAY by how thoughtful and amazing our family and friends are. every single call, visit, text, care package, meal, facebook message and card meant so incredibly much. i know this post is all over the place but just one last thing. don't let the silly crap in life get you down. don't take things for granted. squeeze and kiss and love on your kids. all the time. soak up every sweet moment. and use lots of hand sanitizer this winter. hahaha. well, my healthy lil man is ready for his late-nite snack so duty calls... hey, you won't catch me complainin. ;)

smiles!

there's not many things i can think of in life that beats those first smiles from your newborn. i'm in love.



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hey kids!

although i feel like i'm chasing my tail 90% of the time, my home and car look like a bomb went off and i accomplish...um a whole lot of nothing. i LOVE having kidS. so happy. so blessed. so content. a sweet friend put it best, it takes a while to "come up for air." i don't have this new role of "momma of 2" conquered quite yet but my kids are loved. fed. and clean (most of the time.) and we have a lot of fun. at the end of the day, that's all that really matters, right?


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jesus + finn

we had finn dedicated at our church this morning. dutch's mom (gramma kathy) & uncle joe flew in from minnesota to be with us for this joyous occasion. it was so incredibly touching to stand in front of our church and know how many people had prayed for our sweet boy. what an awesome gorgeous day. we are so blessed! (ps. i really just heart bowties.)




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whistle while you work.

look who it is! snow white & the one dwarf. this is the ONLY pic I got of both of them. finn ate his beard & why does liv look like she has no teeth? haha. hope you all had a happy holla-ween.


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1 month.

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3.5

oh hey, okay im still looking for my hour to blog all about our lil man finn. but until then I had to give his big sis liv a shout-out for already being an amazing big sister and such a ray of sunshine. she was officially "free n a haf" yesterday. and it looks like she took it upon herself & decided she needed a photo opp to document the day. awesome.


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it's a...

B-O-Y! finn judson barrett arrived thursday september 22nd at 10:45 pm. weighing in at a plump 8 lb 5 oz. & 21 inches long. he is simply perfection and we are beyond thrilled to be blessed with this little boy. as most of you know, finn's birth did not go as we had "visioned" & i have so so so much i want to write about this. i've thought about it so many times on how to put into words on how the first two weeks of finn's life have changed all of our lives forever. how i experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows in 14 days. i need a good healthy hour with no distractions to really just blog my heart out...ha. and i need to be functioning on a bit more sleep. ;) but for now i just wanted to let the blogworld know i am alive. the barretts are officially a family of four. and are still thanking GOD every day for healing our sweet finn.

irish fest!

we clogged. liv got her face painted for the first time. we ate. we searched for good irish baby names. i snuck a couple swigs of guiness. good times.


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new obsession.

oh hey. i'm still pregnant. to be honest, i'm really not miserable...just super excited! i have lots of things i should blog about...but i have a new obsession that has sucked.me.in. & taken away from my bloggin time. holy pinterest! does everyone know about this? if not, sign up. it makes me think i'm going to be more organized, a cook, a professional decorater & leaves me inspired every single time i log in. but here's the truth...

haha. liv and dutch both had strep throat this week! ugh! glad this "bun" stayed in the oven to get us through that...& so thankful my immune system seems to kicking butt so far! oh! and i'm dilated to a "3." which supposedly doesn't mean much. keep you lovebugs "posted." xoxo.

afternoon chill session

i'm officially done working. i'm resting. nesting. & getting some priceless quality time with my gal. having contractions more frequently but nothing consistent. we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of this babe. can't wait for the best surprise ever! liv just "knows" it's a girl...who she's determined to name pink and purple barrett. awesome.


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hint, hint dutch.

do y'all believe in "push presents?" you know a lil sumpthin' that hubs so thoughtfully came up with all on his own to show his appreciation of gaining 40plus pounds and growing a healthy happy baby for the past 40 weeks. a lil 'sumpthin "thanking" you for pushing out that amazing bundle of joy. for being gorgeous, never complaning & just being a beautiful person inside and out. you know, that gift? well, whether you "believe" in them or not.. i sure as heck do. how sweet are these?

the ring is "stackable" to go with your wedding bands. stop it. it says mama.

and how perfect is this double-strand initial charm necklace for #2? hard to pre-order this one since we don't know if this peanut actually has nuts or not.. haha.

fat lip.

so get this. im totally that mom that spaced that I needed to get liv's updated shot records for preschool...oops. i finally had time to swing by the pediatrician's office today & pick em up. i even called ahead so they'd be ready & waiting. liv came with me. um, I don't really know what or how it happened but somehow my graceful child ran 90 mph directly into the front desk counter. immediately, blood was everywhere. no stiches needed but really? at least she knows to get injured at the right place. ice and nurses were there within seconds. ta ha.


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love this.

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a sprinkle.

do you have that one person in your life who you just randomly met one day, struck up a conversation, & have been great friends with ever since? well that one person in my life is my gal kristyn. she is such a dear & my creative go-to. she owns an adorable store called olivers twist. (follow her blog by clicking.) anyways, she offered to throw me not quite a baby shower, but just a lil sprinkle for babe barrett #2. ;) so thoughtful & i was honored. also so happy that it worked out my awesome texas family could be there. not a detail was missed. sweet tea (she knows me too well) & the most adorable "craft minute" you've ever seen. handmade onesies & burpcloths made with love by everyone there. it was laidback, fun, and simply perfect. thanks again k, i love your guts.

a week of firsts.

i remember after liv started walking feeling like all her "firsts" we're slowly dwindling. i was so wrong. not to get all mushy & deep, but seriously raising a child is the coolest. watching your lil baby turn into a lil person. this past week we had our first dance class (tap & ballet) & our first day of preschool. she rocked at both of them. although my daughter is not the youngest, she is definitely the smallest in her dance class. however, don't be fooled, she can shufflekick with the best of them. (haha, go ahead and call me into that TLC show.) & as far as preschool goes...how about learning (& nailing) the days of the week already. i'm one proud momma. can u tell? never say never. im one braggin blogger, ta ha! happy weekend folks!












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warning: photoshoot overload

last weekend we had the honor of my adorable friend & hilarious fellow blogger, courtney's sister (did you follow all that?) capture this moment where we are in our lives. i'm gonna be the first to tell you i LOVE being pregnant...but this gal here has not missed A meal. or a snack. or any opportunity to take a bite of food in general for the last 35 weeks. 35 weeks pregs & 35 pounds i have gained. i embrace it. oh yes i have to do double, sometimes triple-takes when i pass by a mirror...but i'm fat. happy. glowing and growing. and up for the challenge post-babe. all that being said, i wasn't quite sure how i was going to feel about having a "photoshoot" after weeks of having 100+ heat & major water retention. um, i may look a bit "swoll" but putting my selfish whining self byside...holy crap, i love our pictures! i got the cd of photos in the mail last nite & i'm just over the moon for how she captured my sweet husband & lil girl. so here's a warning: i majorly tried to limit what to post on here. but there's a lot. & i don't know how to do a slideshow. and it's my blog so i can do what i want, right? thanks again heather for your time! you rocked it lady. you are simply a doll. a talented doll. enjoy the overload folks!

p.s. yes, that balloon is real. and it took me about 14-18 minutes to get it in my car.