Maxwell Vaughn Sorensen

Our sweet Maxwell Vaughn Sorensen was born on 4/24/2014 at 12:29pm weighing 9 lbs 3 oz, 20 inches long and perfect in every way. It is with heavy hearts that we share his short life- Max had some unforeseen complications and returned to live with our Heavenly Father after about an hour. We are heartbroken but are so thankful for tender mercies and the plan of salvation. 

baby eve

Had my pre-op this morning and stuff got real, real fast We went over the surgery instructions and got my bracelet and took my blood and it seems so crazy that it's time to deliver. In 24 hours we will have a new fresh froggy baby! As I sit here and type this, he is rolling all over the place- these are my last moments of inside movements and I'm enjoying them slash also ready for him to get out of me. He is sitting higher than my other babies, and it makes breathing hard and bending hard. Linc was so low he was WAY more comfortable. Every baby is so different.

I was on my way back to my mom's to pick up the kids and bring them home for naps and I realized this is my last day with two kids. Ever. Lincoln will only be the baby a little bit longer and of course I started getting teary- I feel like he was JUST born! I'm trying to tidy the house and pack my bag and do all the last minute things that are on my list but really all I want to do is hold my sleeping toddler and play chutes and ladders with my girl. We are dropping off the kids at my parents' tomorrow on our way to the hospital and my heart already aches to leave them.

I appreciate my time in Sacramento with Isabelle so much more now. It was like a vacation from regular life where we just spent scads of time together. So thankful for that, she is such a sweetie pie. I'm a little nervous about this transition for Lincoln. He's my boy. Still such a baby.

Tomorrow will be one of my most important and special days, and the anticipation is killing me. I can't wait to see what he looks like (and what we end up naming him...) and see my children hold him and meet him. I'm excited to see my husband interact with the tiny being he helped create. I feel closer to heaven during this time than any other time in my life. I'm so lucky.

 

running out of lap room/ waiting for Gwamma

 

I spend too much time at night looking at my kids/ conference rolls

 

hello summer

 

sibling day?/ love my naps with her

 

best little friends/ one last date night (short ribs, yo)

Grandpa got the train out for Easter. 

Easter

Well I better get this up on the blog before you are bombarded with photos of the upcoming birth of our third child this week. (helllo!!!) We had a really fun and busy weekend together with our friends and family- easter egg hunts and play dates and church and of course honey ham. Easter = ham.

Saturday we had the egg hunt at my moms for the kids. I say kids but I also mean the grown ups because there are always a few special eggs hidden with gift cards in them... I'm proud to say Jazz found the golden egg this year. Great job, Mr. Sorensen.

39 weeks and change. Yikes.

Izzie had a tiny cast last year for the Easter egg hunt! This year was much easier.

I spy.

        

Linc kept putting his hands up and saying MO?! Mo?!

His bounty.

The girls came up here to examine their treasures and swap candy. 

Linc was pretty excited that he could just open the eggs and eat whatever he wanted. As you can see, not all of it ended up in his mouth. He picked through and ate all the blue things first. Obsessed with blue.

Sunday we went to church with my brother and his family at 9. We usually have church at 1, and Lincoln is a hot mess because it's nap time.. anyway I made the executive decision to get a sub for my class and go with our family early so we could all have a peaceful Easter afternoon together before dinner.

           

This is her super excited face.

The first part of the morning was glorious. Baskets and chocolate and peeps. Then there was the scramble to get everyone ready and make it to church on time...meltdown mode for mom. Seriously. Lincoln's outfit wasn't working (Why are boy's easter clothes so difficult to find. I have searched and searched and could not shell out the dough for janie and jack even though my heart wanted to so much.) Anyway. His outfit wasn't working, the shirt was like for a lumberjack and the tie and pants didn't quite match and then we couldn't find his tiny belt anywhere and my hair was still wet and Jazz calmly suggested taking Linc to a later meeting and I'm in his room with big tears "IT'S EASTER WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TOGETHER!" Sob sob sob. Hormones.

Finally just put Lincoln in regular church clothes. Discarded the tie which he refused to wear in the first place. Found his belt in my closet. (?)  Lincoln saw me approaching with hair gel in my hands and dove right into the corner of the table... huge black and blue goose egg riiight in the middle of his forehead. But we made it to church just in time to receive the Sacrament...which is sort of the whole point. Deep breath, carry on. The rest of the day was really nice, Jazz chased the kids all around the yard while I mostly sat around. I'm so helpful.

I love their hugs so much.

can you see his bruise. 

Few more days and we will have a baby update! yay!

deep thoughts at 39 weeks

look what I can do. bonus.

well. I got another cold.

but my eyelashes are done!

and I'm coughing a lot.

but the baby stuff is packed!

and I have no energy.

but only a week to go!

and it is hot outside.

but it is Easter weekend!

and I'm out of sonic ice.

Measuring 41 weeks at 39. Awesome. She says its because he is still floating and isn't "engaged" but also maybe this baby is big. Sure feels like he is sitting riiiiight there on all of my lungs. Also I think my patience has totally run out. Like I have no more for the duration of the pregnancy, that's it, it's over. Sorry everyone who I may or may not hit in the face, it's not you, it's me. Hormones are making me crazy.

Important questions: Do I have to wash my hair today. Who is bringing me more sonic ice. Why is costco out of chocolate granola. Also who gave jimmy fallon permission to take the week off. Why are boys easter clothes so difficult to find. Is it appropriate for me to wear yoga pants to church. When will burrito bandito deliver.

according to my iphone

The weather went from pleasant to roasting pretty quickly this week- we've been outside as much as we can before Satan turns it up to "unbearable." I'm gonna be honest I am straight up waddling around. I'm still pretty frequent contractions and some days I'm like hmmmmmm maybe the baby is coming sooner than later? And then they taper off and I'm just tired and I have no baby. My OB was out of town for a few days, and Mom flew off to Utah to help Sabrina and her family move to Arizona (!!!!) so we just need to hold off until Tuesday at the earliest and then the baby has my permission to come. HA. Oh I love pretending that I have control over anything.

(Sabrina's husband Jared got a job as a flight instructor at a flight school near Morgan in Arizona and I'm so jealous they get to live by each other! Agh. Everyone just move here already.)

 

Anyway, here's some stuff we've been up to according to my iphone.

Iz cut up all these strawberries and helped me make jam. Was the cutest.

fraggle baby

Sometimes on Thursdays my mom takes all the grand-girls over to her house for some playtime. And then I get text messages like this like because what is more fun than pretending to be bunnies-- complete with noses, whiskers and carrots. What a life.

Lincoln taking his chores seriously.

lunch al fresco. I love mostly naked babies.

Working her chopstick skills on my homemade gluten free stir fry. sike it's panda express, extra msg.

He has the best follow through- gonna shoot hoops for sure.

chucking rocks 

how naptime went. for the record she is packed for disneyland.

She wanted to practice holding the baby so I told her to practice with Lincoln. How are they the same size!

Mom is hitching a ride. Linc didn't mind.

Practiciting her diaper skills on all her babies. She's getting really good. Look how teeny the diapers are!!!

38 Weeks

In a few days, I'll be 38 weeks. Full term. Could go anytime. It's just a matter of days now. DAYS, PEOPLE.

Last Thursday I had some contractions in the night-I was asleep and in my dream I had contractions strong enough to wake me up! Consistent contractions- 4-5 minutes a part for three hours. I was like whaaaaat is happening. If it was day time I might have called L and D but it was the middle of the night and I wasn't calling the on call people. Nope. So I gave myself until morning to feel better and about 5 am I fell asleep and the contractions stopped. Then I panicked like get my hair done! Get the kids' hair trimmed! Pack some crap in a bag for the hospital! Type up all of Lincoln's quirks so my mom knows what to do when he freaks out! I've never had contractions early like that before- which is ironic because this is the first time I'm not supposed to go into labor on my own. Now it is this weird game of chicken where I try to get everything done as close to delivery as possible without actually going past the delivery.

Anywayyyy. Still pregnant. Still eating ice like its goin' out of style. I just ran out of my fourth ten pound bag in as many weeks and me and the kids popped down to Anderson today for another twenty pounds and some tater tots. So weird. It could be worse, it isn't chips or chocolate or crack so that's good. Lots of hiccups, lots of elbows and knees. Starting to ache in my back when I sleep... sometimes I'm like okay I'm DONE laying down. When I get up it takes me a few minutes to get moving. Rolling over is like a three point turn. You know, standard third trimester crap. Bless my patient husband for picking up the slack around the house and with our children.

       

hey YOU in there. get out.

Not a lot on the horizon, minus the whole baby thing this month. Not a day goes by that I'm not thankful for this whole process- it feels like I've been pregnant for a long time. I told Sabrina I've been pregnant longer than Quinn has been born and it was like WHAT but she is crawling now and has teeth! Last week Lincoln woke up half way through his nap just totally screaming. I don't know if he had a bad dream, or was uncomfortable, or what, but he wanted me to rockabye him. Izzie was napping in my bed, and so I laid Lincoln down in between us and he was still so tired he slept right on me. It was like the best hour of my whole life, all my babies sleeping, I could hear their little breathing patterns slow and deep, their little pink cheeks and softie faces. This is my life. I chose this. I'm so glad I did.

It seems weird to me that these are my last days with just two children. After the baby is born I'm sure we won't remember a time before him, he will be a part of our family just like Izzie and Linc. Our adventures out of the house are a little bittersweet knowing life is about to change. In a good way! In a busy way, I think.

Left on my to-do list: Put together easter baskets. Clean everything. Pack hospital bag. Find subs for primary music. Get lashes touched up. Change my nail polish. Buy food. Install the car seat. You know, just the essentials. Do we have a name... Yes? I think so. I'm Ron Burgundy?

Also-- I always do a guessing game for delivery date/weight and size... leave your best guess! I'm officially due April 26th, with the surgery scheduled a few days before that. But with the way I've been feeling, maybe baby will be early? Who knows.

34 Weeks with Shy Baby

30 Weeks with Shy Baby

25 Weeks with Shy Baby

19 Weeks with Shy Baby

38 Weeks with Lincoln

37 Weeks with Isabelle

insta-update and word vomit.

It's still raining. We need the rain desperately so I can't be mad at it but man. I'm done being inside. Every time we drive somewhere Lincoln screams PARK PARK PARK and poor kid just doesn't understand he can't go play when everything is wet. I just dropped Isabelle off at preschool and intended to grab a few things at the grocery store but Linc just wasn't having it. Home we went. You win me today, Lincoln.

Isabelle said the opening prayer in primary on Sunday. She included Mom, Dad, Lincoln and the baby, as well as Aunt Fabs, Uncle Jared, baby quinn, And Aunt "Modan" twice. Also please bless Heavenly Father and the earth. And the rain. Amen.

She is obsessed with this idea from a Fancy Nancy book- where Madilyn can live next door and Grandma can live on the other side and she can pass notes and mail in baskets through the window. She keeps asking me when I'm going to make that happen. She also asks to go to Disneyland every day. When she dresses up, she plays pretend airplane to Disneyland. Then we have to unpack at the hotel, sleep on a bunk bed, and head to the pretend park where we ride pretend rides. In princess costume.

Lincoln made it almost two full hours at church before he had a meltdown in nursery and was delirious on my shoulder in the hallway. His cheeks were pink, his ears were all warm and red, and he was SO TIRED. But I think probably by next December we will have him used to 1 pm church. Just in time to switch. Last Sunday he crawled ten benches behind us, then sprinted across the entire chapel. I kid you not. I was so embarrassed as I waddle jogged in front of everyone trying to to catch him . He just turned and smirked and ran faster. Stinker. Ugh but he looked so cute.



He has to take several tiny cars everywhere we go, specific ones not just any cars. The Blue One. Lightning McQueen. The tiny green one. Mater. You know. Jazz joked that we should buy him a fanny pack for his crap. Can you picture that? Lincoln and and a fanny pack full of cars... would be so awesome.

I just read the Beyonders series by Brandon Mull. It was awesome and now I feel that post-book letdown where I'm not sure what to do with my spare time. Lucky for me, Sabrina keeps a list going for me to get through. She is the book guru. And surprisingly good at Yahtzee.

In other news, I'm not decorating for Easter this year. The baby is coming that week and I don't want to feel pressure to clean it up and take it down and mostly I'm just too tired. Good thing my mom's house looks like the Easter bunny lives there. Thanks mom for being awesome.

 

oh the glorious days of two weeks ago/ can't eat enough ice.

 

baby clothes clean and folded!/ Isabelle decorated this "fancy cake for gwammas."

 

nite nite/ baby salts

 

naked babe/ break for mom

Linc is getting freckles on his nose and cheeks!