1 week old

Here are some more pictures of Finn one week old! He went to the doctor on Friday and everything is looking great. He is almost back to his birth weight. He was 8lb 10.5 oz on Friday. He is in the 75% for height, weight, and head circumference. Our friend Hannah got him to smile by rubbing his cheeks yesterday. He did it about 5-6 times and then today we tried and he did it again. So that will be the trick to get him to do it until he really knows how to do it on his own. Anya tried to get him out of his car seat for us, she unclipped the buckle and reached down and said "come here cutie". She is still being a good big sister.

Just thought this was a cute picture. Finn is still doing great. Last night he was a little difficult from 8-12:30. He didn't want to go to sleep in his crib. He would fall asleep in your arms and then the second you put him down he would wake up. But after that, he slept from 12:30-4:30, ate and then slept again until 8:30. So the second 1/2 of the night was ideal.

Anya is still doing great with Finn. She does not care if I'm holding him, doesn't act jealous. She just goes about her business and then checks in on him now and then. Last night she wanted to say goodnight before she went to bed. This morning she said "I love you Finn". I think she is going to do great.

School went well yesterday. She had a good day and was exhausted by the end of the day. She was so tired she couldn't even eat much dinner. Dan gave her a bath and she was in bed before 7:00 and we didn't even hear a peep.

I'm feeling pretty good these days. Ibuprofen is doing the job pain wise. I'm able to move around a lot better and I can roll from side to side in bed much better. I just need to work on not doing too much and sleeping when he sleeps. I'm not so good at that yet. I just always find something that "needs" to be done...

Anyway, we are all doing good and are so happy to have a little girl and a little boy. We are so blessed.

Today was Anya's first day of school. She wanted Dan to carry her in, but once she got there, she went right to the rocking horse. I can't wait to hear how it went. I'm sure she loved seeing all her friends again.
Anya sure loves her daddy and little brother. She has not seemed jealous or anything. She will be playing and stop to ask where the baby is. She showed him her toys and tried to "rock" him to sleep by jumping and shaking his pack n play.
Here are 3 generations of Seppala boys.

Finn is doing great eating and sleeping. He also lets us play dress up and try out lots of outfits because he has wet through a bunch of them. My mom has been here yesterday and today helping out a ton! She knows how I like my house clean, so she has done vacuuming, laundry, dishes, taken the garbage out, gone to the grocery store, put away clothes and toys, made food, everything! Mom's are great! Thanks MOM!

Brother and Sister Meet

Anya got a chance to meet her baby brother Finn today. It went very well. She was so happy to see him, and loved helping mom hold Finn. She gave him a kiss and helped cover him with his blanket.

Day 3

Today is day 3 and Finn is doing great. He is a good eater and an all around mello baby. He only cries when he's really hungry. I'm doing good, pain is under control and I was able to get out of bed all on my own this morning. Every day gets better. He has had lots of visitors. The first day my mom, Dan, Kelley, Tommy, Laura, Jesse, Hailey, Kristin, Jeff, Michelle, and her daughter came. Then yesterday Dave and Mary Jo, Josh and Hanna, Molly, and Trisha stopped by. Today we have had Kristin and grandma Kathy! So he has been a happy boy with all the love and snuggling.

little boy Finn

Here's the last belly shot taken the morning Finn was born (yesterday). We all thought that I would need a c-section because of how big he (I) looked. Dan bet he would be 9lb 7 oz, I bet 9lb, 12 oz, the biggest was my friend Trisha who said 10 lb 6 oz. Well, we were all wrong. He was one ounce away from a 9 pounder. However, the doctors said if he was delivered at 41 weeks like Anya, he would for sure have been bigger than her. She was 9lb 2 oz. Anyway, here is a picture of him weighing in.
The c-section went well. It was an odd sensation for me to be able to feel so much touching, tugging, pushing, pressure, but not actual sharp pain. Very weird. Finn's head is 14.5 inches around, so the first thing my doctor said was that I made the right choice to have a c-section cause that was a huge head! He might not have even fit or I would would have had some serious tearing. The doctor said that he tried to turn around when she was pulling him out- he was trying to run away!
Here's where I got to meet Finn for the first time. Then they took him to clean him up. They said he had some difficulty breathing out but he was able to fix it on his own. He also was pretty pale, so they put him under a heat lamp for a while and now he's as pink as can be. I didn't get to really see him until we got into our regular room which was a good 2.5 hours after he was actually born.
He looks a lot like Anya did, but in more of a boy way. He totally has Dan's build- broad chested, big head, big hands and feet, and just kinda thick but not chunky. He looks like a linebacker. He ate well for us and has already had lots of poopy diapers. He didn't cry all day and was just happy sleeping.
As for me, I'm doing well. Post op pain has been way more than I remember with Anya, it's been hard for them to get it under control. So I'm not sure if c-section was "easier" than giving birth vaginally. However, with such a big head, this probably was a better choice. I was able to sit up and stand up last night and today they will take all the junk off me and I'll have to get up more on my own. I think that's it for now, thanks everyone for your prayers and good wishes! Love you!

Baby Finn is here!!!

Today at 12:08 pm CST Finn Walter Seppala joined our family. He was 8 lbs, 15 oz. and is 21 inches long. Thank you to all of you out there sending your thoughts and prayers his/our way.

Terrible Two's

I don't necessarily want to say that Anya is terrible, but...It's like a switch went off when she turned two and now magically, she throws tantrums, hits, throws things, etc.... I would love to say she is an angel all the time and the majority of the time she is pretty good, but MAN! She is a lot to handle these days. I'm thinking that a baby is going to be easy compared to this. She is getting a lot of practice saying "I'm sorry, mommy" and now she has been starting to say it all on her own before she sees me start to get too mad. I think going back to school will be a good thing for her- we try to keep her busy but all that structure will be great for her. I just want to write a few things so that I can remember them later...

The other day I was SOO tired and all I could do was lay on the couch while she played (remember I'm 2 weeks away from having a baby at the time). I must have dosed off for a few minutes and awoke to Anya putting a q-tip in my ear. Let me tell you that's a big surprise when you are nice and relaxed and not expecting it. After I jumped off the couch, I saw that she had the ENTIRE container of q-tips spread all over the bathroom and living room. ahh. that was nice.

In terms of good things...Anya can identify any letter of the alphabet and tell you what sound it makes. We were at the mall the other day waiting on a bench and there was writing on the window of one of the stores. I would point to each letter and she would say "that's an S ssssss" or "that's a P puh puh", etc...

She still loves reading books, but now she will actually sit through them and really pay attention. She will ask questions and want to read the books over and over and over. Some of her favorites now are those Mercer Mayer little critter books (those were my favorites too) and Dora books (of course).

The big girl bed is going well for the most part...she does get out of it every now and then but at least she plays quietly when she does. The other night Dan and I were watching TV in our room and all of a sudden at 8:00 our door is thrown open and in walks Anya pushing her baby stroller wearing a dress up skirt over her pj's. She said "I'm awake now daddy!" I was laughing so hard! We used to be able to contain her!

We just recently put on those door knob locks so she can't open ALL the doors. They are working so far, but I bet it won't be long until she figures them out.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. Oh, one week from Thursday Finn will be here!

More pictures

Here are just some more fun pictures of Anya. Look carefully at the ones of her that look like she's just in the weeds--She's trying to catch a butterfly.

Anya and her swing set

She is having so much fun playing on the swing set. It's so nice to have something for her to play on and occupy her time and let mommy rest!

Daddy working hard

Dan has really been working hard on getting the house ready for Finn's arrival. I have a C-section scheduled for 11:30 on August 19th! So to get ready Dan has done a ton. First he finished our office area/sauna room. He mudded and taped the drywall, painted, and hung up white board material. Then he had to level out the concrete floor because the old laundry room drain was in there. Then he put down tile flooring. He moved our office desk and 4 book shelves in there as our office. He still needs to work on the sauna itself and is planning on taking apart my dad's and moving it over to our house which is great because he will get a lot of use out of it and we will then have something my dad built to remember him by.
Next, Dan finished the floor board trim in the downstairs bathrooms and Finn's room. He also finished the molding and trim around the two windows in Finn's room as well as put up and trimed the closet doors! It looks amazing! I painted some stripes on the walls and now Finn's room is complete!
Finally Dan, with the help of our friend Josh, put together a swing set for Anya in the backyard!
Whew! That was a lot for him to do, but it's all done and looks great and we are all very happy!
Here are some pictures.

Anya turns 2!

Anya turned 2 on July 24th! She had so much fun and it was so nice to have all of her family over. She wasn't too interested in opening her presents, which surprised me, so unfortunately we don't have any pictures of her opening, but I plan on taking pictures of her using/wearing her presents so that people can see her enjoying them. Here are some pictures of her cake (Dora themed of course) and her eating it. She got a picnic table so there is a picture of her "helping" put it together. Thanks to everyone for coming over and making it a special day!