Cash's blessing day

Cash received a sweet blessing from his daddy on Sunday, November 9th. We were both worried about what he would do during the blessing, hoping he wouldn't cry the whole time. He was asleep in my arms beforehand and when Scott carried him up to the front he immediately opened his eyes when Scott started blessing him. He didn't miss a word and was quiet during the whole thing. We were so happy. I'm so grateful for my husband who holds the priesthood and was able to bless our sweet boy. Cash is so lucky to have Scott as his daddy and example. He has such a sweet and special spirit and I am so happy and blessed to be his mama. Looking at Cash afterwards brought tears to our eyes, he is so perfect and innocent. He was able to wear the same blessing outfit that Scott wore when he was blessed as a baby, it was so wonderful to see him in it. We love our baby boy so much and are so grateful Heavenly Father sent him to us!  

Birth story

Cash Monroe Lindquist was born on September 13, 2014 at 10:14 am, he was 21 inches long and 7 pounds 12 ounces of perfection.
Scott and I still can't believe that he came on his actual due date, but we are so happy he did!
On Friday September 12, Scott and I drove down to Vancouver (where the hospital we delivered at is) with all of our bags packed and ready to stay at Scott's parents house JUST IN CASE Cash decided to come during the weekend, which we were crossing our fingers for. With Optometry school having started in August Scott couldn't really afford to miss any school days, so him coming on a weekend was the perfect situation.
All day Friday I was thinking that this baby is definitely not coming anytime soon, all along I had a feeling I was going to be overdue for sure. I did not expect our weekend in Vancouver to end with me rushing to the hospital and delivering our sweet little boy.
It started with Scott and I taking a long 4 mile walk around town to try to start things moving along. After the walk I didn't feel any different, and decided I wanted to make brownies, buy some ice cream to go with them, and rent a movie. At 10:30pm, as soon as we were about to settle down to some dessert and a movie my water broke. At first I didn't realize what was happening, I was in denial that I was actually going into labor. Scott and I didn't know what to do, we never thought we would be in this situation. So Scott called the on call physician at my doctor's office and she told us to go to the hospital. Scott and I were both in disbelief that the time had finally come to meet our baby boy. Scott kept saying, "holy crap, we're going to have a baby!" So as calmly as possible we gathered all the things we needed to head to the hospital. I waited for Scott in the car as he went in the house to grab our overnight bag, which he managed to forget to grab after three times of running in and out of the house, it's safe to say he was a little in shock.
I was admitted to the hospital at 10:50pm and was dilated at a 2. They wanted to make sure I was progressing before given an epidural, so Scott and I walked around the hospital for a while to get the contractions going. They started coming a minute apart. Contractions were way more painful than I imagined they would be, thank goodness I had Scott there to hold onto. Every contraction I would put my arms up around his neck and breath very deep and slow. I have to admit I even had to hurt him a little to get through some of them. At 1:00am I was dilated at a 4 and wanted the epidural ASAP. So they hooked me up to an IV and started giving me fluid so they could give me the epidural. At 1:50am I was finally given the epidural. I had always been a little nervous for this part, the thought of not being able to move or feel my legs scared me! But no. Numbness. Best thing ever. I was so relaxed. After having contractions for hours I was in heaven once the epidural set in. I was hooked up to a monitor which monitored the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. At one point the baby's heart rate was slowing so they put a monitor on his head and I was given oxygen. I couldn't help but stare at the screen checking my baby boys heartbeat all night long. 
Now we waited.
All night long.
Scott's mom Velenti stayed with Scott and I in the hospital that night anticipating the arrival of Cash. We all took our guesses as to when we thought Cash would be born, I said 6:45am, Scott 7:13am, and Velenti 8:23am. Boy were we all wrong! Scott kept laughing and saying "We're having a baby! He is ours to be responsible for forever!" Which to I responded that I wasn't worried about raising him, I'm worried about delivering him!
At around 8:00am I started pushing.  I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. pure EXHAUSTION, especially from being up all night long. Scott held my leg on one side with my nurse on the other. At every contraction I would push 3 times, 10 seconds each. Scott counted up to 10 out loud for me which helped a lot. The doctor kept telling me to push harder, push harder. Once the final push arrived my doctor told me to stop pushing right away, the cord was wrapped around his neck really tight and she had to cut it. After that, I felt him slide right out and he was immediately set him on my chest for about 2 seconds before they took him away. He was chalk white. Tons of nurses rushed in immediately to help, I was so out of it I didn't know what was happening besides the fact that I couldn't hear him crying, I kept asking Scott why he wasn't crying. He laid on the baby table motionless arms and legs laying flat at his sides. After rubbing on him and working with him for what seemed like forever he made his first little cry.
His first breath really did take ours away. 
He was cleaned off and set on my chest. Words can't describe what I felt in that moment. My heart has never been fuller, having my son laying on my chest, so innocent and pure. Cash was so alert with his eyes wide open just looking up at me. Scott and I both just looked at each other and at Cash and cried with happiness. We both completely fell in love with him.
Giving birth was definitely the hardest thing I've ever had to do, and the most rewarding.

Happy Birthday America!

This fourth of July was spent in Vancouver with Scott's parents. It was a fun weekend filled with many block parties, delicious food, friends, family, games, and fireworks. What more could you ask for?

I loved that the fourth of July fell on a Friday because it made the weekend feel so much longer.

Scott and I have recently become obsessed with the card game called 'Bohnanza.' Side-note, we ordered it off Amazon on a week day and received it in the mail the next morning! Gotta love Amazon Prime, and my sister for letting us use her account ;). We probably played it about 10 times this past weekend, I highly recommend it!

Here in Vancouver the firework shows are not only on the 4th but the day before as well. They are pretty crazy...great, but crazy. When I say crazy I'm saying that you are literally about 20 yards from where they light them off and there is a continuous explosion of fireworks from start to finish. By the end of the show you can hardly see from all the smoke. There is also a chance that one of the fireworks will fall over and fly into the crowd, which has happened and did happen this year. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous to watch the firework shows. I didn't want the fireworks to be too loud for the baby! Scott convinced me that the baby would be fine, and that he is swimming in amniotic fluid so the noise would be very faint.
I still covered my stomach with lots of blankets, just to be safe ;).

Last year Scott and I came up with (what we thought) a funny patriotic photo, so this year we thought we should top it and incorporate our little baby.

This was all Scott's idea, he thought it would be the funniest thing to wrap a flag around my baby bump. To my surprise, I actually really love this photo!

Oh you know, just draping the flag casually on the shoulder, compliments of Velenti

The baby loves to be kissed by his daddy

Can you guess who thought of this photo? Haha "guns, motorcycles, and sexy women"

Happy Birthday America, we love celebrating you!

Blanket + park + sunny day = perfection

Saturday was a warm sunny day. Perfect for an outdoor activity. Scott suggested we go running (I wasn't feeling it) and so I came up with a better idea ;). We grabbed a blanket, walked to the park, and spread it out on the grass. Simple things like this make me so happy. Since it was a nice day, there were so many people playing football, basketball, and even frisbee. So naturally we just laid there together and people watched. I wanted to capture this simple moment and took several pictures of Scott and I. I seriously love how sweet Scott is about me always taking pictures of us. He makes it just as important to him as it is to me. The pictures actually turned out very cute, I'm in love with them all. I could watch the video above over and over again. It warms my heart so much. Lately I've been feeling like I need to enjoy moments like this a lot more. I remember being a teenager and thinking "oh, I can't wait to get my license." Then being in High School and thinking "I can't wait to go to college." In college, "I can't wait to find who I'm going to marry." While engaged, "I can't wait to get married." And now "I can't wait to have a baby." of course it's okay to be excited for those kinds of things but I should live in the moment and enjoy the stage I am in right now even more than what I am looking forward to, because I know that once I move onto the next chapter in my life I always miss those other moments that I should have been cherishing. So right now, I am going to cherish the moment I am in and the time that Scott and I have with just one another. It really is wonderful.