Happy Father's Day!

Ben, thank you for all that you do and all that you are for our family. Our boys are so lucky and we truly love you and all the hard work you do does not go unnoticed. You are the world's best dad-- we love you! Mandy, Everett and Rollin

Rollin's First Two Weeks at Home!

Rollin is adjusting nicely to life at home with his family. He is eating like a champ and is the best baby in the world. He rarely cries and if he does he is very easily consoled. The only rough patch we are having is nighttime! We forgot what it was like to have a newborn that has his days and nights confused :) He generally gets up a few times a night, but nursing and then burping and getting him back to sleep seems to take hours! Needless to say, we are very tired. Thank goodness my mom was here for two and a half weeks to help us out. She did all the laundry, dishes, cleaning and most importantly entertaining Everett. Everyday they had so much fun together, whether it was going to the park, the farm, on wagon rides and eating her yummy meals. We have ben fortunate enough to get out and about with him a few times, to dinner and lunch or for walks. Abby came to visit as well and we had a great time. We are really enjoying being a family of four. Here are a few pictures from our first two weeks!

Welcome Rollin!

We are very excited about the arrival of our newest son, Rollin Vincent at 12:28 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3rd. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 10 oz, 21 inches long and head size of 12 3/4 inches. He has blond hair and is as cute as a button. We had a second c-section scheduled for noon on June 3rd, but around 1 a.m. the night before I went into labor! Well, I did not know it was labor because I have never felt contractions before. I woke up with extreme cramping and suffered through fairly regular contractions until 5:30 a.m., when I finally woke up Ben and we went to the hospital. The ride to the hospital was very painful and right when we checked in I ran to the bathroom to throw up! They quickly hydrated me (I had been unable to drink anything because of the scheduled surgery, so I was very dehydrated). My doctor came in around 6:30 a.m. and said they wanted to keep the surgery as scheduled since all the players would be there. Much to my dismay, I had to wait another few hours (they seemed long!) and tried to sleep a bit, but really just sat there and talked with Ben. I was very worried about the c-section this time since I had a fairly bad experience with Everett (the epidural did not work). Well, this time it was MUCH better. The recovery was hard for about six hours or so, but I quickly started to feel better and now at three days post surgery, I only have very minor pain and feel great.

When they took Rollin, the doctors remarked that he was coming June 3rd no matter what, he was fully engaged and ready to head down the birth canal, so he was glad to get out of there! He cried (but not as much as Everett) as they washed him off. They took me to recovery and let Rollin and Ben go with me (a new procedure at the hospital, with Everett I did not see him for hours), so although I could not hold him right away due to the pain, he was right beside me and that was very special.

The last few days have been good, we have been enjoying him so much and taking this time at the hospital to really spend some quality quiet time with Rollin before we head home to Everett. Everett loves his baby brother and comes by the hospital each day, but admittedly does not like it here very much because there are no toys and no where to run around.

We had the good fortune to have my sisters, parents and adorable Lucette and Violet here for the birth and for a few days after. It was so special they all made the trip to see Rollin and spend time with Everett. Everett LOVES his cousins and he thought it was so special to play with them and get spoiled by Grammy and Pap Pap. Also, Everett is IN LOVE with Pap Pap, we have never seen anything like it. If Pap Pap is in the room, Everett has eyes for no other, he is always wanting to be held by Pap Pap, loved by Pap Pap and playing with Pap Pap, it is so cute.

So we are now a family of four and could not be happier! Here are some pictures of our newest addition that we love so much. More updates to come as he grows older and stronger.

Lots of love, The Scandlens (Ben, Mandy, Everett and Rollin)