Smiley

How can I possibly mourn the fact that I am losing sleep when I get to wake up to a face like this every night?

BREAKING NEWS!

He slept through the night!

That's right, from 10:30 PM to 5:45 AM, the baby slept.

I wish I could give the kid a cookie or something!

Enjoy the music (this is what I thought when I woke up this morning).

Baby Pictures

I don't really post on here very often but I wanted to put up some baby pictures of myself and Heather and compare them to pictures of Nathan.  Let us know who you think he looks like!

Me and my Grandpa

Nathan with the same kind of look on his face.  

This is not a very good picture of Nathan doing the look but sometimes he has nearly the exact same look as me.

We think Nathan has Heather's lips.

We think he has my nose.

Heather smiling.

Nathan smiling.

A couple of older baby pictures of me and Heather

10 Things

Sarah, my old roommate from SVU tagged me, so here are 10 things you may not know about me.

1. I can't swim. Not even a little bit.

2. I have a quiet sneeze and a loud belch. Because I am a lady, I try not to belch as loud as I can but sometimes I lose control of myself.

3. I really, really wish I could dance. Unfortunately, I am just not light on my feet.

4. I love to sing. I used to sing a lot but I stopped singing to myself when I moved in with roommates and also into apartments. I don't want to disturb anyone. I sing more now that I have a baby and I am Primary Chorister. 

5. My favorite ice cream is Tillamook Chocolate Peanut Butter. Be still my soul.

6. My guilty pleasure is murder mystery novels. Fluff, basically. Just violent fluff. I love it. I read them in a day and get absolutely nothing out of them. 

7. I hate driving. It scares me. I never drive unless I absolutely HAVE to. 

8. Sometimes bad words leak out of my mouth. I'm not proud of it, but there it is. Better work on that before Nathan catches on.  However, I'll have you all know that I only swore ONCE while I was in labor.

9. I am quiet in large groups but tend to overshare in 1 on 1 situations. Put me on a stage in front of hundreds and I will do anything.

10. I would love to be on a talk show. I used to talk to myself out loud as if I was a guest on Oprah telling my dramatic story. Okay, so maybe I still do this occassionally . . .

Tag: Mom, Ryan's mom, Tia, Larissa, Amy

GO DUCKS!

Well, it's official. We are moving to Oregon. Ryan has decided to attend the University of Oregon for his PhD in Economics this fall. The college is located in Eugene, Oregon, about an hour south of Portland. We will be living 4 hours from my family in Washington. This school is a great fit for Ryan but the unfortunate part is that we aren't getting any funding from the school. Basically, if we ever thought we were poor before, we had no idea! However, if feels really good to have finally made a decision about our future and we look forward to making more plans! So, in a few more months we will be saying hello to beautiful, green landscapes, and goodbye to pumping our own gas!

6 weeks old

Today Nathan is 6 weeks old! 6 weeks seems SO much older than 5 weeks! I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He started smiling for us this week and it is so much fun. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of it but he's definitely learning. He is also talking a whole lot more. I tried to get some good pictures of him today but he has been kind of grumpy so here's the best I got. We love our little man!

He wouldn't cooperate and look at the camera because he was mad at me.

Sometimes he reminds me of a drunken old man.

Posing for the camera.

These are from the other day. I let him sleep on our bed and he wouldn't go to sleep until he had gotten comfortable on his side. Can you see how funny his hair is starting to look?

Mother I Love You, Mother I Do

I have many mothers in my life. I'm so lucky! My mom, Ryan's mom, grandmothers, church leaders and teachers, and friends. Obviously this is a special Mother's Day for me since I have only been a mother for about a month and I am only beginning to understand the true meaning of motherhood. I want to devote this post to my mom. I know I was a perfect child, but she still made many sacrifices for me over the years (and still is), so here are just some of the things I love about my mom:

She can make anything special! Whether it's a holiday, or just a regular day, she has a way of paying attention to details and making you feel like a million bucks! 

She's funny and silly and kind of a ham! Maybe a bit dramatic too . . .

She cares about people. Sometimes we get a little nervous about the situations she gets into when she picks up hitchhikers, but this just reminds me that she doesn't judge anyone.

She is talented and creative.

For as long as I can remember she has been teaching me the importance of education. She is always working on learning something new.

She is beautiful!

I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day (to all my mothers)!

3 Years

Three years ago today Ryan and I were married for eternity in the Seattle LDS Temple. Wow. I know three years isn't a very long time compared to eternity but much has changed since then. I can't believe I was nineteen when we got married. Nineteen! In the past three years we have moved 4 times in 4 different states (and moving again soon). We have both graduated from college. And, of course, we had a baby too! I think we've both grown up a lot in the process. I know we have certainly grown closer.

In honor of three wonderful years, here are three things I love about Ryan:

1. His sense of humor. He is always making me giggle.

2. His intelligence and his desire to keep learning and growing.

3. He is so helpful! Especially right now. I'm so lucky!

Here's to many, many more wonderful years to come!

Birth Story

Okay, if you are not interested in reading all about the details of Nathan's birth, just skip this post. For those of you who are interested, here it finally is:

 

I originally did not want to be induced, even though my doctor kept telling me she would be happy to induce me once I hit 39 weeks. I had the hope the he would come naturally by then because I had been dilated to a 3 and 100% effaced for a few weeks already. Obviously, this did not happen. I ultimately decided that an induction would be best because my family came to stay with us all the way from Washington and my dad and brothers had to leave again on the 5th. I really wanted them to meet the baby before they left. My due date was Thursday, April 2 and when I went to see my doctor on Tuesday, March 30, I still had no idea what I wanted to do even though I was on the waiting list to be induced Thursday. I made a compromise with my doctor that I would be induced on Thursday without pitocin (I was hoping to do everything naturally).

 

Ryan, my mom, and I headed up to Layton to the hospital on Thursday morning at about 7:30 am. We got checked in and settled in our room and the nurse checked me and said I was dilated to about 4 cm, was having regular contractions (I couldn't feel them), and that the baby had dropped. I think if I wasn't induced that day I would have given birth pretty soon anyway. At 8:40 am my doctor came and broke my water. That was one of the weirdest feelings I have ever had in my life. And pretty darn gross. I felt so soggy! She told me that if things didn't progress, she would give me pitocin later. So, we settled in and waited for baby to come. I worked on a crossword puzzle, ate my ice chips, and hung out with my mom and hubby, as the contractions got stronger.  At about 12:30 I was dilated to a 5. I got in the jetted tub for about an hour. Best thing ever!! If you go natural (or not) find a place with a tub! At about 3:30 I was dilated to 7.5. 

 

You may be wondering what technique we used to have a natural birth (I say "we" because there is no way I could have done this naturally without Ryan). We studied the Bradley Method while I was pregnant. This involves relaxation and some breathing techniques and a lot of visualization. I chose to visualize the most peaceful place I know. My grandparents live in the mountains in Idaho in the Salmon National Forest. It is so sunny and beautiful and calm there. The Salmon River runs right by their house. Basically, once my contractions got strong, my sweet husband stood by my side and whispered in my ear about my grandparents house and visualizing myself there with my baby. We also listened to an amazing "Celtic Meditation" CD. Towards the end, my mom was on one side of me and Ryan on the other while I squeezed their hands and breathed through my contractions. Later my mom told me, "at one point I thought you might have broken one of my fingers!" oops! Sorry Mom! 

 

At 5:30 (even though they told me it would be 5:00) my doctor came and told me I was dilated to 9.7. AHHH! Are you kidding me? Don't push yet. Wait a couple more contractions, she said. Five. Five contractions later (yes, I was definitely counting) she came back and said I could push. I pushed for about 20 minutes before Nathan was born. It would have been even faster but I told my doctor I did NOT want an episiotomy (something about going natural). She finally said, "if you had an episiotomy, this baby would be out by now." I asked, "do you promise that if I have an episiotomy he'll be out on the next contraction?" She said yes, and that's all the convincing I needed. I asked her how much it would hurt and she said that I wouldn't even notice if she did it while I was pushing. LIAR!! Let me just say, it hurt! But she was right, he was out in another push or two. 6:41 pm, ten hours of labor (without pitocin!). 

 

Some people have asked me about my feelings on natural labor now that I am on the other end of it and this is what I think: I would totally do it again (not soon, but later I will). When I arrived at the hospital that morning, I honestly wasn't sure I could do it, but I surprised myself with my strength. I'm still not really sure how I did it! One of the reasons I didn't end up getting an epidural is because no one ever pressured me. No nurse ever asked if I was sure I didn't want one. Had someone offered, I might have caved! You have to have an amazing coach to give birth naturally. I mean amazing! Ryan worked so hard to get me through it (so did my mom and her poor little fingers). It was really neat to have a baby who was really alert and not drugged when he was born. the doctor said she could see him moving his head back and forth while I was pushing. Poor guy really wanted out! She also said she hadn't heard a baby get so mad about being born in a really long time.

 

One moment during labor that is really special to me is the moment while I was pushing and the doctor and nurse said, "this baby has a lot of hair!" I asked "what color is it?!" This was a big deal because we thought he might have red hair. She said, "it's dark." I was not surprised at all, even though we had pictured a red headed baby the whole time I was pregnant. I wasn't surprised because, while I was visualizing during contractions all day, I kept visualizing myself with the baby. At first I tried to picture him with red hair, but I couldn't so I just gave in and pictured a baby with dark hair all day. When the doctor said he had dark hair, I knew that the baby I had been picturing was Nathan. Now that I have spent more time with him and know really well what he looks like, I realize that the baby I pictured looked exactly like him in every way. This is such a sweet reminder to me that Heavenly Father is such a huge part of the birth process. I love knowing that I got to look at my beautiful baby all day, even though I didn't know it was really him.

 

Okay, I realize that this is a TON of information. Sorry if I gave too many details.