3-4 Weeks!

Baby boy is 4 weeks old today! Things have been so busy lately I haven't had time to post. Last week was busy since it was Christmas week. Tons of shopping, wrapping, and baking to finish up before the big day. We had a great weekend celebrating with friends and family. Ollie was spoiled and had lots of snuggle time with his favorite people. It's nice that he's so relaxed. We don't mind him bouncing around for different people to hold him. I enjoyed dressing him up in his Christmas outfits  :) It's amazing that now I couldn't care less what I look like (most of the time) , as long as Ollie's cute and happy.

Our first Christmas as a family!

Daddy and Ollie snuggling Christmas morning

Ollie's "Define Naughty" onesie

There have been a lot of "frists" for Ollie this week (week 4). He's been smiling a lot and even at the right times. When we tickle him his face lights up with his cute little smile. He LOVES his bumbo and is sitting  up in it all by himself. On Wednesday he had his first bath! He didn't seem to mind it at all and was pretty relaxed. Then he peed all over me while we were toweling him off :) Fun stuff! 

It's so nice to be home with Ollie but in 4-8 short weeks I'll be back to work. My doctor finally released me to start working out. After 14 weeks of no activity, I'm sooo out of shape! I went for a nice hike this morning on a trail I used to be abe to go up and down 3 times in an hour. This morning I only made it twice - the mountain won! I was even passed by a 75 year old man who was running up the mountain! Hopefully I'll be able to walk in the morning! I'm pretty excited to be able to workout again though. I have another 35 pounds till I'm back to my pre-baby weight. I'm motivated and ready for it to be off! Not so happy everyone and their uncle will be at the gym for a few weeks. Luckily, things seem to empty out in February after the "resolutioners" dwindle away. I'll still be there spinning my Chipotle booty back to normal :)

2 Weeks Old

Baby boy is already two weeks old. This has been a long week for him ....and us. We are adjusting to lack of sleep and trying to make a schedule. Jonny is quickly loosing his OCD-ness. Ollie has managed to pee on our bedroom wall, poop on our bed and has peed on me 3 times this week. We are managing to smile and laugh through it all. On Wednesday he has a doctors appointment to be circumcised. I was not pleased at all with the doctors office! We walked in to talk to the doctor and had to stare at all the needles and scalpels for the procedure. Not to mention, we had to put him in a baby straight jacket before going to the waiting room... broke my heart. We came back in to Ollie screaming louder than I've ever heard. They didn't pick him up to comfort him or anything :( I know professionals get desensitized to the work they do and don't realize what kind of impact it has on their patients. The places I've worked at are very patient care oriented and I expect to go to the same... especially for Ollie. Needless to say, we will be having a nice chat with the doctor when he goes in for his check up.

Ollie had his newborn pictures done by our friend Meghan this week too. We didn't get to many in since it was chilly and Ollie wasn't up for posing. The one's she got so far are awesome though!

Being a mommy is one of the best things ever! Ollie is soo good and puts up with us when we're not sure what we're doing. His eyes are wide open now and he loves looking at lights. He's getting used to is diaper changes and isn't fussing as much when we change him (if we're in his time limit). He's smiling here and there now too, probably form gas but we love his smiles :)

1 week old already? Time, PLEASE slow down!

I woke up really early this morning while Ollie was still sleeping. I wasn't sure what exactly woke me up, until I looked at the clock. It was 3am on the dot! One week ago at that exact time, I got to see my baby boy for the first time. I can't believe he's already a week old! I'm sure times only going to continue to fly by.

We are really enjoying his sweet temperament and personality! He is soooo sleepy during the day and loves to keep momma up at night.... although we are getting a system down. He absolutely hates being changed (clothes and diapers). Jonny and I try to tag team him as much as possible to calm him down as quickly as we can. He is the strongest newborn I've ever seen! While burping him on my shoulder, he loves to pick up his head and look around or straight at me. I heard that mom's who worked out through their pregnancy have stronger babies, I thought my cravings for Chipotle and Moe's canceled out most of my spinning... but maybe we lucked out.

Can't wait to see what other fun things the next few weeks has to bring :)

Oliver is finally here!

What a crazy week it's been! Last Thursday Jonny and I went to my scheduled doctors appointment at 10:50 am. I brought along all of my hospital bags just incase the procedure they were doing would break my water (membrane sweep as planned). I organized my whole bag and grabbed a few last minute things.

Dr.Crum took a look at my swollen legs and my blood pressure and asked how we felt about having our baby that night. We were pretty taken back by the question, but of course we wanted him here as soon as possible! Dr.Crum called over to the hospital to see if they had rooms available that night since she was on call. My cervix wasn't dilating so she inserted a ballon catheter that would start contractions and dilate me. She told me to wear it home and that the hospital would call me in when they had a room available. On the way home I started having pretty good contractions and we turned around and headed to the hospital. On arrival they admitted me and started pitocin to help speed things up. Dr.Crum came in around 4pm and took out the ballon catheter and broke my water. The contractions started getting closer and stronger. I asked the nurse for the epidural a few times, but did't get one till 10pm. Afterwards, I was loving life! I felt sooo much better! My wonderful family came to wait out Ollie's arrival and it really helped pass the time by talking with them. An hour or so later, my blood pressure was down to a normal range but my temperature started rising. They packed my body with ice bags to get it to go down, but didn't have much luck. The temperature was also increasing Ollie's heart rate (usually around 150/due to my temperature was averaging 200). They tried a few other techniques but nothing was working to help the baby, even when my temp came down a bit. The nurse called Dr.Crum and they decided to do a C-section. I was shocked since I was already dilated to 8cm and thought things were going to be going the normal route.



They wheeled me into the operating room and gave me a stronger anesthetic. I loved my anesthesiologist! He was amazing and talked me through a lot of the surgery. Once I was prepped, they brought Jonny in and made the first cut. I felt lots of pressure but no pain at all. The only rough part was when they tugged him out. Jonny said he could see my whole mid section being lifted off the table as they muscled Ollie out. I was sooo excited once he let out his first little cry. Dr.Crum said she was amazed at how big he was and that she didn't think I would have been able to push him out.  They took him over to an incubator to check his sats and measurements. I was surprised that he wasn't crying at all after his initial squeaks. I remember asking the anesthesiologist a million times if he was okay and if that was normal. He said it was and I tried to relax while the sutured me up. I found this part to be the worst! Still no pain, but I could feel them piecing me back together and hear them using the suction. ewww!

Ollie was born at 2:58 am on December 2nd @ 8lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long! Almost a 9lb baby! They checked him over and then took him to the NICU where he had to be monitored for a while. They took me into recovery till I got some feeling back in my legs. I also had the shakes really bad wich was quicly cured with some Demerol- once again, love my anesthesiologist! They wheeled my by NICU to see Ollie before they took me to my room.  It was so hard not being able to hold or even touch him since I was in a lot of pain and laying on a gurney.

It was a long night. All the adrenaline and anxiousness made sleeping impossible. People were in and out the next day for visits. It took forever for me to go see him! The morphine made me extremely grogy to the point where I made no sense talking and feel asleep randomly. They started me on Vicodin and once I could walk to the bathroom the promised a visit. I finally got to go down to see him on my own at 3pm. the wheeled me down to the NICU and let me stay as lon as I wanted. They also decided to release him to come stay with us in our room. For the rest of our stay, the NICU nurses did random checks and antibiotic drips on him.

We are so happy our boy is here! It's the most amazing thing to look at him and know he's ours. Not to mention that he was the little guy kicking in my belly :) He's such a calm boy and we have it soooo easy compared to other people we know. The last few nights have been rough, but totally worth it when you look at his little face. We are so excited to see what the next few weeks have to bring!

Love this article- There are only 3 Things you should say to a pregnant lady

Read this article today and I love it! Had to post!- http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705394587/There-are-only-3-things-you-should-say-to-a-pregnant-lady.html?pg=2


A week ago I received a call from my neighbor Janna, with whom I share a backyard fence. On sunny days we let our children play together in our backyards as we sit on lawn chairs and try to answer the world's greatest problems.
It's a charming life I have.
Janna was calling to say a few extra neighborhood children were over playing in the backyard, and would we like to come out and join them?
At this point I was one week overdue with my third child (and, at this writing I am two weeks overdue, hooray!) and it sounded perfectly lovely for us all to get out and enjoy some sunshine. So I put on the children's clothes, boots and coats and sent them out the door. Then I focused on getting dressed myself.
There isn't much I can wear these days, but thanks to a vast, colorful muu-muu collection, I always have a tent-like dress to drape on my body. I found my fushia dress which features gratuitous pink lilies and white blossoms in sporadic patterns. To protect my cold feed I put on warm, furry brown boots. I threw on my bright, orange trench coat which couldn't be zipped up due to the protrusion in my mid-section. Lastly, I found my dollar store sunglasses — frames with a slight '80s throwback look — put them on and headed out the door to join the children.
In my shadow I could see I had forgotten one small detail — my hair. From the dark outline of my profile on the grass I could see how it puffed from the crown of my head to my shoulders. It was messy and swirly and even my efforts to pat it down only aggravated the situation, so I let it be.
When I showed up where the kids were playing, I watched them all stop to stare at me. They looked like a gang of beady-eyed meerkats, frozen with fear of the oncoming tiger.
"You look good," offered Janna, maybe a bit aware of the sudden silence.
"Uh, I do?" I said, surprised she even offered that compliment.
At that point my child — he who is used to seeing me in such an eclectic get-up — distracted the other children by declaring a light saber war. After that the playing became intense and Janna and I could talk without much interruption. It was hungry calls for lunch that ended our lovely morning in the sunshine.
Later that night, Janna called me again. Apparently one of the children went home and told his mom that I came out to play that afternoon dressed as a clown. That mother then called Janna to see exactly what was going on, as in, did she owe me some sort of performance fee for entertaining her child that morning.

A clown.



Apropos, I thought. I feel like a clown. Or a whole circus for that matter. Everywhere I go there are sideshows of incredible feats, like me bending over or me trying to squeeze through the pews at church. There is nothing inconspicuous about being majorly pregnant. The spotlight never rests on your situation. Your every moved is tracked and noted.

"You look ready to pop!"
"Oh bless your heart, you must be so worn out."
"Are you sure you aren't having twins?"

My good friend Emmelyn has always said there are only three things you should say to a pregnant woman:

You look great!
Would you like to sit down?
Can I get you a cookie?

That's it. Don't ask them about due dates, don't ask them silly questions they can't answer ("When is that baby coming?") and no matter how entertaining they may be to watch, please don't mistake them for a circus act.
And yes, I'll take a cookie.
Thank you very much.

39 Weeks.... The waiting game

Hurry up and wait.... any day now... he'll be here in no time.... blah blah blah blah blah! I couldn't wait to be this far along... little did I know, it's seriously the hardest part. Everyone wants to know whats going on, but there's nothing to report. Now that I'm not working, the days creep along sooo slowly. I'm running out of things to do. I'm completely bored of knitting and baking isn't the same when there's not an occasion for it. Mom talked me into making her peppermint hot coco stirrers to market with. I was thinking it wouldn't be a problem... I can bust out a few dozen in no time! Her order is for 200! At least that will keep me busy till Thursday! 

Thursday is our next appointment with Dr.Crum.  Last week I talked to her about some natural induction attempts that she can do in the office. She is usually pretty against induction of any type. When I mentioned what I had read about "sweeping the membrane" she was all for it! I was pretty shocked actually. She asked me if I wanted her to do it last week, but she was worried I'd have the baby the next day... on Thanksgiving. Mom would've been stoked, but I'm sure that's the last thing Dr.Crum would want to deal with on her day off. Membrane sweeping is a term for when the doctor scans the part of your cervix thats behind the water bag with two fingers. This is supposed to released natural hormones to start labor... if your body is ready. So far I'm just over 1 cm dilated but I'm 70% effaced! Slowly but surely, we're getting there! I'm trying to stay optimistic. Especially since the doctor was worried about labor kicking in the next day if she did the sweeping at our last appointment. If all else fails, we should be picking an induction date too... just incase! 

Trying to tie up all loose ends before Thursday. Going to get some cleaning done and hopefully catch up on some sleep! I'm sure I'll be loosing a lot more when he gets here than I am now :)  

Yummy Recipes We're Making For Thanksgiving

Oreo Cream cheese Balls
1 Package of Oreo's (I get the double stuffed ones)
1 Package of cream cheese
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 Package of milk chocolate Almond Bark (Chocolate that melts and forms a shell)
Wax Paper

Directions:
Put Oreo's in a plastic bag and crunch them into tiny pieces with a rolling pin
Mix Oreo's, cream cheese and vanilla in a bowl  (quicker in a kitchenAid mixer)
Put bowl into the freezer for an hour or two
Make mini balls out of the mixture and put back into the freezer to harden again
Melt Almond Bark (I usually do 4 squares at a time)
Drop one ball at a time into melted chocolate and make sure it completely covered
Drop on to wax paper till it hardens
- The key is to make sure the chocolate stays as melted as possible, don't let it get too thick. Also, make sure the Oreo ball mixture stays as hard/cool as possible. This makes it easier to roll them in the chocolate and is less messy.

** These have been a favorite at all my work parties! They are super easy to make once you get used to using Almond Bark **

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes W/ Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting
1 box yellow cake mix
16 oz can of pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/3 cup veggie oil
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Chocolate chips (quantity depends on how much of a sweet tooth you have :)

Directions:
Mix all contents, except chocolate chips together in a big mixing bowl (or mixer). When completely mixed, pour in chocolate chips and lightly stir them into the batter. Spoon into muffin pan and put in the oven for 16-20ish minutes.

While it bakes, make the frosting :)

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz unsalted butter (softened)
4 oz cream cheese (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar (only use 1 cup-1 1/4 cup if you don't like frosting super sweet)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Mix all contents together in mixer on low for 3-5 minutes. Add more sugar or cream cheese to your liking if needed


Candy Cane Coco Stirrers (see picture in previous post)
Candy canes
large marshmallows
white chocolate Almond Bark
Sugar - sprinkles- or colored sugar
Wax paper

Directions:
Roll marshmallow sides in white chocolate  (make sure its not hot- it WILL melt marshmallows!)
then roll in sugar/sprinkles
Let them harden on wax paper
Heat up one square of white chocolate
dipp bottom of unwrapped candy cane into chocolate
Spear through top of marshmallow (if the chocolate is NOT hot it WILL break shell made around marshmallow! Make sure chocolate is extra warm for this part)
Wrap in individual baggies and tie off with curled ribbon

Garlic Cream Cheese Smashed Red Potatoes
5lbs red potatoes
chopped garlic
cream cheese (softened)
unsalted butter (softened)
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
Boil red potatoes till soft (if you're a garlic lover- boil potatoes with chopped garlic)
Mix potatoes, cream cheese, chopped garlic, and butter with hand mixer or KitchenAid
(your amounts will vary based on how creamy/ somewhat healthy you prefer your potatoes)
Add salt and pepper to taste



Good luck! :)