Wow...Life has changed!

Wow...I think that's all I can really say right now. Life has certainly changed...A LOT...in the last 2 weeks. It's changed so much that this little blog has been neglected for quite a while. I think often about things I keep meaning to post (like pictures of Logan's room!!), but obviously those things just get put on the back-burner when you have a new little baby in the house. One, because you really don't have time to get on the computer and two, you just don't want to get on the computer because you just want to sit and snuggle your little baby ALL the time (that, and SLEEP!)

Well, I guess that just over two weeks is enough time to kind of get settled in and find a quick minute to share Logan's birth story. Plus, I figure I better do it while Andy is still home and he can watch Logan. Because I think I'll have even less time to do personal things once he goes back to work.

38 weeks (this was the Sunday before Logan came)

So here we go... It all started on Wednesday, April 24th. It was my last day of work and I was so looking forward to having some time off before the baby came. I made plans to go to Ikea and lunch with my friend on Thursday and then to have a girls night on Friday with another friend. I was so excited! But apparently Logan had other plans for me. It was around 10:00 on Wednesday night, I was laying on the couch with my legs up, trying to get the ever-present swelling of my ankles and feet to go down, when I felt a little "leak". I got up, and went to the bathroom and everything seemed normal. I had a thought that it could be my water breaking, but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. So I just headed back to the couch and put my feet up again...and again I felt another leak. I was a little more suspicious now, but I just always thought that my water breaking would be a huge gush, that's what they make it sound like, and they also told me that only about 10% of women actually have their water break. I didn't mention anything to Andy at the time, he was on the phone with his friend so I just kind of kept it to myself and started researching online if this could be it. Everything I found was saying yes, possibly, but to just watch it and see how often the feeling comes. I hadn't felt anything for about an hour so I just decided to go to bed. And I was still debating if I even wanted to tell Andy... I didn't want to get him worried over nothing, so I just laid there in bed not saying anything. And then, I felt some more leaking. At this point, I figured I should tell Andy and we should talk about what we should do. I should not have been worried that Andy would freak out. Because he honestly did not think that there was any way that it was my water breaking. We just hung out talking and looking stuff up online and eventually I just decided to call my doctor and see what they thought. The on-call doctor said that it could definitely be my water, so she suggested we head to the hospital right away.

Luckily, Andy and I like to be super prepared, so we grabbed our bag and our list of the extra things we needed to remember and we headed out the door not too much later. The whole drive to the hospital, Andy kept saying "well, I'm excited to turn right back around in about 10 minutes". He just couldn't accept the possibility of having the baby right then. It was pretty funny! We got to the hospital and they did a test to see if my water had broke. It took about half an hour to find out the results, and during that time I felt a few little contractions, but nothing big. After the 1/2 hour, the doctor came in and said the test was positive and that we were going to have a baby! We were both kind of in shock! Immediately, Andy left the room to call his parents, who were actually in Utah. He wanted to let them know right away so that they could start driving back if they wanted to. While he was gone, I had kind of a scared moment. I was holding back my tears until he came into the room and just held me. I just got pretty freaked out about labor and having to go through that pain. But after a minute, I felt better and just imagined our little guy in my arms soon.

They took me back to my labor room and we just kind of waited it out until about 6:00 am. They decided to start me on pitocin because labor hadn't really started, but oh boy, once that pitocin kicked in...I definitely felt the contractions then! At first they were totally tolerable. I was able to do my breathing with Andy and just kind of push it out. But they got worse...for sure! I had decided that I was going to go natural, or at least try, but after 3 hours of contractions, I had certainly changed my mind. They finally checked me and I was at about 4/5 cm dilated and so I decided that I needed the epidural at that point. And boy, was it wonderful! Almost immediately after I got it, I felt no pain. The nurse mentioned that I was having a contraction and I didn't feel a dang thing. The whole room just felt bright again and I was able to be my cheery self again. I feel good for lasting as long as I did, but I just decided that I wanted to be able to enjoy the experience and "be" there, instead of just suffering through. And after I got it, Andy was able to relax and enjoy it too, instead of having to watch me go through that pain.

So then we just waited around a little bit more, maybe 3 more hours, and they checked me again. I was at about an 8 and 100% effaced; it was exciting to be soo close!! And then just a little bit after that, I was at a 10 and ready to go! We had to wait for the baby to drop a little bit more, so I could start pushing right away, but when it was time to push, I was ready! I didn't hold back at all! Well, they actually had to tell me not to push so hard, because we needed to wait for my doctor to get there... But they brought in a mirror so that I could watch and it was amazing to see little baby's head just right there and knowing that he is so close! I only pushed for about 45 minutes and then he was there! The doctor and nurses were all telling me to reach down and grab him, and I was so confused. I didn't understand why I had to grab him, why couldn't they just put him on my chest for me? I wasn't quite ready to hold a baby yet, especially such a tiny and slimy one. Ha! But it was super neat to just grab him and hold him on my chest. I couldn't believe he was out of me!! Andy cut his cord and I just got to snuggle my little guy forever! They didn't even take him off my chest for the longest time. I was in love (but at the same time, super emotional and not really quite knowing what I had gotten myself into...). So they measured him, and he weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and he was 20 3/4 inches long. Such a big healthy boy! My doctor kept saying that if anyone had asked him if he thought I could deliver that big of a baby, he would have said no. I showed him! :) I was super proud of myself, is that weird to say? It definitely helped that everyone around me kept telling me what a great job I did, I'm sure they say that to everyone. Because you would need that kind of encouragement to keep going, right?

I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since he was born. The whole 9 months went by so fast, except the last 2 weeks or so. Once he was out, it just felt amazing to not be pregnant anymore. The best part - definitely not having swollen ankles and feet anymore! It took a few days for all of the swelling to go down, but a few days after we'd been home, I remember looking down at my feet and realizing that I actually had ankles! And that there was bone there, not just nasty puffy feet. It was amazing!

Logan has been the best little baby. He really doesn't cry that much, only when we have to change his diaper or clothes and then right before he eats. It already feels like we've got him on a pretty good schedule, he only wakes up a few times in the night to eat, so we get about 3 or 4 hours of sleep at a time. I know that everyone says to sleep when he sleeps, but that is really hard to do. It always sounds so easy, but when it's the middle of the day and you're used to being busy and doing stuff, it's so hard to just slow down and take a nap. Andy has to remind me to nap sometimes, or else I would probably just go and go and then after a while I would have a major crash. I'm so grateful that he's been able to take off so much time from work. He has one more week at home and then he has to go back. I'm super sad and I wonder what I will do without him.

Okay, since this is a super long post already, I'll stop there and just post some pictures now of our little Logan. We just love him so much. It's so hard to put him down so that we can actually get stuff done. And we could just kiss his little chubby cheeks all day! It's amazing being a mom. But at times, it just doesn't feel any different, like the reality hasn't set in yet or something, it's kind of weird. Or maybe I just don't think about it because it's so natural? :) Anyway, here are some more pictures.

Brand new baby!

Love that the nurse swaddled him with a hood. Ha!

All ready to go home! 

First bath...not a success. Ha! Definitely need some practice.

Sleepy daddy. But he is the BEST dad!

Logan with my most favorite stuffed animal, Scruffy

i cried today...

I've had a pretty rough morning...it all started when I chose my outfit. Everything was fitting perfectly, I felt pretty cute. And then... I had to put my shoes on. Not just some old flip flops or flats that I can slip on and off easily - today I had to wear my boots. Why? Because I am wearing leggings. Short pregnant women should not wear leggings without also wearing boots. Now, you might ask, where is the issue?

Well, the issue is that my ankles were a little bit swollen this morning, as they are on a regular basis these days. Again, what's the problem? My boots are pull-ons, no zipper, no stretch...no help at all really. I couldn't get them on. I was hunched over in the closet, squishing my baby belly, pulling and tugging and nothing would budge. I'm breathing heavy because that's what I do now, breathe heavily at the simplest tasks.

I went to the bed to sit down and try to pull them on...not happening. So what did I do? 

I cried.

Because if I couldn't get my boots on...then I would have to change my entire outfit (see above about wearing leggings without boots). And apparently, to me, this was a tragedy where I felt the need to cry and have my husband comfort me.

Which he did, of course. And didn't even make fun of me. Just sat on the ground, helped me put on my boots, and gave me a hug and let me cry it out (but not too much, or else my make up would smudge).

Moral of the story? Don't choose an outfit where you have to wear boots, if you cannot get your boots on. It is a very very sad thing to happen at 7:00 in the morning.

What a wonderful day!

First off...let me start off with this picture:

Day I found out I was pregnant

So there I was, going through my pictures and I came across this old picture. You know what I remember feeling when Andy was taking this picture? "Holy crap, stop taking pictures because I'm fat in all of them!" Really... I thought I was fat then?? Oh so funny... because here we are today (well, technically yesterday):

Yesterday...

If I look that good after a few months after baby....man I will be one happy lady! Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy and "love" my pregnant body - but kind of excited to get back to the old me. But at the same time, seriously freaking scared that it's going to take forever... Anyway, this post was not supposed to be about me.

Today is a wonderful day! Would you like to know why? There are two reasons; you see - today marks Andy's one year anniversary at Waggener Edstrom. Yes, it's been a whole year already. Honestly, I don't know where time goes. So yay, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ANDY!!

Ya, do you remember that long hair...? :/

But just you wait for reason #2 of why it's a wonderful day. ANDY GOT A PROMOTION!!!!!!!!!!! He is now a SENIOR Account Executive. A few months back, we suspected he should be getting a promotion since he's basically doing the work of an SAE, but then last month he had a 1 on 1 with his boss, who basically said "well, since you haven't been here very long, you might not get it" (not his boss's fault, his boss is awesome and pushed and fought for Andy to get it). They were basically saying, well he's been here only a year...blah blah blah. And so his boss went back to them and said Yes, but look how much he has done and accomplished and he's only been here a year. Awesome! So Andy got all sorts of good compliments from people on his team, his boss, and a few other people and they want to see more of him. Awwww I'm so proud of him!

Ever since I started dating Andy, I knew that he would be successful in whatever he did (which, let's be honest, I had NO IDEA what he was getting his degree in, so it literally could have been anything). He just has this confidence about him that lets people know that he knows what he is doing and he will do his very best. When we decided to move to Washington, I knew that he would find a job where he could gain experience and they would just love him. And now look at him, 3 years later - He is 27 years old, has started his career - doing what he got his degree in! - and has a huge path laid out for him to only succeed in the future. I seriously cannot express how proud I am of him. Every single day I think to myself, how did I get so lucky to marry a man who will always and forever provide for our family 100%? And especially now that we have a baby on the way, I am so blessed that I will be able to stay home and take care of little Logan. And that's because Andy works so hard to be successful, and I know he does it for me and our future family. I seriously feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I kind of feel like I'm bragging, I'm sorry...I'm totally not, just trying to express how lucky and blessed I feel to live the life I live. Sometimes I just don't understand what I did to have my Heavenly Father bless me so much, but I hope he knows how grateful I am.

Andy, honey, I love you so much and I am so proud of you. I only see good things for you in the future! You are so amazing at everything you do and I can't wait for Logan to have you for an example of how to grow up, just like you received from your dad. I love you! CONGRATULATIONS!

Third Trimester!!

29 weeks!

Am I really writing a post about my Third Trimester already??? Where does the time go when you are pregnant?

I'm stealing this from McKenzie's blog because I think it's the cutest little questionnaire. :) Thanks McKenzie!

How far along? 29 weeks

Maternity clothes? Oh yes! I actually just bought my first pair of maternity jeans this week...and they are HEAVEN SENT!! 

Sleep: I've been sleeping pretty well...and all the time! I still wake up about 3 times a night  to go pee.

Best moment this week: Hmm...getting my maternity jeans. No joke!

Food cravings: Homemade sugar cookies, Pho, Cookies & Cream milkshake, cheese enchiladas

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope! I eat EVERYTHING!

Gender: It's a BOY!

Name: Logan (still deciding on middle name)

Symptoms: Swelling all the time! Heartburn like crazy! Tired Tired Tired!

Belly Button in or out? It's kind of inbetween. The top of it kind of sticks out and then the rest is still in. Kinda strange.

Wedding rings on or off? It's on...for now. But the minute I get home, it is off! I try to blame this on the swelling...but it's very possible it's just fat. :)

Attitude: Ugh... I have my moments. Last Sunday I was an emotional wreck, tears forming the minute I even thought about my "fat" body. Other than that, I think I've been pretty calm (but you might want to ask Andy this question?)

Looking forward to: Painting the baby's room. I just moved out most of my craft stuff, so now we can start painting soon! Yay!

I have a funny story about the picture up top. The shirt I'm wearing is definitely not a maternity shirt. It was nice and comfy on my belly...but oh boy, was it way too tight on my boobs! I lasted about half of the day at work with no problems...but then I bent down to sit in a chair and bam, the v-neck part rips about an inch. It would have been fine if I was alone, but no, I was testing out a chair so the sales rep was standing over me and showing me how to use the chair. I had to pretend that she did not hear the rip and that she couldn't see that it had ripped. Which is so impossible that she didn't notice because we were talking about me being pregnant, and staring at my belly the whole time. Oh man! So then right before I leave for the day...I bend down one more time and bam...it rips again! Good thing I was headed home. I'm super bummed because it was such a cute shirt and my belly looked so cute in it...oh well!

New maternity jeans!

We've been trying to get the baby's room all organized, and the first step was to find a new home for my craft supplies. The dining room seemed like the obvious choice (right? because, who eats in their dining room these days...), so we had to buy some sort of shelf to hold everything. I found one I really liked, and it was cheap, so obviously we had to put it together ourselves. Andy was not very happy about that, because he always has to put together our furniture. But not this time! He was at his friends house (playing video games like they do) and I surprised him by putting it together myself! Here's Logan and I working hard "building" a shelf. 

Getting a shot like this...harder than you would think!

Baby Shower

When we were in Utah for Christmas, my sweet sister and mom decided to throw a baby shower for me. I was so excited because I really didn't think I would get one since we don't live near my family. I was so happy to see everybody that came...and to open all of baby Logan's presents! Everyone was so sweet and sooo giving. We had to borrow a HUGE suitcase from mom and dad in order to get everything home! So THANK YOU everyone!! Here are a few pictures of the party:

Sweet mama and sister. Thanks ladies for the shower!!

Mobile that my mom and dad made for Logan

Close ups - look at those cute little faces!!

Mobile and beanie that Meg made

Huge pile of stuff that we got for Logan. Thank you!!!

Probably my 3 favorite presents... 3 of the exact same outfits, but all different sizes 

Logan will be able to wear his favorite monkey shirts from birth to 1 year old!!

L.O.V.E this coat that Jan bought for Logan. He will look so "classy". Thanks Jan!!

Linds made me this awesome nursing cover and Moby-style wrap. Can't wait to use them!

And I realized I didn't get any pictures of actual people from the shower, so thanks Jan for these pictures (glad it's so easy to steal pictures from other peoples blogs)

Realizing that we got another Silly Monkey outfit. So awesome!

Cute picture of me and my girls. Last picture we will get to take for 18 months!! Miss you Whitty-poo!

Whit made me this shirt to remember her up in Canada. So cute! Thanks Whit!

Note the "eh?" where baby Logan is. :)

And I couldn't resist putting up this picture of Aidyn...he was loving that 2 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper. He kept trying to carry it up the ramp, but it was too heavy. Haha!

Look at that face!

Aidyn's First Birthday

Meg was so sweet and waited until Andy and I were in Utah to have Aidyn's first birthday party. We went shopping with her earlier in the day to buy the decorations, snacks and stuff to make the cake. She wanted to do a Bob the Builder theme, and it was amazing because got a lot of decorations to match from the dollar store. Meg was very adventurous and wanted to make and decorate a cake for Aidyn. She asked for my help...I think I just sat around and watched her. I don't know if I could decorate a cake like she did. I might be creative, but I'm usually not brave enough to attempt my creative thoughts. Haha!

We had a lot of fun decorating and getting ready. As the time got closer we heard from Dave and Dan and both of their families were super sick so they couldn't make it. We were kind of counting on them to be there to bring the kids, because we had kid games planned, but that's okay. Adults can play kid games! We played pin the hammer on Bob the Builder, musical chairs, and a game where you have to pop the balloon with your butt. It's always fun to act like a little kid every now and then. Here are a few pictures of the night.

Nana and Aidyn

Cute table and decorations

Some of the peeps... looks at those pictures on the wall. Meg made those!!

Andy won musical chairs

Meg with her masterpiece

Cute little 1 year old

Getting in his cake eating outfit

He kind of dug into the cake. Took him a while though.

Such a cute cake. Bonus that it was a Funfetti cake. YUM!

Happy birthday sweet little Aidyn baby. I honestly can't believe how fast that year went by. I am so glad that I was able to fly in and see you and your mommy in the hospital a few days after you were born. You were the cutest newborn! Love you little boy!!

Christmas vacation

Hello friends. As I'm sitting here, waiting for church, I thought I would do something productive. And what's more productive than a blog post?? I have no idea... :) We switched to 1:00 church this year, and although it's been nice to sleep in and be super lazy all morning, it kind of has me feeling guilty for "wasting" a Sabbath day. I definitely think that's something I'm going to have to work on throughout the year - try to do something before church starts so that I feel like it's not just another Saturday morning.

Anyway, let's do a post about our Christmas vacation. It was my family's turn for Christmas, so Andy and I flew out there for a week. We got in on Saturday afternoon and went to a movie with the fam. Bad idea seeing as how we had been up since 4am...so I fell asleep throughout the whole movie, basically. We went to the old ward on Sunday, except it's just not the same ward anymore since the split. It was a  really nice Christmas program. My dad sang in the choir and Rich and Amy narrated the program. They are soooo cute! I'm in love with them. :)

I'm super upset that I didn't take very many pictures. I'm just not used to taking pictures anymore, because at Tolton get-togethers...it's so STRANGE to have a camera present. Christmas Eve was nice, everyone came over to mom and dad's and we just laughed and ate, played games, watched the kids put on a play, had a talent show. I bet you're all wondering what my talent was?? I showed off my blanket that I'm knitting for baby Logan. But the best talent...Andy sang for all of us!! I told him I wasn't going to pressure him because he hates being the center of attention, but I think he was just won over with the spirit of Christmas. And yes, the minute he started singing...I cried! Haha! I think I would have cried even if I wasn't pregnant! We got some amazing presents from the family. Everybody is so crafty and creative!

My mom created all of these little scenes for each kid. Mine was a Nativity scene, which is perfect because I don't have a Nativity. And now I have an amazing hand-made one from my mama. Meg got fireplace and stocking scene, Dan and Judy got a Snowman family, Dave and Shell got a Gingerbread family, and Rich and Amy got an amazing Christmas tree. All of these were handmade our of sculpy clay/dough and she's been working on them only since October. I wish I had pictures of all of the other ones.

My Nativity scene

 The siblings "draw" names every year and Meg had Andy and I. She made this precious canvas for Logan's room. I'm going to do gray, yellow, black/white with giraffes and elephants. So this is absolutely perfect. It is sooo cute!

Love those giraffes!!

 Amy is apparently an amazing knitter and she knitted this super soft yellow blanket for baby Logan. Mom and Dad's house was pretty cold at times, so we put this on us and warmed right up.

So soft and cozy!

Dad made these little Learning bags for all of the grandkids. I saw him making them, but I didn't think he would have one for Logan yet, because he's not born and won't be "learning" for a little while. But he surprised us with his own little bag. So cute, he free-handed all of the pictures on the bag. 

Can't wait to read him these little books

After Christmas was over, pretty much all of the family got sick, except Andy and I so we borrowed Amy's car and tried to stay out of the house and away from the sickies. We got to hang out with our friends quite a bit on this trip, that was really nice. We did some shopping with Jan and Spencer, dinner with Brian and Derek, bowling with my girls. We were busy busy, but that's the way we like it. We got so much snow and I was in heaven! I was hoping we could go sledding with the kids, but we just never found a good time when everyone wasn't sick or busy. It was so good to spend Christmas with my family. It's always crazy and loud and so much food. But it's so much fun at the same time. I just think about next Christmas and our little baby will be here. Crazy!!