Hee Haw Farms

     I've been really horrible about blogging--I thought I would get better after having a child! Ha! Oh well. 

     This last Saturday, we went to Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove with Michael's sister and her family. It was a ton of fun! Not only did we get to play in a corn box, go on a hay ride, play with baby pigs, ride a giant slide and enjoy the beautiful fall day--we realized something about our sons character: he takes a while to warm up to things. 

     We've always noticed it, to a degree. Michael says he is just like him, but for about the first hour, maybe hour and a half, Jack was so serious. We could not get him to smile for anything. He just watched everything that was going on, studying it. Then, about an hour and a half into the adventure (half an hour before we were about to go) he loosened up and began playing, jabbering and laughing. Silly boy. 

     Anyway, enjoy the pictures! (Oh yeah! Jack is also apparently allergic to what we think must be hay. His eyes were watering and he broke out in a rash on his face--you'll notice in the pictures.)

Jack with his cousin Gabriel

Six Months!

     That's right! My beautiful baby boy is six months old! I can hardly believe it. We went to visit a friend who had a baby last week and as I reached out to hold her little newborn, I suddenly realized I had no idea how you hold a newborn! He was so little and fragile! Then I looked over and Jack was sitting there happily playing with toys all by himself. It's amazing to me how quickly he's grown--and how much he can do independently now.
     He sits, has one tooth and one coming in, passes toys from hand to hand (a developmental thing I just recently learned about!), he eats fruits and vegetables (when I remember to give them to him), and loves peek-a-boo. He's my joy!
     We had his six month wellness checkup yesterday, and he is 26 1/2 in. long (56%) and 15.7 lbs. (19%). I know, you look at his pictures and wonder how in the world can that delicious face be in the 19%?! But that is pretty much all his chub--his adorable, kissable face.
     I planned on going up the canyon and taking a ton of really great pictures, but our Saturday became more full than we expected. Maybe we'll get that done this weekend. Luckily Michael's grandma has the perfect picture yard and we were able to snap a few between running around like crazies.

Jack is not a huge fan of grass, it turns out. This is the face he made the entire time he was on it directly.

This is his new: "I have teeth smile"

Jack Michael

     I'm a mom! My beautiful, perfect son was born March 7, 2013 at 8:11pm. He weighed 6lbs. 2oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Here's a run down and then some cute pictures:
     I woke up around 3am on Thursday morning with pretty strong contractions. They were coming about every 15 minutes, so I had a feeling it was the beginning of the real thing, but it wasn't time to go to the hospital or anything. When our alarm went off at 6am, I hadn't gotten much sleep, but my contractions were still about 10 minutes apart, so Michael and I decided that he would go to work, and we would wait until they were about 5 minutes apart before going into the hospital.
     I also decided to go to work, sort of last minute, but couldn't imagine staying home with nothing to do but count minutes and obsess. Pretty much everyone from Michael, to my older sister, to the girl taking over my classes for me thought I was insane, but I was able to sit at my desk and finish grading and entering grades into the computer. Much better to keep my mind busy. I decided it was time to leave when my contractions were about 6-7 minutes apart.
     By this time I was in quite a bit of pain, and I was ready to get into the hospital and get an epidural. I called Michael and told him it was time to come home. It was about 1pm by the time we got to the hospital. They hooked me up to monitors and told me that as long as there was a change when they checked on me in an hour, I would be admitted. There was a change, so I was admitted and right away they hooked my IV up and called the anesthesiologist so I could get my epidural.
     First, epidurals are awesome. Second, I got my epidural around 3:30 or 4pm and he was born at 8:11. It went really fast. Way faster than they expected. They started me on a pitocin drip after I had my epidural, but the contractions were coming so fast and strong that it made his heart rate drop too low and in a flurry of activity they stopped the drip, broke my water and stuck a monitor to his head. In an hour I had gone from a 4cm to 9cm. Pretty quick, huh?
     When they realized how quickly I was progressing (amazingly without any pain--and thinking about the pain I went through getting from 2cm-4cm I'm extremely grateful for the miracle of modern medicine.) They called the on call doctor to come and deliver my baby. I pushed through 6 or 7 contractions (with a small break in between the first 3 and the last 3 to check his heart rate) and my tiny son was born!
     My first words were "He's so small!" Like I mentioned earlier, he only weighed 6lbs 2oz. But he's perfect! He's strong and healthy and calm and sweet. I know I'm saying this because I'm his mom, but he is honestly the most perfect, beautiful baby I have ever seen. I loved him from the second I found out I was pregnant, and the moment I saw him that love was justified and grew 10 fold. I had no idea I would feel such an amazingly strong love for him so immediately.
Here's the pictures!

   

Baby Showers!

It's been a really looong time since I've written anything! With the holidays and such time has just flown by! I can't believe that I am already in the counting down stage of my pregnancy (36 weeks)! Everything has been going so smoothly, I almost forget sometimes that I am pregnant! (Until he starts moving again--which these days I swear he is trying to break out or something; or until I start trying to move and and I can't quite manage it alone.)
Anyway, in the last week I've had the enormous pleasure of having two baby showers! The first was an amazing Disney themed shower hosted by Michael's grandma Bu and organized by his aunt Marcelle and sister Coleen (Kacy, who is now in the MTC, helped too!). It was so fun! I actually don't have any pictures, but hope to get them from Coleen soon.
Today one of my oldest and best friends, Shaundra threw a small old-roommater shower. We ate, laughed, opened presents and pinterest-ed! I was able to get two of the crafts done off my really-want-but-not-sure-if-I'll-get-them-done list. Here are some pictures!
Oh and in the next few days I'll try and post again and get some current pregnancy pictures up.

I just love these little onesie bow ties! 

I can't wait for him to be able to wear these!

And a carseat cover! (Sorry these next few are a litlte out of focus , I took the pictures on Michael's phone)

A close up of the material. I love it.