Just a warning...my posts may become fewer and far between. My days have been filled with breastfeeding, naps, diaper changes, and staring at my new little man. That is also what I will be referring to him as in my posts...Little Man. He is filling out from all that good eating and his jaundice also seems to be getting better. He will see the doctor again next Friday.
He sleeps pretty well at night, in three hour stretches. We also seem to be working out the kinks and hiccups of breastfeeding. I'm hoping that that will get much better soon. This is, by far, the hardest part of adapting to a new little one. So, in the meantime, I may post some new pictures intermittently, but will probably ease up on postings for a while. Hope you will all keep checking back though.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
HE'S HERE!!!
Matthew Caleb was born on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 11:16 a.m. He was 7 lb. 11 1/2 oz. and 19 in. long. He was also two weeks early, and I have no complaints about that. My water broke at 1:45 a.m. and he arrived after 11 a.m. Not bad. The labor went well, especially with the epidural. We are both doing well and are now home resting. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to our new little man. 
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
How skinny is too skinny?
I read this article today about the actress Megan Fox. You might know her as Mikaela in "Transformers". The director, Michael Bay, of both "Transformers" and the sequel in pre-production right now has asked the actress to gain 10 lbs. before beginning filming the new movie. Apparently, she had lost some weight for a recent film and was asked to regain it because Bay "doesn't like skinny girls". Now, upon first reading this, I had no objections. I applaud the use of "healthy" actresses. However, I was a little confused when observing some pics of the actress. Let me show you...
The first pic is from the first "Transformers".
The next one was posted by TMZ.com just yesterday.
Can someone point out the difference? Because I'm having trouble seeing it.
By the way, I know that the movie is in pre-production because they are filming it near my hometown, the same place they filmed the first film's opening scene in the "middle east". Yeah, that was filmed in NM, not Qatar. I loved seeing those familiar dunes and mountains when I was in the packed theater at the premiere. It made me a little homesick...and proud.
He's Awaiting the Final Curtain
I am so tired. This kiddo is sitting as low as he can get without starting to come out. Even the midwife was surprised by how low he was today. But, alas, no further progress. I am still dilated to a 2 and am 60% effaced, same as three weeks ago. You would think that with all my cramping, contractions, and uncomfortableness, that something would be happening. Nope, looks like this kiddo has decided to stick around to the very end. I have about 15 days left until my due date.
I may post more pics later. The internet is dreadfully slow today.
But I'm not just sitting around counting the days. I am still working on the house. Currently, I am doing Mister's room, aka the black hole. That kid has waaaay too many toys. So, we are drastically downsizing the loot and organizing the rest in bins. I bought three bins; one for stuffed animals, one for legos, and once for the rest of the toys. The catch is that he has to choose among his belongings wisely because if they don't fit in the bins, he can't keep them. I will be doing the same with Tiny's room. I'm also hoping to downsize mine and H's clothes and belongings. Less stuff, less mess, more time.
I am also becoming acutely aware of just how bare my walls look. I may need to start planning some future painting projects...you know, post-baby arrival.
And now for some pics from the camping trip. Enjoy.
I may post more pics later. The internet is dreadfully slow today.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A 4-Man Tent Does Not Always Mean Just That
We went camping this last weekend, just for one night. Some of H's business associates were doing a family hike and overnight campout in one of the canyons last Friday night. I told H that I was willing to go on 2 conditions: 1) I didn't have to go on the hike. It was 3 miles long and I get tired going up the stairs at home. 2) We brought smores. So, he agreed to my very reasonable conditions and we packed up and headed to the mountains.
Liz was gracious enough to offer us her 4-man tent to use and we purchased an air mattress and some new sleeping bags. Everyone met up at one of the ski resorts and headed out for the hike. Me? I stayed at the resort and hung out in the truck, watching "Stranger Than Fiction" on my laptop and eating snacks. The mountain air was a pleasant 50+ degrees and I surrounded myself with pillows in the back seat. I had my own private drive-in theater. After about 2 1/2 hours, H and the kids returned from the hike and we headed down to the campsite that the group reserved. Less than half of the hiking group met up at the campsite and less than half of that number stayed for the night.
I found a nice, flat spot for us to pitch the tent, then H blew up the air mattress, and set up the blankets and pillows. The tent went up really easy and we set the mattress in before pumping it. It is a queen mattress and H bought a manual pump. Just imagine trying to blow up a really thick queen mattress with a bicycle pump. H was huffing and puffing while airing it up. I asked him how much the electric pump was at the store and he replied, with a bit of forlorn in his voice, "$12." Needless to say, we'll be returning the hand pump and getting the electric. After finally getting it set up, Mister found a leak in the mattress, which H had to patch.
After all that work, we then started some dinner. We barbecued some kabobs with beef rib meat on the grill. Others had brought foods wrapped in foil and threw them in the fire pit to cook. Since the ribs would take a little while, the kids and I happily moved on to the smores. There is nothing like a gooey, messy, warm smore over the campfire. It was heaven. The meat also turned out just right. We all sat around the fire, eating and chatting. I had not met any of the people there before and we had a pretty good time.
When it was late and time for bed, I left H chatting by the fire and headed for the tent. Once inside and comfortable, I realized that just because a tent is referred to as a 4-man tent doesn't necessarily guarantee that 4 people will fit in it. This is especially true when 2 of the 4 are a pregnant woman and the large man that is H. With me and the kids situated, I knew there was no way that H would be able to fit in with us comfortably. He ended up at the bottom of the mattress, under our feet. He and I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. This was compounded by the fact that I remembered right before heading to bed that I require at least 2-3 trips to the bathroom at night. Thankfully, there was a restroom just one campsite over. But, I have to say, growing up on horror movies, particularly "Friday the 13th" did not make the trips to the bathroom very comfortable...not to mention all the animals that I knew were staring out of the bushes at me. As long as they weren't wearing masks and carrying machetes, they didn't bother me much.
In the morning, H informed me that our camp had had some visitors early that morning. He had gotten up and opened the tent door to find two moose in the camp. They were just passing through, sniffing the tents and checking out the three guys that chose to camp out in the open. H woke them up and warned them of the moose nearby, but he was really in awe of them. Unfortunately, the moose had headed out before we could get up to see them. We did see a doe, though, and a lot of chipmunks. We made a breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs. Bacon over a campfire cannot be beat. Yum! After breakfast and some more chatting, we packed up, cleaned up and headed home...where we quickly laid down and passed out for a while. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.
Liz was gracious enough to offer us her 4-man tent to use and we purchased an air mattress and some new sleeping bags. Everyone met up at one of the ski resorts and headed out for the hike. Me? I stayed at the resort and hung out in the truck, watching "Stranger Than Fiction" on my laptop and eating snacks. The mountain air was a pleasant 50+ degrees and I surrounded myself with pillows in the back seat. I had my own private drive-in theater. After about 2 1/2 hours, H and the kids returned from the hike and we headed down to the campsite that the group reserved. Less than half of the hiking group met up at the campsite and less than half of that number stayed for the night.
I found a nice, flat spot for us to pitch the tent, then H blew up the air mattress, and set up the blankets and pillows. The tent went up really easy and we set the mattress in before pumping it. It is a queen mattress and H bought a manual pump. Just imagine trying to blow up a really thick queen mattress with a bicycle pump. H was huffing and puffing while airing it up. I asked him how much the electric pump was at the store and he replied, with a bit of forlorn in his voice, "$12." Needless to say, we'll be returning the hand pump and getting the electric. After finally getting it set up, Mister found a leak in the mattress, which H had to patch.
After all that work, we then started some dinner. We barbecued some kabobs with beef rib meat on the grill. Others had brought foods wrapped in foil and threw them in the fire pit to cook. Since the ribs would take a little while, the kids and I happily moved on to the smores. There is nothing like a gooey, messy, warm smore over the campfire. It was heaven. The meat also turned out just right. We all sat around the fire, eating and chatting. I had not met any of the people there before and we had a pretty good time.
When it was late and time for bed, I left H chatting by the fire and headed for the tent. Once inside and comfortable, I realized that just because a tent is referred to as a 4-man tent doesn't necessarily guarantee that 4 people will fit in it. This is especially true when 2 of the 4 are a pregnant woman and the large man that is H. With me and the kids situated, I knew there was no way that H would be able to fit in with us comfortably. He ended up at the bottom of the mattress, under our feet. He and I didn't get a lot of sleep that night. This was compounded by the fact that I remembered right before heading to bed that I require at least 2-3 trips to the bathroom at night. Thankfully, there was a restroom just one campsite over. But, I have to say, growing up on horror movies, particularly "Friday the 13th" did not make the trips to the bathroom very comfortable...not to mention all the animals that I knew were staring out of the bushes at me. As long as they weren't wearing masks and carrying machetes, they didn't bother me much.
In the morning, H informed me that our camp had had some visitors early that morning. He had gotten up and opened the tent door to find two moose in the camp. They were just passing through, sniffing the tents and checking out the three guys that chose to camp out in the open. H woke them up and warned them of the moose nearby, but he was really in awe of them. Unfortunately, the moose had headed out before we could get up to see them. We did see a doe, though, and a lot of chipmunks. We made a breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs. Bacon over a campfire cannot be beat. Yum! After breakfast and some more chatting, we packed up, cleaned up and headed home...where we quickly laid down and passed out for a while. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
The Newest Member of our Church
We had a very full weekend. Thursday, we watched fireworks in our area and they were some of the best the city has ever put on. Friday, I cleaned house and we attended a bbq at my sis-in-law's sister's house. After dinner and some birthday cake for her husband, the kids lit fireworks and we enjoyed the cool breeze of the evening. We headed home late and passed out easily.
Saturday was the best day of all. Tiny was baptized at our church. She has been really excited about it and was all smiles and anticipation. After cleaning up the house more and preparing some food, we headed to the church. I helped her dress in her white baptism jumpsuit and led her back out into the room. We sang the opening hymn "I am a Child of God", had an opening prayer, and I gave a talk on baptism. I told Tiny that getting baptized was the best decision I ever made and that my life has been greatly blessed for choosing to follow the Lord, she being one of those blessings. It was a short talk, but the smile she gave me said that it was important to her.
Her daddy then took her into the baptismal font and performed the sacred ordinance. She came up to me, wet and smiling from ear to ear. I helped her change into dry clothes and brushed her hair. All the while, I was talking to her about how proud I was of her and explained what I meant when I said that she was one of my blessing of baptism. Had I not joined the church, I wouldn't have met her father, and then been blessed with the wonderful family that I have. It was such a special moment that I was able to share with her. After we returned to the room, we heard a talk on the Holy Ghost, after which she received that blessing. We followed with another hymn, "I Love to See the Temple" and had a closing prayer.
Afterward, everyone, family and friends, came up to congratulate Tiny. At one point, she whispered to me, "I can't stop smiling." She had a large grin on her face. Her face and her eyes were bright with the Spirit of God. She had that smile for the rest of the day. We had a little get together at the house afterward. Many of our family and friends came to eat lunch and a cake that my sis-in-law made that looks like a set of scriptures with a verse that Tiny picked out. My sis-in-law is really gifted when it comes to making cakes.
All in all, Tiny had a great day and that makes me happy.
And the day didn't end there. Some folks from H's graduating class were having a picnic since many of them would be in town for the 4th. So, after about an hour of recuperation, I was ready to go again and we headed down to it. H got to visit with a lot of old friends and I made a few new ones. The kids ran wild by the creek and had a blast. We finally made it home late and crashed for the night. It was a long, good day.
Today, we just had church. I'm thankful for that because I don't know how much more excitement I can take in one weekend. Now, we're going to relax a bit. I see the doc again on Thursday and am hoping that some progress has been made. This much discomfort and fatigue is more worth it if I know it's doing something. I hope you all had a good holiday weekend and are doing well.
By the way, here's the latest belly pic. Looking low?
Saturday was the best day of all. Tiny was baptized at our church. She has been really excited about it and was all smiles and anticipation. After cleaning up the house more and preparing some food, we headed to the church. I helped her dress in her white baptism jumpsuit and led her back out into the room. We sang the opening hymn "I am a Child of God", had an opening prayer, and I gave a talk on baptism. I told Tiny that getting baptized was the best decision I ever made and that my life has been greatly blessed for choosing to follow the Lord, she being one of those blessings. It was a short talk, but the smile she gave me said that it was important to her.Her daddy then took her into the baptismal font and performed the sacred ordinance. She came up to me, wet and smiling from ear to ear. I helped her change into dry clothes and brushed her hair. All the while, I was talking to her about how proud I was of her and explained what I meant when I said that she was one of my blessing of baptism. Had I not joined the church, I wouldn't have met her father, and then been blessed with the wonderful family that I have. It was such a special moment that I was able to share with her. After we returned to the room, we heard a talk on the Holy Ghost, after which she received that blessing. We followed with another hymn, "I Love to See the Temple" and had a closing prayer. Afterward, everyone, family and friends, came up to congratulate Tiny. At one point, she whispered to me, "I can't stop smiling." She had a large grin on her face. Her face and her eyes were bright with the Spirit of God. She had that smile for the rest of the day. We had a little get together at the house afterward. Many of our family and friends came to eat lunch and a cake that my sis-in-law made that looks like a set of scriptures with a verse that Tiny picked out. My sis-in-law is really gifted when it comes to making cakes.
All in all, Tiny had a great day and that makes me happy.
And the day didn't end there. Some folks from H's graduating class were having a picnic since many of them would be in town for the 4th. So, after about an hour of recuperation, I was ready to go again and we headed down to it. H got to visit with a lot of old friends and I made a few new ones. The kids ran wild by the creek and had a blast. We finally made it home late and crashed for the night. It was a long, good day.
Today, we just had church. I'm thankful for that because I don't know how much more excitement I can take in one weekend. Now, we're going to relax a bit. I see the doc again on Thursday and am hoping that some progress has been made. This much discomfort and fatigue is more worth it if I know it's doing something. I hope you all had a good holiday weekend and are doing well.
By the way, here's the latest belly pic. Looking low?
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Just an update
We returned home yesterday from a trip to Boise. H's grandfather passed away last week at the age of 95 and after a really good life. So, we attended the funeral and viewing on Monday. He was a good man that had a good wife and kids. He was always very positive and loved to eat. He worked hard, loved his family, and helped everyone he could along the way. I see a lot of him in H. It was a nice service, full of kind words and a few tears.
Afterward, we attended a reception at H's aunt and uncle's house. H is the youngest of 10 kids and it was the first time in four years that all of them were together. We also got to visit with many aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was really nice to visit and catch up with everyone.
It was a little up in the air if we would go, since I am so far along in the pregnancy. But I visited the doctor on Friday and he was fine with me traveling. My appointment went well. I am already dilated to 2 cm and am 60% effaced. Those of you who have kids know what all that means, those that don't might be a bit put off if I explained. Overall, I feel good for being so far along, but I am having spurts of discomfort. I'm really tired and my feet tend to swell up enough to swallow my ankles. Not very attractive. It helps though when H randomly compliments me and tells me that he thinks I'm very sexy.
I honestly don't know if I'll make it to my due date. But I will keep a close eye on things and keep you updated. I will also try to post pictures soon of the belly, our late Grandpa, and of the trip. Hope you're all doing well.
Afterward, we attended a reception at H's aunt and uncle's house. H is the youngest of 10 kids and it was the first time in four years that all of them were together. We also got to visit with many aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was really nice to visit and catch up with everyone.
It was a little up in the air if we would go, since I am so far along in the pregnancy. But I visited the doctor on Friday and he was fine with me traveling. My appointment went well. I am already dilated to 2 cm and am 60% effaced. Those of you who have kids know what all that means, those that don't might be a bit put off if I explained. Overall, I feel good for being so far along, but I am having spurts of discomfort. I'm really tired and my feet tend to swell up enough to swallow my ankles. Not very attractive. It helps though when H randomly compliments me and tells me that he thinks I'm very sexy.
I honestly don't know if I'll make it to my due date. But I will keep a close eye on things and keep you updated. I will also try to post pictures soon of the belly, our late Grandpa, and of the trip. Hope you're all doing well.
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