Resoluting....

...is that a word? I guess it'd be resolving. Oh well, it got the attention of anyone who saw this on their Blogger Dashboard :o)

I never really make New Year's Resolutions. Never really have. I used to make the same resolution, "get better grades." But then I realized it's more effective if I just resolve to do that all along. See, my new year's resolutions usually have failed by about mid-February. It's like Pam trying to save up her vacation days at the start of a new year on The Office. She usually makes it about that far.

So, while my brother-in-law's girlfriend Sarah is rocking my cranky son, I think i'll jot down a few resolutions. Just goals that have popped into my mind after reading everyone else's resolutions:

1) Don't get pregnant again. We've ensured this won't happen, but there's always an off-chance. I don't know what I would do with another baby. After 8 weeks of trying to figure out this whole parenting thing, I don't know how people deal with more than one! We're not even TALKING about another baby for at least a year. I'm young. I've got school. We've got time to wait!

2) Complete a year's worth of credits towards my Bachelor's Degree. I have no idea how this will happen, considering i'm only taking 4 credits this semester. I'm hoping to make up for it by going this Spring semester (April-July), my usual semester off. I've only had one semester off in the six semesters i've been going to school, so i'm used to it!

Speaking of #1, Nathan just started bawling. I don't know how long my "help" is going to want to stick around!

3) Learn more about photography. I may not have an amazing SLR camera, but I know my amazing point-and-shoot can do a heck of a lot more than I'm using it to do. I want to learn more about things like framing and the details that make a good picture. That way, one day when I have a good camera i'll know how to use it and not just put it to waste.

4) Re-vamp our apartment. We tend to keep things. It tends to look like we do. We purge things all the time, but we use most of it just enough to make it worth keeping. That's an issue. Especially in our apartment where we have virtually no storage. Since all my credits are online and it'll be just me and the boy all day, I want to get things done at home. Even just one project would make me happy!

Well, that's it. Four. For someone who doesn't "resolute" around the new years, that's pretty good, right? It also kind of coincides with the "new goals for a new semester" routine that Mitch and I have. New goals, new budget, usually new priorities to save for.

Happy New Year's! Thanks to Nathan we'll both be up to see 2011 come in!

Update Pending...

Yes, i'll put up pictures. Yes, i'll tell about our Christmas. Yes, i'll update this blog one day.

...but for now, i'm enjoying every minute I can get with my husband's family in Wyoming, so you'll all (you know, all four of you that read this...) have to wait till i'm back at my computer where I can upload pictures! :o)

We had a fabulous Christmas and I can't wait to tell all about it!

PS--Nathan totally giggled at me (intentionally, not his "sleep giggle") on Tuesday night. It might be the cutest thing I have ever, ever seen!

:o)

Nathan started smiling on Saturday, the day before we headed to Gillette.

I have to tell you, it's the most rewarding thing ever. I spend hours smiling at him and making faces, and he finally returns the friendly faces! I love his sweet baby smiles! We're trying to catch as many of them on camera as we can. I'll put a collage up once I have a few! :o)

His smiles are making me fall in love with him all over. I love when he breaks out into a big, cheesy grin. It's one of my favorite parts of the day, and makes all of his screams at night worth it.

The other night, Nathan screamed and screamed and we couldn't do a thing about it. We were worried about waking people in the Dooley house up and were just so sad because our little man sounded so, well, pathetic and miserable! Then he settled down for a minute and smiled a HUGE grin at Mitch. He said it almost made up for the 30-45 minutes of screaming!

I just had to document our little milestone :o)

Merry Christmas! I hope you take the time to remember the true meaning for this holiday, and the real reason for celebrating! That has my goal for this season. Right now I am counting my blessings and taking time to love the life Mitch and I have made for each other.

I am especially thanking the Lord for protecting our friends, Stephanie and Nathan Cross, who rolled their Explorer and shouldn't have lived, but did, with just minor injuries.

For documentation's sake

Again, since I don't journal...this post is mostly for me :o)


Our sweet little boy, who has taken over every aspect of our lives (which is how it should be, right!?) was playing in his room tonight. He loves to lay on the rug on the floor and look at all the bright colors.

(I know, I still haven't put pictures up of his room...I have one more Cricut project and then i'm done!)

Anyway, he was playing and I picked him up, rocked him in our rocker and he started staring at me. I love how he'll pay attention to faces now! I started smiling at him and he smiled RIGHT BACK! He's never smiled intentionally at anyone! He smiled and stopped, and smiled and stopped, for about 3 minutes. It was the best! I told Mitch to run in with the camera, but i'd misplaced it, AND left it on video. So, now we have an awkward video of me telling him to stop recording and Nathan making a confused face because I stopped playing the smile game.

This picture that we took over Thanksgiving, that most people would think was intentional, was purely coincidental, and it's amazing we caught it in a picture!

This totally makes all the late-night/early-morning feedings worth it.

Oh, and also, we used gripe water for the first time last night. I do believe I owe the company thousands of dollars for the wonderful, tummy pain-free night we all had last night! Nathan slept great, and so did we!

Happy Birthday to Mitch!

Thursday, December 2nd was Mitch's 24th birthday. He and Nathan are 23 years, 11 months apart. Mitch and his dad are also 24 years apart, which is pretty cool!

Mitch has worked very, very hard in school this semester. His GPA has gone up and he is loving his new major. So, since the semester is wrapping up in a week or two, I thought let his present be something that would also reward him for the hard work.

He was insanely jealous last year when all his siblings got Wii's for Christmas and we didn't. We both wanted to improve our grades, and we thought a game console wasn't the way to do that.

I did a bit of research and, with the help of his brother, discovered that an original Xbox is what his heart most desired :o) So, I found one, complete with wireless controllers, a dvd remote, and a free game thrown in. There's a store in town where he can buy pretty much any Xbox game at a rock bottom price, so he's going to enjoy that as well!

His parents will be pleased to know that we have set time limits and restrictions on when and how long he can play. We've set up parameters that will still allow him to be productive, while still enjoying his gift!

I got a video of him opening it. Mind you, he convinced me to let him open it a day early. I agreed b/c Thursday, his actual birthday, is his busiest day of the week, and I wanted him to enjoy it. He wouldn't let me wrap it, either, saying it was pointless to wrap it and bring it out so he could unwrap it. Okay, I kinda see his point! I was able to keep it a surprise--woo hoo!

You'll have to listen for my "Michael Scott" moment. I tend to misspeak as often as Michael Scott from the Office does ("oh, how the turn tables..." "the early worm gets the worm..." "Afganistinanis with AIDS", etc.). Most of the people that know me well enough know what i'm trying to say, so I usually don't notice. This video features a "let the record be known..."

yep, "let the record show" and "let it be known."
It's hard to believe English is my native language sometimes!

I love you, Mitch, and I'm so grateful for everything you've done for our family! I never knew husbands could be this much of a help, and that a guy who never babysat could know so much about babies! Thank you for helping me keep my emotions in check during this "fun" hormone transition, and for being such a wonderful husband, father, and provider for our family!

I'm one month old!

Isn't that crazy!?

As of yesterday, December 2nd, which was also Mitch's 24th birthday, our tiny little man has been with us for a whole month! We don't know where the time has gone!

Just to document, since I'm terrible at journaling, here's a little bit about our sweet Nathan at one month old:

Nathan likes:
cuddling
eating
(the lact. consultant says he eats like he's 2 or 3 months old; this is when he was a week old!)
focusing on things, people and faces
being swaddled at night
keeping his parents on their toes as to how much he'll sleep
bath time, especially with lavender bedtime bath
pulling 3928658 different faces that entertain us all
being held
being read to
(I never knew how much he'd pay attention to "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" until I tried it!)
taking walks around the house to focus on things
our black and white bathroom
his colorful room
the black and white paintings above our couch

This month, Nathan has learned:
how to focus on people's faces and follow them around the room
how to get his diaper changed without acting like it's the end of his little world
how fun bath time is, and how when mom takes you out, there's always a towel to keep you warm
how to mimic faces
how to hold his binkie in his mouth
(we're still working on that one...)
how to hold his head up, only bobbling around when he's very tired
the signal that food is coming, and which direction to turn his head
(mom puts a burp cloth under his chin & over his shoulder, on the side he's going to eat on, so he doesn't drool all over [we're messy eaters in our house, I guess!])

Nathan's favorite:
way to nap during the day:
(on his tummy, laying over our dear friend, the Boppy pillow, and always laying on his hands. He's such a good tummy sleeper, too bad he's only allowed to sleep on his tummy when I'm awake!)

time of day:
bath time!
A tired baby at the end of the day + bedtime bath = a very relaxed little one who occasionally falls asleep in the bath!

way to sleep at night:
in his swaddler, on his tummy if we'd let him.
(Why the little wedges around him? Because this little booger likes to roll. A lot. In the swaddler, he ends up on his face and can't do anything about it because he's temporarily without arms. It didn't take us long to figure this out!)
Sorry for the bad picture; I added fill light b/c I took it at night and the picture was way too dark!

favorite toy:
(yes, he already has one!)
any burp cloth he can get his hands on. He loves to rub them all over his face and keep them clenched in his hands. This is probably because we use them when he eats to keep us both dry, so they always smell like milk! Good thing we have about a billion, and he's not picky about which one he's holding!

However, MY favorite time of day is:
our last little cuddle after I burp him, before I put him down for the first time at night. It's a great way for me to relax and get into "nighttime mode," which may or may not include sleep. I love that our little man is such a cuddler. I guess both his parents are, so it's in the genes, right?
(again, sorry for the bad picture...dim lighting!)

We love you, Nathan Patrick! We can't believe it's been a month already!

And because I can never stop taking pictures, here are a few more of our favorites!
(We're also taking a family picture for our Christmas card this weekend! Get excited!)

Thanksgiving Week!

Warning: Picture overload!!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was spent with Mitch's family in Gillette, Wyoming, where we lived the first semester we were married. My family was supposed to drive the 12 hours there and join us so we could bless Nathan, but it couldn't happen because of the weather on their end. Actually, we weren't exactly sure WE would make it, either! In hindsight, we had to cut the trip short and leave before we would've blessed him, so it would've been hard to work out anyway!

My family felt awful that they couldn't be there with us, and it was sad not having them there. We all made the best of the situation and had a great time wherever we were. Camille has been studying at BYU in Provo and was able to take a shuttle from Provo to Rexburg, then drive with us to Gillette. She got to meet Nathan and was a HUGE help with him, especially in the car. Every few hours I pumped a meal for him, and she fed him. This made our stops only ten minutes long every few hours, to burp and change him, as opposed to 45 minutes every few hours to feed, burp, and change him. What a difference it made! (Wish she wasn't too stubborn for pictures or I'd have a great picture of her and Nathan to put up here!)

We're so glad she could come and we loved seeing how much fun she had with Mitch's family. We even taught her Progressive Rummy, the Dooleys' favorite card game (it's very complicated and takes hours to play). She, of course, ended up BEATING us all, only after picking up the game super fast! She IS the smart one; i'll never doubt it!

It was the best experience to watch Mitch's parents meet their first grandbaby. They both fell in love and we loved watching them with Nathan. They've picked out their "grandparent" names, GG and Papa. We have been told that "GG" stands for "Grand Goddess," because, "I am waaay too young to be Grandma Dooley." She's also working on her Graduate Gemologist degree, so the acronym fits!





It helped that our little N man "discovered people" while we were there and stared at everyone, making eye contact for a very long time. I was very impressed and proud of my little guy! You could tell he was just focusing and studying out the detail in people's faces. We just had so much fun with everyone! It's hard to recall details because so much went on, but it was relaxing at the same time. Mitch's grandparents were there, so they got to meet their great grandson. We were incredibly pleased to be able to show off our tiny new addition to the family. He brought them (almost) as much joy as he brings us every day!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the week, of Nathan with his Uncle Danny. Danny really likes holding sleeping babies. (Who wouldn't!?) He got to change his first diaper ever while we were there. Nathan was even nice and refrained from peeing on him! I love this picture of them all cozied up. This is one of my favorite parts of the day, and I can see why Danny liked it!

Another memorable part of the week was visiting my dad's mom, my Grandma Salveson, on the way home. She absolutely loves babies, and is an expert after having eleven children of her own. She's had a few strokes and has trouble communicating and coming up with the words she wants, but mentally she's very sharp and knows exactly what she wants to say. This can be frustrating for her, but we knew she'd enjoy Nathan so much, and that there wouldn't be a ton of need for detailed conversation. I am so glad we stopped! We were trying to beat a storm but took a chance on sparing about an hour for her to visit with him. It was seriously the cutest thing ever! We couldn't get her to look at the camera for any pictures; she wouldn't take her eyes off him!
"He knows Grandma. Grandma loves you! Oh, he already knows it!"
"I've never seen anything like this in my life!"
(We kept thinking, "Really!? You had so many kids! And they've all had kids! You've seen a ton of babies!" She was soooo sweet!)
PS--my hair really isn't that short; I don't look like a man every day. It was just tucked behind my ear! Sorry to be vain; I couldn't help but notice it!)
"He's so big! It's like he was born a toddler!"
(We finally decided she meant that he was really aware; he happened to be wide awake when we stopped by. He's only in the 20th percentile for height and weight!)


We also finally got a Nathan smile on camera. They're so sporadic and pretty accidental right now, but it's happening on a regular basis. It was fitting that the first smile caught in a picture was for his dad :o)
I also discovered why parents love to gush over their children so much...can you tell!?

Missing the Good Days...

...don't look too much into this title!

I love my life :o)

I also miss the good days, though. No, not these days, specifically, the ones before we were married. I don't know if I ever miss those!
I'm talking about the 14 days my supermom was here, right after Nathan was born. She seriously got here 24 hours after his birth; couldn't have been more perfectly planned if we'd tried! She was the perfect help, and we miss her every day!
She cleaned our house while we were in the hospital, which we were so grateful for. See, Nathan was born on a Tuesday, which is usually a day reserved for chores. Needless to say, I felt guilty leaving my chore list out on the counter, where she eventually found it a day later and did it alllll. She's the best.

My mom also took Mitch (and later Nathan and I) grocery shopping for all kinds of fun things. Our college budget doesn't allow for many things like chips and cookies, so this was fun! She fixed tons of meals, helped us find delicious, diet-friendly recipes for Mitch, and kept it all organized.

The most vital thing she did for us was probably taking night shifts on a regular basis, or taking Nathan all night a few times! The woman doesn't sleep much, she never has! So, she and Nathan became great friends in the wee hours of the night/morning. It was amazing, and SO needed.

There was one night where I'd laid Nathan down in his bassinet and he (almost) immediately woke up, wanting to be held or rocked or something...who knows.
There was no reason for him to be crying and it was VERY late.
We'd only been home a couple days and I was trying to wrap my mind around:

-this new, crying life that needed me all the time,
-what my body looked like the week I'd had major surgery, and trying to recover from it
(it's all kinds of depressing seeing your body after a c-section...),
-trying to move around, get up, or lean over to the bassinet after said surgery,
-getting a handle on breastfeeding...and how much it hurts!, and
-dealing with all the raging hormones that made everything harder.

Needless to say, I pretty much felt like a basket case, and the baby blues had hit me hard. Thank goodness we're finally coming out of that! I never crossed into the postpartum depression range; no dark or harmful thoughts, but I definitely dealt with a lot of despair. That's really the only word for it.

I remember saying to Mitch, "I can't do this tonight...i'm SOOOO exhausted!" He walked around to my side of the bed, kissed me on the forehead, took Nathan out, talked to my mom for a minute, then came back in and said that he and my mom were giving me the night off. I had probably had a combined 10 hours of sleep in the whole first week after we'd had Nathan, and I was definitely at the end of my rope. There is NO break after you have a baby! Life just starts and you have to deal with it!

It was probably one of the nicest things I remember anyone doing for me. The two of them were just wonderful. It's exactly what I needed. I probably slept a solid 14 hours that night, only getting up to pump so Nathan could eat while I slept.

I miss having my mom here terribly. She and Mitch don't agree on absolutely everything. All the important things are agreed upon, though. They get along well. He has said over and over that she was a ton of help, and told me how grateful he was for her. We didn't expect to need much after Nathan was born, but I guess that's the point, and that's why we have mothers who know what we'll need and are willing to be there to give it. It was very humbling; our mothers have been there! They can see past the things we think we know and just serve wholeheartedly.
Nathan and I are planning a trip to Kansas City this January, since my family couldn't make it up to where we were for Thanksgiving. They have to meet this sweet little boy, and I can't wait to show him off and see everyone again!

Changing Already!

We have loved having our little Nathan around. In fact, when I think back at things we did before he was born, like our fun summer trips, it just feels like he's missing from the picture! It's amazing how real the feeling is that he's always had a place in our family!

Nathan hasn't changed a ton since we brought him home; he's lost his cord, he's gradually spending more and more time awake during the day, and he's almost done shedding his "sea skin". Every day I hope he'll just stay this little and sweet (but I wouldn't mind getting a little more sleep!). He's grown out of most of his preemie clothes, which is expected, considering he never was a preemie. (I did a lot of garage sale-ing this summer and picked some up cheap, just in case!)

He's impressed us a lot so far. He holds his head up on his own most of the time, which he's been doing since we were in the hospital! He still looks a tiny bit like a bobblehead. Especially when he's tired and is just like any other floppy newborn! We also noticed him rolling onto his side, then eventually onto his stomach, in his sleep. What the heck!? We had to get some of those stabilizer wedges to have him lay on so he wouldn't roll over. He'll also roll over onto his back from his stomach if left on his stomach for about ten minutes. (Again, unless he's tired, then he's just grumpy and doesn't want to show off!) He's rolled over a handful of times, but his mother isn't ready for him to be mobile, so it doesn't happen as often as it could!

We love the little faces he makes. Especially the hilarious newborn trait of making googly-eyed faces when he's falling asleep. It's the funniest thing ever. That's also usually the time when he smiles the most, "practicing using the muscles he'll use one day to smile on purpose" (thanks, multiple child development textbook authors!). The smiling + the googly eyes makes him look all kindsa crazy, but we still love him! Mitch caught this picture recently when we were out and about in Idaho Falls:
He's been doing great at getting on a schedule at night. Since my mom left on the 17th, he's been pretty good, except for last night. He usually wakes up every two hours like clockwork, which I don't mind, because it means he's sleeping for a LOT longer in his own room than he did in the bassinet in our room. Our noisy little man woke us up with his constant "sleeping noises", and since we can only hear his crying over the baby monitors, we don't pick him up when he's sound asleep (but SOUNDS like he's wide awake and talking/gurgling...). We're all a lot happier and more rested than before! :o)

The biggest change we've had has occurred in the last few days. I told you all about how much he loves the black and white pictures above our couch. He still stares at them for hours, but he's now noticing almost everything we have hanging against our sterile white walls! I love when he's really alert and I can just walk him around and let him stare at everything. He loves it. I love that he's focusing in on colors and objects and shapes. It's the first step to building motor skills of any kind! Woo hoo! He loves the bright colors of his room (I'll put up pictures of his room eventually...), which makes me glad that I changed from pastels to bright colors a few months before he was born.

He'll follow us with his eyes if he can see us walking around the room, which is amazing. I love to think that he knows who I am and can recognize my voice. I love him so much and all I want is for him to love me back! :o) I savor every one of his little hints that tell me he knows and recognizes me!

This week he gets to meet his (almost) entire extended family. He's met my mom and one aunt and uncle so far, but that's it! This week he'll meet my family, one set of my grandparents, and Mitch's family and his grandparents. He's started these moods where he just wants attention, and I love that he'll get so much this week! We can't wait to bless him** over Thanksgiving break and enjoy being together with family!



**(In our church, we give babies a name and a blessing when they're born. It's kind of like a christening, but is just a blessing and official name given to the child, usually by their father. It's a very special occasion, but is separate from baptism, which we carry out at eight years old).

Humbling

I've discovered something...

...this mothering thing is HARD stuff!!!


Taking care of this little baby 24/7 is much harder than anyone could have prepared me for. It's much harder than years and years of babysitting, a major in child development, and growing up as the oldest could have prepared me for.

Thank goodness it's also more rewarding than anyone told me, or I don't know what I'd do! Getting to cuddle this little baby and calling him mine is more rewarding than I imagined!
Our biggest challenge so far: this little man is reverse cycling, sleeping all day and partying all night. In fact, he takes it to extremes. During the day, feedings put him right to a deep, lethargic sleep. My mom calls it "baby drunk"...it's pretty funny! But at night, I feed him and he's suddenly full of energy, wide awake and ready to go! It's kind of frustrating.

He's also trying to learn how to fall asleep. Major life skill if you ask me! Our little Nathan is a very noisy sleeper. The hospital nurses call it "singing himself to sleep." As sleep deprived as we are, it's very hard to sleep next to. We've decided he's out of our room after we get back from Thanksgiving! Lots of times, the noises he makes at night wake him up. We swaddle him to keep his uncontrollable movements from overwhelming him. He loves it and he sleeps much better when he's all swaddled and cozied up in his sleepers. Even if I've spent an hour trying to get him to sleep, his angelic little, tiny face makes it all completely worth it.

I used to have awful dreams about having an ugly baby. I know, weird, but I blame the hormones. Hormones always make you think darker, right!? Anyway, because he came by c-section he's always had the most perfect, round little head and unsquished little face. It's beautiful! He has clear, pretty skin and has shed a lot of his "sea skin"...although we still have a ways to go! He hates lotion but loves baths, and makes the cutest little faces. I love his accidental little smiles. All my textbooks have said that he's practicing using the muscles that he'll later use to melt our hearts by breaking out huge grins.

I just love spending my days with our little Nathan Patrick. He's such a dream; he's a very happy baby and loves to stare at any black and white he can find, especially the huge black frame and black and white pictures above our couch. (I'm glad he approves of my decor!)
Nothing in my life is about me anymore. It's the weirdest change of mindset I've ever had. I first noticed it when I was on vacation with our family trying to ride a jetski and just not feeling safe for some reason. The next time I noticed it was when they were talking c-section in the delivery room and I was pretty much all for it, just because it was the only way to get my baby here safely. It's just weird! I don't mind it, though. I'm doing great emotionally (and physically), and I'm adjusting well...

...however, I felt really disappointed at the pediatrician's office this week when he told me Nathan had gained weight back up to his birth weight already.

He'll just be getting bigger from now on!! :o(

He's HERE!!

Warning: Mitch's pictures of my c-section are included...

Well, I guess i'm updating a little late! We had our baby on Tuesday evening!! He wasn't due until today, but we're just in love with him and i'm SOOO glad I didn't have to be pregnant for the rest of the week!!

I'll try to do a quick, Reader's Digest version of the story...with pictures, of course!

I woke up with contractions at about 5:45 am on Tuesday. I'm sure I slept through about an hour of them before that; I kept getting up to go to the bathroom and then realized they were contractions, not bathroom urges! I woke Mitch up at 6:15, after i'd timed one or two of them. There was a consistent three minutes between them. I called the midwife and she confirmed I was in labor and told me to take a shower then head to the hospital. Mitch grabbed the bags, installed the carseat base (oh yeah...we thought ahead!) and scraped snow/ice off the car windows...yeah, we live in the arctic.

We got to the hospital later when they checked me I was only at a THREE after eating breakfast there and walking around for about an hour. The contractions were getting stronger and more intense. They gave me morphine (it was AMAZING! I could almost sleep through the contractions!) and let us rest. When the morphine wore off I was only at a four...ugh...and the midwife came in and brought me to the jacuzzi. Oh it was WONDERFUL! It actually helped lessen the pain of contractions, too!

Mitch was a champ through everything. He was SO good, helped me breathe, gave his hands to me to squeeze, and helped me focus. It was great. I really don't know what I would have done without him.

Nathan's heartbeat had a baseline of 140 bpm the entire time, which they said was great. I was in the jacuzzi having his heart monitored every half hour by the midwife, Rachel. The second time Rachel listened to his pulse it had dropped to just above 100 bpm. She took us back to the room and measured me. I was only at a 5 1/2!! Ugh! (Earning every centimeter slowly!) She broke my water so she could put a heart monitor on his head. All these nurses and people rushed in and pushed Mitch out of the way. I remember two things: 1) worrying about Nathan and 2) seeing the poor, helpless look on Mitch's face and seeing him trying not to cry. It broke my heart! I was only scared for Nathan, but he had to be scared for the both of us!! I swear my heart grew for him 1000 times!!

Rachel called in the on-call OB/GYN from their practice and he recommended an epidural in case a c-section was needed (it would make it a non-emergency as opposed to an emergency cesarean). I took the epidural. At this point the contractions were completely unbearable. I was pretty embarrased; I usually have a really high pain tolerance. I wanted a natural birth and thought i'd have a better handle on the pain. It was horrible trying to sit perfectly still through the epidural while contracting. Luckily I didn't feel them give me even the numbing shot (I HATE needles!! It's more of an anxiety thing...) because of the contraction. Anyway, they watched his heart for about half an hour to make sure it was stabilizing. It did for about ten minutes, then plumetted to about 56 bpm.

The ob/gyn measured me and found I was at a 9-9 1/2 and 100% effaced. He had me start pushing to try and move the rest of the cervix so he could do a vacuum or forcep delivery. He wanted Nathan out ASAP, and there was no time to waste! His heart rate kept dropping, down to about 50, and mine was shooting up and reached about 160 (or so Mitch says...I wasn't paying attention to my monitors, only the slow, high-pitched pinging of Nathan's heartbeat).

They decided to do a "dual setup" and prepared for a normal delivery in an operating room, so they could switch plans immediately if needed. He had me pushing and pushing but the cervix just wouldn't cooperate. I felt really guilty and thought it was something I wasn't doing well enough, but he kept assuring me I was doing fine.

They gave me the dose in my epidural for a c-section and immediately prepped everything. Mitch was already in sterile clothes and was sitting at my head with the camera ready. He's such a science guy, I knew he'd want pictures and to watch...I, however, would have puked all over if I saw anything! I've never been more grateful for a draped piece of fabric at my neck!!
Mitch has quite the story about the c-section, and tells it quite gorily, like something straight out of a horror movie! I loved seeing him look around the drape in amazement and finally not seem so stressed. I'm so glad he could enjoy the experience. About five minutes after they put the drape up, they started the procedure and soon we heard a quiet little cry from Nathan!! It was amazing.

(I think this picture is SOOO cool! You can see his tiny little face off to the right! Mitch said they didn't have to tug on him at all, and that the whole process of getting him out was pretty gentle. The doctor is on the right and the midwife is the one on the left).
They weren't going to show him to us, because they thought he had congenital heart issues and wanted to rush him out right away. The midwife, Rachel, who got to assist with the surgery, pulled him up over the drape and let me see him. It was amazing, and a feeling i'll never forget. I'm so glad I got to see him before he left. We were both bawling and so overjoyed! It was the most relief i'd ever felt in my life; I just felt immediate trust for the doctors and knew that it was safer with them than inside me for our little boy, and I was SOOO relieved that he was finally here!!
Mitch was able to go follow our baby and make sure he was okay. At this hospital, the NICU is a lot closer than the nursery so they take all the babies there and check them out. He got great pictures and even poked his head into the operating room and told me he had a perfect little heart and really high Apgar scores! Nothing could have made me feel better than to see Mitch appear in the doorway and say, "Honey he's perfect!!" It turns out he was just laying on his cord and that his heart is perfectly fine! We're so grateful for our healthy little boy and we have had so much fun with him so far!!

The doctor was so, so patient and didn't rush into a c-section before he absolutely had to. He was encouraging and positive the whole time. He made the incision in the safest place for a VBAC and said i'm a perfect candidate for one since I was almost completely dilated on my own before the c-section. He told me I shouldn't have a problem finding a doctor who would agree to a VBAC. This made me feel so much better about everything!
The weirdest thing about all of the chaos was that I was completely calm. I have major anxiety when it comes to medical procedures, shots, my own blood, the list goes on. However, when they started mentioning a c-section, about an hour before Nathan was born, I had no anxious feelings whatsoever. My only concern was for our little baby. I didn't know my concern for him could outweigh my anxiety in doctors' offices or hospitals!

Mitch and I have finally realized what everyone was talking about when they promised all the pregnancy yuckos would be worth it! We are so in love with him and do nothing but love on him and cover him with kisses and adoration every minute of the day!!

Maternity/Fall Family Photo Shoot!

Warning: Photo Overload!!

I found an ad on our school's "bulletin board" (like Craigslist for students) about a girl who was offering photo shoots to expand her portfolio. I thought, "why not!?" and decided to book a session. Mitch was a terrific sport the whole time, and earned lots of "wife points." She took some bare belly pics just for us (I'll spare you...) and some gorgeous ones that we can share with everyone! Here are some of our favorites:

I think we picked the last pretty day in Rexburg to do this shoot! (Although the weather today isn't bad, either!)
No, my fingers aren't swollen at all...I just have man hands!!
(nothing has swollen, actually! I'm counting my blessings!)

The Waiting (and waiting, and waiting) Game

Well, we're officially into the waiting portion of this pregnancy. The baby's just fattening up; he's all done developing, and all his organs are "ready for life outside." As happy as I am about that, I wish I could just get it over with. It's kind of depressing knowing he has to get fat(ter) before I can attempt to push him out...

We had a doctor's appointment today. It went well! I really like the midwives i'm seeing. They're very "calm, cool, and collected." I've seen doctors before that I swear are trying to scare you the whole time. Not these ladies. They are wonderful and encouraging, and SO easygoing! She checked me, and i'm at a one (woot...) and 70% effaced. Nothing really to brag about, but at least we're not total Stonewall Jackson down there! At least something's happening!

(I guess this is a little graphic if you're a guy...I don't think many guys read this, though. Oh well!)

The Primary Program was on Sunday; our 100+ primary children did beautifully, and sang much better than they had in any of the practices, which I was SO grateful for! AND, we only had ONE of our thirty-something three year-olds burst into tears. It was adorable and funny and kind of sad all at the same time...I guess having hundreds of people stare at you is intimidating when you're three!

We were also told that we have 18 new kiddos turning 3 and moving up to Primary from the Nursery in 2011, and only 3 turning 12 and moving up to youth group. Hmmm...the numbers aren't quite crunching...I have no idea where we're going to put them all!

My first block classes ended on Friday. Whew!! It doesn't help that they were my three easiest classes, and I still have all my hardest ones for the rest of the semester, but it gives me less to have to get done in a week, so it's all good! Now I'm only doing online classes, which is nice.

It also snowed for the first time two days ago, then again yesterday. We're not talking much snow here, but Mitch had to scrape our car this morning for our dr's appointment. It's kind of depressing seeing it all on the windshield! Especially because I don't have a coat that will zip anymore!! I better have this baby before it gets TOO cold!!

Mitch has hit the ground running with piano tuning. He was taught by the same man that tunes my family's pianos and has for years. This guy's amazing. He put himself through med school tuning and rebuilding pianos, and we're hoping Mitch can learn the same trade to help us through grad school. He's tuned several already, and the electronic tuner's almost paid for itself! There are tons of pianos here in Rexburg, and since he's new at it, he's also cheap! It amazes me how fast he picks things up :o)

My mom comes in ONE week! I'm so excited, but I hope we have a baby to show her soon after she gets here so I don't feel like i'm wasting her time, when she's SO needed at home! :o)

Well, that's about all that's happening around here!

Tagged

My lovely sister in law tagged me with these questions; we all know i'm addicted to Blogger, so I have no qualms about spending some extra time on here! (Especially when ALL homework is done for the weekend!)

1. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Probably one of the only ones we had growing up, where we build a "tent" in the living room with blankets kitchen chairs, hairties, and whatever else we can find. We'd make a Blockbuster run and rent all the movies we hadn't gotten a chance to see that year. Mom would make us rootbeer floats and lots of yummy treats, then retreat upstairs to a bed all to herself. We'd "camp out" in sleeping bags with dad and have a movie night!

2. Who is your biggest role model and why?
Honestly, probably my husband. He impresses and amazes me every day. He recently took up piano tuning after spending only two days being apprenticed by a professional. He has grasped the concept so quickly and finds it very easy. I am just so impressed that whatever he tries, he pretty much always succeeds at. I guess he completes me! :o) He has done so much for me during this pregnancy, and I don't know if I could've kept going through everything without him!

3. What is your favorite thing to do with your husband and why?
We love to take walks. It started as my "exercise during pregnancy" efforts tried their hardest not to fail. He's so much fun to talk to, and is such a good listener (even to everything I have to say!) We just walk and walk; I don't know what we're going to do this winter when we're cooped up with a newborn!


4. What is one place you want to travel to, when, why?
I'm not a huge traveler. I guess it comes from growing up and living in one place during my entire childhood. I would love to be able to go home to Kansas City more. I sure miss my family and all our friends, and we don't get to see them often. Hopefully one day we'll live some equal distance between our families so we can see them both!
(Good thing Mitch's family is so great or I think i'd be in some awfully depressed state!)

5. What is your all time favorite band?
Hmmm...I really need to update my music! I have been a One Republic fan for a long time. I finally got their latest album and i'm loving every minute of it!

6. What is your favorite book?
Last semester in Young Adult Lit (the last time I read a book) my favorite was The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. I need to find it cheap on Amazon and just buy it! It's a hilarious story about a little boy who swears his third grade teacher hates him; he's so sweet, funny, and endearing; you can't help loving him! The author very convincingly writes from the point of view of a third grader!

7. Who is your closest friend and why?
I've really gotten close to our neighbor, Amy. Our husbands hit it off right away, and we've been able to hit it off as well. I prayed so hard for new friends when we moved here from Wyoming, and it took awhile, but i'm so glad to have her! She's always so easy to talk to and can always give me straightforward, yet uplifting, advice!

8. What is your favorite trait about yourself?
Hmmm...considering my self-esteem is in the worst shape it's been in awhile (it's nothing traumatic, just pregnancy hormones...), I'm really not sure. I like to smile. My smile's improved tremendously since braces came off a few years ago, so I feel a lot better about smiling than I did growing up.

9. Tagged:
I would like to tag Dani Allee and Karissa Dodds, if you guys have time! (same questions)

What a day...

This has probably been the craziest of all Mitch's and I days since we've been married. It was INSANE.

Mitch works as a student event coordinator on campus. During certain times he's in charge of all the events that happen, and making sure they have everything they need, that the A/V people are in their places, people know what they're doing, etc. I work on campus as an usher for the ticket office. I've done this ever since my very first semester here and I love it. So, because we both have these jobs (that are sort of related), the only time we saw each other before 9 pm was at a Forum on campus (Jon M. Huntsman, Sr...he's the most amazing, charitable millionaire, look him up!)

This was our schedule today, from start to finish:
10:45-12:45 Alaina works a Classroom Discussion on campus
12:00-4:00 Mitch works on campus (he had quite a few events today; I won't mention them all)
1:00-3:00 Alaina works the Jon Huntsman Forum on campus
3:15-3:45 Alaina attends one of her last on-campus classes for the semester (it went until 4:15 but had to leave early, because...)
4:00-6:00 Alaina has the Primary Program Practice at church (in our church the "Primary kids," ranging from ages 3-11 prepare all year for a program for the entire congregation. I'm the "Primary Chorister" so i'm in charge of teaching them the nine songs they needed to learn for this program. Their theme is "I Know My Savior Lives." Today we had a two-hour practice (with over 100 children) for their program performance this Sunday.
5:15-7:45 Mitch has his Human Anatomy & Physiology lab
6:30-8:45 Alaina works a percussion event on campus

...so, we didn't get to see each other all day, but somehow we managed to get through all this with just one car, and eating twice on campus, which we try to avoid (it gets expensive! We left our cooler in Gillette, though, on Mitch's family's kitchen counter, so we really had no choice!).

Plus we had at least two hours each of homework for our online classes to do "when we had time."

I hope to not have another day like this until after I have this baby! I just don't have the energy that I usually do right now! All the standing ups and sitting downs of the Primary practice alone wore me out! All the teachers (sitting on the stage to help children be "reverent" and pay attention) said my face was really red by the end. I sure felt worn out! I really haven't felt very pregnant until today. I've had it pretty easy, in comparison with others I've talked to, and I've tried not to complain about things too much, since I've been so blessed with this pregnancy! Today was pretty overwhelming, though!

Oh, to end the day, Mitch and I went to Coldstone for a little treat (we had a coupon: woot!)...it was a disappointment. There were over THIRTY people in line and ONE person working. The last straw, the reason we just walked out, was when the one person working STOPPED helping people so he could hear an engagement story of a couple that had just gotten engaged that night. Fun fun. So, we tried Arctic Circle. Our Arctic Circle in Rexburg is going WAAAAY downhill. Tonight was the last time we will ever go; there was trash everywhere, children running barefoot (in and out of the supposedly CLOSED play area, which was also filthy), and there was grease all over the inside of the windows. The trash can was overflowing and everything was disgusting.

What a day...I'm so glad to have Mitch here to help me through days like this! Physically+emotionally exhausting events, one after another, in addition to being 9+ months pregnant do not leave me in such a great mood anymore!

...the due date is two weeks from Sunday, by the way :o) I can't tell if I'm excited or if I just want him to stay in there because he's so low-maintenance right now!! Is that horrible!?

Anticipation...

This is a weird month for us.

This month is the LAST month that Mitch and I will have no children...for the rest of our lives!! We're trying to be spontaneous in just about everything we do. Well, when we're not doing homework, that is.

We've been partying with the neighbors, starting movies at 11 pm "because we can," making unexpected, last-minute trips to Idaho Falls (half an hour each way), etc. I know, not the most exciting life, but we can only be spontaneous when we're not doing homework, remember? :o)

We've also been recalculating our budget. Every semester when a new batch of financial aid comes in we do this as a little "family counsel." If not, there's no way the money would last us. Especially now that we know that yes, BYU-Idaho can (and might again) give us our financial aid a month late. So, this week's project has been setting up a budget that not only plans for emergencies (yay, emergency fund!) but also will last a month longer than we anticipate needing it to. It's not very fun, but we are so grateful for the financial aid we've received, and I don't know how we'd get degrees without it!

My question for the three people (bless your hearts!) that read this is: What do you wish you had done before babies, that you can't do with kids!? We're (hopefully) taking a last-minute-before-the-baby-comes trip to Gillette to see Mitch's family so he can go hunting (yay, elk season on private land!!). We're also getting all the sleep we can, and enjoying sleeping in while we can! (I'm sooo not a morning person!!!)

Any advice would be welcome! :o)

Another belly pic, and school update...

Wow...I never realize how big i've gotten until I see a profile...looking down I don't look big at all! Here i'm GIGANTIC!!

See? This is what I see sitting down and standing up...no big deal.


Then I pass a mirror or a reflection in a window (I KNOW i'm not the only girl who pays attention to reflections...) and have to try my hardest not to let my jaw drop to the ground!

In the second picture, if you look closely, you can see sparkly pink toenails...Mitch paints them all the time, but gets to pick the color :o) So, I let him go to town :o) He's so good!

Our little Nathan has been a good boy to his mama so far, which we've all been grateful for. Despite 14 weeks of throwing up, everything has been smooth sailing! And the 14 weeks of puking is normal, or so i'm told! :o) Right now he's sitting at 34 weeks and 2 days, but he's measuring around 32 weeks. Apparently this is nothing to be concerned about since both our moms had small little babies. Good boy, Nathan! We don't mind a small baby! :o) Oh, and his other shining accomplishment of being head-down is grand, too!

Mitch and I have been working really hard in school. We've been trying to sluff (sp?) away old, bad habits of "skimming" material instead of actually reading it, doing the minimum amount of work, etc. We're getting really good grades so far and learning to manage our school and work schedules. Every once in awhile we'll slip, but we're nowhere near making a habit of it. We didn't design the most "fun" semester--we're both mostly knocking out Generals--but hopefully the grades will make the work worth it!

Look at me and my petite little post. Yup, time to get back to homework! :o)

Oh, by the way...I found the CUTEST little baby coat today at D.I. Baby Gap. $2. Yeah, it's living at our house now! We don't have many coats, just lots of warm outfits and blankets for our little arctic baby!

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello...

...hello, hello! Oh, Beatles...love that song.

Our family has had two exciting new editions in the last 24 hours, but it meant saying goodbye to two of our favorite little "members" of the family...

...let me tell you a story. (Ignore my un-makeup'd face and unflattering figure! :o))

My little laptop has had quite a rough existence. Mainly it's put ME through a rough existence. In the 3 years we've known each other, his hard drive has crashed once, his operating system has crashed once, and his hard drive has been reformatted twice. Oh, and i've been through two charging cables with this poor guy. The repair guys say one in four computers is a dud...I guess we found one! The poor little computer always worked so hard for me. Never gave up when I was writing a paper or in a time crunch for a deadline. Never told me to go back to homework when I was on Facebook (or Blogger!).

So, I was quite disappointed to find out yesterday (by three repair places), after my computer refused to charge for anything, that the charging port inside the computer was shattered to pieces. Apparently this is a very fragile part of a laptop, and my laptop has been quite mobile over the last three years.

Last night, Mitch and I made a very "adult-like" decision...since my computer was going to be $250 to repair, we decided to break down and buy a desktop. I was lucky enough not to lose any of my information, (i've already done that TWICE!) I was just told that at the end of its battery life, may or may not ever charge again. So, with me taking a full load of classes, including 4 online classes, something had to be done.

We decided on a desktop because 1) i'm a year and a half/two years away from being done with school and wouldn't need a laptop much longer, 2) my major doesn't require me to have a laptop in class much, 3) they're generally cheaper, and 4) they generally last longer, if you don't tote them all over the United States and subject them to horrible treatment on airplanes like mine was.

So, it was off to the store. And the internet. And our pocketbooks...thank goodness for financial aid, right!? This is the exact reason we are so grateful for grant money, and I feel like it was the exact use it was intended for this semester!

Mitch mentioned on the way to the store that he didn't want his computer anymore if we were getting a desktop, but he WILL still need a laptop. His laptop is beautiful; it was a $900 HP a few years ago when he bought it, and NOTHING has gone wrong. However, it also weighs as much as a baby elephant and is very bulky and wide (ya know, he got one of those cool ones that has the HUGE-O screen for movies and fun stuff...)

So, we made another adult decision. Turns out, after turning 21 on Sept. 20th, the adult decisions are now swarming me (and Mitch, who's been and "adult" for awhile now)...computers, babies, marriage, jeez! When did I become an adult? Oh, right. September 20th.

We decided to sell both mine and Mitch's computers to a computer repair place in town and buy a desktop and a simple laptop. We wanted a netbook, but lots of the anatomy programs Mitch has to have won't display on the small screen.

It was kind of sad to see them go this morning! The money we got from mine bought a new monitor for our desktop, and the money we got from his basically paid for the desktop itself and part of his laptop. Sweet deal, huh?

We are in love with our new computers, and having a little "office" space set up in our apartment makes us feel all the more grown up! Our baby room was an office for awhile, but we never sat down at the desk. Here we have a place for both of us to sit and do homework and feel very organized! Everything has a little place and has fit well so far.

We also are in LOVE with Windows 7! I had XP on my old computer, and Mitch had Vista (but never had a problem with it! Lucky guy!) However, I LOVE all the fun little tricks! There's Home Sharing, where we can access each other's files when both the computers are on, etc. It is something to get used to to have two family computers, not one of "mine" and one of "his."

We had to make a few minor adjustments; we took the leaf and four chairs away from our table. One of the chairs sits at the computer desk now, (which is now in the dining room instead of the baby room) and the three other chairs are spread out around our apartment--one in the baby room and two in our room.

We still have a few adjustments to go: hanging a bulletin board or picture or something over our awful gray electrical box, etc.

One day we'll have more room to spread out, but we love our little apartment, even if it does get a little tight! We're just college students...we don't need it all :o)

(PS--another reward is well-deserved by the people who make it to the end of my long, jabbery posts!! Sorry I don't have a picture of our new laptop...it's in Mitch's backpack at nightclass with him! :o)

A huge kick in the pants...

Today is Saturday. We just finished our first two days of a new semester. Mitch is taking online and evening classes, since this is his off-semester, and I'm taking online classes and three that are only half a semester long (they end October 22nd; i'm due November 7th...don't come early, baby boy!).

This will definitely be the hardest semester we've EVER had, complete with more self-motivation than Mitch or I feel like we have (yay, online classes!). We're both carrying a full credit load, we both have jobs (Mitch has two), we have a baby coming smack in the middle of the semester, and i've never had as much work to do at church as I do now!

Ooh--another fun stressor...no Pell Grant or loan money has been seen yet!! Our financial aid dept. decided it was a brilliant choice to switch their software programs right before this semester started. When I worked in an office on campus last semester, we were upset about having to make the switch in the middle of last semester. Financial Aid is the only office that refused to change...so, now we all get to pay for it! (Literally! They may not have the money to us by the time tuition is due on the 16th!)

*Sigh...* Okay, onto a more positive note! Wow, that was depressing!

Mitch and I went to see my boss on campus the other day, and she sent us down to another office run by another lady we've both worked for in the past. She offered Mitch a job right there on the spot!! He starts on Tuesday, and it will give him 12 hours a week, which will help us greatly! Plus, after I have our baby he can take over my campus job and keep his, too! This new job works out perfectly with his schedule. I mean, it's incredibly perfect! What a blessing!!

We love being back in Rexburg. As much as we miss family, it's nice to actually be able to buy a week's worth of groceries without having to think about what will go bad while we're gone! Plus, we'll get to see both our families a few times before the year ends, so we shouldn't have to miss them too much! :o)

Well, I think that's it...we've set up a very strict schedule and we're trying to keep our heads above water. We both have a huge determination to get the best grades possible this semester (something else that I think is divinely inspired!) and, so far, we're lined up to get them. I know it doesn't sound like much since we're only in our first week of school, but I think in the last week we've had more asked of us than in a month of school during any other semester!

My Sweet Man!

I just wanted to take a post to talk about my sweet husband! :o) I feel like I don't give him enough attention on this blog, and that it's all about my random (disorganized) thoughts and feelings.

Tonight we are preparing for tomorrow's special Sunday meeting (in our church, called a Sacrament Meeting) with Mitch's family. Mitch and I were asked to talk for 10-15 minutes on the topic of strengthening families. This was a perfect topic for me specifically, and I was excited as I thought all week to write down my thoughts and get a talk ready. My minor is Marriage and Family Studies, and, because we're currently expanding our family, the topic of strengthening families has been on my mind almost constantly.

As Mitch and I went to our room to talk about this subject, he told me that he had a great scriptural reference that would complement our talk well. He started telling me his thoughts and ideas on this subject, and I was shocked at how much thought he had put into it. Not that I expected him not to, I just didn't realize how much instantly came to mind for him, that he could relate to this topic and apply in our talk.

I realized then how grateful I am that he worked so hard as a missionary for our Church. He devoted two years of his life--every minute in those two years--to serving the Lord and spreading the Gospel. Because he worked so hard (it takes a lot of self-motivation to keep going for two years!) and gained so much knowledge of the scriptures and Gospel topics, he is able to serve our family very well. I am seeing the beginnings of this as we prepare to teach his own family.

I am so grateful that he served a faithful mission, when he had the choice not to, or to serve a lazy, selfish mission. He is showing a great example to our little baby already, and i'm sure he'll continue to show a fabulous example to our little family, and to those around him.

I love you, Mitch! The last year has been amazing, and i'm grateful every day that i'm lucky enough to be your wife! :o)

Fun at Lake Chelan!

Mitch and I spent the last week in Chelan, Washington. Our brother-in-law's parents have a lakehouse up there and their family graciously invited to host ours. It was SOOOOO much fun! I can't imagine a more relaxing way to end our seven week break before the semester starts! Especially because this semester will probably be the hardest semester so far for both of us. We're both taking online classes and then, just as midterms end, our baby comes! So, needless to say, this was a much-needed relaxation! :o)

We spent the week relaxing all day on the beach/park by the waterfront. At first, I wasn't too excited because I figured there wasn't much i'd be able to do. However, it was SOOO fun watching everyone else jetskiing, tubing, etc. and riding on the boat that I hardly noticed!

Mitch had never ridden or driven a jetski before and was so excited to try it! They'd had tons of fun with four wheelers before, but not jetskis! It was so fun watching him having fun on them all week. He, his brother Ethan, and their dad had so much fun spinning and riding crazy fast all week. In fact, by the end of the week, their dad voted them more fun than four wheelers!

(This is a picture of Mitch and his dad on their first jetski ride! They were so good at driving them right off the bat!)

Danny (our brother-in-law) and his family are experts at everything boating on Lake Chelan. Their lakehouse was a walk away and they took us all over the place. What perfect hosts! It was fun to see them in all their expertise, teaching us and showing us how to do one of their favorite family activities. One day we boated up this long, narrow lake to the very end. We had tons of fun jumping off of one of the short cliffs and into the (freezing cold) water! Danny showed us how it was done...

Then Mitch and Ethan jumped off a 50 foot cliff, twice! It was awesome watching my brave boy jump right off!The cutest part of the week was a little family of baby ducks. There was a mama and her five babies. They loved being fed anything we had and would climb all over our legs, towels, etc. We even held a few of them!

Mitch managed to have a lot of fun last week, despite his ankle that he sprained pretty badly while we were staying with his family at a bed and breakfast on the way to Chelan. It was swollen all week and is just starting to get better. Poor guy!

We had SO much fun, and Danny's family was a blast to hang out with all week! Thank you, Bean family! :o)