Counting down the days

OOPS THIS WAS SUPPOSE TO BE POSTED BACK IN MARCH!!!!!

I can not believe that my 3 months maternity leave is coming to an end. It feels like this time has just flow by. So much as happened over the past 3 months, but looking back it only feels like it has been a few weeks. Although, when I look at Chance I can not believe how much he has grown. At his 2 month doctor check up he weighed 12 lbs and is 24 inches long and that was 10 days ago, he already feels like he is gowing and weighing more. Everyday he seems to be learning something new, especially smiling like you wouldn't believe, he giggles and is one big kickin' chicken.
Since my last post I am trying to think of all the big events that have happened, there have been so many! My best friend Jessica from Austin came to stay with us for a few days and brought her 18 month daughter Gwendolyn. We had the best time and laughed a lot of how far she and I have changed over the past 10 years. We had the same thought when we were driving to go to the Childrens Museum in Fair Park, "We're both mom's!" Here is a few funny photo's that I took of Chance at his first museum trip. 

If you look at it, all these pictures look like I photoshopped Chance into them. Al and I started laughing histarically when we both looked back at them. Another big event that happened since my last entry is that Chance had his first babysitting gig. It was so hard for me, but I bought tickets to the Mav's game for Al's birthday, when I purchased them I wanted to make sure that I had introduced a bottle to Chance and make sure that I bought the tickets when he was closer to 2 months old. He did such a great job, when we went to pick him up he had only ate once (normally he would have ate twice in the time we were gone) and he slept most of the time. I was a little worried that he would be up that whole night but actually that was the first night he slept 6 hours straight! I woke up at 6:30 that morning in a panic thinking I slept through him crying, but he was just waking up when I checked on him. Since then he has only had 2 other nights of sleeping 6 hours straight, but these changes take time.


Learning about gravity



Learning about waves

At the farm

Playing in the sand with Gwen

Time does go by at a blink of an eye

I have been thinking about posting for a while now and can not believe it has been so long since my last post. Although, I am not going to feel guilty, because I take in every moment that I spend with my son and each moment creates such special memories. So much has happened in such a small amount of time. Chance is already 7 months old!!! He is crawling, babbling, has 12 million different facial expressions and is becoming so observant, it blows me away.

It was the day after 4th of July the first time that Chance truly crawled and he crawled pretty far for his first time. I was so proud of him. Now he won't stop moving. Al and I are trying to keep up when baby proofing each room, catching new things that we need to take care of when he gets into things. I have to say that my two favorite times of the day are picking him up from daycare and that first embrace I get from him along with a very slobbery wet kiss and sitting him down for dinner, or any meal for that matter. He started on real food at 5 1/2 months. He absolutely loves yams!! But he is eating everything from mango's, broccoli, pears, blueberries, zucchini to squash, and much more. He loves it all. We are not a fan of peas yet, but that I really don't blame him for they are not a favorite of mine either. Chance is an absolute hoot when it comes to eating. He just seems to want a bigger bite each time and can not get enough of the mushy goodness between his fingers.
Al and I bought a new home at the end of February and we are enjoying putting it together piece by piece and making it our own home. Tell you one thing, buying a house is time consuming but getting it the way you want it is a bigger project within itself. Of course though Chance's room was the first completed. We kept the nautical/under the sea theme and painted just one blue accent wall. It's very nice and calming and Chance seems to enjoy it as well considering we have both been blessed by him sleeping through the night since he was 4 months old and goes to sleep about 8pm every night. Well enough for now, enjoy the photos I have below of my little peanut!

I have on my hands one water baby!

His typical sleeping position

Kaci and Chance on Easter

He loved this swing so much, mom broke down and bought one for the house

First time swimming in the pool.... and loved it

 

With Aunt Michelle on Cowboy Day at Church



Mommy and Chance

Loving dinner time

July 4th

 

At Jessica and Jay's Wedding

Precious Moments

So since my last blog entry I have found out that Chance does have colic...yay! He has been getting fussy a lot in the evening hours, but I can honestly say I don't think it is that bad. Don't get me wrong, there has been moments were I wished I was hard of hearing, but moments like these are were you have to find the good in the bad. The other night when he started crying like crazy I picked him up and held him tight against me, started swaying him back and forth and started humming Phantom of the Opera (of all songs lol) and he slowly started to calm down. When you can look down at your child and know that just being held and loved is what is calming to them, those colic moments aren't all that bad.

A couple days after my last blog entry I knew I wanted to name this one Precious Moments because of a milestone (in my eyes) that I had with Chance one morning. It was the first time that I was playing with him that he smiled when I tickled his face, and for y'alls benefit I was able to capture the moment with a picture. Isn't he just so darn cute!! Another thing is that Chance has been talking up a storm recently..okay well really not talking but he babbles and coo's a lot, especially in the morning after I feed him and put him in his crib for the last time before we get up for the day. That's another thing that I am going to start focusing on a little more is slowing start moving him to his crib. He has been sleeping in his pack n' play next to my bed since we got home. I don't think that I am completely ready to start moving him to his crib but I do need to start putting him in it more while he naps to start getting him use to it. He seems to like it though so I hope we won't have a hard time with that transition.
Chance's had his one month check up and of course he passed with flying colors. The nurse did mess up his PKU test the first time around and so we had to redo that test, it was so easy the first time, Chance did amazing and didn't cry at all but the second time....not so much. Although, I wouldn't be to happy either people poking my heel and squeezing blood out of it.
Oh and before I forget, we received his newborn photos in the mail. Here are a few of my favorites.

Enjoy!

Merry (Belated) Christmas and Happy (Belated) New Year

    WOW! I can not believe how fast December flew by. Many people keep telling me of how quickly your kids grow up and how it goes by like a blink of an eye, let me be the first to say "I Know!" When Chance had his 2 week check up at the pediatricians (which he passed inspection with flying colors) I could not believe he was already 2 weeks old. It felt like just a few days had gone by since I was in the hospital and not 2 weeks. Now, this Friday he will already be a month old. Time seriously does fly by.
    Our Christmas was wonderful, not to crazy and hectic. We celebrated with Al's family at his Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Frances house on Christmas Eve with TONS of food. Which of course during the time when we were all about to sit down to dinner, that is when Chance decided to wake up and participate in his own dinner time too. So I missed out on eating at the dinner table and having a second and third plate, but I would have walked out in a food coma so the timing was perfect. Chance received a Cowboys Christmas stocking from his Aunt and Uncle which Al fell in love with so it was the first thing that was put up over the fireplace when we got home that night.

Christmas was spent out at my sisters with her mom, step dad and sister. Al and I had a great time having Fondue and hilarious conversations at the dinner table. We laughed later on of how different present opening was between our families. Al's family has everyone open everything all at once while mine opens one gift at a time while everyone watches. Needless to say Chance was spoiled at both houses and went home with all kinds of good stuff from family and of course Santa. Speaking of Santa I was really sad that we missed out of taking a photo with Santa this Christmas. Timing just wasn't right this year. Here is a photo of the three of us though at my sisters house on Christmas.

   My time on maternity leave so far has been really great. It has been a big adjustment with Chance at home but aside from what everyone has said the transition with him has been really smooth. He is sleeping well, initially every 2 hours he was waking up to feed almost to the minute but now its a little more sporadic, sometimes he will wake up every 2 hours other times its 4 1/2. But of course when he sleeps for 4 1/2 hours its only during the day, never at night.  The past couple of nights though have been hard. I am really really hoping he is not colicy. But I'm currently running on 4 hours of sleep in the past 48. He has just been really fussy. Really keeping my fingers crossed on this one. It definitely has been challenging though since Al went back to work a week ago. Although, I'm learning pretty quickly when the best time is to do things around the house. I notice that if I don't get ready in the morning during Chance's last nap of the morning, then I won't get out of my PJ's and be able to brush my teeth until the afternoon.
   Chance and I were starting to get cabin fever really bad last week so we finally broke out the stroller and have been taking walks daily. Chance LOVES being outside and in that stroller, oh my goodness!!! We walked and walked and walked, it was so nice and beautiful out, one of the perks of living in Texas it can be 70 degrees out during Christmas time! It was so great to get out and get my behind moving and working out too. The doctor said not to diet or exercise too much until after 6 weeks, but I am so ready to get this weight off ASAP! Its driving me insane. And yes I do realize I just had a baby but I know it is going to take a while to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight so I am ready to start... NOW!

 Overall, I still feel so blessed to have Chance in my life! It has been an amazing adventure so far; and Al and I are really enjoying our time with him.. watching all of his funny faces (especially while pooping!!) and all the little noises he makes. Each day has been a new experience and I absolutely love being a mom!

He's here!!!

Our amazing and beautiful blessing has finally arrived! Well...arrived a week ago on Tuesday, December 6th at 10:29pm. Chance Tegan Tristan weighed 8.88lbs and was 21 inches long. Both Al and I are wondering whose child this is because he is just way to adorable to be ours.
    So as the story goes... I originally went into the hospital Sunday night to start inducing. My doctor started pitocin Monday morning and by 6pm that night I was no further dilated (1 cm) than what I was 3 weeks prior. So they sent us home. Al and I were both completely mentally drained, you think you are going to leave the hospital with a newborn in your arms and the complete opposite happens. The doctor did say that we will try inducing again on Friday and if it failed again they would do a C-section, that was if he did not come before.
    Sure enough that next morning, I woke up around 10am and felt a slight trickle. I ran to the bathroom and then felt a slight gush....HOLY CRAP! Did my water just break or did I just have an accident???? Al came in to check on me and I sat in silence for a second then told him what just happened and called the doctors office. They told me it sounds like my water did break and I needed to get into the car, lay in the back seat, make sure I was wheel chaired to Labor and Delivery but get to the hospital quickly. Well I felt great so I told Al I was going to get a cup of coffee, he asked if he had time to take a shower and I said, "Sure!". I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while he was doing that because I was craving one the day prior and while on pitocin you can not eat, so I made sure I did this time around before going back in. While headed to the hospital I told Al that he needed to get something to eat because it could be a while before he got another meal and we both knew that the hospital food wasn't the greatest. So Burger King it was! I believe it was noon by the time we actually got to the hospital and if you are wondering if I had been wheel chaired to Labor and Delivery...uh no!
    Pitocin was started right away, but of course nothing happened until about 2:30pm,  and finally started dilating and having contractions. Those lasted till about 5pm the pain was tolerable but I was just getting exhausted going through them. Epidural time!!! This was probably the worst time for me throughout my labor only for my fear that they would miss and I had a fear I was going to be paralyzed from the waist down. All went well and I FINALLY dilated to 10cm at 10pm. My doctor was so amazing since she knew I wanted no one but her to deliver Chance, she took a nap at the hospital and said she would wait until he came. I started pushing at 10pm and out he came at 10:29pm. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times, but thank God it was loose, so he did not have to go to NICU. He is absolutely perfect! Al was so amazing through all of it, he definitely kept calm, didn't pass out, did everything perfectly especially telling me when I needed to breathe.
    After spending two nights in the hospital we are now back home with Chance in tow this time. Adjusting to this new change has been great so far and running very smoothly. The first couple of nights were a little hard trying to get use to waking up every two hours to feed him, but after the 2nd night I quit setting my alarm to wake him up since he woke me up just fine without it. Every two hours almost to the minute, just like clockwork. Al and I have also been inducted into the Chance clan, by both officially being peed on while changing diapers, but that was after changing his first diaper in the hospital. Al and I were so caucious about being peed on that when Chance did pee he shot it right into his own little face and the screaming began... poor little traumatize guy. I though must admit have dodged being drenched more than Al has. We did newborn photos today and our last sitting was of the three of us. We were able to get a couple of shots in and when asked to change our position I handed a naked Chance to Al, who was immediately shot in the chest with pee, but took it like a complete champ and just sat there and took the full emptying of the bladder.
   I will definitely try to keep posting new blogs as I sink more and more into mommihood. I am so looking forward to this amazing new adventure in my life!

24 hours and counting

Well my doctor told me that we will be inducing Monday, December 5th if he is not here prior. Well, it's Sunday afternoon and Chance is still not here and Al is going to take me into Labor and Delivery in about 4 hours. I'll check in this evening to St. Paul and they will start the inducing process tomorrow morning. It is crazy that we will be holding our little baby boy tomorrow. I think that I am as prepared as I can be at this point. It has been so funny receiving so many phone calls from friends and family asking me if I have gone into labor yet, so I have just started answering the phone "I'm still pregnant." I have compiled all the photos that I took with my phone throughout my pregnancy and typically would never post pictures of myself but I figure why not. I never got around to taking maternity photos so these will just have to do. I just hope that I am able to take off this weight faster than I put it on.

15 Weeks

19 Weeks

22 Weeks

25 Weeks

30 Weeks

 

35 Weeks

40 Weeks

 So I apologize in advance for the scatter of my belly all over this blog (what a sight to see) but this blog would not allow me to post them right and make it look pretty. I am hoping that I can get one last photo tomorrow morning at 41 weeks and add that one soon.
I have been feeling pretty good  about everything as far as delivery until the other night, started having slight anxiety about it. Not about anything going wrong but just what all is going to happen with inducing. I have heard once the pitocin is injected everything goes by really quickly, but for my sister and nephew it was (if I remember correctly) an emergency c-section right after because Jack's heart rate dropped. Other the other end, my neighbor across the street said she delivered 15 hours later after receiving the pitocin. I guess all is up in the air from here. Regardless of it all I am so over the moon about finally meeting our son, he is truly already such a blessing in my heart! I am so thrilled and excited about being a mother, and I know Al feels and has said he is ready and excited to be a father.

Wish us luck!

I guess the Turkey is not done cooking?!

Everyone I know and plus some have told me that Chance is not going to make it to his due date, that he will be coming before Thanksgiving! Well, this little guy is proving everyone wrong so far, today is his estimated due date.. November 28th and he is still in his mommy's belly. I have a doctors appointment later today and am anxious to find out what she will say. Forty weeks and counting! So far this little turkey in me is showing everyone who is really running the show around here, and it isn't anyone on the outside world. I will say it has definitely helped me a little bit more to get packed for the hospital and get a few things done around the house, including Christmas decorating. Maybe Chance just knows how his mother is already, such a planner, if its in my appointment book that is the date I am going to go by. He would have really thrown me off if he came earlier than today... yes I do know that having a child there is never an expected moment. Always be as prepared as you can be for the unexpected...right?? Well the waiting game continues....until then!