Trip to Utah

Carter and I just got back yesterday from our trip to Utah. We had a great time! Unfortunately Tyler had to stay home and work, and we missed him a lot. Carter's first vacation went really well, though. I was really nervous to fly with him but he did great on the plane, sleeping the whole time both ways! I was grateful for that. My mom met us out there to help out with Carter, and my grandma even came, too. I was so glad my grandma could meet Carter! We were pretty busy the entire time we were out there. I got to spend some time with a bunch of my old roommates...Noelle, Colleen, Kirsten, and Heidi. It's weird that we're all married now, 2 of us with kids and 2 with kids on the way! It was so great to reminisce and catch up. I also got to hang out with my friends Kyle and Mark. The main purpose of the trip was to see my friend Lindsay, who I have been best friends with since I was 7, get married. It was a great wedding and I was so glad to see her get sealed in the temple to a guy that is just perfect for her. Other than that we visited all the Provo food places that I have been craving since I left, and enjoyed staying in the basement of our old house. It brought back some good memories! We were so glad to come back to Utah and see Tyler again. It was the first time he's been away from Carter, and he was so glad to see his little boy again.
Carter is continuing to grow. I can hardly believe it, but he will be 8 weeks tomorrow! Where has the time gone?! He had a rough time sleeping in Utah and unfortunately has not gotten back into his habit of sleeping through the night yet, meaning he's got a very tired mommy. But he is getting more and more playful, which is fun. He loves to kick and coo and is smiling so much more now! It's fun to see him grow and get to more entertaining stages of his life. He is really starting to interact with us a lot!
Other than that we are just trying to survive the insane heat wave that has hit Washington. It is supposed to be 105 today, and we have no AC! Even though it was almost this hot in Utah, it was much easier to deal with because there was no humidity...this Washington heat is killer!

Here are some pictures from July 3rd when Jamie, Patrick, and Connor came to visit us. Carter is 1 month old here:

Connor can roll over...all Carter can do is sleep!

Aunt Jamie & Cousin Connor

Connor is about to attempt to grab Carter's face...

Cousins Connor (5 1/2 mos) & Carter (1 mo)

Brother & Sister and 1st sons

These next pictures are from our trip to Utah. I didn't take too many but here they are. Carter is 7 weeks in them.

Carter doesn't particularly like riding in the car in his carseat, but in Utah we did a LOT of driving. This is driving up to the reception after Lindsay's sealing.

Me & Lindsay. She looked so beautiful!!!

Lindsay & Max

Carter always gets into positions like this when he's sleeping! It's like he's posing.

Carter's playtime

Trying to talk

Waving his arms around like a wild man!

He always has this wide-eyed/stunned look on his face when he's concentrating on something

When we got home to Washington it was HOT and our apartment was deathly. We did our best to not move a muscle and keep poor little Carter as cool as possible. If we weren't so scared of being peed on (or worse!) we'd have completely stripped him down!

Daddy & Carter trying to keep cool

I'm still waiting on all those pictures my mom took when she was up here, but once I get them I will do a mega-picture post.

Just the 3 of Us Again

Sorry for the long delay in blog posts. My only excuse is that we've been bombarded with family being in town lately! It's been fantastic!!! We've been so excited to show off our amazing little boy to everyone who will pay any attention. After my sister-in-law Kim left, my dad came into town, shortly thereafter followed by my brother James and his wife Alie. It was so much fun having them here. Unfortunately Carter and I weren't up to going along on a lot of their sightseeing, but we had fun at home with them playing games and enjoying a cute baby. We also recently found out that Alie is having a little girl in December and are so excited for the 1st girl in the family to come along! We also got to see Tyler's sister Jamie, her husband Patrick, and our nephew Connor for a day. It was so great to see them and meet our nephew for the first time! We loved getting Carter together with his cousin...he looked so tiny next to him!

The next day was the 4th of July, and Tyler and I celebrated by leaving Carter with his grandparents and going out to eat and to a movie. It was great because everyone else was watching the fireworks! The food ended up being bad, and the movie was bad too, but it was so nice being able to get out on our own. I don't know when we'll be able to have another date! Next to arrive was Tyler's parents. We had a blast with them and they had a great time getting to know their new grandson.

On July 12th Carter got blessed. Tyler did a great job and so did Carter! Carter didn't cry at all but just sat there awake through it all. After the blessing we had a big luncheon and got to visit with all the family that came. There were around 40 people there for the occasion! On my side, we had my parents, James & Alie, my Aunt Shirley, my Aunt Millie & Uncle Terry, my Aunt Sherie & Uncle Dave, and my cousin Jenny and her entire family. Then on Tyler's side we had his parents, his Grandma and Grandpa Andrus, his Uncle Mark and his entire family, his Uncle John and most of his family, and his Uncle Mike and his entire family. So many people to celebrate and see one tiny baby. It was amazing! We had such a great time visiting with everyone, and they had a great time passing the baby around. What an incredible day! A few days after the blessing Tyler's parents left and we became just the 3 of us again. I admit, I miss all the help!!! It was great to get a little extra sleep and have extra hands to hold the baby.
Hopefully we'll continue to get visitors more often since we have a cute baby for everyone to see.

Carter is doing fantastic otherwise! He is now weighing in at around 9 pounds!! We can hardly believe how quickly he has grown. He looks like a completely different person now than when he was born! He has started to outgrow most of his newborn sized clothes although most of the 0-3 mos still look big on him. He is also starting to sleep through the night. Last night he slept for 7 straight hours! I don't know how we got so lucky to get such a perfect child that will sleep through the night before he's even 7 weeks old! We hope it lasts! He's also so happy all the time. He has started to smile and coo and interact a lot more. Here is a video of him playing in his bouncer. It would have been longer but my memory card filled up and there was no more room!



Unfortunately since my memory card was full I also don't currently have any of the pictures from everyone being here and from the blessing! But rest assured, my mom, sister-in-law, and Tyler's step-mom took lots so I will get them all from them and post them soon. Be prepared for a post filled with TONS of pictures...my mom alone took hundreds! And no, that's not an exaggeration.

And the Family Starts to Pour In!

Sorry we've been neglecting our blog lately! The past couple of weeks we have started to get visitors coming in town to see little Carter, and are expecting many more over the next few weeks as well! My mom came into town a little over a week ago, just in time for Tyler to go back to work. We miss him while he is at work, and he misses spending time with Carter. My sister-in-law Kim also came to visit this past week. It was great having her here and being able to spend some time with her and letting her see her new nephew! Carter has been doing great! He had his 3 week pediatrician appointment last week and the doctor said he's doing fantastic! He weighed in at 7 lb 6 oz, which meant he's been growing really well. He's still only in the 10th percentile for weight, but his height is 50% and his head is 65%. I wish his head were at that percentile when he was born...instead he was at 95% and tore his mommy to pieces! But we were really excited to hear that our baby is growing right and doing really well. We can see him filling out every day...he looks so different to us than when he was born! It's crazy to think that he is already 3 1/2 weeks old. I just want him to stay little forever.

Carter has almost switched completely to formula. A little more weaning and I'll be all done with pumping, which I'm really excited about! He's done great with the switch. His system has handled formula really well and he eats it just as heartily as breast milk. He's been sleeping pretty well, too, but we've been grateful for his grandma being here and taking him in the morning so we can get some extra sleep. He's also started peeing on his mommy when she changes his diaper, but doesn't do it to anyone else! I don't think that's very fair, but I think he thinks it's funny. We love interacting with him when he's awake and watching him smile in his sleep. We are so in love with our little boy and are loving parenthood!

Here are a few pictures from a little over a week ago. We haven't been taking many recently because his grandma has been camera crazy, so I'll post some of those later when we get them.

Poor Little Guy Got Circumcised

I haven't been that good at posting lately, so figured I'd better update everyone! Carter is doing great and we are getting a little more used to parenting. Yesterday was a traumatic day for us, though. Carter got circumcised, then slept and wouldn't eat for 8 hours! That freaked me out a lot, and then when we changed his diaper a little later he had quite a bit of blood in it. We called the after-hours pediatrician and they said to bring him to the ER, so we spent the evening bringing our baby to the ER for the first time. Luckily, everything turned out fine and the bleeding stopped, but both Carter and I were quite traumatized for the day. Fortunately, Carter slept pretty well and let himself be comforted by his mommy. We also started feeding Carter a little bit of formula today, which is going well so far. Hopefully in a week or 2 we can get him completely switched over so I can go back on my heart medication. Otherwise we're just trying to function on little sleep. Tyler goes back to work next week which I'm not too excited about, but family is also starting to come into town next week so it should work out fine. We're excited to see everyone that will be coming by!

Here is a video of us unwrapping Carter. He's so funny...he stretches a ton and makes these funny expressions. This isn't the best example, but we figured someone would appreciate it.

Life Goes On

I've recently discovered that even with a new baby, life goes on! The other night Tyler asked me if I wanted to play a game and my response was, "Can we still do that?!" And we did! We played our favorite game Carcassonne (Tyler won). I think with a new baby I was just thinking that our world would revolve completely around him! While it does for the most part, Tyler informed me that we can still do all the old things we used to do, we just have to take care of him first and of course cart him along with us. Seemed like a novel concept to me. So after that discovery, we've been pretty busy with life. On Wednesday Carter had his first pediatrician appointment and passed with flying colors. He weighed in at 6 lb 6 oz, and we have recently realized that he is starting to plump up a little bit in his face and limbs. It's great to see him growing and doing so well! Thursday I had a cardiologist appointment which also went well. Then on Friday we decided to bite the bullet and go out! We were getting a little stir crazy, so we took a short trip to JCPenney to make a return and then got burgers on our way home. Carter did great! He's really easy to bring out...just gotta remember to feed him immediately before we leave and he sleeps the whole time. It felt good to get out. Today Carter got to meet his great-grandpa for the first time (my grandpa). It was great to see him and show off Carter. He's the 2nd great-grandchild in the family! Tyler and I are also doing well. I have my ups and downs with both pain and energy, but every day things get a little better and I'm looking forward to feeling like myself again. The doctors said this tear will be a 6 week long recovery, very similar to a C-section, so I'm counting down...1 week down, 5 to go! Seems like a long time to me, but he's so worth it :)

Sucking his thumb...he loves having his hands on his face

Carter and his great-grandpa

All About Carter

I decided to use this picture post to tell you all a little more about our son! We were very blessed to have a pretty easy baby...which is good for us amateur parents!! Carter loves to sleep. He rarely cries unless he needs something: basically, either he needs a diaper change, food, or he's cold. He loves to be held but is just as content being put down, especially in his bouncer. He eats well, although lately he will eat for about 5 minutes then fall asleep, much to the dismay of Mom! Carter loves to be swaddled and it helps him go to sleep quickly, but he also loves to have his hands free! As soon as we un-swaddle him he immediately brings his hands up to his face and flails his skinny little arms. I'm not sure he realizes they're attached to his body yet. He's not too picky...he'll take any pacifier (when he's in the mood), and can even hold them to his mouth with his hands a bit. He is also doing well feeding from a bottle (Mom has discovered pumping!) He does not spit up much, which his parents are grateful for. He does this cute little stretching thing, too, where he throws his arms up, throws his head back, and grimaces. It's adorable and makes us laugh! He also tends to make this funny honking sound...mom's not too sure about that and has made a mental note of the sound to ask the pediatrician about tomorrow. Overall he's a very happy baby and we love him to death! Here are some pictures from the last 2 days.

Mommy's perspective

So I thought I'd finally get myself on here and write about my experience so far. Being a mom is amazing! The labor process actually wasn't too bad for me. I had a good epidural and it worked well for most of the time. When it wasn't working, all they really had to do was adjust it and I was happy again. It was a long night + 1/2 a day at the hospital being induced, but sooo worth it! When I was finally 10 cm they let me labor a little bit more because the doctors really wanted my uterus to do most of the work and didn't want me to push too much. My doctor did let me push for a while, and said I was a great pusher but his head was just too big for the opening. They ended up using a vacuum to get him out and it happened really quick! Unfortunately I tore really bad...they call it a 4th degree tear and if you don't know what that means, ask me later as some people probably don't want to know :) I can't even explain how amazing it was when Carter came out!! The last few moments of labor were pretty intense, and then he was out! I had the most intense emotional bubble burst and couldn't stop crying, and neither could Tyler. Suddenly it was all real and we had this beautiful little human who we'd made! Childbirth truly is a miracle...it was the most amazing moment of my life. After the birth I was wheeled to the OR for 1 1/2 hours to get my tear repaired, and Tyler got to spend some good bonding time with Carter. The epidural started to wear off soon after and the pain from that tear was worse than anything I have ever experienced!!
We spent the rest of our stay in the hospital getting to know our baby, trying to learn how to breastfeed, and handling the pain. Carter and I have gotten breastfeeding down pretty well, but I am really raw from it. My milk finally came in late last night and it seems to help fill him up at least. I never knew feeding would be so difficult, though! I've tried a ton of different things to help, and some help but it's still pretty rough. It's been a hard process and hopefully will just get easier and less painful. Between the pain from my tear (which is still insanely intense!), the breastfeeding, and the lack of sleep, it's been difficult being a new mom. I think I could deal with things much better if I weren't in so much pain. But this little boy is worth it and every time I look at him I remember that.
Tyler and I have also been trying to deal with the lack of sleep. Carter sleeps a lot during the day but at night he's awake. Tyler has been great getting up with him a lot and I have mostly just had to deal with the feedings every couple of hours. We help each other out and take turns sleeping and taking care of the boy. What an adjustment parenthood is!! We've both commented about how hard it would be to do this without help and I know I am so grateful for Tyler for helping me out so much. He's a great dad and a great husband and I don't know what I'd do without him! Hopefully we'll continue to adjust and things will eventually get a little easier.
I also realized Tyler didn't post many pictures on here so I'll have to add some more!

last pregnancy picture...9 months and in the hospital to be induced!

They just told me I was 9 1/2 cm and about ready to deliver!

The original weight of 6 lb 0 oz, later amended to 6 lb 8 oz