Our First Road Trip

I mentioned on my blog a few times that one of my good friends was pregnant the same time I was.

In fact we found out we were pregnant within a day of each other and our due dates were 5 days apart.

We talked everyday before we found out we were pregnant, but during pregnancy that number increased greatly. We would call, text, and g-chat many pregnancy type questions throughout the day. It was so fun to go through this experience together.

Our babies ended up being two weeks apart. Eli came a week early and her baby girl Halle was 2 days late.

So yesterday morning Eli and I hit the road and drove 2 hours so that we could introduce Eli and Halle.

I was a bit nervous about the "road trip" with an almost 3 week old, but I just put a plan in my mind and decided I COULD do it. So I did it.

Basically my only plan was to get him good and full before the drive with a clean diaper and hit the road quick.

I'm happy to say he slept the whole way there and the whole way back. It was such a relief.

We got to their house around noon. Our other friend from college came and brought her little girl also. I had so much fun talking about mommy stuff with them (i.e. breastfeeding, routines/schedules, newborns, etc) and just hanging out and relaxing. It was such a good time.

Here is a picture of Jodi and I during pregnancy. I have pictures of us further along than this, but this was when we were in the middle of the 2nd trimester "glow" so this is the one I chose to show:

And finally with our sweet babies:

Eli and Halle together:

I love this shot because they are in the same position, we did not put them that way!

Watching something intently (I think the TV)
Eli is longer than Halle but right now Halle weighs more. We have a tiny little guy!
College friends and our kiddos. So thankful for these girls!
Even though we don't live in the same city we see each other often and I hope that Eli and Halle are good friends. It will be fun to watch them grow up together!

It has been VERY dreary and cold here this week. In fact so much so that I keep forgetting what month it is. All day yesterday and today I have thought it was October. Clearly I need to start getting out of the house more. I'm losing my mind.

After our big road trip yesterday Eli and I have spent this cold day at home on our PJ's. A friend brought dinner over so I'm about to put that in the oven. I'm loving this lazy day!

Eli's Nursery

Today was a pretty productive morning in the Tree house.

I've found that I either have very productive mornings or very productive afternoons. Today it was morning, I cleaned out the fridge, took out all the shelves, hand washed them all and threw out all expired food. Now we have a nice clean, empty fridge. Well don't worry we still have Reeses Peanut Butter Egg's in there. Gotta get that pre-preggo body back remember? Peanut Butter Egg's are the first step.

This afternoon was not productive around the house, but it was still productive for me because I had an old friend stop by to see Eli and bring us dinner. We spent the afternoon talking about mommy-hood and all the crazy things that happen that nobody tells you about before you have a baby. It was so fun and I am so thankful for friends that I can share life with.

This morning, during my productive phase I tidied up Eli's nursery so that I could snap some pictures for the ole blog.

Several people asked if I was going to show his nursery, and I planned on it but never got around to it, until now.

I didn't really have a "vision" of what I wanted for a nursery. I spent a lot of time in the beginning of my pregnancy looking at various fabric websites and putting together bedding designs.

I thought about ordering from those websites, but decided to have my mom make the bedding. Why pay someone when my mom could easily do it?

So one Saturday in the fall my mom and I went to some fabric stores to find the perfect fabric for baby boy's room. We didn't shop long because we quickly found two pieces of fabric that I loved (one for the bumper one for the skirt). They weren't fabrics that were typically for a nursery but I loved them and wanted them.

After we found the fabric everything else was built around that color scheme. I'm not the best "decorator" so I just kinda went with the flow. I still have some items I would like to add to the room (like his newborn shots and a picture of me and Luke). But I figured I can show updated pics when that time comes.

The Nursery:

(Newborn pics will go above the glider)

Poor little bubba doesn't have any clothes or shoes

So that's the nursery! I plan to add a few things here and there so I will update pictures as I do.

The Great Weight

It is safe to say that I worried about my weight a lot while I was pregnant.

Well not sure if worry is the right word. I thought about my weight a lot. However I did not let that thinking effect my decisions when it came to eating food, or drinking drinks. Lots of soda to be exact. Sweet, sugary, calorie-loaded soda.

I didn't want to drink diet Coke while pregnant so I switched to regular Coke. Yes I could have given up that poison all together, but I tried, and it lasted about a day. I have no self control when it comes to food and drinks.

Which is why I gained what I did.

I stopped posting on my blog how much I gained, but now that it's all said and done, I feel like I can share. I gained 40 pounds. Eli was 6 lbs. You do the math.

Just for fun here is my 39 week picture that I never posted (because I went into labor) and then me holding that sweet babe when he was a few days old. It STILL amazes me that he was inside of me!!

Now, I will say he is worth every single pound. However I don't think he is the reason for every single one of those pounds. I think pickled Pringles, and lots of cheez-it's and SODA SODA SODA are the reason for those pounds. Oh and Mexican food. We can't forget the Mexican food.

So here we are on the other side of pregnancy and I've got a long way to go. I know it was wishful thinking but I was sort of hoping that my stomach would shrink back to normal on it's own. By the time I left the hospital. I was a naive girl. Poor naive girl.

I've never been a person who had to work to maintain my weight. It just kind of happened on its own. Well that TRAIN HAS LONG SINCE SAILED. Or whatever the saying is.

I realized I'm now in my upper twenties, and I just had a baby, the metabolism ain't what she used to be.

As soon as I get the go ahead from my doctor (in about 3 weeks), I'm going to start working my butt off. I plan on starting the Couch 2 5k plan again. Back when we lived in our apartment I did the C25K and I was able to go about 3 miles by the end of it.

Today I huff and puff walking to the mailbox.

I also, for the first time in my life purchased a scale for our bathroom. I've never in my life weighed myself consistently. But now is the time.

So pretty soon I will be couch to 5k'ing it and also Shredding it up while Jillian yells at me about 400 pound people doing jumping jacks so I should be able to do jumping jacks.

Fun times.

And why am I putting it all on the blog? Well two reasons:

1. Because I talked about my weight so much while pregnant this is my follow up to that

and

2. Accountability people. If I put it out there then it means I have to do it.

I know this all probably sounds very vain, but one reason I want to get back to pre-pregnancy weight so quickly is because we can't afford to buy me all new clothes. So my goal is to get back into those clothes quick.

And I only have winter maternity clothes so I can't wear those in the summer.

So here goes nothing.....

Goal for this week: walk to the mailbox and back twice.

Baby steps people.

Life Lately

Well this week was our first week back to normal......well our new normal.

Last week my mom was here until Wednesday and then Luke's parents were here until the weekend. So we had a full house all week.

So beginning Monday morning of this week it was just me and Eli, our new normal.

I have discovered a couple of things while staying home.

First, the days go by much faster at home then they do at work. I wake up at the same time I did when I went to work (Eli = new alarm clock) but I feel like by the time I blink twice its already 5:00.

We have been fortunate enough to have friends bringing us dinner each night so I haven't had to worry about preparing dinner yet. It will be interesting when I have to start planning a time to cook between nursing. Nursing takes up a lot of time!

Eli and I are still spending most of our time in the house. The pediatrician told me it would be ok to get Eli out, but it still makes me a bit nervous, so for the most part we stay at home. Which has been a bit hard on me.

The day we got home from the hospital I realized I had a bit of the "baby blues" and was feeling very down. I'm doing better in that regards, but there are still days when I feel it coming on and I will start crying for no rhyme or reason. Usually the nights are the hardest. I have found I feel better if I get out at some point in the day, which is hard when you are nursing every 2.5-3 hours.

So usually when Luke gets home I will walk around outside, or we will get in the car and hit up a drive-thru restaurant to get some soda or ice cream or something. It is nice to get out for a bit.

Another thing I've discovered since being home is that there is nothing good on TV during the day.

I mean really, HOW MANY court room shows do we need?!?!? And when did Maury Povich become the new Jerry Springer??

Times have changed.

Luckily we have Netflix hooked up on our xbox so for the past 3 days I have spent most of my nursing time watching past seasons of The Secret Life of the American Teenager. This may very well be the worst TV show to ever grace the TV airwaves, yet I'm completely addicted.

So that is how we spend our days, nursing, watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager, sleeping, nursing, the occasional crying (from both me and Eli) and just getting to know each other.

It has been fun. I'm enjoying every single moment with my little guy, even if I am about to go stir crazy.

A couple of Eli tid bits for me to remember from this week:

Eli is eating every 3 hours, except at night he will go 5 hours. Which has been so great for me. It's amazing what that extra 2 hours of rest at night can do for a momma.

He is very good at nursing and already surpassed his birth weight. He now weighs 6 lbs 10 1/2 ounces and is 21 inches long.

He stays alert a little longer each day. He still sleeps most of the day but the moments when he is awake and alert are so fun.

He loves to just sit and watch Luke play the guitar.

He definitely knows my voice, which just melts my heart.

It is so hard to find clothes to fit him. Pretty much the only thing that he can fit into are preemie clothes. I have so many outfits just waiting for him to wear. But I guess it doesn't matter since we aren't even leaving the house :-)

He is a very hard sleeper and is impossible to wake up. This is frustrating when he falls asleep nursing and I can't get him to wake up, but also nice when he is sleeping in our room and we can still watch TV and he doesn't budge.

No matter how tightly I swaddle he wrestles his arms out. It is hilarious to watch him kick his legs and move his body and work so hard until he gets his arms out.

Some Eli pics:

This chair is where we spend most of our nursing time

He fell asleep while dad played the guitar

Happy weekend!

A Growing Love

I'm a different person from the person I was two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago I had preconceived notions as to what it was like to be a mother.

From the second they would place that baby on me, to our daily routine at home I had ideas of what it would be like.

And I was completely wrong.

The love I felt when Eli was first placed on me was completely different than I expected it to be.

I fell in love with the baby growing inside of me from the moment I found out I was pregnant. And as the pregnancy continued I fell in love a little bit more with each day.

When we found out the gender I fell in love with my son a little more, picturing what he would look like.

With each movement I fell in love a little more with that sweet baby.

As I learned his routines in the womb my love grew. My heart would swell with each hiccup I would feel.

And every night around 10:00 when he would start his baby aerobics it would always bring a smile to my face, picturing that sweet baby in there moving all around.

I thought I was prepared, I thought I knew the love that I would feel, and then he was placed on me for the first time and it was different.

Just as it was while he was growing inside of me, my love grows for him everyday.

With every new facial expression, and each day as he grows more alert my love grows more and more.

Not that I didn't love him the moment the sat him on me, but I had no idea how much that love would grow every single day.

And it's only been two weeks.

I can't imagine how much more my love will grow. It us unfathomable to me.

I'm still in the early stages of my maternity leave but I had pictured it differently. I expected to finish a number of books, catch up on old TV shows, take care of things around the house that have needed attention for awhile, but as it turns out all of those things have been put on hold.

All I want to do is hold my baby.

When I am holding him time stands still. Earlier I was rocking him and thinking of the laundry that needed to be folded, the bathroom that needed to be cleaned and all of life's other tasks but it was as if I was frozen. I couldn't move from that glider. I just sat there, taking in my son.

His tiny fingers, his itty bitty toes, the way he curls in his bottom lip, his skinny chicken legs. All of those details were much more important than any household chore. Those can wait.

I'm learning to enjoy every moment. Each sleepless night (because they ARE sleepless), every frustrating feeding, the days when I've been peed on, pooped on, spit up on, and still never got around to taking a shower, and all the in between moments. I know they will pass so I'm not taking one moment for-granted.

Like I said I am different, I had no idea I would go through some "baby blues" as my hormones went crazy and the love that I have felt has been different, one that grows everyday.

These are all details I will elaborate on later, I want to share the details so I will remember them, and I think its important to share.

But for now I'm holding Eli and just taking in this season of life. They all pass too quickly.

Project 365 - Week 9, 10, and 11

Well I've gotten pretty behind on my project 365 posts but I don't want to miss any of these days so I'm going to play catch up right now.

More than anything these posts are just for me to come back and read - I'm not sure they are interesting to anybody else. But I dont want to forget anything about our first days as a new family of 3!

Sunday February 27th:
Sunday morning I woke up extra early to work on my Abraham bible study I have been doing. I have absolutely loved this study and it has come at just the right season in my life (no coincidence there, right God?) Monday February 28th:
I had been waiting and waiting for this frame to come in. I ordered this at the craft show I went to earlier in the month. It goes perfectly in Eli's nursery. And the saying on it makes me tear up every single time I read it. It says:
You are a child of God, you are wonderfully made, dearly loved and precious in his sight, before God made you he knew you, There is no one like you!
I wish everybody truly believed this about themselves and pray that Eli always knows this.
Tuesday March 1st:
I was craving meatballs on this day like no other. So I made some yummy meatball sandwiches. They were delicious. In fact I could go for one right now!
Wednesday March 2nd:
I got these stickers in the mail from my friend Hillary. I can't wait to use them each month to document Eli's growth. Actually I can wait to use them cause it means my little baby is getting older! But these are super cute, thanks so much Hillary!
Thursday March 3rd:
I kinda can't believe I'm showing this and it's absolutely disgusting but kind of funny at the same time. This is what my feet looked like the week before I had Eli, SO SWOLLEN. My body was in full "getting ready" mode. I was about to have a baby!Friday March 4th:
My mom and sister came to see me and we went to lunch together. When I look at this picture I think I just look DONE with pregnancy. Swollen face, swollen, feet, ginormous belly. Ha! Saturday March 5th - no picture

Sunday March 6th:
This is the last picture I have of myself before I had Eli:
Monday March 7th:
No picture this day, I was in too much pain

Tuesday March 8th:
The day I was having contractions at work all day. My paper I kept track of them on:
Wednesday March 9th:
The day our lives changed forever and we became a family of 3:Thursday March 10th:
Hanging out in the hospital all day. One of my favorite pics. My mom with her girls and grandbabies:Friday March 11th:
The day we went home from the hospital (tear). Eli had a bit of jaundice so we had to let him get some sun. We sat him in front of the window and let the sun shine on him. He was not a fan:Saturday March 12th:
My new reality: Huge cup of water, burp rag, bobby, shirt half way off, feeling exhausted, iphone at my side (reading material while nursing) and a sweet sweet baby on my lap. P.S. that white thing is a tank top not a bra.Sunday March 13th:
My mom had to run out and buy Eli some new PJ's cause he is so tiny and they were all too big. He is modeling his new PJ's:

Monday March 14th:
Eli with his wubba nub pacifier. These things are AMAZING and he loves them:

Tuesday March 15th:
On Monday night my sisters and my nephew came to stay with us for my birthday. This is my nephew with Eli. Sweet cousins:Wednesday March 16th:
This was the day my mom left to go back home. I was SO sad for her to leave! She helped so much while she was here. And I know she was sad to leave baby Eli.


Thursday March 17th:
Eli wearing his green for St. Patrick's DayFriday March 18th:
I love this picture. Nothing better than your new baby sleeping on you:
Saturday March 19th:
Some of Luke's family came to visit us on Saturday so I actually got up, got dressed and put on makeup. So a picture was in order:It feels good to be caught up!

Eli's Birth Story Part 2

Time for part 2 of the birth story.

So when I last left off Luke and I were in the car on the way to the hospital. Like I said it was a loooong drive and I was in a loooooot of pain.

When we got to the hospital we went straight up to the maternity ward and turned the corner and saw the exact same nurse I had the night before and I suddenly wanted to turn around and leave. I loved her, but was also hoping that she wasn't there that night. Basically because I'm prideful and didn't want to be turned away twice by the same person.

Which looking back its absolutely comical to me that I thought I was going to be turned away. My contractions were coming about every 3 minutes at this point. I was clearly about to birth this baby whether I was in my bathroom at home or in the hospital; he was coming.

When I saw the nurse I said "it's me again and I'm 99% sure I'm going to be staying here this time" she laughed and said OK then let's check you out!

We went back to the room she checked me over and said oh yeah you aren't going anywhere tonight, you've got a reservation here at the hospital.

At that moment I realized the next time I would walk on pavement outside of that hospital I would be holding a baby. MY BABY.

That thought was crazy to me.

I theb snapped back to reality from that thought and looked at the nurse and said "I'm not a person who is opposed to drugs and I would like some ASAP please". I was having consistent contractions and I was hooked up to that little machine that monitored them. Every so often Luke would look at the monitor and say "whoa that was a big one look how far up that line went". I didn't need to look at how far up the line went..I FELT IT. I needed drugs stat.

She assured me I would be getting them soon. And quietly in my mind I thought...I've been going through this for over 24 hours now. Soon is NOT soon enough.

At that time we got on our phones, and called our families and let them know that they needed to hit the road and texted some friends to notify them that Eli was on his way!

My nurse got me all ready and we walked back to the labor and delivery room. I got all nestled up in bed and reminded my nurse that I needed DRUGS. She said the epidural man was on his way.

So he came, and I asked him if he was giving me pitocin. The nurse said that I didn't need it as I was progressing on my own. I really had no idea what pitocin was, I 've just heard it on teen mom and wanted to sound like I was in the know. Which clearly backfired on me since I didn't even need it.

The epidural man gave me my shot or whatever the heck it is. I've heard that this is painful but for me it was like sweet victory. It was relief from pain that I had been feeling for far too long.

Luke watched it go in my back and said it look horrible. No complaints here.

Shortly after I got my epidural things took a scary turn. It all happened very quickly but Eli's heart rate dropped extremely low and they couldn't get it to come back up. The nurse had to call for backup and this swat team of nurses came running into the room, put oxygen on me, stuck a monitor in me to monitor his heartbeat more closely, and started doing things to try and get it back up. It was all very frantic and lasted for about 10 minutes.

It was the scariest 10 minutes ever. They had me facing the opposite direction of Luke so I couldn't see him and all I wanted to do was see his face to know that everything was ok. I couldn't see anybody's face, which I now realize was probably for the best because there wasn't a face in that room that could have comforted me. Eli's heart rate was dangerously low and everybody in the room was working hard to get it back up.

They were in the middle of calling a dr to come get Eli out when his heart rate went back up to normal level. Praise the Lord.

I asked for an explanation of what happened and basically my body just progressed really really fast. I dilated very quickly and at this pint was already at a 10. Sometimes when your body progresses very quickly it sends the back into sort of a "shock" and their heart rate drops. Thankfully they got it up and everything was just fine in the end. But it was completely scary at the time.

Eli has a teeny tiny little scar on his head where they put the monitor on him and every time I feel it I tear up thinking about how scary that moment was and how thankful I am that everything ended up ok.

After all the drama I was completely dilated so now we just waited for the dr to come so I could start pushing. I dilated so fast that I was afraid that our families weren't going to make it in time. We figured I would be in labor all night but that as not the case, apparently I have fast deliveries!

Around midnight the dr arrived and I started pushing. I pushed for 30 minutes and at 12:31am Eli Smith Tree arrived. A lot of people have asked about his middle name, we really didn't decide what to do until the last minute and eventually decided to go with my maiden name Smith.

He came out screaming and it was music to my ears. They put him on me and my first thought was WHERE IS HIS HAIR?!?!? Then I fell in love.

We had some time alone in the room just me, Luke and Eli, (and all the medical staff) and then our families came in and met him.

I had planned to text everybody once he arrived, but I decided to wait until the morning. I spent the night taking in my sweet baby boy and time with our families.

It was such a special night. Time flew and before we knew it it was around 5:30 in the morning. Our families left and we were moved to our room where we would stay for the next couple of days (and where I would grow an unhealthy obsession/love with my hospital and the staff)

At this point I had slept about 4 hours in the past 48 hours so I tried to go to sleep. But all I wanted to do was stare at my baby. He was (and is) perfect to us in every way.

I am so glad that I did all the "hard work" of labor from home and at work. I was able to take my mind off of it and not focus solely on the pain, and also I was able to get some last minute stuff done before he came. Plus I didn't have to sit around and wait to deliver, it was all very fast.

I loved my hospital stay and loved all of our visitors and just the fun times that were spent in that room. Luke thinks I'm a bit cray for how much I loved my hospital stay. But he was also the one who had to sleep on the chair that they call a fold out bed next to me.

I can't believe its all over. It makes me very emotional to think about how my pregnancy is over and all of that, but that is a whole other post for another day. I'm not sure my hormones could handle me talking about it right now.

Some pics from the hospital:

Sweet baby boy:

Momma and baby:

Daddy and baby:

Going home as a family of 3!