6 Weeks

4 Weeks Old

It seems like having a baby really takes up a lot of time.
I've thought a lot about blogging but it's really just been that--- thinking.

Here are a few quick notes and answers to commonly asked questions.

How is the baby? (I'm not sure if I want to disclose his name online--- probably but for now he will be referred to as Tomatillo.)

Tomatillo is great! He can sleep for 4-6 hours but that is when he is being held. If he is not being held he will sleep for 90 minutes and then awake and want to be fed.

He does the cutest stretching things when he wakes up. He extends his body and stretches his neck muscles. He also has this phase he goes through right before he "officially" wakes up. He'll make all these grunts and stretches for about 10 seconds and then he'll immediately stop and behave as if nothings happened. A few minutes later he'll do it again, stretch for about 10 seconds and then immediately resumes sleeping. He'll do this a few times and the last time he'll just scream if you haven't figured out that he wants you to pick him up. Do other babies do that? 

How do you like being a mom?
It's hard to define "mom". I feel like a "mom" is someone full of wisdom and experience who watches out for you. Yes I watch out for my son, but I dont think I've reached that wisdom and experience stage yet. I dont mind taking care of my child but the title of our relationship I am still unsure of what to call it.

I think I'll feel more confident of my role in a few years.

Personality?
Well actually no one has asked me this question but I am the one stupid enough to ask it to new mom's. No my child doesn't really have a personality. He likes to sleep & eat a lot. He does a lot of stretching and he likes to be cuddled. I don't think that makes him sound terribly unique.

I do have to admit, since I do have a baby I have become more self conscious on how people are judging me. I mean think about it. If you have more than one child you know what to expect from an infant. Me on the other hand---being a first time mom--- have no clue. I'm trying, I really am. However, I have this fear that while I am trying to calm my baby by rocking him and giving him a pacifier in public someone is looking at me and saying: "Dont you know that cry means..... you're doing it all wrong." I'm sure it's paranoia. If you see me doing something wrong, know that I am really trying. :)

I made him this little outfit! You can't tell but he's wearing the cutest shorts too!

He is smiling. (3 Weeks)

Family Reunion

Family Reunion! (August 5th)
We got together with my dad's side of the family and had a big lunch. My Grandma calls it a reunion but Matt calls it just lunch. Our baby boy was barely a week and we decided to take him out to meet the family. I also was itching to be free of the house and to be stopped being treated like I was sick.

Shauna and her family came to down from California

My Grand parents also celebrated 80 years of living! (They were born about 2 weeks apart)

My parents. I had to include this picture that look on my dad's face is priceless. :)

Not only adults but all kids want to touch this cutie..hence the reason I was there. No little hands that go up noses and drag through dirt and into mouths can touch him :)

He's Here!!

We're proud parents!

Now that he's here, it's hard to imagine living without him.

I know some of you are interested in knowing "the story". So here is how it all went down. 

Basically, I went into labor quick and fast at 4am, when my water broke. It was like a water balloon popped inside of me. Contractions hit going at about 3-4 minutes apart and by 6, they were 2 minutes. I was interested in giving birth naturally and wanted to do most of my laboring at home, meaning I didn't want to go to the hospital until I had to. 

However, when I previously made this decision I had not anticipated what sitting in a car would be like. AH! Lucky for me I chose to deliver at a hospital that was normally 5 minutes a way. I can only imagine what it would be like if I had chosen to have my baby at a hospital that was much farther than that. Oh my ignorance as I thought about other hospitals in the valley.

We made it to the hospital and I dragged myself into the check in desk. They did the routinal check up and discovered that Calvin was feet down ready to jump into the world. The only solution to this was a C-section. Apparently when they're feet first there is no hope. Matt wanted to know how long the whole thing would take.

Matt:"So how long do you think this will all take?" 

Doctor: "Until the baby is here?"

Matt: "Yeah"

Doctor: "Oh, less than an hour."

I was shocked at the time frame. Everything was moving by so quickly!

They shoved papers at us, mostly for the epidural. I was already familiar with the risks that were outlined in the paper work and the liability issues, but really? How can they thrust the paper work at you when you're contractions are less than 2 minutes a part. You may have only 30 seconds to think clearly!

They told me to lean forward to give me the shot. The whole time I was leaning I was trying so hard not to move. I've heard one too many horror stories of people being negatively affected by the epidural being directed in the wrong location and then they have back pain for the rest of their lives or they have problems breathing because the epidural went up instead of down.... in any case as he poked me I tried my very best to stay still and I tried not to ask him what level of experience he had. 

Well they wheeled me into the surgery room, gave Matt some cute fancy gear, and got to work. I swear in less than 10 minutes that baby was out at 7:50am. 

He was 4lbs and 12 ounces and 19 inches long. So skinny!! 

They were worried about him maintaining his body temperature so they took him into the NICU. They told Matt that had he weighed a few ounces less they would have just kept him in NICU until he gained some weight. He was only in NICU for less than 45 minutes. Once his temperature was stable they gave him back to us. 

Over the course of our stay they drew his blood and took his temperature and vitals several times making sure that he was remaining strong. He exceeded their expectations. He may be skinny but he's a fighter!

It's exciting!!

Hot Dogs

In Montana we were all responsible for some type of meal. As a result we came home with lots and lots of hot dog buns. We dont really eat hot dogs, so I was curious as to what we were going to do with all this white bread.

I thought we could put them in the fridge, with the intensions of using them. I knew what would really happen to them if we buried them in the fridge. We would forget about them and then throw them away when they became infested with mold.

So, this sounds kind of weird, but here is my story on hot dog buns.

Of course I googled what to do with left over hot dog buns. I love the internet!

I found one recipe for bread pudding. I had some fruit that was going bad and I figured this was a great use of both bread and fruit. 

Blueberries

So these peaches got a little wet from being stored
in our cooler from Montana

I figured I'd just cut off the bad parts. Good idea? Eh...

Strawberries

Cut up and throw them together!

Step 1: Lay out the hot dogs on the bottom of the pan.

Step 2: Boil the fruit with sugar and a little water and lemon juice to create a sort of fruity sauce. 

Step 3: Layered the new fruit mixture on top of the hot dog buns.

Step 4: Layer hot dog buns and fruit sauce again & refrigerate. When the product is complete cover it in whip cream!

Confession: I mentioned earlier that the fruit was going bad, but really I think they were bad. :(
I honestly think this was the downfall of my fruit pudding. We ate one bite and decided to throw it out.
So I did waste some fruit and hot dog buns, but at least I tried one thing before I deemed it disgusting. I feel like that ought to count for something....

Pizza!

All I did was make some pizza sauce, smothered them in cheese, and cooked them for 8 minutes. This was a lot more successful than my bread pudding! :)


Garlic Bread!
I liked this idea the most. In fact this is what helped me finish off what was left of the hot dog buns.

We ate the home made garlic bread with some fresh pasta that we bought at the farmer's market.

 It was perfect! :)

Something else that I wanted to try, but ran out of buns for, was croutons. I thought that would be a really fun idea and something you could store for a long time too. 

Montana

We are having a pretty fun summer!

We went to Montana for a little family reunion. When Matt's grandfather passed away in November it was decided that everyone should get together. Why let funerals be the only time you see all your family? So Matt's aunt, Karen, invited us all up to her cabin home for Independence day. She lives in Bear Country. Matt was hoping to see a bear, while I on the other hand was worried.

Up at Seeley Lake-- they decided to burry Scott into the sand.

Here is Scott emerging like he is a sand zombie. Almost as frightening as
seeing a bear, almost.

 

We brought out hammocks and slept outside the first night. I was still afraid of bears but lucky for us we saw nothing.
Someone did bring their pet dog and that's actually what woke me up, pawing at my side. 

Aunt Karen and Grandma Elton

 Have you ever seen those unusually large marshmallows?! Well someone brought them to roast with and this is what it looks like stuffed between two graham crackers. Lydia, in this photo, has no shame as she takes a huge bite and lets the thing ooze out on all sides. She said it was pretty good but in the end says she couldn't really eat the entire thing. :)

See -------> I'm telling you that marshmallow was MASSIVE. 

This kid decided to create a stick that could hold two
mallows. Clever!

This is a cool photo. Dustyn (Kim's boyfriend) is a cheerleader at ISU and here he is putting some of those
skills into practice. I love the mid-air shot. :)

For Boy scouts Matt learned how to create a matchless fire. It takes a lot of work, but
Matt was able to successfully demonstrate how it is done.

July 4th parade

After spending a few days with Matt's family we decided to take a little side trip to Glacier Park. Glacier Park is melting! It's expected to be GONE in 2020. So we had to take our chance before all the ice melts! Glacier Park was about 2 hours from where we were at and we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of being SO CLOSE!

Look at those glaciers!

Beautiful Montana view. :)

When we were arriving to the West entrance of the park we saw all these signs for Huckleberry Pie.
Of course it's a tourist trap, but I am a sucker for pie. :) Matt jokingly asked if we should stop. Of course my response was "yes", however, unlike Matt I wasn't joking. If you look behind Matt you can see life size posters of Dorthy and Miley Cyrus, as well as Johnny Depp. They all offered up their approval of this place.
To be honest... the pie was cold. I think it would have been better heated and served with ice cream. Oh well. 

On our first night we set up tent and decided to do some hiking. We found a trail close by and talked to a ranger about it. The ranger said: "that trail is posted, so make sure you're loud." Well the fact that she reminded us to be loud I assumed she was talking about bears. Other than that I had no idea what she was talking about when she said "it was posted". Later on I found out that trails where bears have been sighted are "posted". I made Matt talk to me the whole way up. Yes we talked about dumb things, but it was reassuring to know that we were doing our part not to be attacked.

We took some mini cereal boxes with us for breakfast. We bought a small carton of milk at a gas station but forgot to bring spoons! So....

We drank our cereal. :)

Before we even left for Montana we did some research on what cool things you should do at Glacier National Park. Apparently the "cool" thing to do is to hike to Iceberg Lake. 

Right in the middle, at the base of those mountains is the lake. 

It started off like a normal trail but the last half mile was covered in snow.

Lucky for us we came prepared with our Chacos! Don't worry... the snow actually didn't feel horribly cold and infact, to swollen pregnant feet, it was more of a relief. :) 

The worst part about hiking with Chacos in the snow is the awesome traction that these shoes provide.

You can see the lake behind Matt.

Here's another view of the lake. See that person? They're walking on it.

After we did a little hike we decided to go see some major land marks on the "Road to the Sun".

  

Look at this cute goat!! -- Not a landmark but certainly an added bonus

We didn't see a bear once at the park, although I was always nervous about it. Matt was pretty disappointed. On our drive home, along the road, we saw LOADS of deer. Matt kept talking about how awesome it would be to see a bear on the side of the road. Well.... wish granted! We did see one. 

It was standing straight up on the edge of the road and then when it saw us it scurried a way. It was pretty cute. Matt really wanted a picture and so with our little point & shoot camera, and in the dusk of the evening, he tried to zoom up on it. That black thing in the picture below, amongst the blur of green-ness is "The Bear".

 This picture, I feel, could be used a Big Foot sighting. I swear though, it's a bear.