Z

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!  


I swear the mind's ability to forget certain crucial things is quite amazing when it comes to children.  


Like, I forgot until the last few hours of childbirth, how bad it really hurts.  And I forgot about the cramping afterwards.  And how it is near to impossible to walk for 24 hours.


I forgot how much my schedule or Russell's schedule really doesn't matter.  Because we are on Ryker's time.


I forgot about sleep (ZZZzzzz) and how precious and limited it really is during the newborn stage.

I forgot how taxing on a relationship newborns can be and how important it is to remember the little and simple things with each other.

I forgot how necessary and HOW lucky I am to have an awesome family and in-laws that have already been amazing and will continue to help us out with our children.

I forgot how amazing birthing a child really is...and how tiny and dependent they are ...and how I can't imagine not having children, but there is just nothing that compares.

Love to all
From A to Z (and I didn't forget any in between)

Your Momma
 

Y

Ryker Lee
Born at 3:18am on December 29th
Weight 8lbs 15 oz
Length 22 1/4 in

Strong and stubborn!

Birth story to Follow!


Yours Truly!

Momma

X

W

This post is dedicated to all the women in my life.....my family, my best friends, my friends that I just met, my colleagues, and those women that I come into contact with on a daily basis!

I had something come up a couple weeks ago and really relied on my women friends to assure me that I was okay, and beautiful, and things would be okay-for real, like really, for sure.  It was during that time that I realized how necessary women are in my life.  Going through pregnancy and motherhood, I feel like this is not even more important to have these women connections.  As much as a man can try, they will never fully understand what it is like to be pregnant, to give birth, and then be a mother.  Just the same that we will never understand what men go through. 

When I'm pregnant and at my most vulnerable point, I was able to reach out to my ladies and survive the moment.

I just feel very lucky to have you all in my life!  Thank you!

 Love, Momma

V

For Thanksgiving we were given the go-ahead by the midwife to head to our Home Away from Home-Nebraska.  It was a much needed VACATION.  We started out our journey at Auntie Laurel's house.  Well actually it's Annie Rose's house and Laurel and Dusty live there:)

Seriously, two cousins playing together does not get much cuter than this!

Russell and I commented how amazing it is that Annie and Aylen can be separated for months and when they are together they know each other right away.  It's some cousin connection that they have and it is JUST SO FUN to watch!

After Annie Rose's house we headed to the country at my LOVELY mother-in-law's house.  This visit was much needed as Gram (her mother, Russell's grandmother) passed away several weeks before.  It was hard not being close to family to give hugs, clean dishes, fix food, etc.  We were able to spend some good quality time giving hugs, loving on Aylen, and most important hanging with family-especially Grandad. 

 Russ even got to show Aylen his stomping grounds behind the house!  Aylen loved all the sticks, the sand and the leaves!

After Grammy's house we WERE completely full from an amazing Thanksgiving dinner and probably one of my favorite meals that my MIL makes-Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. 

And from here we headed to Lincoln.  And for some reason my CAMERA never made it back out of it's bag.  I have zero idea how this happened-so please feel free to weed through my play-by-play:)!

I was experiencing one of these days, which was SEVERELY unfortunate because we had things to do and people to see.  But we managed to see my bestest work friends ever, head to Valentinos to meet my brother, his lady friend, and my BFF ERN! 

From there it was to our awesome friends Candels and Leland for a quick hello-and she presented us with Biscotti's quilt (you can see it here in her blog!)  She is so freakin' talented it is not even funny! 

We then had to pop over to our old house to check it out-and you can't really pop over there...because people are always out and about.  So we stopped over and hung with our neighbors.  They are awesome, and they forgave us for taking the "baby" away from them!  Ahh  good times, and good people!  We jumped over to our friend Cristale's mom's house.  Where we got to hang with our friends and their children!  For some reason I am still amazed when I get together with my friends and witness all of our children running around and playing with each other!  It truly is amazing!  It always leads me into memories of the good ol' days and wow-how cool these good ol' days are now filled with little feet, squeals, and the most amazing little laughs!

We ended our Lincoln trip here and it was up to Omaha we went.  From here, my father-in-law and Barb took amazing care of us.  After a day of being severely uncomfortable I was completely treated like a queen by Barb.  Good food, a big huge bubble bath, ginger tea, the promise (and occurrence the next day) of a desperately needed mani and pedi, and more amazing food!  We were able to have lunch with our friends Hunter and Josh, and then dinner with Russell's cousin and family, and Russell's best friend Scott and his amazing lady Jael. 

And then the night came and went and we were looking at Sunday already.  We sadly and amazingly packed our car (seriously, 3 people and their bags, our dog, a Megan-sized teddy bear, Aylen's car seat, Biscotti's car seat, and enough snacks to tide Aylen and I over at a moments notice=in the prius!)  Before we completely left the state we were able to sneak in a mid-morning snack with my Grandpa.  It was great to see him!

And to Colorado, home, we went.  It was our first trip back to Nebraska for the mere purpose of seeing our friends and family.  (No packing, no selling a house, no busy-work).  Just laughs, naps, and catching up on life!  Ahhh, I feel so blessed!

Love to everyone!
Momma

U

can I get a UNCOMFORTABLE up in here!!!

that's right ladies and gents.  i'm at the end of the lovely pregnancy journey.  it's weird this time around because I have definitely experienced way more aches and pains this time-yet it has gone by at lightening speed!

i started off this pregnancy being extremely nauseous.  no throwing up, but feeling like I was hungover for the first trimester was the pits.  especially mixed with quitting a job, packing a house, moving to another state, moving in an apartment for 3 months and then moving to a house--all while wanting to hangout with the porcelain statue.  but whatever we made it!

due to the above activities I then acquired a lovely inguinal hernia-pretty rare I guess for women.  this was a pain, literally.  however; i was good and babied it and it's not as big of a problem as it was!

and then there was the third trimester...which has been an experience.  for those of you who know me, know that I'm not a holder-in of my gas.  if you gotta go, you gotta go.  but I can't even begin to tell you the pains that I've had this last trimester.  and I was watching what I ate, and still to no avail I would be miserable.  i tried alot of things, but often the cure was for me to just go to sleep and in the morning-it would be better.  i also managed to get either the flu or some type of intenstinal thingy the past 3 weeks for only a day at a time.  lovely.  i finally did puke once (tmi-I know), but I'm telling you that is NOT cool when you're doing that and you have a baby in your belly.  i know there are many people who can relate, but I seriously have never experienced that and it was no good.

the other thing that is taking some getting used to--is how to navigate this belly with Aylen John!  the above picture was taken when Aylen and I were cuddling this am.  he had a fever and needed some good momma time.  biscotti was not a fan of sharing my stomach, but Aylen was totally asleep.  so biscotti got the short end of the stick-which I think actually meant I did and I dealt with some leg/knee/foot/hard body part in my rib cage for 30 minutes.  needless to say I was relieved when Aylen decided to be awake and i could finally move.  Ohhhh let the games begin of sharing Momma's cuddle space.  it will be okay.

people have babies close together, people have twins and triplets and their babies are well loved.  we will find a way and it may be uncomfortable, but we will find our system of sharing space and love and lots of kisses.

i'll leave you with some pregnancy photos!

love you all,
momma!