Anthony is here!

That's right, my little baby made it into this world. He did it on his own time, and I'm ok with that. Alright, I did push extra hard to get him out by the end of the 16th - early Christmas present for his Great-Granny :)

8 lb. and 2 oz., 21 inches long

Checked into the hospital a night early for unusual problems and was given the choice to be released for a few hours prior to my induction. Came back and checked in, started pitocin as planned, doctor broke my water, labored for several hours unaided by drugs. He wasn't progressing at all so in order to increase the pitocin as much as was needed, they highly recommended I take the epidural. I did. I labored for 10 1/2 more hours. Total of 18 1/2 hours by that time already. Then we started pushing. They told me it could take 1-2 hours or more to push him out, but I did it in about 20 minutes :) I was REALLY ready to meet him.

Birth was not what I expected. That part was easy...it's afterward that has its tough times. I LOVE this little guy to pieces of course, and I can't wait to see what new joys each day brings. I'll try to post updates when I can, but obviously we're exhausted.

Almost Time!

This is my last blog post before I become a mommy! We went back to the doctor on Monday, and we haven't made any real progress on our own still so it was decided that the best thing to do is have an induction tomorrow before he cooks any longer. That will put him at 10 days overdue. Bless him, he just doesn't want to come out!

Tomorrow is my grandmother's birthday, and she would be delighted to share this birthday with her first great-grandchild. I know because she mentioned it to me when I first told her I was pregnant. She jokingly said that I should "hold him in" until her birthday because Grandad already gets to share his birthday with cousin Meredith. I told her that I wouldn't be holding any baby inside once he gets ready to come out! But it seems he just wasn't ready. I hope he's ready tomorrow. It's weird, I feel guilty for kicking him out, but I also know it's dangerous for him to go too long.

Here are pictures from Saturday when I was about 41 weeks




Today I've been biting my nails a bit and thinking about what's to come in less than a day. I'll be checking into a hospital, and I won't be leaving until I have my little boy in my arms. I've waited so long, yet it went by so fast at the same time. Individual days dragged out for an eternity, but the pregnancy as a whole flew by.

These last 2 1/2 weeks I've been working from home, and my only companions all day are my cats. They've been snuggly little helpers that keep me happy and entertained (the hours they can spend chasing a milk cap - amazing). I'll miss the little goobers when I'm in the hospital. Here's part of their big contribution to society today...

Ares


Maximus


I'll be sure to put up some photos (and maybe a few details) of our little boy when we get home!

No News

I've been MIA for about 2 weeks now, and while I'd like to say that the lack of news is because we got our little boy...I can't say that. Because we're still waiting. We're 4 days overdue, and that phrase makes me a little nuts. It didn't the first day, but the last 3 have been a little tougher. Like they're lasting foreeeever. Everyone keeps telling me that I should enjoy this time and relax before he gets here, but I'm too uncomfortable to take these luxurious naps they speak of. Not to mention, I'm still working. Working at home is still working!

I need to take some pictures of my over due belly, but here is one taken 11 days ago when I was 39 weeks



When I got out to do some shopping the other day, Anthony finally let me get him some new jeans. If you know him then you know this is almost impossible. He doesn't care for new clothes at all. I got him bending over, but in this lovely position you can see that there are no torn belt loops, the bottoms aren't ripped to shreds, and all of the blue hasn't been washed out of the denim. The rest of the jeans in his wardrobe are another story.



Here's something I'm really excited about, Christmas! And Christmas ornaments! I get really psyched to add a new ornament to the tree each year, typically reflective of what's happened to us over the past year. We have an engaged ornament and this year was going to be the "we're married" ornament, but we got pregnant RIGHT after we got married so rather than choose one of those life events, I decided to get a family ornament. This cute little sucker makes me realize how far we've come this year. And...it's just adorable. Love love love it! Can't wait for my own little snow baby!

Erin & Ryan and Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

What is my deal with Wednesday posts lately??

Anywho, I posted Erin and Ryan's wedding on the WLP blog so you should go check that out here!

There's a sad little girl there if ya go...

Hmm...that might not be too enticing, but she's still pretty cute with that pouty lip.

My little one finally stopped kicking for a few minutes. We've had a flurry of activity in the last couple of hours with him just really going at it. I'm surprised, given how busy I've been today. With his due date quickly approaching, I've filled my schedule to the brim with tying up loose ends. I got up early this morning and did some Christmas shopping - Christmas shopping for a baby! Ok, I shopped for other people too, but that paled in comparison to picking out my son's first Christmas gifts :) I can tell what kind of parent I'll be already...I spent so much time in the book aisle agonizing over the ones that were traditional and classic versus new and creative versus the ones that teach versus...well, you get it. There were tough decisions involved. In the end there was real strategy used (rather than the fall back of rock, paper, scissors that was starting to seem appealing)...I got them all. Ok, so that's not a strategy - sue me.

On my most recent doctor's appointment (2 days ago), there was finally some activity! And the doctor has now said we're looking more toward December 6th rather than the 12th. Yikes, this lady just casually shaved almost a week off of my "deadline"! What is she thinking?! It's ok, I know he won't let anyone plan his arrival anyway. And we'll be THRILLED when he gets here!

Happy Turkey Day, people!

Things You Didn't Know

There are a lot of things other people don't know about your life and your household. First thing you probably didn't know? Yesterday was my dad's birthday. I love you, Dad!

Second thing you didn't know? I have a cute cat (evidence below)...


Just kidding. The issue is not whether the cat is cute. What you didn't know is this obese cat (she's about 30% over her suggested weight no matter what we try) is sitting on top of a cat house with a GIANT tear in the roof. Yeah, any minute now her big, furry butt is just going to fall right through this thing. AND I WILL LAUGH because she keeps getting up there knowing there's a hole in it.


Something else you may not know? There's a baby's car seat in the back of my car. Just sitting there..staring at me. I have a ton of baby stuff in my house, but this really hit me.
Check out two of the onesies my mom and I made for my little boy!




Congratulations to my friend Alicia for FINALLY having her baby :) Welcome, Amarissa!

Mister Alex

Alex is the son of my very good friend, and he is just adorable! One day he will be a great playmate for my baby boy. I know little Anthony will need someone to run around with because he is HYPER. I was getting pretty frazzled last night with the insane amount (and intensity) of kicks he was able to deliver.

We had our first weekly doctor's appointment where there was a physical progress check (this was Monday). This little guy isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So many people (evil, old biddies) have been telling me for the last two months that I'm huge and surely won't make it very far into my pregnancy before he decides to make an appearance. Well look out because this baby is stayin put, ha! I will carry this huge baby as long as he wants me to.

Ok, ahem, I was talking about Alex. Here he is!

















I think this was right before a sneeze :)

The Monkey Suit

Last night we were grocery shopping, and some guy in a turban came up to me and kissed his thumb and held it up near my belly and said "Lucky baby". Why thank you, sir :) I'll take all my luck and blessings where I can get em!

And this lucky baby may have saved me from getting T-Boned by an idiot in a green BMW this morning. You could have fit a sheet of paper between our cars and that's about it. He wasn't even looking, just came flying right off the highway and started changing lanes without regard for anyone else. I could have gone into labor in traffic because I was in pain and really upset. This guy works in my building. I can tell by his sticker. He better hope we don't meet again.

But I digress...

Let's look at cute pictures of my nephew at his first birthday party on Halloween. The monkey baby.

Today and Riddick

I'm sitting here looking through some photos taken recently of my friend and her family. We took photos when her boy was little, when he was one year old, and somehow when he turned two we realized that we were leaving gaps. So we got together for one last shoot before I took maternity leave.

Problem: Riddick skipped his nap that day and decided to fall asleep in the car on the way to the shoot.



What else am I doing? Let's see:
1) Fighting the worst indigestion known to man
2) Yelling at my cats to stop fighting because it's too close for comfort with my hard drive nearby.
3) Kicking myself for watching Steel Magnolias alone. That's right, somewhere in my fuzzy, pregnant mind I thought it would be nice to watch a chick flick while I edit...but I KNOW this movie makes me cry. Everytime. And it's 20 years old. I've shed a lot of tears for you, Julia Roberts!

On to cuter things once Riddick woke up...



The first part where I cry (the little boy running out to his grandma after his mom died) is over. Phew, I made it. Oh dear, next sad part is coming. Gotta go.

Marissa and Michael ~ Engaged

Yesterday I posted some photos of Marissa and Michael's engagement session on the WLP site - go look!

Click here for Marissa and Michael

I love when I go to the WLP blog and see mine and Anthony's wedding photo in the top banner. The first two times (yes, there have been many!) that I checked out my maternity pics on the site, my wedding photo was at the top! Beautiful.

Big Belly Photos on WLP!

We got out in the cool hours of Tuesday morning and take some maternity photos of me. I'm glad it did turn out cold because the sweater really makes me feel like my winter baby is coming! Harper made the trip too, and she was a great little assistant. Always knows how to make a subject smile :)

Take a look, I even squeezed back into my wedding rings for the occasion!

You can check out the photos on our WLP blog by clicking here.

Milestones!

1) This is my 100th post!
2) The following photos were taken on our last day of child birth class!!

Statement: Stripes make me feel like the goober that was on Blue's Clues.





It took me a few days to post this, so we're now at 33.1 weeks :) Yes, I like to count the exact days...even though it's an inexact science...

SOOOO....I'm excited that we're getting closer and closer to meeting our little boy! My mom was in town this weekend, and we found the CUTEST outfits for little Anthony to wear on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Yay! Oh my God...I'm going to be a mother this Christmas. GULP.

Jaden

My little nephew is going to be a year old on October 30th. I snapped a few shots of him before my baby shower started on Sunday.

He wasn't too thrilled with the camera, but here he is!