Brody's First Christmas!

We did Christmas a little different this year- usually Christmas for us means being away from home and trying to be with the whole family in one single day- we finally decided that was too much- now that we have our own family we wanted to start our own traditions. We always had our own Christmas at home in the mornings but this year we stayed home ALL day and it was great! We had Christmas with my mom in early December when they were in town and then Travis's parents the weekend before and my dad on Christmas Eve. Brody was only 3 months old so he wasn't very into the presents but he did have a few toys he loved right away - most of the toys we got were ones that he could use as he got a little older and it's been so fun to see him grow and start to play with them over the last couple months!

My First Christmas 1984

Brody's First Christmas 2011 - same outfit! :)

Christmas Eve- reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

 

What he will be doing for many Christmas mornings to come!

Future bull rider??

Cozy

A picture post !

Brody's first bath- lol, he might have been a little chilly...
 after we didn't have to sponge bathe him he liked it a lot better

cuddling with daddy - we have lots of these pictures

Daddy's first time to feed Brody

Rangers Family!



I went back to work part time

Going home

We came home from the hospital on Monday, September 19th - the first night was just the three of us. That night as we were getting into bed I realized I couldn't because of my c-section so Travis had to take our huge (and heavy) pillowtop mattress and box spring off the frame by himself. It was so sweet the way he took such good care of me after my surgery, the first night was REALLY rough which was weird because when we were in the hospital I wasn't hurting at all. Turned out that when we were discharged the nurse told me the wrong amount of pain meds to take and I was only taking half of what I should have been. So he called the hospital and got that all straightened out and then made a chart for when I was supposed to take each pill- such a good hubby I have! My mom came in from CA and stayed a few days with us- loved that!  Here is a pic of us from the day after we got home

Nanny & Brody

Travis had a ton of vacation saved up since we haven't taken any trips since our honeymoon so he was off work for 6 whole weeks! Our original plan was for my  mom to watch Brody during the week but then she ended up moving to CA. Then the plan was to enroll him in Children's Courtyard so we put down the deposit when I was about 6 months pregnant to hold a spot for him. Well....then Brody was born and the plan changed one more time because motherhood changes you and suddenly I was not okay with sending him to daycare (working in two daycares and having horror stories from both did not help) On top of all that I just couldn't be okay with being away from him 9 hours a day. So my wonderful husband figured out a way to make it work- he is now full time work from home and I only went back to work part time- I work 7-11 am and Brody usually naps for 2 of the hours I'm gone. I'm so thankful that things worked out the way they did and also thankful that Travis and I have a strong enough marriage that we spend so much time together and don't drive each other crazy! Love that man and love the life we've made, I am beyond blessed.

Brody's here!

Travis trying to sleep on the not so comfy chair....

When we got to the hospital I had to pee... again (big surprise) and so after they did the IV they told me I could get up and walk around until I had the epidural. Travis was helping me and I was trying to walk back to the bed and my water broke..... again???.....I was so confused....I thought my water already broke?! As I'm wheeling my little stand back to the bed I'm slipping and Travis is on the ground behind me with paper towels trying to clean up LOL. Sorry if this story is TMI but it was probably the funniest moment of my pregnancy and I don't want to forget it.  I dont think I've ever laughed so hard....those nurses must have thought we were crazy. One of the nurses later explained that once your water breaks it's not over...it will keep doing that until the baby is born. That was news to me, I guess everything I've seen makes it look like your water breaks and that's it!

They came in a couple hours later and wanted to give me the epidural (which I didn't think I needed yet) but they said they wanted to give it sooner than later- it wasn't bad at all. They were predicting Brody would be here by lunch time and that came and went. They ended up inducing me to try to get things moving again and by about 3:30 I was ready to push.  Well.....even though the Dr had told us in our last appt that my size would not cause me to have a c-section that was exactly what happened. She said it just wasn't going to happen and told us there was no other option.  I think I handled this better than Travis - they took me to get prepped and gave Travis the gown and told him to wait in the hallway until they came back for him- he later told me that was the longest 20 minutes of his life. Everything went fine and at 4:54 pm on Friday, September 16th Brody was born.

I remember thinking when the three of us were in the hospital room that night that I was going to miss that and it's so true. I may be completely weird but being in the hospital after Brody was just born is one of my greatest memories.  I loved how we just got to snuggle with Brody all day and not worry about anything else.

Not looking so great here- going on about 2 1/2 days of no sleep.

Ready to go home!

 I knew as soon as we left that time was going to fly and it sure has- my baby boy is 5 months old today!

Last few weeks of pregnancy.....

I'll start with my last month of pregnancy- at 31 weeks I went into pre-term labor, when it started we went to the emergency room- it was late at night and we didn't know if we would have time to get to HEB so we went to the nearest hospital....which was USMD. This was a huge mistake- they had us fill out all of the paper work, got us into a room, had a nurse come see me and THEN informed us  that they do not have any OB's on staff....seriously?!!? They then told us that they were going to transfer me by ambulance to HEB. We decided against that and called my Dr. who told us to go to MCA. After wasting an hour at USMD we got over to MCA where they told us that I was having contractions. They hooked me up to monitor me and the baby and we spent most of the night there. They finally let us go at about 4:00 that morning.

We went to see my Dr the next day and she put me on bedrest and gave me meds to stop the contractions. Travis started to work from home full time so he could be with me (so thankful his boss let him do that!) and we continued our weekly dr appts. Each appt we went to I progressed further, the Dr just wanted me to at least get to 36 weeks so Brody would not need to be in NICU.  Our 36 week appt was on a Wednesday and that was actually the first week nothing had changed. This was also the day she told me I could stop taking the meds. I took my last pill that morning and late Thursday night as we were getting into bed my water broke. (This is confusing if it's your first pregnancy because it just seemed like I peed on myself- completely possible at 8 months pregnant) We decided to wait at home a little bit to see if anything changed. About 15 minutes later I was coming back from the bathroom and it happened again- that was when we knew it was time to get to the hospital.

 It was about 12:30 in the morning and we were headed for the hospital to meet our baby boy!

Here's a few pics from right before I had him....

Dr Approved pool time- this raft was great for my big belly! ;) I lived in our pool for the last month of my pregnancy :)

One of our maternity pics

Things I miss the most about pregnancy:

Getting my update every Wednesday morning that told me Brody's development

Feeling him moving in my belly (even though it's a million times better to have him in my arms!)

The pregnant lady parking at Babies R Us ;)

Dr appts- yes I actually liked those- especially once we started going every week, it was so fun seeing and hearing about how he was changing and getting closer and closer to meeting us! 

 (And his daddy never missed a single appt :)

Late night talks with Travis about becoming parents

Complete strangers telling me that I was the cutest pregnant woman they have ever seen (I'm sure this happens to pretty much every pregnant woman, but when you're feeling like a whale this was a wonderful thing to hear- especially from a stranger....because you know family has to say that stuff! ;)

Things I don't miss so much:

MORNING SICKNESS - with Brody I was sick the entire first trimester :(

Not being able to eat BBQ- I had two smells I could not stand when I was pregnant, BBQ and Coffee. I love BBQ so I'm glad to be able to eat it again!

Having a limited wardrobe. I actually didn't buy any maternity clothes except a few shirts....I mainly wore dresses and a pair of jeans that was always a little big on me. It was awesome as soon as I got home from the hospital I felt like I had a million more choices on what I could wear!

Cravings- mostly I craved fruit and yogurt but every now and then I craved something that I never eat and the craving would not go away until I ate whatever it was. My first hint that I was pregnant was that I craved a powdered sugar donut.

Strangers touching my belly......this was not okay before I was pregnant, not sure what people are thinking sometimes.

Late pregnancy - having to pee every 30 seconds....this may have been worse with this pregnancy because Brody dropped so early but I remember once we got to the hospital when I was in labor the best thing in the world was the catheter because I didn't have to keep getting up to pee!!

All the stuff I won't miss aside, I can't wait to do it again!! Our plan was to get pregnant again right away after we had Brody but with a c-section they say you should wait a year. Well, that will be here before we know it,  time is flying! Over all I loved being pregnant and love being a mommy even more.

Mommyhood

One of my favorites from his newborn pictures

"Having a baby changes everything". I have heard this a million times but not until I had my son did I realize how true this is.  The moment my son was born my world changed.... I became a different person, a mother. That may sound cheesy but there's no other way to describe it.  I had a c-section so I didn't get to be the first to hold him ...and everybody else in the room got to see him before I did. I did get to hear him though....and hearing that sweet little cry and knowing that he was okay was the best sound in the world. At this moment my role in life changed.

My job is now to make sure that baby is always safe and happy and to be the best mommy in the world.  As soon as I had Brody, not only did his life become the most precious thing in the world to me but my life became a million times more important because I have to make sure I'm always here for him. I remember lying in the hospital bed with him the night we had him and all he did was look up at me and I started crying, I remember just thinking what a little miracle he is and how happy I was that he was finally here. Absolutely nothing in the world compares with becoming a mother- this is without a doubt the best life has to offer and I feel so blessed that God chose me to be this sweet boy's mommy.