THE MEADS

Worth is 8 Months Old!

2016-03-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

Our darling boy is almost 9 months old! This last month has flown by.

One of the most exciting changes in the last month is that I transitioned from working Full-Time to Part-Time. Starting March 1, I'm now working 3 days per week. I have 2 extra days with my little love each week and it has been amazing! We were having a hard time balancing spending time with Worth, working and just doing life... you know, the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. Just having the 2 extra days at home has made a huge difference. Worth and I have a new routine of meal planning, grocery shopping, walking to the park, visiting the library... He's the best lil' sidekick!

Worth is finally stably sitting up! We actually were waiting and waiting for him to sit up so we could do his "6 month" pictures. They finally happened at 8 months old, haha. We should be getting the pictures from the photographer this weekend. I'm so excited to see them!

My alarm clock one Saturday

(he was ready to rock at 6:15am - zzzzzzz)

My sweet Valentine

Sitting up with his doggie

Worth also had his first school pictures:

He's 7 1/2 months in these pictures! Adorable!!

I have loved every second of seeing Worth's personality develop. He's silly and talkative and sweet and a pretty easy going guy. The only thing we're really struggling with is napping. I have to admit, I'm not really helping. Instead of really working with Worth to take naps in his crib, I have been napping with him in my bed. :) I know, I know... not a good habit. But, I'll take my snuggles when I can get them. He's only little for so long! We can work on napping next month.

Sleepy lil' pumpkin in mama's bed

We LOOOOVE bath time. Kitchen sink or tub... it doesn't matter.

He loves it.

Meal times are a lot of fun. Worth is definitely starting to develop his preferences for food. He LOVES fruit (especially bananas, strawberries, and plums) and gnawing on pizza crust and of course, puffs. (What baby doesn't like puffs?!) He used to eat veggies often, but now is not loving them as much. Most of the time we just plop food on his tray and let him have at it... he'd rather just bang his spoon around, so he's eating mostly with his hands and it gets pretty messy! He's almost got the pincer grasp down and will look for the things he likes on his tray and move the things he doesn't like out of the way.

Yogurt is one of the messiest foods!

Sitting at the table eating a snack at school. He's getting so big!

Puff picnic in the sunshine!

We've had some volatile weather this month. Sunshine and 70 degrees one day and 15 inches of snow the next. On the nicer days, we try to get to the park as often as possible. Worth loves to swing and Nick and I love watching the joy on his face and hearing his giggles when he swings. It's a win/win.

We've continued our weekly pictures.

Worth is turning out to be quite the ham!

32 weeks old

33 weeks old

34 weeks old

silly boy before bed - 35 weeks old

our lucky charm - 36 weeks old

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I am so thankful to be W's mama. My little pumpkin! My sweet sunshine! Being a mother has been everything I hoped it would be. Even the simple things like walking to the park or looking in the mirror or eating dinner are 1,000,000,000 times better and more fun because I have my sweet family to share it with. Nicholas is the best daddy and husband. I'm grateful that because of his hard work, I'm able to have the flexibility to work part-time.

My boys and me. My whole heart.

Worth is 7 Months Old!

2016-02-21T21:36:00.000-08:00

Our sweet boy is 7 months old! We are loving every second of it. Worth started army crawling a few days after he turned 6 months old... and he's FAST. We definitely can't take our eyes off of him for a second.

One of the biggest changes is that Worth has been eating solids in the last month. We are quasi-doing Baby Led Weaning... Worth's first taste of food was pureed sweet potatoes, but we also give him whatever we're eating and we let him feed himself for the most part. His favorite foods are roasted carrots, pears, strawberries, broccoli and pizza crust. He also loves rice flour teething wafers that we found at Target! His least favorite food has been.... gosh, I can't think of anything. Probably Salisbury steak, but he still ate some of it. It is so fun watching him eat and figure it all out. In the last month he has gotten way better at getting food into his mouth. It is still a messy process though!

Worth has been a great sleeper lately. We set a bedtime routine and have stuck with it, so I think that's helped. Dinner is at about 6:00-6:30p depending on what time we get home from work and if I already have something prepared. After dinner, it's bath time. Worth just moved out of his newborn tub and it sitting in a bath seat now. He LOVES it... he seems so proud of himself! He loves to kick his legs and splash around.

After he's all cleaned up, it's time for jammies, songs and stories then his bedtime snack (mama's milk!). He's zonked out by 7:30p. Typically, he'll sleep until 6am and I'll pull him into bed with me for cuddles before it's time to get up for work and school.

He sleeps on his tummy 99% of the time now... and lately, he's been sticking his booty up - adorable!

We've had some amazing weather this winter and have taken advantage of being outside when we can. Worth got Daddy this awesome hiking baby carrier for his birthday, and we finally had nice enough weather to try it out. We explored Red Rocks Amphitheater and a couple of the trails surrounding it.

Can you spot Nicholas, Worth and Cricket on the stage?

Twins in their bright blue!

Worth had a blast in the carrier. He loved looking around and was talking/yelling and blowing bubbles the whole time he was in there. It was hilarious.

Our little Colorado native was a good luck charm for the Broncos this year... they won the Super Bowl! Worth was also lucky at squares... he won lots of money for his college tuition savings!

He gives the sweetest open-mouthed kisses!

My boys.

My little snuggle bunny!

He doesn't sleep like this very often any more (tear), but when he does... all plans are cancelled and I don't move!

Worth and Cricket are turning out to be quite the pair! She is the sweetest with him! Cricket will let Worth pet her and play tug-o-war with her toys. She is very gentle with him and doesn't get territorial over her toys or bones at all. Worth is just obsessed with her. He looks for her first thing in the morning and will stop eating (or playing, or whatever) if he hears her walk into the room. Worth is just mesmerized by her. She is loving that he is eating solid foods and parks herself right underneath his highchair at dinner time!

I though for sure Worth was getting his first tooth this month... he's been drooling like crazy and was acting fussier than normal for a couple days. But, he still has a darling toothless grin. My favorite!

twenty-eight weeks old.

twenty-nine weeks old.

thirty weeks old.

thirty-one weeks old.

Worth's personality is really starting to shine. He's a happy, easy baby. He smiles and giggles at the most random things... especially loud noises that kind of scare him. He freezes for a second then just cracks up! The only time I've actually seen him scared/weary of something was toward our friend Bonnie's dog... a dachshund! He isn't scared of Cricket or Bear, another friend's giant labradoodle, but the wiener dog was apparently untrustworthy. Hah!

The one thing guaranteed to make Worth smile: his Daddy!

This little guy LOVES his Daddy.

No teeth yet!

While I do enjoy working and having the extra income, it has been so hard to have less time with this adorable pumpkin. The evenings go by so fast (especially with our 45 min to 1 hour commute home) and the weekends fly by. Working has made me really appreciate and savor every moment with this little guy. And, thankfully, I still go see him at least 4 days per week during lunch. Those extra 30 minutes of extra cuddles and nursing over lunch are so special!

Our crawlin', gigglin', eatin' 7 month old.

We prayed and wished for this baby for a long, long time.

And, although it was in His own time,

God blessed us with the most amazing little boy.

We are so thankful that he is ours.

Worth is 4 Months Old!

2015-11-15T20:21:00.001-08:00

Last week, our little munchkin turned 4 months old and we had a full house here to celebrate. It was also Worth's baptism weekend so his godparents (his Aunt and Uncle) and our two nieces, and Nick's mom and her husband were all in town and staying with us!

Our little guy is still tall and skinny - he's in the 30th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height! He is developmentally on track and growing strong! He got his first cough/cold/congestion last week, but otherwise is a healthy little boy!

Worth started daycare this month. It was a lot harder on me than it was for him. We're just about a month in - he is doing great and it's getting easier for me. We both love his teacher, Ms. Hana. I, thankfully, have a lunch date with my little guy every day since the daycare is right across the street from work.

Worth's first day of school:

I cried a lot this day... Worth didn't shed a tear.

Worth rarely naps at school, but when he does he sleeps on a floor bed since it is a Montessori school.

I went back to work on Thursday, 10/8 and although my work week was only 2 days, I was SO READY for baby snuggles that Friday night.

HEAVEN. ON. EARTH.

14 weeks old.

Worth has become a pro at tummy time. We can even roll over from front to back and roll from back to side. He hasn't quite mastered rolling all the way over from back to front. His first time rolling over, he did it three times in a row, so I stopped swaddling him that night! (Then, he didn't roll over again for a week, haha!) He LOVED being swaddled though, so we had a hard time sleeping... then we had the 4 month sleep regression. Worth went from sleeping 6-7 hrs straight to waking up every 1.5 to 2 hrs. ZZZzzzzz... sleepy mama. Right when I went back to work, too!

At least even though I wasn't spending much time with Worth during the day, we got lots of cuddles at night. I don't want to jinx it, but the last two nights Worth has slept pretty well, so hopefully we're getting back into a rhythm with sleep!

He's also started to drool a lot, and put anything he can into his mouth. Although, he prefers chewing on my knuckles, his fist or soft cloths like his lovey or a burp cloth.

Worth celebrated his first Halloween this month!

He was the world's most adorable pumpkin!

We got Worth an exersaucer and he doesn't bounce around in it yet, but he does like sitting in it (for about 15-20 min max) and grabbing onto the toys.

Our serious boy has been smiling a lot more. When you smile at him, he smiles back with the sweetest toothless grin! And he squeaks when he smiles sometimes, too. No laughs yet, but still adorable!

17 weeks old

Lunch with Grandma! (Notice the drool on her shirt... Lots of drool!)

We still love going on walks when we can. The weather changed these last couple of weeks, so now we bundle up for our walks. We got the JJ Cole Bundle Me as a shower gift and it's perfect for the stroller. Worth stays warm and cozy and just falls right to sleep!

Since I'm at work now, I'm spending a lot less time with Worth than before. It's been really hard on me and I'm hoping it continues to get easier. I just still can't get over how fast he's growing up and how fast time is flying. I get teary-eyed thinking about it. (Ok, maybe sometimes I sob uncontrollably thinking about it!) I just love him so, so, so very much and he is absolutely precious to me. I want to savor and cherish every single moment I can with him. I love our family and I love Nicholas and most of the time I love Cricket, too. We waited a long time for Worth to arrive and it's even better than I could have ever imagined.

Happiest 4 months ever. xx

My Maternity Leave is Over

2015-10-07T20:35:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow my maternity leave is over. We're starting a new adventure... I'm headed back to work and our little bub will be going to daycare. I feel better about it when I call it school, but honestly I'm still a wreck about it. I've just been dreading this day. Everyone said maternity leave would fly by, but this day arrived so much faster than I could have imagined! Every time I think about leaving Worth all day, I just burst into tears. This summer, being home with Worth, has been the most rewarding and amazing experience of my whole life. I have loved every single second I've spent with him. We've been inseparable, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. The round-the-clock feedings, the diaper changes, the cooing, tummy time, bath time, the not-getting-anything-done-all-day-because-my-baby-wants-to-be-rocked... I've loved it all. And I'm really, really going to miss it. Being Worth's mama is the greatest role and blessing. Dropping him off each day is going to break my heart and I am going to live off of seeing his little smile (or serious face, knowing Worth!) when I pick him up. It's going to make our evenings and weekends and late night wake ups extra special. I've heard it will get easier, but I'm not sure I believe it yet.

To make today special, Worth and I did one of our favorite activities... we strolled down to the park in the neighborhood and laid in the shade on the special quilt my aunt and cousin made for Worth. The walk to the park was a little chilly, but by the time we arrived it had warmed up quite a bit and was the perfect temperature for a park day. Not too hot, not too cool. I picked up a doughnut and a latte on the way... we took some selfies... we did some tummy time... we watched the big kids play and I teared up knowing next summer he'll be one of the "big kids" walking around. Nick called and asked how my day was going... I said it was magical and it really was. I feel so fortunate to have a happy, healthy little sugar muffin all to myself!

Worth is a sweet, easy going boy and I'm sure he'll be just fine tomorrow for his first day of daycare. I'm just not so sure how I'll manage. At least he'll be close enough for me to pop over during lunch and give him cuddles and kisses and hopefully be there in time to feed him. Maybe I'll get all the tears out tonight and be dried up tomorrow so I don't completely embarrass myself at work... maybe. On the bright side, starting back to work on a Thursday means it's almost the weekend!

Wish us luck!

Worth is 3 Months Old!

2015-10-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

The fourth trimester is over! Our little bitty baby is now smiling and holding his head up and sleeping less during the day and napping unswaddled. He started wearing Size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes. He weighs about 13 lbs.

He is still a little blondie and has a lot more hair on top of his head! He was born with a receeding hairline and it's finally filled in. His eyelashes are darkening up and know we can see them!

Smiles!

Worth has started to notice himself in the mirror and it's so funny watching him "flirt" with that cute baby!

We had lots of firsts this month...

First airplane ride (Worth did GREAT and didn't make a peep!)

(Love these little toes!)

First trip to Texas to visit MaeMae and Pops

First time swimming

First trip to the beach!

First MLB game - the Rockies

He likes tummy time for about 60 seconds and then he HATES it. We're still working on that. :)

These last few weeks have been especially amazing and especially hard. Amazing because his little personality continues to grow and I love spending my days with him, but hard because I know I'm heading back to work soon and I won't get to spend as much time during the day with Worth.

Sweetest little face ever!!

Beautiful boy - 11 weeks old

I love the way he still grips onto my finger and the sweet noises he makes while we're cuddling and I'm feeding him. He's growing up so fast - too fast!

(10 weeks old in Texas)

This little guy doesn't stop moving! 90% of my pictures have blurs for arms and legs since he is just waving them around nonstop!

Worth also got to meet his great-grandpa, Dandy while we were in Texas. So special!

10 weeks old

Nick has had a couple business trips recently and I know it's hard for him to leave Worth. Worth and I do OK by ourselves, but we do love when Daddy is home! Cricket is actually way more difficult to take care of than Worth. She's so demanding! Nick (bless his heart!) takes care of Cricket when he's home, so when he's gone its a lot of extra work for me!

A beer and a baby cuddle is the best way to unwind after a business trip!

Tiner and Daver came to visit Worth! We watched the TCU game, went to a Rockies game, brunched, watched the blood moon and relaxed at home.

12 weeks old!

I just love this little guy so so so so so so so much! I'm so happy to be his mommy!

8 Days New

2015-10-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

When our little love was 8 days new, we had his pictures taken. His photographer, Hillary Wheat, was AMAZING and I love how she perfectly captured his personality and his sweet features. Worth has been very alert and awake since he was born, and it was really hard to get him to fall asleep for these pictures! There was lots of "shuussshhing" and nursing to get him to close his eyes. These are just a few of my favorites...

This last picture cracks me up... but also accurately captures Worth's serious face!

Doesn't there seem to be so much going on in that little 8 day old mind of his? I love him so much!

Worth is 2 Months Old!

2015-09-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Our little guy finally started smiling and cooing this past month! He mainly smiles right after he wakes up from a nap (after 10 minutes of stretching!) or when he's laying on changing table and I'm complimenting him... Worth, you're such a good boy. or Such a full diaper! Way to go, bud! and Where's my handsome boy? Here he is!

Worth had his 2 month wellness check up today. He weighed 11lbs 14 oz (42%ile), 23 3/4 in long (83%ile) and his head was 16in (91%ile). He's still a long, skinny little boy! He also had 3 shots today... he screamed bloody murder when he was stuck. Poor thing! Mama didn't cry, which was a surprise because I've been so emotional... I was too busy comforting W to cry. I nursed him right away and that calmed him until we got home. He's been extra fussy since we got home, so we've been doing a lot of cuddling. His pacifier and nursing also helps to keep him happy.

We've done some traveling this past month! We drove to Omaha when Worth was 6 weeks old. Our 7ish hour drive took about 10 hours since we had to stop every 3 hours or so to feed Worth. Thankfully, we found a Starbucks along the way and make a stop there! Worth got to meet two of his cousins and it was so cute watching them hold Worth and laugh because he was a "silly guy."

Our 3 year old niece had a hard time saying Worth... it sounded like Woof.

Maybe he has a new nickname?!

Worth with his Daddy and his Daddy's Daddy aka PoPo

Worth with Grandma Debbie!

We also drove to Beaver Creek to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary! Worth was the perfect little travel companion. He's such a good baby and really only fusses when he's getting hungry or wants to change positions (like from car seat to being held). A sweet couple at lunch one day guessed that he was 4 months old because he was so alert! We already knew that. ;)

Thankfully, our little munchkin loves riding in the car and it puts him right to sleep. Otherwise, I don't think we'd willing to do all these long drives! He likes riding in the stroller, too. He's especially happy when he has his wubbanub.

My little brother, Austin, came to visit his nephew! We went to a concert in the park - so fun! Even Cricket got to come.

Worth is already a football fan like his Daddy... he is just mesmerized by the TV if it's in his eyesight. We think he's going to be more of a Husker fan like Dad than a Horned Frog like Mom. He had a blow out diaper in his TCU outfit within a couple hours of wearing it, and lasted in his Husker outfit all day! Haha!

Thought a picture on the changing table at Target was better than no picture at all!

Twins!

I've loved staying home with Worth and am trying to make the most of my maternity leave. I've been meeting up with other new moms in the neighborhood weekly and its great to go on walks, grab coffee and chat with the other mommies. It's going to be so hard for me to go back to work in October and leave our little guy during the day, but hopefully it will get easier as it become the new norm.

Worth has been eating every 3ish hours during the day, will cluster feed every 1.5 hrs in the evening and lately has been sleeping one long stretch at night usually 6-7 hours! He's been taking at least one nap per day in his crib, but when I want to snuggle, we'll nap together in bed and it's the best! He still prefers to be swaddled to sleep. At night, he's still sleeping in a bassinet by our bed.

Blurry middle of the night flash!

This week, he started drooling and chewing on his fist or anything else he can get his hands on. W seems to like baths. He just lays back in there and is mellow. Rub his head though and he is just in heaven... like he's at the spa and is getting totally pampered! He usually sleeps really well after a bath.

Fresh out of the tub

Droooool

W is NOT a fan of having his nose suctioned (but, who is?!) or taking his Vitamin D supplement. But otherwise, he's a pretty easy going baby. Nick and I joke that Worth's little brother or sister is going to be a handful because we're not sure we'll get this lucky twice! ;)

Worth and Cricket are both zonked out

I just love when he's satisfied after eating and his little hand is so relaxed and just rests on my chest. So sweet! And then I'll put him up on my shoulder to burp him and he is just so content and rests his head on my shoulder with an open mouth and has the sweetest little breath. Yes, I am OBSESSED with my baby! Every little thing he does is magic. :)

Cute smiles at 9 weeks old

Babies Don't Keep

2015-09-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

Isn't it interesting how time always moves at the same pace, but depending on circumstances it can feel like its dragging on or racing by? The hardest thing for me about being a mama so far is that I just want to soak up every little moment with my guy and there aren't enough hours in the day to do all the chores and snuggle with Worth and get sleep/eat and be a good wife and... so on. (And, I know it will be just impossible when I go back to work.) But, this precious newborn time is fleeting. Every time Worth goes to sleep, he wakes up older. While I'm excited to see his little personality continue to develop and his eyes turn bluer and I cheer when he holds his head up on his own, I'm really going to miss how little he is once he's bigger. He still loves sleeping on my chest and holding my finger with his tiny hand, but I know one day he'll be more independent and won't want to snuggle as much. And that makes me sad!

So if you happen to stop by our house right now, you'll be impressed with the amount of dust bunnies/Cricket's hair on the floor and the foot tall stack of magazines that will never be read and unless Nick has been home, there will be a stack of dishes in the sink. But, it's OK because I'd rather be adoring my little guy. Rocking him just makes my heart burst with joy.

8 weeks old

This poem is one of my favorites right now because it rings true!

"Babies Don’t Keep"

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Author: Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

(And for the record, I'm typing this post up at 6:30am since I woke up at 5am needing to pump. Worth decided to sleep all through the night and is still sleeping! Yay! I'm awake though so I thought I'd take a second to blog instead of cleaning... #priorities)

Worth's Birth Story

2015-09-01T22:27:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been 8 weeks since our little guy was born! Some things about these first couple months I'll never forget, but I'm sure as time passes on I may not remember all the details of this special time as I'll need room in my brain for all the new memories. When Worth was about 2 weeks old, I jotted down his birth story while it was still fresh. I thought I'd share it today! I loved reading everyone's birth story while I was pregnant - everyone has such a different experience and it's a good reminder that babies don't always follow your plan. Warning: this is a long and sappy post. The postpartum hormones were in full force when I wrote this (and they haven't quite worn off yet!).

Before I was even pregnant, I knew that I wanted a natural, unmedicated birth. Once we knew our baby was on the way, we hired a doula, read as much as we could, took a 6-week Natural Birthing Class and had a very detailed birth plan. I was never scared of contractions or pushing, I was just so excited to experience the whole process, pain and all! As we heard a lot along the way, babies can have a mind of their own and don’t always follow your plan… turns out, our little one had his own plans for arriving in this world!

I was blessed with a super easy pregnancy. Other than heartburn, I felt great and stayed very active throughout the pregnancy. I LOVED being pregnant and feeling our little peanut kick, hiccup, and dance inside me. In fact, I was feeling so great, I thought for sure I wasn’t going to go into labor until after my due date of June 28, 2015.

Monday, June 22, 2015

I went into my 39 week appointment thinking it would be the same as all of my other appointments… short and sweet. I was seeing a new midwife that day and when she was feeling my belly, she took a little longer than normal. This new midwife, however, said she thought the butt (or, what we thought was the butt!) was too hard to be a butt and suspected it could be the baby’s head. WHAT?! Until that point, we had been told our baby was head down. If this baby is breech, my hopes of having an unmedicated birth were pretty much out the window. We had a quick ultrasound to confirm and sure enough our sweet baby was bum down and his legs were up by his head… he was in the frank breech position.

The attending OB suggested we go in the next morning (a Tuesday) for a Version – a procedure where they try to manually turn the baby using external pressure on my belly. She also recommended if it worked, I should be induced to kick-start labor and prevent the baby from turning back to the breech position, and if it didn’t work, we should go ahead with a C-section that day. HOLY COW! I had gone from having about two weeks (in my mind) for final preparations to less than 24 hours! And, my options were be induced (which I never wanted) or a C-section (which I never even considered). This was not a part of my birth plan!

I called my parents in tears and my mom flew in the next day just in case we were having our baby early! After discussing it more, Nick and I decided to wait an additional day before trying the Version. In that day and a half before our Version, we did just about everything we could think of to turn our little peanut around… doing flips and handstands in the swimming pool, acupuncture, forward leaning inversions, moxibustion, putting frozen foods on my stomach, laying upside down on an ironing board… you name it, we tried it!

We ended up scheduling our C-section for July 6, 2015 at 8:30am, when I would be 41 weeks and 1 day. We were hoping that the baby would somehow turn on its own and we’d be able to have a natural, vaginal birth. But, nothing worked. Not even the Version. Our little one was already proving to be very headstrong! (And, this is when Nick changed his guess from a baby girl to a baby boy!)

Sunday, July 5, 2015

The day before my scheduled C-section, we were so giddy… a combination of pure excitement to finally meet our baby and nerves since we had waited for this moment for so long and it is a major surgery, after all! Since I was 1 week overdue, we had to go into triage at the hospital to check on the baby. Other than still being breech, our baby was healthy, the heartbeat was strong, my fluids looked good and we were set for the next day. After we left the hospital for my 41 week check-up, Nick and I stopped by our church and sat outside by a statue of the Virgin Mary to say some prayers... Prayers of thanks for getting us this far with a healthy baby and healthy pregnancy. Prayers for a safe delivery. Prayers that we would be good parents. Prayers that our baby would grow up knowing that he or she was loved and cherished. We knew our lives would be changed forever the next day, and I was thankful to have that quiet moment with just the two of us.

Since I wasn’t supposed to eat after midnight, and wasn’t sure when I’d be up for real food again after the C-section, I wanted a really good dinner and Nick took me out for my favorite tacos! When we got home, we packed the last minute things in our hospital bag. It felt like Christmas Eve and Santa was bringing us the best present ever! Surprisingly, I was able to get a good night’s sleep, and when our alarm went off at 5:45am, we both popped right out of bed. I did my hair and make-up (one of the perks of having a C-section!) and off we went.

Monday, July 6, 2015

We got checked in and shown to the recovery room. A resident OB came in to make sure, one last time, that our baby was still breech. Sure enough, our little one was still perched butt down and we were “OK’d” for the C-section. I had a stream of nurses and doctors come in and explain the procedure, get consents, place IVs, etc. Our hospital had recently initiated a “Baby Friendly” protocol for C-sections, which included immediate skin-to-skin in the OR. I put on this stretchy white tube top under my hospital gown, so that when the time came, our baby could be placed in it like a little kangaroo pouch! (I ended up wearing that tube top most of the hospital stay – it was perfect for staying modest while having easy access for nursing and skin-to-skin.)

As we were the first on the schedule for the day, everything was on time and around 8:30am, Nick and I walked from the recovery room to the OR. I sat down on the operating table and he sat in front of me to hold my hand while the anesthesiologist got started right away with my spinal block. Once I laid down, I began to worry that the spinal block wouldn’t numb me all the way. I can still wiggle my toes… Is this normal?! The anesthesiologist asked me to pick up my leg and it didn’t budge. She also pricked my chest with a needle and asked when I could no longer feel it. Behind the drape, the OB asked if I could feel any pinching… Nope. I was told they were pinching me really hard, so if I didn’t feel that I must be numb enough and we were good to go. I had been warned that the spinal block could make me feel really nauseated and cause my blood pressure to drop, but thankfully, I felt fine the whole time.

Nick sat up by my head and held my hand. Even though Nick looked official (and sexy!) in his hospital scrubs, he doesn’t care much for blood and guts, so the gory stuff was blocked by the drape for both of us. I felt lots of pressure and tugging. Over the drape, I could see the 110 lb resident OB using all of her body weight to wiggle the baby out. The doctor said “We have a butt… now a leg… we’re almost done and you’ll get to meet your baby!”

Our baby was born on July 6, 2015 at 9:07am. Nick was supposed to announce the gender. I couldn’t see the baby yet, but Nick could. I think he was in shock because Nick was just staring over the drape and the midwife finally said, “Well, what is it, Dad?!” and Nick snapped out of it and said “It’s a BOY!” At that moment, I started crying! The doctor came around the drape and showed me the most beautiful baby boy. He wasn’t crying yet, and they took him over to the side to get checked out. Then, I heard those loud, magical cries and my heart burst with joy. We knew if it was a boy, we were going to name him Worth. Nick went over to be with Worth and the midwife, whom I had just met that day, was so sweet and kept wiping away my tears of joy. Once Worth was measured and foot-printed and had a little bit of oxygen (maybe 7 minutes, but it felt like an eternity!), the nurses brought him over to me and placed him directly on my chest in the little kangaroo pouch. His eyes were wide open and he just looked around and took it all in. We were able to lay skin-to-skin while the doctors put me back together and sewed me up. It was so surreal… after waiting for this baby for so long, here he was… and he was absolutely perfect. He was tiny and smelled so good and had ten fingers and ten toes and deep gray eyes. It was truly the best moment of my life.

I was wheeled back to the recovery room and Nick got to carry Worth along side me. Nick said Worth was alert and awake the whole time. Worth was just as mesmerized with the world as we were with him. Once we were back in the recovery room, I started nursing Worth right away. What an unforgettable moment. He had just been in my belly and in less than an hour after being born, he was breastfeeding!

My mom was waiting in the waiting room so Nick went to get her and announce that we had a baby boy. She came into the recovery room and was so thrilled to meet her first grandchild. After a couple hours, we were wheeled down to the postpartum room and the rest of the day was a sweet blur. I couldn’t stop staring at Worth. The nurses encouraged me to “Sleep when he sleeps,” but there was no way I could take my eyes off of him. I had some ice chips and water and that settled well, so for lunch I had jello, beef broth and apple juice. I was able to eat a regular dinner that night… beef and barley soup and mashed potatoes!

Nick had the honor of the first diaper change since I was still in bed. Neither of us had much experience with newborns, so we called our nurse in to show us how to do it, haha!

I recovered really well… I was able to walk around later that same evening, I had my catheter out that night and my IV out the next morning. It felt great to move around and shower and attend to our little miracle.

When I was resting, Nick laid skin-to-skin with Worth on the fold out hospital bed. There was a huge picture window over the bed so the two of them would just lay there and stare out the window. For being early-July, the day Worth was born the weather was cool and overcast and rainy, but the weather didn’t matter to us. We had our very own sunshine right in our hospital room.

Nick was so supportive and sweet. He loved and cared for Worth, and me, so perfectly. One of the nights in the hospital, I was overcome with gratitude and love that we had a perfect little boy. I crawled out of bed holding Worth and walked over to Nick, who was asleep on the fold out bed. It was 3am and I was sobbing as I woke Nick up. In a panic, he said, “Oh my god, what’s wrong?!” Through my tears and sniffles, I said “Nothing, he’s just absolutely perfect! I love him so much. How did we get so lucky!?” Nick chucked and gave us a hug and we sat there savoring those quiet moments as a new family of 3.

I ended up staying in the hospital two nights and was discharged on Wednesday, July 8th. The car ride home was classic – I was in the back seat with Worth, and Dad was driving and cursing at all the other drivers for going too fast! We got home, brought Worth inside and said, “Well, what do we do now!?"

Worth was a perfect little boy from the moment we met him. His eyes just melted us and he made the cutest expressions. He had a big round head (14.5in) and was so cuddly at 7 pounds 14 ounces and 20 inches long. The newborn clothes we had seemed SO SMALL but they fit him perfectly. As much as I wanted a natural birth initially, in the end it didn’t matter. Worth arrived in this world the exact way that he was meant to. My delivery was a dream and free of complications. Nick and I are so incredibly in love with this little boy, more that I could have ever imagined. I now understand the depth of “a mother’s love” and I am so thankful to be this little guy’s mama.

Weekend Fun

2015-08-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had so much fun! On Friday, W and I walked to our neighborhood park (just under a mile away) to meet up with a group of other new moms in the neighborhood and their babies. We popped into the local coffee shop for a croissant and almond milk latte on the way. It was a gorgeous breezy day at the park and I had so much fun meeting the other new moms and talking shop!

We also had a fun lunch with Dad. We tried a new restaurant and it was so good! Even with a blowout diaper and an outfit change in the bathroom without a changing table, we still managed to have fun. :)

On Saturday, Worth and I made a shopping trip for some new little boy clothes. He's almost grown out of his newborn clothes (so sad!!), but the 3 month clothes are way too big. We got a mix of both newborn summery clothes and 3 month clothes for fall. It is so fun picking out itty-bitty clothes! Although, most of the time, W is just hanging out in his diaper or a plain white onsie at home!

5 weeks old and not too thrilled about his dinosaur toes!

Cutie pie!

Nicholas, Worth and I made a trip to Wash Park for a little stroll on Sunday. I remember walking around Wash Park when I was pregnant with Worth - I'd scope out all the moms' strollers and was excited for the day when I'd get to push my own baby around in our stroller. Now, here we are with our sweet boy! It's the little things that make me so happy!

Right around the time Worth turned one month old, things really started to click! I can finally get out of the house without it being a huge production. Well, it's still a production... stroller, diaper bag, Wubbanub, blanket, etc...but not a HUGE production like the first few weeks. I feel much more comfortable getting him in and out of the car, unfolding the stroller (those things can be tricky the first few times!), nursing in public and what not. I'm also physically feeling so much better following my C-section. I can walk a few miles and don't have any pain lifting the car seat and other heavy things.

I love my quality time with little Toots McGee during the day, but always looks forward to weekends when Dad's home from work! Hope everyone has a great week!

Worth is 1 Month Old!

2015-08-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

It is unbelievable that our little sugar bear has been in our lives for a month! On one hand, it feels like he was just born and on the other hand, it's hard to remember life before him. Nick and I have learned so much in the last month... how to change diapers without getting peed on, how to get burps out, how to bathe a newborn, what Worth likes and what he doesn't like, how to comfort him, and so much more. I've called the pediatrician's office with questions only twice, but I've googled about a million things!

4 weeks old!

Cutest little feet and toes I've ever seen!

He's put on 2 pounds since birth, but is still a long, skinny guy!

At Worth's 2 week appointment, he weighed 8 lbs 3 oz (38th percentile), was 21 inches long (73rd percentile) and his head circumference was 15 inches (97th percentile!!). Little guy has a big noggin like his daddy... maybe it's a good thing he was a C-section baby!

Worth sleeps about 11 hours a day - according to google, newborns typically sleep 16 hours a day! Since he was born, he has been so alert and pensive. I love watching him take in the world around him. He especially likes looking at the light coming in through the windows and Dad's hair. And, it just melts my heart when he stares into my eyes!

He has blonde eyebrows and eyelashes... so you can barely see them! And, he has an old man hairline... his hair doesn't start until the very top of his head! Funny!

Thankfully, Worth sleeps more during the night that during the day. I haven't been as tired as I thought I would be. I imagined just being a zombie without showering or brushing my teeth, but I've felt pretty good. And, I've managed to shower everyday so far and even brush my teeth twice a day... although sometimes not until lunchtime! :)

Dad is a good multi-tasker!

I rarely nap when Worth naps, but I do love to just hold him and cuddle him when he's sleeping. Because of that, I don't get much done during the day other than hanging out with my sweet boy! Sometimes we sit outside in the shade, but mostly we lounge on the couch upstairs and watch TV. (I've been binge watching Hart of Dixie on Netflix while Worth is sleeping on my chest!)

Worth is currently eating every 1.5 hours during the day (hungry boy!) and will sleep one 4 hour stretch during the night! After all that eating, he's quite a bit gassy, as well! It's hilarious how loud the toots are that come out of his little body!!

Passed out with a full tummy after eating!

Breastfeeding has been one of my favorite things. Not only is it such an amazing bonding time for us, Worth is just the cutest after he's nursed. He coos and stretches and makes the most darling faces! When he's full, I'll put him on my shoulder to burp him and he just snuggles that chubby cheek next to mine and passes out. ADORABLE!

Nick and I have been peed on, spit up on and pooped on more times than we can count! We eventually learned to keep Worth covered up during diaper changes so he wouldn't pee on us... and the changing table... and the wall... and the shelf!

Cricket is pretty good with Worth... she wants to lick his little feet every chance she gets. I don't blame her! I kiss his little toes, too!

Worth has such a sweet little cry. It's more of a whine (like he's saying "Waaahh" and usually without tears!

We took a trip up to Dillon in the mountains last weekend and Worth was a champ in the car. Car rides put him right to sleep!

Our sweet friends have been the best! After my mom left, our friends signed us up for Meal Train and we've been getting delicious home cooked meals every other day! It has been such a huge blessing to just be able to warm up food and not have to worry about cooking. It's hard enough to make a bowl of cereal with only one free hand and a wiggly worm in the other!

It feels like my little baby has already gotten so much bigger.

I just love pictures like this that show how tiny he really is!

In this first month, I've only left Worth once! I got a mani/pedi when he was three weeks old. Nick is more than capable of taking care of him, but he can't quite breastfeed, haha, so I can't be away from Worth for long.

Worth rode in the Baby Ergo carrier for the first time this month. He loved it! We also tried the Baby K'Tan soft carrier, but he grunted and squirmed the whole time in there, so we're returning that one. I might try the Moby Wrap next for a soft carrier...

Family walk around the neighborhood!

First bath in the "big" tub!

And like I've mentioned before, our little guy makes the funniest faces. I've maybe seen one smile, but mostly he purses his lips and furls his eyebrows!

How can you not just kiss him all over!?!

Love my one month old bub!

Baby Mead: 8 months!

2015-07-27T17:08:00.001-07:00

{Catching up on my "pregnancy journal" from the end of my pregnancy!}

{29 weeks}

{30 weeks}

{32 weeks}

{33 weeks on Mother's Day 2015}

{34 weeks}

{35 weeks}

How far along: 35 weeks on 5/24 (Memorial Weekend)

Baby's Size: Baby is the size of a coconut (Which is very fitting considering all the pina coladas I drank on our babymoon!)

Weight gain: I'm up about 25 lbs now! Eek! Goal is not to exceed 35 lbs.

Food Cravings/Aversions: Still craving Mexican food, especially tacos! I've had a slight aversion to pork, especially pulled pork. (Bacon sounds good, though!) Nick and I made a last minute trip to South Texas (more on that down below), and the silver lining was getting to see my family AND getting some amazing Mexican food. Nick said the food was so good, he now really understands why I crave it so often!

Appointments: We've started our Natural Birthing class and our instructor is so helpful! We've practiced lots of pain management techniques and mainly just learned what to expect and what is "normal." One thing that we really took to heart from our birthing class was to make sure we were surrounded with people (care providers) that really supported us in our choice to pursue a medication free birth. After a not-so-encouraging conversation with our OB, we decided to switch from our doctor to a midwife group that practices at St. Joseph's, the hospital where we want to deliver. When I asked our OB if she supported natural birth, she said, "Yep, but you know, you don't get a gold star for not having an epidural" and "Doulas aren't medical providers, so you have to be careful what information they give you..." Totally NOT what we wanted to hear. It was kind of stressful deciding to switch to a new provider at 34 weeks pregnant, but I'm so glad we did. I love the new midwife group. We also hired a doula, Barb, to help us navigate all the information and support Nick and I during labor.

Thankfully, all of our appointments have been short and sweet. Our little peanut is growing strong and healthy without any complications.

{Super Dad at our Breastfeeding 101 class, which was really helpful!}

Maternity clothes: Maxi dresses are my favorite! So comfortable and breezy - perfect now that it's warmer outside!

Sleep: I really have been blessed with a great pregnancy and I've loved every second of it. I'm sleeping really well and feeling great. And sometimes when people roll there eyes at how good I'm feeling, I want to say "I deserve this!" but I never do... After finally being pregnant after 3 years of infertility, you better believe I'm going to cherish every moment and not take this pregnancy for granted.

Gender: ??? It's a surprise! My hunch is that it's a boy and Nick's guess is girl. We're 98% certain on our names for each a boy and girl, but we're not sharing! (So many fun surprises!) We really don't have a preference either way, but I'll be honest, it would be easier to decorate the nursery if we knew pink or blue!

Movement: The midwives confirmed that our baby was head down and I can feel a the baby's bum up by my ribs. I'm feeling lots of movement still, specifically kicks or jabs on my right side. It's so crazy that you can not only feel the movement from the outside, but see the little kicks too! I've tried to get it on video, but as soon as I start recording the little peanut stays still!

Symptoms: Heartburn. Dang heartburn. I'm taking Zantac for it (when I remember to) and Tums when needed. It doesn't matter what I eat... it's just constant! Oh yeah, the pregnancy hormones are in full swing... I've never been much of a crier, but lately I've just been a huge baby! Nick and I upgraded his Volkswagen Jetta "Vickie" recently to a bigger SUV and when we pulled up to Carmax to sell his car, Nick patted the dashboard and said, "Thanks Vickie, you've been a great car. Now be good to another family." and I just BURST into tears. Ugly, red face, can't.stop.crying. tears. I never really cared for that car, but in that moment, I was reminded of all the good times we had with that car... Nick picked me up for our first date in that car, we had it when we were married, and when we moved to California, and when we moved to Colorado, and when we went to our first appointments for Baby Mead. I could not pull in together, so finally I just went inside Carmax with a red face and pretended like everything was OK. Poor salesman what probably thinking What the heck is wrong with this chick!?

{Goodbye, Vickie!}

Best moment this month: Our best moment this month was definitely going on our babymoon. It was so fun laying by the pool in paradise, spending quality one-on-one time with Nick and watching my belly move, knowing that our little guy or girl loves (virgin!) pina colada's just as much as Mommy does! :)

Also, I mentioned before that I was studying for an HR certification for work... well, after lots of cramming(!!!) I took my test on May 18th and found out immediately that I PASSED!! Woo hoo! I am now Lacey Mead, PHR (Professional in Human Resources). It was not the wisest plan to try to knock this test out while pregnant. When I wanted to be reading baby books and scouring Pinterest for nursery ideas, I was studying. It was brutal, but I'm SO HAPPY to have it the certification and be done with it. (And, I've vowed to never take another test again! Hah!)

Not the best moment this month: My grandmother, Baba, passed away in early May. Nick and I flew down to South Texas for the services. I was 32 weeks pregnant and thankful that I was still able to fly and be there. I put together a slideshow for the funeral and said some words to remember my grandmother by. It was bittersweet to see all of my family... it had been a really long time since I had seen a lot of my cousins (like 5 years!), but just wish it had been under happier circumstances.

{Baba}

{My family}

Nursery: The nursery colors are aqua and spring green. So bright and fresh! We made the decision to NOT finish the nursery until after the baby arrives. We want to personalize some of the things (like a big monogram over the crib) and will add pops of pink for a girl or more blue for a boy. We had a baby shower this week (and I don't have a single picture from it since the hostess took them all on her big camera... I need to get those!) and we are mostly set with big items. We are so appreciative of all our friends and family for coming together to help us get ready for Baby Mead, we couldn't do it without y'all!

{Cricket likes the nursery}

Mood: Lots of the big things that were stressing me out last month have been wrapped up (switching doctors, finding a doula, passing my HR exam...) so I'm feeling a lot better. I've been emotional lately, as mentioned above :) but I think its all pretty normal!

Looking forward to: Meeting this baby in about a month! Will our life be sugar and spice and everything nice or snips and snails and puppy dog tails? Will the baby have my nose and Nick's eyes?! Will he or she cry right away? I'm just so excited!

Two Weeks Old

2015-07-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Worth is just over two weeks old! The last two weeks have gone by so fast - too fast! My tiny little baby is getting bigger and bigger each day. (He's almost grown out of his newborn clothes!) While I'm excited to watch him grow and learn and develop, it makes me sad too. I just want to savor every single moment and not forget a thing!

We went on our first "family walk" last night in the neighborhood. Nick, me, Cricket and Worth. It was such a gorgeous, warm summer night! We may have walked a little too far, since I was reminded by some aching at my incision line that I did have a C-section just over 2 weeks ago and am still healing (as much as I hate to admit, since I want to be up and at 'em).

Worth is just the sweetest little guy. He is very serious and has the best expressions. I wonder if he'll grow out of some of the expressions or if those are just "Worth faces" and he'll continue to make them as he's older.

I love when he sneezes, then makes the cutest "Ahhh" sound after.

Since he was born frank breech, he was used to having his legs up by his head. They have straightened out quite a bit in the last 2 weeks, but he still has "froggie legs"!

Worth is a great eater! He was 7 pounds 14 ounces at birth, lost down to 7 pounds 3 ounces in the hospital and was back up to 8 pounds 3 ounces by his 2 week appointment! Breastfeeding has been going really well. Other than just general soreness the first week and a half, I think we've gotten the hang of it! He's a bit of a "grazer" but I secretly love the fact that I am the one who gets to make him full, happy and nourished, so I don't mind a bit.

When he's transitioning from nursing to full on milk coma, he'll close his eyes, raise his eyebrows, sigh, and then stretch out as far as his can with his arms above his head and his back arched. Cutest thing ever! I need to get this on video!

"A mother's love" really is a powerful thing. I didn't understand how deep it was until I laid eyes on Worth for the first time and it just washed over me. It's only getting stronger and combined with all the hormones, just looking into Worth's eyes can bring me to tears. I just love him so much and am so thankful that he's here and he's perfect.

Worth doesn't like laying on his back unswaddled. Every time I lay him on the changing table, his arms fly back frantically like he's falling backwards. He doesn't put them back far enough to feel the cushion, so he just waves them around erratically. When Nick is home, we'll tag team diaper changes... one of us does the dirty work and one of us holds Worth's hands so he's not "falling."

He loves his daddy!

I need to learn some lullabies! When I desperately needed a song to sing to little W, the only thing I could think of was "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. Nick and I will also sing "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon, but it's hard to get through that song without tearing up!

Worth is very alert and it's so amazing to watch his eyes focus on different things (Dad's hairline is his favorite!) and discover the world around him.

Worth's first trip away from home after the hospital was to Babies-r-us for some little boy clothes when he was 4 days old. He went to his first party (a baby shower) when he was 6 days old. And, his first trip to a restaurant was when he was 11 days old... Vine Street Pub and Brewery. He was very well behaved each time.

(6 days old)

(11 days old)

We're not totally sure yet who he looks like... we're thinking mom's eyes, nose, toes and hair and dad's mouth, head (97th percentile!) and eyebrows. His eyes are still more gray than anything, but I'm seeing more blue in them these past couple of days.

He loves to curl up on mom's chest - and I love it, too! I've probably kissed him over a thousand times in just two weeks. I'm dreading the day he won't want to snuggle and let me kiss him all over!

Sometimes when he's dreaming, he'll smile the sweetest little smile. What do newborns dream about anyway?!

His umbilical cord stump fell off when he was 13 days old (yes, this made me cry, too!). We've given him a few sponge baths, but haven't done a full bath yet. We'll give it a go this weekend.

Funny how the little things are so monumental the first time around, right?! And since everything with a newborn is brand new, you better brace yourself for what this blog will turn in to! :) These are the little moments I never want to forget!

Our Babymoon in Vieques, Puerto Rico {April 2015}

2015-07-23T10:18:00.004-07:00

Nick and I love to travel and explore new places together. Knowing that a little one would completely rock our world (in the best possible way!) and that we probably wouldn't be doing much traveling just the two of us after Baby Mead arrived, we decided to plan a little babymoon escape. I knew that I wanted to go somewhere warm with a beach/pool because it's so much easier to relax and just take it easy, compared to visiting a city where you want to sight see.

We toyed with the idea of going back to Maui (where we honeymooned), but flights from Denver are long and expensive! I ended up coming across the W Hotel in Vieques and I had vaguely heard of the little Puerto Rican island from the Bachelor (Ben's season, I think!) and it looked perfect.

In April, when I was 29/30 weeks pregnant, we flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico and had a quick 20 minute flight from San Juan in a tiny Cessna over to the island of Vieques. Normally, I try to plan out restaurants and what all we want to see and do ahead of time, but we had a different agenda this time around. Other than reading pregnancy books and drinking virgin pina coladas, I didn't have ANY plans!

We lounged by the pool, had the beach to ourselves, went kayaking and ate lots of delicious food! I was surprised at how phenomenal the food was for such a small island! El Quenepo and Next Course were my two favorite restaurants! Our hotel was amazing and we had a great room on the ground floor right by the pool.

The one adventurous thing we did, which was so worth it, was kayaking at night in a bio-luminescent bay. Microorganisms in the water lit up when touched... it was as if we had a light under our kayak and with each paddle the water glowed! We couldn't have picked a more perfect night to do it either; it was a new moon and completely dark other than the glowing water. We didn't take our camera kayaking, but I found this pic online. This is exactly what it looked like...

It was gorgeous!

We also did yoga several mornings overlooking the sea and the bartenders made me the most refreshing watermelon virgin cocktail. We were totally pampered and spoiled!

We were there for 5 nights and it was the perfect retreat for Nicholas and I. It was a wonderful celebration of us going from the two of us to a family of three! I'd love to go back and bring Baby Worth with us now that he's here!

It's a Boy!

2015-07-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

Baby Mead has arrived and HE is absolutely perfect!

Worth Allen Mead

was born on July 6th, 2015 at 9:07am,

weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces and 20 inches long.

Family of 3!

Nick and I are both more in love with this little guy than we could have imagined possible. I had a great delivery via scheduled C-section since our little guy was breech. We spent 2 nights in the hospital and have loved being home with Worth. We've had lots of visitors over the last couple weeks. My parents left yesterday and Nick is back at work. So, now I get all the precious baby snuggles to myself! Can't believe W is already 2 weeks old. Slow down, time!

(I never quite got around to blogging about my last months of pregnancy, but now that I'm home on maternity leave with this sweet boy, I hope to catch up. There are so many sweet moments that I don't want to forget, and time is just flying by. )

Baby Mead: 7 months!

2015-04-09T21:37:00.002-07:00

28 weeks along on my 29th birthday/Easter Sunday!

How far along: 7 months, already. This pregnancy is flying by!

Baby's Size: Currently about 14 inches long and 1.5-2.5 lbs; the size of an eggplant.

Weight gain: About 18-20 pounds so far... still on track, which is a surprise because I've been eating a ton! Pregnancy sure does put a different perspective on weight gain... it's a blessing that this little one is growing as expected, but it's still a shocker to see the numbers on the scale!

Food Cravings/Aversions: Still craving Mexican food, but that's not much different than pre-pregnancy! A couples weeks ago we went to Dallas to visit friends and I was so excited for Mexican food (specifically Tex-Mex... I just can't find that in Colorado), but I ended up with food poisoning or a 24 hour stomach bug (I felt horrible!) and we had to cancel our reservations for Mexican food. Such a bummer!

Appointments: Tomorrow is my glucose test where I get to drink a super sugary orange drink and get my blood checked! Wish me luck. :) We also toured the hospital where we were going to deliver this week and feel really good about our decision. On the tour, the guide said that they are a very popular hospital for babies and have about 4,000 babies per MONTH, haha. We all gawked at her and then she said, Oh, I mean 4,000 per YEAR! That's still a lot of babies, but WAY more reasonable than 4,000 per month.

Maternity clothes: Absolutely!

Sleep: Still sleeping pretty good. It's way more effort to flip over from my left to the right side and I'm loving my body pillow.

Gender: ??????? It's a surprise!

Movement: I can't tell how the baby is positioned, but the movement has gradually changed from strong jabs and kicks to more graceful waves and rolling. Such an amazing feeling and reminder of the little life growing inside of me. What a miracle!

Symptoms: After being sick for a day with food poisoning, I am so incredibly grateful to have had such an easy pregnancy so far with minimal nausea! Still battling the heartburn... if the old wives' tale about heartburn is true (if you have heartburn, your baby will be born with lots of hair), then I'm going to have a monkey! My belly button is half innie and half outie.

Best moment this month: Just spending time catching up with friends and family. Nick and I visited our good friends in Dallas for a weekend and my parents came up to Denver last week to celebrate my 29th birthday and my mom's 60th birthday! (Our birthdays are 1 day apart.)

Nursery: We have paint, a dresser, a storage/bookcase, a rug and ... A CRIB! The crib really made it feel like a baby's room. So exciting! Nesting has begun and I find myself sweeping and organizing and putting clothes away like never before!

Mood: I find myself getting a little overwhelmed at times. Work, studying and going to classes for the HR certification, finding time to research doulas and pediatricians and childbirth classes and newborn photographers, working on the nursery, volunteering with Junior League, keeping the house clean, watering the plants, reading pregnancy books, travelling on weekends or hosting company... it's all fun and exciting stuff, but quite a bit to juggle. I've been feeling guilty for not being able to give everything 100%. I know I need to slow down on something (and will HAVE TO slow down soon), but responsibility is a top strength/characteristic of mine and it's hard to let things slide.

Looking forward to: Our birthday/babymoon vacation to Puerto Rico is next week! With how busy I've been (and Nicholas is just as busy!) we are both really, really, really looking forward to relaxing on the beach or by the pool and just taking a week to ourselves.

Q&A: A couple questions that I've gotten this month:

Are you going to keep working after the baby arrives? Yep. I really enjoy my job and the lifestyle that dual incomes affords us. I think it's going to be very tough for me to go back to work though... I can already picture myself crying at work because I miss this little one that I haven't even met yet. But, we found a great daycare right across the street from our office, so at least I'll be close enough for a (few!) visits throughout the day. I'm planning on taking about 14 weeks off for maternity leave.

Have you decided on names? I'm pretty much set on each a girl name and boy name. Nick agrees with the girl name, but hasn't come around on my choice for the boy name yet... so we have a little more pondering to do. And, we're still going to keep them to ourselves until we meet the baby and pick one for sure!

Baby Mead: Weeks 21, 22 & 23

2015-03-05T20:39:00.001-08:00

How far along: 23 weeks

Baby's Size: 10.5 to 12 in and just over a pound!

Weight gain: 15 pounds so far. This mama is growing!

Food Cravings/Aversions: I've been craving olives, sweet tea, French fries and English muffins with raspberry jelly and butter! SO random. As far as aversions, I've been trying to stay away from anything that gives me heartburn... spicy foods and tomato-based foods.

21 weeks - Valentine's Day in Wash Park

Appointments: Our next appointment is on Monday! It should be a pretty quick one. No ultrasound this time. Last weekend, we took a tour of one of the two hospitals we're considering for delivery, Rose Medical Center. We saw the other hospital, St Joseph's, around Thanksgiving. They had just completely renovated the hospital and weren't open to the public yet. We're leaning towards St Joe's, but want to take a another tour now that they're open and operating just to make sure!

Maternity clothes: Yep! So much more comfortable and they fit so much better.

Sleep: Still sleeping pretty good. Just not getting enough! I need to start going to sleep earlier... morning comes way too fast.

Gender: Still a surprise!

Movement: The little one is moving around now as I type! Hi Baby!! I love you!!

Symptoms: Heartburn and backaches are my biggest complaints, and since that's it, I consider myself very lucky! Other fun things... I'm pretty sure I'm going to have an outie bellybutton. It's flat right now and this baby still has lots of growing to do! Also, my linea nigra showed up around 20 weeks. It's still light in color, but just an example of all the crazy things that happen to your body during pregnancy!

Best moment this week: I was warning Nicholas to get ready because I will probably get stretch marks... I've gotten them before just from fluctuations in my weight during high school and college. He said the sweetest thing in the world to me... "Your stretch marks will just remind me of how beautiful you look carrying our baby." Cue tears! What a sweetheart! Gosh, I love him.

Nursery: As with the rest of our home improvement projects, the nursery is a SLOW work in progress. We picked our paint color and primed the walls, but that made the trim look really dingy (because it is off white - see below pic). So then we painted the trim white, and we've yet to paint the walls! One of these weekends we'll get to it. We still have time, right?!

Lots of work to be done!

22 weeks

We pulled up the carpet and were less than impressed with the condition of the hardwood floors underneath. Bummer. We've toyed with the idea of refinishing the floors on the whole first level and go with a dark stain, but for now, we've decided we have enough on our plate and we'll just put a big rug down in the nursery...

Am I crazy for wanting a cream-colored rug?

I think it would look so good, but would probably get dirty fast.

Mood: Happy, but busy, so feeling a little spread thin at times. I decided to try to knock out an HR certification test before Baby Mead comes, so I started taking a class once a week and have been studying a lot! I figured even though I'm busy now, there's no way I'd want to study when I have a sweet newborn to look after, so might as well squeeze it in! (What in the world was I thinking!?!) :)

Looking forward to: Finishing up our registry, visiting friends in Dallas in a few weeks and getting back to the gym! Nick and I have been sharing a cold for the last few weeks and we're both finally feeling better. I had been going to a Yoga Sculpt class at our gym before getting sick and I'm excited to get back!

Q&A: The question I get all the time, other than Do you know what you're having? and When are you due? is Do you miss alcohol/wine/happy hours? etc. Maybe I seemed to enjoy happy hours quite a bit before! :) Answer is, no, I don't miss it at all! Once the weather changes and it's warm, patio weather, I'll probably want a margarita or glass of wine, but so far, so good.

I've also gotten a few questions on names... we're still undecided but have a handful of favorites. We've decided to keep them to ourselves though until Baby Mead is here and we've chosen the name. We do know that we'll follow my family tradition if it's a girl... no middle name, so the first name needs to be amazing! And if it's a boy, we'll likely use a family name.

Baby Mead: Halfway There!

2015-02-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

How far along: 20 weeks - halfway through this pregnancy!

Baby's Size: Baby is the size of a banana! About 7 inches long and 13 ounces. Baby measured just a few days bigger than expected at our last appointment.

Weight gain: 12 pounds total, but it fluctuates daily based on what I eat :)

Food Cravings/Aversions: This week, I've been craving avocados, chips and queso, smoothies, popcorn with M&Ms, and carbonated beverages!

Appointments: We had our 20 week appointment on Tuesday and Baby Mead is just perfect. We are so thankful for that! We were able to watch the ultrasound on a large flat screen TV, so during parts of the ultrasound the technician told us to close our eyes so we didn't accidentally see something we didn't want to see (whether baby's a boy or girl!). But, we did see the cutest little feet and a darling profile!

Nick thinks the baby has his lips and my nose!

Maternity clothes: I visited a maternity clothing store earlier this week hoping to find a pair of pants I liked and ended up leaving with 2 dresses, 4 pairs of jeans, leggings and 2 tops!!! I think I'm set for a little while!

Sleep: Still great. I wake up about once per night, but am able to go right back to sleep.

Gender: Still a surprise! But, just for fun, based on Old Wives' Tales...

Chinese Gender Predictor: Girl
Linea Nigra: Just barely starting to show, but it is above and below my belly button... Boy
Dry Skin: Yes... Boy
Heart rate: 137 at 20 week appt... Boy
Hair: I'd like to think I've been having good hair days... Boy
Numbers: Age at time of conception + Month of conception = Even number... Boy
Numbers 2: Age at time of conception and Month of conception are both even... Girl
Morning sickness: Girl
Complexion; Boy
Sleep position: Right side preferred... Girl
Graceful or clumsy: Slightly more clumsy... Boy

So that's 4 for girl and 7 for boy... sounds like we should plan for a mini-Nicholas!

Movement: These little baby kicks never get old! Nick and I will sit on the couch with his hand on my belly waiting to feel the little kicks... each time is just as exciting as the last!

Symptoms: Still feeling great. I've noticed that my back has been feeling a little tight lately... perhaps I'll just have to book a pre-natal massage soon!

Best moment this week: We are so, so thankful for a healthy baby and that we've received nothing but good news from the doctor! Experiencing infertility (at least for me) has made me feel like I'm not exempt or immune from all the things that could go wrong with a pregnancy. So each time we hear good news, we are just so happy and feel so blessed.

Nursery: We purchased one of the first things for the nursery... crib sheets! We found the cutest green gingham sheets from Pottery Barn, and those helped us to narrow down the paint color to Celery Sprig by Behr! It's all coming together now!

Here's one of the crib sheets:

And, here's a random pic I found online (here) of the paint color we chose, although of course it looks a little different in our room with our lighting:

Mood: Energetic, happy, and maybe a little fiesty! :)

Looking forward to: Continuing to put the nursery together, taking a tour of one of the two hospitals we're considering for delivery, and getting signed up for our birth classes!

Baby Mead: Weeks 18 & 19

2015-02-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

We went from gorgeous sunshine at 18 weeks...

to almost a foot of snow at 19 weeks!

How far along: 19 weeks!

Baby's Size: Baby is the size of a sweet potato at 18 weeks and a mango at 19 weeks!

Weight gain: 11 pounds total

Food Cravings/Aversions: I've been craving Mexican food... constantly! Poor Nicholas is getting tired of it, but I guess that's part of marrying a girl from South Texas! We tried out a new (to us) taco place in Denver called Moontower Tacos. The owner is from Austin and it was so good!

Appointments: Next one is at 20 weeks.

Maternity clothes: I'm really in need of some new maternity pants. I have 3 pairs, but I rotate them constantly and need some more variety. I'm really looking forward to when it's warmer and I can wear dresses.

Sleep: It's been great. My morning commute went from 10 minutes to 40 minutes when we moved to a new office in November. Lately, I've started showering at night, instead of in the morning, to save time... and I love my new routine. Nice hot shower, lotion up the belly, then crawl in bed! So relaxing.

Gender: We aren't going to find out until the baby is born! Our next appointment at 20 weeks is our anatomy scan, so hopefully the tech doesn't accidentally share the news like in my dream!

Movement: LOTS OF KICKS!! Even Nicholas was able to feel the movement. I can tell that the baby likes Mexican food, too because he or she does a little dance after I eat it!

Symptoms: Everyone was right - the second trimester is awesome. A little heartburn, but feeling great overall.

Best moment this week: We picked out some paint samples for the nursery! I'm looking forward to making a special room for our little one. After months and months of having a "junk room," that room finally gets to fulfill it's original purpose as a nursery!!

Nursery: See above :) We're going to paint the walls light green.

Mood: Excited and can't believe how fast time is going.

Looking forward to: Our next Doctor's appointment and getting to see and hear Baby Mead!

Baby Mead: Weeks 16 & 17

2015-01-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

This was after a big meal...!

How far along: 17 weeks now!

Baby's Size: Baby is the size of an avocado at 16 weeks and an onion at 17 weeks!

Weight gain: 10 pounds total so far, but my doctor gave me the thumbs up to gain on the higher end of the 25-35 range, so I feel pretty good about it.

Food Cravings/Aversions: No more nausea which is awesome and most foods sound good again. I did have a random craving for a hot dog... I thought we were supposed to crave things that our body needed. Not sure what I needed from a hot dog.

Appointments: Had a great 16 week appointment with my doctor. We listened to the baby's heartbeat, and the rate was around 139. The also did a screening test for Down Syndrome and that came back negative.

Maternity clothes: Still rocking my regular tops and dresses, but mostly in maternity pants or stretchy leggings! I did buy a casual maternity top from Target because it showcases the bump, which I love and am very proud of! :) And, it's just long and super comfy.

Sleep: I suffered through a horrible cold at 17 weeks... and of course it was the same week Nick was traveling for work. So, it was just Cricket here to take care of me... and other than cuddles, she wasn't very helpful! I slept a lot during the day, but would toss and turn at night because of the sneezing, congestion and just overall yuckiness.

Gender: We aren't going to find out until the baby is born!

Movement: I think I've felt some kicks, but they're very sporadic and could easy be confused with digestion...

Symptoms: Feeling good other than the cold.

Best moment this week: All the good news at our doctor's appointment. So glad this little one is growing strong! Also, we decided to pull the trigger and booked one last vacation while it's just the two of us... we'll be heading to sunny Vieques Island, Puerto Rico in April. With all the snow lately, it'll be snow nice to head somewhere warm and tropical!

This is where we'll be staying...

Not too shabby, huh?! :)

Nursery: We've made some progress... it's gone from a storage room to a completely empty room! I've started to picture where I want to put everything... I need to make a budget or else this could probably get out of hand quickly!

Mood: Mostly, great! I did have a minor breakdown/pity party when I was home sick with a cold and Nick was out of town and Cricket was barking and threw up everywhere. That was not fun.

Looking forward to: Really feeling the baby move...

Baby Mead: Weeks 14 & 15

2015-01-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

Doesn't this hot tub look amazing!? I refrained, but Nick sure enjoyed it!

How far along: We spent the weekend between 14 & 15 weeks up in the mountains to celebrate Nick's birthday and New Year's. It was the same spot that we spent our last anniversary... Beaver Creek, CO. We love it up there!

Baby's Size: Baby is the size of a lemon at 14 weeks and an apple at 15 weeks!

Weight gain: 1-2 lbs this week - so far on track, which is a miracle considering the next section...

Food Cravings/Aversions: Pre-pregnancy I was all about savory, protein rich breakfasts... eggs, omelettes, breakfast burritos, etc... now it's all about the CARBS! Bagels, fruit, oatmeal, croissants, cinnamon raisin toast.... French fries usually sound good, too, when nothing else does. Haha!

Appointments: Next appointment with my OB is at 16 weeks!

14 weeks

Maternity clothes: Still rocking my regular tops and dresses, but 80% in maternity pants!

Sleep: Sleep is interrupted about once per night for a little tinkle break, but otherwise, feeling much better and I have my energy back for the most part! I've also been having very random and vivid dreams. I try to tell Nick as soon as I wake up so I don't forget all the details... he thinks I'm crazy!

Gender: We aren't going to find out until the baby is born! And, we would be absolutely thrilled with either. But, for those of you who believe... the Chinese Gender Predictor says we're having a girl. :)

15 weeks

The bump is always a little bigger after I eat!

Movement: None yet from the baby, but I started working out again which has been nice. Started off slow with just a brisk walk on the treadmill, but looking to start yoga or something soon.

Symptoms: That darn heartburn has stuck around, but otherwise feeling great!

Best moment this week: Buying 3 baby books and relaxing by the fireplace in the mountains, catching up on our reading! It's the little things...

Beaver Creek Village

Nursery: It's still just a storage room... we have lots of work to do, but my "baby mead" Pinterest board is busting at the seams with the sweetest ideas!

Mood: Excited to share our news. We waited to tell the world (aka. Facebook) until about 15 weeks. Now, I notice myself letting it slip out in conversation to complete strangers! I just can't help it!

Looking forward to: Getting started on the nursery... first, picking a paint color! We're thinking a light green.

Baby Mead: Weeks 1-12

2015-01-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

My first trimester of my first pregnancy is over... and, wow! It went by so fast. Before my "pregnancy brain" wipes away those memories, here is a little overview...

How far along: 19 weeks now... but this is all about the 1st trimester!

Baby's Size: We started out the first trimester with a microscopic embryo and ended with a baby the size of a plum! Just over 2 inches and half an ounce.

Baby's First Picture

12ish weeks later...

So amazing, right?!

Weight gain: I don't really remember now, but I think around 5 lbs!

Food Cravings/Aversions: My very first craving was chicken-fried steak with gravy. I ate it probably once a week for 5 weeks - I just couldn't get enough of it!!!! Until around 9 weeks, when I was at brunch with Nick's family and half the table ordered chicken-fried steak with eggs and YUCK! it looked and smelled so gross. I had to leave the table and go lay down in the car to keep from puking! Around that time is when most food didn't sound very good and I needed to keep something in my tummy, like crackers or gingersnaps, or else I would be queasy. I was also really into bagels with cream cheese and orange juice in the morning.

Appointments: I had ultrasounds/appointments around 7 and 9 weeks along. I wrapped up with my RE around 10 weeks... it was bittersweet - I LOVED my nurse and doctor there! But, I was very thankful to "graduate" to my OB. My first appointment with my OB was right at 10 weeks and it was amazing to see how much the baby grew in just a few quick weeks!

Maternity clothes: I gained weight and was bloated right off the bat, so I welcomed maternity pants a little earlier than most! My GAP maternity leggings are the most comfortable things in the world. I also got a couple pairs of jeans (one with a demi-panel and one with a full panel) which were way more comfortable than my rubberband-rigged skinny jeans.

Sleep: Um, a lot. I could sleep for 8 hours, then nap for 5 during the day, and be ready for bed again at 8:30pm! I had no idea growing a baby was so exhausting! And it's still so small!

Gender: We don't know yet! However, I had a dream that it was a BOY. In my dream, I was getting an ultrasound and the tech said, "Congratulations! It's a Boy!" But, I didn't want to know. "Wait... you weren't supposed to tell us!!" Then the tech said, "I didn't say Boy... I said Joy... What a Joy!" Then, I woke up from my dream, because I probably had to pee. :)

Movement: None yet!

Symptoms: My sense of smell was super-human. Nick was so amazed at the scents I could pick up! I also quite frequently had heartburn and would feel queasy on an empty stomach, but that was the worst of it! I only got sick one time - thanks to a whiff of Cricket's dog food first thing in the morning. Overall though, I can't complain!

Best moment this trimester: Wow, so hard to pick one moment.

Sharing our wonderful news with our families and friends was so fun. We spent time with Nick's family over Thanksgiving in Iowa and my family came to Denver for Christmas! Everyone was so thrilled for us, which made us feel so special and even more excited.
Hearing the baby's heartbeat the first time was such a sweet sound.
Baby waved at us during our 12 week ultrasound!

Nursery: It's still just a storage room... we have lots of work to do, but my "baby mead" Pinterest board is busting at the seams with the sweetest ideas!

Mood: A mix between disbelief and pure gratitude!

Looking forward to: A real bump! Not just a chicken-fried steak bump... ;)

The three of us near the end of the first trimester!

Sharing the News & Our Christmas Card

2015-01-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Nick and I decided to use our Christmas card to tell our close friends that we were expecting! It was our first time having professional pictures taken since our wedding, and I loved the way they turned out. I was about 8 or 9 weeks when we took these pics. :)

We loved receiving all the calls, text and messages from our friends once our card arrived!

Photos by Brittany Hansen - http://brittneyhansenphotography.com/

Finding out about Baby Mead

2015-01-05T19:39:00.000-08:00

Before I forget about all of the amazing details of my pregnancy, I better journal them here!

First things first, finding out!

Nick and I always knew we wanted to have kids. We talked about it a lot after our first year of marriage and had it all planned out. We wanted at least 3, all 1.5 to 2 years apart... etc. etc.

Well, it turns out God had different plans and it took us almost three years of trying naturally and then fertility treatments to finally get that good news - we're pregnant!

We ended up trying IVF to conceive our little miracle. (I was really bad at documenting our IVF journey, but this video sums it up pretty well!) After lots of Doctor's appointments and medicine and blood draws, we finally got to the day where my blood test would tell us whether or not our little embryo decided to stick around and grow into a baby! With previous blood tests, I'd have my blood drawn first thing in the morning and then my nurse would call me around 3pm with the results.

So on the day when we'd be getting THE news, we decided to have a long leisurely brunch after my appointment to pass the time and keep us occupied. We had a delicious brunch at Jelly in Cap Hill and on the way home, my phone started ringing! OMG, it was the Doctor's office! But, it was only 11:00am, and they normally didn't call for several more hours!! Cue panic in the passenger seat of the car... I can't answer it!!

I wasn't ready to pick it up, so we let it go to voicemail.

Nick and I got home, took Cricket out for bit, came back inside and sat on the couch. We took a deep breath, held hands, and I played the voicemail from the nurse on speakerphone. We could immediately tell from the nurse's tone, even when she just said "Hi Lacey," that she had good news! Sure enough, the blood results were in and I was pregnant! We hugged and mostly just stared at each other and had this conversation about 5 times... Can you believe it? No, can you? Oh my gosh, I'm actually pregnant!

The next few weeks were so surreal. I still didn't feel pregnant. I really had no motherly instinct that early (or even for a few more weeks) that told me I was pregnant. It didn't feel different at all. Two weeks after that phone call (at about 6 weeks pregnant), I took a home pregnancy test just so I could see the results... yep, I'm pregnant! It's silly to say, but after seeing the test, it finally started to feel REAL. After all the waiting and trying and disappointments, we finally got the news we wanted!

We have a baby on the way, and we couldn't be happier!

2015 Resolutions...

2014-12-31T21:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the blog silence, but we've had a little secret up our sleeves!

Happy New Year! 2015 is going to be an exciting one!