2 Months Old and a Baby Blessing

Whew! Time just flies! Ian is turned 2 months old this past Thursday. He is getting so big and is such a joy to be around! He is now smiling and cooing all the time. It is so cute! Matt and I just can't get enough of our little guy. Ian has been sleeping through the night pretty regularly. It's been so nice! I forget how spoiled I am until those rare nights when he wakes up more often.

At his 2 month appointment, Ian weighed 13 lbs. 5 oz. which puts him in the 80th percentile (up from the 50th percentile at his 2 week appointment). He is now 23 inches, 2 inches longer than his birth height and that puts him in the 60th percentile (also up from the 50th percentile at 2 weeks). Our doctor said that he's doing great. He is right on schedule. =) Yay! We've been starting to move into 3-6 month clothes cause he's getting too big for a lot of his 0-3 month clothes. Ian's definitely a healthy baby! ;)

Ian had to get shots at his 2 month appointment. He handled them really well. He cried pretty hard for a few minutes, but calmed down very quickly after I picked him up and cuddled with him for a minute. It is so hard as a mom to see your baby in pain. It about tore my heart out when he looked at me and started bawling. It was all I could do to keep from bawling with him. Your heart just hurts for them.

As for other news, on December 6th we blessed Ian. Matt gave the blessing and did a wonderful job! It was such an amazing experience for us. I'm so grateful to have a faithful priesthood holder in my home. He is so incredible and I feel so blessed to be able to call him mine. I love you, Hun!

Here's a few pictures from the last little while.

*Most of Matt's immediate fam after Ian's blessing.*

*Our cute little family! :)*

*Another family shot.*

*What a stud!*

*Cute smile on his blessing day.*

*Doing some tummy time.*

*Mommy & Ian*
*I'm a happy, smiley guy!*
*Sleepy little guy*
*Look at my cute smile!*

Better Late Than Never!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I'm not very good at keeping up with this blogging stuff! So, it's been 5 weeks since little Ian came into this world and I figured it was past time to blog about it, so here goes! =)

Let me back up a little and give you a little background about what was happening before Ian came along. At the last few doctors appointments, my blood pressure had been on the rise. It got to the point where my doctor was watching it closely because high blood pressure is a sign of a serious problem that can come with pregnancy, called preemclampsia. Preemclampsia is when some of the mother's organs are shutting down (I can't remember which specifically, but I think it's something like the liver or kidneys), and the only cure for it is to have the baby. Well, I never exhibited any of the other signs of preemclampsia, but my blood pressure was borderlining it. I had a doctor's appointment the day after our due date, which was October 12th, and she stripped my membranes a second time to try to get my labor to start. She said that if I didn't go into labor on my own before Thursday, then to come in as early as possible Thursday morning. She wanted to check my blood pressure again and if it was still high, then we would be able to be induced that day! I was SOOO excited!

Well, needless to say, I didn't start on my own. So, Matt took Thursday-Monday off of work and accompanied me to the doctors office Thursday morning. We were Dr. Blackett's first appointment on Thursday morning, and, of course, my blood pressure was still really high so she called the hospital for us and sent us over.

Matt and I were so excited as we drove through the parking lot to the hospital. We checked in, and the nurses got us situated. We arrived at the hospital at 9:30 AM, were induced at 10:30 AM, and my water was broken at noon. The labor and delivery went really well. Matt and I relaxed and watched TV and movies all day. I was able to handle all the labor pains pretty easily, which kind of surprised me. The contractions definitely didn't hurt nearly as bad as I had expected! We only had to use the breathing techniques for less than an hour and a half. I only had really hard pains for about half an hour and then we got an epidural around 4:15 PM. Epidurals are heavenly! Being numbed for the epidural was the worst part of the whole experience for me. That was the only time when I wanted to cry, but it was totally worth it when the medication started to work and I would do it all over again.

After that, everything progressed pretty quickly and we were able to start pushing at 8:30 PM. Ian arrived at 10:27 PM after 2 hours of pushing. He weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. and was 21 inches long when he was born.

It was such an amazing feeling when he finally arrived! I remember the feelings of wanting to cry and awe at the miracle of what just happened, mixed with the feeling of "Oh my gosh! That's my baby!" I can't even begin to describe the feelings in my heart then, but I can perfectly recall them now. Every pain, every sickness leading up to that moment when I first saw him was SO worth it and I would do it all over again and more to have him! It was such an incredible feeling when they first placed him in my arms. Love for him just swelled in my heart as I tried to comfort him while he was trying to adjust to life in this world.

I think the looks on Matt's and my faces say it all!

We just love being parents to Ian! There is nothing more fulfilling to me. His being here has filled holes in me that I didn't even know existed and he brings so much joy into our lives. Every day, I look at him and marvel at the miracle of his being here. We couldn't have asked for a better baby and we're so grateful to have him here!

Here are some more pictures to document his first five weeks of life.

Alert from the very first minutes.

One proud daddy! =)

Grandma Jo and Ian

Great-Grandma Patsy and Ian

Family picture

Cute little guy! Less than 24 hours old.

I won't caption the rest, but here's just a TINY amount of the other pictures we have from the past 5 weeks.

This last one is a picture taken today, when Ian is 5 weeks old! Time flies! He is getting so big and healthy. He is soooo cute!

And last but not least...

I'm SOOOOOO very grateful to have this wonderful man in my life!! I can't imagine being without him. There's no way I would have been able to go through some of the things I have without him and I'm so grateful for his love and support. I love you, Hun!!!

Recently...

So, I decided to break up that last post and not write about everything that has occured in the last few months. I figured that if you were interested in what has been going on the last few months, you could check out that post, but if you're interested only in what's happened most recently, than this is the one you should read! =) Maybe it'll save someone some time. Haha!

Matt's family was here last week. They came down from Washington to help his sister Katie move back to BYU and so we got to spend a lot of time with them. It was so much fun for us! We got to celebrate his mom's birthday, take a trip to SLC to visit Nelly, a wonderful convert and friend from Matt's missionary days, have a baby shower, help Katie move in, and celebrate his little brother Tanner's birthday.

While we were shopping at Toys R Us, Tanner pushed Matt around in a cart. It was so funny! Matt's dad had to save them a few times. =)

These two brothers have such a cute relationship! I just love watching them together. You can tell how very much they love each other.

When we were in Salt Lake, Matt showed his parents where he was originally going to propose to me. (It hadn't worked out cause we were going to hike up this steep mountain but I was wearing flip flops and Matt didn't think that would work very well. Oops!) Matt and his mom braved the hike up the hill and then re-enacted the proposal. She says she said no. ;)

The view overlooking the valley from the mountain side. What a beautiful sunset!

Here's a few pics from the baby shower Kel and Sheri (Matt's mom and sister) threw us. It was SOOOO much fun! We really appreciated it and don't think it could have been any better. It was wonderful to spend some fun times with all the fam. (These are the most recent pics of my belly. I'm 33 weeks along in these pics.)

The last pics I'll put on here are just a few from Tanner's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. He LOVES Chuck E Cheese! It is so cute to watch. Happy 11th Birthday, Tanner! =) We love you lots and lots!

Since last week, Matt and I have reorganized our baby room/office and finally got a bookshelf! We are so excited! It feels so good to be able to have everything more organized and it feels even more homey now. =) Matt's decking business continues to go well. His website has brought in quite a few customers, which is awesome! It means all the hard SEO work he's been doing is paying off. I'm so proud of him!

As for baby news, we're on the countdown. We only have 5 more weeks and 3 days left! Wahoo!! The doctor said that our baby is doing well, that he's in the right position and that he is long. =) We're so grateful that things have continued to go well and that we're all healthy. We love our doctor and are so grateful to have her!

Anyways, that's about all our news. I'm sure I missed things, but this is probably enough for you. =) Thanks for all the love and support! We love you guys!