The Tenth of May

I am updating this blog tomorrow. It has been way too long and I have a ton of updates including my entire birth story.

Our buddy Adam with Acme Photography gave one of our photos a very nice re-touch. I really wanted the black and white look and I am very happy with the retouch. Thanks Adam!!

Today we went and had family photos taken in Anthem. The sun went down super quick so we didn’t get too many shots, but the ones we got we are very happy with. Special thanks to Emily with Photography by Emily Buck for the shoot. :0)
And happy birthday to my love celebrating the BIG 28 today!

And baby makes three!!!

Just playing around

He was so cold that he was actually shivering in this photo

I saw this idea at my jewelers and had to copy it, ooo I just love his lil feet they are the cutest

more to come….

Baby Update:
Travis has hit the one month mark today. These last 4 weeks went by way too quick. He weighs just a little over 7lbs and is still 19¾ inches. Life has been really good for all of us. The first few weeks were a little hard adjusting too and we still haven’t fully adjusted. Waking up every 3 hours for feedings is NOT fun and certainly not something I want to do for much longer.

Travis has been breastfeeding and has not been given any formula nor do I intend too. I don’t have anything against formula it is just a personal preference. If I can feed my baby then why use anything else, plus the bond we have made has been truly amazing. It has certainly not been easy and definitely a learning process for all of us. Travis was so small that taking the breast was too hard for his little mouth in the beginning. We did find a solution, a lovely little thing called a breast shield. It has been a life saver for us. I was sad at first thinking that we would not be able to make it work but the first time with the shield he latched right on. It gave him the extra length he needed with his teeny mouth and the patience I needed to relax.

Travis loves falling asleep on my chest and it seems to be the best way to comfort him. He is a wonderful baby so far; he seems to only cry when he is hungry or needs to be changed. He tells us when his diaper is wet and then his little so-called baby radar says diaper is New, now lets dirty it up again. It is almost like clock work. Just something we noticed. He is not to alert just yet, but every once in a while he will look up at me with those beautiful baby blues and I melt. I love being a mommy!

Mommy Update: 151 lbs
I am doing really well. The first few nights, well they were rough. Lets put it this way, sneezing and coughing was BAD. I would say probably around the second day it go bearable but still hurt. I refused to take any of the pain meds they offered because they just mess me up too bad, but I did however enjoy and few nights on sleep mediation.On One night the nurse came in to weigh me and I told her to stop spinning the bed and something about being at the circus. I have no idea, she told me this the next morning. I am working on getting this baby weight off and I have successfully lost 33lbs. I know that seems like a crazy amount but the Dr said most of my weight was water and the rest baby and placenta. So take 6lbs for baby, 12 for placenta, and 15lbs of water, crazy stuff. The first night at the hospital I had only lost 3 lbs and I couldn’t understand how that was possible. It was not until they took me off all of my IV fluids and medication on 8/30 until I started loosing the weight and then it literally started falling off. I lost 6lbs the first night, 9lbs the second and so on. The nurses would come in to weigh me every morning at 4, which was pretty crazy. They had to do this because they were measuring the amount of water I was loosing. I was peeing so much, it was insane. My goal is 135, so I have a little ways to go. The Dr told me I still need to take it easy for a few more weeks. If it was up to me I would be working to get this weight off right now. I don’t know what it is, but I hate having weight on me. I understand I just had a baby but I don’t feel like myself right now. I am going to have to work so hard to get back to wedding day Mandy but I will do it.

My blood pressure is still a little high so they are putting me on medication to lower it. I’ve never had high blood pressure before but that was one of the preeclampsia symptoms and my un-pregnant body doesn’t know how to handle it. The doctor said it should only be a few weeks until I will be back to normal again. I am SO looking forward to feeling good again; it has been a long year.

Daddy Update:
Ben is the greatest husband and father a women could ask for. He is so amazing with Travis. I think it is so funny how we go into parenthood not knowing anything about anything. Everyday we learn more and more. I love sharing all these moments with him. Ben has been our sole provider for these last few months and has been working so hard. I am so proud of you honey, you do amazing things for our little family. I LOVE YOU and THANK YOU!

Banner has this really great set up for parents of NICU babies. They allow you to sleep over in a little mini hotel room for the first time with your baby the night before you bring them home. Ben and I think that they are testing you, but we were not worried. So on the night of the 6th we headed down to the hospital to begin our stay. Travis did awesome his first night with us. Honestly I really didn’t sleep, and not because of Travis but I was just to excited and nervous. That night we got up every three hours with him and charted everything for the doctors. We made sure there would be no reason not to discharge him as far as eating, sleeping and popping goes.
A lot my nerves were because even though they told us that he was going to get to come home, there was still a possibility that he would not be able too, it would all depend on his Billi Ruben results in the morning. They were worried that he might have jaundice and had to be sure before we could take him home. Well the next morning his levels had gone from a 15 to a 13 and we were told it was only breast milk jaundice and it would past in a few days. Oh man you can imagine the excitement we felt. We were finally going to be able to take our lil man home. That day I had to leave the hospital without him was the worst day of my life, at that point I was not sure how I was going to function, all I wanted to do was be there with him and for the next four days Banner became my second home. I really do believe that us being there everyday and for every feeding really helped him to be able to go home early. Some days I would just sit there and hold him for hours. Originally they told us he would not get to come home until his due date, could you imagine? That would have been today.
So after nine very long days in the NICU we were finally going to get to bring him home.
So the evening of the 7th we were taking him home. Around 3 o clock we got him all ready to go and signed the papers and said good bye to that place. Dont get me wrong Banner Thunderbird was aweosme to us, but nobody likes to be in the hospital that long for any reason. We were overjoyed to be going home.
So we arrived home around 4 pm and had a awesome sign in our yard, now you may notice that the day on the sign was a little off, but Brandi was with me throughout my 25 hrs of labor and delivery so you get the days a little mixed up when they run into each other like that. So just to clarify Travis was born on Saturday not Friday!
So that night we had both of our families over for dinner and a little tlc! It was an amazing day! ‘
Here are some pics from throughout the day. Enjoy!

This is when they first brought him into the mini hotel room. It was also a very powerful moment, because they took off all of his wires and monitors, he was a free baby!

This is our mini hotel room.

Mommy and Trav getting ready to go home.

Not the best pic of us, but we were super happy!

Daddy going to get the car.

All ready to go home. He is so tiny.

I just thought this pic was cool how the sun hit him, he had so much BLONDE hair, not sure where it came from.

Our awesome sign from Brandi and Josh! Thanks guys for everything, especially cleaning the house!

Here is just some pics once we got him home.




Great Grandma!



This is the only outfit that would fit him, and even it was too big

His amazing lil feet.

Video to come!

Today we gave Travis his first bath and surprisingly he LOVED IT!

Getting all scrubbed up!

He kept slipping.

My fav pic.


ok so I know the duckies are not the manliest thing, but I thought they were adorable!

Ben catches Travis at the perfect moments.