Thanksgiving Recap.

I know that Thanksgiving was almost a week ago, but I have been working like crazy and have not had the time to post. I really enjoyed spending time with my side of the family and just had to share the cute pictures. My brother and his family and my family went to my parents house for the holiday. Then we proceeded to Fresno to spend Thanksgiving at my Grandmothers house. I love being there. My grandmother makes an awesome meal. The night before, the women usually get together and make a huge vat of stuffing (or dressing as it is called in my family)that could feed twenty people. The table cloths and napkins are ironed. I used to polish the silver serving set when I was a child, but that tradition was stopped when I went to college. On Thanksgiving, the men sit and watch football, while the women set the table. We have our meal at around noon.We sit at a very formal table with china and crystal and just talk. A lot of times, politics comes up. I personally hate talking politics so I just listen to everyone else. This tradition has been going on since before I was born and I am proud to take part of it. . I don't know what we are going to do when my grandmother is no longer with us. It won't be the same. After being at Grandmother's house we usually make the 10 min trip to my other grandparents house for more food. This year my family had to visit my other grandparents the day before because I was blessed to work Thanksgiving night and had to drive back home after lunch. The holidays in my family and in Eric's family have always been about family spending time together and I cherish that tradition.

My parents and my bro with his wife and daughter.

Tyler's great grandmother holding him.

Ty's other great grandmother.

Ty and Stella with great grandpa.

I love this picture of cousin Caden holding Ty.

Daisy loves to sit on our laps, but she has not figured out how she could do that with Ty.

Happy 4 Months Tyler!

I can't believe we have had Tyler in our lives for four months and it has been the best four months of my life. To recap the day, Tyler was born the day after his due date. I was four centimeters on my due date so I asked my OB, Dr. Ketchum, if she could induce me. I was feeling a lot of pressure and back aches, but no contractions. Being a labor nurse, I had a feeling that Tyler was in the wrong position because of the back pains. I also wanted to be induced because it was the only time that mother could take a week off of work and Dr. Ketchum was on call. The induction started at 8:15 am when I started to receive Pitocin. I was feeling good contractions, but I thought that I could handle it. ( I did pass 8 kidney stones during my pregnancy.) I wanted to have a non-medicated birth, but I did not totally dismiss the thought of an epidural. Dr. Ketchum then broke my bag of water at 12pm and then the party began. I felt pain like I had never thought I would. I had horrible back labor. I was up moving on the birthing ball, and rocking, and practicing my breathing. I was doing everything I was supposed to and I had to keep telling myself that I could do it, but my mind kept saying get an epidural. Eric was also the best coach and companion. Well, all the hard work pain off. With in 30 minutes I felt a lot of pressure and like I had to push. I had my nurse come back in and I was 7 cm. With in a half an hour I was 9.5 cm. I could not help the urge to push, but we had to wait for Dr. Ketchum to arrive. Once she did I pushed for 20 minutes, then Tyler was born at 1:45 pm. There were some minor complications. ( ha, ha). Tyler came out facing up, he had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and it was a short cord at that, and his shoulders were a little stuck so my nurse had to apply suprapubic pressure to get his shoulders to come out. He was a little pale, but healthy. And, I did it without pain meds. It was the best day of my life.

Today, Tyler is a healthy, sweet boy. At four months, he does not cry unless he needs something. He smiles at everyone and lets everyone hold him. He sleeps, 5-6 hour stretches and only wakes up to eat, then goes right back to sleep. He does not want to sit unless he is tired. He only wants to stand. He loves to talk and spit and drool. He would rather hold mommy's fingers then hold his toys. His favorite toy is a small stuffed zebra. He loves to be held and kissed. He loves to lay next to mommy and daddy in their nice bed and stare at them. He does not like to sleep on his back which is hard when they tell you to only place them on their back. He is a champ at peeing on his clothes every morning. He hardly spits up. He hates his swing. He is a big wiggle worm. He has been trying to crawl since he was born. He loves to grab your nose, mouth, and hair. He loves to look at himself in the mirror. He is the best baby a mother could ask for.

Back to work.

I went back to work on Thursday night after being on maternity leave for four months. It was really hard and I cried on the way there. I was also very emotional after my patients gave birth or if I saw a baby that was not doing well. Before having a baby, seeing a delivery was a special experience, but once having a child, the feelings are a lot more intense and very emotional. I think I work even harder and worry even more about my patients now. In some ways I feel like there mother and am watching out to make sure that they are taken care of and that everything goes well. I am also teaching them and reassuring them that they are doing a great job. It took a while to get back into the hang of things, but I did not get the chance to gradually get reacquainted with my job. I worked three nights in a row and all three nights I had high risk maternity patients with complicated births which meant that I pretty much did not sit down for twelve hours or thirteen when the time changed. On Saturday night I wore a pedometer and from 5:30 pm to 2am, I had walked 9,952 steps which was around three miles. My feet were killing me and still are really sore now. The cute thing that happened was on Friday morning Eric had to hand off Tyler to me at work so that he could get to his class. He dressed Tyler up in his Pirate outfit and surprised me. Tyler was a hit. All of my coworkers thought he was so cute and he just smiled at them. I do not usually like to be in the spotlight, but I do like to show my baby off. He is just too cute and sweet not to. I love my job, but I like being a mother even more. I miss Tyler so much when I am at work and my heart aches to see him. I just love coming home to a smiling baby and he lets me snuggle up and kiss him. I know that I have to work and I just need to keep the future in mind that I am doing this so that Eric can finish school and so we can live decently. I know it will get a little easier to leave him as time goes by, but I am afraid that I will miss part of his growing up.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween day was full of laughs. I was glad that I was able to babysit Stella because it gave me the chance to take some cute cousin pictures. I dressed Stella in her cute dragon outfit and Ty in his manly pirate outfit that grandparents gave him. Stella was really into it. She kept trying to touch Tyler and pull at his costume. Ty just sat there and looked like nothing was really happening even when Stella was trying to poke at his eyes. I wish I would have taken some pictures of Caden with the babies. He was really cute in his Darth Vader outfit and his cool mask that made talking noises. He was also very proud of the three light savers that he had. I will have to take some pictures of him next week so I can show them off. Later on that night Tyler and I gave out candy and everyone thought he was really cute, but commented on that it must be his first Halloween. I can't help it. Anytime I get a chance to dress this kid up, I do it! Besides, he has to show off his 3 Halloween costumes. I hope Ty appreciates the effort I put into this later. My cute Pumpkin Baby!

Miss Stella as a Dragon.

Stella is so excited about Halloween. It looks like she is trying to push Tyler out of the picture.

Cute Cousins!

It was Ty's bedtime and he did not want to be in a costume anymore, but I had to get a picture of him with Daddy. Daddy must be thinking, "Not more pictures."