O Christmas Tree

I decided to blog about my tree today! I love it! It used to belong to a family friend who gave it to my parents. My parents decided it was too big for their place, although I usually would make them put it up anyway! When I got married they decided to give it to me since I loved it so much! It's a pain to put up but so worth it for me! I have to put each branch up one by one, but when I am done it is so big and full! It is one of my favorite Christmas decorations! That was all I wanted to say! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

Ok these pics uploaded backwards...but we start with brandon and stacey carving pumpkins a few days before halloween! Their pumpkins looked great! Brandon dropped one on his way into our house and Stacey made it look like a pumpkin was throwing up...i didn't take a pic of it, i'm not sure why..but it looked so great! I honestly think that was my favorite one, besides Luke's awesome pumpkin! Sadly Luke's pumpkin didn't last the night :( It shriveled up through the night! So glad we took some awesome pics of it the night before! We didn't even end up putting our pumpkins outside...how dumb is that! The pic of Brody was on Halloween. That was his costume, he was too little to have a real costume! Next year though he will have a real one! We just hung out Halloween night, we got quite a few trick or treaters! Way more than last year, we even almost ran out of candy! We had a great time carving pumpkins and a great halloween!!!

Welcome Baby Brody!!!

So these are just a few of my favorite pics we have so far! Our little baby boy is already a week and a half old! So crazy how fast time is going by already! Part of me really wants the next while to go by fast just because of how I am feeling and would like to feel normal again. But the other part of me wants him to stay little for as long as he can! He is such a great baby! He has already learned that if he cries we will pick him up as he stops crying almost instantly! He has a hard time sleeping at night as do we! Can't wait until that ends!

I have been told I need to tell his birth story. But I can honestly say there isn't too much to tell! But here it goes...

On the morning of October 8th we waited anxiously to get a call from the hospital to tell us when to come in so I could be induced. My doctor thought it would be good for me to just go ahead and be induced as I had high blood pressure for the last month of my pregnancy. So at 9am we got our call to come in and start the wonderful process! Luke bought a new camera and decided to film throughout the day...of course! I was so nervous! It's one thing to go into labor naturally, but knowing when it's going to happen is another! Although I still don't know what it is like to go naturally. Anyway...so basically once we got in our room and answered the million questions the nurse had to ask and put the IV in(worst part ever!!! had to stick me 3 times! not fun!) it was about 11am. With the petocin(sp) my contractions started basically right away. Luke decided to go lunch with his dad about noon and wasn't back until 1:30, I couldn't get the epideral without him there and found out I wasn't going to be able to get it until 3 as the guy was in a c section until then! By 3 I was in quite a bit of pain! Amazing how hurtful those little suckers are! So basically as soon as I got the epideral everything was great! The day actually went by pretty quickly even though all I could do is lay there and do nothing! So around 7 I hadn't progressed much, when I came in I was at a 2, when it was around 7 I was at a 4. My doctor said he would give it another hour, but if nothing had happened in that time we would really have to thing about getting a csection. At that point I just wanted the day to be over, I wasn't really nervous about it, I think Luke was way more nervous then I was! I hadn't progressed at all, so he went in detail about the csection and how everything would work. It wasn't an emergency csection, but they did get everything started pretty fast. We went in around 8:20, with all the medicine through the epideral I was pretty out of it. All I felt was a lot of tugging, I was getting pretty anxious about them starting, afraid I was going to feel them cutting me open! So I asked Luke when they were going to start, but because of the gas mask he couldn't understand me. So around 5 min later I said, "I wish they would just start!" Then the nurse came to Luke and told him to get his camera ready because they were about to pull his head out! I was shocked! Our nurse got some great pics of them pulling him out of me! He was born at 8:44 on October 8th weighing 7lbs 12.5oz and 20 inches long! So that is basically the story! We came home on Sunday the 11th. We love him more then anything! Can't imagine my life without him anymore! What did we do before he came to us? Right now he is laying beside me on the couch and he stinks! So I need to change his diaper now! I hope you all enjoyed reading about how he came into our lives!

Maternity Pics!

So last Sunday we went with Dari to Wheeler Farm to take some fun pics! These are some of my faves! I thought she did such a great job! We are getting down to the end, and it couldn't feel further away! I am getting so impatient! I just want him here so I can hold him and stare at him all day! We had 3 showers last week and they were all so wonderful! We got so many great things! Thank you to everyone who helped and came to them! So as of last Friday I am not dilating...just in case anyone was wondering! We have an appointment tomorrow to get an ultrasound and see how big he is so far! I am so excited to see him and how much he has grown...although i can definitely feel how much he has grown! I can only eat a few bites before I feel so full it is like I just ate a horse...not that I have ever eaten a horse...but you know what I mean! Hopefully by the end of the week we will have the nursery done and I can put up some pics of those...not that it will be much to look at! If any of you have cute/fun ideas for vinyl lettering and what we could put on the walls that would be awesome if I could steal them! Love you all! :)

6 Weeks to go!!!

So as I get closer, I get more miserable!!! :) It's so wonderful! I am so grateful to be having such a healthy pregnancy! Brody is growing like he should and I am right on track for giving birth. No contractions or anything yet. I almost feel like I'm not even coming to the end just because I haven't felt anything the doctor keeps asking me about. But I assume that is actually a good thing since I still have 6 weeks left!

Every week it seems I go through something new that I just love(that was sarcastic for those of you who coulnd't tell)...the last few weeks it has been an itchy belly! And I dont mean I sometimes have an itch...it's like I have a ton of mosquito bites all over my lower stomach! It's awesome! I have tried what seems like everything to get the itching to stop but I just keep itching! I find myself scratching my belly when I wake up during the night! I am hoping this wont last the rest of the 6 weeks!

I haven't had many problems with my feet swelling until I went back to work. By Friday they are huge and it hurts to walk...usually by Sunday my feet look normal again and I feel good walking...but that did not happen this weekend! They never went back down! It's never good to start out the week with swollen feet and ankles! I have put a big box under my desk so I can put my feet up during the day while I am sitting there. I think it has helped quite a bit!

Well I think those are my biggest complaints as of right now! I don't have the problem of having to run to the bathroom every five minutes yet, but I hear that will come when he drops and I will be able to breathe again, but will have to use the bathroom constantly! I guess we shall see!

So it's kind of funny but sometimes I image what it will be like when Brody is finally here with us and since he has been in my for what seems like forever, I can almost imagine him talking and walking right away! I know that's not possible, but I feel like he's already so old! The way he moves around, which is my most favorite part about being pregnant!, it feels like I know him so well and that we have these silent connections with eachother. I hope that doesn't make me sound crazy...

Anyway I am glad I got to write that all down! It feels good to get it all out! In the next few weeks Luke and I have decided to do the maternity pics! I am so excited for Dari to do those! They will be so fun! So hopefully by the end of my 4 weeks I will have those posted, if they are ready! I figured that would give me something to look forward to though! Yay! Dari took this pic by the way! I don't know about everyone else, but it looks like my nose has doubled in size!
Awesome...

30 Weeks!!!!

So I am officially in my 3rd trimester and am counting down the weeks! We haven't done anything to get ready for the Brody's birthday! I have started looking at all the big stuff that I would like to get, but with Luke working 24/7 don't know when we'll actually start getting them! Hopefully by September I will at least know what I am going to do with the room. I still have no idea if I am going to have a theme, or just a generic color scheme that I can use for all my children! I do have a few ideas but can't decide on one!

I feel Brody moving around all the time now! At least when I am sitting or laying down! I'm still not used to the feeling of it! It surprises me everytime! Especially when I can actually feel his hand or foot! Craziness!!!

I still have a bunch of other stuff to post, but it goes back to May, so I haven't decided if I want to do all of that! We will see...turns out even though I wasn't at work staring at a computer all day, I still hated being on the computer while I was off!

Everything is going really well though, Luke will be back to a normal schedule in a few weeks! Yay! I am really excited to have my husband back! Although it's nice to have the extra income. I will try, try, try really hard to get the rest of my posts up before the end of the week! I think it will lift a weight off my shoulders for sure! Love you all!

It's a Boy!!! & 25 weeks

So I just realized I never blogged about the sex of our baby!! I figured I should do it before I update with the rest of the stuff I have been meaning to put up here, which should be by next week! But We are very, very excited!!! Now I can put the room together and start figuring out what stuff we are going to be buying for him! He's already way adorable of course, I will put the ultra sound up when I put up the rest of the my posts. Anyway the name I have picked out is Brody Byron Orton...hopefully it sticks, as that is what everyone calls him now anyway! Luke doesn't mind it, he says it is growing on him, and since he doesn't really have an opinion about it that is what we will be naming him!

I also thought I would post a pic of me at 25 weeks! I grow more and more everyday, it's pretty amazing being pregnant. There is a lot the human body can go through, but this has to be the hardest and craziest. And yet somehow after all the stretching of the skin and growing of body parts, you can still somehow make it back to your normal self after a little bit. I do not think I will be one of the lucky ones that can just automatically get any sort of figure back, but that's ok, I do enjoy working out! Well mostly...it's the getting there part that is hard! So we are still way excited to be bringing this little boy into our lives! Most days it still doesn't feel real, but I suppose one day when I am holding him at 3am trying to figure out why he is still crying it will...