Dylan’s 1st Photo Shoot

The second week that Dan was home from work we decided that we had better go get some professional pictures taken of Dylan while he still has that newborn look and he is so tiny.  So the last Friday that Dan was home with us, we went to JcPenney and Dylan got a taste of what it’s like to be in the spotlight. 

He is so little and all of his clothes were pretty big on him, we decided to let him show some skin so that you can see his cute little body.

Enjoy the pictures!

Oh and don’t mind the scab on his right cheek.  He scratched himself – poor guy. . . 

I know it’s not a real smile but it is pretty cute anyway!

This shows Dylan’s personality a little when he’s hungry and looking for food.

We call this the Dylan look. . .

I had to show off his little feet too!!

Look how hard he’s holding Dan’s hand!! His fingertips are white!

He’s pretty cute and we love him a ton!

Dylan’s First Weeks at Home

Well Dylan is now 4 weeks old!! WOW!! I can’t believe that 4 weeks has already gone by since Dylan was born.

Dylan is growing fast however he is still wearing his newborn clothes (thanks Grandma & Grandpa Merrill) however some of them are starting to get a little small.  On a side note I just want to say that it is amazing the size differences between brands for the same size.  For example some newborn Carter brand are so much smaller than some clothes that are from Target.  It sure makes it difficult to find the right fitting clothes for our little Dylan!

I believe this picture was taken the 1st of 2nd week Dylan was home:

We celebrated Dan’s birthday the day after we got home from the hospital.  Dylan was born on the 16th and Dan’s birthday is the 18th – Dylan was sure to have his own birthday and not have to share it with his Daddy!  We were so grateful that my Mom and Dad could celebrate with us.  Dad got P.F. Chang’s and a Baskin Robbins birthday cake.  It sure was yummy!! (Much better than the hospital food!)

Here are just a few other cute pictures of our little guy!

Overall, we are going great.  Dylan is an awesome kid and doesn’t give us too much trouble.  He’s a good eater and a good sleeper.  We are so grateful for a healthy little boy.  We will try to be good and taking more pictures as we all head out on our adventures.

He’s Here!!

Well Dylan has finally decided to join the family!  Here is the story of his birth:

It was Saturday, January 15th, Dan and I spent the day relaxing and doing some things around the house.  The hot water in the upstairs bathroom wasn’t working in the shower so we spend some time fixing that.  We also talked a lot about Dylan and when he would come – so we decided to watch some funny YouTube videos on how to induce labor and some funny situations when some pregnant ladies’ water broke.  In fact while chilling around the house, I decided to take a picture of me. So here I am the day before I delivered Dylan:

Not thinking too much about it though, I finally showered and we went to bed around 10:30 pm.  Dan was tired and had to get up for church meetings in the morning so we conked out in bed while I took a shower.

Once I finally crawled in bed, I couldn’t really sleep because I started having some contractions.  They were about 7-10 minutes apart, but they felt different than any contractions I had in the past.  Dan woke up ~ midnight/1 am and we started really timing the contractions.  We talked a lot about going to the hospital but couldn’t really make up our mind.  Dan decided to get up and take a shower and I straightened my hair (I had gone to bed with my hair wet!).  Once Dan was out of the shower the contractions seemed to slow down/stop and I was finally getting tired around 4/4:30 am.  So we decided that we would try to get some sleep and go from there.  However while lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, all of a sudden I feel a burst of water. . . I jump out of bed and get to the tile in the bathroom and a whole lot of water (well I guess it’s not really just water – but you know what I mean) gushes to the floor.  Pretty loudly I inform Dan that my water has broken and so he too jumps out of bed.

I felt a little lost once my water had broken and wasn’t quite sure what to do.  Dan was a big help and informed me that I had better get dressed because we for sure were now going to the hospital.  So I put some dry clothes on, grabbed a towel for the car seat, and headed to the car.  So my water broke around 4:45 am and we were in the car driving on the freeway by 5:00 am.  My contractions then started about every 6 minutes and were getting stronger with each contraction.  We arrived at the emergency department and I was wheeled to the Labor and Delivery Triage. 

We got to the triage bed and I again leaked a whole bunch of fluid all over my clothes and was given a hospital gown.  I was dilated to a 3/4, so they placed an IV line  and was soon taken to my LDR room (labor, delivery, and recovery room).  Because my blood pressure had been slowly increasing over the previous couple of weeks, they would not give me an epidural until my blood work returned normal.  So I labored until about 9 am when I finally was given my epidural.  Let me just say that I was really ready for the epidural when it finally came!!  Up until the epidural, they had given me a total of 3 mg of Stadol but I didn’t really like it (it made my head spin and I didn’t make a lot of sense when I tried to talk). 

I finally got my epidural and I was very happy when that finally kicked in:

Once the epidural was placed the nurse put my foley in and checked me again – I was now a 9 and pretty much immediately dilated to a 10.  Next they decided to just wait and see if his head would drop on its own before they started having me push.  So we waited . . . the contractions started to slow down to about every 10 minutes so they gave me a little oxytocin and we started the pushing.  The umbilical cord was wrapped around his body twice and so h wasn’t dropping very well.  Once the doctor was able to unwrap the cord, he came right out!

So here he is:  7 lbs 7.4 oz     19 in long

Lots of people came to visit us on the 16th at the hospital and thank you to everyone!! It is fun showing off our super cute little boy but we were very tired by then end of that night.  But despite the exhaustion, we still didn’t sleep that well.

Here are a few more pictures from the hospital:

Here are two very proud Grandpas!!

All the new grandparents together:

Here’s Dan, who did such a great job helping me through labor. He is going to be a super awesome Dad!!

On Monday night we decided that we really didn’t want to spend another night at the hospital and so we headed home around 6:30 that night.  Dan was very grateful not to stay another night as his bed was not very comfortable!

Here is Dylan just before we left the hospital:

Baby Shower

I had to post something about my super awesome baby shower!!  It was a lot fun and I think that it turned out great!  My two sisters. . .

 

. . . and mother. . .

. . . threw me a great party.  Of course the food was great (THANK YOU ANNA!) and we enjoyed the leftovers for a few days.

We had tortellini, Sara’s famous Brie, artichoke dip, caprese salad, my mother-in-law’s awesome English Trifle and lots of other yummy, yummy things.  My sister Anna headed up most of the food and everything so I owe her a BIG THANK YOU!!!  In fact one of the games that we played was “Guess what cheese is in what dish.” Almost every dish we had that day had some sort of cheese in it.  Most people did okay, however the tortellini had everyone stumped as there were seven different kinds of cheeses in that one dish!!  I am so grateful for all the family and friends that showed up to help us celebrate this exciting event in our lives. 

Grandma and Aunt Kayla were even able to make it, which is just great!!

Unfortunately having the baby shower has not made Dylan come any more quickly and none of the presents came with the baby included:

  Thank you everyone for helping us get ready for this baby!!

Dylan in 3D

We were able to have a 3D ultrasound thanks to Dan’s parents.  It was really amazing to see Dylan in 3 dimensions and be able to see more of what he is going to look like when he finally decides to join us out here in the world.  My parent’s, Dan’s parents, my niece Samantha, and sister Sara were all able to come along and see the baby.  Here are a few photos of him content in his current home:

 

 

Needless to say, we obviously think that he is pretty dang cute!!  Multiple people have stated that Dylan has my lips and Dan’s nose. So. . . . we’ll have to see. 

 

 

Hopefully we’ll get to meet Dylan in person here really, really soon.  If you all can’t tell, I’m a little anxious for this little guy to join the family.

Getting Ready For Dylan

Well it has been a crazy few months as Dan and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Dylan.  We have been trying to think of everything that we can do to be prepared for his arrival. 

Nonna helped us with the crib . . .

It was pretty easy to put together and it looks even better in Dylan’s room than it did in the store.  It really is a gorgeous crib!!  Thanks Nonna!!!

Once we got the crib all put together we continued to work on the nursery.  We now have a glider, a dresser, the crib, and some awesome curtains.  Dan and I made the curtains and cornice ourselves and must I say, I am very proud!!

We found these cool lamps at Ikea and Dan made the stands for them – he’s pretty handy with the tools! He also got out his soldering iron and wired them together so there’s only one switch to turn them on and adjust the dimness. 

So anyway his room is pretty much done – however we still haven’t figured out how to decorate the walls.  So if there are any suggestions, let us know.