I may be biased, but seriously, could this baby be any cuter? I don't think so.

Cash Andrew

Our baby boy is here!

Cash Andrew

12-31-09

3:16 pm

7 lbs. 4 oz.

19 inches

For those interested and for my own record, here is his birth story... We went to the hospital at 7 am on the 31st to be induced. I was a nervous wreck the night before, but by the time morning came, I was mostly just excited and in awe that our little boy was only hours away from being born. I got hooked up to the monitors and my doctor broke my water, which is easily the weirdest feeling in the world. At 8:15, the nurse started the pitocin, and the contractions started a few minutes later. Fast forward 2 hours, I was ready for the epidural :) I had progressed quite a bit so I thought it was time. And wow, within minutes, I was in heaven. My contractions were coming about every 2 minutes and were pretty strong, according to the nurse. (I had no idea, I couldn't feel a thing) After a while, Cash's heart rate started to drop with each contraction. The nurse kept trying all of these different things to get it regular again, and ended up having to turn the pitocin down as low as she could. Thankfully his heart rate was regular again and we were so relieved. Around 1:30, Andrew and his mom wanted to go get lunch so we decided to have the nurse check me again just to see if I'd made any progress with the pitocin down so low. After she checked me, she said she had good news and that I was completely dilated and effaced. We were in shock! Andrew asked her if that meant I was ready to push, and she said yes. We couldn't believe it. My mom wasn't there yet because she was thinking I'd have hours left, so Andrew had to let her know that it was time and she better hurry. She got there at 2, and I started pushing. Unfortunately, the epidural wore off and there wasn't enough time to up the dosage before Cash was born. I felt a lot more than I would have liked, but at the time, all I cared about was getting him out so I wasn't too concerned. At 3:16 pm, Cash was born and I have never felt so much emotion in my life. It was such a beautiful and spiritual experience for us. It was so neat to see him for the first time, and we couldn't believe all of his black hair. We were even more shocked when we saw it after they bathed him!

We came home from the hospital on Saturday and it has been so fun to have Cash in our house. To say that we are obsessed with him would be a complete understatement. We just can't get enough of him and love him so much!

T Minus 1 Week

Hard to believe that our little boy is going to be here in a week. If he doesn't come on his own, the plan is to be induced on the 31st. It's all pretty surreal to me right now. I can't imagine not being pregnant anymore and I definitely can't imagine actually having our son here. This next week is going to be pretty crazy. Are we ready? Gosh I sure hope so. We'll find out soon enough :)

Santa!

Spreading some Christmas cheer...

Portable North Pole

My sister told me about this a couple of weeks ago, and Andrew has already received his special message from Santa. It would probably be cuter to do it for a child, but I think Andrew enjoyed it anyway :)

'Tis the Season

It's been a little different getting ready for Christmas this year because we've been so busy getting ready for the baby! We actually just started our Christmas shopping yesterday, but got most of it done so I think we'll be ok! We have had our tree up since the middle of November though... kind of jumped the gun on that one :) We got a new tree this year and we were both so excited about it that we put it up right after we bought it. It's 9 1/2 feet tall and I love it!

So far, our Christmas celebrations have included Gingerbread houses...

Which inspired me to get crafty and make a paper chain...

This was always one of the best parts about getting ready for Christmas when I was young, so I decided to bring the tradition back! The red and green are the countdown until Christmas, and the extra red ones are the countdown to my due date. The chain is down to only 14 links... yikes!

On Sunday we went up to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert and it was amazing. Somehow, our seats were on the third row from the front. It was so crazy to be that close, especially since President Monson was there! Last night, we went to the Christmas Carol play, one of my favorite traditions. Every year we go, I love it more. We have an ugly sweater party tomorrow, Temple Square lights on Saturday, and family parties on just about every day next week. We're just a little bit busy :) This time of year is so dang fun. And this year is obviously a little extra special for us!

A little late, I know, but we had an awesome Thanksgiving this year. We went to Washington and spent it with my family and had so much fun. I love going home to the farm and being in the house I grew up in. For some reason, it always makes me feel like a kid again, and that's always a good time. Thanks to my mom, I don't think we stopped eating for the whole week. Woops. While we were there, we saw The Blind Side and I now have a new favorite movie. So stinking good, I loved it!

We are in the final month of our pregnancy and I can't believe it. Less than 4 weeks to go! I sure hope we're ready :) I now realize what women are talking about when they say how uncomfortable the last month of pregnancy is. I spend the majority of my day pushing feet/knees out of my ribs. I can't believe we will get to meet Cash so soon... he will be the best Christmas present ever! Here's my latest tummy shot. Enjoy ;)

31 Weeks

Hard to believe I only have a couple more of these beauties to post. We are getting really antsy to meet our little boy... especially after the arrival of this one...

My sister, Ashley, just had her little boy, Dodger Scott Treu, on Thursday. Hope you don't mind me borrowing this picture, Ash. Is he not the cutest little boy you've ever seen? And seriously, who looks that good after they have a baby? He's making me so anxious to have my own. So sweet and so so tiny.