BATH TIME

Lucky for us Damon loves the bath!  The only tricky part is he loves to pee while in the bath... Darren's a quick learner and wasn't about to get peed on more than once ;)

BILI LIGHTS

We were so fortunate to have a very smooth pregnancy and birth... other than Damon's posterior arrival all went well without any complications.

However, once Damon was here the Doctor's were a bit concerned about his jaudice levels so we had to keep him on his own personal little 'tanning bed' until his numbers were back in a healthy range.

I'm grateful for modern medicine that made this healing process simple... however, I must say it was really rough leaving our adorable little newborn on that silly little light bed 24 hours a day.  We were only allowed to take him off for feeding and diaper changes (the only time I was actually grateful for his frequent urination) :).  Luckily this process only lasted a few days and Damon was granted a clean bill of health.

5 STARS

If there were a 'DAD OF THE YEAR' award Darren would definitely be the winner!  He has been SO amazing through this whole process.  Before Damon arrived Darren had never even changed a diaper.... but since day one he had been amazing at helping with everything.  It's incredible how natural he is at the whole dad thing.  Not only is he helping out with Damon 24/7 but he's putting up with me.  We'd both received several warnings that I'd be a little emotional after giving birth... holy smokes we did not know what we were in for.  Thanks Darren for being so INCREDIBLE... I couldn't do it without you. :)

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

This would be much cuter if he'd learn how to do it at night ;)

During the nine months of pregnancy Darren and I heard all about these 'sleepless nights' we'd be having.  For some reason we thought 'sleepless' meant we would be short on sleep... we didn't realize we would actually go multiple nights without any sleep at all.  Let's just say the first week home was a bit rough and we looked (and probably still do) like zombies.

Damon still hasn't quite figured out night is for sleeping but we're hoping to get him headed in the right direction soon.

HOMEWARD BOUND

After spending our two days in the hospital it was time to take our little munchkin home.  It still seems crazy to me that they just let you walk right out the front door with no instruction book or anything.

SO PRECIOUS

LABOR DAY...

So I woke up at 3am Tuesday May 5th with what I thought were cramps.  I decided to time them just in case.  After about 30 minutes of them coming and going every 10 minutes I decided to grab a pen and paper to keep track (still fairly certain this couldn't possibly be labor).  Darren woke up to my rustling and helped out with the timing; after 30 more minutes the 'cramps' were coming about 5 minutes apart lasting for about 60 seconds.  Naturally Darren wanted to rush to the hospital.  I on the other hand was still not fully convinced this could actually be it, but told him I'd go ahead and get ready.  I don't think he thought 'get ready' meant that I'd shower, pack a few things, eat a snack and take my dear sweet time, but it did ;)  By the time we got in the car the 'cramps' which I then realized were actually contractions were 3 minutes apart lasting at least 60 seconds.  We got to the hospital at 4:30 and I was admitted.  This was it... Damon was coming at last.  I continued having contractions that I thought were actually quite tolerable... and then it happened... my doctor came in to break my water.  After my water was broken it took less than a minute for those not so bad contractions to become oh so bad.  It turns out that they hurt so much because I dialated from a 2 to a 6 in 45 minutes.  In this time I was lucky enough to get an epideral (what a relief).  Things progressed fairly fast from there... I went from a 6 to a 9.5 in an hour and then pushed the not so little guy out in about 20 minutes.  Damon officially arrived at 1:55 on Tuesday May 5th 2009 weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs. 8 oz. stretching 20.5 inches long.

What an amazing experience!

40 WEEKS BIG AND COUNTING...

So today would be May 1, 2009 (Damon's scheduled day of arrival).  As you all know these things aren't up to us and our time schedule.  However, I really wouldn't mind if they were.  We are so excited for him to get here we can barely stand it.  Alas... I know he can't stay in my tummy forever so I'll see him soon enough.  We'll be sure to post lots of fun pictures of the little guy when he arrives (hopefully sooner rather than later... I'm not sure my stomach can stretch any further). 

38 Weeks Big

36 Weeks Big

HE'S ALMOST HERE...

For those of you who don't know we did pick a name for our cute little guy.  It's Damon and we just can't wait for him to get here.  Although... on second thought... we still have a lot of preparing to do before he makes his grand debut.

I'm currently 34 weeks and expanding at a VERY rapid pace.  I'll post an updated picture soon.

2 DOWN... BUNCHES AND BUNCHES TO GO!

They say time flies when you're having fun!  How true that is.  I cannot believe Darren and I have been married for 2 whole years already!

Speaking of having a fun... we have a secret obsession for Chilies Chocolate Molten Lava Cake.  Who wouldn't!?  Just look at it.

Oh, and my cute husband brought home two dozen crazy bright red roses!

BABY SHOWER

So... Tricia & KJo threw me an EXCELLENT shower!  We tie died onsies... what an excellent idea!  Every new mother needs a plentiful supply of onsies... and you definitely can't have too many tie died ones :) 

31 WEEKS BIG

And this is 31 weeks big... only 9 weeks to go.  Man this goes by fast!

28 WEEKS BIG

So this is me... 28 weeks big.

EDUCATE YOURSELVES

Aedyn Has outdone herself once again!  How stinken cute is this!?  Oh and for the next picture... she has an EXCELLENT Cheese face even if she is wearing and undersized dolls bike helmet.

BIRTHDAY PARTY

Darren and Chelsea happen to share the same birthday so we had a joint Birthday Bash.  As always it was a lot of fun.  

I will say that Darren's Christmas prank came back to bite him in the butt with those shorts he received as a gift (inside joke).  He may think twice before doing a funny gift in the future ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARREN

We had a lot of fun the weekend of Darren's birthday.  We decided to head up to Salt Lake for a little getaway.  This is us at Macaroni Grill about to enjoy some DELICIOUS Chocolate Cake!  (Still not exactly sure how we ended up at one of my favorite restaurants on his birthday ;)  oops)

FAMILY FUN

We were lucky to have my brothers in town just after the holidays.  Mike currently lives in Washington DC and Rory in North Carolina.  They were both able to make it up just after New Years and we had a lot of fun!

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

What is the best way to protect yourself from the elements...?  Wear a marshmallow suit of course! :)  

This is our niece Aedyn and if we could, we would steal her for our own.