K and D Rohrer

Cupid Shot Me in the Buttocks

2012-02-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Kristy Carter was a friend of a friend less than four years ago. A beautiful girl with the cutest, funnest, sweetest personality (sprinkled with spunk, of course - my favorite spice), but a girl I'd never have known without a little Cupid.

But Cupid must have used his most powerful love potion on me, because after he put us together the first time, I spent almost every day with her until now. She was charming and gorgeous. She was kind and sweet and dedicated to God. She was a little spunky and knew what she liked - no pushover. She was intelligent and driven. She still is all those things. Thanks, Cupid.

So now it's Valentine's day. Cupid's day. I am alone in an apartment sitting on a black leather couch. It's a little too cold in here. Don't worry, though. It's not what it seems. This morning I opened the sweetest note from my wifey, including music, pictures, and animation. In fact, I'm wondering if Cupid has reapplied some shots of love because I cannot believe that almost 4 years after the first date my love is deeper, sweeter, sincerer, and fuller. So thanks, Cupid, I guess... for shooting me in the buttocks.

I love you Kris. Will you stay my valentine forever? :)

Dalan

Until We Meet Again

2012-01-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today I found out that my dear Grandma Carter passed away. Finding out that a loved one has passed on has reminded me of what life is all about. I know that she is with my Grandpa and many other loved ones now. I will miss her very much. My Dad reminded me of the Christmas stocking that she hand stitched for Carter last Christmas and how special it was. It was similar to the one she made for me. It will be a special reminder each Christmas of the many fond memories of family gatherings, cousin sleepovers and many other special times. Thank you for your love and example, Grandma. You always were striving to do God's will. I love you.

The Works

2012-01-26T08:52:00.001-07:00

We decided that we want to start exploring more. For our first exploration we decided to take advantage of the library's free museum tickets (you can check out two free museum tickets from our library each week, cool huh?). We picked up tickets to The Works, where kids explore how things work, I pictured the science museum in Salt Lake City. We hoped they would have the address on the ticket receipt so that we could plug the address into our ~~smart phones~~ GPS. We wish we had smart phones ...and so do our parents, because whenever we need to look something up and aren't at home we call them. The address wasn't on the tickets, nor could we find it on our GPS ...so we called my Dad and asked him to look it up on his smart phone for us (thanks Dad). That address led us to some elementary school in Edina, and not wanting to bug my Dad again we called Dalan's Mom and asked her to look it up for us (thanks Ann). we're the biggest smoochers.

It ended up being in Bloomington ...funny that I would choose the museum farthest from where we live.

It also ended up being a little different than I had imagined. It was less of a museum and more of a room filled with exhibits where kids could explore to learn how things work ...just like the title said, imagine that. It was pretty cool though. And if we had kids that were elementary school age it would have been even cooler! The lady at the entrance looked at us a little funny as we entered with our free passes and an infant, "No lady, we don't have anything better to do." Dalan was the BEST person to go to something like this with. He makes everything fun. He had to play with every exhibit. It turned out to be a fun family exploration after all.

I think we'll have to take our Dad's next time they come and visit us in Minnesota, this is perfect for the engineer minded. The whole time I was thinking how much fun my Dad would have had playing with Dalan.

This exhibit would take a picture of your face and let you manipulate the picture. I think my Mom has an ap that does this on her iPad. Like Carter's face warp?

This was my favorite face warp of our whole family.

Dal's face warp.

My face warp.

A giant etch a sketch. Did you know an etch a sketch works with pulleys? Who knew?!

7 Months

2012-01-24T11:45:00.003-07:00

I can't believe that my son has been alive for over half a year!

On January 15th, Carter turned 7 months old. It's crazy how fast babies learn to do things. I feel like new developments happen overnight.

On Tuesday, January 17th, I took Carter to the doctors because he has been acting fussy and crying during feedings and not acting like himself. Turns out he had another tooth coming in! He weighed 23 lbs. and 8 oz.

Here's what Carter's up to at 7 months:

- Rolling from front to back regularly.

- Pivoting

- 5 Teeth - two on the bottom middle, two on the top middle and a new one to the left of the top middle teeth.

- Eating a tiny bit of solids after nursing for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He especially loves the Gerber mixed vegetables and an apples and banana's mix that I made.

-He thinks his Dad is the funniest person alive.

- He is easily distracted when he eats. He'll cry or look around if any noise is made at all, and he doesn't like Dalan or me to talk while he eats.

- He is getting very opinionated; he'll cry if we take something he likes away, or sometimes he'll cry if he can't see me. A few days ago he started showing signs of stranger anxiety: he burst out into tears twice on Monday after being passed off to a friend.

- He'll roll into the wall and cry about getting stuck.

- He sleeps about 10 hours at night.

- He loves to chew on a wet baby rag.

- His bed time routine is to be put in his pj's, then his sleep sack, then held and sung a primary song (Our usual four songs are: I am a Child of God, Teach Me To Walk in the Light, Families Can Be Together Forever or I Love to See the Temple) to and then put in his bed and given his burp rag. Then we kiss him on the head and go out of the room.

- He's not super interested in other babies, but (usually) loves any adult that will give him attention.

-He LOVES it when Dalan and I laugh. If we laugh at something he get's a grin on his face and then will start up doing whatever he was doing before. Sometimes he'll even laugh with us. -- a little clown just like his Daddy.

-He hates being dressed, having his bib put on him, putting the car seat straps on him, and having lotion put on him.

- He'll fuss when we put him down for a nap, but after he's in his sleep sack and with his burp cloth he snuggles right down.

- He loves his pacifier, but not only to suck on. He likes to chew on it and take it out and then try put it in different ways and chew on it. When I give it to him and he's really upset he'll suck on it, then take it out and cry, then stick it back in, then take it out and cry some more.

- He's just starting to recognize people on skype and look at them when they talk.

- He loves to bounce, whether with someone holding him or in his exersaucer.

He just keeps getting more and more fun. :) I'm so excited for him to crawl! ...I know I'm a crazy new parent. Our doctor said that it might take him a little while because he's so big. Haha.

Helmet

2012-01-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

Yep. We did it. We got a helmet.

Are we happy with our decision? We are still trying to decide. Am I going to accept and own our decision? Yes.

We got it on January 13. I cried the first day we put it on, and I haven't even wanted to talk about it to the internet world. .... that's all I'm going to say, so please, only encouraging comments if you have any. :)

But here he is helmet and all. He's so cute that he can even make a dorky helmet adorable.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T18:05:00.001-07:00

We celebrated New Years Eve with friends over burgers and games at our place and then watching Once Upon A Time until WAY to late after our friends left our apartment (Thanks Court!). There is something so exciting about a New Year. Starting fresh. Thinking about things you want to do better or start doing.

Dalan and I watched this video last night and I thought it was a good thing to strive for in the New Year.

Carter's 6 Months Old

2011-12-15T14:29:00.002-07:00

Carter turned 6 months old on Dec. 15th. At his 6 month check up his stats were:

Height: 27 3/4 in. 95%
Weight: 21 lbs 9.6 oz 98%
Head Size: 46 cm 98%

I found him in his crib yesterday and this morning on his stomach ...which means he can roll from his back to stomach! He hasn't performed this little trick for us yet.
He has two bottom teeth.
He is slowly learning how to eat. Sometimes he's a great eater other times he clamps his mouth down.
He love peek a boo, singing, books ... anything that involves attention really.
He HATES having his arms pulled through his sleeves or through car seat straps.
He can no longer wear anything but sweat pants, which means that his cute church outfits are out.
He doesn't have any stranger awareness yet.
He's has scooted a few times on his legs but is far from crawling.
He is much more picky about what he's doing and gets bored a lot easier.
He's getting more cuddly. He'll cuddle into mine and Dalan's shoulder and grab the other side of our neck with his chubbly little hand.

LOVE this kid.

3 Year Anniversary

2011-12-13T07:12:00.003-07:00

Today, I've been married for 3 years. Looking forward to eternity with my best friend! I love you Dalan Rohrer. Happy Anniversary!

Carter Meets Santa

2011-12-08T11:58:00.001-07:00

Not going to look.

Nope.

Nice try.

Ok, I guess I'll look.

Carter and Santa

Christmas 2011

Christmas Packages...Yes, More Presents

2011-12-08T07:43:00.001-07:00

Carter received some fun Christmas packages! He opened comfy Christmas PJ's from Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Ron and an adorable Fisher Price Nativity Set from a close friend of Dalan's mom. Carter's all set for Christmas, Christmas toys and Christmas PJs.

As you can see he'll probably enjoy playing with the nativity more next year. Until then those animals make great teething toys!

Christmas Presents

2011-12-05T13:47:00.001-07:00

Everything is more fun with a baby. Carter has already started opening Christmas presents. It was so exciting to see Carter open a present (even if he had no idea what he was doing). He actually did a pretty good job starting the unwrapping, but then he got distracted and stared sucking on the wrapping paper.

Yum.

Can you see his blonde hair that's starting to come in?!

Dalan enjoying the toys.

Thanks Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Ron for the fun toys!

Baby Food and High Chair

2011-12-05T13:07:00.001-07:00

I started feeding Carter solids at 4 months. Then I decided to hold off feeding him and started up again a little after he was 5 months old. Everytime I've tried to feed him he licks the food once or twice and then clamps his mouth down and won't open the rest of the feeding -- that is until I wipe his mouth off and then he tried to eat the wipe. Well, yesterday he did it! He not only opened his mouth, but opened it several times. This time I opened the window and he watched the cars outside (maybe it distracted him enough that he didn't realize what was going on). We've only tried sweet potatoes and rice cereal and he opened his mouth for the sweet potatoes.

We had been feeding Carter in his swing that is WAY too small for him now. We bought him a booster/high chair seat and the tray didn't fit over his thighs. We returned the booster and I had been looking diligently for a High Chair on Craigslist. I found a Peg Perego High Chair (retails for $268) that match our apartment and everything for $25. Steal right? Well, I went to look at it and it was missing the chest straps and was super dirty, then it had a bar that went between the legs and I was worried he wouldn't fit well in a few months because of the bar..and blah, blah, blah... I told her I wasn't interested and she said Carter looked so cute in it I could just have it!

...well for free I didn't care about any of those things. I deep cleaned the high chair and was super grossed out by it, enough that I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep it. SO grossed out that when I put Carter in it after I cleaned it I changed his outfit so I could wash his clothes. Dalan did another deep cleaning and unscrewed the straps and ran them through the dishwasher and then I felt better. Now we have a free high chair and Carter no longer has to eat in his baby swing.

The High Chair

Sweet Potatoes in our plush white baby swing.

Daddy feeding Carter and Carter clamping his mouth.

Welcome December

2011-12-05T12:12:00.001-07:00

I love starting the Christmas season watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. You can watch it here. It helps me to remember to enjoy the whole month. There have been times where the holidays had passed and I felt like I missed out. The devotional helps me to prioritize, reminding me to not stress out about getting the perfect gift, getting skinny to see relatives, or about taking the perfect picture Christmas morning (Dalan hates that), but to instead enjoy time with family and think about our Savior.

Excited for December!

Thanksgiving in Kansas

2011-11-28T08:47:00.001-07:00

We went to Kansas for Thanksgiving weekend. We visited our friends the Walters and their family. We wish we could be close to our families (especially around the holidays) and were grateful to the Poultons and Walters for letting us be apart of theirs for Thanksgiving. We played games, ate a ton of food, and shopped. It was the perfect weekend. AND the roads were clear for our drive. Thanks again for the fun time Jade, Brian and family! :)

I have so much to be thankful for, but this year I am especially thankful for the gospel, my amazing husband, sweet baby boy Carter, our families and friends.

Ammon was so cute with Carter.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Carter for dessert.

Carter's First Thanksgiving (He slept through the whole thing -- this is after we finished).

Hangin' out

Post Pregnancy P90X

2011-11-23T06:51:00.001-07:00

I remember telling Dalan how easy it would be to work out with a baby, "...I'll have plenty of time during his naps."

I actually do have plenty of time, but it is hard to get motivated. You'd think I'd be motivated by my post pregnancy body. I think I am satisfied because it is so much smaller than it was when I was pregnant (I was a huge pregnant lady), haha.

I am almost finished with the most modified version of P90X known to man. I have also taken several week long breaks when I've gone to visit family or what not, BUT I have 3 weeks and then I have completed the program. I'm still proud of myself even with how much I've slacked off, it's been hard. I have lost 39 lbs of pregnancy weight and I am about 6 lbs. from my start weight. Woo who! Almost there. I feel like it's been a pretty steady weight loss these last 5 months. 6 months was the goal I told people, I was secretly hoping it would be more like at my 6 week appointment... 6 months will work. :)

Big Boy Stroller

2011-11-22T12:37:00.001-07:00

A week and a half ago Carter rode in his stroller without his car seat. He looked like such a grown up boy sitting in his stroller. I've been trying to keep him off his head to help his flat spot and I was carrying him around when he wasn't sleeping AND trying to push the stroller. Dalan and I decided to try and let him sit in it and it worked great. I think he enjoyed being able to look at everything. Now I just need to keep an eye on those busy hands of his.

5 Months

2011-11-22T07:05:00.001-07:00

Carter turned 5 months old a week ago today. I feel like he learns new things over night. At 5 months our baby boy is doing all sorts of new tricks.

Teeth -Carter has cut two teeth! No wonder he wasn't sleeping well the last few weeks.

Playing with his toes. He kicks up his legs and stretches his socks to his mouth and sucks on them (sometimes he removes them completely and I'll find them in his bed all wet).

Rolling Over - He rolled over awhile back and then stopped. But now he is a master at rolling from his tummy to back. Tummy time rarely happens now, he rolls over right when he is set on his stomach.

Lying on his side -He'll arch his back and roll on his side. He is SO close to rolling over from back to tummy. I think he could do it, but he hates tummy time.

Coordination - The little booger can grab at things he wants now. We were at the store and I looked down and he had a dress shirt in his hands and after that grabbed a small sign.

Eating Solids - we introduced solids at 4 months and then I decided I would rather wait a little while and just recently started. He's not a fan. He clenches his mouth tight when a spoon comes close and then he tried to eat the paper towel when I wipe off his mouth.

Big Boy Bed - We bought Carter a crib and he prefers his mini pack n' play. He's almost out grown the pack n' play so we'll be forced to transition soon.

Toys and books - He's WAY more interested in toys and books now.

Carter rode in a stroller without his carseat! :)

Babies just get more and more fun as they grow up! :) We love our little man.

5 Months

Sweet Potatoes

On his side in his new crib.

Prayer and Parenting

2011-11-20T08:27:00.001-07:00

As some of you have heard Carter was a having a hard time sleeping through the night. He went from sleeping 9 hours at night to waking up 2 to 4 times a night. One night we were trying to put him to bed and he wouldn't stop crying. We tried everything: sang to him, gave him his pacifier, pumped his legs, took his temperature, tried to feed him again... nothing was working. He'd calm down for a few minutes and then start crying again. Until finally I said a prayer asking for help for my baby boy. Soon after, we decided to take off his pajamas and inspect every part of his little body. Once we took of his pajamas he was super happy. Our conclusion was that his pajamas were too small and getting uncomfortable. Our poor chubby baby. I felt like the worst mother. We put him in sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt and he slept much better.

I got our little 4-month old some new PJs - his old ones were size 6 month! I decided to skip the size 9 month (they fit him perfectly and at the rate this kid is growing he'd be in the next size in a week), and I bought size 12 month PJs.

He slept much better in his new PJs. Although this is a silly story that makes me laugh now, that terrible night wasn't funny in the moment. I am so grateful to have prayer in my life. I'm so grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me, and it comforts me to know that I can ask for help from Him.

Chubber

2011-11-18T09:00:00.001-07:00

Last Friday while we were waiting for Dalan to get home from work I had a little photo shoot with my little chubber.

Buddies

2011-11-11T10:15:00.001-07:00

Carter (4 mo.), Madeline (2 mo.) and Zeke (6 mo.)

Carter has two more buddies on the way at the end of January and beginning of February. Our poor nursery leader at church. She's going to have a handful in a little over a year.

Love Camera Timers

2011-11-09T12:47:00.001-07:00

Imagine Dalan and I taking these pictures at the Minnetonka Apple Orchard with our camera timer. It was a site to see.

I love my little family.

Flat Head

2011-11-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

Carter has always favored his right side. Doctors recommend babies sleep on their backs now because it reduces the chance of SIDS, which makes his little flat head worse. Apparently it's pretty common but I sure wish I had read about switching the direction of their head earlier. I've asked two different pediatricians about it and they both said if I try and keep him off his head while he's awake and switch the direction his head faces at night his head should round out on its own. One of the doctor's said that the only time they recommend a baby helmet is when their flat head is affecting how they look from the front. Dal and I are going to see what his head looks like around 6 months and then decide on whether or not we want to get a helmet. I took these pictures a while ago and I feel like his head is already starting to improve. It's crazy how moldable their little skulls are.

Tummy time is the supposed solution to Carter's flat head. Carter isn't a fan of tummy time, though, and will boost himself up for a few minutes and then lay down like this. He's got a big noggin to support on a tiny little neck. (And yes, those size 6 mo. pants are too small. They are now in storage.)

We Are Huge Dorks.

2011-11-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

You know those moments where you look around to see if anyone witnessed the embarrassing thing you just did? I was too embarrassed to even do that.

On Sunday at church Dalan and I were singing with the congregation "O Thou Rock of Our Salvation" out of the bulletin...

...and during the chorus we started busting up right after we sang with gusto "chorus after the first three..." say what?

Oops.

I was laughing so hard I started crying.

4 Months

2011-11-07T08:46:00.004-07:00

Carter is about 4 and a half months old now. Here are Carter's 4 month stats:

Height: 26 1/2 in. (95%)
Weight: 18 lbs. 5.2 oz. (90-95%)
Head: 43 1/2 cm. (95%)

-Carter is ~~used to~~ tolerating tummy time.
-Loves his Dad.
-Likes to be sung to..."Little Fish, Little Fish" is his favorite (Grams would sing it to him when she came to visit)
-Is starting to like to play a little rougher, Dalan will roll Carter on his side and pat his bum, then roll him to the other side and pat his bum again, and he'll laugh. (Can you imagine someone doing that to you? Sounds terrible.)
-Like to suck on his burp cloth, taggie...well anything really
-Is ticklish on his chest, neck and tummy
-Enjoys being read to (for a little bit)
-Loves anything with flashing lights (TV, computer, cell phone)
-Studies everything around him when we go on walks.
-Is happiest right after he is fed, in the morning he'll just sit of my lap after I feed him and smile at Dalan. It is SO cute.
-Is good about going to bed for naps, is not good about going to bed for the night.

Frumpy Mom

2011-11-03T07:06:00.001-06:00

Before I had Carter I talked about how I never wanted to be a frumpy pregnant woman. I said I was going to wear heels to church my whole pregnancy. That lasted up until I wore heels in my 3rd trimester and my feet were KILLING me.

I also said that I wanted to make sure I made time to get ready when I was a Mom, make sure I didn't let my self go.

Yeah, about that....

Last Friday night we were at the mall and I'm in sweatpants, sweatshirt and no makeup, Dal's in his casual Friday work clothes and even Carter is dressed for success ...and Dalan asked me what was on my sleeve...

baby poop.

Yes, ladies and gents I had baby poop on my sleeve and who knows how long it was there for. It is time to start taking care of myself. No more frumpy Mom.

Carter's 1st Halloween

2011-10-07T09:45:00.004-06:00

Our little boy is all ready for his first Halloween. Carter's Grandma got him this cute dragon costume. I love how his cheeks are squishing out of the hood.

TV Addict

2011-10-07T09:26:00.006-06:00

Carter loves the TV and computer. Anything with bright flashing lights really. The other day I was trying to nurse him while we were watching a movie and he was bending over backwards to get a glimpse, then when we would try and block his view he would start fussing.

General Conference

2011-10-07T09:08:00.003-06:00

Last weekend our church had a general conference where our church leaders taught us how to live happier lives. I always get excited to hear what topics will be chosen for the conference. It was a different experience watching the conference as parents; we really enjoyed it.

...even Carter was excited to listen.

Daddy's Bedtime Stories

2011-09-23T08:00:00.006-06:00

The other night I walk into our room and Dalan is reading The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell to Carter. Not exactly my idea of a bedtime story. I told Dalan that Carter would like baby books better. I grabbed one of Carter's books where the pages have different textures to touch while you read and said, "watch he'll love this book".

You look at the pictures below and see which story you think Carter liked more...

(Look at Carter's face)

Carter loves his Daddy.

3 Months Old

2011-09-22T07:11:00.002-06:00

Carter is 3 months and one week old today! It is amazing how much more aware of his surroundings in just the past week. He has started talking whenever I'm doing something else. Then once I talk to him or try and videotape it he stops. He's probably thinking the talking did it's job so no need to continue. He hates tummy time still, he'll do it for a little bit longer now and if we're lucky (well more like if he's lucky) he'll roll over. I'm surprised he doesn't use this trick to get out of tummy time more. I love being a Mom. I love taking care of him, holding him, bringing him with me to run errands. He's my little buddy.

Every morning Dalan wakes Carter up at 7:00 a.m. Dalan is SO excited to see Carter every morning. He always says, "I forgot how cute he is!" Dal is such a cute Dad.

Carter is teaching me that I have no say in his schedule. Just when I think I got things down the ne.t day Carter will eat and sleep whenever he chooses. Carter DOES however sleep through the night (around 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) most nights. Every now and then he'll wake up to eat, but he goes right back to sleep after he's done. He's a good sleeper, but not very good at going to sleep at night.

As you can see he's a very big boy. He is wearing 6-9 months and 6-12 months clothing. Sadly our year supply of clothing has turned into hopefully at least a 5 month supply of clothing. We'll see. He's growing SO fast!

We love our son. He's made our lives even happier!

My Sweetheart is 25 Today!

2011-09-15T06:42:00.008-06:00

Dal is 25 today! Happy Birthday Love! I wish you the best on your 25th year of life! :)

Hot Tub

2011-09-13T06:50:00.003-06:00

The next day we gave the pool another try, this time we tried the not too hot, hot tub. Carter didn't act especially thrilled, but he didn't cry the whole time either.

Love my baby boy.

Carter's First Pool Experience

2011-09-12T17:31:00.002-06:00

In California we went swimming at my friend Emil's pool. It was Carter's first time swimming in a pool. As you can see, he's not a fan of the cool water.

Carter Meets The Carters

2011-09-09T20:24:00.005-06:00

Carter finally met his Uncles and Great Grandma Carter along with my Aunt Shelly, Uncle Scott and a few of my cousins and their kids! He also bonded with his Grandpa Ron and Grandma Shelly. Dalan met up with us for Labor Day weekend; Dalan and I enjoyed showing off our baby boy.

Grandma Shelly loves Carter boy.

Carter and Grandpa Ron

Carter and Aunt Shelly

Four generations: Great Grandma Carter, Grandpa Ron, Mom, and Baby.

Uncle Blake

Uncle Zack before he left for college.

Super Mom Takes On Groceries

2011-09-08T21:24:00.006-06:00

Today I went grocery shopping. Let me tell you why that is noteworthy: Usually I go right before Dalan gets off work and go pick up Dalan on my way home because toting our chubber boy, all his stuff, and the groceries up three flights of stairs and through three doors can be quite the challenge. But today I went in the middle of the day - without help. I went to Costco, Rainbow Foods, and (of course) Target today. I brought Carter (asleep in his car seat) up to the apartment and locked the door and ran down the three flights of stairs and brought up the Costco box. He had woken up and was ready to eat so I tried to stretch him out a little longer and put him in the BabyBjorn and went and got the rest of the groceries. Of course I tried to take all of the bags in one trip and ended up having to put half of them down half way up the stairs and come back for them. Meanwhile Carter was crying because he was hungry and I don't think he was too into the Baby Bjorn. In the middle of all the chaos I had to laugh; I thought to myself, "Oh the life of a new mother - I need to write in my journal."

Ok so, maybe this wasn't blog worthy. But, someday when I have a driveway to a house without a billion stairs and I don't have to lock my car and my door each trip, this blog post will remind me to be thankful, or at least it will make me laugh!

Carter's First Flight

2011-09-07T08:22:00.008-06:00

Last week I went to visit my family in California. It was the first time that I would fly with Carter (and the first time that I would fly with Carter by myself). I didn't really think about how terrible flying with a baby could end up being until about a week before the flight and each day my imagination would run a little wilder with the horrific possibilities.

When Dalan dropped me off I was pushing our travel system, pulling my suitcase (to check) and caring his car seat base (I'm sure I was ridiculous bringing this, but I did) draped on my arm. As I said goodbye to Dalan he asked if I had everything ok, looking a tad concerned. I felt the weight of all of the baby stuff and looked up at him and started crying.

I assumed one of the people who worked at the airport would help me, but no one did. At security I had to take my travel system apart, take my sleeping baby out, take off my shoes, put liquids in bags, then after they had to do a test on the bottle I had pumped prior. Once I was through security, I felt so relieved. I'm sure I looked so pathetic the entire time, acting like I was an airport victim.

I had prayed a lot about the flight and boy were my prayers answered. As I put my travel system in bags a lady asked if she could help me, and held Carter for me. The lady I sat next to on the flight was a Mom and helped me while I got situated to nurse (Carter doesn't like to take a bottle from me), then she held him again as I went to the bathroom. Then the lady who had helped me earlier at the gate came midway through to check to see if I needed a break. Then she waited for me after she got off the plane to help me get my stuff put together. Carter ate during take off, slept and then cried during getting his diaper changed and a little after then hung out on my lap, ate again and slept. He was so good. Best first flying experience ever! (Notice how I even got a picture! :) )

I researched the best way to travel with your stroller. One website told me to look up the airline's damaged baggage policy. I did and it said if we protected our belongings and it wasn't the normal wear and tear they would reimburse us for the damage. I bought these travel bags for my stroller and car seat (nothing fancy) to protect them from the wear and tear of travel. Thank goodness I researched it because my stroller handle had a tear in the pad (even with the bags) and the bags had a ll these dirt marks on them. When I went to complain they acted a little hesitant about fixing it and when I told them that I had read their policy online and what it had said they took care of everything for me. :) I was so proud of myself. It was a good experience over all!

Minnesota State Fair

2011-08-26T11:03:00.007-06:00

Last night Dalan, Carter and I went to the Minnesota State Fair. It was my first time at a state fair (and my first time riding on a city bus): both very exciting experiences. We went with our friends the Dulgarians and the Longhursts.

Once we got there we headed into the birthing barn. Probably a little weird, but it brought back a lot of memories of having little baby Carter.

Then we decided to take turns buying food and splitting it between all of us so we could try as many things as possible. We had:

Fried Reeses

Fried Oreos

Turkey Leg

Potroast Sunday

Corn

Fried Cheese Curds (My and Dal's favorite of the night)

Sweet Martha's Cookies

Fried Pie

Alligator Saute

Some of those things are probably a little hard to imagine sharing between 6 people. Call us crazy, but we did it. :)

We also went on a giant slide. We had so much fun. We love our friends here in Minnesota. The babies were pretty good at the fair too! :)

The Birthing Barn

Our little family at the fair :)

Potroast Sunday

The Boys at the turkey leg.

I love my son.

Dal and Chris excited to eat alligator.

The Alligator Fries that came with the alligator meat.

Getting ready to go down the slide.

Woo who!

Best Buds

2011-08-22T10:02:00.005-06:00

Last week I watched my friend Courtney's baby boy, Zeke, for her Monday through Wednesday for a few hours each day. I survived with two babies! Haha. I was nervous, but it all worked out. Here are some pictures of the cute boys. Zeke is 2 months older than Carter but they are about the same size; Carter's such a big boy. Zeke kept putting his hand on Carter's - was SO cute. Zeke was a good influence on Carter. Carter HATES tummy time, but when I had him do it with Zeke he actually did a really good job (even though in the picture he's struggling - I got the camera too late). Carter kept looking at Zeke and when Zeke looked at him he smiled. It was SO cute.

Como Park Zoo

2011-08-22T09:56:00.004-06:00

Last weekend we went to Como Park Zoo with our friends the Longhursts. They have a son who is two months older than Carter. We are all excited for when we can take our boys to the zoo and they actually know that we're there.

Pee on Mommy

2011-08-22T09:24:00.005-06:00

WARNING: If baby bodily fluids gross you out, do not read.

Dalan has been peed on 6 times (twice in the face) and I had never been peed on (keyword: "had" - we'll get to that lovely story in a second). "Peed on," in this post means actually hit with the pee. I haven't been "peed on" because of covering Carter with a wipey when I change him and part luck. Carter will pee on Dalan in the half-a-second he is exposed: as Dalan opens the diaper and is lifting the wipe to cover him up.

Every time I would change Carter without a cover Dalan would be like, "WHAT?! You're asking for it!" I had total credibility/bragging rights. 6 to 0.

Today, during Carter's bath, as I was using the wash cloth that WAS covering up Carter to scrub his head I got shot in the face. I jumped and then covered him up and said, "Carter! You peed on Mommy. Daddy is going to be so happy!"

Then, as I was putting lotion on his body after his bath I spread each fat roll and sprinkled baby powder in it. I was watching the TV while doing this and after I was just about done I looked down to this...

He isn't sweaty, just covered in urine. He's sure happy with himself.

He peed all over himself; of course it sunk into all his little chubby rolls. So I washed him off and then reapplied baby powder (this time a lot less thoroughly). I looked up and saw that his boppy seat and the baby swing base was also covered in pee. I tried to figure out how it possibly could have gotten all the way back there. This is a diagram of what I think may have happened...

Carter's 2 Months Old!

2011-08-17T15:07:00.007-06:00

Carter turned 2 months old on Monday. He had his 2 month old appointment on Wednesday and his stats were:

Height: 25 in. (+98%)

Weight: 15 lbs. 6 oz. (+98%)

Head Size: 42 1/2 cm (+98%)

Off the charts in all three! Every time the nurse would do a measurement she would say things like, "Oh wow!" or, "What a big boy!" She asked if my husband was big --- nope, we're just average size people with a big baby.

Then she said, "What a big baby for a small Mama."

Of course it was time for Carter to eat right when we got to the doctors so I pumped for him. I was feeding him and he'd squeak as he'd swallow (Yes squeak. He makes this loud squeaking sound as he eats; the doctor told us that babies will squeak sometimes because their trachea's are not fully developed yet.) Then I had to take a break from feeding him so that the doctor could check him out and he screamed, he does not like to be interrupted from eating.

Overall, he was very healthy and he hated his shots.

Some of my concerns at the doctors were:

-How often should I be bathing him? (How ever often I want, around 1-3 days)

-He has only been eating for 6 minutes on one side at his feedings, is that ok? (She said whatever I'm doing looks like it's working just fine.)

-He favors his right side of his head and always wants to lay it that way. (Keep working on having on his left side.)

- He has dry skin on his face, but I was told lotion can cause baby acne and that he used to have it pretty bad. (Baby acne can be caused by dry skin as well.)

-What to do about the red skin between his rolls (Put baby powder with corn starch in it - emphasis on the corn starch. -- I didn't even know what baby powder could be used for before.)

Some things Carter's been up to:

-He smiles, and coos at us.

-He enjoys looking at himself in the mirror on his swing.

-He likes sucking on his hand when he sleeps or as he's getting his diaper changed.

-He likes it when Dalan and I are laughing.

-He doesn't like to be held lying down unless he's tired and even then you have to rock him until he relaxes in that position.

-He does a death scream at first if you take him away from eating to burp him and he's not satisfied.

-He doesn't get upset during his bath.

-He falls asleep whenever he's in his carseat going somewhere (in the car, stroller or shopping cart).

-He like to be on the floor, but doesn't enjoy tummy time (only will do it for about 30 seconds.)

- He is still swaddled and fights it unless he is a calm tired, and always works his hand out to suck on or sprawl out, but it seems like he is able to fall asleep better without his arms flailing around.

- He sleeps in a co-sleeper pack n' play in our walk in closet.

We love our little chubber.

P90X

2011-08-09T12:30:00.005-06:00

I am a week and a half through P90X only 10 and a 1/2 more weeks to go!

Oddly, my abs haven't been that sore, BUT my legs have been SUPER sore. Either I'm not working my abs out hard enough or they really did disappear.

Lookin' Good Carter Boy

2011-08-09T11:05:00.006-06:00

Carter was enjoying checking himself out in his swing yesterday. He just sat and stared at himself, occasionally smiling and talking to himself. He's become a lot more aware of his surroundings recently. It is fun to watch him learn about the world around him... or just himself.

Cedar Lake

2011-08-09T09:42:00.006-06:00

We went to Cedar Lake as a family (that's so fun to say! ...as a family :) ) on Saturday. Taking a baby to the Lake makes things a little different then what we are used to. Carter spent most of the time in his car seat except for eating, we were worried about him being out in the sun. He still wore his swim suit and looked the part. :) When we first got there we set up our stuff close to the water, then we fed Carter, hung out with him and then put him down for his nap. Dalan and I played in the shallow part of the water to be close to Carter, then we would take turns swimming out far so that one of us could keep an eye on him while the other swam out. Dalan and I raced by timing each other's times. Dalan won, BUT in my defense the timing was done by counting so it wasn't super accurate. I think the life guards thought I was crazy as they watched me try to beat Dalan's time (not knowing what we were doing). I did the breast stroke as fast as I could without opening my eyes (I don't like opening my eyes under water without goggles). I would have to look up every so often to make sure I was going the right direction. Then on my way back to Dalan I got so tired I had to stop 3 times to catch my breath and then at the end I crawled on the sand through the water -- I just had a baby, ok?

We are excited for next summer when Carter can play with us in the water and it is safer for him to be in the sun. I read, Dal took a nap, and we enjoyed the summer sun. After the Lake we had a few things to pick up at costco and got a bite to eat. It was fun going out as a family. Having a baby makes life more complicated, but SO much more rewarding. We love our Carter boy AND summer!

Father and Son

2011-08-05T08:46:00.004-06:00

Carter loves his Daddy and his Daddy LOVES him.

Dalan is so good at calming Carter down. When we put Carter to bed and he starts crying Dalan can go in and calm him down by placing his hand on Carter's chest and vibrating it a little and talking to Carter. Works every time. Dalan will also calm Carter by holding him with both hands away from the body and bobbing him up and down.

When Dalan comes home from work he is always so excited to see Carter. He picks him up and loves him. It's so cute.

Dalan is such a good Dad.

Matching Double Cowlicks

Nap Time

Burping Carter

Pioneer Day BBQ

2011-08-04T15:32:00.006-06:00

This cute family has a barbecue with the recent Latter-day Saint hires and interns from Target for Pioneer Day. Their son works at Target and they do it to help everyone to feel welcomed to the area (aren't people in Minnesota so friendly?). They even provide all sorts of pamphlets and brochures with information about the area for everyone to take home. We went last year while Dalan was doing his internship and were excited to attend again this year. They live right on a lake and let people go out on their canoe, have yard games and DELICIOUS food. The barbecue was during Ann's visit so she came along with us. :) We had a lot of fun.

Carter getting ready to go to the BBQ can you tell that he is SO excited?

Carter loves his Grams

Dalan LOVES watermelon; if he wasn't already married to the most wonderful woman in the world he would marry it.

The boys in the canoe, aren't they cute? (I took this picture especially for Allyse, I knew she'd love it.) This is the only picture that Dalan isn't eating watermelon in.

Gull Lake

2011-08-02T22:19:00.008-06:00

Carter 6 1/2 weeks old

Getting ready for his first swim.

Swimmin' with his Daddy.

My stud muffin

Some friends of ours invited a group of us to a Cabin at Gull Lake for a weekend and let me tell ya, it was a blast! We changed our for sure were coming to a maybe (we didn't realize how unknown days can be with a new baby) back to a yes we're just going to go for it (we didn't realize how helpful a get away could be with a new baby).

After packing from 12:00pm to 4:00pm with nursing in there somewhere, a trip to Target, a trip to Old Navy, a trip to TJ Max, a melt down, eating dinner, another nursing session, and loading up the car we were on the road!

...wait not yet, another trip to Target, then we were on the road!

...ha...nope...another trip to Target to get my cell phone that I had left there THEN we were on the road?

No, one other thing...ANOTHER trip to Target (luckily, this time we only got as far as the parking lot) to pick up bottle nipples, we were on the road.

Then, we finally arrived at Gull around 11:00 pm. The 2 and a hald hour drive took us four hours with 7 hours of packing. It was very frusterating.

Then our air mattress had a hole in it. The good news is that our baby slept for 5 hours that night and the next day was SO much fun. :) We went boating, wake boarding, tubing, swam around the dock, hung out with friends, enjoyed delicious food and soaked up the summer sun. The morning had started off cloudy and a little rainy and then turned into the perfect day, warm not too humid and ended with more rain after we were all done playing.

Carter had his first dip in the Lake. He didn't seem to care too much about it. While Dalan and I swam around the dock he hung out in his shaded car seat. Our friends were sweet and hung out with him while we went on the boat. He was a really good baby the entire trip.

We were very glad we went! We had a lot of fun. Thank you to our sweet friends for inviting us!

6 Weeks

2011-07-27T22:14:00.005-06:00

I had my 6 week doctor's appointment today and now I am feeling the urge to work out and start workin' off the extra baby weight. I am 20 lbs. from my starting weight. I gained 45 lbs. during my labor. I've heard some people say with nursing the weight comes right off and others say it doesn't come off until after you stop nursing...I'm hoping I'm in the comes right off as you nurse category. And baby weight or not my muscles have turned to mush and it's time to get them back!

I decided last week that I'm going to start P90x this Monday.

Wish me luck.

Grams

2011-07-27T21:57:00.006-06:00

Grams AKA Ann my Mother in law came to visit this last week (if you want your family to come visit have a baby. :) -- notice all the visitors we've had in the last 6 weeks?) We couldn't have been more excited for her to come. We showed her our favorite sites in Minneapolis, chatted it up, took a tour of Target Headquarters, celebrated Ann's soon to be birthday and loved Carter. Carter is now very responsive and couldn't get enough of Ann singing this fish song that I MUST learn now after watching him smile as she sang to him. I am one lucky gal to get along so well with my Mother in law. The only downer of the trip was a too soon good bye. We loved having her here!

We look forward to seeing her and the rest of the family in just a few months!

Mall of America

Stonearch Bridge

Blurry pic of Dal shakin' his booty on Stonearch Bridge

Birthday Dinner at the Tin Fish at Lake Caljoun

Minnehaha Falls

Our little man (5 1/2 weeks old)

Meeting Great Grandma and Grandpa Faddis

2011-07-27T21:43:00.003-06:00

My Grandparents came to visit Minneapolis two weeks ago for a week and we couldn't have had more fun with them! They treated us to several dinners, we visited the Mall of America, had lunch at Dal's work, and adored Carter. We loved being with them and showing off our new baby boy!

I've Turned Into A Baby

2011-07-11T21:47:00.006-06:00

Since having a baby I have slowly turned into one. I sleep, eat and cry. Luckily I cry a lot less than a baby and not every time I am hungry or have wet myself.

I love being a mother. I really enjoy my baby boy. I love holding him, feeding him, talking to him...the dirty diapers I don't love so much. What I have had a hard time adjusting to is having very few hours that I am not sleeping, eating or taking care of the little one and I'm not sure how Mom's do anything else. I make a eating and shower a priority and sometimes eating is the only thing that get's done. On a really good day I have one outing (like a walk or trip to the store), on a good day I get something done at home (made dinner or cleaned some part of my apartment), on a not so good day I shower maybe.

Weekends are all really good days, because Dalan is home all weekend. He takes one of the night time feedings and does almost ALL the diaper changing (am I a lucky gal or what?).

I have no idea how anyone is able to have a newborn baby and care for other children. It amazes me. Hopefully it doesn't take me TOO long to figure out this whole Mom thing so that Carter can have siblings. Although, I was pretty proud of myself and went to all 3 hours of church on Sunday. My big feat over the weekend.

On a happier note, Carter is as adorable as ever. Dalan and I think we can make him smile. Call us nieve new parents, but he will smile when we talk to him and he'll do it repeatedly. Either we can make him smile or the boy has a TON of gas.

Here is Carter at 5 weeks old

Grandparents Say What?!

2011-07-05T14:12:00.006-06:00

My parents are officially grandparents! They came to help out a few days after Carter was born. Their arrival was anxiously awaited by Dalan and I -- we were pretty scared being on our own with the new baby boy, but we survived and are pros now (because 3 weeks af parenting makes you a pro right?). It was SO nice to have their help. It was fun to have other people adore our baby as much as we do. :) Grandparents are great.

Each day we'd go out on a quick outing, so the 5 of us didn't go crazy in our one bedroom apartment. We went for a walk at the Stone Arch Bridge, a visit to the Mall of America, a tour of the Sculpture Gardens, a meal at the Tin Fish at Lake Caljoun, and probably went to Target 100 times. I was pretty proud of myself for being as active as I was my first week of recovery. (I guess it is easy when you have so much help.)

Here are some pictures from our Sculpture Garden adventure.

Our Family

They probably look more like they could be parents than we do.

Can you find my Mom?

Me and my Dad.

Dad having a little snack.

Dalan, Dad, and their new friend.

My hubby is so strong.

Feeding the horse.

Carter wanted to be in a picture with a sculpture, so we let him be with this baby sculpture.

May I Have Another Blowout, Please?

2011-07-05T13:41:00.010-06:00

Our little family (Carter at 1 week old)

Our chubby boy getting burped.

Carter and Mommy 1st night home

Carter's first bath

Carter at 1 week old

My first few weeks of being a Mom have been more than what I could have hoped for. I have been extremely spoiled, Carter is healthy, eats well and sleeps well. Lucky much?

Recently things have become a little more realistic as my new parent adrenalin has started to wear off and Carter has had more wake time and has become less of a sleepy newborn. It's interesting how I will feel so exhausted at night and he will have a blow out and I will wonder how much longer I can go until I pass out and then he'll cuddle into me and my heart melts and I am suddenly ordering 100 more blowouts to experience that moment again.

I can't believe how much I care about Carter. It can be a little frightening at times. I even cried the first time Carter had a more violent spit up because I was so worried about him.

Dalan and I couldn't love this little boy more. We spend our time watching his little movements and laughing at his funny mannerisms. When I was pregnant we used to day dream together about things we'd do together as a family and it's fun experiencing them now.

A week and a day after Carter was born we went to the doctors for a check up and he already had gained back his birth weight (he lost 4% of his birth weight at the hospital) and surpassed it weighing 9 lbs. 14 oz. We have a big boy on our hands. It's a blessing having such a healthy baby.

As for the whole postpartum stage, I am feeling really good: Another area I have been blessed. I have heard from many friends how real the baby blues can be and I am so grateful I've been feeling good in that department. Also, it has been fun to watch my body morph from pregnant to not pregnant. It is amazing all that our bodies are capable of. Each day my tummy and ribs shrink. I've been surprised that the postpartum body hasn't bothered me too much, it's mostly just amusing. Good news is, I don't have to hold my belly when I laugh to contain the jiggling anymore.

Overall, life is good: Not a lot of sleep and days and nights that are all mushed together, but we are a very happy family. :)

Carter's Blessing

2011-06-30T19:01:00.005-06:00

On Sunday we blessed Carter at church. I was a little nervous to bring him to church only being a week and a half old but, we wanted my parents to be there for his blessing. My cousin Lindsay and her husband Matt also came to his blessing. It was fun to have family there to share the special day with us when we are so far from all our family. We wish everyone could have been there.

It was really special for me to listen to Dalan give Carter a name and a blessing. It's amazing how much joy Carter has brought to our lives and what a child has added to our family dynamics.

Carter's blessing helped me to remember that someday he is going to be all grown up and will be contributing to the world. I'm excited to watch him in every stage of his life.

Birth: A Dad's Story

2011-06-29T16:41:00.000-06:00

You've heard Kristy's story. She did an awesome job with the details, but I thought I'd give you my version, copied from my journal.

Warm tears of joy bubbled up from a place deep inside my soul as I held my new baby boy close to my chest. In my arms lie a life that had not existed 9 months earlier, a life that had been created by my genetics, a life that Kristy and I were not sure if we were going to be able to create, and he was perfect. Everything about him was perfect: his eyes placed perfectly apart, his heart-shaped lips and mouth formed into a cute triangle, his little chest rising and falling against mine with each breath, and his overly-chubby cheeks smushed against my sternum. Eleven hours earlier we had walked into the hospital, nervous and excited.

Kristy's "due" date had passed a week and a half ago, and as we walked into the hospital early that morning her belly protruded like she was smuggling a beach ball up to the maternity floor of the hospital. Baby Carter didn't want to come on his own, so we were headed to floor 6 of the hospital to be induced. We walked into our delivery room at the hospital to find a small but sufficient space: a hospital bed for Kristy, a chair for me, a warming station for baby, a bathroom, and a TV mounted on the wall. As the nurse showed Kristy to the bed where she would be spending the next 11 hours in hard labor, fear, excitement, gratitude, wonder, and anxiety all fought for the number 1 spot on my emotions play list. We still couldn't believe that we would have a child in less than 24 hours.

Had I foreseen the sweet scene with my son held tightly against my chest, I likely would not have been so up tight during the first 5 hours of our hospital stay. Kristy had been given oxytocin, a hormone to stimulate contractions, and the contractions were coming so frequently and ferociously (a peak once every minute and a half - essentially no breaks) that they had taken her completely off of the hormone, which didn't help the frequency or ferocity of Kristy's contractions. With great difficulty I watched Kristy endure terrible pain. I found myself praying that I could suffer the pain to relieve Kristy of hers. My heart ached for her but there was nothing I could do but encourage her, touch her softly, and remind her of the goal which we had yearned for and anticipated since long before she was even pregnant.

Eventually an epidural was placed, the pain subsided, sighs of relief were sighed, and rest was had. Four about five more hours Kristy's body was hard at work contracting every minute or minute and a half, working the baby down towards the birth canal. Eventually (finally) it was time to push. And of course, with another step forward, pushing provided a new challenge. Each time Kristy would push in conjunction with a contraction Carter's heart rate would slow from 110 to about 80. 80 was unacceptable, and it was torture for me to watch the monitor with each push, seeing visibly the distress that my son was experiencing as his new heart slowed it's beat to cope with the pressure and trauma of each push. Again, there was nothing I could do but encourage Kristy. For 69 minutes she pushed, I watched his heart rate dip and slowly rise again, and she pushed again. For 69 minutes I pushed with Kristy, held my breath while his heart rate dipped, and sighed when it came back again.

The end finally came when Kristy had nearly pushed him completely through the canal. His heart rate dropped in the 60's, my heart dropped into my stomach, the doctor made a small emergency procedure, and on the next push our son was born! He was placed directly on Kristy's chest, cried a bit, and changed from a blue to a healthy pink. There he laid on Kristy for about an hour, learning even then that his parents loved him dearly. Which brings us to where this story began: a sweet moment between me and my son; a moment so special and sacred that it can't quite be articulated, only felt.

I sure do love my baby boy.

Presenting Carter John Rohrer

2011-06-28T16:25:00.005-06:00

Carter John Rohrer was born on June 15th, 2011 at 6:29 p. m. He weighed 9 lbs. 7 oz. and was 22 inches long. His head was 35 cm in diameter.

He's a big boy!

As you all know Carter took his time coming to our family. On Wednesday, June 15th (a week and a half after his due date) we headed to the hospital with full tummies, a full nights rest and perfectly packed hospital bags -- being induced has it's advantages.

In a way, Carter's late arrival was a blessing. All the waiting for Carter had replaced my anxiety for labor with excitement and longing.

We traveled in the rain to the hospital, SUPER excited and at the same time wondering if this was really happening to us. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 a. m. When we got to our labor and delivery room and they started me on antibiotics for group B strep. I needed to have it in my system before Carter arrived to prevent him from getting sick (I had been nervous that I wasn't going to have enough time to get the antibiotics through my system before I had Carter, yet another blessing of being induced). After about an hour of being on the antibiotics the induction began. First the nurse checked to see how far along I was. I was dilated 5 cm and 80% effaced. The doctor decided to break my water and put me on oxytocin. First the doctor broke my water at around 9:00 a. m. (something I hadn't pictured being planned), and little to nothing came out. Luckily, in my ultrasound earlier that week my amniotic fluid levels had looked good so I wasn't too worried.

Next we waited for my contractions to begin (meanwhile listening to a girl crying in a near by delivery room...a tad scary, but we were still mostly just excited to get things going). After being on the oxytocin at 2 mL for about 30 minutes mild contractions began (typically a woman being induced takes 8 to 16 mL). My cervix was checked again, and I was dilated 6 cm and 90% effaced. The doctor said I could start my epidural at any time because I was dilated as far as I was, but we decided to wait on the epidural to let my body do it's thing for awhile. About 30 minutes later they turned up the oxytocin to a 4 mL and my contractions quickly accelerated. I started to have contractions with peaks every minute to minute and a half -- it felt more like one constant contraction. They turned down the oxytocin and then turned it completely off (I was on the oxytocin for a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes). My contractions never slowed down. The nurse said that my body must have just needed a little push. I labored through the constant contractions for 3 hours. When I started to realize that my contractions may never slow down I decided to get an epidural. 30 minutes after I had asked for the epidural the anesthesiologist and his team were in our room administering it. He asked me to tell him when I was having a break from contractions and then he'd give me the epidural. Break? Ha.

Soon after I got the epidural I was in heaven.

Dalan had been by my side through everything prior, whispering encouraging words to me, getting me ice chips, being my ears and voice, he was amazing. I couldn't have done it without him. He sweetly held my hand while I received my epidural. He even kept our parents updated on the labor.

After I got the epidural I talked on the phone with my parents and Dalan's Mom. Dalan and I hung out while things continued to progress. An hour later I was dilated 10 cm almost 100% effaced with just a little bit more thinning to go. They had me sit up to try and get the baby to drop on his own.

Later we tried pushing with the nurse. When I pushed Carter's heart rate would drop. The nurse said that she wanted to wait for the doctor to try pushing anymore just in case of emergency. I sat up and let baby drop more while we waited for the doctor who was finishing up a c-section.

The doctor came and we began pushing. My contractions were still coming close together. I would push for one contraction, take a break, and turn on my left side and wait for Carter's heart rate to improve (for some reason Carter's heart rate would improve faster on my left side). Carter crowned and on the next push his heart rate plummeted to the 60's. The doctor had me pushing during and in between contractions. She said that they try and avoid doing episiotomies but that she would like to do one with my permission because of his low heart rate. At that point all I wanted was a safe and healthy baby. After the episiotomy he came out the next push. I pushed for a total of 69 minutes.

I held Carter my skin to to his skin for an hour after he was born and Dalan and I got to know our new son Carter. It was a very special moment. I love that boy more than words can describe. It was a very special moment we all shared together.

Welcome to the world Carter! We love you!

Want to Hear More About Babies? Good.

2011-06-13T12:18:00.008-06:00

We had a doctor's appointment today. They did an ultrasound to make sure the baby is doing alright: He's doing alright. I am dilated 4-5 cm and 60% effaced. I guess the effacement can change based on how much pressure the babies putting on your cervix. The baby is now at a station 0, nice and low now. Dalan said he's just waiting for the little guy to fall out while we're walking. We will be induced on Wednesday... exciting stuff! But, we're still hoping he comes on his own before then.

Here are pics of Dal and I as babies! I'm hoping our baby boy is a mini Dalan. :)

Baby Kristy

Baby Dalan

41 Weeks

2011-06-12T15:01:00.003-06:00

41 Weeks

Ok, so I did make it to 41 weeks after all. My doctor asked if I wanted to be induced tomorrow and I chose to wait it out (yes, I'm that crazy). I will need to be induced by either Wednesday or Thursday though, so I am happy to say I will not have a 42 week picture, even if the little guy (or maybe not so little guy by that point) doesn't come on his own. Tomorrow we have a doctors appointment to make sure that he's doing ok. I am really excited for my doctor's appointment!

The good point about him taking so long is that I was feeling super scared/nervous/anxious for labor and now I am I am more just excited. :) Hopefully my next blog post will be a pic of the little guy in person! :)

I was due on Sunday.

2011-06-09T14:14:00.006-06:00

The only good thing about going past your due date is answering the question, "When are you due?" and answering last Sunday. :) I don't know why that is so fun to say.

On the other hand, the down side of going past your due date is feeling like you're broken (even though it is more the norm than going before or on your due date). It also feels like I am farther away from having the baby than I was a month ago. I'm not sure how that works?

I have finished my project that I wanted to get at least close to done before the baby came. I made a scrapbook of our first two years of marriage on shutterfly.com (I had 2 giftcards). Then, our house is completely ready for our little boy -- it can't take any more nesting. My mother-in-law, Ann, suggested I go nest at the neighbors since I've run out of things to do around here. :)

Dalan and I were talking the other night and he said he was going to miss prego Kristy. Oddly enough I think I'll miss me being prego too. All the automatic friends i have everywhere I go, the smiles people give me as they walk by, the fun little kicks I get from our baby boy. I mean, being pregnant has been my life for the last 9+ months! Not sleeping on my back, not eating lunch meat, carrying around a snack and a water bottle wherever I go - I have even started to think that everyone has a hard time bending over. I get anxious when I see someone drop something because I know how hard it will be for them to pick it up. Then I realize it won't be hard for them because they don't have a giant belly.

... Speaking of giant bellies, I hit a guy in the back with mine while trying to get to a table for lunch. I forget that I am thinner side to side then front to back. I often just forget that I'm even big, then I see myself in a picture and I am so surprised.

It's been so long since I haven't been pregnant that I've even forgotten if some of the things I experience are pregnancy symptoms or if they have always happened. For example, have I always gotten charley horses when I stretch after waking up?

Looking back at my pregnancy there are also some pregnancy symptoms I never experienced. I have never been weird about smells, and never had any SUPER intense cravings. Although I did have my favorites. I wanted sushi every day (don't worry I would get imitation crab or cooked fish) and once I came to terms that we couldn't afford eating sushi everyday I would want one of the following: California Burrito, twice baked potato, Annie's whole wheat or multi-grain white cheddar mac-n-cheese, or chicken nuggets. Wait a sec, these sound a lot like cravings, maybe I did experience it. Honestly, I've always had cravings so maybe it was just that it wasn't anything different from before I was pregnant? I didn't have a hard time bending over until the last month. I never threw up.

I've had a pretty nice pregnancy really. I'm just really excited to meet our son.

Thank you pregnancy for being so kind to me, let's call it good and do it again sometime shall we?

P.S. Got my membranes stripped Wednesday. Not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I am dilated 3 cm still, 80% effaced this time.

24 years old and 40 weeks prego!

2011-06-05T17:21:00.006-06:00

40 Weeks

It is Sunday afternoon and no signs of baby coming anytime soon. Hopefully I do not have a 41 week pic. I was still dilated 3 cm and 70% effaced at my last appointment. The Dr. asked if I wanted to have my membranes stripped and I told her no... I thought I'd at least give the little guy until my due date to get here on his own.

My real birthday was Friday. We had already celebrated last weekend in case the little guy came early, but Dal said that I had to wait to open my presents until my real birthday. I've had the never ending birthday because of the unsurety of the baby's arrival. On my real B-day we went to a BBQ for Dal's work and then we went over to his work and picked up his stuff and my b-day presents (surprise, I was wondering where he was keeping them) and had some ice cream. Then we went home and opened my birthday presents and cards and he sang happy birthday to me. There was something special about Dal singing happy birthday to me all by himself. It's fun celebrating with our little family and experiencing life with Dal. That evening we went and saw X-Men and ate some pizza and ice cream at Costco.What a special treat being able to spend most of the day with Dalan!

From my mom: a belgian waffle maker that cooks 4 at a time! Now I don't have to use Farien's or Allyse's, or eat Courtney's waffles anymore :)

Dal's present left me a note, "Sorry, I couldn't make it for your birthday I'll be here soon!" It's a diaper bag, one of my favorites of the ones I've seen.

Birthday Day

2011-05-29T10:22:00.016-06:00

My actual birthday is on June 3rd, but since we're not sure when the little guy is going to come Dalan planned a Birthday Day for me on Saturday, May 29th. He took me on a Minneapolis food tour and he took me kayaking. Our first stop was breakfast (in our PJ's) at Al's Breakfast, a diner that was built in a alley between two other restaurants. The restaurant is just one long bar and there is always a huge line that goes along the wall behind the bar and outside in front of the building. The breakfast was delicious; we got the Hawaiian Omelette and a blueberry pancake to share, and we waited in line for at least an hour to get it. Was it worth it? ...kind of. Breakfast was delicious, but if we ever go back we'll go Monday at 6:00am (the lady said that's their slowest time).

The line and the classy interior of Al's Breakfast. Not the roomiest place for a big prego belly.

Next we took a break from the food tour and went kayaking at Lake Calhoun. Yes, Mrs. 39 weeks prego went kayaking. :)

39 Week Belly Bump

Our next stop on our food tour was to find the best Juicy Lucy. Juicy Lucy's are these hamburgers that are filled with cheese. There are three restaurants that claim they have the best Jucy Lucy's (Matt's Bar, the 5-8 Club, and the Nook), and two restaurants that claim they started it (Matt's and the 5-8 Club). We went to the Nook last week with friends, so we went first to the 5-8 Club and then to Matt's Bar. We split a burger at both. Our favorite was...drum roll please...5-8 Club. Although, to be fair we feel like they had an advantage because they had different cheeses to choose from and we both LOVE pepper jack cheese. As far as the ORIGINAL Juicy Lucy, we think Matt's Bar takes the cake.

Dal in front of Matt's Bar.

Matt's Bar Juicy Lucy.

Then we went home and got ready for our last stop of our food tour: Dinner at Chino Latino, "Street Food from the Hot Zones – the tropical belt." There were SO many delicious options it took us FOREVER to decide. We finally decided on Popocatepe (fries erupting with black beans, queso fresco, guacamole, sour cream, chile de arbol and pico de gallo) and Coconut Shrimp Curry (shrimp with pineapple, red bell peppers, Thai red curry and jasmine rice). It was delicious and expensive. We sat out on their patio seats in Uptown. It was a fun feel and it was fun to do something a little fancy.

Dal and the Coconut Shrimp Curry

We were given hot towels and fortune cookies at the end of dinner and mine was ridiculously coincidental....

"You're pregnant. No, that's just weight gain." Apparently they have offensive fortune cookies.

Me and Dal after our dinner.

It was a perfect day. It was so sweet of Dalan to plan such a fun Birthday Day early so that my 24th Birthday didn't pass by without celebrating with all of the other exciting things we have going on (HOPEFULLY) soon. It was also nice to have one last hurah before we are no longer just the two of us. Most of the things we did we won't be able to do with baby. It was nice to have a fun filled day and to be less focused on waiting for the little guy to join us.

I am the luckiest girl in the world to have Dalan as my hubby. He is so considerate and so sweet to me. Our day was amazing, but we love doing anything with each other. Going for a walk, running errands or looking at stuff in Costco. He's my best friend.

I am so in love with him.

Thanks for everything Dal! I love you!

P.S. Those of you that are wondering I was dilated 3 cm, 70% effaced and at a station -2 (I guess I was at a station -3 last week) and measuring 39 cm still at my 38 week appointment. It seems like our little boy is pretty comfy in there still. I am only having Braxton Hicks, just tightening nothing that hurts. We'll keep ya updated! We're SOOOO excited!

I Cry At Church (2) and Tornadoes

2011-05-23T08:06:00.006-06:00

Remember my cry series in the beginning of my pregnancy?

I cry about burritos

I cry at church

I cry at work

Well, apparently I'm finishing my pregnancy the way I started: hormonal. I started feeling a little dizzy at church and when I went to tell Dalan I was feeling weird I started to cry. I was pretty sure I wasn't feeling bad enough to cry about it. Then I went into teach music after I got myself together and when they asked me to sing I felt like I was going to cry. I decided it was time to go home. I went and got Dalan, started to cry again, and everyone who saw me probably thought I was going into labor (I wish!). Everyone was so nice about it, they just took over my lesson and Dalan and I went home to rest.

We came home to the sound of a siren outside. We flipped on the TV and saw there was a tornado warning in our area.The wind had really picked up so we grabbed some water and my purse in case I needed my insurance card to go to the hospital (wishful thinking or what?) and went downstairs into the garage to sit in our car. We called Dal's Mom and listened to the radio for more tornado news.

The storm passed over our apartment, but a tornado never touched down. What an eventful day! The best part was how Dalan and I had taken the warning seriously and were sitting in the garage when our neighbor came down and opened the garage door and started smoking. We felt extremely safe (insert sarcasm). I don't think he got the tornado memo and was probably wondering why we were sitting in our car in the dark garage. It doesn't help that we look like we're teenagers. It also doesn't help that we were kissing (kidding about the kissing!).

In the end, we're safe and at least I didn't cry about the tornado.

38 Weeks

2011-05-23T07:38:00.005-06:00

38 Weeks

At my doctors appointment last week my doctor told me that I was 3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. I was measuring 39 cm at 37 weeks, so it sounds like we have a big boy on our hands. She said that if he is 3 cm over this week that we will do an ultrasound to check him out. I have had few (if any) contractions, which I am a tad disappointed about - surprisingly. I should probably be counting my blessings though right? I guess the more I progress without contractions the better. Dalan and I are so excited; things are still not feeling real. I don't think it will hit us until after the little guy is here.

I am starting to swell: really attractive. The nurse congratulated me at my apt. at 36 weeks for still having ankles...oh how things have changed in just a week and a half. My ankles have disappeared and my shoe options are minimal. Other than cankles, I am feeling pretty good for being as far along as I am in my pregnancy. Saturday Dalan and I went on a walk around a pond by our house, and then that afternoon we went swimming with some friends. Luckily my friend had a bathing suit I could borrow. I was planning on just wearing my normal swimsuit with half my belly hanging out, and throwing a free Freshetta Frozen Pizza shirt over it that Dalan got from work. Her swimsuit looked a lot better :). We played HORSE (a basketball game where you have to copy the other person's shot). I felt so nice and light in the pool that I had to remind myself that I was pregnant the whole time so I didn't get too intense.

So yeah....38 weeks, woot, woot!

Golf Ball Hail Storm

2011-05-16T23:59:00.006-06:00

Last week Dalan and I were on our way back from the temple and I was on the phone with my Mom, when all of a sudden we heard a tornado warning on the radio. The warning just happen to be in the exact area we were heading towards. I said to my Mom, "There's a tornado! I have to go!" Dalan just loves it when I am super dramatic. After I frantically told Dalan to turn around he informed me that the tornado warning was until midnight and that we wouldn't have anywhere to go. He eventually convinced me that we'd be just fine going home and we headed home.

I called my Mom back, who meanwhile had thought that her daughter had driven into a tornado.

Luckily, the tornado didn't hit our county, but these bad boys did...

No those aren't golf balls, just GIANT pieces of hail. Luckily, we pulled into our garage right as those started to fall from the sky.

37 Weeks

2011-05-16T23:44:00.003-06:00

37 Weeks

I am now 37 weeks pregnant! 37 to 40 weeks is considered full term --pretty exciting! At my doctors appointment last week I was dilated 2 centimeters and 50% effaced, which doesn't really mean anything. You can stay that way for multiple weeks. It still made everything feel more real to me, though.

I thought I felt big before, but now I am feeling REALLY big. I'm at the point that it is a lot harder to move my body around. Rolling over is probably the hardest thing to do, harder than bending over to pick something up off the ground. All of my longer shirts I used to be able to wear even though they weren't maternity are now little belly shirts. Luckily I won't keep growing for TOO much longer so the maternity clothes that I do have (that cover my belly) will work fine for the next few weeks.

Look What I Can Do!

2011-05-15T08:20:00.010-06:00

Last week (I was 36 weeks pregnant) I painted my own toe nails. Impressive, ay?

36 Weeks

B is for Baby Shower

2011-05-15T07:27:00.012-06:00

My friends here in Minneapolis, Alli (a photographer) and Rachel (a designer), threw me a baby shower. Lucky me, right? Right. Here are a few of the amazing pictures Alli took of the shower.

The shower was inspired by vintage alphabet blocks (in picture below) everything was labeled with the letter it begins with (how appropriate for a Kindergarten teacher).

C is for Cookie.

Hi.

W is for Water.

P is for Pregnant. Like I said: everything was labeled. :)

Starting in the foreground on the right and going clockwise: Ashley, Liz, Melissa, Alysse, Farien, me, and Crystal enjoying the yummy appetizers.

Doesn't Melissa look so happy with the presents I'm opening?

The girls playing the games.

It was a fun night. Those girls wore me out!

Mom's Birthday Week

2011-05-05T08:06:00.008-06:00

My Mom came to visit for a week as part of her birthday present from my Dad! It was so fun to have her here. We celebrated her birthday all week long. We showed her around down town, went to the Mall of America, had some of the local cuisine, and went to the movies.

It was fun to show off my pregnant belly and let her feel the baby move around. She even came with me to my doctor's apt and was able to hear his heart beat. Our last prego class was the week she was here, so she came with us and got to go on the hospital tour. It was fun to have her here and share in the excitement of the end of the pregnancy!

I sure do miss my family! I'm glad that she'll be visiting again soon and next time with my Dad! :)

Talent Show

2011-05-04T07:28:00.010-06:00

At church we had a talent show. When Dalan told me that he signed up for it, I asked him what he was going to do and he said, "Maybe magic tricks or juggle or something." I would have been stressing out about my talent the entire 2 weeks prior, but he just learned some magic tricks off of a youtube video before we left for the talent show that night. He did a great job too! The kids loved it; he was so cute with them. He's going to be such a great Dad!

Dalan makes my life so entertaining. :)

Sadly the video isn't downloading...but here are some pics!

35 Weeks

2011-05-02T07:17:00.003-06:00

35 Weeks

I'm getting so excited!!!

A few days ago I received an e-mail from a friend of mine expressing her love for motherhood. She said to enjoy the new born stage because they grow up so fast, and she said to make time to just hold our little baby. I was glad she said something. I feel like I've been counting down this last part of my pregnancy (and still partly am) instead of enjoying it. It is such a neat experience to be pregnant, and Dalan and I should be living it up in these last few weeks of being just the two of us.

I'm going to enjoy the last few weeks. I'm REALLY excited to have my little baby here though. :)

Sunday Dessert

2011-05-01T18:10:00.004-06:00

Dalan and I always seem to crave some type of dessert on Sunday. OK, maybe everyday; but Sunday dessert cravings seem to stand out above the rest. We believe that Sunday is the Sabbath Day and don't go to the store on Sunday's. We usually don't have one of the ingredients we need ... which can make making a treat a little tricky. We've even called our friends and invited them to come and make dessert with us - and then asked them to bring half the ingredients. Really classy, I know.

A few weeks ago I decided to try out a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. Last time I made them I didn't follow the steps correctly and they still turned out yummy. But today Dalan and I made them together (we had all of the ingredients even :) ), followed the recipe precisely, and they were AMAZING. In fact while we were eating them I said, "I need to blog about these," and Dalan said, "No time, must eat."

Crazy boy - thought I was going to blog instead of eat cookies.

Alright, so ready for the link to the most delicious cookies ever?

They do have a little more intense steps then normal cookie recipe, nothing too crazy though. You just have to separate an egg white from an egg yolk and follow the recipe's order. I'm such a pathetic cook that those extra steps qualifies it as a "more intense" recipe. They also call for unsalted butter. Anyone care to clue me in on what unsalted butter is good for? Dalan thinks that unsalted butter is healthier and they were trying to make the recipe healthy and I had to convince him that this isn't a healthy cookie recipe. He doesn't trust me, I've tried to make too many unhealthy recipes healthy.

Enjoy the cookie recipe, and trust me it's not healthy. :)

34 Weeks

2011-04-29T07:40:00.006-06:00

34 Weeks (Easter)

Dalan and I have now purchased almost all of the stuff for the baby (pics to come soon). We also had our very last pregnancy class this week and went on a tour of the hospital. It's nice to have more and more things in place as we get closer to our baby boy's debut.

As for me and pregnant life, I don't think I realize how big I am... until I see a picture of myself. I'm starting to feel less cute and pregnant and more just big and pregnant. I have had a little less energy recently, but feel great considering that I am almost 8 months pregnant. I feel like we are getting SO close to the end!

Having a baby takes a long time. I feel like I have gone through waves of excitement throughout my pregnancy. It's like it will hit me that this is really happening and then it takes forever, and then it'll hit me again. It's hitting me more consistently at this point and I have a feeling will continue to for the rest of the pregnancy. :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T09:41:00.003-06:00

Carrie Underwood - How Great Thou Art (Music Video)

I thought this video was appropriate for this Easter weekend. :)

I just wanted to say how grateful I am for Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for his sacrifice for me personally. I have felt his love. I have felt my sins be forgiven. I know that through him even though I have sinned, I can be clean and return to God after this life and be with my family forever.

It truly is a miracle. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

If you want to hear more about Jesus Christ. If you want to read about Easter.

Baby Gear!

2011-04-19T04:32:00.007-06:00

Isn't he going to be a cute Dad?! :) (And yes, we are twiners.)

We made our first big baby purchase! We finally chose a car seat and stroller. After a ton of research and trying out strollers at Babies R Us, looking at strollers and car seats online, checking out consumer reports and Baby Bargains (thanks Grandma June!) -- we are thrilled to be done with this decision (we are such new parents).

We chose the Chicco KeyFit 30 for the Carseat and the Chicco Trevi for the stroller. The car seat was rated #1 on consumer reports and it seems easy to use (I guess we'll see how it goes once baby boy gets here). The stroller is light weight and folds like an umbrella stroller. It takes up little room in our trunk leaving room for groceries or whatever else we have back there, yet it has all of the perks of a travel system, cup holder and snack tray, recline, basket, all wheel suspension, and parent cup holder. We're pretty excited about it. It felt like Christmas when we got it in the mail (we ordered it on Target.com) during their big baby sale. That was another perk, the sale plus our Target discount made the combo a nice price. :)

I tried out the car seat with this stuff animal Farien gave me for my baby shower. :)

33 Weeks

2011-04-18T15:09:00.004-06:00

33 Weeks

33 weeks seems really far along. 7 weeks to go! ...kind of.

Last week I had my first freak out about labor. I also survived my first freak out and I am oddly looking forward to labor now. In our prego class last week we saw all sorts of pictures of miserable looking women during labor, which isn't the most comforting thing to see right now (there's no turning back at this point)...not that I thought the women would all look happy. It just hit me that this was going to be hard and painful. I tried not to cry throughout the rest of our class and tried to calm down, and eventually did...then we started working on some coping strategies. We held a piece of ice cube and tossed it back and forth between our two hands and she compared this to the beginning contractions and then we had to hold a handful of ice cubes and squeeze them and she compared this to the later contractions (she wasn't necessarily saying holding ice cubes was comparable to labor, but that this was the difference in intensity between the two contractions. Then we practiced some visualization and breathing techniques while holding the ice cubes, which surprisingly did make the time go by faster. It was SUPER comforting to feel like I had at least some control over my body.

Our partners then coached us through holding our ice and then we had to coach them. Which was a brilliant idea, I had no clue how awkward coaching someone through something uncomfortable was. I appreciate Dalan so much. :) He's been amazing through this whole pregnancy and has been so sweet in preparing for the big day. I sure love that boy.

Then we watched a movie of a baby coming out and surprisingly this was also very comforting...it reminded me that this whole thing was for this sweet new baby and not just for torture. It also helped to see her go from miserable to overwhelming joy in a matter of seconds.

I can do this whole having a baby thing.

Notice my attractive outfit in my picture? Dalan's v-neck and these gray sweats are what I really wear everyday. These sweats are amazing and this v-neck and one other of Dalan's are the only comfy shirts that cover my belly at this point in the game.

I had a baby shower this last weekend, it was wonderful. I felt so loved. Pictures and SEVERAL shout outs to come. :) Today I made a list of the last remaining baby items we need to purchase before the baby comes and it is pretty small. Everyone has been SO generous.

I'm starting to feel ready for this boy to get here. :) I'm SOOOOOO excited!

Family Night

2011-04-14T08:23:00.000-06:00

On Monday, Dalan and I went for a walk at Stone Arch Bridge for family night. We thought we'd take advantage of the warm weather we've been having and go outside. Spring is finally here (minus the snow on the weather report for Thursday). It was in the 70's this past Sunday.

Near the Stone Arch Bridge there all sorts of walking paths along the river. There were so many people outside walking around taking advantage of the warm weather. It makes me so happy to be outside. We were talking about how excited we are to go walking with our new baby boy this summer. It was a fun night. After we walked around we went and got a frozen yogurt from Costco.

Haha, I just realized we never took a picture of the actual stone arch bridge. Just the surrounding bridges and area. :)

Minnesota Timberwolves vs Miami Heat

2011-04-13T07:36:00.000-06:00

Two weekends ago Dalan and I went to our very first Timberwolves game. We are now that much closer to being real Minnesotans. They were playing Miami Heat and Dalan was especially excited to see LeBron James play. We still rooted for the Timberwolves and just awed at LeBron James during the game.

Baby's first basketball game... kind of.

32 Weeks

2011-04-12T07:41:00.004-06:00

32 Weeks

Ok, so I am getting pretty big. Sometimes I forget how big I am and will surprise myself when I look at myself in the mirror.

It's funny how when you're pregnant everyone is your friend. People will call out things to me as I walk by....

"When are you due?"

"Do you have a name picked out?"

"Boy or girl?"

"Any day now!" (This is one I just smile at....oh, actually I have 8 more weeks...I'm just huge.)

"A preview of things to come." (As a couples daughter waves at Dalan and I.)

The funny thing is that my first thought is, "How did they know I'm pregnant?" Then I remember my large hint I carry around with me. I always end up looking alarmed and confused. Luckily, when Dalan is there he can answer questions for me. When I'm alone I give them a confused look and ask, "What?"

They'll ask again, "When are you due?"

"Oh ...um June 5th." Having to think about it, as if I never think about it. I love it when people ask about it, I wish I could show that initially.

Speaking of thinking my tummy is a secret...my friend was teasing me about telling people that I am pregnant. I guess I am at the stage that I can just assume they figured it out. The conversations went something like this...

"Do you think you could split up the groceries into two different bags, I can't lift things that heavy because I'm pregnant."

"Honey, there is no hiding that at this point."

And the other conversation...

"Hi, I'm Kristy, I'm pregnant." (This was the really weird one. What kind of introduction is that?)

You'd think I'd have this whole pregnancy thing down by now.

...maybe by 8 months pregnant?

31 Weeks

2011-04-03T20:33:00.005-06:00

Time feels like it is going by extremely fast. I can't believe that there is a single digit number of weeks left (9 weeks, CRAZY)! Dalan and I start our 4 week/4 session prego class this week.

I've been forcing myself to not buy any baby stuff until I was farther along and I am getting to the point now that it's time to start making all of those big purchases! Yay! By big purchases I mean a car seat, stroller, pack n' play (aka the baby's nursery) and a few other things.

This whole thing still feels somewhat surreal. Hopefully as we go to our classes and start to buy things everything will seem a little more real ...maybe not. At least I'm sure it will be real when the little guy starts coming!

General Conference

2011-04-03T20:13:00.005-06:00

This weekend was General Conference. General Conference is a meeting that happens twice a year in our church. Each General Conference our church leaders speak to us on a variety of subjects. The conference is broadcast to people all over the world.

I was really excited to see what the talks were going to be about this conference. The speakers prayerfully decide on what to speak on. It is cool to know that the things spoken about are the things that God wants us to know.

Usually a certain talk or a few talks stand out to me from the rest, but this conference I feel like I took a little bit from several of the talks. This conference was really exciting for me!

It hit me this conference how inspired the speakers are and what a large and diverse group of people they are speaking to.

If you're interested in hearing some of the talks you can find them here.

Pizza, Tangled and Turkey Meats

2011-03-31T07:56:00.004-06:00

One of our favorite things to do is eat pizza and watch a movie. :) Dalan and I used to get a pepperoni pizza at the Craigos Outlet at our local grocery store in Rexburg atleast once a week. It was this delicious gourmet pizza for $5! :) Sadly, in Minneapolis the only $5 pizza is Little Ceasars which I don't really care for. Instead I've been making a lot of homemade pizza lately. I found a delicious whole wheat pizza dough recipe online that is DELICIOUS and super easy to make. We usually put turkey pepperonis (I don't even think they are better for you, but they trick me into feeling like they're better for me...I think I have a mild case of Orthorexia; only I eat fake healthy foods), bell peppers and onion on our homemade pizzas, but recently I've gotten a little creative. These are two of the pizza's I've tried...

Bacon, Egg and Asparagus Pizza - I used turkey bacon (of course! I'm such a nerd) and we dipped it in ranch dressing - DELICIOUS!

Smoky Corn & Black Bean Pizza - Only, I added chicken, red onions, cilantro and left out the tomatoes. This one was yummy dipped in ranch too.

More fun pizza recipes. I want to try the green pizza out and maybe make up some of my own. :)

...I seriously love eatingwell.com for recipes.

SO last night I got crazy and made our traditional pizza with turkey sausage and rented Tangled. I know, we're party animals, what can I say?

The pizza was delicious.

(Why is it that amateur pictures of food always look kinda nasty?)

Tangled was cute.

Dalan was pretty cute too.

Fun pizza and a movie night.

...And this is how Dalan feels about taking pictures for a blog instead of eating and watching our movie.

Macy's Flower Show

2011-03-30T12:19:00.007-06:00

I met up with Dalan for lunch today and we went over to the downtown Macy's to check out the Macy's Flower Show. I'm not sure why they have a flower show at Macy's? I think my Mom and my Grandma Carter would have appreciated it more than Dalan and I did. We're not really museum people we're realizing. I like the idea of museums, but we're speed museum or exhibit visitors. We walk in and look around for about 5 minutes and are good to go. Hence how we were able to go on his lunch break. :) Although, I would recommend checking it out if you're in the Minneapolis area; it's a nice chance to get out of the house in this continuous winter weather. Seeing plants and flowers was a nice welcome to spring (well, that is if spring comes at all). Here are some other pics from the flower show...

Dal being artsy with the camera.

This one reminded me of my Mom's flower arrangements.

This one reminded me of my brother-in-law Jared, with all of the sticks (he's an amazing interior designer, with a "Metro-organic" style).

Pretty flowers and a fun time with hubby; I love visiting him at work!

Spring is almost here I can feel it!

30 Weeks

2011-03-29T09:29:00.004-06:00

30 Weeks

I am 3/4 of the way through my pregnancy!

Is it weird that I feel less fat now than I did a few weeks ago? I think it is because the bigger my belly is, the smaller my waist feels (I know, I'm crazy).

Well, there's definitely a little guy in there. Dalan and I will watch my stomach do the waive. He sure is having a good time in there.

We were skyping with my parents on Sunday and I was showing them how I can touch my toes (they didn't believe me that I could... I might have cheated and bent my knees a little ...but it was only a little! Impressed?). Dalan said it was like a dog doing tricks. Sadly, it kind of was...I was very proud of myself.

Dalan and I have been researching strollers...I think this will be one of the hardest baby products to choose. There are a million types and it seems like you can't get everything want in one stroller, you have to pick and choose what's most important. The search continues, but our favorites so far are the Combi Cosmo EX (it folds up small and is super light, only we read some poor reviews for steering) and the Graco Metrolite (it is super light and has great reviews but, it's bulky), both of the strollers come as travel systems as well. Any other stroller suggestions out there?

We are going to be starting our pregnancy class next week! It covers the basics of labor. I feel like it will help us out a lot. I have never felt so ill prepared for anything, especially with all of the research and prep we're doing.

Alright, that about sums up the baby update. We are so excited to meet this little boy! :)

Mall of America (w/ modeling pics)

2011-03-28T07:29:00.007-06:00

Dalan and I are ready for winter to leave. We're starting to get cabin fever, so this weekend we decided we'd go walking indoors. Friday we went downtown and walked the skyways. Then Saturday we went to the Mall of America and decided that we'd walk around every level of the mall once. We've graduated from walking around Wal-Mart in Rexburg to walking around Mall of America in Minneapolis. We spent four hours there. It took us about an hour a level (including peeking in stores, bathroom breaks for this prego lady and of course taking modeling pictures). We also went out for lunch and used the rest of the Panda Express gift card that my grandparents gave me for Christmas. The gift that kept giving all the way into March. :) It was a fun day.

We're going to be parents...our son is in for a treat.

Pregnant hat model.

My hott hubby.

Taking a break from our exhausting modeling (I bring snacks with us wherever we go). I look like such a shrimp in this picture; I always forget how much shorter I am than Dalan.

Luckily, with my entertaining husband I think I'll be able to last a little longer in this cold weather. Although we wouldn't mind if spring came next weekend.

It's Spring's Turn Now

2011-03-23T07:06:00.007-06:00

This is what Minneapolis looked like this morning...

Just a few days ago Dalan and I were excited that the snow had melted and that we could finally see what the grounds at our apartment building look like. Well, turns out Minneapolis and Rexburg have a too much in common (i.e., the one thing they have in common). They both let winter bully the other seasons and never let them have a turn. Poor spring, at this rate he won't be seen at all.

My Mom bought me some long sleeve maternity shirts when I was at the beginning of my second trimester and I remember asking her if I'd be too hot because the end of my pregnancy would be when it was warmer. Well needless to say I'm not warmer. Now, I'm wondering if I need to get a maternity coat.

All I can say is that I LOVE having a heated garage and a short commute for Dal. When everyone else is backed up on the freeway due to snow it means no traffic in the city for us. :)

Prego Friends

2011-03-20T19:21:00.007-06:00

29 Weeks

Me 28 weeks and 6 days and Courtney 36 Weeks

Me and Courtney in our real pregnant poses.

Note: Sorry for the awkward cropping, my pregnant pose was a tad un-lady-like and I decided to spare everyone and crop it out. The photographer (Dalan) didn't mention the lovely pose to me when taking the picture (boys **rolls eyes**). Thanks honey.

Courtney is my cute prego friend here in Minneapolis. She is 7 weeks farther along then I am. It has been fun to compare pregnancy stories and notes with her. She's even having a boy. Our little guy already has a friend and he's not even here yet! Courtney and her hubby, Pete, came over to watch the BYU game last Saturday. Sadly it was the first basketball game I have watched this season. Basketball is the only sport I actually enjoy watching, too.

I am now hooked and look forward to the (few) games to come! Jimmer is ridiculous.

I'm a Terrible Music Leader

2011-03-13T16:51:00.009-06:00

28 Weeks

(That shirt fits a little different than in my 19 week pic)

Yes, I am 28 weeks prego: third trimester is here! Everyone said 2nd trimester is great... I didn't really feel pregnant 2nd trimester (which I am guessing that's why everyone says it's so great) I'm calling 3rd trimester my favorite at this point, although maybe I'll change my mind when I'm at the end of it, but I was pretty excited to experience pregnancy and until just recently my pregnancy hasn't felt much like pregnancy at all: No cravings, no sickness, no hard nights - definitely have had some moodswings, but today I'm at the good part of the swing so life's great.

Other prego news: at this part of my pregnancy only a few dresses and a shirt fit me out of all my pre pregnant clothes. The baby has been breech at my last two doctor's appointments and I'm getting a little worried that he prefers that position. I can watch the baby move around now. He's very active in there. I guess we're in for a treat when he get's here.

On to other news!

If you are musically talented at all and are disgusted with people who aren't then don't read the next paragraph. Thanks. :)

I am the children's chorister at my church, which is pretty ironic since I don't play an instrument, don't read music, and don't sing. It actually can be a little embarrassing. And it's probably more embarrassing that I haven't taken more time to really learn the correct method and that I've been doing it for the last 2 months. I can, however, manage children and teach the song, so does it really matter if my leading is off beat? Or that I've made up the way I end the song? Or if I've made up all my other chorister hand motions?

Other than my lack of musical ability, it's been really fun teaching kids again. I love coming up with fun ways to teach the songs and to get the kids involved. I also (freakishly) enjoy the classroom management aspect to it all.

My brain, though, is slowly turning to mush. Today we had to sing the happy birthday song twice because I kept forgetting to insert the child's name in place of children. I didn't even get it the second try and had to just apologize to the poor little boy. I blame it on pregnancy. That's one of the lovely parts of pregnancy, you can blame just about anything on it. "I can't lift heavy things," "I can't bend over," or "I can't think." I was telling someone today how I won't know what to do after pregnancy. I'll have no scape goat anymore. They said then I'll have tired-mom brain. It just keeps getting better. Sometimes I don't even have to blame it on pregnancy because people will do it for me. I'll be apologizing and they will say, "Oh don't worry! You're pregnant."

I Love My Family

2011-03-08T08:13:00.004-07:00

I was so excited to move on with our life and leave our college lives behind that I didn't have much time to think about how scary moving to a new place can be (which I'm not really one to talk since we had a little test run this summer...but still....it's a little scary). I feel like it has helped Dalan and I come together; we are adjusting in this new place and don't have other sources to lean on - just each other. I think it has been a great experience for us.

I was watching this video (see below...can you tell that I love the Mormon Messages YouTube Channel?) and Elder Eyring talked about how families can teach us to love like Jesus Christ. I was thinking about how true this is.

When Dalan and I got married we devoted ourselves to one another. That can be a vulnerable spot and gives a lot of power to the other person. It also opens up huge possibilities for happiness. I never thought I could feel this way about someone else and care so much about another person's happiness. I really do feel like it has shown me how to love in a purer way (and still is teaching me...I can be such a brat). I imagine that having a baby will teach Dalan and I about love that much more. From what I've heard, babies don't exactly love you back - or really know you exist for the first little bit. It's all about serving them and getting little in return, but you love them just the same. It's amazing how God has set up these amazing learning opportunities for us in this life to learn and grow and become better.

My Wife is 27 Weeks Preggo

2011-03-06T18:26:00.004-07:00

27 weeks

Kristy is 27 (TWENTY SEVEN) weeks pregnant! That's about 6 months for anyone who isn't "math-y". Well you've pretty much only been hearing her side of the story - and I guess that makes sense since (those words don't belong together - anyway...) she's the one who has the baby pushing all her organs out of the way and and making her look like she's hiding a basketball up her shirt.

But husbands go through pregnancy too! For instance, when Kristy feels like she just can't live without brownies or ice cream or some other delicious dessert, it is my terrible fate to EAT IT WITH HER! And worse, I have to eat whatever she doesn't finish. Woe. is. me.

Can't you see how pregnancy is just so hard on me? Just kidding, Kristy must be, like, the easiest pregnant wife in the history of the whole world (do they keep histories of those things? If they do, who's "they"?). I digress. (I have to be honest, I don't know what digress even means. I just hear/see other people say/use it and I think it sounds cool). I digress in my digression.

Where was I? Oh yeah, 27 weeks, pregnant, and happy (most of the time. Right now I'm writing this post 'cuz Kristy was too frustrated/sad to do it herself and she's reading it and saying it's not accurate because she's frustrated/sad). Still true - she's the best.

So in summation, I just took a title, a picture, and 4 (now 5) paragraphs to tell you that Kristy is 27 weeks pregnant. Call me the time burglar.

-The Time Burglar

BYU-Idaho - Good Times

2011-02-27T18:06:00.008-07:00

My little brother just got accepted to go to BYU-Idaho! I am so excited for him. I still remember when my acceptance to BYU-Idaho. Sadly, it involved crying because I had my heart set on BYU - you know, rooming with my best friend from high school and all that. ...BUT as soon as I got to the tiny town of Rexburg and met my roommates I knew that it was where I was supposed to be. BYU-I was the perfect fit for my personality.

I have SO many great memories at BYUI. From being on my own for the first time, to the great friendships I made, from wonderful professors, to meeting my sweet hubby. I love BYU-Idaho. I'm so excited for Zack to go there. Dalan and I have already talked about going and visiting him at school. I like how I'm acting like I went there 20 years ago, we just left a little over 2 months ago.

I'm so excited for Zack! His personality will fit in perfectly there. :) It's crazy to think my little brother will be going to college!

While I'm reminiscing why not add some pics from freshman year. Oh, and no - that is not plaque on my teeth. It's braces. I had braces my first semester of college. Every girls dream come true - wearing braces in college. Nothing more grown up than braces.

I-Night (right before starting my first week of college)

Our first meal as college students.

Campus activity - Jello slip n' slide (summer semester is seriously the best).

Me and the gang at the Jello slip n' slide.

Before the 80's dance.

Congratulations little brother! I'm so happy for you!

26 Weeks - Motherhood Video

2011-02-27T17:41:00.008-07:00

26 Weeks

PS Can you do a PS at the beginning of a post? I got that sweater for $5 at the "Underground Target" AKA the Target-donations part of Salvation Army. It is currently at Target for $20. :) Love a good deal. (Trust me it's a lot cuter than it looks in this picture...we obviously are not pros at taking pictures indoors - or outdoors - or at all. I like how I brag about it and then have to convince everyone - or the 5 people that read my blog - that it's cute).

I can't believe I'm almost into my 3rd trimester. I came across this video a while ago and decided to watch it tonight. This video reminded me of a church talk my Dad helped me prepare for Mother's day when I was in high school. I remember him bringing up the point that God trusted my parents with his children. It was such a crazy thought to me and still is.

But I know that I am a child of God. I know that I was sent to this earth to my parents. That means that God trusted my parents to take care of one of his children. Talk about responsibility.

This video not only reminded me of what my Dad told me, but helped me realize that Dalan and I are being sent a child of God. That means that God is trusting us to take care of one of His children. Thinking about that responsibility makes me want to work even harder at being the best Mom I can be. It also makes me think about all of the things that I will be responsible to teach our future son.

Weekend with the Walter's Family

2011-02-22T11:59:00.010-07:00

Last weekend my old college roommate Jade, her husband Bryan and their adorable two year old Ammon drove 7 1/2 hours to come and visit us for the weekend (yes, we're that cool). We hung out at our apartment and went to the Mall Of America for the day on Saturday. Ammon went on his first amusement park ride while we were there (The Mall Of America has an amusement park inside of it, it's ridiculous). All weekend Ammon would touch my tummy and look up at me and say, "baby." Watching their cute family made me more and more excited to have our little guy! Jade and I clicked right away in college and our husbands get along great, which is fun ....It was SO fun to have them visit! :)

They were supposed to stay until Monday, but had to leave Sunday to avoid this huge storm that hit Minneapolis (Oh Minneapolis weather, you are crazy). We were so sad. We had a lot of fun with them! We can't wait to get together with them again!

Sadly Jade forgot her camera and then I just forgot to take pictures (I'm so disappointed in myself), however I did get this video of Ammon showing off his sweet moves. I'm still trying to decide who he got his dance moves from, Jade or Bryan.

This is Jade and I at our joint 19th Birthday Surprise Party in College, I thought I'd attach an old picture of us since we didn't take any. :(

25 Weeks

2011-02-22T11:26:00.004-07:00

25 Weeks

I am getting close to my 3rd trimester! The second trimester has gone by so fast. Last night the baby would kick and by the time Dalan would put his hand on my tummy to feel it the baby would stop. Then right as we were going to bed he starting moving like crazy. Dalan felt the baby kick, and kick, and kick... until we finally just decided to go to bed and the baby just kept groovin' in there.

The baby has been way more active recently, although it could be that I am just feeling it a lot more now that he's bigger.

On other pregnancy news, I haven't been as emotional as the 1st trimester (keyword as) and getting bigger hasn't really bothered me. Only a little when I am trying to find flattering, modest maternity clothes. Which I am slowly finding or just becoming less picky. :)

Overall, I'm loving being pregnant. I'm SO excited to meet this little guy, but I'm really enjoying this time right now.

The Things We Do For Love

2011-02-16T07:18:00.005-07:00

For Valentine's Day I made one of Dalan's favorite meals, Mole. It's this Mexican dish with chicken in a chocolate and peanut butter sauce -- sounds pretty nasty, but it's delicious! It's always this special treat when we go to Dalan's house and his Mom makes it for us. :) I've had the recipe FOREVER, maybe even from before we were engaged and had never gotten up the courage to make it.

The recipe includes cooking a chicken, which to some may not sound like that big of a deal, but for me is quite intimidating. I have never cooked a whole chicken before...ever. I am more of a boneless chicken tenders in a bag girl myself.

That morning I called my Mother in law, Ann to get the recipe and cooking instructions for Mole and it all sounded pretty easy. I even told Dalan at lunch that day how it was going to be way easier than I thought (which to be honest the recipe overall really wasn't so bad besides the whole chicken part). Ann told me I'd probably want to separate the chicken into 5 different pieces, then cook the chicken on the stove top...no sweat, right? Wrong. Lots of sweat and tears. When I unwrapped the little chicken out of the bag and lifted him (I apparently decided it was a boy...I'll continue to call him a chicken and not a rooster though) up by his little arms I was so sad/disgusted... this may have been a tad bit more traumatic being I am pregnant. Then I checked the inside of the chicken to make sure everything was all cleaned out already... and as the packaged had claimed, it was (yes that is how pathetic I am, I didn't even have to take anything out of the chicken). When I looked inside I saw his little chicken spine... it was so sad.

I decided at this point this was definitely blog worthy and went to get my camera, I then attempted to take a picture of me with the chicken in one hand and in the processed spilled chicken blood on the floor and our kitchen rug. Then after a few more attempts of picture taking and realizing how ridiculous I was, I got back to work (the things I do for my blog). I began to separate the chicken into five different parts, this was the most horrific experience. For some reason I thought I would just cut up the chicken into different parts and didn't take into account that his skeleton was still intact. Needless to say, I decided yesterday that I will be buying my chicken on the bone in parts from now on when I make Mole (yes, that was an option and I chose to do it with a whole chicken...crazy much?).

In the end the Mole was delicious (If I dare say so, as good as Ann's :) ), the kitchen rug was in the washer and we had a perfect evening.

And, for any of you wondering how big I look at the 24 week mark...

24 Weeks

Dalan My Valentine

2011-02-14T07:57:00.002-07:00

Isn't he such a hottie? :) I thought I would follow in my Dad's footsteps and send a Valentine shout out to my Valentine, via blog. Dalan and I have been racking our brains of an inexpensive, out of the ordinary, pregnant friendly thing to do for Valentine's Day (he originally planned on taking me ice skating, but later decided that probably wasn't the best idea). With all of those limitations he still has managed to make this day feel special. What really makes me feel special though is how he does little things everyday to show me how much I mean to him. I feel so blessed to be married for all eternity to my best friend. Everyday with Dalan feels like a holiday. It has been a little scary moving to a new place, but doing it together makes it an exciting new adventure. I never knew that I could feel this way about someone else. He is everything to me!

I love you Dalan Rohrer! Happy Valentine's Day! XoXo

Target Man

2011-02-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

During Dalan's training at Target he spends one week in a Target store. He learns about how the store functions and learns to do a variety of different in-store jobs (returns, checker, stocking shelves, unloading freight, etc). Dalan has loved the experience and finds everything about the way the corporation runs fascinating. He's so funny, he makes everything he does fun. He'll come home and tell me stories about cracking jokes with customers or getting to know the store staff. I'm so glad that he's enjoying his training at Target as much as he has.

During his training he was placed on the frozen foods team (I was crossing my fingers for baby gear). One of the employees he worked with during his internship is on his new team (which is ironic, out of all of the employees at headquarters). He's enjoyed his team and is anxious to see if he stays on the same team after training or if he get's placed on a different team. Whenever Dalan tells people that he works for Target (my doctor for example) they get so excited. Our Doctor went on and on about how she is his job security. I'm glad people love Target. :)

Take a Tour of Our Apartment!

2011-02-10T05:23:00.015-07:00

Welcome to our apartment...

Straight ahead is the front door. The coat closet and kitchen are to the left. The hallway is to the right.

This is on the wall next to the front door. My dear friend Allie designed the layout of The Proclamation to the World: The Family for me. :)

Coat closet.

Kitchen and little built in cabinet and shelves.

Kitchen

Kitchen, living room, dinning room and door to balcony.

Now back to the hallway (fun that we have one of those now)...

Bathroom.

Laundry Room (yes a whole room, with storage even)...love it.

Bedroom and closet door.

Yes those were piles of books on the ground in that last picture. Anyone have a beautiful dark wood book shelf for free? Doesn't hurt to ask...

More of the bedroom. We are using a cardboard box (with a stereo we're trying to sell inside of it) as a nightstand.

Walk-in closet. I feel so fancy.

Oh and you've seen the pic of the view from the balcony, but here is the actual balcony.

And that is our new apartment. :)

As you may have noticed we are in desperate need of a bookshelf and nightstands. Rolling over to pick my cell phone up off the floor is only going to get more difficult as I get further along in my pregnancy. You may have also been wondering where our baby's room was. Dalan and I went with a one bedroom for the first year to save money. Our baby's nursery will be a pack n' play for the first 6 months of his life. Some may think we're crazy; in fact I think we are a little crazy. We can't live in a one bedroom apartment once he is 1 year old (Minnesota law or something) so we'll be moving into a two bedroom by that time.

We love our apartment so far. Especially having so much closet space and a laundry room with storage! Our kitchen is a lot smaller than what we were used to in Rexburg, but we've made it work. For the overall package, price and commute we couldn't be happier!

Ultrasound - 23 Weeks 3 Days

2011-02-10T04:53:00.015-07:00

Yesterday I went to first visit at my new doctor's office here in Minneapolis. I LOVED my doctor and the clinic. SUCH a relief! It was my first doctor's visit without Dalan (now that he's a working man), which was kind of sad. I even cried (although, crying doesn't mean as much these days), at the time I thought I was having an ultrasound though. I'm ok with doctor's appointments on my own I just really wanted to be at the ultrasounds with him.

They scheduled me for an ultrasound the same day and it happened to be a half hour after Dalan got off work so it all worked out perfectly.

They asked me to drink 24oz. of water an hour before the visit and because I was going to be hangin out down town for awhile before the visit I drank it all an hour and 40min. before the visit. Bad idea, I thought i was going to pee my pants 40 minutes before my appointment.

Dalan was going to meet me at the appointment after work and had never been to the office, and my cell phone was dying so I text him directions and then hoped he found me ok. I went up to the office early and told them I was going to wait for my husband. The sonographer insisted that I got started and told me that it would be an hour long ultrasound and Dalan would probably be there by the time we got all started and would see plenty. Well, they took me in about 10min. early and Dalan got their 4 min. late and it was the longest 14min. of my life. I think she could tell I was sad and she let me relieve myself just a little bit and then I overheard her on the phone with the front desk telling them to send Dalan back as soon as he got there (I love how she let me pee to make me happier -- the things that make pregnant women happy). Dalan got there eventually and we got to see our sweet baby boy. He was folded in half like a taco the entire ultrasound and didn't move until after when we went over the results with the doctor (He's already stubborn although, I think part of it was that my bladder was so full he couldn't move around).

I was so happy that Dalan could be there. :) It makes me SO happy when I see him get excited about the baby. Here are some more pics from the ultrasound of the little guy.

The arrow is pointing towards his face, the bottom of the nose and his yawning mouth. This one is kind of hard to see.

His feet.

His face and belly.

He must have been sleepy, I think he might be yawning again, his head is resting on his arm and hand.

The arrow is pointing to his chin, and then his little mouth and nose are above that (I think he might have Dalan's cute lips) :).

His legs are up over his body.

We had a nice little photo shoot didn't we?

23 Weeks

2011-02-06T20:53:00.005-07:00

23 Weeks

Alright, so tonight I decided that fashion blogging is not for me, nor is taking one picture of me a week.

This is how Dalan feels about it...

(This one's my favorite.)

(How is he so handsome in such a silly picture?)

If you couldn't tell he doesn't care much for it either.

Never Finished Moving

2011-02-04T10:42:00.006-07:00

Just when I think I'm all done moving in, something else comes up. Moving is the never ending to do list. Change address, check. Unpack boxes, check. Restock condiments, check. Buy toilet paper, check. Register car in new state, darn ....and that means that we also need to get new licenses (which involves taking a written driver exam and yes I still got nervous for the one in Idaho and I am nervous for the one in Minnesota).

Hopefully THIS will be the last thing on my "move-in" to do list, besides bedroom furniture shopping (see what I mean there's always something else).

On that note, here are some pictures from the move here.

Dreary isn't it?

What a blessing that with all of that snow and a 20 hour drive we made it here safely. :)