Thanksgiving Break and Our Growing Boy

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We certainly did! We were lucky enough to get to go to Colorado for the week and we had an absolute blast! It was Kyler's first trip to Colorado and his first plane ride! Our flight to Colorado was in the afternoon around nap time, so he was awesome for that flight. The flight coming home was in the late evening, just before bedtime - fussy time. Luckily he slept for about 30 minutes and was relatively content for 30 minutes, which meant he was only fussy for about the last 30 minutes of the flight.

We had Thanksgiving at Kyle's house this year and ate some pretty delish food, as to be expected! I made Kyler this super cute turkey shirt for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately since my sewing skills are sub-par and Kyler is prone to blowouts these days, it took me as long to make it as he spent wearing it! He looked so cute and after only about an hour wearing his Thanksgiving outfit he had one of his better blowouts all up his back. And I didn't even get a very good picture of his outfit! Oh well, at least he looked cute while it lasted!

We also had Kyler's baby blessing while we were there. We thought it made sense for the three of us to go to Colorado for the blessing than for everyone to come to us, so we just waited until Thanksgiving and did it at my parents home. Kyle gave him a great blessing and it was wonderful to have all of Kyle's family and my family there.

Kyler in his blessing outfit.

We were able to get 4 generation pictures with both the Johnsons and Draneys. I have some with the Lundstroms and Allreds somewhere too that I'll have to dig up. 

Kyler had fun meeting and playing with his cousins Parker, Brennon, Zoey, and new baby Chase. Parker LOVED giving Kyler kisses and giving him his pacifier when he was sad. It was way cute! Chase was born about 6 weeks after Kyler and it amazes me how much difference 6 weeks makes at this age!! 

Kyler also had fun meeting the rest of his aunts and uncles. 

Everyone just loved seeing Kyler and he was spoiled with so much attention! 

We had such a fun week visiting with family. We absolutely love Colorado and hope we eventually get to move there some day! But for now Kyle only has a week and a half of student teaching left, then only a week until we move apartments and then we get to head back to Colorado for Christmas! :) 

Kyler boy is already 3 months!! He is getting so big!! The last 3 weeks or so he has really started to interact a lot more. He's been cooing a lot more and occasionally he'll squeal in delight and it is so cute. He is happiest in the mornings and his attention span is starting to get a little longer. Yesterday he played on his play mat for almost 45 minutes!! It's so fun to watch him grow and learn new things. His smiles melt my heart. I just love this little boy so much! We are so thrilled he's joined our family.

A Growing Boy

I sure love this little boy!!

The mommy life

I cant believe Kyler has already been here for two months already!! We absolutely love having him here. The first three weeks as a new mommy were pretty challenging with the wicked combination of extreme sleep deprivation, raging hormones, and the miniature sized human being who was entirely dependent on me to meet his every need with only one form of communication - the song of his people!

But once my hormones  leveled out and I stopped having random meltdowns for no reason, it started getting a little easier to figure out this mommy thing. At 5 weeks Kyler was extremely good to his momma and went 8-9 hours in between feedings at night. So after eating and falling asleep we were getting 6-8 hours of sleep every night and then he would eat and go back down for another 2-3 hours. It. Was. Fabulous. Unfortunately that only lasted about a week, but he still is a pretty good sleeper. I usually get about 4-5 hours at night and he still lets me get another 2-3 after his early morning feeding.

We think he is just adorable! He is starting to smile a little bit and he is cooing a lot, which melts my heart! About weeks 4-6 he was pretty colicky. If he wasn't eating or sleeping, he was crying. It was pretty exhausting since I'm home with him all day by myself without reinforcements. But after about 6 weeks he started to cheer up a bit! He is usually happiest after his second morning feeding after he's had some good sleep, a full tummy, and clean pants. By evening were back to the fussies, but it's a whole lot easier to handle when he hasn't been fussing all day to begin with. He is working on rolling over. At just five weeks he rolled from his tummy to his back, but has only done it again a few times since then. He rolls from his back to his tummy every now and then, but he always gets his arm stuck under him so he gets pretty frustrated with it. I love watching him grow and learn new things. 

Kyle is student teaching this semester and it's going pretty good for him. Since student teaching doesn't pay he is still working a few days a week at Kiwi Loco. Between teaching all day, working nights and planning lessons, he stays busy, busy, busy!! I am anxiously counting down the weeks until he is done with student teaching! Only 5 more until Thanksgiving break and then just 2 weeks after that. Then next semester he will keep working at Kiwi Loco and play Mr. Mom while I do my last semester of school. 

This semester I am taking 2 online classes and 1 night class that meets once a week. Being a student AND a mom is so much harder than just being a student! I can't wait until I'm done with school so I can focus on being Kyler's mommy. It's hard to do school because if he is awake he is either fussy, which makes doing homework difficult, or happy and I want to play with him instead of do homework. But I am so close to graduating and I know that it will be worth all the hard work in the end. I just keep telling myself that by this time next year I'll have a spiffy Bachelors Degree under my belt and I'll be one educated momma.

I absolutely love my two handsome boys and the small family that we are. I can't imagine my life without them. Being a mom hasn't been a walk in the park, but Kyler has been such a blessing in my life. I'm learning and growing in ways I never could have imagined. I sure am going to learn a lot in this new mommy life!

And just because I think this little dude is just a cute as can be...

Kyler's Arrival!

He finally made it!! Kyler James Johnson was born on August 17th at 6:14 pm. He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 19 inches long. He is absolutely perfect!

On Wednesday the 15th I went in for a regular check up. My blood pressure had been a little high the week before but the doctor didn't seem too concerned because it was only slightly elevated. On Wednesday it was even higher and the doctor seemed a little more concerned. He asked about headaches and blurred or spotty vision, which are symptoms of preeclampsia. I hadn't had any problems with either of those. They ran some blood work and hooked me up to a fetal monitor to check the baby. My blood work came back normal and the baby was looking good. So he said he wanted me to come back on Friday to check my blood pressure again and hopefully it would go down. We laughed about how I said I wanted him to come on the 17th so maybe if my blood pressure was high they would induce me and he would actually come! But we didn't really have our hopes up too high. We even made plans to go float the river with a friend after my appointment. 

Well Friday came and my blood pressure was even higher. It was about 180/120. So now the doctor was really concerned. They ran more blood tests and hooked me up to the fetal monitor again. I'd had a headache the day before, but I just thought it was because I was tired. I had a little one at the start of my appointment and by the time I was hooked up to the monitor it was a massive migraine. The nurse said she didn't think we would be going home! Sure enough, the doctor diagnosed me with severe preeclampsia and wanted to get the baby out as soon as possible. The only problem was that I wasn't dilated at all and 0% effaced, which meant this baby was no where near close to coming on his own. The doctor said that if he induced me it would be a long, hard labor and would put a lot of stress on both me and the baby, so he wanted to do an emergency c-section. I was pretty nervous and wished I didn't have to have a c-section, but I wanted to do whatever we needed to in order to keep both the baby and me safe and healthy. So we headed straight over to the hospital to have a baby!

Waiting for baby to come!

The doctor had another c-section to do before mine, so we weren't sure what time exactly we would go in for surgery. They gave me this awful muscle relaxer which made my arm burn and the room feel like it was 1000 degrees hot. They also wouldn't give me anything for my headache, so it was a long couple of hours just waiting. Our good friend Scotty came to help Kyle give me a blessing and then we sent him to our place to get my hospital bag since we didn't have it with us!

Finally it was time for me to go in to surgery. They wouldn't let Kyle come in to the room until I was all ready to go. I was so nervous and wished so bad Kyle was with me. It seemed like forever until he came in to the room by my side. 

Kyle in his doctor gear! 

Finally Kyle came in and they were all ready to start. After only a few minutes we heard a tiny little cry and the doctor told us he was out. Kyle got to see him over the sheet and then they took him out to take care of him. His one minute APGAR score was only a 2, so it was a few minutes before they let Kyle go with him too. Then Kyle went to be with Kyler while they finished up with me. The doctor said that we made the right decision in doing a c-section. He told me something wasn't quite right with Kyler when he was first born but I was so out of it I don't remember. But after just a few minutes with the nurses he was just fine and a perfect healthy baby!

His first tiny footsteps! 

Holding Kyler for the first time!

They took me to the mom and baby unit and I had to wait a while for them to bring Kyler to me. I was so anxious to finally hold him and meet him for the first time!

My mom spent the week up in Moscow, Idaho helping Brielle and Jared move and she was driving down on Friday and made it to Rexburg right about the same time Kyler did! 

Our very first family picture!

All ready to go home! Kyler was going to miss the nurses who helped take such good care of him!

 

My mom stayed with us for a week and then Kyle's mom came for a week. They both were a HUGE help while I was still pretty wiped out from the surgery. It took all my energy just to feed Kyler, so it was so great to have help around the house and taking care of Kyler those first few days home. Since we've been home things have been a little crazy as we've adjusted to life with a newborn, as you can tell by how long it took me to finally write this post! Motherhood has definitely been an experience. I knew it would be hard, but I just never knew HOW hard. People always tell you it's hard, but I think it's just something you have to experience in order to fully grasp how hard it is. Regardless, though, of how hard it is to try to decipher what his cries mean, think clearly during a 3 AM feeding, or know whether he is getting enough to eat, we LOVE having him here and wouldn't trade him for anything! He has been such a blessing in our lives and we love the sweet spirit he has brought to our home and family.

Since it took me so long to write this post, we already had his two week check up this morning. He sure has chunked up fast! (Guess I can worry less about him getting enough to eat!) He now weighs a whopping 8 pounds 7 ounces and is now 21 inches long! He is just such a cutie. But don't just take my word for it, check him out for yourself and I'm sure your heart will just melt at how adorable this little boy is!

He loves to sleep with his arms up.

He had his first play date with Meleah...they were such party animals! My friend Kelli and I were due only one day apart and Meleah was born only two days after Kyler. I think we will have many more play dates in the future!  

Our lives have certainly been turned upside down, but we couldn't be happier to have this first little addition to our family!

Family Fun

I guess I better write this post now or it may never get written! Baby is due in only TWO weeks!!! Although I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that he comes in one week, I'm not sure I will be so lucky. The doctor has decided I'm right on track for my due date....meh. I am SO done being pregnant. This body just simply isn't big enough for the two of us any more. He still sits so incredibly high sometimes that its hard to breathe. And I thought turning over in bed was difficult a few weeks ago...mission impossible now. I feel like each night I spend even less time sleeping and more time trying to get comfortable than the night before. And that cute swelling in my ankles I mentioned last time, lets just say its reached a hysterical point. My feet and ankles swell SO bad. They used to only be swollen by the end of the day and looked better in the morning, but now all I have to do is get out of bed and they are huge. And the swelling has gotten worse in my hands and face. I feel like I'm blowing up like a balloon! And to top it off, all the fluid retention has only added to those wonderful pounds I've been packing on the last nine months. 

(I hesitate to post a picture, because I don't care to ever remember what I look like nine months pregnant. Don't judge.)

Despite the ever growing discomfort of being ready to pop and not being able to do simple things like bend over to pick something up or breathe or fit into my clothes, I have enjoyed being pregnant and am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to carry this sweet baby boy with me for nine months. I know that the gift of being pregnant is special and I'm grateful to have had it as easy as I had.  

Although my due date seems forever away still, we've had a couple of busy days the last two weeks which have helped pass the time. Last week we had an Allred family reunion. My family stayed in a cabin in Island Park which is about an hour from our house. Last Tuesday we first all met up at Lava Hot Springs. Even though I couldn't jump off the platforms or go down the slides we still had a lot of fun watching everyone else brave the high platforms. Unfortunately the day was cut short because a storm came in and they made us get out of the pool due to lightening. So we packed up and headed up to our place for dinner. After only a few minutes in the car, Parker (who missed his afternoon nap due to the fun) was fast asleep and remained that way until we were almost home. 

Parker loved seeing grandma again and grandma loved having Parker time again.

Parker all tuckered out. 

The next day the boys all went four wheeling at the sand dunes. I would have loved to go, but you can't do anything fun like that when your nine months pregnant. So instead me, Brielle, Stacey, and my cousin Robin went to get pedicures! Painting your toenails is definitely on the list of impossible tasks when you're super pregnant, so it was nice to let someone else paint my toes - and my poor swollen feet sure enjoyed the TLC.  

The next day Kyle and I drove up to the cabin (we stayed at our place since it was close enough to the cabin and we could stay in our own bed) and we all went out boating on the lake for the day. We had so much fun playing on the lake. I couldn't go out on a wild tube ride, but I did get to go on a slow tube ride! And Kyle even let me go out on the jet ski! We didn't go too crazy of course, but it was still a lot of fun. Here are a lot of pictures from the day.

Sheri, Grandma and mom sitting on the beach.

Grandma thought she would show off her old "two piece" bathing suit! 

 Parker couldn't figure out what the heck was going on when they put the life jacket on him.

Brielle, Jared and Parker going for a ride on the jet ski. Parker was still confused about the life jacket.

Parker was very content to throw rocks into the water from the beach. He would throw the rocks just a few inches into the water and then pick them back up and throw them out of the water. He spent a good 20 minutes throwing them in and out of the water. 

Kyler's first ride on a jet ski! I was hoping the bumps would help get him here faster, but Kyle made sure we didn't hit too many big bumps. 

Check out this belly! It's massive.

Sitting on the beach. 

We had so much fun with my family. We definitely have a good time whenever we all get together. 

This week we've been busy trying to help Brielle and Jared move. They are moving to Moscow, Idaho for graduate school and we are so bummed to see them go. For as long as I've been in Rexburg Brielle has been here. It has been so fun to live close to them. I wasn't much help with packing and cleaning their apartment, but I tried to help keep busy Parker entertained and content while mom and dad were busy packing. Poor kid is probably so confused about what is going on! Thanks to Thomas the Tank Engine and Barney, we made it through the week. They are all packed up and leaving town early tomorrow morning. We sure are going to miss having them close by. We are definitely going to miss being the favorite aunt and uncle to Parker. It's been so fun to see him grow from a tiny newborn into a wild and crazy 18 month old. We will definitely miss them.