Rockin' The Bump

I have a bit of a bump right now, but it is because I ate too much and have skipped work outs all summer, you don't want to see that.  There have been three times in my life where I really did rock the bump and today Shell of Things I Can't Say is asking us to share.

She actually did a similar link up two years ago, but well that was two years ago so I figured why not share again.

Here I am pregnant with Ryder, I was about 27 weeks pregnant here.  I only made it to 32 weeks with him anyway, so this was probably one of my last belly pictures.

My one regret is never getting any professional maternity pictures taken- can't exactly take my own professional pictures of myself.  I did do belly shots of my SIL though, here are a couple favorites from her rockin' the bump.

Now if only those wonderful bumps just magically went completely away after have 3 kids, wouldn't that be grand.

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Come back tomorrow to link up with 10 Things to Smile About this Month!  Look back over the month and find 10 things that made you smile, from a pretty sunset to something awesome that happened, whatever it may be.

Last Tuesday Every Month
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World Prematurity Awareness Day

Every soon to be mom has the perfect birth pictured in their head.  For some it may be a quick labor which you work through naturally, for others it is going into labor to hurry into the hospital to get hooked up to the good-stuff.  But as most things in life, things do not always go as planned.

For my oldest- 18 hours of labor-- 4 of which I pushed (while on NO meds) ended up in a c-section when he just wouldn't come out.   For my middle, a scheduled c-section that went just as planned.  And for my baby- Ryder, I had it all planed out.  The c-section was scheduled the day after the release of the latest Twilight movie.   We would go to the movie- me big and pregnant and then the next day head to the hospital for the planned surgery and birth.

Rewind 8 weeks from that time.  We were on our last vacation before the baby came, 8 weeks before my due date over 600 miles from home and my water broke.  It wasn't from too much strenuous activity- I was sitting in the middle of an LDS Temple Session; it wasn't from some infection-- in fact in the end they have no idea why my little guy chose to come 8 weeks early.

I lay in the hospital, tired, scared and trying to keep that baby in as long as possible.

Two days later on May 14th Ryder was born weighing (a big for his age) 4 lbs 9 oz.  I sometimes forget how truly tiny he was.  His entire hand would wrap just around the tip of my finger.

The next 19 days I spent my days and nights split between the NICU and spending the time with my other children.  I will forever be indebted to not only the wonderful NICU nurses but my in-laws and sister-in-law for watching my other two children while I spent most of my time in the hospital.

We had our bumps and problems along the way, including not gaining weight and horrific reflux- but now he is a wonderful healthy happy adorable 2 1/2 year old.

So tomorrow- I will be reflecting and help raise awareness of premature births for World Prematurity Awareness Day.

Here is a video I made shortly after Ryder's 1st birthday that tells a little of his story and shows him growing up.  It is still one of my favorite videos I ever made.


To read more about Ryder's story- just click here or the NICU tab on my sidebar.

A Preemie Turns Two

Two years ago I lay in a hospital bed almost 700 miles from home.   Our family vacation had taken a major turn when my water unexpectedly broke at 32 weeks.   I had made it almost 48 hours since my water broke but thankfully the large amount of fluid I began with was still enough so I could try and lay there, hoping this baby would stay in as long as possible.

Eric was at a dinosaur museum with Lucas and Alex- trying to bring some stability, comfort and normalcy to our vacation.  I chatted on the phone with Lourie (CA Girl) feeling another gush of fluid.  I got off the phone to head to the bathroom- only to discover it was not just fluid this time but lots of blood.

I pulled the cord in the bathroom calling for the nurses.  It was time.  As they wheeled me back to the labor and delivery rooms in preparation for my c-section I called Eric telling him he needed to come back.  Thankfully the breakfast they let me eat that morning made them decide to wait one more hour so he had plenty of time to return.

The fear, the unknown.  Would he be okay?  What would he look like? How tiny was he going to be.  And yet, I felt a calm and assurance the answer to a prayer I had received when my water first broke.

And there he was Ryder Trent, 4 lbs 9 oz.

So tiny

So small

But so strong and determined.  

19 days later and we were finally going home as a family- Ryder weighing it at just over 5 lbs. 

And now today- well today he is two.

Blowing on the candles on his cake last night- we celebrated early when family was here

His favorite food is avocado- followed very closely or maybe surpassed by Jelly beans. 
He loves driving cars and trucks and building big towers.
He loves kicking and throwing a ball and is really quite good a dribbling as soccer ball.
He also loves throwing a ball, or food at his sister's head and his aim is quite accurate.

Holding the outfit he wore home from the hospital

He is my cuddle- bug and loves to hug and cuddle.  He will often just run over and say Mama and hug me tight.
He loves books and I always have to read at least three bedtime stories- his favorite is the construction site one and Thomas the train book- though he also likes the Brainy Baby books and points out the babies in their diapers and says "pee".
Though if I ask him if he wants to go pee on the potty he gives a definite no.

 He would eat a pop tart for breakfast everyday if I let him and when he is done eating says "all done, get out!"  The 'get out' getting more adamant if I am not quick to respond. 
He loves playing tag with Lucas and Alex and giggles uncontrollably while chasing them- always ending up getting hick-ups when he laughs a lot.

He is also quite independent- often saying "bye mommy, trains" as he heads upstairs on his own to drive GeoTrax. 
He is very clever, pushing things over to use as stools to get what he wants and really seems to understand what is going on.

He cannot stay clean while eating- often rubbing his face so even something like pizza makes a mess.
He loves his paci and has it way too much.  If he sees a second paci he will ask to "switch paci's" as I guess for him the grass is greener on the other side.

He knows lots of letters and loves to stop and "read" letters whenever he sees them.
He also has recently started "counting"- "one, twoooo, freee"  and sometimes he also counts like this "free, free, freeee!"
He knows most animal sounds but lately if you ask him to say them, asking "what does a cow say?" he will say "no".

He loves going to nursery now, his arms pump quickly as he hurries faster to the room.  He also doesn't mind staying home with the babysitter, a big relief to Eric and me.
He loves riding in Eric's car, and will point to where it is usually parked saying "daddy's car" anytime we go anywhere.
He goes to bed great at night and at nap time, still safely secure in his crib.  The thought of climbing out hasn't even occurred to him. 

He is and always will be my special little guy.
And if you made it through this long post- congrats- I really wanted to have these things on record for me.

Tomorrow I will show you the birthday cake I made.

5 lb Weight

"This isn't heavy!" Lucas declared as he lifted on of my 5 pound weights over his head. "Why don't you use your 3 lb ones anymore?" he continued to question.
"The 3 lb ones weren't heavy enough for me." I said
"But these aren't heavy at all." he repeated as he continued hosting it above his head.
"Yes, but imagine lifting that up in the air and curling it like this" I said while demonstrating. "for an hour, then it gets heavy."

He looked like he might believe me as his arm began to shake from holding the weight over his head.

Ryder pushed by my legs trying to see what was going on. And it hit me. Ryder weighed less than this when he was born.
Born 8 weeks early, weighing only 4 lbs 9 oz --he weighed less than this weight I now held in my hand.

A flood of memories both awful and good came flashing back.

"Ryder weighed less than this" I stuttered. "No wonder it was so easy to carry him around all the time."
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If you are new to my blog, or don't know the story, I created a sidebar button with links to the posts about his birth and our experience in the NICU- you can find it on my sidebar or right here.

Rockin' The Baby

You may remember a while back I participated in Shell's Rock The Bump. Well this time she is Rockin' The Baby.

Now this was more difficult for me as well- let's just say I wanted to share 70 million pictures, but I did good and narrowed it down and even tried to have a theme to it.

So in birth order here they are.

Lucas
-After 18 hours of labor, throwing up several times during labor, 4 hours (yes I said hours) of pushing- and then an emergency c-section

Well this is how I looked when I held him for the first time The standard hospital picture-- these blankets seem to be everywhere in the country A proud new daddy

Now number 2
- A planned, scheduled c-section, no labor= much happier
Here was our first picture with our new girl- yes this was in the operating room- be very glad I didn't show you the picture Eric took that came shortly before this. (and since I know somone would ask-that was a thermometer on my head)
Her future chubbiness already showing (see same blanket-she was born in a different state)
I took this picture while lying in the hospital bed- a forever favorite
Number 3

Scheduled c-section for July 1st-- and opps- he had his own plans, came at 32 weeks while we were on vacation.

First time seeing my little guy- only 4 lbs 9 oz
His hospital bed- though his hospital bed was much different and he was in it for 19 days

First time his siblings met him
And to give you an idea of his sizeYou can see a lot more pictures of Ryder here

And now- well all of those babies have gotten too bigHead on over to Shell's to see other great Rockin' the Baby Pictures.

Rockin' the Bump

First Things First-- the winner of the PhotoVision DVDS-chosen by random.org is.......Rachel- of The Rachel Way- comment #19 was the first of her bonus entries for participating in PMM! Congrats Rachel! I will get the DVD's to you.

And since tomorrow is packing day for our big move, when I saw Shell's Rockin the Bump-- I knew this would be the perfect quick post for me today.


How far along would you guess I was in this picture? About to pop?

I was only 27 weeks! Though Ryder was born 5 weeks later--so well I guess in some ways I was ready to pop- I just never ever would have guessed it at the time.

And what did this belly produce?
Time sure does go too fast. If you never saw it-you can see the video I made to celebrate his first year here.

So head over to Shell's-any time this week and share how you rocked the bump!

It Happened!

So much for taking a break huh? But well Friday night something major happened and I couldn't wait two weeks to post about it. Plus I remembered that tomorrow is the second Tuesday-so it is time for the Status Quote and my BIL is doing everything he can to be part of it, so I can't skip that either.

The Status Quote is a monthly meme that CA Girl and I do together the second Tuesday of every month. It is a meme where all you have to do is copy those funny/weird/strange FB (or twitter) status updates and then you can add your own commentary if you want. You don't have to tell who said it, so an easy fun post. So write up your post and come back to link up tomorrow.

And so what happened Friday? Well I'll just show you. And you can totally turn the sound off if you need to (boss, sleeping kids) you will be able to figure it out without the sound. And yes I am completely excited and completely dreading it all at the same time.

A Note From a Ten Month Old

Hi! My name is Ryder and I turned ten-months-old yesterday.
My mom keeps saying she can't believe I am that old-me personally I can't wait to be older. I cannot wait until I can run after my brother and sister and finally figure out what they are doing when they take off upstairs to play together.

I can't really move yet. When my mom sits me down I will turn in circles and suddenly surprise her by being a few feet from where she set me, but I am mostly stuck. She tries to tell me I should crawl and I sometimes try but mostly I roll back over to my back. Though sometimes if I keep rolling I can get places too, I just recently discovered that.

But what I really want to do is walk.

I was so happy when my Grandpa Papi was here as he would walk me wherever I wanted to go, I couldn't be any happier.Oh and did I tell you I cruised down the entire couch two days ago?

I have two teeth but three more are coming in right now. It sometimes makes my mouth hurt and I totally bit my mom while she was feeding me the other day-but that seemed to make her really upset so probably wasn't the best idea.

I love eating-but only big people food. I tolerate that baby food stuff but am so happy when mom cooks up a meatball or some chicken for me. And the other day when we ate outside and I had steak and potatoes I couldn't have been happier, pretty impressive with only two teeth.

I love all of my family. My big brother is always so nice to me. My sister tries to make me laugh. My mom takes care of me and feeds me. And my dad always carries me around and loves me so much.

So though I really wish I could get around life really is pretty good at ten months old.

Friday Confessional: What I want

Yep, it's that time again!

• You know what I would like more than anything?
• A whole day completely to myself.
• A day to just get caught up on the ten million things on my list
• a day to not have to deal with sick or fighting kids
• but the sad thing
• if I did really have a day like this
• I would probably be bored after a few hours and just sit there watching TV
• rather than work on the millions of things on my list.
• Why is that? Why do we do that?
• or is that just me?
• I like to be involved, I like knowing what is going on
• When I was younger if my parents were having a party, I wouldn't be off playing with the other kids
• I would be the kid quietly sitting in the corner with all of the adults eaves dropping on everything they were saying
• didn't want to miss out.
• And while I have gotten better about this as I have become more secure as a person
• I still sometimes have the tendency to want to do it all
• as hey I know I can do a good job
• so I say yes.. a lot.
• And while most of the time it works out
• it often comes to bite me in the butt and lead to me being super busy and crazy at times
• but then in the end when I work well under pressure and it all comes together and people thank for me for a job well done-well it just sets me up to say yes all over again
• maybe it's a sickness
• or is it a good thing?
• maybe both.
• Maybe I just have adult ADD and am all over the place...
• might be why I have so many projects I have started and never finished.
• One project I have followed through with is taking a picture of Ryder every month
• this month his "birthday" fell on Valentines day-do you wanna see?
• Of course you do
• that will be a good way to end this rambling.. with something adorable to look at!

The traditional monthly picture

In honor of being 9 months on the 14th

Look Mom, I am a heart breaker already!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Go confess with Glamazon and Mamarazzi, it's good for the soul!