Boy Meets Dog

One morning, Owen and I were sitting at the computer, when Zoey decided she wanted to join the party.  So she hopped up onto my lap and settled in right next to the little man (sometimes she is a little starved for attention).  Owen took notice and the following interaction ensued.

This may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Silly Boy

Owen makes me laugh every day.  He is already such a little goofball.  The other day, Zoey was doing something naughty, and I called her a douche bag dog.  After about half a second of silence, Owen just lets out this one syllable chuckle.  Sam and I were cracking up! It was like he knew that she was getting in trouble and wanted to rub it in! On a side note, I should probably stop saying "douche bag" because otherwise it might be Owen's first word.

He has started rolling over a lot.  He first rolled over tummy to back when he was 3 weeks old, but then it was like he didn't want to show off and he wouldn't do it anymore.  Well in the past couple days, he has started rolling a lot from back to tummy.  The other day I was changing his diaper and this happened:

And of course, my phone was in the other room, so I ran off to go get it and take a picture of his naked bum, because apparently I'm that kind of mom.  Also, look at his rolls! He's still on the small side for his age, but he has rolls! YAY!

Just this morning, I put him down under his toy so I could get myself some breakfast.  When I came back to check on him, this is where he was.

Notice that he has scooted, rolled and maneuvered himself so he is out from underneath it, turned the wrong way, and on his belly! I have a feeling he will be crawling all too soon.  Looks like it is time to baby-proof some stuff!

Mommyhood

I know what you're thinking, but no, "mommyhood" isn't a place in the ghetto where all the cool moms hang out.

How do I explain what it's been like for me so far? Now that Owen is 4 months old (!), I have finally settled into a little routine (which I am not sticking to this morning so I can write a blog post) and things are going pretty smoothly.  We wake up, Owen eats, then I eat, then I take a shower and he plays with his toy.

He's pretty dang awesome.  We went to the doctor the other day for his four month check up.  Note to mommy: don't schedule appointments during nap time - Owen will not be happy with you or the doc.  He cried every time I laid him down on the table, and the entire time the doc was checking him out.  He also had to get some vaccinations, which made him cry even more.  It was a rough visit.  He was fast asleep before the 10 minute car ride home was over.  He now weighs 13 lbs 6 oz.  He is on the growth curve! He is still so tiny compared to all the other four monthers out there, but he is getting bigger finally.

This is what Owen thought of the worst dr. appointment of his life.  Poor little man :(

I just love this little guy so much.  He makes me laugh every day.  I wish we wouldn't have waited so long to have him! 

I can't believe he is already 4 months old.  He's so flippin' adorable!

I'm just gonna shut up now and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Special Delivery

Note:  I started this post about 2 weeks ago... and I really didn't add too much to it, so I'm not really sure why I didn't publish it then. 

Guess who couldn't wait to join the Simons family party?  

Owen Blaine Simons

On Jan 9 at about 1:45 am I thought I was wetting the bed.  I got up and before I made it to the potty, my water was breaking all over the place.  I was FREAKING OUT.  I wasn't ready to have a baby.  The nursery wasn't (still isn't) done, we didn't have a car seat, I hadn't packed the perfect hospital bag, and I was only 36 weeks and 1 day pregnant! So I cleaned up the mess I had made and went downstairs to check the paper of labor signs and what to do that my doctor had just given me at my last appointment.  I read through the part about water breaking, and for some reason decided to go back upstairs and try to go back to sleep.  I went to get into bed, realized that it was kind of wet, and decided to wake up Sam.  Lucky for me he was off work and I wasn't at home alone.  I told him my water had broke and he jumped out of bed and started running around getting ready to leave, while I said, "I'm not ready to go, I don't want to go!"  I just want to clarify how much I was freaking out right then.  I was NOT ready to have a baby.  I was afraid that we would get to the hospital and they would tell me I wasn't really in labor and send me home. I didn't want to go.  Sam told me to call my parents - I didn't want to because they would probably tell me to go to the hospital and I didn't want to go.  I decided to call my mom's phone because I figured she was less likely to answer her phone at 2 am.  I was wrong.  She answered, and after telling her my water broke, I started to cry and told her I wasn't ready.  Then more fluid came out and I cried even more.  I think she might have laughed at me, but I can't say for sure because that whole night is kinda blurry.  Sam (who had been running around like a mad man looking for his keys and wallet) was ready to go and I was still in wet clothes.  So I put on some dry clothes, threw some stuff in the diaper bag, grabbed a towel to sit on, and we went to the hospital.  It's usually about a 40 minute drive and I think we got there in less than 20.  I told Sam we didn't have to go so fast (I was barely even feeling contractions), but he didn't slow down very much.  We got to the hospital, checked in, hung out in triage for about an hour got stuck in the arm 3 times for my IV (I still have one of the bruises), then got sent to a room to play the waiting game.  The first nurse we had was kind of a weirdo. She also had all the sensors on me so tight I'm surprised I could even breathe because for some reason they weren't recording my contractions.  But luckily, shift change rolled around and we got a really awesome nurse.  One of the nurses said I would probably have a baby before noon that day - which is apparently a quick labor (but it didn't seem very quick to me).  I got an epidural around 9 and then I was happy.  I think I pushed for less than an hour, then he was here at 11:22 am.  I was crying, Sam was crying, Owen was crying.  We were a family.  I couldn't believe that I grew that little guy!  The stretched tendons that made moving painful, not being able to sleep on my stomach, peeing all the time, having ankles the size of Texas - that stuff was no big deal.  Even all the stuff that happens to your body after you give birth and no one tells you about doesn't matter.  I had my baby, and he was perfect.  6 lbs 1 oz 18.5 in long.  I never thought I'd have a small baby - but I guess delivering 4 weeks early will give you a small baby even if you and your husband were both 9 lbs when you were born!  

Owen and I stayed in the hospital for 2 days because he was technically pre-term and still having some problems with eating.  I was nice and let Sam go home both nights since the couch-bed was horrible.  

I always said I'd never be one of those women who had pictures of herself looking like crap with her new baby, but every time I look at these pictures I remember how I felt when I held him for the first time and that makes me not care how I look.  I'm glad the awesome nurse took them for us.  

Daddy holding Owen for the first time.

Taking a nap with Papa.

Happy dreams.

Our first family picture... Okay, it was really like the third, but this is the best one we have.  I was just ready to go home after being in the hospital for more than 48 hours.

Ready to go home!

Zoey thinks she is picked on now because she isn't the center of attention anymore.  

He loves the binky.

We love our little man!

In a Nutshell

In case you haven't noticed, I've been really awesome at keeping everybody informed on this pregnancy... Okay, you caught me, that was a little exaggerated.  In actuality, I've sucked at it.  So I'm here today to give you the basic rundown of what it's been like for me.  It might be a pretty long post, so be warned.

1st Trimester:

Here is my first positive pregnancy test.  I think it's kind of weird to put a picture of something you peed on on the internet... but oh well I guess.  And yes, the picture is upside down.  But the plus sign looks the same either way.  I guess if it bothers you, you can just stand on your head or something. 

I think both of these ultrasounds are from the first trimester? The first is from my first visit to my actual doctor as a pregnant lady. (On a side note, it really bothers me a lot when people say "prego" or "preggers" or something like it instead of pregnant.  I don't know why.)  He was just a little blob, back then.  I was by myself because Sam was working the night shift (as has been the case for every single appointment I've had except for the anatomy ultrasound where we found out we are having a boy.)  I think I was about 8 weeks along.

This second ultrasound picture wasn't planned.  It was my very next appointment.  I was with the nurse practitioner for this appointment and she was having a hard time finding the heartbeat with the belly microphone thing, so she used that as an excuse for her to play with the ultrasound machine and for me to get a couple more pictures.  I was okay with that.  It is seriously crazy to me how much development there is in just 4 weeks.  We decided to tell the world I was pregnant.

The first trimester was weird for me.  I was always so tired around 2 pm.  This is when church started for us (until last week - yay for 9am church now!) so it was SUPER hard to stay awake in sacrament meeting.  

I also had no appetite, which would make me a little bit queasy if I didn't eat enough.  Which is a problem, because the only way to get rid of that feeling is to eat, and who wants to eat when you feel like that?! I never really got the typical morning sickness, but it wasn't pleasant.  Saltine crackers became their own food group for me.  Once, Sam said, "that kid is going to come out holding a box of crackers!"  He makes me laugh.  He also said, "when are you going to get over this sickly phase and into the eating all the time phase?"  Oh, husband...

2nd Trimester:

I'm not posting pictures of the initial anatomy ultrasound, but don't worry.  I had to have a follow up appointment after the anatomy ultrasound because they couldn't get a good view of baby's profile. The only pictures I got from the first one were of his parts (he wasn't too shy about showing them off) and a blurry one of his head.  The second round pictures are much better.  

Little man's head, torso, and arm.

I love this one.  All curled up in a little ball.

Little baby feets. 

The 2nd trimester was better than the first.  I wasn't as exhausted all the time, and I could actually eat some stuff without being grossed out.

My anti-craving for the first trimester was ground beef... well, mostly beef in general (besides a hamburger).  I just couldn't even look at it.  I discovered in this trimester it was the seasoning we used that was causing the sensory problems, so I started seasoning it differently and all was well with the world again.  

I got heartburn a lot this trimester.  The first time it happened was right at bedtime and I seriously wanted to cry.  I went to Joseph City to visit my family and had heartburn basically the whole time I was there.  Then Beau introduced me to the magic of Tums and my life was a little bit easier.  

I first felt the baby moving shortly after we found out the sex.  The movement was a lot stronger than I had expected.  I had heard/read that it is just a little flutter, so I guess I was expecting something like butterfly kisses.  Note to self: flutter does not automatically mean butterfly.

My growing uterus stretched out a ligament shortly after my visit to Joseph City.  That made moving painful.  Still does sometimes a lot of the time.

3rd Trimester so far:

I don't have any pictures from this trimester so far.  I will have another ultrasound in the next week or so, though, so there is still a possibility to see our little guy on the inside again.  

I am currently going to the doctor or nurse practitioner every 2 weeks.  The last couple of times I've gone to see the practitioner I've had to wait at least an hour every time for a 15 minute appointment.  Lame.  My next appointment is with her, so I made it for the earliest slot they had available.  Hopefully I won't have to wait as long!

Speaking of waiting, it's getting unbearable.  Especially since Kourtney just had her little girl yesterday and I am now super ready to have my baby too!  Why does he have to cook for so long?!

We are still debating over the middle name.  I want Blaine (after my brother, since my due date is the day after his birthday), Sam wants Brett (which we had decided on before I decided I wanted to name him after my brother). 

I have the best husband ever.  One day Sam texted me and told me to go treat myself to a manicure and pedicure.  I only got the pedicure (because I'm cheap), but it was wonderful.  As a friend from my ward said, pedicures are the way to a pregnant girl's heart.  Truer words were never spoken.  

Sometimes my feet get swollen and they won't even fit into my cowboy boots, which makes me really sad.  But since it is December and the temperatures are still in the 70s and 80s (lame), this hasn't been too much of a problem because I can usually just wear my flip flops.  This will probably not be the case when we go out of town for Christmas to a place where the seasons actually follow protocol.

I just want to be able to sleep on my stomach again. 

60 days of pregnancy left until the due date... but who's counting?