Grey's Top 25

I realize the following post is most likely only interesting to Skyler and I.  In fact, as we wrote the following list, we were giggling like little school children.  We just so happen to think that Greyson is the coolest thing that ever happened since N'Sync in the 90s.

With that being said, here is a list of funny quirks that Greyson has.  I have definitely come to learn that every baby is extremely different and these are the things that make Greyson:  "Bubs", "Grey", "Buberooskies", "Bubsie"..etc.

1. He doesn't like to be naked
2. His arms are always are flailing in his face or mouth
3. He has to wear mittens (avoid abused/scratched up face)
4. He has Skyler's split tongue
5. He's pretty much slept through the night since day 1
6. He goes cross eyed all the time
7. He's had tears from the beginning
8. He likes his car seat when it's moving and hates it when it's not.
9. His poop stinks
10. He gets hot in his car seat
11. He doesn't love bath time...yet
12. Today he started drinking the bath tub water like a dog and liked it.
13. He doesn't like to be changed.
14. He loves to eat.
15. He loves his binki
16. His magic "go to sleep button" is to lay him on his stomach and pat his back.
17. He started smiling yesterday.
18. Cuddling always makes him stop crying.
19. He gets the hiccups all the time.
20. He doesn't like bright lights
21. He started to spit up a little
22. His favorite place is mom's chest
23. He's been able to pick up his head since we got home from the hospital.
24. His legs are extremely strong. He runs a marathon every time we change his diaper.
25. He loves his Grandmas, Grandpas, and Aunt Ivy.

There ya have it folks:)

Meet Baby Greyson

Fact:  Every baby is a miracle.  Getting pregnant is a miracle, having a baby grow and develop inside of you is a miracle, and birthing a baby is all very miraculous.  BUT my baby is on HuGE miracle, and this is why:

My mom had a really good point the other day that coming in to this world is really traumatic and going out of this world can be equally traumatic.  Unfortunately Greyson had quite the traumatic entrance in to this world.

His story starts a week before he was due when my doctor asked me if I was ok waiting for labor.  I told him that I definitely was, but that if I went a week over I would like to be induced due to risk factors as well as the risk of my mom leaving Rexburg without being able to see her grand baby since her flight was in a specific time frame.  He said that was fine and proceeded to schedule me for an induction on October 25th, just in case I needed it.

Four days later I was at my apartment and realized that I hadn't felt my baby move in awhile, so I did the drill.  I laid on my left side for 10 minutes...still not a whole lot.  Ate some sugar, no go.  Ate real food, I got a little movement but not a ton.  I said a little prayer and my answer was that he was ok, but that I should go to the doctor.  40 minutes later I was hooked up to a stress test and Baby S passed with flying colors.  While I was there though, I asked which doctor would be on call on my induction date.  They proceeded to explain that I would go in Wednesday night with one doctor and then they would start everything Thursday morning with a different doctor.  I definitely wasn't a fan of switching around doctors so I moved my date up one day so I could have the same doctor both days.  I came home and told Skyler that I felt like the answer to my prayers was that I needed to switch my date.

The next day at work, I had a lot of opinions thrown at me for some reason.  People telling me I should just wait for everything to come naturally, and others telling me to listen to my "motherly instincts."  Long story short, it had me really thinking about whether or not I had made the right decision to get induced...I got a phone call at about 4 o'clock that day from the hospital telling me they had over booked patients and that I needed to bump my date up one more day.  While this made me uneasy, I felt comfort and for some reason I knew that it was ok.

Two days later I was officially one day over so I had to have a full stress test and AFI? test?  not sure if that's what it's called but they test how much fluid is in your tummy.  He passed the stress test by the skin of his teeth and my AFI said that I was at a 12.8 which apparently is ok but lets just say, I was all skin and baby.

Three days later, I'm over my due date by 4 days and headed in to the hospital.  We got there at 8:00 pm and Greyson was born at 10:17......Ya, crazy right?  When I got there they hooked me up to a bunch of machines, one of which said that his heart beat was in the 180s and not dropping (babies should be about 150s).  They called my doctor and he insisted on coming straight up ( I should have known then what was to come).  He did an ultrasound and found that my placenta had basically given up.  It was calcified and deteriorating fast.  Baby had already had a bowel movement and basically was struggling to survive without a reserve tank that a placenta usually provides.  And to top it all of, my fluid level was a 4.  In the words of the doctor, " It's too dangerous for you to go in to labor whether natural or induced, your placenta and baby can't handle it.  We're going to have to do a c-section.  It's not an emergency but I'm not going to wait til the morning."

40 minutes later I was in the O.R.  After he had walked out of that patient room people immediately started swarming in like mad wasps.  I had the anesthesiologist at my left side describing the procedure and risk factors, who, while mid sentence, bolted out of the room only to return and advise me that I wouldn't be able to do a spinal tap because we didn't have time due to my Factor 5 blood condition.  That meant I was going all the way under.  I had a lab guy taking blood from my right arm, and I think there were a few nurses in the room bustling around like they had a purpose.

Next thing I knew, the room disappeared just like in the movies.  The first thing I heard was my baby and a nurse telling me that that was what I was hearing.  I don't remember a whole lot after that.  I know I got to hold him but I had a really hard time keeping my eyes open.  Later it was explained to me that when they went in to do the c-section they found the cord around his neck twice.  Because of this, he was unable to drop like babies typically do before labor which causes dilation and contractions.  Hence why I never dilated and why I never did or would have gone in to labor.  

My baby is my own miracle.  If my induction date hadn't been moved, we're not sure if he would have made it to my original date, but the odds don't look great.  Heavenly Father was looking out for us that day and I'm extremely grateful.  Now we  have our beautiful Greyson and we couldn't love him more:)

Don't Fight it...Just Embrace it

Maybe being 2 days away from my due date is making me come to terms with all the things in my life that I have recently come to embrace that I normally would not let fly by.  Here is my list of reality checks to myself:

1.  I am not a blond:  Fact, when I was born I was blond.  Now I am not; my hair is tragically mouse/dirty dish washer colored and it's about time I admit it.  I had my hair dyed back to my natural color, and while it is darker than I expected, it just led me to realize how far from my natural hair color I've been for the last...I don't know...15 years of my life?!

2.  I have "Relief Society Arms":  For those of you who are not accustomed to Mormon slang, relief society arms can be defined as "Loose skin/fat on your triceps area that jiggles while leading music at church or while doing like activities."  I can admit that this is normally not the case and my arms are still impressively skinny BUT while in the process of making a child I learned that in order to work out your arms, you must first have abs and in order to grow a child, those abs must disappear:)  Therefore here is my equation:  baby = no abs = no arm work outs = Relief Society Arms.  I'm real good at math.

3.  I cannot keep our home PERFECTLY clean:  Maybe it's the whole nesting instinct sinking in but I really wish I could keep our apartment perfectly clean at all times and let me just tell you, it's impossible and it's about time I admit it.  The sad part about this tale is that there are only two of us in the space.  Imagine how I'm going to feel when I have munchkins running around the place.

4.  I have become slightly "High Maintenance":  Wow, as hard as it is to admit, it's true.  In order for me to go to sleep I have to have 4 things perfectly in alignment.  1) my bed 2) my pillow + my circular decorative pillow at my head 3) another decorative pillow under my belly 4) another decorative pillow in between my legs.  If any or all of these things are not in place, I'm hosed.  Other examples of high maintenance behavior:  I refuse to take out the garbage, I insist on having my circular decorative pillow under my bum while I do my makeup sitting on the floor in front of the mirror, and I not only do I refuse to paint my toe nails myself but I insist that Skyler do them for me:)  Hopefully you don't think any less of me because of this.

Are there more things in life that I have decided to embrace and not fight? YES!  But I don't want to bore you.  Life is great and you got to love coming to these reality checks:)  I just can't wait to meet my baby ANY DAY now!!!!!

Full Term

I feel like it's time for a baby update:)  I am currently 37 weeks.  I made it full term and man do I feel full term!!!  My baby itself is measuring LARGE.  His head is in the 75% and his body is in the 40%, in other words he is going to be an orange on a toothpick!!!!!  Am I concerned about birthing a head that is in the 75th percentile....? YES!!!!!!! Holy cow, how is that going to work out, it just doesn't seem to be adding up to me.

Since finding that out, I have measured, large, small, right on...In other words, who knows when I'm going to go!  My mom has officially purchased a plane ticket for my due date and 10 days after, I'm really praying that I can go at least while she's here or possibly before.  I actually decided that it would be epic to have my baby on the 11th of October.  That would make his birthday 10-11-12.  Pretty cool birthday, huh?

Today I had an appointment and the doctor's newest orders are to eat ice cream every night! At first I thought she was kidding but then I realized she was being totally serious because I had somehow managed to lose a pound this last week.  Probably not the best thing to do since he gained approximately a pound all by himself.

Well that's the update:)  One minute I can't wait to hold him in my arms, the next I am panicking that I am inevitably going to be a mom any day, and the next he is moving so much that I feel like he is the hulk and is going to burst out of me and I am just praying that I will survive the next few weeks.  All in all, I'm pregnant...such is life and I'm loving it:)

August = The Month of Madness

I cannot even begin to describe all of the changes that have happened to us in the month of August.  It has been pure MADNESS.  This is however my attempt....

August 13th = My birthday!! I turned 23 and Skyler made sure I had the best day ever.  He made me an ice cream cake that was most definitely made with love and we had some friends over to share it.  It was also the day that I decided I was absolutely, without a doubt, sick of our car and taking it to the shop once a week.  We also had an interview with the owner of The Academy Apartments on my birthday.  What this meant to us was that we could possibly live rent free with free utilities, cable, laundry, internet..etc.  That also meant that we could possibly afford a new car....let the stress begin.

August 15th = We found out we got the position!!  Now do not be deceived...the hours spent from the interview to when we found out was absolute TORTURE.

August 17th = TRABIN:  (tra-bin) is defined as a cabin and trailer combined to create the perfect atmosphere for tight corners and crying because you're laughing so hard moments.  On Friday, we drove up to Island Park to spend the weekend with some family friends (Smiths and Okelberry's) at the trabin.  It was a blast and so nice to relax after such a stressful week.

Here is the gang at Island Park:)

August 20th = Let the packing begin.  Through this week I tried packing 3-5 boxes a day just to get a good head start.

August 24th = Skyler and I hit the boxes hard.  We packed non-stop all night and even mooched dinner at the Kelly's because we had packed up all of our food.

August 25th = Moving Day!  We borrowed, my boss's truck, my uncle's truck, Rick Kelly's truck, and John Kelly's trailer so that on Saturday we could make one trip and be done.  It was awesome.  The guys helping were great!  They started moving everything at 9:00 and were completely done by 11:00.  I was at work while all of this was going down and was pleasantly surprised when I got off and everything was moved AND Skyler had completely scrubbed our old apartment because he knew I would have a hard time bending over to clean.  He is a saint.

August 26th = Unpacking...enough said.  I hate it.

August 27th = We officially took responsibility for the apartments.  I never thought my phone would ever ring that much.  Bring on the responsibilities!!  I guess I should mention that we are now in charge of 8 apartments full of 48 boys that attend BYUI.

August 28th = We got new carpet in our new house!!  We were so happy the owners were willing to get us new carpet, but it was definitely an adventure to unpack and then have to move everything out of  the living room.

August 30th = Let's go to Utah!  When we got in to Utah Thursday night, we  went straight to Maddox where we met up with the Smedley's, Tueller's, Smith's, and Okelberry's for a seriously good meal!  

The birthday boy!! That is the shirt I got him for his birthday and the cake Grandma Tueller made him.

August 31th = Skyler's birthday and we woke up at 8 am with iPad in hand and a list of about 10 Toyota Corolla's that we were set out to look at in Salt Lake and the surrounding cities.  We were definitely going to buy a car.  By about 3:30 we had signed our lives away and bought a 2011 Toyota Corolla with 29,000 miles and I got it for 2,500 dollars under NADA value.  It think we did pretty darn good:)  It was extremely dramatic, stressful...etc.  I will leave that for a different post.  But, we also had a baby shower with the Smedley's!!! What a day!  The shower was great and we were definitely spoiled!

The baby shower:)

Meet Gracie, our new car!!

September 1st = After a long stressful day on Friday, we deserved a day of SHOPPING!  We went to City Creek and had a blast:)  Skyler and I both had birthday money with strict instructions that we had to buy something fun with it.  I got some fun shirts and a really cool watch and Skyler decided he wants to save his for something big.  We ended our day at Utah Noodle where we enjoyed some "Good ol' American Chinese Food" in the words of Kerry.

Utah Noodle!

NOW = We are exhausted...unfortunately this week to come we are having check-ins for three days, starting a birthing class, starting to teach dance again, and this is my last week of working full-time.  Bring it on September!

Oh and by the way I'm 33 weeks!! :)

I love my belly:)

7 Months!

I'm officially in my third trimester!  I have to be honest, I thought being in your third trimester would be different.....In fact, so much so that I have decided to make a list of things I should/am be experiencing and my feelings about them.

I should...

1.  Look about double my size:  Hallelujah that I'm not!  I'm very grateful I haven't gotten huge because it makes my life much easier.

2.  Have an extremely aching back:  Thanks in part to my not huge stomach, my back, while sore is very grateful for the lack of pain.

3.  Be totally ready:  For some reason when I was in my first trimester I had a ton of questions and thought, oh ya I'll research it and by my third trimester I'll totally be ready for this whole baby/birth experience.  Well here is my third trimester, and here I am...excited, but pretty naive haha.

4. Be constipated:  Well that's awkward...haha but seriously everyone talks about how you're crazy constipated and you get  little bundles of joys called hemorrhoids.  I am extremely pleased to say "all systems clear!"

5.  Have a line down my tummy:  I guess not everyone gets these because I haven't got one yet...I guess there's still a chance....

I do...

1.  Have ribs that hate me:  For about 10 weeks I have had excruciating pain in my ribs.  When I asked my doc what I should do about it, he said, "oh don't worry, I'll take care of that in about 11 weeks."  My thoughts "you little stinker." I recently have been feeling relief while simultaneously noticing that my ribs are REALLY spread apart.  I think my body finally gave in and said "FINE, I'll spread apart for this crazy thing inside of me."

29 Weeks:)

2.  Have a child that is a shaker and a groover:  I LOVE how much my baby boy moves:)  He is constantly rolling, punching, kicking, and shaking his groove thing.  The doctor said that if I lay on my side, I should feel him move 10 times within a 20 minute period.  I almost started laughing, he moves 10 times in about 2 minutes most days!

3.  LOVE my baby:  Whenever he moves I feel like it's just a little reminder of how much I love him already and how much I can't wait to meet him:)

All in all, my third trimester is proving to be great thus far:)  I am now 30 weeks and it's crazy to think that I'll be full term in only 7 weeks!! 

Baby Update:)

6.5 Months! 

Our crib and fabric for the bedding:)

Changing table!

                 We have some exciting baby updates:)  Skyler and I bought a crib while we were in Boise and it matches our changing table.  I absolutely LOVE folding little baby cloths, so I organized the baby clothes that we got into sizes by age and set them up on the changing table.  I also picked out the fabric for our bedding!!!  We found the cutest giraffe fabric that is green, turquoise, grey, and some yellow.  I love it!  My mom is going to make a quilt, bumpers, and a changing table pad cover:)  I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all done!!!