Life Update

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...okay...maybe a few days too late...

It's been a long few days. Our Thanksgiving festivities started on Wednesday. My husbands parents traditionally host a three day event. Extended family come in on Wednesday and stay until late on Friday. This year was a bit trickier with little man. We decided to spend Wednesday and Friday with my husband's side of the family and Thursday with mine. It was great to see everyone especially the family that we only get to see once or twice a year. It was a little different with the baby. Especially on Friday when he just seemed to want to eat all day long and was rather fussy. I think he may have been a little over-stimulated with all the driving around, getting passed around, and it was much louder than our quite home that he's used to.

Saturday I had a house full of my girlfriends that came over. A few were in who live out of town now, so we all got together. It was really nice to see and catch up with everyone. Boyfriends, engagements, careers, babies...we're all grown up now. I remember it like yesterday having sleep overs and talking about boys.

Sunday was a fantastic day. It was just me and my two favorite guys. I was a little stressed out at first because the house hadn't been cleaned due to the holiday and laundry was piled up. My husband was great and let me take a nap while he started on things. We finished up together. Gideon was such a good boy all day. We watched the Bears game (eeeh). We ordered one of my favorite pizzas for dinner, Pizza Hut (don't judge me) and got a great online deal. It was a good day.

Gideon is 7 weeks old today. I can't believe it. He's growing up so fast. He's already grown out of all of his 0-3 month clothing and turning into quite the chunker. He's smiling a lot more these days. Very responsive to me and daddy playing with him. He'll yell at me if I stop talking to him-funny. His top 3 activities right now are Eating, Shower Time with dad (he just loves this), and getting his diaper changed (he gets all smiley and laughs/"talks" to me while we get the job done). The poor kid still has his painful gas/bowl movements that wakes him up and keeps him fussy at times while he's awake. I've been taking him to the chiropractor regularly now and seems like it's starting to help some. Pray he starts to feel better soon. He really is a sweetie when he's not all uncomfortable. Right now he's snoring away, sleeping on my chest as I type. Couldn't have asked for a more precious boy.

Oh, and for all my FVC family, don't worry. We'll finally be attending church this coming Sunday, so you'll get to meet our little guy :)

Blessing to all. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Pictures...

Monkey Boy




Little Man




Matching


Chubby Cheeks!

Allergies

Within the past few years my mother and two of my sisters have become gluten intolerant (or at least now they know why they have been feeling so lowsy all these years). BOO. Being part of an Italian family that eats a LOT of pasta...this has been no picnic for them. Although, it seems that there are a lot more gluten-free pastas out there now that are reasonably prices and are tolerable to the taste buds. My sister is turning 18 in a couple of days. Not only does she have an allergy to gluten, but also to dairy. What a rough combo. This is a rather recent discovery for her. I'd really love to make her a gluten-free/dairy free dessert or birthday cake, but am having a hard time finding something that doesn't require obscure ingredients that may be hard to find at the grocery store or that are just too expensive to justify the purchase. Anyone out there have any suggestions or recipes to share? Thanks....

One Month Old

I can't believe our baby boy is already 1 month old today! He's already grown 2 inches and gained a wopping 3lbs! Here are some more pictures and a couple short videos.

He's so peaceful when he sleeps

Out for our first walk!

He loves hanging out with Dad

Byron calls this his "jail-bird" look

Cute shirt from Uncle Brad and Aunt Leanne w/ his matching cute cloth diaper cover

Cute onesie from Papa T

Daddy Time

Tummy Time

Life These Days

Blogging has not been a priority for me lately. We've all been pretty tired around here. Our little man is keeping us busy, but we just fall more in love with him each day! Here are some more pictures...

He loves his little boy!

Yes, he smiles in his sleep. Love it!

Birth Story

**Warning: Some content below may be a little too "girly" for some to handle**

Sunday, we were finally able to move back home after having our hardwood floors refinished. We were taking turns staying with my parents and the in-laws. We really appreciated them taking us in, but I was so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed that night. The next day was the baby's due date, but I was expecting to be a little late as most first baby's are. Little did I know I would only be sleeping in my bed for 3 hours. I was woken up just after 1am by a sort of "pop" feeling. At first I just thought it was the baby moving, but then came an almost menstral type cramp. Could it be? Yes, my water broke. For the next hour my contractions were about 10 minutes apart closing in on 5 minutes apart in the next couple hours. I was definitely in active labor and working very hard. I told Byron to call the midwife and see if she thought we could head over to the hospital. She pretty much told him that he called way too early and that we would be spending at least 12 hours laboring at home before we would head over (we live an hour away from the hospital). She told him to tell me to just try to sleep through the contactions because I would be having a long day. Yeah right. I remember from our Bradly class talking about the different stages of labor. I was expecting to be eased into labor. They said in early first stage to try to distract myself by folding laundry or cleaning or going for a walk. Um...yeah...I think I just skipped that whole part and went straight into active labor. My contractions steadily got closer together and longer and stronger. At 8am I told my husband to call the midwife again and tell her we had to leave for the hospital. She tossed the idea of coming to the office first, but then agreed it would be okay to head to the hospital and we headed out on our one hour drive during rush hour traffic. Thank God for Columbus day because it ended up being smooth sailing on the way there. Byron continued to time my contractions in the car. Some being as close as a minute apart. The worst pain of my life. Yes, I believe I was going through transition on my way to the hospital (the hardest and shortest part of labor). We finally get there and they monitor me in triage. They find that I'm already 7 cm dialated! Holy cow. After 20 minutes of monitoring they admit me to the alternative birth room. My midwife still hasn't arrived there. I get into the bathroom and get on my hands and kneesg. I'm in such pain that I'm screeming now. Byron thought I comfortable on the bed, so I make my way there. My midwife finally gets there and checks to see that I'm already 9 1/2 cm dialated. What?! Minutes later I am ready push. This baby is coming! The nurse, midwife and Byron were there with me through it all. Byron never leaving my side and encouraging me the whole way through. I never thought I'd be able to do it. I was terrified. But I just had to psych myself and say "I'm the only one that can do this. I just have to let my body do what it was made to do and push this baby out." After the head came out the whole baby followed very quickly. "It's a boy" Byron says. He was directly put on my chest. The most beautiful boy. I couldn't hold back the tears. "Hold your baby, Byron. It's a boy. You wanted a boy." I said. As I looked up, tears (may or may not have been) were falling from his cheek. We did it! I couldn't have done it without my coach, Byron. Gideon Anthony Gehrig entered into the world on October 12, 2009 at 12:35 pm. Weighing in at 7lbs 15oz and 19 inches long. Full head of dark hair. Gorgeous. Within a half an hour I was breastfeeding our baby. He latched right away and has been a good eater ever since. Byron took the baby to get weighed and bathed as I remained in our suit of a hospital room to recover. He also got in trouble for walking in the hallway with our baby without it being in it's "crib." It was the most amazing experience of our lives. All in all I beleive we had a fantastic natural birth experience. I didn't give into the drugs, which I feared that I might. The only thing I might have changed was leaving for the hospital a tad bit eariler :). Byron is such a great father already. He just can't seem to put him down. He's been doing laundry, dishes, keeping things tidy around the house. He changes diapers, bathes, and rocks the little man to sleep. He's really taking care of us over here. It's going to be hard when he goes back to work next week.

Thanks to all our friends and family who prayed for us through it all. We felt them and definitely needed them.

A Boy

Just a quick post. Our little Gideon Anthony Gehrig was born October 12, 2009 at 12:35pm. We absolutely love him. Being the oldest of six girls, it's pretty exciting having a little boy around. Byron is such a good dad already and can't seem to put the kid down. I swear he's had more baby holding time than me. I will be posting more about how the labor and delivery went in the next couple days. Just wanted to post a few a pictures and let everyone know we are all healthy and very happy. Thanks for all the prayers. We felt them!

Daddy's Boy

He's so alert and opens his eyes a lot

Seconds after delivery

Several of you have been asking for pictures of the kitchen, but we haven't really been living at home (thanks mom and dad for housing us for a few days!) due to the smell of the fumes. We were finally able to move back home on Saturday and then realized several bare spots on the floor. So, the guy is coming back today because he's going to have put on another coat-eeehhh!

I was able to paint the kitchen (thanks to Sherwin Williams for their sale on Low-VOC paints) on Saturday with help from my mom-in-law while B worked on the garage with help from our dads-THANKS. I was also able to paint our enclosed side porch as well, so I feel good about that. Unfortunately, our kitchen is still in our dining room and encroaching on the rest of the house. This is not extactly how I planned things going. And now we are looking at being banned from the house again for another 5 days. With 6 days until our due date...I'm feeling a little anxious about things. I'm trying to stay calm because I know this is not good for the baby, but it's hard. I really don't know what's wrong with me and why I opened up this can of worms. It is what it is now....

With all of that being said, Byron and I are getting exciting about our little one arriving soon. I can't believe we went from weeks to days now. I'm feeling wobbly these days and things are definitely starting feel different. I was hanging out with my one-year old cousin today. She is such a happy baby and got me so excited to have my own child to kiss, snuggle, and squish anytime I want!