Want or Need?

If you know my husband at all,

you know why these are currently being coveted:

Captain William Thomas Riker wore the red outfit

Our baby Riker would look adorable in any color.

Feel free to purchase and send our way!

Like Father, Like Son

This is baby TJ…

TJ would like to clarify that he was not born with a receding hairline. He had an IV in his head when he was born, so they shaved him. 

And this is baby Riker…

Do you see the similarities?

I don’t have any pictures of baby Lisa, but trust me…baby Riker doesn’t look like baby Lisa. I had a huge head. Like, Charlie Brown huge. Like, orange on a toothpick huge.

I love that I can see so much of Riker in his daddy. TJ turned out to be pretty cute, so I’m sure that Riker will be just as cute!

Life After Mom

Remember when I had my baby?

Like, 2 weeks ago?

As soon as I knew that my baby boy was coming, I called my mom.

Correction: I told TJ to call my mom. I was dealing with painful contractions.

Once mom knew that this baby was coming, she jumped on a plane and flew out to C-bus.

 

Mom stayed with us for 12 days.

For 12 days, she cooked and cleaned and even washed our laundry and drove TJ to and from school.

She let me cry for absolutely no reason (gotta love those hormones) and gave me great advice on being a mom.

She let me take naps and sit around in my pajamas all day long.

Well, those 12 days came to an end much too quickly.

Mom left on Saturday.

I spent most of the day Saturday crying (seriously, those hormones? awesome.)

Having my mom here meant I hadn’t fully taken on the role of being the mom yet. I was scared to attempt it without her here.

Sunday was fantastic…TJ let me sleep and shower and even made me lunch (mac and cheese…his specialty).

But then it was Monday. TJ left for school. I was left at home. Alone. With a baby.

  I think Riker knew that today was our first day alone together.

He slept practically all day long. Which meant I slept practically all day long. And that was awesome.

I received phone calls from friends…just checking to make sure I wasn’t having a melt down. I was happy to say that both Riker and I were doing just fine.

Dinner was provided by a very sweet friend. TJ came home to shower his little boy with love and kisses. I was allowed to watch the Bachelor.

Overall, it was a good day. We survived today…now we are ready for tomorrow.

Just because…

You can never have too many pictures of the world’s cutest baby

(even if the quality is crappy since it was taken via cell phone)

Riker had his first visit to the doctor yesterday.

We had to strip him down to his diaper.

He hates to be naked.

But he loved cuddling under his blanket!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Riker had his very first bath today.

He is definitely not a fan of being naked…

it was quite traumatic.

Of course, his cries didn’t stop us from taking the time to take pictures!

As soon as he was wrapped up, he was MUCH happier.

He loves to suck on his hands…he is constantly sticking them in him mouth.

He fell fast asleep as soon as the whole ordeal was over.

He smells like a fresh, clean baby again.

Is there anything that smells better?

I submit that there is not.

Lately...

This is how we've been spending our days:

I can't believe that just a week ago, I met the newest love of my life.

TJ and I are completely infatuated with baby Riker

and spend our days amazed that he's all ours.

It's amazing how something so tiny can have such a big impact on our lives.

First Night At Home...

Success!

Whether in a bed or in your arms, Riker loves to sleep...

we'll see how long that lasts!

We're still figuring out the whole breastfeeding situation...

TMI?...

but Riker is strong and healthy and happy.

Thank you for all the well wishes and congratulations.

We are so happy to have our little guy added to our family.

TJ spends all his spare time just staring at our baby's face

(can you blame him? look at that face!)

We might be a bit biased, but we think he's pretty perfect.

Ready or Not...

He's here!

Settle in for a long story, because I'm a very wordy person and want to share all the details of our little boy's arrival.

So here's what went down:

On Monday (TJ's bday) I have a scheduled appointment with my doctor. I'm 37 weeks and can do a great impression of a beached whale. While I'm uncomfortable (and impatient) I know that I've still got time before baby arrives. Doc says the baby is looking good, but I'm still only dialated to 2 cm so I should just stay optimistic and take it week by week. Doc asks if I've been feeling any contractions. I don't know what contractions are supposed to feel like, so if I have been feeling them they haven't been significant.

That evening, after a yummy dinner with friends to celebrate TJ's birthday, TJ heads to the basement to study (2nd semester of law school happened to start on his birthday) and I head upstairs to try to sleep. I say try, because these days sleep is hard to come by. I'm big and uncomfortable and sleep isn't my friend. After laying in bed for a couple hours, I begin feeling a sharp cramping pain in my abdomen. I try switching positions, getting up to walk around...but nothing seems to help.

TJ finally comes upstairs shortly after midnight. By 12:30, the pain in my abdomen is enough to bring tears to my eyes. I start Googling "labor contractions" trying to figure out if these are real or fake. I don't want to be that person who runs to the hospital crying labor just to be sent home.

According to my late night Google research, I should time my contractions to see if they are coming consistently. I do...and they are. Every 5 minutes for 30 seconds. TJ says we need to call the doctor. This is when I begin to panic. I didn't know who to call! By now, it's about 1:30 am and the only phone number I have is for the doctor's office...no one is going to be there! I call anyway, hoping there is a message about who to call after hours. Sure enough, an answering service patches me through to the doctor who's on call. When I tell here about the timing of my contractions, she tells me to head on down to the hospital.

TJ kicks it into high gear...grabbing a bag and throwing things in it for me. I'm a complete wreck and so unhelpful in the packing process. I get myself dressed and brush my hair, pausing every 4 minutes to hunch over as a new wave of pain hit. We finally get out of the house and drive down the road to the Ohio State University Medical Center. In my mind, I keep thinking that as soon as we get there they'll tell me it's just false labor and send me back home.

We check in and head to triage so I can be checked out before actually being admitted. The nurse checks me out and lets me know that I'm dialated to a 4. The on-call doctor wants to wait an hour before admitting me to see if I progress any farther. The intensity of these contractions gets stronger and stronger...and they start coming every 3 minutes. Which means every 3 minutes, I cry for 30 seconds as the pain hits and then I'm just fine for 2.5 minutes. If I have to deal with this pain for another hour before being admitted, I might die...so I'm very happy when they tell me its time to hook up my IV and take me to a labor and delivery room.

By 5:00 am, its time for my epidural. I knew that as soon as I got the epidural, the pain would stop...but I knew that getting the epidural would not be painless. Honestly, this was one of the things about having a baby that made me most nervous. The thought of sticking a needle into my spine scared me. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...until the needle hit a nerve in my back and sent an electric shock though my body. That hurt worse than all my contractions put together. But soon, the fabulous medicine started flowing and my toes started to tingle with numbness. Maybe delivering this baby won't be so bad after all.

Around 5:35 am, a doc comes in to break my water so we can get the delivery process moving. As soon as she broke my water, the look on her face dropped. "Baby's breach" she says as she wheels in an ultrasound machine. She double checks her assessment and confirms that baby is in fact breach...what we thought was his head is actually his booty. By now, contractions are coming every minute and we don't have time to wait for baby to flip. My doc is called and a c-section is scheduled. By 5:45, I'm being prepped for surgery.

At this point, I'm a mess. I was so unprepared for baby to arrive two and a half weeks early...but I was definitely not prepared for a c-section. I start making phone calls. Mom changed her flight and is heading to the airport right away. Lindsey is looking for a babysitter and will be at the hospital as soon as she can. Calli shares her vast experience of c-sections and tries to reassure me. TJ is next to me the whole time. He holds my hand and kisses my head and tells me everything is going to be okay. There are tears in his eyes, which does nothing to calm my nerves. TJ is not one to show his emotions, so if he's tearing up then it must be a difficult situation indeed.

Around 6:15, I'm wheeled into surgery. The room is smaller than I thought it would be (my opinion completely based on the surgical rooms shown on Grey's Anatomy). It all happened so fast, I wasn't processing it very quickly. The next thing I remember is hearing my baby cry and seeing his wrinkled purple body pass by me. TJ follows the baby, wanting to get a better look at our new son. As soon as baby is cleaned off and checked out, he's next to me. My doctor is still closing up my belly, so my first views of baby are upside down. But I can tell he's perfect even from that vantage point.

Our first family photo. Can I just say that I love this picture? I can just see the joy and pride in TJ's eyes.

After I was all closed up, we headed to recovery. The amount of drugs they had given me kept me numb for hours. Pros of being numb: I didn't feel any pain from having my belly cut open. Cons of being numb: They wouldn't move me to a room until I could move my legs. So TJ and I were camped out in a teeny little recovery room (which consisted of a bed for me and a chair for him...shoved into a 6x6 area. We were soon joined by my sister Lindsey. For those who don't know, Lindsey lives in Dayton (about an hour and a half away from Columbus). Lindsey drove out to Columbus as soon as I called her. (*Huge shout out to her husband Mike. Mike took an "emergency day" off work to stay home with their kids. Kids are not allowed to visit at the hospital, especially since Lindsey's baby has RSV, so Mike stayed home with the kids so Lindsey could be with me. Thanks Mike!*)

After being crammed into the recovery room for about 4 hours, we were finally moved to a much bigger, much roomier, and much more comfortable room. The rest of the day was spent staring at our new baby boy. It's ridiculous how much time I can waste just staring at his adorable little face.

He has a full head of dark hair, dark blue eyes (I'm hoping they stay that way), and skinny little legs. Baby literally slept all day long. He had no desire to wake up for anything. TJ had the honor of changing the first poopy diaper...which was a double win, since it was the first diaper that TJ had ever changed in his entire life. Luckily, Lindsey was there to help TJ out. I'll just make sure to let TJ have plenty of practice.

My mom was supposed to fly out on my due date, January 29th, but quickly changed her flight plan as soon as she heard that baby was coming early. TJ picked her up from the airport yesterday afternoon and brought her straight to the hospital so she could love on her newest grandbaby. I'm so grateful to have her here to help us figure out this whole "being parents" thing.

So there you have it. Riker James Grier was born on January 12, 2010 at 6:51 am. He weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and is 20 inches long. Even though I may not feel 100% prepared for him, I have never been happier. Yesterday was long, stressful, overwhelming, emotional, scary, tiring...but it was completely worth it. This little boy was definitely worth it all!

Happy Birfday!

Today is TJ's birthday.

Last year he turned twenty five...

and I listed 25 things that I love about him.

Now he's 26.

He's one year older and wiser too.

The 25 reasons I loved TJ last year still apply...

so instead of creating a new list, I will simply add to it.

Reason #26 why I love my husband:

he's SO excited to be a daddy!

When I first thought I was pregnant, I was nervous.

TJ and I had talked about it, it was planned, it definitely wasn't a surprise.

But for some reason, I was still nervous about telling TJ.

As soon as I told him, I knew it was silly to be nervous.

He was happy and excited and ready to share our news!

Now that baby is almost here, TJ is even more excited.

While there are certain things he's not looking forward to

(like the crying and the diapers and the spit up and the lack of sleep)

there are many things that he is definitely looking forward to

(like the sports and the...sports...TJ really wants baby to play football!).

I'm so excited to see TJ as a daddy and know he will be the best dad ever.

I love you, husband, and look forward to sharing another year of your life with you!

A New Post About Snow

Remember that one post I did about the snow in Ohio?

What was I thinking?!?

This past week, we have gotten several inches of snow...

making that picture I posted of "snow" on my car a complete joke.

Taking out the trash was even more of a chore

since the snow on our back patio hit about calf-high.

So husband finally decided to shovel a bit of a walkway.

I took pictures through the window...

since I am currently not a fan of going outside.

Each time I have to walk outside, I tell TJ it's time to move back to AZ...

but then I talk to Calli and am at least satisfied that I don't live in Kansas.

A Love Story

**WARNING**

This post is long. Like, really long. I left out details where I could...but it's a love story, so details are important.

Once upon a time,

December 2005 to be more precise,

my buddy Shane came with me to my singles ward.

We scoped out those in attendance, looking for potential dates for each other.

Shane decided none of the males were worth my time.

Instead, he decided that I needed to meet a guy who attended his University singles ward.

Important sidenote:

At this time in our lives, Shane was rather eccentric.

Bleach blond mohawk, chick pants, scarves, etc.

I wasn't sure how much I trusted his judgement...

I told Shane that I don't do blind dates and left it at that.

Or so I thought.

The next couple of weeks consisted of constant text messages and phone calls.

Shane was constantly singing the praises of his amazing person...

"One date and you will be in love"

"This is the man you are going to want to marry"

Eventually, I caved.

Mainly just to silence Shane's incessant nagging.

The date was set for December 21, 2005.

Shane picked me up and we headed to the movie theater.

My date was waiting there along with Shane's date for the evening.

The first time I saw him, my smile grew bigger.

He was cute!

The evening consisted of dinner (Chinese food...not a favorite)

and a movie (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe...I'd already seen it).

I was nervous and shy and hoping that I was making a good impression.

At the end of the evening, my date drove me home.

With a hug at the door, I wondered if he would call again.

I didn't see him again until New Year's Eve.

We both showed up at the same party.

He was with his friends, I was with mine.

I had a slight panic...at this time, most of my friends were boys.

Would he think that was odd?

Would he think I was taken?

Would he even care?

As midnight approached, I ended up right next to him.

I wasn't foolish enough to think he'd give me a New Year's kiss...

but maybe a hug? or even just a smile? and acknowledgement?

I did get a hug from him...then watched as he hugged several other females nearby.

I guess it didn't mean what I wanted it to mean.

As my friends and I left the party, I hear my name from across the parking lot.

It was him!

"It was great seeing you tonight...I'm going to call you in the next couple days."

The rest of the night was a blur.

I was officially twitter-patted.

I didn't have to wait long for that much anticipated phone call.

January 1, 2006.

An invitation to watch a movie with some of his friends at his house.

He held my hand has we shared a blanket.

He kissed me once when he walked me out.

January 2, 2006.

An invitation to a Fiesta Bowl game.

Another kiss.

More than one this time.

From then on, events begin to blend together.

We began to spend a lot of time together.

By Valentine's Day I knew I was in love...

but I certainly couldn't say it first!

What if he didn't feel the same?!

So I waited.

We went on dates.

We talked and laughed.

We enjoyed every second we had together.

March 4, 2006.

As he walked me to my door, he looks me in the eye.

"Do you love me? 'Cause I'm sure that I'm in love with you."

I wanted to cry...to laugh...to jump up and down screaming.

Of course I loved him.

Our relationship was strong.

We talked every single day.

We saw each other almost every single day.

We were in love and wanted to be together.

And then...he broke up with me.

I know, right!? Who saw that coming!?

He said he needed some "time" to figure things out.

Apparently, we had reached the "poop or get off the pot" stage...

and he wasn't sure.

If you ask him, he'll tell you he didn't want to get married.

Yes, he loved me.

Yes, he wanted to spend his life with me.

But why couldn't we just keep our relationship the way it was?

He went to a conference in Seattle for a week.

He didn't call me once that entire week.

That was the week I broke out in hives.

When he came home, he called me.

He wasn't ready to get married, but he didn't want to not be with me.

So our relationship resumed, but didn't move forward.

I loved him and he loved me...

but my ring finger was itching for something shiny.

July 2006.

We went to Showlow with my family.

He crashed my cousin's quad.

His first comment afterward:

"Welp, there goes your wedding ring fund!"

My ring fund? He's going to get me a ring?

August 19, 2006.

My 21st birthday.

He said he had a special date planned to celebrate.

I knew that it would happen that night.

It had to.

A romantic dinner followed by a walk up "A" mountain.

We sat at the top, looking at the city lights below us.

He gets down on one knee

(as best as he could, since we were on the side of a mountain)

and gives a lovely speech about how happy he wants to make me

(I don't remember a word he said since I was already crying at this point)

and pulled a tiny box out of his pocket.

I don't remember if I actually said the word yes or not.

All I know is he slide that ring on my finger and gave me a kiss.

January 6, 2007

TJ and I were sealed for time and all eternity.

He still loves me and I still love him.

Twenty Ten

TJ and I rang in the New Year in style...

Snuggling on the couch in our jammies.

Surprisingly, I stayed awake until midnight

(a huge feat, since my bedtime these days is nine-ish).

We watched the ball drop...

we welcomed the New Year with a kiss...

we drank a glass of something sparkling...

and we crawled into bed by 12:30.