Christopher is 6 months old!!!

My baby boy is getting so big so fast. It's hard to believe that just a few short months ago Christopher came into the world and made us a family! I am excited to say that I celebrated my first Mothers Day as being a full fledged mama! I am also happy that my boys got me jewlery and it was gorgeous... drop earrings and a matching necklace from our favorite jewler :)

( Its great to celebrate when you still have the bun in the oven but even better when you have that sweet little face to look at!

Christopher is now 6 months old and he is so long that he is wearing 12 month clothes. Our doctor has predicted that he will be just as tall as his daddy... 6ft 5in. All I know is he basically skipped over the 3-6 month size in baby clothes because he shot up like a bean!

He is developing so fast and even passed all of his 6 month milestones at his 4 month checkup. Now he is fully sitting up on his own, rolling over, sleeping in his own crib, eating baby food and we know he will be crawling soon!

On Mother's Day we had him dedicated at church and he just looked so handsome and was such a good baby even though we brought him on stage and they had all those hot bright lights. It was truly a great experience! We were honestly surprised that we were the only family dedicating their little one that day and were on stage by ourselves but at least to me it was also more intimate. It sounds weird but I have grown up in that church and I am so happy that he will be able to have that same opportunity and I could just feel all the love and support of our family we brought on stage plus our church family who were also a part of the service. I was one proud mama and wifey to have my boys up there on stage :)

We did have a little hiccup with our sweet boy recently though, when we got his 6 month photos taken in a nearby meadow and had an allergic reaction. Poor little guy had red spots on his face and had trouble breathing. We were so scared especially since we had gone out of town for the night. I called the advice nurse who explained to me that I couldn't give him any allergy meds until 1 year old and that I could only give him Tylenol and bring him into a bathroom with the shower running for the steam to help clear his lungs out. It was a crazy few nights of watching over him even more than normal and making sure my little guy was still breathing and encouraging him to cough since he was all stuffed up :( He does have some of the cutest photos from that day though and he was a trooper!

Now things are back to normal and since it has been forever since I blogged last I am not sure if I mentioned it but Chris has been working as an electrician up at a local casino and really enjoys his job. He has been there for almost 90 days and will be eligible for benefits any day which is exciting! Its crazy how much we get excited over different things as we get older. Yay...double coverage & cheaper benefits :)

Whats coming up for the Boyd clan.... Well I am going to be doing summer school again and be the computer tech at Rocklin High again and the day after we get out of school we are planning a trip to San Diego to be in a wedding for my dear friend Auggie.

Life as the Boyd's may not always be glamerous but we wouldn't have it any other way :)

Happy New Year!

 We were so blessed by our friends and family this year and hope that we are all equally as blessed next year.

(Baby w/ his Grandma & Great Grandma)

This year we had a whirlwind holiday season. We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family on Christmas eve with my parents as well as Christmas day. Before opening presents on Christmas eve my dad made his famous potatoes w/ eggs and bacon for breakfast and then we all went to my grandpa's house for a delicious mexican dinner made by my mom. The next morning our little family celebrated by opening stockings and a few presents and then headed to my parents for stockings and breakfast. Chris and Bekah both make really good french toast so we planned for them both to have the first annual French Toast wars for Christmas morning. It was a lot of fun! We left the two of them to their own devices in the kitchen and then did a blind taste testing one at a time and the winner was... CHRIS!!! ( He won by 1 vote)

Onesie Pj Time!!!

Disney gift cards from my parents

1st pair of soccer shin guards

Ahh... a shark ate my head.
(A new beanie for baby)

Later that afternoon we went over to Chris' step sisters new home and celebrated Christmas with that side of the family. We had a tradition Christmas dinner, exchanged presents with one another and did a gift exchange. Dinner was very good and baby made out like a bandit with all of the amazing presents from the family. We all had fun at the gift exchange and of course worked the "stealing option" of the game. In the end Chris ended up with a gift certificate to Buckhorn Grill and I ended up with a dancing penguin that shakes, lights up, and sings a Happy Holidays rap which the baby loves! All in all we had an awesome Christmas and are very greatful for all of the love our little family was shown.

For New Years we celebrated by traveling to southern CA and went to Disneyland with some other members of our family. Chris' step sister Sarah, her family and his step mom were all there. We went to Disneyland the first day and CA Adventure the second day. The first day at Disneyland was PACKED!!!  We were surprised that the baby was allowed to ride a few rides and his first one was Pirates and he also went on Haunted Mansion. We went on some other rides without baby and then took him to see Mikey.We thought ahead of time and made dinner reservations at the BBQ. The wait wasn't too bad and the food was yummy. Only problems were... it was so busy, very cold, and baby was getting startled due to Disneyland giving out free hats and horns to everyone right next to where we were eating. Don't forget one of our little kiddos with us got lost in the madness that was the crowd of people waiting to get the freebies. Luckily he was smart and found a cast member as soon as he realized he was lost and he was back to us within 15 minutes. We did see the parade before heading to dinner and got seperated in the mess of people. We saw a fight almost break out and hear one actually did and someone in our group was almost dragged into it. Luckily we all finally met up and had dinner. We stayed and ate dinner and then left the park after heading to the baby station where we warmed our little man up, changed him twice, fed him and put him to bed. We were back at the hotel and in bed by 11:30 ish and slept as the new year rang in.

New Years day we went to CA Adventure and it was just the 3 of us since the rest of our party slept in since they stayed out until 2 am. We immediately got in line for the Cars fast pass and then went to explore Cars land which we absolutely loved! The Cars ride didn't open until 10 am so we met some of the characters and went on a few rides such as toy story mania and the new little mermaid ride which baby got to go on with us and then we rode Cars one at a time. We also explored the Bugs Life area and then had lunch in downtown disney before heading back to the park. We also visited the baby area here and it was amazing. We were able to feed baby, change him, relax and pump. We then explored some more, Chris got a snack from the Cozy cone motel, rode Cars again and then headed to Disneyland to get a mickey pretzel before the night was up.

 


We relaxed and slept in the next morning before heading home. Baby Christopher did so well on the drive and had bottles ready and pre planned stops to help make the ride easy on baby and us. one of these stops of course included Pea Soup Andersons which was a tradition Chris had with his dad and we now have for our family :)

Baby Christopher is doing very well. He is growing big and strong and ahead of schedule. He is currently 9 weeks old, 13 lbs and is getting 6 teeth in. Our doctor didn't believe he was teething at first but at our appt this week she could see and feel them coming in and thinks he may be her youngest patient to get teeth. ( He may even get all 6 in before he is 4 months) I see lots of baby tylenol in our future :(

Baby Christopher's Birth Story

Whew... baby Christopher is 7 weeks old today and getting sooo big! ( Almost 11 lbs already)

Lets back things up and talk about our little Halloween baby. On October 30, 2012 I went to the hospital with contractions. While at home they were 5 minutes apart but as soon as we were on our way and arrived they were more infrequent and not increasing in strength. When we arrived at the hospital we were put in a triage room to be monitored. Immediately the nurses said I was far too calm to be having our baby that night. We hoped they might just induce that night since I was scheduled for an induction the next day at 8 pm. However, since things didn't seem to be naturally progressing and there were no open delivery rooms they sent us  home to come back the next day for our scheduled induction.

When we left the hospital we were on high alert just in case my body decided to start making changes fast. The contractions were present the rest of the night and the next day but very mild. We were excited when it was time to actually head to the hospital and loaded up the car and made sure to eat dinner since I knew I wouldnt be eating until the baby was here. On our way to the hospital at 7:30 pm on October 30th we got a call from the hospital and they had no available beds so they asked me to call back around 9 pm to see if the situation had changed. We called at 9 pm and we expected for them to say come on down but instead they said to come at 11 pm. Now, after being prego for so long, at this point I was a week over due, I was ready to meet my little one. The nursing staff was very nice and remembered us from us coming in with contractions the night before. When we arrived one nurse was so appreciative that we were patient and calm through the induction time being moved around she gave us a very large labor room which she said was good luck since she delivered her son in that room years ago.

After getting checked in and settled into our room the Pitocin started to flow. They told us just to relax and try to sleep because the contractions were going to start coming and they didn't want to give me any medication until I was further along in labor. The lights were turned down and I tried to sleep but had to keep getting up to pee every hour or so. (This was mostly annoying since I had monitors attached to my belly to monitor both baby and my heartbeat and they kept falling out of place since I had to get up and down so often.) Chris on the other hand slept like a log but was super uncomfortable because he is so tall and couldn't fit. The nurse even made fun of the little chair he had to sleep in.

As the night quickly faded to morning the medicine started to kick in more and more. Mostly this happened when the nurses switched and one decided to up the dosage I was receiving. Finally I was starting to feel strong contractions that were not pleasant and since I was starting to dilate I was able to get medicine. Since Chris & I took all our labor classes Sutter offered we already had met the Anesthesiologist. (He taught our Anesthesia class) I would like to say he remembered us and he may have since he loved that we asked so many questions during the class and actually noticed Chris was gone after a break during the class and waited for him but I am not sure he remembered us at the point and I am guessing he probably didn't. Either way I was happy I had someone I had met before and was comfortable with. I of course didn't look at anything that was being done and made sure to breath through the needle pokes and got the walking epidural as I had wanted. Through out the next few hours he came back to check in and would give me higher doses when needed. I did eventually get the full blown epidural while laboring.

The labor process as you read began with the indiction at 11pm on Oct 30th and continued Oct 31st. As soon as I was fully dilated I had to labor down before I was allowed to push.  This was only supposed to last half an hour but actually lasted an hour and fifteen minutes before the nurses finally came back in. During this time I was told to wait by laying on my side. This resulted in a very sore hip :( We pushed for two and a half hours with the nurses and finally they got the doctor. By the time the doctor arrived the baby was already down in the birthing canal but his nose was turned slightly resulting in one stuck baby. We tried the Vacuum extraction and has 4 sets of pushes to see if it would work. Since the baby was in the birthing canal for so long his head had already become cone shaped and the  vacuum couldn't get proper suction so it didn't work resulting in a c-section. I was very sad to hear that was the only option. Baby's  heart rate was low and wasn't coming out the way he should so it was our only option. A fear tears were shed but I knew I tried everything I could and this was the last step in getting baby out. I was then given more drugs and wheeled down the hall for the c-section.

My mom and Chris got suited up and joined me in the operating room. The medication I was given was very strong and had be very sleepy and shaky. I just made sure I stayed awake enough for the birth and knew the endorphins post birth would help me stay awake since I would be so excited to see our new baby. The surgery seemed to go very fast and before we knew it baby was pulled out Peeing, Pooping, & Crying! Next thing I heard was Chris shout out it's a boy and seeing the baby held up over the blue sheet so I could see him. He was then taken to get cleaned up and my mom and Chris joined him. We had asked my mom to take photos of the birth so she documented a lot of this. We were weary since she isn't a pro at technology but she did a fantastic job. I looked over at them all as I got stitched up. They were so silly and came over to showed me that they had the nurse who took baby foot print for the birth record stamp them with baby's foot. 

Daddy Cutting the cord

1st picture of baby

As soon as  I was good to go Chris and Mom were asked to leave and I moved beds and they gave me baby to hold for the very first time. I was beyond thrilled but nervous because I was still shaking like crazy and they wanted me to hold baby from the operating room to the recovery room. I held tight and stayed in the recovery room for 2 hrs before being brought up to our actually room. (We only had a few of our closest family members visit us in here and we had to sneak them in.)

We lucked out and were given a single room! I am so very grateful and feel blessed because it was nice to have the privacy especially after a c-section. As soon as we got in the room we had family come in and see the little one and spend some time with us. It was great to have family there and the kids were beyond cute in wanting to see the baby. We stayed in the hospital for 4 days and had a wonderful set of nurses who took amazing care of us and the baby. (Love Sutter Memorial) 

We are so happy to have our little Christopher James Boyd III in our life!!!

Baby being weighed 8 lbs 6 ounces

Mommy being wheeled down the hall w/ baby to recover

Mommy holding baby in the recovery room just minutes after surgery w/ daddy not too far behind

Baby Christopher in the hospital doing skin to skin bonding w/ mommy

Going home outfit

Leaving the hospital

Our 2012 Christmas Card & Birth Announcement

Photo Booth Boy Birth Announcement

Turn your favorite photo into a birth announcement.

View the entire collection of cards.

Life over the past few months...Pre-baby Bean

Ok Ok... The Hubs has just asked me to update the blog. Funny thing is that I didn't even know he read it! Since I now know he does I have to post this picture of him doing his daddy duty of assembling the crib.

So what has happened to us and this little baby in the past few months? School started back up for me in late August and I went back to the computer lab at the local elementary school, which I love. It was a crazy busy time since I had to make sure everything was ready for my maternity leave as well as get everything started and ready for all of the staff and students for the start of the school year (lots of work to do). Prior to summer starting I put together a binder to help things run a little smoother while I am away but knew I would still have to train someone to officially take over my position during my absence and add additional information to the binder. I trained someone that is currently taking over the bulk of my classes that come into the computer lab and also partnered with  another person who does my same position at another school so that she can assist my teachers with additional help. Being the control freak/ mothering person I am with my staff members, whom I love, I of course have been still checking my email periodically. But, I really have been hands off in the work department as of September 25th when my maternity leave officially began and try to only check it once a week and update the important things on our school website since I don't want anyone else to do it for fear that they will delete or ruin something and that was a lot of work to get going which I don't want to have to do again.

oops I almost forgot... In early September we made sure to get in some Maternity photos which I really wanted to get done before baby got here to record this amazing time!

Maternity leave for the first week was not all that relaxing for me. I filled my days with things I wanted to make sure I could get done before baby arrives and bugging Chris. I was so tired after all of the running around and prepping that for the past week I really focused on resting and as my grandma constantly says..."put your feet up, Mija." I was also fortunate enough to have my quarter of a century (25th) birthday during this time off and was able to have a great time with the hubby. We went up to Apple Hill and went to a few of the apple farms and had a relaxing day together and did dinner the day before my birthday. My actual birthday day the hubs made me breakfast in bed which was my requested homemade french toast... very yummy! The nice things about being prego is I can say the baby wanted it... truth be told, this mama to be wanted it and because it was my birthday I got it! Later that night we went to Bj's for dinner with the family and it was very delicious and we ended the night by browsing in Barnes & Noble. We had a very nice and relaxing time but I am one paranoid mama to be and had a difficult time getting in my kick counts that day so going to the book store allowed me to relax and focus and after Chris woke up the baby by tapping and talking loudly to it the baby finally started to move enough for me to get my kick counts in. ( I have to make sure I count 10 kicks from the baby for the duration of an hour once in the am and once in the pm)

That brings me to what been going on with the baby... the most important updates of course! As of Tuesday October 9th we will be 38 weeks pregnant. Last week marked 37 weeks which in the prego world means we are currently full term and baby could deliver and be healthy anytime now.  Baby Bean has been low in the belly for 3-4 months and officially dropped for 6 weeks. The way the group of doctor's I see work is that I have a large group of doctors and I rotate through them. I like seeing all of the doctors instead of choosing one and visiting only that person in case I have a different doctor for delivery due to whoever is on call. The only problem we have run into is that we have to constantly tell the doc we don't want to know the gender of the baby so they don't let anything slip and since they don't always write new info/ observations on my chart we have to tell them what the last person said. Specifically they don't believe that the baby is that  low when they look at me until both of us tell them and they check for themselves...down there. Not my favorite part of the appointment of course but I know its part of the drill. When they do check they are always surprised at how low baby is and we have been warned that when I start to feel contractions I need to go in rather than labor at home since the chance that baby will come FAST is a real big possibility.  We have also been told that we are measuring a week earlier than we are and may deliver 1 week early or have a bigger baby. If we deliver on due date we are looking at an 8 lb baby. At my last appointment on October 2nd we were told that I was 80% effaced and went over the labor procedures. It was very real especially when she ended the appointment with..."well, I will either see you this weekend in the hospital to deliver your baby or at your next appointment."

So, we are obviously getting extremely close to welcoming our little one into this world and we are both very excited but scared of the unexpected at the same time. I  have prepared as much as I can and read almost everything I can. My biggest fear is the actual labor & delivery part whereas the hubby's is what to do once the baby is here. I guess thats a valid fear for him since he doesn't have to push this little kiddo out! All Kidding aside, I know that the hubs will be a great daddy since he had such a great role model and we work very well as a team. We are currently on baby watch and counting contractions when they come and taking it easy until baby comes.

Hope this update has been something worth reading! We love to share what's going on with us with our friends & family. Look back here for pictures of the completed nursery and more importantly our BABY!!!

July flew by!

July has been a good but crazy month! I finished my summer job with the school district in the computer lab. I enjoyed that job which only lasted a month and when that was finished I thought I would have a week off to relax. This was not the case as my other summer job with the city started up early. I am still doing that job now which is a summer camp at one of the elementary schools. I feel blessed to be able to have a job in a time when most people are struggling and do not have a job. I had thought about taking the summer off but Chris and I talked about it and since I will be taking time off for the baby we decided I should work now when I can and enjoy my time off later once Bean arrives. Chris is preparing the office to become Bean's room and moving around other furniture so we have room upstairs and downstairs for the baby and all things for the baby.

Baby Bean is still growing and getting bigger and stronger everyday! We are currently 28 weeks prego and excited about Beans arrival. We have been through a few hurdles but are glad to be were we are now.  Since the last post we went to a specialist and got an additional ultrasound which still had a bright spot on baby Bean's heart but no other indicators of down syndrome or any other defects. I also had an additional glucose test to see if I had gestational diabetes and the results came back negative which I am very excited about. I love hearing good results but the waiting process is crazy.

Recently I believe I have felt my first few Braxton Hicks contractions which woke me up in the middle of the night out of a dead sleep. I was able to go back to sleep but experienced another one the following morning and then moderate pain for the rest of the day. I got worried and called the Doctor who informed me that I should be ok but to go in if i experienced 6 contractions in one hour since I am still too have 12 weeks to go. Crazy news from my doctor a few weeks ago... "At this point in your pregnancy you could deliver today and your baby would survive!" The scary part about all of this was that he said this right after he told us that Bean is now in the proper birthing position for a normal delivery. We also went on our hospital tour and were able to get all the hospital details we needed plus were able to see the labor and delivery floor. Eek... delivery is just around the corner! It's scary but we are both excited to see our baby :)

May flowers... just a little late

Wow does time fly! I had intended on writing one blog a month but I guess the month of May just came and went without me realizing it.The school year was winding down and with an expected last day of school being June 7th May was a rush to the finish line. I had such a busy computer lab and any available time slot was filled with teachers bringing in students to complete last minute assessments and final projects to hurry and get grades in by May 31st.

In all of the craziness we did go to Reno, NV this month to celebrate Grandpa Joe & my dad's birthday. This trip is pretty annual as Grandpa's birthday is in the beginning of the month and dad's is at the end... so, we take the trip mid month.We had a lot of fun and even though we were not big winners when it came to the casino we enjoyed our time with our family.

Baby update... This month we went in for our high resolution ultrasound. This is the ultrasound where you typically find out if your baby is a boy or a girl. We have officially decided we are not going to find out. This was Chris' idea but he has made me come to the dark side. He came to me and told me it was really important that we didn't find out because he wanted to be able to come out of the delivery room and say, "It's a ...!" I think this is pretty darn adorable but he continued to persuade me even further. Knowing that I am always on the look out for a good deal or ways to save money he reminded me that we want more than one child and not too long after this one so we will be able to do all gender neutral clothing if we don't find out. This allows us to pass on all clothing to the next kiddo and thus save us more money in the long run. Last but certainly not least, Chris said that his main reason for this choice on his part was so that we can focus on having a healthy baby. So, I was persuaded and do really think this is a good plan. It also helped that a lot of ladies at my school also did not find out and loved not knowing. They explained to me that there are so few things in life we can't control these days that we should just be here and enjoy the ride.

Now to the ultrasound, I was told that I must drink 2-3 bottles of water before coming to the appointment at least an hour before. I was not told anything about not going to the bathroom. In talking with ladies at work they said when they had to do this ultrasound they couldn't use the bathroom after drinking the water and had to hold it the entire time they were in for their exam. I got worried and of course went potty and then consumed the same amount of water again and didn't use the bathroom again until the nurse told me I could. I was probably there for 45 minutes and at first it was just the  normal belly ultrasound and they checked for a list of things. Crazy how they can see things like the kidneys and items in the brain now. We also got to see the baby yawn, move and also a close up of the baby'e heart chambers and them moving. The weirdest thing about the ultrasound was that the nurse kept telling me when I should go pee. She said she had full view of my bladder on the screen and every time it got full she would make me go try... and yes I did have to go.

The test was long and when she couldn't find everything on her checklist she started to move the baby around or ask em to walk around so we could get better angles. We got the results 2 days later while we were in Santa Cruz and all looked normal but one thing. The results said there were bright spots on the heart which was an area of concern. Chris immediately started looking this up to see how serious it could be. What we found out from our own research and speaking with the doctor a few days later is that bright spots on an ultrasound typically means mineralization. This is common to be shown in the heart on the ultrasound and typically goes away or doesn't affect the baby. The only time it can is if the baby has down syndrome or a chromosome defect. Since we didn't opt to do any genetic testing earlier on in the pregnancy ( which cost a pretty penny and can be intrusive for mommy and baby) we now have to go to a para natal specialists. She said we need to take the first available appointment and that was a little scary. Of course the first available appointment isn't until this upcoming Friday. ( yes, that's 3 weeks of worrying but it's almost here) Apparently they will do another ultrasound to see if the bright spot is still there and if so I hope will be checking for any other abnormalities.

We are hoping and praying for a healthy baby and would greatly appreciate it if you all could do the same as well. Oh... due date was moved up from October 23rd to October 21st!