More pics...

Here's our little man at 3-4 weeks!


My favorite picture so far!

One of his favorite ways to sleep - chest to chest!



Love this pic - it looks like he's a little freaked out by the strange creatures flying above him!


What a good sleeper! We went to friend, Brittni's, 30th birthday dinner at a nice restaurant and he slept the whole time!

Trac, me and Lawrence at Britt's 30th. If you look closely at the table you'll see my absolute favorite wine - Evolution!!! I got to have a glass for the first time in 10 months! It was the best glass of wine I've ever had!

Taking a break from helping Auntie Lawrence move to her new house



So precious!!

Mama's first outings

Since Tristan was having such a great time going on his first field trips, Daddy decided that Mama also needed her first outing. And what perfect timing that Sex and the City 2 was opening in May! All of us girls had gone to the original SATC for Trac's bachelorette party two years before and looked forward to going to the sequel together. The only issue for me was that opening weekend was less than two weeks after I had given birth! I had such a hard time deciding if I could leave him at home so soon, but in the end it worked out well. It was Daddy's first time on solo Daddy Duty and Mommy's first outing! I got to enjoy my first cocktail in 10 months - a cosmo, of course (although I felt a little guilty and couldn't finish the entire drink :). I think we all had a good time!

Girls' night out at The Nines for SATC2!

Lo & I - my first cocktail (cosmo) in about 10 months!!

Erin, Lynds & Falks enjoying their drinks before the movie!

It didn't really mean to happen this way, but it became a mommies night out!
Me (Tristan - almost 2 weeks), Ali (Aubrey - 4 1/2 months), Falks (Nick - 2 1/2, Leah - 1 yr), Lynds (Jaxson - 8 yrs, Grant - 2 1/2), Erin (Logan - 1 1/2 months), Laura (34 weeks preggo)

My second outing was the following weekend when I went to good friend, Laura's, baby shower. I decided to leave Baby T at home since Daddy and him had such a good time bonding the last time I went out. It was so much fun to be able to see all my girlfriends and celebrate another member coming into the world! I'm so excited to meet baby Amelia in July!


Beautiful mom-to-be opening gifts for her little Amelia!

I kind of hesitated putting this on here, but while Mama was at Lo's baby shower, Daddy (being the active, can't sit still for more than 5 minutes person that he is), decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to take Tristan on his first bike ride - yikes for Mom!!!! Daddy and son drove down to Uncle T's house to accompany him and cousin Lincoln on a ride downtown to the waterfront. Since it was one of the first nice days all year and the Rose Festival's opening weekend, they decided to take advantage. As crazy as it sounds to take a 3 week old on a bike ride, in the end it turned out okay. That's not to say that I wasn't feeling a little apprehensive while at the shower as I thought about what and how my little guy was doing on a bike ride. But in the end it all worked out. Tristan was buckled into his carseat and was put in a bike trailer. He ended up sleeping the entire time, except for one blowout (see video :) He had such a good time that he was wiped out until 11:30 that night! I have a feeling daddy and son are going to be quite the adventurous pair!

Tristan's first field trips!

Tristan is already quite the traveler - and at the ripe old age of 3 weeks! We've already been grocery shopping three times, went to Target, has been to 5 appointments (and not just to the doctor, one was a beauty appt for mom :), and has been to a 1 year old's birthday party! Of course we were only able to do all of these things when either my mom or Brian could help out since I still cannot lift his carseat (due to the C-section). So, both he and I really look forward to having an extra set of hands so that we both can go on our field trips!

Of course one of our favorite field trips so far was the one we got to go on today. My mom very generously came down for the day to help me out as we went to my classroom to visit Pre-KC!! I think both the PreKers and Tristan had the best time meeting each other, although he ended up sleeping almost the entire time we were there! I was so surprised that he could sleep three hours in a classroom filled with 4/5 year olds! But I told the class that he was probably so used to their voices and noise from when I was pregnant, that all their noise didn't phase him now! He also got to meet many teachers who were excited he came for a visit. What a well loved boy!

Class pic with the little guy (minus two students who left early for the Junior Rose Parade) - Oh, how excited they were to meet him!!!

Jenny Lindsay getting some cuddle time in with little man!

We will also be going back next week since I found out that I will be moving classrooms in preparation for next school year. Tristan is going to become a regular at my school soon!

Life with a newborn...

If I could give any advice to any new mom of a newborn, it would be to not think it will go exactly how the books tell you or what all other new moms tell you - each baby is different and each day will be so much different than the last!! After reading all the baby books on what to expect the first few weeks, I thought life would be something like this: eat, change diaper, sleep 3 hours, repeat. Little did I know that pattern would only happen once or twice during his newborn age! Here is what life really is like: eat, eat, sleep (only if he can fall asleep on me, cannot be moved or he will awake and be upset!), change diaper, eat, sleep on me, repeat. Notice there isn't much of a routine or pattern. The only pattern is that he likes to eat and will only sleep on me :) There have been some days when I can barely get out of bed because he either wants to eat or sleep on me. Maybe to some, the thought of lounging in bed for 10 hours a day sounds heavenly, but when you need to use the bathroom, eat lunch, get a drink of water, etc., it can be pretty challenging!!
Well, that was yesterday (and the day before and the day before, etc.) but today is a new day and he has been following the pattern I always expected: eat, change diaper, sleep 3 hours, repeat!!! In fact, he's been sleeping for close to 3 hours now and I actually want to wake him because I miss the fact that he's not sleeping on me - go figure! I've been able to get an unbelievable amount of things done today, including taking some adorable pictures.
Here are some more pics of our amazing little man!


He loves having at least one arm free!

Like father, like son!

Starting to smile a little! (Or it could just be gas :)

And now I think I'll cut this post short so that I can wake him up and enjoy these precious newborn moments - hard to believe he's already over 3 weeks old!!

All you need is love :)

From the moment Tristan arrived, he has been surrounded by so much love! Here is just a snapshot of the visitors who have come to visit him in the hospital and at home over the last two weeks. He is definitely well loved!


All of us girls at Hospital Happy Hour. Each time a new little one is born into our group, we have a HHH to celebrate. Tristan with some of his aunties!

Tristan with his new friend, Aubrey.


Good friends Shannon and Jennie came up from Eugene to get a peek at the little man.

Big cousin Emma had to get some cuddle time in!

Falks wasn't able to make it to HHH, so stopped by after returning from her vacation.

Candice even stopped by for a visit!

Little T with good family friend, Sandy.
(We tried to get pics with all of his visitors, but unfortunately, didn't get pictures when Clint & Sarah, Mick & Carinn and Aunt Michelle & Uncle Ryan came to visit. Hopefully we'll get pics with them soon!)

And of course we can't forget our very important visitor - Grama Candy. She came on Sunday, 5/23, and stayed until Friday. She helped us SO much!! She definitely has the newborn touch and knew just what to do to soothe both Tristan and I :) While she was here, we were able to go on many field trips. We went to the grocery store, Target, on a walk and even to an appt I had. I wish we would have gotten more pics while she was here, but here are some when I remembered to take out the camera:

On our first walk around the neighborhood.


Bonding time :)

Home sweet home!

Here are some of the first pics of our little man at home!



My little peanut! (4 days old)


First bath! (5 days old)


Checking out the swing (10 days old)

After staying 5 days in the hospital and loving the round the clock care we received, we were excited to come home to a very clean and dog hair-free house! Brian's parents stayed at our house to watch the dogs while we were at the hospital and did a fantastic job teaching the dogs to stay in the lower family room of the house. One of my biggest worries was how we were going to keep the dogs off the bed once little man came home, but were so excited to find out that they now stay in only one room of the house, which means no dog hair in our room - yea!! Since they were first part of our family, we are still trying to include them as much as possible and are looking forward to many walks this summer with them and Tristan. It's funny how priorities change though once a new member arrives!

Happy birthday, Tristan!!

We welcomed our sweet little Tristan Bruce George into the world in the wee hours of Monday morning, 5/17/10 at 12:28am. He weighed 7lbs, 5oz and was 20.5 inches long. We fell in love immediately!!

We are loving life with our new little man. He is such a blessing and wonderful addition to our new family! We are loving every moment with him and cannot believe that our lives didn't involve him just eight days ago!

We are still deciding who exactly he looks like. When I saw him for the first time, I was blown away by how much he looked like my baby pictures! I didn't think he would look so much like me as a newborn. I thought for sure he would look much more like his daddy. But, I know newborns change so much and he is not done growing into what he will look like. Brian has already said that he has changed at least four times since he was born!

Here are a few pictures of our little man:

One of the first family photos - Tristan, 12 hours old!

Proud new Uncle T!

Proud Grandpa!

G'ma & G'pa George & Grama Candy & Papa!!

Lovely Grama Candy with her sleeping grandsons!!

Admiring the adorable Tristan!

Daddy & son exhausted after some memorable days!

He loves to fall asleep in the funniest positions! (Two days old)


And now for the birth story... (Just to warn you, it's pretty long!!) All I can say, is that nothing about his birth went the way I thought it would. As a planner, I thought I knew exactly how things would play out. Oh, how I was mistaken :) 1)He would come early, before his due date, 2) I would go into labor in the middle of the night and we would go to the hospital and have him the next day, 3) I would be in labor for 6-8 hours, much like my Mom's story with me. Well, here is how it really went:

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went over my due date and had to be induced on Saturday night, 5/15 (#1 idea didn't happen). We went into Providence Hospital at 8pm and immediately started the induction process, a 12 hour induction medicine. Our doctor told us it probably wouldn't put us into labor that night, but would definitely get us started. So, Brian and I settled in for a good night's sleep as my contractions started mildly.

The next morning, things still hadn't progressed very far, so I was given something else to start the labor process (thus, #2 above didn't come true). This time it was a three hour medicine, sure to start things. After not much happening, our doctor then decided that we needed to start Pitocin. That is when things definitely started happening, and fast!


Traci and Dresel visiting before the Pitocin started!

Lincoln also stopped by for a visit and immediately wanted to jump into bed with me!

After feeling contractions for three hours and realizing that I couldn't go any longer, an epidural was much needed! I had heard what Pitocin does to a body, but didn't fully realize the intensity until I experienced it for myself - WOW!! Getting the epidural was the hardest part of the whole experience. Not feeling the shot itself, but having to still myself through three contractions while getting the shot. By the point of getting the epidural, I was in so much pain that I couldn't control my body from shaking and moving. Holding still and being calm was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But, getting the epidural helped out in so many ways!!! Moral of the epidural story - if you think you're going to get one, don't wait as long as I did! I wanted to see how long I could go, but should have gotten the epidural a long time before then!!

First of all, it gave me the release from pain that I was hoping for. Secondly, it allowed my body to relax enough that I went from 3cm to 9 1/2cm right away! I was shocked that it happened that quickly! We immediately called the parents and told them he was coming soon! Oh, how I was mistaken once again:)

My body wasn't quite ready to start pushing yet, so we waited about three hours until it was ready. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the pain-free time and tried to relax. But I also felt bad that all of our family had been called and were in the waiting room, hoping for good news soon! I also had it set in my mind that he would be born on the 16th. But alas, birth doesn't always follow a plan, which I should have figured out by then!

At 10pm, we were told that it was time to push. We called my mom in for extra support and were so excited to meet the little man soon! But, we weren't prepared for what would happen over the next two hours.

As much as he wanted to come and meet us, there were many complications that stood in the way. First of all, he was ready to come, but his head wouldn't fit all the way due to my "crooked" birth canal. Secondly, with every push, his heart rate would drop dramatically. And thirdly, the doctors discovered that there was meconium in utero that could be making him sick. They also discovered that I had a high fever, maybe due to the all the stress that our little man was experiencing.

So, after two hours of pushing, they decided that a C-section was needed. Immediately, I was wheeled into an operating room. During this whole time, I was extremely out of it, exhausted and by that point didn't care how he came into the world, as long as he was healthy and okay.

At 12:28 am, after only a few minutes in the OR, Tristan was born! My first glimpse of him from across the room was complete adoration! My first thoughts were - I couldn't believe how big he was (although he measured on the average side), I was so thankful for how "normal" he looked considering everything he went through and I also couldn't believe how much he looked like me!

After he was born, the doctors realized that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his head, which made for his heart rate dropping. Another good reason for the C-section! They immediately took him to have blood work done in case he had ingested meconium. They put him on antibiotics through an IV in his hand (poor guy), just in case, although a few days later the results came back that everything was okay!

What an experience! Although it sounds so traumatic, in the end I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. As crazy as it sounds, I'm thankful for the experience of going through labor the way I did. I guess I got to experience the best of both worlds! But my doctor did tell me that my body is not designed to go through that again and next time we will schedule a C-section from the beginning!!