Our Crazy Wonderful Life: July

Showing posts with label July. Show all posts

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Birthday Weekend Comes To An End

As my birthday weekend comes to an end, here I am hanging our swimsuits and towels out to dry! I couldn't be more grateful for an amazing weekend! We sure found out in the last few weeks we have a swimmer on our hand! Mason loved every minute of Wild Water West and we have also been going to the YMCA! He also loves the water slide!

Dinner at the Hitching Post followed by a couple games of Dutch Blitz with some great friends. A day in Sioux Falls with some tasty food, good shopping and laughs while swimming.

Praising God at Church followed by a Kids Eat Free meal at Dickey's**already buying kids meals for our "little guy" he eats like his dad!! :)** and a swim at the YMCA!

Now for finishing laundry and cleaning up supper...then Relaxing!

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Lots of "first"

As many of you know we went to PA to visit family a few weeks ago. Mason had his FIRST plane ride and did amazing! They only time he cried was when we were landing in Atlanta for our 25 min "layover". I quote it because our plane was late getting in, the stroller wasn't ready, and we had to RUN to get to our next gate(down a long hallway, down an elevator, on a tram and to our next gate, our only breathing point was on the tram!)

A little glimpse of what it looked like when we arrived at my parents house. In case you aren't sure what the first picture is, it's a light switch. Yes very old house but it is homey feeling. My parents were so excited they got all these toys out for Mason to play with!

I have been to PA almost every year since I was born however I wanted to check out some new things! I pinterest some ideas before we left and came across this beautiful park "Ohiopyle State Park" Little did we know that our first point I wanted to see was over a mile hike..if you know PA it's NOT flat! Everyone was drenched with sweat by the time we got done(sorry too much info??) It was well worth it && so beautiful!!

The next day we went to my cousins pool, and this was Mason's FIRST time swimming! He loved it! It was also great to see my dad in the pool with him having fun! That really put a smile on my face!!

Mason is ONE! Where has the year gone!!?? Seem's like just yesterday we were going in for our 41 week ultra sound!

He woke up with balloons(thanks to Auntie Nola for the idea!) We then all had our FIRST train ride to go around Horseshoe Curve! He also had his FIRST piece of cake at Hoss's and then back home for a birthday party at Nana & Papa -- he had his FIRST Gob(I will include the ingredients at the bottom of the blog post!) So grateful to be with our PA family for his birthday!

We woke up on 4th of July and wanted to take Mason to meet the family that wasn't going to be with us. It was very emotion for myself as I had never seen where my grandpa was laid to rest, I never got closure with my grandma as I didn't get to go to her funeral and my aunt's life was cut short unexpectedly just months before our wedding. But after Mason had got to see them I spent some time alone talking(more like crying) with them. I know they were listening and they are watching down every day on us. Watching our family grow and we will have so many stories to share with Mason(and our future kids) about them! :)

Then we went to the Blough Family Reunion! It was awesome to see a lot of the Blough family! It has been years since I have been to a reunion and Mason sure did enjoy the attention!

My Grandpa Saylor's birthday is also on the 4th so we celebrated that and then went to the fireworks in Johnstown! It was a great way to end our vacation! :)

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Mason's 1st Birthday!

7/3/14

Mason Matthew:

-20lbs 7oz -- 29.5 inches

-We have got him fully off formula and eating table food!! yahoo! :))

-Sleeping 10-11 hours at night

-Loves to walk around the couches

-Loves to clap

-Size 3 diapers

-9-12 Month Clothes

- Loves to talk(da-da is his favorite)

**Photo Credit: Kandice Mae Photography - Mason 1 year pics**

7/3/14 - 1st Birthday in PA --

7/12/14 - 1st Birthday in MN --

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Where has time gone?

Where has time gone? Mr. Mason is now 4 weeks old! We have had such an amazing 2 weeks together though!

--3 Weeks--

Mason 3 Weeks - 7.24.13

This wee we were busy again with Mello Yello events and it was also Crazy Days so we spend Thursday(7/18) at the pool!

We also went the my friend Amanda's wedding on Saturday(7/20) and Mason did an awesome job!

Great Grandma/Grandpa Stager along with Grandma/Grandpa Speiser came to visit on Sunday(7/21) and we went out for lunch!

--4 Weeks--

4 Weeks! Where has the time gone! On Saturday my baby boy will be a month old!! This week Mason met his daycare provider, and it was my birthday(7/25), Auntie Heather took us out for lunch to Applebees and then took us Mini Golfing(Heather won)! This was a lot of fun! On Friday(7/26) Mason and I went all by ourselves to the cities to pick up Grandma Blough.

Matt and I went out for a little bit with some friends and Auntie Heather was the first babysitter we had for Mason! We babysat Mason's cousins the Gniffkes on Sunday(7/28). More Mello Yello events and a nice lunch at the Coffee House to bring back memories from when we were growing up! Tueseday(7/30) we went mini golfing in Belview for FREE how awesome of a double date was that! What a great week it has been!

Changes are happening tho: Mason has lost weight and we have found out it is because he wasn't getting enough milk from me when I would breast feed. So I am pumping as much as I can but otherwise switching to formula. I am surprised I could even make it this long with my breast reduction. I also got a job at Schwans and will be starting Monday, yes, 8/5/13. I am doing half days the first week (1-5pm) and the full time the next week. Auntie Heather will be watching Mason until he is 6 weeks and can go to daycare. This was a really hard decision to make but with the economy the way it is we need the 2nd income By the time I get paid it will be 10 weeks since I last received a paycheck. I am just trying to spend as much time with Mason as I can(yes I am even holding him as I type this) It hurts so much to think about it but I know it's the best thing right now for our family because who knows if I will be offered another job for awhile. As someone said to me "By it hurting so much it just shows how much you love Mason" I know he will be in great hands though and it will be easier this way then just having to drop him off at daycare. However I have only left him 2 times now and both were for 2hr so this will be a little bit of a change! Prayers would be appreciated! :)

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Natural does work!

On July 10th I got my staples out, I was told I would start feeling a lot better and moving around a lot better after. I went in to get them out being very nervous, we have determined I can NOT handle pain. So I was not looking forward to this. I went in the room and they put 50% alcohol and 50% water on them and let them sit for about 10 minutes and then Dr. Reber came in and took a look at them and said that everything looked GREAT! She then took them all out, within 3 minutes, ALL 20 of my staples were out - best part was - I was okay and not in pain and no tears!!! YAHOO! They then put on little strips that they said would fall off. I went home feeling great, it didn't hurt to get in the car or anything!

I had to go back on July 16th to make sure it was healing fine. I went in and she said everything looked great, none of my strips had fallen off so she took them off, this just felt like band aids being take off. I went home and was felling better yet. However I started to notice the next day that my incision itched. Matt just thought it was healing. Finally on Friday night we called my sisters friend Vanessa to see if she had any suggestions. She said to see if Heather had Lavender and Coconut Oil and if she did to mix those and put it on it. So I did and it WORKED!

I also heard from people the Gripe Water takes away hiccups for babies, so I decided to go to walmart and buy some. Yes it is $10 a bottle but it takes them away INSTANTLY! I may just be becoming a naturalist(if that is even a word) so maybe my sister was right, natural things are the way to go...ha :)

Monday, July 22, 2013

My life now as a MOM

--Mason 1 week old--

As many of you know I used to drink almost every weekend, then when I met Matt that slowed down quite a bit but still would on occasion. When I found out I was pregnant I was only 21 for not even 3 months, it was hard at first when we would go out with friends for supper and everyone was drinking except me. It has now been EXACTLY 9 months yesterday since I had my last drink but more importantly 9 months ago yesterday we found out that we were going to have a BABY!! It's crazy how things change and how my life revolved around partying and now it revolves around my son!

Towards the end of my pregnancy I started to have some terrible dreams, most were about how I was going to fail at being a mom. I only talked to Matt about it but that's all I needed, one day he texted me and said "U will be a great mom. U have so much experience with kids. Hunnie don't doubt yourself. U are GREAT!!!!!!" That helped a lot but didn't take away the fact I was still scared to death. I haven't been getting an income for 5 weeks before Mason was born and I was going to have to take off at least 6 weeks..how are we going to get by? How am I going to buy little things we need for our family? -- by having FAITH that's how -- I would get so stressed, we didn't know how we were going to pay mortgage for July and August with me not working and Matt just kept saying God will help us figure it out...and he did. God was just testing my faith and ever since I had Mason my faith has grown stronger.

God gave me a beautiful baby boy, healthy and strong.

God has provided for my family in hard times.

God has never lost faith in me and has always been there to listen.

"My God's not dead he's surely alive, livin on the inside roarin like a lion"

Typical day in our house....well there is no typical day! We just are living each day - day by day - soaking in every minute! Mason and I get to bond all day, which I love and as soon as daddy gets home he showers right away so that he can cuddle his little guy! I never knew how much I loved Matt until I saw the love he has for Mason! Mason is our world now, and nothing else matters. We have our little family of 3 and I couldn't ask for anything more! I was blessed with a very content baby who sleeps really good at night(anywhere from 3 1/2-5 1/2 hours). Which has also made being a first time mom a lot easier! And all the little things like how will we afford things have just worked out and fell into place!

GOD IS AMAZING!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Our First TWO Weeks!

WOW! Where has time gone?! Our baby boy is 2 weeks old, some of you may say oh only 2 weeks but seriously time has flown by! We came home from the hospital on Saturday, July 6th, to a very clean home I should add thanks to Heather and her family for cleaning and Matt for asking them to(this was a big stress-or and I didn't want to leave the hospital because of it). Mason and I are sleeping in the living room since I can't lay down yet without pain and Matt is in the bedroom.

The first night was rough I'm not gonna lie, Mason slept from 12:45-4:00am which was very nice but then he was up from 4:00am until 8:15am.....I was exhausted...finally at 7:00am I went and woke up Matt and asked him to come help even if it was just holding him so I could sleep for a little bit. Since then he has been great sleeping anywhere from 3 1/2-5 1/2 hrs at night!

In the hospital he wouldn't latch on(we are thinking because of my breast reduction) but would eat with a nipple shield, once we came home I thought it would be easier to just pump...well..I was wrong! It was so draining to pump, feed, wash, sleep(maybe for a bit) and do it all over again. I ended up getting ahead of it where Matt could feed him while I pumped but it was still draining. I was very nervous about how last weekend was going to go since we were going to a wedding/reception on a farm and how I was going to pump/warm up milk/etc. so I started to try the nipple shield again and he picked it right back up, so relieving!

--1 Week--

Mason's 1 week picture - 7.10.13(sorry I can't get it turned so turn your heads! :))

Matt was able to stay home until this past Monday, July 15 and that was really nice to have him home all last week. He was a huge help and really enjoyed cuddle time with his buddy! We didn't do much other than go to appointments, and some coke events - we took Mason to his first chiropractor appointment on 7.8.13 and he did awesome!

7/10/13 -- going for a walk!

--2 Weeks--

Mason's 2 week picture - 7.17.13

Love him so much

This past week has again went great and mommy is still holding up good! We are both still sleeping in the living room and will hopefully make our way into the bedroom this week! The wedding(Aaron and Lisa's) on Saturday went great and Mason did a super good job, slept the whole time except for eating! :) He got to meet Great Grandma/Grandpa Wolff and Geoff. Mason is still sleeping really good at night(I truly am blessed with such an amazing pregnancy and now a good sleeping baby!)

Heather and the kids have been here since Monday and have been spending the night which has been SUPER helpful. Even if it's just making lunch or Ashtyn helping me wash supplies after feedings! We are out and about more now and that's nice for me, but yet hard. I still can't lift Mr. Mason until next week and then I need to start gradually....Heather really takes this serious she has been carrying both babies and it stresses me out sometimes because I feel she is over doing it with both babies and Peyton(2 1/2) so today we started to bring our stroller with everywhere which made things a lot better for me! :)

2 car seat - 1 awesome mom/aunt

She really could handle twins--this is what I came out to after my doctor appointment!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Cesarean Birth: Pros and Cons

Part Two:

Cesarean Birth: Pros and Cons

Everybody has their own opinions on everything in life, I did not want a cesarean birth because I felt like I was going to be a “failure” in everyone else’s eyes for not giving a natural birth, but frankly I don’t care what others think, because by having a cesarean delivery, I have a beautiful, healthy, 1 week old baby boy today. Yes, MAYBE everything would have went fine if I went to a different hospital and they did let me try vaginally. But I could have also tried for hours and still had to have a cesarean, I could have had Birth Trauma and never wanted to have children again, or even worse yet I could have risked both of our lives. So when Dr. Reber told us we needed to have a cesarean birth, yes I was devastated that I couldn't have the birth that I had planned for but I knew it was the right choice.

After having Mason here are my pros and cons of his birth:

Pros: He is here, healthy, big and ALIVE--Healing process really isn't that bad like others make it out to be(I was up walking around not even 15 hours after he was born)--We got to stay in the hospital longer and were able to get more help since we don’t have a lot of family around which helped since he is our first baby--I was still able to have our friend that photographed the birth of Mason IN the operating room with us--Not 12 hours of labor(give or take some hours!)--Everyone was very accommodating and good at explaining things especially during the birth--

Cons: It was still a major surgery and I am sore(but not terribly considering my incision is much larger then most since he was so big, but I can’t move like I did before, YET!)--I can’t take a bath for 3-4 weeks(I love baths!)--I can’t drive for 2 weeks--I can’t carry Mason in his car seat for at least 3 weeks(maybe more depending how I’m healing)--I can’t go in pools/lakes/rivers for 4+ weeks--

Would I do a Cesarean or VBAC for the next birth and why? Cesarean - I felt like it went really good, considering Mason’s size I wouldn't have been able to do it all natural how I wanted. I feel like the healing process is going good and I am moving around quite fine. However I would plan the next baby in the spring, then I still get to enjoy the summer by going to the pool etc.

--Picture overload!--
Photography by: Katie Galbraith