pampers commercial

So I am a big nerd. While Ry went to church on L-boy's second week birthday, I set up a little photo shoot in our living room. It is absolutely amazing for me to see how much he is growing, and to try to capture it with pictures. It's easy to overlook the smaller details in the day-to-day activities, so I had a lot of fun taking these! I was thinking about submitting them for a pamper's commercial ... what do you think? ;)

three weeks old!

Ryan and I voted on a very important matter today, and we have decided that we need to have all the family come back and stay with us again. While it's fun to finally be on our own and begin to feel like we actually are the real parents of this baby boy, we're also thinking that the fun is over and would like to have our moms/dads/siblings come out again to hang out. :) What do you say?

In all honesty, the past three weeks have gone by so quickly and we are so grateful for all the help that we received from family and friends! L-boy is growing like crazy, and definitely strengthening his vocal chords every day. After Ryan's mom left Ohio, we had a short weekend just the three of us, and then my brother, his wife, and their 10-month old daughter came for a visit on their way up to New Jersey. They ended up spending a little longer with us than expected, which was awesome! We had fun playing with the kids, going to parks, showing them around where I used to work on campus, and watching plenty of Seinfield and movies! :) Their little girl looks so big compared to L-boy - it's hard to imagine that he will be that size someday!

Now it's Sunday, L-boy is three weeks old, and we're on our own again. Just the three of us ... our own little family. Is it okay that we still get a little nervous? And that's an understatement? :) Ryan is amazingly wonderful at juggling school and being a dad, and I am still slowly recovering. Hopefully I'll be able to return to being a normal wife again soon, but in the mean time, the help from family and friends (especially Ryan!) has been amazing and so much appreciated. We are so blessed!! Thank you thank you thank you!!

I guess life will settle into some kind of routine now, and part of that will definitely include more frequent posts on our blog. :) Here are just some random pictures ... hope you enjoy!! More to come shortly!!

test run

R & I took L-boy to the park for the first time last week, mostly to get out of the house and to test the new stroller combo. Pretty sweet ride if you ask me!

bath time fun

L-boy's first full-bath experience was a little less than ideal. Ry and I took a little longer than he would have liked, and he let us know that he was a little unhappy! But we still had fun, and have tried to speed things up a bit. He's so dang cute in the towel - I love it! :)

the little one

Here are the long awaited pictures of the little guy! Isn't he amazing? Of course we have to say that, being the parents and all, but we have it on good sources (grandparents) that he is way cute. This post is also monumental because it is my (Ryan) maiden blog post (shocking, I know). L-boy was born at 7:59am on April 6, 2008 - it's hard to believe that he's been with us for over a week! We're having so much fun with him already ... we just can't get enough (except those 3 am diaper changes, but he's cute then too)! Both mother and baby are doing well. Heather actually is one of those miracle stories where she woke up at 3:30 with contractions, we were at the hospital by 5:30 and the baby was out before 8 - all without the help of an epidural. Although that sounds nice and short, it was in no way easy, and she handled it incredibly well - she amazes me!

Her mother was here with us for a week, and now Grandma #2 (well, they're both #1 in our book, but it's my mom this time) is here and they have been AMAZING at helping with some of the early morning wake up calls. My dad was also able to come and enjoy some Papa Gary/L-boy bonding - they are so good with him.

So he's feeding well and growing, holds his head up like a champ (already!), and went in for his first pediatrician check-up today - he already weighs 8 lbs 5 oz! And Heather was worried he wasn't eating enough ... whatever. We love him!

surprises!

For those of you who remember, I started an internship with The Ohio State University Department of Recreational Sports back in September last year. After the internship was over in December, they asked me stick around temporarily to help with some staff transitioning until the baby was born. So for the past three months I have worked with new people within the department and have really enjoyed it (especially since I actually got paid this time!).

My job is not that exciting, and it's actually pretty boring to describe to other people. I work with the membership services, and I help process the memberships (even students are required to pay for their membership, plus staff/faculty/affiliates/dependents/etc.). It's a little redundant some days as I literally enter memberships into the computers systems they use for hours. I help with intramurals every once in a while, and I help with a lot of filing as well. Basically, I'm a student employee who gets paid more than the students. Not that glamorous. But I absolutely love the people that I work with now, and we really have a good time! This past Wednesday, I walked into the office suite making my daily trip to my cubicle, and I saw this:
It was an early congratulations surprise! The Welcome Center desk employees (student staff who basically are the front lines for the entire building that I work in which is huge!) had decorated my cubicle, covered the little entry way with baby wrapping paper, and had filled the entire thing with balloons! It was such a fun surprise, and I loved it!
But the surprises didn't stop there! After I had eaten my lunch, a few of my co-workers met me in the staff kitchen with a HUGE dessert pie. But this is no ordinary dessert pie. It's official title is "Sharkfin Pie" and the Columbus Fish Market has it at the top of it's dessert menu. It is literally to die for - a double layer ice cream mound that is the tallest in the middle (hence when you cut it, it looks like a shark's fin), covered in peanuts, molded in an oreo crust, with a middle layer that is this divine chocolate/peanut butter concoction that makes you feel like you are in heaven. The middle layer, however, is about as hard as a rock - when we tried to cut it, it broke the electric knife! We ended up using this power tool saw, and even then it took three people to cut it! Talk about intense!! It's by far one of my favorite things in the world - and they bought a whole pie for me! It was a magical day. :)

Belly update: I'm still progressing, and we are expecting the baby any day now! My mom flies in on Wednesday, so I hope he decides to meet us all pretty soon! We can't wait! (As for the pictures - Ryan seems to think that I don't look that pregnant with the shirt buttoned ... so we took the second one for a better look. haha ... for posterity's sake, right?)

monster truck!

What do you do when you are six days away from your due date on a Saturday night? You go to a monster truck rally of course! Ryan and a bunch of friends from med school all got tickets together, and we figured what the heck - sure! Might as well do something rather than just sit and wait for the little guy to arrive! It was a lot of fun - and quick the experience! We had fun stoking out mullet-heads, and being amazed at how seriously some people take their monster trucks. Since we had never been to one, we didn't come prepared with ear plugs - so if you look closely in the pictures you'll see what we had to substitute with: toilet paper! It worked great. :)

So check out how nice the cars look in the beginning of the show:

And how they looked at the end:

Here's the group of friends we went with - it's hard to see the end of the line!

Here's an example of those individuals who get a little too excited by those monster trucks.

And here we are again! Yay. :)

dominating, part two

I'm not sure if you remember our post a few weeks ago about Ryan's dodgeball tournament ... but in case you forgot, we decided we needed to document his team's second championship! After another successful trip to the top, his team's thinking about signing up for some community league or get some kind of sponsor, because they seem to be unbeatable! Shockingly enough! (you'd never guess it by looking at 'em!)

Here's some pictures for fun - enjoy!






Note of sadness: Due to an error of judgment, Drew Stacy was unable to attend this tournament. As a previous member of the team, he now realizes where his priorities lie and will not miss any future events.

the last box!

I know this may be silly, but every time I look at the baby counter at the top of the page it's a huge reality shock. And even though I look frequently enough, it never seems to be 'old news.' I was shocked to see last week that our baby was finally in the last box!! I just got home from a doctor's appointment. He's in the right position ... but that's about as far as it goes. I'm dilating to a one. No other progression. Looks like he's content to hang out for just a little while longer. And in some ways, I am grateful for that. It allows me time to be reflective ... and here's what I've been thinking about lately.

Amusing milestones I reached through this pregnancy:

1. There is a pair of jeans that I still wear to this day only because of the miraculous capibilities of a belt. I cannot button these jeans - as with many other articles of clothing - but even worse is the fact that I can't even zip any part of the zipper. I wear them quite often, and it's all because of the belt. Amazing.

2. Whenever I poke my belly, or lean against my desk, or exert any kind of pressure on my stomach I feel him move around to try to get comfortable again (at least that's what I think he's doing!). It's fun to play games with him and make him move around in his increasingly smaller home. I figure that if he's making my body look the way it does, the least I can do is have fun with him!

3. I have been rather stubborn at times to continue any form of indepence, but I finally reached the point this past weekend of needing Ryan to tie my shoes. In any normal circumstance I really try hard to accomplish little tasks like this by myself - just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean that I'm incapable! But when we bundled up to go outside in the snow, with all the layers (even though I couldn't zip or button up my snow pants), it was just too painful to bend over. Sad, but true. And I hope it won't happen again.

4. It is a rare day while at work I do not spill food on myself. This belly seems to attrack all kinds of attention, and stains are no exception! Since I sit at a computer all day long, I always have some kind of food out which somehow makes its way onto my shirt. Soup days are the worst!

5. Normally the comment "you look tired" is never a good thing (it obviously means you're not looking your best!); but someone said that to me last week after a night of tossing and turning and I gladly accepted it as a compliment! It's hard work carrying a baby, and it was nice of that person to acknowledge my efforts. :)

6. While playing soccer in high school, my friends and I used to joke that our shin guards made us look like we had 'cankles' - or in other words, there was no definition between our calves and our ankles. Sadly, I have come to know this term more intimately than ever before. Ryan and I joke that sometimes I look like I have 'thankles' ... but that might be one of those you-had-to-be-there kind of jokes!

7. I've had a handful of people say to me, "Why, you're all baby!" Previously, I translated this comment in my head as nice way of saying "Holy cow, you're huge! That belly's about to explode!" I have always just agreed with the person and tried to keep the conversation going. But today, while at the BMV (that's Buckeye jargon for DMV) as Ryan and I finally succumbed to turning in our prettier licenses for ugly Ohio ones, one lady in particular made this comment, and elaborated to say that I would have the baby and be back in a bikini by the beginning of summer! (little does she know ...) As we continued to talk, I realized it was a compliment to have someone say that I'm "all baby" - and I've been ignorantly agreeing with all of these compliments the whole time! Oh well ... it's nice to get a good laugh in once in a while. :)

spring break?

Ryan had his test day on Thursday last week, and so his official "Spring Break" started on Friday (and will continue through this week as well). However, it seems that he was the only person who understood the message! He came home after his test and surprised me with beautiful tulips!! Why I was the one who got the surprise gift after he had been working so dang hard is beyond me, but I definitely love it! In my mind, tulips are the ultimate 'spring' flower - and just looking at them makes me excited to see the sun again!

Here's the catch. All day Thursday we kept hearing about a major storm warning that would come in Friday and leave Saturday night. Here in Columbus, we have heard probably a dozen or so times of a major storm coming in - and the end result is maybe two-three inches. There is nothing major about it! But this one was different. On Friday it started to snow in the evening, and this is what we woke up to outside our apartment:
CRAZY!! And even for all of those not-so-major-storm-warnings we get, everything shuts down. So when this storm hit, it's as if the world as we know it ends! Everything is closed, and the news is on all day long updating us on the fact that they've hired more independent snow-plows; and while we still won't be able to see the pavement, they'll be able to clear at least a couple inches off the roads (as if that helps!). Honestly - it's the packed snow/ice mixture that's left on the roads that ends up creating all the scary situations! It definitely makes us miss and appreciate the efficiency in Utah. Oh to live with people who knew how to survive again.

And here's another little Columbus-weather-tidbit: the wind blows like crazy! For the past few months I have felt like I've been living in the story of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day - remember how they all get blown all over the place - especially Piglet? Yep, that's what life has been like out here. I feel like if it weren't for this belly that weighs me down, I would literally be blown away!

So needless to say, the wind was worse with this storm! It's really cool to watch if you're inside - but painful to experience! There are some areas where the drift made the snow waist deep, and I'm not even kidding!! Ryan and I decided to have fun in the snow yesterday - and we had a blast! We mostly just played in our parking lot, and then ventured beyond our little back roads to see if life really was standing still for the whole city. And it definitely was! The major road that we live close to looked horrible still - and it was 4 in the afternoon! Ryan helped some people push their car into a gas station because they got stuck; and we had to keep an eye on anything driving somewhat close to where we were because no one had control. Luckily there weren't many cars out!

Here's a couple more pictures of our snow fun. Oh - and Jeep has never looked so pretty. She's in her element, and we can't seem to find the courage to clean her off yet. She enjoys it too much. :)