Hallo...what?

Usually, I love decorating for fall and Halloween! This year I didn't get to decorate much because of the miserableness of my pregnancy and the birth of my baby. Since Lee went to the storage unit for a few things, I asked him to go ahead and bring back one box of fall/Halloween decor. I did the usual..some fall candles on the coffee table and changed out my throw pillows on my couch from blue/green to fall colors. But, really the only thing I really took time to decorate was our little bookshelf when you walk in. I was so proud of how cute it looked that I had to share. And so I can remember how it was decorated for next year! Oh...FYI-I realize the Halloween frame is empty. I got that on clearance at Target after Halloween. We're going to put all of Bauer's Halloween pictures in it each year when he's dressed up in his costume! This year its blank because I haven't printed the pictures out yet :) Oh and PLEASE excuse the dust! :)

Bath Time

Bauer, so far you seem to love bath time! Here is a picture of you getting your first bath! Oh wait! No! That's daddy when he was only a few weeks old! The resemblance is amazing! Bauer gets this look on his face all the time! They look so much alike!

Bauer, Here is a picture of you with Mommy! You just had your first bath! You were cold so Mommy was keeping you warm :)

Hunt Club Farms

A few weeks ago, Lee and I decided that we should do some sort of Fall-ish activity with the new babe. Of course we decided to go to Hunt Club Farms..and for the sake of tradition, Seth and Julie and their two lovies joined us for the trip! We had a great time and it put me more in the fall spirit! We didn't go as early as we did last year, so a lot of the pumpkins were picked over and there wasn't as much to choose from..which is ok considering we have no place to really display a Jack-O-Lantern or anything... Here are some fun pictures of our day! Oh and did I mention that Bauer was barely a week old and that I was SCARED to death to take him out of the house because I was terrified of bees (the ones that tend to hang around the hay and pumpkins and what not) and germs! It was difficult me to relax...call it first time mom jitters! :)

4 weeks!

Bauer, it's so hard for mommy and daddy to believe that you are 4 weeks old! In just a few days you will be a month old! :) As Thanksgiving approaches, mommy and daddy realize how thankful we are for you! We love you, sweet boy!!

Here is Bauer's 4 week update!

We're not sure how much you weigh or your new height because you don't have another doctor's appointment until you are 2 months old! At your 2 week appointment you were 8.13lb and 21 inches long! You are still wearing mostly newborn clothes but a few 3-6 month sizes. You love being naked or laying under your play gym in your diaper. You tend to get hot very easily so we like to give you a little time at night to play in the nude! It also calms and winds you down at night and you seem to sleep better! You sleep in your pack and play and you love listening to your "Lammie" that aunt Katy bought you!

You are drinking 3-4 oz of formula at every feeding and you are a hungry boy! You practically try to rip the bottle out of our hands when we feed you and you drink really fast and usually make yourself spit up even though mommy and daddy try to burp you! You hate being burped because you are so inpatient!

You hate being swaddled and you love sitting up on the couch like a big boy! You love music and when we play your grandma's CD of lullabies for you! You are grabbing onto things a lot...mostly my tank top straps and hair. You're very strong and have a great grip! You get the hiccups constantly and you love to toot!

A couple nights a week we give you a bath! You LOVE bath time except when we wash your hair you get cold! We make sure to keep you nice and warm! Daddy even brought a little heater to plug into the bathroom when we bathe you and it keeps everyone warm :)

Your current nicknamee given to you by your daddy is "Zubba!" You love Daddy and every night you play together and he spends quality time with you! You are starting to smile and laugh a little more and daddy usually brings that out of you!

You are such a JOY! Even though you haven't given us much sleep...we think we'll keep you for a while! Happy one month birthday to our sweet son! :)

52 weeks of Bauer

Lee and I decided we wanted to do a photo project documenting Bauer's growth from week to week. A lot of people take monthly pictures, but we decided to take it one step further and do a weekly photo shoot..sort of a flip book of Bauer if you will. We got the idea from various bloggers and decided that each week, we would buy a specific fabric (or use a fabric/blanket that we have lying around the house) and use it as the background. We've been going to the fabric store and buying a yard of fabric for the background. Usually I just head over to the clearance section to see what they have. At the end of 52 weeks we are going to have a quilt made with the different fabrics from each week. We think its a fun way to document the growth of our sweet baby. I will also try to post weekly pictures with updates on here...sometimes there may not be an update..just a picture. I guess I should go ahead and get you caught up with weeks 1, 2, and 3...here they are :)

Out with the old..in with the new

Well, since we had a baby, we decided maybe it was time to grow up and buy ourselves a little house. Make that, a little home :) Although we're not HUGE fans of Virginia Beach or anything, the fact is that we're going to be here for a while and we figured it was probably better invest in something than to pay tons of money for absolutely nothing. Plus we'd prefer Bauer grow up somewhere that he wouldn't hear random gunshots, domestic disputes, and naval air force jets. Well..I can't promise there wont be any jet noise but I'm crossing my fingers.

We found a STEAL of a house! Lee was approved for 200 but we were trying to stay under 150..after all this is our first house..the next one will be our dream home. HOPEFULLY in our dream location as well! :) While Lee's mom stayed with us for a week, we took the opportunity to look for homes. We got a realtor, loan approval, and headed out on the town. Most places we found were far too small, extremely pricey..or in REALLY bad neighborhoods. Some places we didn't even want to get out of the car! After only a week of house hunting we decided to give it a rest and try again in a few months. All of a sudden we get an email from our realtor about a condo. Yes a condo. In VA Beach...the housing market is OUTRAGEOUS. Its so expensive to live here...and the "decent" places in our price range are really only town houses and condos. We were willing to live with that if we found, "the one." This "Condo" is actually a detached, single-family, condo. Meaning, its in a condo community, has HOA fees/rules but its detached so its like our own house. That was the first positive about the place. Second is the price. The houses in the neighborhood are all appraised in the 220's and 230's. Our particular house sold in 2006 for 264,000! It was for sale a few weeks ago in the 190's and then dropped last friday to 146! Are you kidding me? What a deal! We thought for sure something had to be wrong with this as it was too good to be true! (well we still haven't had inspection so cross fingers!)

Its a bank forclosure so the closing period will take a little longer and sets us to move in mid-January. The only thing it really needs is new carpet, paint and a good scrubbing. Its pretty dirty but everything seems to be in fairly good condition. We can gradually replace appliances and things of that nature over the next few years. It has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, an eat-in kitchen and a separate dining area that opens to the living room with fireplace. A HUGE master suite with walk-in closet (bigger than our current kitchen!) and Master Bath with Garden tub and shower and 2 sinks! We have a ton of storage and closet space throughout and even a walk-in attic and a garage! We are so excited it is ridiculous. We are upgrading from about 900 square feet and 1 TINY bathroom to almost 1600 square feet! Praise the LORD! Here are a few photos of the house...there aren't very many online but of course I will take more when we move in!

The first picture is the front of the "Condo." The neighborhood is set up sorta strange so its hard to get to the house and see where the house is..we're still trying to figure out where people will park when they come to visit...hmmm. That is one major downfall. But, we love the house, its got cute curb appeal. The next picture is the back of the house and our driveway and garage. The next picture is the kitchen. In here, we plan on changing out the floor and painting the cabinets. The are in really good condition. Putting down a few slabs of granite, adding a backsplash and we will gradually change out the appliances. The fridge is really nice, so that can wait awhile but we may need to replace the stove and the hood range and dishwasher sooner than later. Also we have a large washer and dryer but would prefer new ones because they are a little outdated..but that can certainly wait too. No the washer and dryer are NOT in the kitchen but in many of the places we looked, they were. Lame! The next picture is the living room/dining area. Its a really bad picture because you can't even see the other side of the living area where the fireplace and everything is. In this room we plan on of course painting, adding some wainscoting around the bottom and removing the carpet (which is really dirty) the room itself is in great condition and has beautiful crown molding!

Before moving in, our plan is to replace all the carpet and in the living/dining area put down a wood laminate. We haven't decided if we will continue that into the kitchen or do a different tile in there. We will have to see how much everything costs. Other than that, things will happen gradually..and it will take a few years to get it the way we want but its going to be really fun! :) I think I see a trip to Home Depot in my future! :)

The day that changed my life forever.

October 12th, 2o11. 12:04 am. I was 37 weeks pregnant and my baby boy came flying out and into my arms weighing 8lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long. This is the birth story of Bauer Ross Hammarback.

For the tens of you that read this blog you know that I failed at blogging after 33 weeks. This was due to pure laziness/uncomfortableness (my own made up word)/lack of time/energy...basically a huge fail. I didn't document my pregnancy as well as I had planned to. I had a rough pregnancy. Pretty much any symptom of pregnancy that exsists, I was blessed with. I think I may have even invented some symptoms that didn't exsist. It makes me sad that I didn't do a better job in keeping up with everything so I'm hoping that next time (if there is a next time) that I devote more time into that. Now that I'm feeling better/gaining sleep..I'm promise the blogger world that I'm going to work harder at updating.

On my 36 week visit, I went to the doctor for my first internal exam. I prayed on the way to the doctor that I would at least be somewhat dilated..maybe a centimeter or 2. Just a sign that I was making progress because the pressure and pain I'd been feeling for the last couple of weeks made it hard to even walk. I was dreading going to work or walking up the stairs to our apartment or grocery shopping or anything that involved actual movement. When Dr Vavrika checked me, her eyes were huge! She said "wow, you're 4-5! I'm suprised your not in the delivery room asking me for pain meds right now!" I just looked at her and said "Are you kidding me?" She said she wasn't kidding me and that she couldn' t believe it either. The bad news was that I could have the baby any second or 2 weeks from then. UGH! The thought of waiting 2 more weeks would be torture, but the thought of my water breaking at work and my labor going so fast I wouldn't make it to the hospital was just as unsettling! After the shock wore off, I decided to drive to work just to tell them that I would not be working. I was officially starting my maternity leave. I still had a ton to do at home and I was afraid the baby could fall out any minute! At this point, I hadn't even felt any contractions. I couldn't tell you what a contraction even felt like! I was amazed and felt very lucky to be this far along with no significant pain..except for the pain I felt when trying to walk in general. I guess I'd actually been laboring all along and just didn't realize it.

Over the next week, I cleaned and got things ready for the baby. Everyday I was praying I'd go into labor because I was so miserable. The worst thought possible was that I would go a full 40 weeks. I couldn't take anymore. My appointment had been on Monday and I wasn't scheduled for my next appointment until the following Tuesday, Oct 11th. On Friday, the 7th my dad and Tina came to visit for the weekend. They were only staying until Sunday but packed enough clothes for a week in case I went in to Labor. I prayed I would go into Labor while they were here so they would stay. Friday night we had a date night (a double date) and went to the melting pot. They had wanted to go for a long time and I thought we better do it together as a last hoorah before Baby was here. We had a good time! The next morning, Lee and I headed over to Seth and Julie's to celebrate Leira's 3rd birthday! ( I can't believe she's 3!) Anyway, that morning before we left for the party I told Lee to pack the car with all the stuff for the hospital. I was feeling absolutely miserable and I just KNEW that was going to be the day I went into labor. I could barely enjoy the party even though I loved seeing everyone. I felt so terrible! Later that day we met up with my dad and Tina at Babies R Us to do some last minute shopping and had dinner that night at Hot Tuna! Yum! By Sunday..there was still no sign of baby and dad and Tina headed home!

Finally Tuesday rolled around and I headed to my appointment with Lee. First we had an ultrasound to see if they could estimate how big the baby was. They told us 7.10! After my U/S the nurse practioner checked me and said I was almost 7! What?? Still no contractions! She said, you're having your baby today and I want to you go to the hospital immediately! The look on Lee's face was priceless. I couldn't believe this was the day we were going to be parents!! They wanted me to go to the hospital so they could break my "bulging" bag of water. Yup that's the term they used. First we stopped at CVS so Lee could grab a few items and some snacks...can you tell we were in a huge hurry? ha! We checked into the hospital at noon exactly and they didn't even have to triage me...just got me in a gown and hooked me up to the monitors. They still hadn't broken my water but wouldn't you know? As soon as I got hooked up to those machines I started to have contractions! Like magic! Like Bauer KNEW that I was at the hospital and the show could officially start! Everything just started naturally happening. The contractions were about 2 mins apart and didn't hurt so much. After the contractions started, they decided they wanted to put an internal fetal monitor on Bauer's head to moniter his heart rate. As the doctor was putting this in, my water broke! I'm not gonna lie. It felt so nice! It was so warm and I was freezing in that hospital gown! Never in my life have I been a happy camper after wetting myself but that sure did feel wonderful! Weird I know! After my water broke, my contractions got a little stronger but still not too bad yet. I'd say it was around 4 O'clock by this point. We had called Lee's mom, Julie and she was on her way from High Point. She was so excited! At this time, the nurse told me if I felt like getting an epidural just let her know when. I told her I would let her know but it would probably be a while because the contractions weren't too bad. She said, that's fine, you just want to give yourself enough time to where you can sit still during the contractions when they're putting it in. I told her I would let her know! Well..LITERALLY 5 mins later, those contractions became INTENSE! Lee and I had a code word, "Waffles." That meant "give me an epidural, no questions asked!"

The epidural was the worst part of my entire labor. Literally. The anesthesiologist came in less than 5 minutes after my request..that that was great! They had me sit on the side of the bed. I leaned over on my nurse..Anne (who was awesome by the way) and Lee sat nearby. The initial "sting" was not SO bad...kinda like a bee sting. Then you're numb, but you feel that needle/catheter thing moving around. ( I could feel the pressure and actually hear it in my ear) I'll tell you right now that I had a VERY traumatic epi experience. It took over an hour to get it in! The anesthesiologist kept hitting bone. He was terrible. He tried several different times to get it in. I have several holes in my back still! I had to feel that needle SEVERAL times. The worst part were my contractions. They started hurting SO bad and I had to sit completely still. My head was bent over the entire time so my neck was killing me and my hair was all down around my face and I was sweating. The contractions hurt so bad that I was crying..almost screaming..and my nose was running and I couldn' t wipe it! I kept telling Lee..he's never going to get it in...he's not going to get it in! I wanted to just give up but the pain was so bad I just sat an prayed he would get it in. Lee fetl so helpless at this point. It was terrible.After about 27 tries.. Finally..the epi was in!!! Hallelujah!

The doctor checked me again around 800pm and I was fully dilated!! The nurse told me that even though I was 10 cm, the baby's head was still up high and she said if I started pushing I would be exhausted. She told me to sit up in bed and let gravity do its thing for a while and let the baby's head come down so I could push. At around 930, I started to feel my contractions a litle..they must've been really strong..they were actually starting to hurt! She checked me again at 10 and we started pushing. Yes, I still had an epi, but I could feel my contractions pretty good, that's how I know those contractions must be super strong! Everytime I got one, I held my breath and pushed while Lee counted to 10. We got in 3-4 pushes every contraction. The hardest part about that for me was holding my breath. Also, if you CAN feel your contractions like I did, pushing helped with the pain. Whenever I felt pain it made me push harder and it eased it a little bit. I could feel my contractions start each time and I knew when I needed to push. FINALLY, I started to feel the crowning...it felt like a boulder..literally..but to me i didn't hurt too bad. ALthough, yes I COULD feel it! after the head was out, I pushed one more time and his whole body FLEW out! they put him on my chest and he cried and it was amazing! I can't describe the noise that Lee made...it was a cross between a cry/laugh/hypervenilation...wow! After 12 hours (literally to the minute!) of labor we had the sweetest, most perfect baby boy! Oh and Lee's mom made it in time for the birth and got to see everything! I know that made her really happy. She had C-Sections with both of her boys and had never seen a live birth before! :)

Afterwards, I did have a second degree tear..I was still a little numb when the doctor stitched me up so I didn't feel any of that. Plus I was so excited to meet Bauer I didn't care! I enjoyed my L and D. We had fun nurses and actually had a good time! The only bad part really was getting the epidural.
Ahem. Recovery. I didn't realize how bad this would suck. Maybe not for everyone..but I didn't realize how sore/swollen everything was down there. For me, going to the bathroom was a 30 minute process...walking/pain/all the pads/ice packs/ that sorta thing that you have to deal with. Its all worth it because of the sweet baby you have..but seriously..recovering from this has been no walk in the park. I just started to feel normal again within the last two days.

Well that is the birth story of my sweet son! October 12th, 2011. A day I'll never EVER forget! :)