one week old.

check: little man's first week at home!  we've had an awesome time figuring life out together.  besides being sleepy from interrupted night time sleep, everything has been awesome so far.  he's a surprisingly laid back little guy, very easy to please & only really fusses when he's hungry.  i keep waiting for him to be a spaz like mommy & daddy (haha) but so far he's just chill.  we love him so much already!!  here's the story of his first week of life in pictures...the best kind of story :)

morning after the first night at home with him. he has been sleeping in his own room since day one and it's been a much easier choice than i expected.  he's done just fine, and mama has managed to stay relaxed about it as well ;)  we have a video monitor so we can check in on him when needed.  the first night we were up sort of nursing & snoozing from about 11pm-4am...rough.  but then he slept solidly til 8am that first night which was great.  i worried a little about letting him sleep that long without eating but at his one week pediatrician appointment she said he was gaining weight just fine and we didn't need to wake him up to eat.  he looked SO tiny & adorable on our first morning waking up...surreal that we have a baby sleeping in the nursery we prepared for him:)

that first week we enjoyed having daddy home with us & we took advantage and had lots of morning snuggles in our bed.  i love his expressions so much already.  i think he's going to have LOTS of personality!  newborn smiles are the sweetest, even though i know they're unintentional at this point.

 we call him our little clip-on monkey and i love this outfit on him.  and his little smirk:)

i love the hat we got at the hospital.  so sweet.  i think he looks kind of like a thug in these pics!  haha.  he naps during the day in this newborn napper, part of our pack-n-play.  it's awesome!  i love having a spot to put him for resting without having to run up & down the stairs.  his bed is awesome for sleeping at night but less convenient for naps until brady gets a routine down with consistent length naps.  until then, the pack-n-play newborn napper feature is perfect.

at five days old we took him to his first ball game!  gotta start him early!  mike is playing on a co-ed team this summer, the same one we played together on last fall, and brady & i loved going to cheer him on.  i was totally paranoid about foul balls, so we sat close to home plate where the backstop was taller - and i watched the balls like a hawk.  brady did just fine!  we even nursed & changed a messy diaper at the game...all in a day's work for me :)

brady's friend eliot is obsessed with him and loves holding him!  it's so sweet.  jen is due any day now with a baby girl, and it was fun to see how interested eliot was in brady - and how much he will love having a baby sister!

in his first week there was LOTS of napping on mommy & daddy's chests :)  it's seriously his favorite spot to rest.  i call mike the baby whisperer because he has an uncanny ability to put B right to sleep on him.  very, very sweet.

he likes mama snuggles too ;)

i think he's hangry in this picture...he did get that trait from me & mike...the meltdown when his meal doesn't arrive quite quickly enough!!

i LOVE this picture of him with his adorable chipmunk cheeks!!  he is SO tiny.

smiling behind the blankie.

 we had him wear mitts for most of his first week - he had a newborn photo shoot at seven days old & we didn't want him scratching his face all up.  you know those newborn nails are like razors!  he looked adorable though in them.  and i love how his legs were so curled up that first week.  he hardly ever stretched them out!

i love a baby burrito.  by the end of week one, he started stretching his legs out more and wrestling himself out of the swaddle - so we switched to the velcro swaddlers that i got.  but he was so CUTE in the hospital blankie all bundled up!

it's very hard to wake up in the morning!

 i love this picture i took one night after nursing him before bed. love the way he wraps around me so perfectly...and his skinny newborn legs & fuzzy back.  sweet baby.

 this has always been my favorite reflex.  the monkey toes!!

when we first got home from the hospital thursday afternoon, sarge was in his dog run.  i laid brady down for a nap & let sarge in and the first thing he did was run right over to his carseat and start sniffing it.  and then to his outfit he'd worn home, and the boppy pillow where he'd laid.  he somehow knew right away there was a new person in the house.  these pictures are even more precious to me now, knowing that that afternoon we made the decision to have sarge put down.  his leg was so much worse when we came back after three days in the hospital, and he was limping so much more, and while his nub still wagged fiercely he didn't get up as quickly to greet us.  i just knew it was time.  i'm so grateful he hung on long enough to meet brady though...for my boys to have a photo or two together.

these are the only pictures i have of sarge meeting brady face to face...wish i'd had a better angle, but i'm really just grateful to have any pictures of them checking each other out.  sarge was really calm, and just sniffed him a lot.  he didn't even lick brady, and sarge was a LICKER!  he must have known the baby was off limits :)

on sunday we had a bunch of people over in the afternoon to kind of say their goodbyes to sarge.  it was bittersweet.  i cried a ton of course, but was so glad everyone got to come love on him and in sarge's world it was probably his favorite day of life.  he got lots of scratches & love from all his favorite people, he got to play lots with maggie (and he was really energetic this afternoon), and eric & whitney brought over ice cream for him!  mike and i kept saying how glad we were that he had the best last 24 hours.

sargey laid right in front of the patio door in order to gather as much attention as possible :)

our one & only complete family picture!  so, so glad to have this.

on monday morning, it was time to say goodbye to our first baby.  we had the vet come to the house to put sargey down, and we had a great last morning together.  brady napped inside while mike & i loved on sarge in the yard before the vet got there.  we gave him some ice cream, lots of scratches, and tossed the ball a few times - even though he didn't seem to want to play fetch.  his paw was so swollen below the tumor & he mostly just laid in the mornin shade under his favorite tree.  it was a sweet morning with him. the euthanasia was really peaceful and i'm so glad we decided to do it at our house with all his favorite things & people around him.  we miss our puppy so much.  he was the world's best & the world's worst dog all wrapped up in 100 pounds of beast.  he was the sweetest, most loving & gentle dog we've ever known - to those he loved.  he had quite a bark, and we don't miss that - but we will always love laughing about his little nub wagging (or more like vibrating!) constantly, the way he rubbed his eyes on our legs in the morning, his crazy eyes & expressive eyebrows, and the way he rolled around in the yard whether just relaxing or playing vigorously with maggie.  we loved you, puppydog.

he loved this mangled tennis ball.

at least brady inherited the crazy eyes :)  makes me laugh just as much as sarge's did!

 back to the baby update...i love his fat lips post nursing, and the little baby mullet.

 bradykins got his first bath on tuesday night, one week old, after his umbilical stump fell off that day.  this is before he knew what was coming!

not a big fan of the bath...

but nothing is cuter than a baby in a hooded towel! 

 after his bath we wrapped him up, he had a snack & was ready for bed.  he slept a five hour stretch that night, which i think was because he'd exhausted himself screaming like a maniac during his bath!  love his fuzzy post-bath hair :)

still kind of pissed about the bath.

brady the mummy!

i love all his expressions... and he seems to love his rainforest bouncer.  he was "talking" to it in that first pic...

morning snuggles on the patio with aunt kate.

and wishing daddy well on his first shift back after becoming a dad!  we missed him a lot that first day :)

first time trying out the breastpump!  not as bad as i expected :)

and at seven days old, we headed to my friend desiree's studio for a newborn portrait session!  as i type this, i still have not taken one single photo of him with my real camera.  i was so surprised by this, and mentioned it to desiree - who said "you're being a mommy now, not a photographer."  which i guess is true!  i just don't want to set him down to photograph him, when i can snuggle him instead.  so for now, iphone photos it is!  i'm so glad desi took lots of pictures for us though!  he's already changed so much.  so here he is at seven days old...he was so good - although it took almost five hours to get all these shots.  the room was heated to over 90 degrees with space heaters, and she used the binky, and a noise machine, and intermittent nursing to keep him relaxed & sleepy.  my behind the scene shots:

and desi's AMAZING images of our sweet little peanut...

***

so that's where we are one week in.  loving life so much with our little guy.  the transition has been easier than expected for all of us.  we got an amazingly calm baby, and we are enjoying him and each other so much during this time.  i know it will go so fast & so we are soaking up every second together with him so small.  we kiss him nearly to death, we rock, and sing, and snuggle in the mornings in bed - and it's by far the best decision we ever made.  after years & years of not knowing if or when we wanted babies - we are immensely grateful to feel so ready for this and so in love with this kiddo.  God has blessed us beyond imagination.

a birth story: brady price apostle

well, i think it's obvious i don't have any control over anything :)  brady arrived into our lives just hours after my last post.  yeah, the one where i hoped he'd hold off til june.  til after mike's golf tournament, and my 37 week OB visit, and hello my pedicure appointment tuesday morning!!  i can't say i minded missing all that though, as soon as he debuted my life changed forever & we fell madly in love with a little six pound peanut.

this post is not for the faint of heart, as i want to record for myself our birth story with little man.  i want to write it all down before the memories fade...as they always do with time.  his birthday was amazing & miraculous & we could not be any happier in life.

***

monday may 28, we spent the day at the huntingtons for a memorial day bbq.  this is my last bump picture - SOOOO glad i took my camera along for the afternoon.  i love this picture because i am so unaware that in a few hours labor would begin & our next chapter in life would begin.  jen's due date is (was?) 12 days after mine...such a sweet blessing to get to go through pregnancy with her. i'm so glad we took a bump shot together.

monday night after the bbq, i came home & tuned into my weekly ritual of the bachelorette while mike played pool in the basement with a friend.  i wasn't having any contractions that evening besides my normal, mild braxton hicks - but i did notice that when i got up from the couch each time to go to the bathroom, my pelvis hurt.  just felt achy and stiff, and i'd kind of limp the first few steps.  i just brushed it off to late-pregnancy aches & pains...but looking back i guess maybe bubba was moving into position :)   i headed to bed about 10:30pm, and mike followed shortly after.  we turned off the lights & were laying in bed talking about our plans for the week.  he was leaving the next morning for a golf tournament in denver for two nights with his buddies, and i was getting a mani/pedi the next day.  or so i thought!  about 10:45pm, while laying there chatting, i felt a gush of fluid & said "oh no!" - then jumped out of bed & rushed to the bathroom.  it was pretty obvious to me right away that my water had broken - since it definitely a lot of fluid & i'm not known for being incontinent :)  i walked back into our bedroom a couple minutes later & confirmed to mike that my water had broken and he got out of bed and started packing.  of course i hadn't yet packed my hospital bag (i still had three weeks left, thank you very much) so i threw some things together while intermittently rushing back in the bathroom to change pants YET again!  i kept gushing more fluid every few minutes.  i still wasn't having any contractions though.  i even had a slight meltdown in the closet, complete with a few tears & exclamations of "but i'm not ready to have a baby today!"  i just really didn't think i'd be early, so mentally i was very surprised by the development!  mike was so calming for me though, and just kept putting things in our bag & he was really excited about baby A coming soon...which helped me really calm down about it.  

we got to the hospital a little after 11pm and got checked into the L&D floor.  i was the only active labor patient that night so i had lots of nurse attention :)  it was obvious that my water had broken (perhaps by my soaked pants?) so i went straight to a labor room and got hooked up for vital signs & a cervical check.  i was dilated to a 3 when i got there.  my contractions started about an hour later, and i felt them a lot in my lower back.  the doctor on-call came in about midnight & did an ultrasound to confirm that baby was "sunny side up" or facing the wrong way and that's why my back labor was so intense.  we all hoped he would turn during labor as it's pretty painful to deliver them that way.  thankfully he listened & turned over at some point because he came out the right way.   the L&D nurses assured me that i could have my epidural as soon as i was ready for it, which was so nice to know that i had control over that one thing!  i thought i would have to wait til i was at a certain dilation or something.  i labored in the room until about 3am, when i was more than ready for some pain relief.  the pain in my back became overwhelming and i didn't feel like i could manage it anymore by just breathing or moving through the contractions.  i'm not sure how close together my contractions were, but i think about 3 or 4 minutes and i didn't have much relief between them.  thankfully mike was able to snooze on the couch while i labored most of that time, since there's not really a whole lot he could do to help me through the contractions when they were still relatively mild.  i asked for my epidural at 3am and was dilated to a 5 at that point.  at 3:45am, the anesthesiologist came in and placed the epidural without any complications.  i honestly didn't even feel the numbing meds or the needle pressure - and i had relief within just a few minutes.  i did have a "window" in the anesthesia, where i could feel the contractions in my left butt cheek - but that helped me later when it was time to push and i could manage the pain of that by moving around in bed.

i was checked again at 6am and was fully dilated but baby hadn't moved down far enough yet. the nurses & doctor changed shifts at 7am while i continued to rest in bed and wait for him to drop into place more. at 8:15am i was checked again & was ready to start pushing!  mike & two nurses helped me with pushing and everything went really well.  i could feel pressure to know when to push and baby tolerated it very well - at one point he had a late decel & so they rolled me on my left side and put oxygen on me for the rest of the time but overall he did great.  pushing was REALLY hard work, and i expended every ounce of energy i had working to get him out.  at a little after 9am, they called the doctor in to deliver him and at 9:23am on tuesday may 29, our little peanut made his debut!!  the last ten minutes of pushing was excruciating for me, i think the epidural had worn off as i felt everything (including the tearing - TMI i know, but this is for my record of the whole thing!)....but the moment he came all the way out, the relief was instantaneous.  the doctor put him up on my belly, as mike cut the cord - and the three of us were crying, and mike was laughing and it was the sweetest moment of my whole life.  the three of us became a family there together & it was like no one else was in the room.

and now...a few pictures to go with the story :)

waiting to start pushing...feeling pretty good!

brady's first few moments!  this was after the nurses took him off of me to get him cleaned up a little.  mike went with him to the warmer, and brady immediately grasped his finger.  sweetest thing ever.

brady weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces - same as his momma :)  he was 20 inches long.

first time meeting my little bubba.  he was so quiet & alert.

my favorite picture from the delivery room.

our first family pictures!!

momma is looking a little swollen from all the fluids & pushing with all my might ;)

this is after we moved down the hall to our post-partum room which was like a hotel room.  MCR was an amazing hospital - we loved being there, and the care we received was over the top.  such a good first inpatient hospital experience for me.

the views from our room were amazing!

checking out my boy fully for the first time.  he's SO TINY!!!

rob & suzanne brought us our first post-delivery meal - wendy's burgers, fries & coke which i swear was the best meal i've ever had!  after almost 24 hours of nothing to eat (i had skipped dinner the night before after eating a ton at our afternoon bbq, and of course not realizing that i would go into labor)...i was ravenous, and inhaled my lunch.  and then mike, brady & i collapsed for naps.  brady took his first nap on daddy :)

loved seeing my little peanut in the bassinet next to me (where he didn't stay for long...we couldn't put him down!).

i could not stop kissing him.  the bond i felt with him right away was overwhelming.  he was just instantly so snuggly and calm and sweet.  this is one of my favorite pictures of him, just an iPhone pic, but so precious to me.

we wasted no time putting him in his first mizzou gear! :)

getting ready for his first real bath...he had to get cleaned up for visitors!

not terribly amused by the bath, but he survived :)

late night bonding with my little mister.  we were instantly in love with him...such a sweet first few days with him in the hospital.

mike snapped this iPhone photo at 3am our first night.  it is my favorite picture of brady so far!

 dressed & waiting to be discharged home with our little peanut.  love the snuggles with him.

and home sweet home, on thursday may 31!

more to come on life at home with our new family of three! :)

36 week update...

so this past monday i had my 36 week OB appointment.  this starts my weekly visits which is actually kind of fun because i love getting the baby update more frequently.  anyway, at this appointment we found out i'm already dilated to 2.5cm!  very exciting.  no effacement, but the dilation is a start and the way i look at it, even if i go a few more weeks, any progress on the ole cervix before i get to the hospital is better!!!  less work to do there :)  i've been having tons of braxton hicks and they've definitely gotten more noticeable this week.  some of the time i've had mild low abdominal cramping that goes into my back, kind of like period cramps.  so i'm not too surprised about the cervix progress.  my next appointment is this wednesday and i'm excited to see where we're at then.

i also had to start taking supplemental iron this week.  at my 34 week appointment i had an H/H drawn and my levels were 10/30.  a little low, but the doctor thought it was mostly a dilutional effect.  however, i've continued eating ice like a fiend so at my 36 week appointment she said it would be best if i started iron.  i'm pairing my little red pill with colace though to stave off any constipation - not a fan of going back to my first trimester misery in that arena!  so hopefully that will get my iron to a good level before delivery.

mike is out of town for a couple days this week, in denver for a golf tourney, but hopefully little bubba hangs in there til the end of the week.  of course he can come back if needed but i'd like to make it into june before meeting our little man!  however, there's no way to control that so i'm just sitting back and enjoying these last few days or weeks of QUIET & downtime & a free schedule :)  i am loving the chance to lay on the couch and read all day if i want to!  and go & do anything on a whim.  still working but today is my last 12 hour shift in the ER...going to just do half shifts or administrative time for the next two weeks and then i'm done for good as of june 10!!  wonder if i'll make it that far....

will post an update after my OB visit on wednesday!

36 weeks.

FULL TERM.  wow!!!

with only four weeks to go, i am starting to finally feel some burden with pregnancy.  so far everything has been more than easy - never vomited, morning/all-day sickness only lasted from weeks 5-11 (whew!), tons of energy, feeling good about my body changing.  i've been one LUCKY girl & i know it.  i know not every prego girl feels as good as i have.  however, with week 36 has come my constant companion of puffy fingers & cankles :)  i wake up with them in the morning and my wedding rings are an accessory of the past!  by the end of the day the pitting edema in my ankles has set in and i can do nothing but put my feet up to relieve it.  other tidbits of these last few weeks...eating ice like a FIEND.  i had my hematocrit checked at the doctor to make sure my anemia (which i was sure i had since i've never been a huge ice-cruncher before) wasn't too out of whack...sure enough, it was low, but not bad and so she said "keep crunching!" :)  well, not really - but i don't need to treat it.  i'm so glad because the iron in my previous prenatals made me super constipated (TMI?) so i was hoping not to go back to those.  i feel baby move constantly, he's an active little guy, and i know already how much i will miss having him rolling around in my tummy.  there is no cooler feeling in the whole world.  i'm so grateful to get to experience pregnancy & to be loving it.  cankles & all.

the last few weeks i have been nesting like crazy.  planting flowers, cleaning out closets, organizing random spots like the tupperware drawer, working on long forgotten photo projects like making a book out of my photo-a-day blog from 2010!  we've also been working on bubba's nursery a lot & i love how it's coming together!  julie helped me finalize some choices while they were out a couple weeks ago & it's been really fun to see everything start piecing together.  here are a few pictures so far.  once everything is done, i'll do an entire nursery post from start to finish :)

ikea came through for me with the shelves, mirror, red locker & adorable rocking moose!  his crib is from pottery barn kids (thank you HUGE sale!).  the rug is crate & barrel.  his bedding was made for him by grandma trish, and the bunting by his aunt yaya for my missouri shower.  i love it hanging on his crib!

view from the corner by the crib...i found the gray chair & ottoman at AFW, a local furniture store.  it's sooo comfy.  it doesn't rock, but i think we will like snuggling and nursing in it anyway.  i wanted something neutral that i could use in a different room someday if i wanted to switch up the furnishings.  the lamp was a $15 end cap sale find from target, which julie lovingly spray painted red for me :)  the dresser is also ikea.  i'll put his changing pad on the right side.

view from the door.  i LOVE the "B for books" bookends i found at ikea.  and the shelves with little details on them like the toy thing on top that reminds me of doctor's offices as a kid:)  the wooden stump table next to the chair is from west elm, with a gift card i got from jen for my birthday.  LOVE it.  will be perfect for my cup of coffee or water when i'm nursing....the edge of the dresser was a little high when i'm sunk down into the chair so i think i'll like having something else close by to set my phone or drink on.  oh!  and the wall color is a super light gray that mike painted a few weeks ago.  i love how it turned out & love the natural light we get in that room.  i think it's a pretty cute nursery so far!  still have the changing pad covers coming, which i ordered from etsy.  and i have tissue pom-poms to hang over his crib, and frames to put up over the dresser.  but it's coming along nicely so far!

this week starts my weekly OB visits, which i'm kind of excited about strangely.  i am eager to see if there's any "action" with baby coming soon...dilating, etc.  i am hoping he comes a bit early - isn't every pregnant woman ready by this point?!  but not too early.  ideally, 2-3 more weeks but please not FIVE! :)  i have tons of braxton hicks, but he's still riding pretty high so i don't think we're anywhere near getting close.  sometimes i feel like i can't breathe, he's so high under my ribs.  i don't have much of a torso to start with and by the end of the day my belly is so huge i can't take a deep breath!  i'm still working 12's at work and by the end of those i'm totally whipped.  doesn't help that i toss & turn a lot at night now and get up to pee at least once in the middle of the night.  so 12 hours is a really long day for me.  in the next week or so, i'm cutting my hours back at work.  my last scheduled day is june 10, but i'm not planning on continuing full time until then at this point.  i kind of had a meltdown this week about not having enough time at home, with sarge, and with mike before baby comes...so i think cutting back will help me feel like i get the downtime i need NOW before my life is upside down.  we'll see.  speaking of sarge, we will probably have to put him down in the next couple weeks which is terrifying to me emotionally...but i don't want him to hurt, and he gets worse every week.  i also don't want to wait til baby comes and have to deal with the emotions of it then while trying to adjust to a new baby in our lives.  ugh.  there is no good time to make this decision, so your prayers for us in the next couple weeks are GREATLY appreciated.

think that's it for this update!!  i'll keep you posted as i move into my last few weeks!  so grateful for this journey that we're on...we are so excited to meet our little man soon & start this new chapter of life as team apostle.

34 weeks. and maternity photos!

34 weeks today!  time is FLYING by.  i'm both thrilled by this fact & terrified...i feel like we have so much more to do before little mister arrives, and yet i'm also so excited to meet him.  so soon.  34 weeks has brought with it the first week i haven't been able to wear my engagement band consistently, a little puffy in the hands & feet by evening.  otherwise i still feel awesome, and usually don't even feel prego besides the giant tummy :)  i feel little bubba moving all the time and lately he's been parking it on my right side.  i've started to feel specific parts moving around, like a foot poking out on my right side sometimes.  it's awesome & i know i will miss having his little movements inside me all the time.

this weekend julie, ruby & noa are in town and julie threw me an amazing baby shower!  i'll do posts on my showers once i get all the photos back.  i didn't really take many at either shower - was a bit distracted ;)  and i still have one with my work girlfriends this week.  so i'll get those up soon.  anyway, it's been amazing having the hammers in town and we have had the best time together.  i can't believe next time i see them i'll be carting my own little peanut around!!

also this week i got my maternity pics back from erika - she did these when she was out visiting in march.  and they are RIDICULOUSLY beautiful...i love every one of them.  below are a few of my favorites.  she is so, so good at what she does behind the camera & mike and i were so blessed by her talent.  we've looked at these 100 times.  it's been so long since we've had professional photos of the two of us (our wedding?!) and so it's awesome to have these to document this sweet time in our lives.  i am the luckiest girl ever to be married to him & i feel like these photos express just a fraction of my love for him.  thank you thank you thank you, erika.  love you, and love these.

we had to give a shout-out to our boy tim tebow :)

so grateful to have this photo of us just being US...laughing hysterically together.  it's one of the best parts of our relationship & to have it documented is priceless!!

here's hoping for the next few weeks to be as smooth as everything so far has been!  i've just started washing little man's clothes* & putting his room together so we can be ready for him whenever he arrives!  JUNE, you hear little bubba?  JUNE is fine.

*tonight i'm working on getting the red stains out of his clothing that i just washed with a rogue red onesie.  mommy-fail.  i'm hoping to salvage some of his cutie clothes that are streaked with red dye...otherwise will be making another trip to the carter's outlet soon...