Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to me!

I feel so lucky to be a new mommy and was glad to finally be a mom this Mother's Day! I have absolutely loved being home with my baby boy every day and spending all my time with him! He really is a cute little guy! Here's some pictures of my new everyday life...

I like watching him sleep...

I love how sometimes he holds his pacifier in his mouth, makes it easier to pull it out when he's done I guess haha

This is the only picture where he wasn't crying! He hates these sunglassess, and the grass...

amazed by the mobile in his crib, he spent like 45 minutes staring and smiling at it- it was really cute!

finally is starting to like his other toys too, he gets so excited!

looking so cute (and big!) at 8 weeks old!

We went to the Botanical Gardens the day before Mother's Day
Jacob slept through the whole thing so we finally woke him up to take some pictures, haha...

Jacob looks just like his daddy!

We took this picture right before we had to drop Luke back off at the airport for another week. I feel bad Luke has had so many business trips lately- Jacob is growing up so fast! He'll already be 2 months old next Monday!

Baby Blessing

Jacob was blessed in church by his dad this past Sunday, April 26. We were glad to have Luke's parents come out again for the weekend, along with Grandma Martha. We had a fun time spending more time with them, and Grandma loved holding Jacob practically the whole time!



The blessing itself went well and we are grateful to all the friends that we have that were able to be a part of that. I feel bad that my family could not be there for the blessing, especially my dad, but I know at least they wanted to be there. I'm still really looking forward to coming home and seeing my family in July!


Anyway, Sunday was a big day for Jacob and he was so good, as always. He looked like an angel in his little white outfit- I didn't want to take it off at the end of the day! And it's even more sweet that it's the same outfit that Luke wore when he was blessed. I can't wait until we can find some pictures of Luke in his outfit so that we can compare them to Jacob!

We miss daddy!

We have been so lucky that Luke was able to get 2 weeks of paternity leave and spend so much time with us. It worked out great that my mom was able to be here the week of and week after Jacob was born and then Luke had his 2 weeks soon after that- so I've had a lot of help and company! We had a lot of fun just relaxing and spending time together as our new little family! I'm sad now that Luke has to go back to the real world, and then out of town three weeks in the next upcoming month for work! :(
We've loved taking walks together with all the nice weather we've been having and Jacob loves riding in his new stroller!

Easter

Jacob's first holiday! I was finally able to make it through church the whole time and so it was Jacob's first time being at church for 3 hours too. And he did good, he's always such a good baby, and was good about being passed around when everyone wanted to hold him. And I was excited to show him off in his cute little Easter outfit, it was the first thing I had bought for him- well besides all the furniture and stuff. But since I'm afraid he may not be able to fit into the outfit again, I felt I needed to take advantage of the opportunity to take way too many pictures of him. So here are just some of my favorites...

Bath Time!

So we ran out of Newborn size diapers the other day and had already come back from the store and didn't want to go back just for diapers. And we had plenty of other diapers in size 1, the next size up. And Jacob seemed to be getting bigger so we thought he'd be ok moving up a size. But that was a mistake.... As soon as Jacob got a messy diaper, he got everything messy- his clothes were dirty all up his back, the swing he was in- it was all over, the diaper didn't hold a thing- it was just too big and baggy!
Luke was the one to notice it but it was too much for him so he handed him straight to me, and all I could do was laugh and say "it's bath time!" So of course we got it on video, but I think I'll spare Jacob's dignity. Needless to say, Jacob was not very happy.

So Jacob has not really enjoyed his baths so far. I started out just doing the sponge baths but he has not enjoyed his little bathtub either so I've had to just continue washing him at the sink as fast as I can. I guess he doesn't like feeling cold and wet. At least he's always happy when we're done!

Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

We were lucky to have John and Brenda come for a quick visit today. They were able to fly in for a few hours to visit Jacob and so we were glad to be able to see them for at least a little bit. We just spent time chatting, Jacob got some more presents from them and Great Grandma Martha, and then we decided to go meet Luke for lunch. We went to Wendy's so Jacob got to go to his first fast food restaurant! :)
It was a short visit though, Luke had to get back to work, John had to fly to New Jersey for a job, and Brenda caught a flight to SLC to get ready for the next grandbaby to come! We're excited that Jacob will have a cousin so close in age to him (a week and a day apart) and look forward to getting together with all the family again soon!

First Day Out!

Jacob has been doing great! Today was his first day out, well not counting the walk to the mailbox yesterday with Mommy and Daddy. So today we had two appointments, first with a lactation consultant to help me out with breastfeeding, and then we had our first visit with the pediatrian.

Both of them said how Jacob is right on track. His weight is now at 7 oz 10 lbs, which is good, lost some but has gained a lot back. And he's still measuring at 21 inches. I was a little worried about his eating schedule but it turns out he's getting plenty of food and whatever I'm doing must be working, so thats good news! It is a little crazy though how babies sleep more in the day than at night, still getting used to that... It seems to alternate from a good night to bad night each time. But again, I'm so grateful to have my mom here and Luke has been awesome! He really loves the little guy, very precious.

Here's a little video I took yesterday when Jacob was 4 days old. We were showing off all the stuff my mom got him. She actually sewed him this cute little teddy wearing a Redskins colored scarf. The blanket he's on and the one he's in, along with some others, were also made by her. And she made Jacob 2 blue booties, a blue beanie hat, and a Redskins colored hat! They're all very cute!

Backtracking...

This is how it all went down...

My mom came in Monday night and so we spent Tuesday just taking care of some things around the house and made an hour long trip to the grocery store. This seemed to really do it for me because after walking around the store I felt a lot of pressure like the baby had dropped. I was a little uncomfortable the rest of the night and started realizing how close I may be. It was St. Patricks Day though so we had a nice dinner together (thanks to mom!), but little did we realize it would be our last dinner together as a couple!

I started getting contractions around 9 and they lasted a little over an hour but seemed to be false. So I made myself get some rest, but only slept for about 2 hours until the contractions started again at 1 in the morning. By 3 am we were already on our way to the hospital and seemed to get there in time as it started getting a little more difficult. It still took them over an hour to finally get the epidural in me and I'm glad I got it. I won't go into any more details from there, but it definetly was a lot of work and I was so grateful to have Luke and my mom there! After an hour and a half of pushing, Jacob was born by 12:18 in the afternoon, so about 11 hours of labor, not too bad I guess.

It was a feeling I can't describe when I saw Jacob for the first time, I just couldn't believe it, but it was wonderful and I was so relieved! There were a lot of things going on but we did manage to get this video very shortly after he was born, his first video!

Jacob Michael Decker

He's here! Jacob Michael Decker was born on Wednesday, March 18 at 12:18 pm. He weighed 7 ounces and 15 pounds and was 21 inches long. Here are some of his first pictures for you to enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Due Date!

Today is the big day! Well its the date I've been saying over and over for the last nine months. So although it is my due day, it doesn't look like it's THE big day, the real day that I'm antipating, the unknown day I will have my baby!

I'm really glad that I at least made it to my due date, I was nervous about being early. But now I'm ready! My mom flies in tonight and will be staying for only 2 weeks. At first I thought it might be too long but now that she's coming and we don't even know when the baby is coming, I hope my mom will be here long enough!

As long as he comes sometime this week I will be happy. If it takes longer than that then I know I'll definetly start to get anxious! So it looks like my mom will be walking me like a dog :)

This picture is a couple weeks old now, end of week 37, it was actually taken on my birthday (feb 27). I had just barely started to get stretch marks and now they are darker. So I had to take a picture of my perfect round belly before it got all messed up haha. So as of now I'm slightly bigger, a lady at the grocery store even asked if I was having twins. It's embarrassing almost all the public attention I get! I guess everyone can tell it should be any day now!

He'll look something like this...

So I've been looking at pictures a lot lately trying to picture what our little baby will look like. These are baby pics of Luke and I. I have some others and tried putting up a slideshow but just can't figure this blog stuff out, so its just these pics for now haha. I also added the picture of my brother James below because I figure he is like the boy version of me? And it's funny because Luke and James have a lot of similar qualities, a lot of pictures of Luke as a boy remind me of James. So I can't help but picture our boy to look like the two of them combined haha. But then again, maybe not... but either way I'm pretty sure he'll be adorable!

Baby Shower

My friends held a baby shower for me last Saturday and it was so much fun! My friend Nicole held it at her house and she did such a great job planning fun games, my other friends brought food, and everything was really nice!

look at my cool diaper cake!

There were about 15 of us, which made things fun, I was glad to have so many friends there to support me :) And of course I got a lot of really nice and thoughtful gifts. It started to make me feel a little more prepared, now that I actually have things for the baby. It also started making everything more real and exciting too. I just can't believe how soon it's all coming up!

baby's room so far

Today was also my last day of work and I got another mini shower with a potluck and gifts from a couple friends at work. It was very nice of them to think of me and I will miss working with them and the kids there. But at the same time I'm looking forward to my time off, first to get all ready, and then to just spend time with my baby. I know it will be a lot of work but I really can't think of anything I'd rather do!



There will be more pics to come since my friends mostly took pictures at the shower.

Week 35- So Far, So Good

Things have been going much better lately! Not that things were really ever too bad, but I figure I'll stay positive and share why things have been good!

1. I've started working only part time which has made things soo much easier! This alone has made me so much happier, I go into work late and leave early, I mean, who wouldn't like that? It hasn't been as stressful or hard on me and my body and I've had more time to do so many things I've been procrastinating! Which leads me to #2..

2. I've gotten a good start on my baby registry at Target, it honestly was sort of a hassle. Registering for our wedding was soo much easier for some reason, we got it all done in a couple hours. But registering for my baby has required so much more thought and research, I feel like I need to get the best of everything! And so it has been a very long process.
And I've decided not to buy anything until after my baby showers, well besides a couple big things that I may need to go ahead and buy so that I'm somewhat ready. So even though I've picked out things for my registry I'm still waiting to buy anything.. I know everyone thinks I'm crazy I still haven't bought a single item and I'm almost a month away!

3. So although I have not bought any baby items, I did find time to buy a new video camera! This has been hard for me because I did a lot of research and bought a very expensive camera on Black Friday back in November. We did get it on sale but it was still quite a splurge. Anyway, verrry long story short, we were robbed on Luke's birthday December 17, just a few weeks later and almost everything of value was stolen, including all our christmas gifts, which of course included this very expensive camera, essentially the only gift Luke and I were getting for each other. So I was pretty upset over losing that and it has taken us awhile to replace things that were stolen, but one at a time we've been buying things back, like clothes, Luke's drill, a computer, and now we have our video camera. There are a lot of items that we aren't going to bother replacing, because we also had to buy a car at the very beginning of the year. But I am excited to finally have a video camera, its pretty cool actually. And I guess it's kind of a baby item since I'm so excited to use it to tape our little boy!

4. As I mentioned, I do have a baby shower planned that I am really excited for. I've invited a bunch of girls from church, and my friends have been great in planning everything for me and got the invitations out for me today. It will be February 21, so I'm looking forward to that, it should be fun!

5. I went to the doctor again this past Friday and this time I requested to see a new midwife since there are 5 and I wanted to make sure I met them all since any of them could be on call when I go into labor. But I mostly wanted to see someone new since I wanted a second opinion on the chest pains that I have been having pretty much constantly since the end of December, and the midwife I had been seeing kept blowing it off. Anyway, the new midwife was wonderful, she was very nice and helpful and I think solved my problem too! She said my pains were not from the baby but show to be coming from my stomach and also shooting pain to my gall bladder. Go figure. Anyway, she got me a prescription for this medicine that is basically like a histamine blocker. So it has seemed to help so far which is a relief. It's not perfect since its a 24 hour pill and it never seems to really last that long, but its been soo much better so far!

6. By the time I go to my next doctor's appointment (Feb 18th) I will be in my 36th week, so in my 9th month and considered in term. It's kind of freaky to think that I could be having my baby that soon, I just keep hoping I'm a week late! But at the same time its nice to know that I'm so close to having my baby, but overall I'm not ready and hope it takes longer! I am excited to have another ultrasound at my next visit though, those are the best!

7. Luke and I also signed up for a Childbirth Preparation class at the hospital, its a couple hours on Wednesday nights in February. So unfortunately it does take a lot of time but I'm hoping it will be worth the money. We've only gone to one class so far, and it was ok, I'm hoping the next couple classes will answer more of my questions and give me a little more confidence and idea of what to expect. Luke hated it of course, but hopefully in the end he'll learn soomeethinngg!

8. I finally cleaned out the baby's room yesterday. There's nothing in it yet but at least it is all cleared out and ready to be filled up! And I'm also hoping that when my mom comes in we might have time to paint it. I'm not decided on colors exactly yet, but I am going with a Noah's Ark/animals theme. Hopefully it will turn out really cute!

9. I'm also happy that it has been such gorgeous weather lately! This whole past week was in like the high 60's and sunny, it was great! Of course it's supposed to be back to cold and snowy weather this week, but it was nice while it lasted. I keep hoping things warm up again by March though..

Anyway, so that's what's been going on, things have been good lately! Everyone keeps saying how huge I am. But I'm actually pretty proud of myself because I've only seemed to gain weight in my belly, and haven't gotten any stretch marks! So hopefully things continue to stay going good and as planned. Time is flying by but I'm just trying to take it all one day at a time!

Me at 34 weeks

what's been going on lately..

So I'm at 32 weeks already! I can't believe how fast time has gone by! Everyone keeps asking if I'm ready for it to be all over already but I'm not ready at all, I feel I need more time! I still have not bought anything for the baby or anything. We did get some great baby gifts for Christmas though from friends and family. We got a lot of clothes, booties, blankets, and even some little toys and books! So that's been fun so far, but I still feel I have so much more we need to get and do before I feel more ready!



a couple of baby's christmas gifts :)

At least we have decided on one thing, and that's a name. I actually had a name picked out before we even knew we were having a boy but I was thinking I would save it for later, but I haven't found any other names I like better. So we have decided (and agreed!) on the name Jacob Michael Decker. I love the way it sounds! I've always kind of liked the name Jacob and even though it's claimed to be pretty popular right now, we both like that it's a good standard name, timeless I guess. And Michael is a family name- Luke and his dad both have Michael for their middle name so it's kind of nice our first boy will carry that middle name. So it just seems to fit! I didn't really want to spoil the name until after he was born but everyone always asks, and most of our family has even started referring to him as baby Jacob. But Luke and I still just call him Baby :)


So things have been going well. Christmas was a great break to go home, spend time with family, and get away from work and everything going on at home. Luke and I were able to fly home to see my family in Maryland and Luke's family in Virginia. Everyone was home from both families except my brother James who is still serving on his mission in California, but we did get to talk to him on Christmas day which was great. We went with Luke's family for a weekend to Virginia Beach and stopped through Williamsburg on the way home. With my family we spent some time bowling, bike riding, shopping, and just playing games and stuff at home. So we had a very nice and relaxing 2 weeks with family and friends.



So of course coming back to work is never fun, it has been a little hard. It's nice that I get to work in an infant room all day because it's a lot of good practice, but definetly a lot of work, it's tiring. I'm going to work as long as I can but I'm not sure how much longer that will be. Everyone asks me if I'll be going back to work afterwards and bring the baby since I could work with my baby in the room buuut I don't know if I'm up for that, at least at this point. I'm excited to be a stay at home mom for awhile!

I guess my only complaint lately has been my awful chest pains, and my doctor just kind of disregarded it as heartburn but that doesn't seem to match at all, so I was a little annoyed. It seems like the baby must have his foot in my ribs or something, it's been really hard to breathe too. But at least I see my doctor every 2 weeks, so I'll just have to ask again this Friday. Has anybody else had chest pains? I would think it would be more common but no one seems to know what I'm talking about! Haha but I'm definetly feeling bigger, I've gained about 18 pounds so far- I guess that's good? And the baby rolls around, and stretches and moves allll the time, so I'm just hoping I can handle the next two months! :)