Landon's Blessing

     Just when I thought he couldn't get any cuter, we put him in a white tuxedo!  He had a wonderful blessing day.  He was just perfectly reverent during the blessing and very cute and happy the rest of the day.  Like a true momma, I cried all through the blessing.  I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and sweet little baby.

I love my cute little family

Thanks to all our great friends that came!

He just looked so angelic and glowy

The Dapp Grandparents

Yay!  I'm blessed!

The Waite Grandparents

Taking a nap after a long day.

Baby Stripes

     I hate the term "stretch marks."  I call them baby stripes because that makes me feel more cute, which is good because I have a lot of them!  My post-baby belly is an interesting thing.  There is so much extra skin that is all wrinkly.  At least it makes me laugh.  In addition to those, I have stripes from the tape blisters I got from the dressing, and of course THE SCAR.  I'm quite impressed, actually.  It is really thin and slightly pink.  The other day I had my postpartum checkup.  She palpated above the incision, telling me she was checking the internal sutures.  That made me wonder how the procedure looks since when I'd go to c's in clinicals I'd stop paying attention to mom once baby was out, which led me to do something pretty dumb.  I pulled up a video of a c-section on Youtube and watched in horror with the thought of, "Oh my gosh they sliced into me just like that?!"  It was a rather unsettling experience haha.

Anyway... enough about that...

     It has been a really busy couple of weeks.  I went back to work.  I'm so thankful I only have to work 2 days a week.  12 hours is pretty tiring, but at least it's only 2.  I always work Saturdays, so Tim takes care of Landon then.  When I work weekdays my Mommy and Granny take care of him.  It's super nice to work just a block away from their house, so it is really easy to drop him off in the morning.  It is good to be back though.  I missed my work friends.  I felt very appreciated by my patients' families (I work in sub-acute/long-term care, so you get to know the families pretty well), who all said they couldn't wait for me to get back.  I must be a pretty good therapist :)

     The next big thing, on the 16th my leetle brother-in-law Nick came home from his mission in Russia.  As we were waiting for him at the airport, several people he had talked to at JFK stopped to ask if we were Elder Waite's family and raved about how good of a kid he is.  He is, and I really admire his spirituality.  He wrote the best letters, and I wouldn't be surprised if someday he is sharing his stories at General Conference :)  He brought back some pretty awesome souvenirs.  Most of the family got furry Russian hats.  One of these days I'm going to have to get a picture of us in them.  I'm almost excited for winter so I can wear it, but you all should know I hate cold weather.  The only thing that gets me through it are cute cold weather accessories :)

This is the only picture I got at the airport.  Silly battery died.

Landon looks a little concerned, as usual, but he likes his new uncle.

     The next day we go some sad news.  Grandma Fuller (Tim's mom's mother) passed away.  Happy thing, though, she was able to see Nick, her youngest grandson.  I think she was waiting for him.  She was 92, and I remember us all thinking when Nick left that she wouldn't live long enough to see him come home, so this was a sweet blessing.  Grandma Fuller was the sweetest lady and I'm so happy I have the privilege to be a part of her family.  Really, we are all excited for her, because we know she is celebrating in heaven.  The one thing I was really sad about is that we didn't take Landon up to meet his great grandma, but something interesting happened early the morning after finding out.  I had just finished feeding Landon at about 0500 and I was trying to get him back to sleep, but he kept craning his neck over to the other side of the room and had the biggest smile.  I wondered what he could possibly be smiling at, and then I had the thought...  Maybe his great grandma is stopping by to see him.  I felt so happy, and of course I got teary.  It's interesting, just the week before in relief society the teacher talked about how it often seems that with big events, like births and deaths, the separation between earth and the spirit world can be thinner.  I believe this is true, as I had that dream about my Grandpa Dapp that I mentioned in my last post and now this experience.  Anyway, her funeral service was beautiful.

 The next big event of the week was Nick's homecoming talk.  It was great.  My favorite part was when he bore his testimony in Russian.  It just sounds so different!  We had a big backyard lunch after.  Unfortunately, none of us thought to pull out cameras while everyone was there, but we got some pics after.

That's not spit up on Grandma Sally's shoulder.  Landon headbutted the can of soda she was drinking.

Allen doing parkour?!

Me and my not-so-little man.

My niece, Mary, had a blast running around her obstacle course.

     Now what post would be complete without me gushing about my baby?  He is just the sweetest little man. He has been smiling, giggling, and cooing.  It is so fun!  I can't believe he is already two months old.  My little man cub is growing so fast.  He's over 12 lbs and is delightfully pudgy.  He's consistently sleeping 6-7 hours at night before he wakes up hungry, and that makes for a happy mommy!  Landon loves his daddy, and always has a snuggle waiting for him when he comes home from work.  He makes the cutest little squishy face when he stretches.  He loves the zebra stripe painting I did above his changing table.  He loves to hear me sing hymns, primary songs, and play my flute.  Lucky for me, he tolerates the millions of pics the grandmas and I take!

The default frowny face

Playing the air-guitar

Chubby little cherub

Squishy face!

I think this little guy is pretty cute.

I took waaay too many pics that day.

Playing Superman with Daddy

    

The Most Special Moments

     So...  I have been spending way too much time dwelling on how much c-sections suck.  I really need to take a minute to count my blessings and think about the really special, wonderful things that happened with Landon's birth.

• The Monday night before Landon was born, I had a dream about my Grandpa Dapp.  He passed away when I was 9.  In this dream, I was driving and came to a stop light.  I looked over at the sidewalk and saw my grandpa smiling at me.  He pointed at my belly, and with a big grin said, "Wednesday."  That is all he said.  The light then turned green and I drove away.  The next morning I recalled this dream vividly, and thought it was probably important because I pretty much never dream about family that have passed on.   I told Tim about it, and we were really excited to see how things were looking at my Dr. appt later that day.  When my dr accidentally broke my water she said it'll probably be a long time and not to expect anything until about midnight...  meaning he would be born WEDNESDAY!!!  I just got the chills (the good kind, not creepy) when I realized that my grandpa was very likely right!  Later, midnight came and went and Landon was born on Wednesday morning!
• So yeah, on the last post Tim wrote about how the brutally long labor ended in a c-section after the vacuum failed.  When Dr. Lister said that was what was going to happen, I felt panic like I never had before.  The contractions kept going and I didn't know what to do with them.  I started feeling a little delirious.  My family came into the room, and then my wonderful mother-in-law suggested I get a blessing.  I was so thankful that my husband and my dad were there, ready and able to give me a blessing.  I felt so peaceful.  I knew Landon and I would both be ok.  I have never felt such relief!
• Another special moment related to that blessing...  Tim announced Landon's name in it.  We had been keeping it a secret for months, and we had planned on telling everyone once we had him in our arms.  I think it was more special this way, though.
• The moment I first saw my baby.  While I was on the operating table I thankfully could not feel anything and Tim and I were just chatting, about what I have no idea.  I suddenly felt a lot of pressure and then I immediately heard one of the best sounds:  A strong cry.  During my clinicals as a respiratory therapy student I had the opportunity to go to tons of c-sections, so I knew what a good first cry should sound like and he was the best I ever heard!  Soon after, my doctor lifted him up over the barrier.  He was crying, his eyes shut tightly.  I said, "Hi Landon!"  and he went silent, opened his eyes, and looked straight at me.  He knew me!  I just started bawling!

These are the moments I want to remember forever!

My name is Landon.  Hear me ROAR!!!

First family photo where I look put together!  1 1/2 weeks old.

This is what new parenthood really looks like :)

Welcoming Landon to our family

This week has been a tiring yet super rewarding and amazing week. It all started on Tuesday when Jenelle went to her doctors appointment. At this point she 3 days over her due date. The doctor accidentally broke Jenelle's water. Oops. :)  We were really excited! We knew we would get to see our little boy soon. We then headed to the hospital, stopping at subway on the way, and got there around 1 PM. We proceeded to labor and delivery where would would stay the night.

After 22 hours of labor, 3 of which were pushing, and 3 failed attempts with the vacuum, our little guys was just too big. The only option at this point was a cesarean section. Luckily for us, it wasn't an emergency, just unplanned.

A short time later, we were able to hear our baby crying!

Landon Howard Waite was born on July 27 2011 at 10:15 AM. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 21 inches long.

He is such a cute little guy who loves to be held. He had dark blue eyes when he was born, but we will see if the stay blue. He makes really epic faces. And he looks like an old asian man.

Everyone is doing well. Landon is a little jaundiced, but is improving quickly. Jenelle regaining strength quickly. I am mostly caught up on sleep.  We will be returning to our home Sunday, where parenthood will really sink in. We are really excited for this new chapter in our lives.

Going Crazy at Week 39

I miss being a happy, cute preggy lady with a little bump.  Now I am a giant crazy cranky preggy lady that really really REALLY wants this baby out.  I seriously almost cried this morning because I wasn't at the hospital eating pancakes with our little baby being held by Tim instead of my stretched to the limit belly.  That's what I was hoping for last night.  For the last couple days I've been having stronger contractions but they just fizzle out :(

On Monday I had an appointment with my Dr.  She said she was happy I was still pregnant (she had been on vacation and told me I wasn't allowed to deliver until she got back)  and all I could do was give a half-hearted grunt of agreement.  Not a lot changed from last week, I'm just now somewhere around 2.5 and 3 cm.  The doc stripped my membranes.  That was super uncomfortable and I spent the rest of the day all crampy.  She said she had that done with both her babies and went into labor 2-3 days after, but I shouldn't be too sad if I have to come back again next week.  I'm pretty sure I'll cry.  It's been 3 days since then and still no baby.  Contractions increased, but nothing to send me to the hospital.  I keep getting my hopes up.  This little boy is a tease.

Happy thoughts...
1.  Swimming with a doughnut shaped tube at Pineview.  My family went camping there on Tuesday, and since my normal non-pregnant self doesn't like camping we just went up for the fun part:  Swimming and hot dogs over the campfire.  I wish I could swim everyday!  The middle of the tube was perfect for fitting my belly in so I could be in a prone position for the first time in months!  It was wonderful!
2.  Wearing a bikini at 39 Weeks :)  I'd totally post a pic to prove it, but I haven't figured that out yet and they are on my mom's camera.  Well, Tim did get a couple of me without my knowing, but I'm wearing a giant sombrero too... so... no.
3.  Tim telling me to tell my hypothalamus to tell my posterior pituitary gland to release oxytocin so we can get this baby out.  What a cute nerd.  I love him :)
4.  We've been keeping the little boy's name a secret, but we've recently leaked his initials to our families.  I love hearing their guesses.  Some of them are pretty good ideas.
5.  Baby's room is now missing only a baby!  I think I'll try to put up a pic now.

Oh hey it worked!  My awesome sis-in-law Darcie crocheted the animals on the shelves.  So cute!

The Belly and me in front of one of my fun little art projects.

I did the paintings, the curtains, and the pillow on the rocker.  Maternity has made me crafty!

And some more of my fun little paintings!

38 Weeks!

I had my weekly appointment today and it looks like things are moving along nicely!  Little Mr. Waite has his head down against the cervix, which is soft, 70% effaced, and at 2 cm!  The last few days I have been having more contractions, cramping, and backaches, but nothing regular yet.  Looks like he'll be here soon enough.  I saw the NP today since my Dr. is out of town til this Sunday.  She said I can probably hold out til then, or walk a lot of stairs to speed it along :)

First Post!

Ooh look!  I started a blog!  I figured this was the thing to since we're having a baby sometime in the next four weeks and we might actually have some interesting stories to tell.  I don't have one of those yet... so I'm going to go figure out some bloggy things now.  Toodles!