Kemper Thomas...finally.

So, heres the little mans birthday details (sorry if its all over the place :])

My contractions started at about 5:20 am on April 2nd at about 7 minutes apart. Well I had been feeling crampy all week but nothing big and uncomfortable so I didn't really think anything of them. Then my contractions were 5 minutes apart right around 6:30 when TJ is supposed to be leaving for work, so he got things ready and I got in the shower and then we were on our way to the hospital!

When we got there it was about 7:30 and my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and I was dilated to about 4cm. So after they finally got the IV in me (i guess I'm one of those people with tiny veins that make the nurses job lots of fun) they got me into a birthing room, hooked up to monitors and then they told me to relax and watch some TV (relax???).

And I had no perception of time so a little while later my contractions started getting even stronger and I was feeling them in my back too so I told TJ that he needed to get the nurse because I needed my epidural now! So after the epidural I was able to sleep a little and was also really giddy when I woke up.

Then I guess a few hours later my water broke and I was about 7-8cm dilated. And then what seemed like only five minutes later I was all the way dilated and waaaay ready to push. So when I told the nurse that everyone that worked at the hospital ( well, 4 nurses, 2 midwives, a doctor, and 3 training corpsmen) came into the room and we got the show started. TJ got to be right in all the action holding my right leg while another nurse held my left.

Then what seemed like forever to me but was only about an hour and 1/2 later, at 2:48 pm Kemper was born! TJ said I made the funniest surprised face when I saw him. I was just so amazed! I couldn't believe that he was finally here and that I was actually looking at him and holding him! He was 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long! No wonder he kicked a rib out, theres no way I have that much room in me! And now, heres the pictures:

Checking everyone in the room out. He was so quiet at first!

My mom got him a bunny (of course) so of course granmommy needed a picture of him with it.

I didn't get to him fast enough one night so he tried to make a snack of TJ

I left the hospital on Saturday and then on Monday we had a checkup and then it was on the road! Yep thats right, five days after birth we were taking a road trip from North Carolina to Colorado. To say the least it was rough, the first day we had car trouble and only traveled about 300 miles of the 2500( or something like that) and apparently there we barely missed tornadoes and fires and all sorts of bad weather. Just shows that prayer works :]

Then on Easter we were able to bless our little boy before TJ had to leave. They made a special exception for us since TJ is deploying this month. My dad, grandma and sister (and her boyfriend!) came down for the blessing. TJ's grandparents came to see the blessing too! We also went to brunch with the entire family! Kemper's first Easter was a busy one for the little guy.

Heres the entire group:

And four generations of men

And the women

Its my blog and I'll whine if I want to

Well I'm still pregnant and pretty much unbearable to be around. Lately I've felt it necessary to complain about everything, which I feel silly for because I've had a relatively easy pregnancy, up until now. The little punk (punk is a term of endearment...) has kicked one of my ribs out... so that hurts constantly. And I can't stand for longer than 10-20 minutes at a time (which sucks when it takes forever to do anything because of the giant beach ball taking over my body). If I do my hips hurt so much I can just lie down on the couch. He keeps gaining weight and I just feel like I'm too small to carry him anymore. And my due date was Saturday, but I'm not dilated at all and haven't had any real contractions. I know that usually with first babies they're late but I'm impatient. I just want him here now! And I have no energy to do anything anymore. Which is great when we need to pack up everything and move out of our apartment in a week so we can move across country and then TJ leaves in less than a month.

ANYWAYS....

We scheduled to induce labor this Saturday. I really want to just go into labor naturally this week but I really doubt I could make it any longer. And this way TJ can spend as much time with us as possible before he leaves.

.WHEW. If you read that, your a true friend. Or just really really bored. :]

In other news, who else loves How I Met Your Mother?? I'm totally obsessed with this show! We've missed all of the 4th season though so I can't wait for it to come out so I can watch it all. The girls wear the cutest clothes and I freak out over their boots every episode. TJ thinks I'm crazy. I have an unhealthy obsession with boots. I love them... any kind. High heeled, cowboy, uggs...whatever. I will never have enough pairs of boots :]

Where the Wild Things Are.

I grew up reading this book, and it was amazing! I can't wait to see the movie...I hope its as awesome as I'm hoping it will be.

In other news...still no baby. EVERYONE keeps asking me if hes here yet... trust me people I'll let you know.( I'll probably make TJ update my blog and send out picture texts from the hospital :] ) I hate not having control over when my little kiddo will be here. I did just eat a whole jar of pineapple though. And I'm going to play a bunch of Wii Tennis and then walk around the mall and then wait for the hubster to get home for some more hopefully-this-will-put-me-into-labor fun.... I'm totally impatient, I know.

Also, my house is super boring now that we have most everything packed up. Yay for cardboard boxes as decor. I may just start drawing on them...

I love St. Patricks Day and stress. Well... I don't love stress.

No... this isn't a few days off :]

My mom always made St. Patricks day fun for us growing up and thats where my love for the holiday grew. I think we even may have like one Irish ancestor so... yay.  She would put green food coloring in our milk and make green eggs or french toast for us before school. And she always makes the best corned beef and cabbage. Mine turned out pretty good...but I think hers was better. (and I have to mention how much I love crock pots, they're amazing!) Also on St. Patricks Day is when I met TJ for the second time. My parents had invited the Newey's over for St. pattys dinner and TJ was in town again for more school so he tagged along. Thats when we hit it off.... and the rest is really mushy so I won't get into that, now :]

Its rare that we have a picture that doesn't look goofy.

And heres the beach ball I've been smuggling for 9 months... 

Which brings me to the stress part. I need to vent. I've got less than 2 weeks now until my due date but I'm ready NOW. I just wish the baby was. (any tips for going early? :] kidding... sorta).  I want to have the baby early because well, for my own sheer convenience. TJ is deploying in early May for Afghanistan so I'm moving to CO. Which means we had to break our lease, so I just found out that our official move out day is April 4th. Thats exactly a week from my due date. And I need to have the baby here.  But I know life never really works out the way you want it to but it does work out. So I'm just hoping and praying that everything goes smoothly. Maybe the stress and the packing will put me into early labor...

Oh and heres the hubster with my birthday present:

Update.

So our life has been crazy this past week, but thats life right? 

We had to fly out to Durango on emergency leave to be with TJ's mom Aimee.  She had a rare type of cancer and it had taken a turn for the worse this past month. I don't want to go into to much detail but her tumors grew too much for her to bare and this was her last week here on Earth with us. Luckily we were able to be here with her everyday until the end.  

Its so hard to see cancer affect so many people. I just wanted to post this and ask that everyone keeps the Hermesman/Standleys in your thoughts and prayers. 

On another crazy note, we're flying back next week (I know I shouldn't be on a plane, but oh well. I've been really healthy with no complications and it was the only way we could be with Aimee) and then we're packing up our apartment, having the baby!!! and driving back out to Durango so that I can settle in and then sending TJ off to Afghanistan  Whew... maybe this summer will be calm? :]

The Baby Shower

So I was doing pretty good at the beginning of 2009 with blogging... but since we've been back home from Durango I haven't felt like doing much of anything.  I've been a lot better at actually cooking dinner before eight ( Usually TJ will give in and cook) but other than that I mostly just nap, eat and watch the 7 TV channels that we have.  I'm just saving my energy for the baby! And speaking of the little kiddo, he'll be here in about a month. My due date is March 28th and I can't believe its right around the corner. But I am so ready!! Mostly because I'm tired of being pregnant. And now we have everything ready and set up for the baby, its teasing me to stare at an empty crib all the time. Last night I asked TJ to tell the baby to get out of there haha... I'm not crazy. I won't be drinking herbal teas or eating dandelion salads to go into early labor, just thinking about labor scares the crap outta me :] I wish there was a way to just skip all that and then have a kid! Oh well.

OK... enough rambling (once I get going I can't stop!) I promised pictures of the baby shower so here they finally are. 

 

My first shower was in Durango at TJ's grandparents house. It was hosted by Gram, his step-mom Irina and his birth mom Aimee.  They invited all the ladies from the ward so that I could meet everyone and everyone could meet me (before that I was kind of like a myth... "TJ's cute adorable wife"). There were lots of people there and we were so blessed that everyone brought a present, actually they all brought giftcards so once we got home we were able to buy everything we wanted/needed. There was a great food selection and a huge cake. And we played the typical babyshower games: guess the belly size, name that poop (melted candybars in diapers), blindfolded diapering, and I know there was more but those are the ones that stood out :]

This is Grandmommy  Aimee, TJ's biological mom. Kemper is going to have a lot of people to spoil him :] 

And this is my BFF in Durango, Christal and I can't wait to live closer to her. I first met her in May when TJ and I went out for her wedding. I ended up catching the bouquet....so she's the one that got this ball rolling ;] just kidding. 

Here are some of the guests from the party, the redhead cheesin it up is TJ's sister Alexa... aka babysitter #1 haha.

This is the blindfolded diaper game. Anastasia did really good at all the games, she was the one closest to my actually belly size!

Christal and I in deep thought over the poopy diapers. This game always grosses me out but we ended up winning! I think we got 5 out of 7. I won this at the last babyshower I went to as well. When we told TJ that I won, he then proclaimed.. my wife knows her poop! He's totally getting a picture of baby's first poop :]

And there are a whole lot more pictures but I'm too lazy to post them. We had another baby shower here in North Carolina. Some of our friends had it at a restaurant and we all just ordered appetizers, drinks and talked for a few hours. It was great, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures :]

We're Back!

Well we're back from the out west, so I figured I'd try and do a re-cap. We spent the last two weeks in Durango CO, Farmington NM, and Salt Lake City/Provo UT.  And I'm a horrible blogger and took just about no photos....and I'm too lazy to even post those today :] 

• The plane ride there and back were hellish for me, nothing too bad...I'm just happy to be back on the ground. 
• It snowed the first night we were there!
• I now have beautiful crocdile skin from the dry air. No matter how much body butter, mousitureizer, lotion I slathered on, it was unavoidable. Thats what I get for growing up on the humid east coast 
• We had to say goodbye to Mr. Rocky Balboa (our dog). He has some kind of skin irritation and seperation anxiety, which means he scratches himself silly. I decided I wouldn't be able to handle him and our new born so we flew him out with us and he's living with my Dad now.
• We had family pictures taken with TJ's mom, step-dad and siblings. And heres the part of my blog where I get to brag: The photographer asked if I would do a session of maternity photos so she can have a portfolio to show people. She's trying to start a maternity/newborn/infant package and needed a model :] nevermind that I was the ONLY preggo girl in Durango...
• We spent most of our days catching up with/meeting a lot of TJ's friends still in the area.
• I fell in more love with that little mountain town (Durango).
• I had my first baby shower, put together by TJ's mom and step mom! I'll post more on that later. But I will say that we are so amazingly blessed!
• We found out last week that TJ will be depolying in May to Afgahnistan. The original plan had been for him to go sometime this month or March, so this is better. However it will be for 10 months. I can't say I'm happy about it, but I knew what I was getting in to when I married him, and I'm so proud  that he will have the opportunity to serve his country overseas.
• So, because of the deployment, we've decided that I will be moving to Durango. I have a much bigger support system out there than here. And I'll need all the help I can get I'm sure.

And thats about it. It was a busy two weeks so I'm glad to be back home, although I'm in major nesting mode, I'm finding plenty of time to rest ;]