Crew and Spring are both here.
My little groundhog has made his appearance just at the right time to be greeted by the array of daffodils and tulips popping up in our front garden and things couldn’t have gone more beautifully.
It’s 3am and after a perfectly executed midnight feeding, you’d never think that Crew and I were both new at this. It’s been almost 6 years since I had a newborn baby around and carter wasn’t much fond of breast feeding, so I couldn’t be happier about how this is going so far.
The nurse just took him off to the nursery and while I should be taking advantage of this allowable sleep time, I fight the urge to journal and reflect… Enter blogpost.
A quick recap of the past 24 hours.
7am- get to hospital
8:15am- pitosin begins and contractions escalate quickly.
10am- dilated to 4 cm, only 1 more than a week ago at dr. Appointment.
11am- epidural :) happy camper
12:30pm- 10 cm, “get dr west!”
12:48pm- Crew Fredrick Wilson is born
The most beautiful little 6 lbs 15oz thing I’ve ever seen.
My labor couldn’t have been any smoother, easier, or more enjoyable. There was even one time where I had to take a second to start over mid-push because my [God send] doctor said something that made me laugh too hard to get an effective push out!
I truly had an amazing team of nurses and of course Dr West. But thank you so much to the wonderfully attentive ST. Luke’s staffers. Natalie- you kick ass and always made me feel so comforted and safe. Brooke- you crack me up and thanks for bribing the anesthesiologist with cookies for me! Speaking of anesthesia- thanks “Joshy” for being so quick, painless and adorable! We joked about how we thought they were bringing in actors from Grey’s anatomy, but thanks for being the real deal! And Dr. Timothy West I can never thank enough. You scheduled this induction to make sure you didn’t miss it next week. I knew when I chose you as my OB that my baby and I were getting the best, and I am glad I didn’t have to settle for anything but when the time came. Thanks for always checking on us all day long and making us feel like you genuinely cared and not like we were just another name on the board. You were so involved start to finish and I always knew I was in good hands. This experience was so much better than my first, and I credit that all to the team of absolute angels that were here to help. My gratitude goes out to “the A team” here at St. Luke’s!
Even once I moved up to the 8th floor, my nurses have been so so great! I hope I wasn’t too demanding!
Now don’t get me wrong, but as much as I have loved every minute of my time here- we are so ready to go home! My poor darling husband is sleeping on this sort-of-recliner and my Carter bug wasn’t happy to have to leave his new brother to spend the night at his yiayia’s house. I can’t wait to get home and start our new lives together as a family,
Carter is responding so well, and his big brother instincts are kicking in high gear. He wants to hold Crew every second, tickle his skin and pet his hair. He’s so in love and wants to be involved in every little milestone like his first bath. He teared up when it was time to leave, and I just feel so lucky to have 2 beautiful, healthy boys. I’m so proud of Carter, he’s so big already but today he grew up even more. Now he has responsibilities. Now he’s a role model and his dream has come true– he’s a real life super hero to this little boy that he will have a hand in making.
Oh I want to thank a thousand people, for the gifts, the thoughts and prayers, for visiting and for signing up to bring us meals. The outpouring of love is overwhelming and keeps bringing this box of hormones to tears of happiness. Thanks to my parents and my best friends Lindsey and Nichole. You guys know what for. I couldn’t do any of this without you, and I’m glad you were able to witness and be a part of the day.
Nichole- I feel like I made it look easy. For that I’m sorry! Haha, but I can’t wait for it to be your turn and you know I’ll be there every step of the way.
And who to thank the most… My beautiful, strong, caring best friend and husband. Chris, you will never know how much I love you. We were kids and when you asked me to be your girlfriend on May 30th, 2001 I knew that I was going to marry you. It’s been 13 years. That means that in just one more year, you have officially been there for half my life. Thank you for showing me how much someone can possibly love. You make me laugh every day, and seeing you hold our baby makes me fall in love with you all over again. You and me made these two perfect things and I’m really the luckiest. What did I do to deserve this life? The tears roll down my face as I type this and you’re laying in that horrible red pleather chair to my right. You never leave my side. You always put me and our family first , you always provide. You are incredible. These boys have the most amazing men in their lives and especially their daddy. There’s no way they won’t grow to make this world a better place. They will always know how to love and they will see how to respect and treat women because of you. Your selflessness is a quality that I admire so much and I can’t thank you enough. You’ll never know how happy you make me.
Well dang I’m a sobbing mess right now, but it feels so good. This happy momma needs to get some sleep.
I’m so in love.
Checking in and a new start
Well I kinda neglected this little blog of mine didn’t I. Well, a lot has happened since almost a year ago when I posted the last blog post on here. It’s been a little crazy if that justifies it at all! Here’s what’s happened since then.
-Wedding Season 2013. Our busiest yet!
-We bought a paper store! Paper express was closing and Nichole and I decided we wanted to buy a paper cutter. Then we ended up with a whole new store and a new business.
-Right about the same time we bought the store, Chris and I found out we were pregnant with number 2! Oh sheeze- here we go!
-Nine months later, I’m writing this blog post tonight.
It’s Wednesday evening, March 19th, 2014. We are scheduled to induce on Friday morning at 7am. That’s less than 36 hours away and I’ll officially have to change my domain name! I’m not only going to be Carter’s mom… but the mother to yet another little beautiful boy. I am feeling anxious, happy, terrified, excited, grateful, nervous and terrified all at once. Wait, did I say terrified twice? Oh that’s because I’m terrified! Haha, to be honest– it’s scarier this time I think than it was last time because I actually know what is about to happen this time! I know that our lives are about to be turned upside down and I know that we have much busier lives this time than we did 5 years ago when we had Carter. I’m also relieved if that’s possible. We are busier yes, but we are also in a better place financially, emotionally, maturity levels etc. and our family is stronger than ever. Carter is almost 6 and I know he’ll be able to help and he’s going to be the best big brother ever. I can’t wait to see him holding little Crew in his arms and giving him kisses.
The pregnancy went by pretty quickly this time which is awesome. It probably has something to do with the list of distractions I made at the start of this post! It’s been pretty smooth sailing however the past couple of weeks have been a little rough.
Anyway, just wanted to reflect on what’s going on today and how much things are about to change. I am so excited for this next part of our lives. I am so in love with my husband and my little family and I’m so excited that it’s going to be growing in just a short amount of time.
Sunny California.
We are pretty spoiled around here- Chris and I have been lucky enough to get to go on lots of cool vacations. We have been itching to take Carter on the perfect family vacation for a while… and what’s better for a kid than Disney Land right? And, not only for a kid– but for a 27 year old man who’s never been! I was so excited to take Chris to the happiest place on earth. I didn’t take my camera into disneyland but it was so much fun. We had a great time playing around on the pier and at the beach while we were there too and got some great shots that I’ve been excited to share. Maybe I’ll have to do an iPhone photo post of Disneyland just for the sake of having it. These pictures make me go a little crazy though- because they make me realize how big Carter is growing! Love him so much, and every little silly move he makes. I have a pretty great husband too- guess I’m dang lucky. So grateful.
Fresh.
Something about that saying stood out to me. I’m not sure why I love it so much. I am not one to say “I can’t do something” but this seems especially appropriate. I’ll explain.
So, I finished my last 90 day challenge not so strong…. in Las Vegas for a week, then home for a hectic week, then back to Vegas for another 3 days. I know it’s only 10 days total but it consumed my whole month of March. So, vacation mode means– pizza, soda, beer, burgers, wine, beer and more beer. And when I drink beer, it’s not Michelob Ultra– it’s 100% all yummy craft IPAs and Micros. The really nice, flavorful, fatty, high caloric beer is the kind this girl likes. Even though my vi-shakes make it easy for me to make sure that I am getting all of the nutrition I need, the hard part for me is usually choosing not to indulge in the things that I crave the most. Well, I’d say that I had enough of that crap in March to last me for the next 90 days minus a couple cheats here and there. I also really crave salty foods and snacks like chips and salsa, goldfish, crackers etc. So, those are the things that are going to be hardest to cut out since I can’t really fulfill the salty craving with a shake.
I am so lucky to be surrounded with such amazing and motivating people! My good friend, and fellow body by vi promoter, Lindsey just won first in her division at a bikini competition. She totally smoked the competition and she is a walking, talking, motivation stick! Every time I see her, I’m shoving my face with something– and I think, “Hmm- she probably wouldn’t be doing this right now…. oh wait, she’s here right now and she’s NOT doing this. That’s about right.” Well, the truth is, I don’t care how good it tastes– it’s not as good as being in amazing shape and feeling great! In fact, it will probably make you feel like crap in about an hour. So, Put. It. Down! Another friend is Sarah– her and I were good friends a long time ago. I’m talking a really long time ago! Like 15 years ago, we hung together all the time. We have stayed in touch throughout the years, and we live within jogging distance from each others houses so it’s really a shame we aren’t closer. Well, that’s about to change! Just so happens, she’s a health freak and gym rat too– in fact she’s working on her personal training certification right now and she seriously looks amazing! She has those lumpy things [muscles] popping out all over the place! So, turns out Sarah and I could both use a work out buddy and I really need help in the gym. Here’s where that poster ^^ comes into play. The gym thing. The weights and machine thingies. I don’t know much about that side of the gym. When I walk into a gym [until today] I would go immediately to either a group workout class or boot camp, the treadmill, or the bike. I never touched the weights. I ALWAYS knew that the weights are the key to fat loss and the body I wanted- but I was intimidated by them and the hard bodies using them around me. I would think, well– some day I’ll get a trainer and learn about the rest of the gym but for today- I’ll run a couple miles and do some crunches and call it a day.
I can’t do this. But I’m doing it anyway.
I’m going to be throwing down on this challenge and you’re going to be seeing a [another] whole new me each 30 days that this challenge progresses. I am setting aggressive and ambitious goals, following a strict diet plan by Sarah, Lifting 3 days a week, and mixing up my workout 2 additional days a week (with my other amazing friend, Danielle and her totally bad ass garage gym!!) while I also make sure to continue to get in at least 1 yoga practice each week. My goal is to lose 3% body fat every 30 days which will be a total of 9% getting me down to 16% by July 10th just in time for my birthday shopping spree :) All of these women around me that are doing fitness competitions and who are weight training have made me realize that there is a new goal in site for my body. I want to push myself… not only to lose fat- but to gain muscle. I don’t plan on actually losing ANY weight on the scale, although I will weigh in weekly. I always tell people to make “realistic” goals. Well, there’s a difference between realistic and making it too easy. I know that this goal is possible, but it’s not going to be easy. If it were easy, I would be there right now without all of this.
I can share my meal plan once I get into the flow of things if anyone wants to know. But I will be upping to 3 Vi shakes per day and eating around 1500 clean calories.
Thank you SO much Sarah for taking the time to help me. I am so excited, and I know you are going to push me to do this to my full potential!
I can’t do this. But I’m doing it anyway.
about.me
