Happy One Month!

Holy Cow! I can't believe that it's already been one month since our little bundle came into the world! He is a constant joy to us... even when we have days like yesterday. (We wanted to pull our hair out!) It was great that Brett had a 2 week break from school and could just spend time with me and Bubs. Now, Brett is back at school and I'm having my first week of alone time with Michael. Isn't that nuts? I haven't been home alone with him all day until his 4th week of life! Things are going well and we're starting to fall into a great schedule. Our only difficulty comes at night when Michael decides he doesn't want to go to sleep. Once he falls asleep, he sleeps great... it's just getting him to go to sleep that we're struggling with. But, we figure if that's the only problem, we can handle it! We think he's pretty dang cute... and here are some pictures to prove it!

Here he is in a very special outfit! This was a sleeper that was Brett's, a whole whopping 25, almost 26 years ago! This one's for you, Grammy!

Michael experienced his first Thanksgiving this year. He had a great time, can't you tell? Thanks for the adorable bib, Grammy!

Aunt Sara (my little sister) got to come to Arizona for Thanksgiving and meet her nephew! (He's really NOT terrified of her... he just looks that way!)

Ok, so this isn't Mikey, but it's me and my sister looking dang cute!! Love you Sar!

One of my favorite things about Michael is how he sleeps. Now, no joke, none of these pictures are posed. Brett and I just happened to be looking when he got into these positions. Dang, he is cute!

Tee hee, he's thinking really hard about BYU and if they will win the football game. (This was taken on the day of the BYU v. U of U game.) GO COUGS!

Hanging with Daddy before the football game. And look, he's actually awake!

I just noticed that almost all of these pictures are when Bubs is fast asleep... I guess that is when he looks the cutest :) Happy One Month Birthday!

I'm Out!

Well, folks, he finally made it! Michael Chris Waite was born on November 3, 2009 at 9:01 pm. The hospital finally called and we got to the hospital at around 10 am, contractions started full force and I dilated from a 1 to a 5 in about an hour and a half. That's when the blessed epidural man entered my life and saved me from the massive pain that I was in. Unfortunately, after the epidural, my contractions slowed down a TON. So, that's when the Pitosin (I have no idea how this is really spelled) was administered. After playing games and watching TV with my mom and Brett (see the beauty of the epidural??) the nurse came in to check and said that I was fully effaced and dilated. She said that I could even start pushing. So, we pushed through one contraction, and she decided that he needed to drop a little bit more. An hour later she came back and had to call the doctor immediately because Mikey was ready to come to the world!

Brett got to suit up in scrubs and actually ended up delivering our Lil' guy. I pushed 3 times through one contraction, and boom baby, there he was! He was 8 lbs, 5 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. We absolutely love his hair, and love the fact that the nurses made it into a fauxhawk. (It's been the style we've kept it ever since...) He is a sweet little boy and in my eyes, absolutely perfect! We could hold and cuddle him all day long. Here are some shots from his first few days of life....

Here is he, right out of the chute! A funny story about this actually... so Brett got to deliver him, and the doctor told him to put Mikey on top of my tummy. But because Mikey was so slippery, Brett kind of lost control and Mikey totally face planted on my stomach. Then, because he was so slippery, Mikey started to slide off of my stomach, and the nurse had to catch him before he hit the ground. It was quite the entrance!

His first look at his Momma.

The happy Daddy!

Me and my baby!

The happy little family!

Getting ready to leave the hospital, HOORAY!

Ready to take his first car ride!

Well, that's about it for now! We will get some more pictures up ASAP... especially since his blessing is tomorrow. Hooray for finally getting our baby boy!

GUH.

Yes, that is the way I feel right now. Guh. Translation: My baby is not coming out... he seems very determined to stay in his nice warm home, and the hospital has decided that they are too busy to help push him on his way. Therefore, my mom and I are stuck in limbo... just waiting, and waiting, and waiting. This stinks. I'm a PLANNER. I planned to have this baby TODAY. Then I would have my week and a half of Mommy School from my mother and I would be confident and set to go before she left. Now it's looking like we're going to be lucky if I have the baby by Halloween, and then I'll only have a week of Mommy School Training. This was NOT in the plans!

So after a pretty big break down about it last night, I've decided to induce myself at home. I have been constantly jiggling, walking, skipping stairs, and castor oil might be in my future if things don't change pretty quick. My other game plan is to eat a TON of food and make it so my baby has no where else to grow so that he will be as uncomfortable as I am, and will decide to just come on his own. Great idea, right?

So, if I call you within the next few days.... don't get excited, it's not me going into labor.... it's just me calling. Happy waiting to all of you!

HOORAY!

Oh, I am so glad to be able to blog again! We've been having some serious computer problems recently and I have been completely off-line for about a month now. Welcome back to me! So, the past month has been filled with some pretty exciting events. I am now 38 weeks pregnant, and it's only about a week until I get induced and our Big Bubba comes! So here are some things that have happened in the past month:

*Brooke's remains were finally found 5 1/2 years after she was abducted. It was a relief to finally have closure, but a difficult time as the past experiences came crashing back. I am grateful that she has been found and can be put to rest. I love you Brooke!

* Brett and I started and finished our child birth class at the hospital. At first I decreed that I would no longer be going through with the labor and delivery and that Bubba would be staying in my stomach forever. However, after watching some videos of women who had an epidural, I decided that I could maybe have this baby.

*I finished all of my craft projects and have now become a bored, lonely, pregnant housewife. Thank goodness Super Saturday is coming up so I can get some new things to work on.

*Brett had his White Coat Ceremony (which is a pretty big deal in the medical world) and you now get to see how incredibly fat I am at 37 weeks pregnant. Here are some shots from that big event:

Here's Brett with his two study buddies, Sam and Dave... The Terrific Trio!

Yep, here we are.... big belly and all. (Funny story... some girls in Brett's class were talking to him the day after White Coat and asked when I was due. Brett told them in about 2 weeks and they said, "Oh good, we were walking behind you guys and her ankles were HUGE!! We felt so bad for her!" So, really, the fatness is EVERYWHERE. Oh, how I wanted to be a cute pregnant lady...)

He is so stoked about his White Coat!

* I had a quick jaunt to the hospital on Saturday because I was feeling slightly out of it. We had gone to Mesa earlier that morning and it was 100 degrees and I think I got a little overheated. We got home and I was super dizzy, lightheaded, and felt like my head weighed about 7 trillion pounds. After several hours of this, Brett decided we should get me checked out. However, my doctor is out of town this weekend, so we had to go to the hospital instead. 3 1/2 hours and many tests later, it was decided that I do NOT have high blood pressure problems, but probably just got a little dehydrated. So I drank and drank and drank the fluids they provided, took a couple of Tylenol and was scooted out the door. I was ordered to take it easy for the next week and make sure I'm drinking enough.

Ok, so I think those are the highlights of the past month for the Waite Family. I will make sure to post some pictures of Bubs when he comes.... we are getting SO ridiculously excited/terrified! It will be awesome!

My Texas sized weekend!!!

That's right blogging world, I have taken over the blog this week to brag to the world about the second greatest sporting event I have ever personally witnessed. Number One is still the 1990 home win over #1 Miami led by my childhood hero Ty Detmer. A very close second however, was yesterday's incredible win over #3 Oklahoma at the Stadium of All Stadiums, the new Cowboys Stadium. I had been trying to figure out all summer how to get our finances together to make the trip down. My amazing buddy Brandon had bought me a ticket earlier in the summer and I was trying to figure out how to go. Finally a few weeks ago Nikki finally just said, "Oh just go!" and so I did! It turned out to be one of the greatest experiences of my life. I have to thank Brandon and his amazing dad for the trip and thank my poor pregnant wife for dealing with a monsoon and power outage without me!

I flew down Friday night to Dallas and stayed with my buddy Brandon, his brother Bryson, and their dad. Saturday morning we got up and headed over to Arlington early so we could park. We had a lot of time on our hands and 6 Flags was right there, so we went! It's been awhile since I've done roller coasters and they were AWESOME!!! Luckily for Bryson I was there to take him on all the scary rides. Poor Brandon's stomach: Fair (Sorry had to throw an inside joke in there for ya Brandon!) My favorite was a really long coaster that made all three of us almost blackout!

Anyway, we hit up the restaurant at the local Sheraton Hotel and shared a cab to the stadium with 2 OU fans. I want to say for the record that OU fans are AWESOME! They are wild and crazy with their tailgaiting and booze, but they are incredibly friendly and sportsman like, even in defeat. They made no excuses and were very gracious losers.

We got to the stadium about 90 min before kick off and got to walk around a little to check the place out. All I can say is, WOW! When they say everything is bigger and better in Texas, they ain't lyin!

This is the biggest TV in the world and has the most amazing picture quality you will ever see. It doesn't look all that big but it is 160 feet long (which is taller than the SWKT on campus!) If you don't believe me about the picture quality, ask the poor OU cheerleader who forgot to shave her pits that morning!


This is a view from one of the middle decks. The place holds 100,00 people (that includes a lot of standing room only). There were 75,000+ for this game 80% of which were OU fans.

OU pulled out all the stops by bringing their entire band and yes, of course, the Sooner Schooner. Pretty cool to see. These folks take their football seriously.

This is me, Brandon, Bryson, and Brother Prince before kick off. For the first time in awhile we actually went up top before the game started to see the view was like from up there. Then we got to move down to our seats all the way down on row 22!

The view from our seats (probably enhanced a touch by the zoom lens!) Our man Max is lining up the offense for another spectacular drive!

Nuff said!

After the victory, showing off the colors to the enemy. One of the happiest moments of my life (behind my wedding day and our soon to be son's birth of course). I would have been shedding tears of joy but I didn't have an ounce of water left in my body. We were exhausted, dehydrated, and exhilarated!

The Cougs got a chance to do the Haka as a victory dance. They didn't do it pregame because of the new sportsman like team handshakes the do before kick off now. Much cooler after you've just defeated the #3 team in the country.

Post game outside the stadium. Surprisingly good picture considering an absolutely drunk, vulger OU fan took it for us! Even after the game the OU fans were very kind and complimentary. Several commented on how good BYU fans were and how much the hated BSU and their fans. After this we had a midnight steak run at a local steak house. What a way to end a Texas sized day!

Lessons learned: Everything really is bigger and better in Texas, OU fans are awesome, Brandon and his family are incredible, BYU fans are actually fairly intellegent (no chanting BCS after the game unlike Ute fans after they beat Oregon St. at home, woo), always shave your armpits when there's a chance you could appear on the world's largest TV, Max Hall can step up in big games, BYU can actually play defense this year and the only team that can stop us this year is our own!

GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm Tired.

Yep, it's true! I worked SO hard today, it wasn't even funny. And now that I'm sitting down on my couch, updating the blog, I feel my eyes starting to droop and am starting to struggle to stay awake. Dang not getting a nap today! But, all of the being tired is totally justified with all of the work I've done today!

So, I've been in total "nesting" mode the past couple of days. Yes, I know that Bubba isn't coming for 8 more weeks, but I've had the dang bedding for about 12 weeks now, and couldn't stand it just sitting there anymore! So, this morning I washed and ironed everything, and put it all together by myself! Then I had been working on the wall decorations for a while and finally figured out how I wanted it all to come together! Wahoo! So, here's what we came up with.....

Here it is! Big Bubba's room!

Not too shabby, right?

A close up on the amazing crib!

And just for your viewing pleasure.... a couple of outfits and the amazing bouncy seat we just got for free from our ward! Thanks to everybody who's helped us with getting the things we need for our little guy :)

Happy Sabbath!

His "winter" outfit that will help to keep him warm in the freezing cold weather of Idaho...

Uh.... how cute is this?!?!?!

Well, I feel like my brain has totally shut down.... so I think I might quit while I'm still ahead! Bedtime for me!

The Fatso

Well, after spending a record amount of time at the doctor's office today (yep, 2 whopping hours) we have found out that our son is FAT. We're talking, a serious manchild. So much so that I have to stop eating carbs because of him. Seriously? I LOVE carbs. They are my life. They are what I crave more than anything in the world, and I have to stop cold turkey? It's a good thing I love this kid!

So, I'm 30 weeks along and Bubba (formerly known as Lil' Mikey..... since he's not so little, he shall henceforth be known as Bubba.) is a whopping 3 lbs., 11 oz. HUGE! That's what he is! My doctor told me that he's not worried about MY weight; I'm doing just fine. It's just the big baby that needs to chill out a little! So no carbs for the Nikster for about 8 more weeks. We've been told that we are to be induced on Oct. 27th because he is a little bigger than they would like him to be, and they don't want me having a 10 pound kid for my first one. So, that's the update for today. Anyone know good things to eat that DON'T involve carbs? It's going to be a long 8 weeks....

I'm Wearing A Sweatshirt in Arizona?!?!?!

So, hooray, Brett just finished up his first quarter of classes on Thursday and now has a 10 day break! We can't believe how fast the time has flown by.... it's already been 10 weeks! So, to celebrate we decided to take a trip up to Flagstaff to get out of the heat and away from even looking at campus for a few days! So, here are some pictures from that fun experience! Also, I had a great surprise last Saturday. One of my previous students and her mom showed up at my doorstep! Kelsie Richards came to visit me, and she and her mom drove all the way from Goodyear to come. I was soooooo excited, and felt really good that one of my students would want to come visit!

We have learned a big lesson from our trip to Flagstaff. NEVER go to a hotel that doesn't have a continental breakfast included. We thought we were saving some big bucks by staying at a cheap motel (and were fooled into thinking it DID have a continental breakfast. We weren't aware that having coffee in the lobby until 10 am counted as a "breakfast.") So we had to go eat at the IHOP next door and spent WAY more money than we would have if we hadn't been so cheap with the motel. I mean seriously, what kind of establishment doesn't include shampoo in the rooms or an alarm clock? Yeah, that's how awesome our room was. But nevertheless, it was a great trip and we learned one more thing.... we will never live in Flagstaff. It has been stricken from the record of places to consider. It was the craziest layout of a town that we've ever seen, and the homeless population was about as big as the people who own homes. So, no thank you to that. Ahhh, the many lessons you can learn on a vacation!

Kelsie and me at my house!

My GINORMOUS pancakes that I had for breakfast. I have NEVER seen pancakes this big before in my life. I only made it through one... and that was a big undertaking!

Brett and I on a chair lift ride in Flagstaff. It was fun and COLD! Yes, we're both wearing sweatshirts in AUGUST in Arizona! WAHOO!

The pretty trees/dead trees of Flagstaff. It was really fun to see trees other than palm trees for once. We almost felt like we were back in Provo.....

My glamor (I feel that this word is spelled differently, but spellcheck said I was wrong....) shot of the trip. This is me at the top of the mountain, before I had to sit down because I felt like I was going to pass out. Note to self-- high elevation= not a lot of oxygen. Not a lot of oxygen= not a happy Nikki. It was so fun to be wearing a sweatshirt!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, that's how high we were!

The view on the way down the chair lift. So pretty!

Enough of the Silence...

Well, I'm back from my fantastic vacation to Colorado, and I decided it was finally time to update the blog. I started out in Colorado just hanging out with my parents. It was SUPER fun and my mom and I got a few things done :) My mom made curtains for little Michael's room (which turned out AMAZING!!!) and I cooked 10 pounds of Sloppy Joe meat for our family reunion. We got to watch a lot of Bones and The Mentalist, not to mention our Classic Period Piece of the trip: Wives and Daughters. My mom and I were so excited to watch it-- there were 3 DVDs which equal 6 hours of viewing fun, or so we thought. It turns out that the last DVD was just extra features, so we were pretty confused when the show was wrapping up on the 2nd DVD and didn't clue in that it was over until the credits rolled. Wow, we are so on top of things! We just looked at each other and said, "That's it?" But in retrospect, we both really enjoyed it. There were some pretty amazing parts in it :)


After hanging out in Colorado for a few days, we made the drive to Provo to pick up Sara. (My lil' Sis.) It was SO fun to see her (considering I haven't seen her since April when she went to London. It's weird knowing that she's home and not having our Sister Nights once a week.... dang moving!) We helped her make an amazing dinner for her dinner group and I got presents from London! I'm totally in love with the scarf she gave me and can't wait to wear it in November! Then we headed up Idaho to our family reunion in Island Park.

My favorite part of the whole trip was the WEATHER! It was so cool (in the 70's) the entire time. Ahhh, such relief from the 115 that I despise in Glendale. I guess it was pretty fun to see my family too :) I got to see Megan and her family for the first time in a year and a half... and I got to bond with my new niece, who is absolutely adorable! So, it was a GREAT trip.

My ridiculously cute cousin (of some sort...) Olivia.

My stinking cute nephew, Luke :)

My cousin Amy holding my adorable niece, Emily.

After getting home from the reunion, I practiced a skill that I learned from my cousin-in-law, Katie. I learned all about Mod Podge and used it to my advantage to make a cute name plate for Michael. I feel so crafty! So, that's the update for today :)

It's Time....

Ok, so I've had a lot of people hounding me to put up pictures of my big tummy. So, to please those of you who have an insatiable appetite to see people in their state of fat-ness, here ya go! (And yes, I know that I'm only going to get bigger.... so let's try not to focus on that too much. It's a hard enough adjustment as it is!)


Here was shot #1... but Brett said that I covered the tummy too much, so we had to try again.

Shot #2-- now you can see Little Mikey's bump a bit better.

And here's the full frontal look! Why I am making that face is beyond me. I was really hot-- is that an excuse?

My favorite new thing is feeling the kicks and punches of our active little boy. Brett is jealous that he can't feel it yet, but it's only a matter of time. It makes me incredibly happy to know that Michael is alive and well.... and is letting me know that fact ALL the time. I have a feeling I'm going to be a very tired Mommy, chasing this little guy around. Hopefully he'll calm down a little bit when he comes out into the real world.... or I'm in trouble :)

PS- While I don't really enjoy seeing myself with a ginormous tummy, I do enjoy the beautiful tan that I've obtained from being out in the sun so much. I am SO glad we have a pool!