Terrible twos... two months!

Hayden is now a two monther. The title might say "terrible" but terrible is never used to describe our little man. He did have a growth spurt last week which drove mom a little crazy especially when he decided to wake up at 2:30 am, mom and dad are spoiled most nights. Hayden had his two month appointment this morning and he is now a whopping 10lbs 4oz and is 22 3/4 in long. He is in the 20th percentile for his weight and 28ish for his height. He is on the smaller end of things but growing just find. We had to laugh this morning and thinking of how big Todd was at two months... add about 8ish pounds to little Hayden's weight. He got his shots and it was so sad! I couldn't even look and Todd had to hold him. The nurse said he would be a little sleepy and/or fussy and right now Hayden is kicking and talking to me. Hayden is talking a lot more, smiling a lot more and beginning to laugh. Todd was playing with Hayden last night while Hayd was in his swing and they were so cute, Hayden thought his daddy was so funny. I love having these little moments in life. After last weeks little growth spurt, Hayden is back to sleeping 6-8 hours straight at night. I am one grateful mommy that he is such a good baby and good sleeper although I probably just jinxed myself. He also just started yesterday playing with his tongue and lips, he makes the funniest faces and soundsWe are enjoying celebrating the Christmas season together and loving every minute (ok, most every minute) of being parents:).

Really liking tummy time...

Much better

Getting so big!

And just for fun!

Tis the season for UGLY sweaters

Oh there is nothing like spending the Holiday season with good friends, eating good food and wearing ugly attire. We took our ugly sweaters very seriously this year. Todd and I got ours at good ole Goodwill and Hayden borrowed a little number from his uncle Z's wardrobe from the 70's, complete with blue and white saddle oxfords that were two, or maybe three sizes to big. My dates were two well dressed, nerdy, greasy boys... oh and a little hairball who also sported festive wear. We had a wonderful time spending the evening with our Walmart family!

The whole group

The MLPs

I was seriously offended we didn't win... I DID have the ugliest sweater but apparently it was suppose to be a Christmas sweater... dumb

My handsome boys

He was partied out! Nice comb over Trump

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Hayden's Acting Debut

Awhile back we were asked to help out in our Stake Nativity by playing the roles of Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. In my family, it is tradition to all get together and the cousins perform the Nativity. Since we have started the habit of being away through most of December, we don't get to participate. Although it wasn't family, we had fun doing it and I was happy Hayden was able to play Jesus. It went pretty well, we spent two hours doing the whole skit again and again. It was hard to act serious (we not very serious people) and I had to keep reminding Hayden it was "Silent Night" and "no crying he makes" but hopefully people were able to feel the Spirit, I sure did. And Saturday night... Todd shaved!!! Merry Christmas to me!

The whole crew

Now if you're thinking "Ash looks like she has brown hair." Well you'd be right. We put brown extensions in my hair... I shall be staying blonde

Cute little boy

A Blessing

After a fun filled plane ride and a very busy Saturday, we were able to bless Hayden in Idaho Falls. Thanks to everyone who traveled and helped out to make it a great day. We enjoyed having our friends and family all together and have everyone finally meet our little Hayd. Todd got a lot of "pointers" from my mom and I. He didn't listen to us and gave a great blessing.

A Travelin Family

The first time I ever flew I was 20. The first time my dog ever flew he was 5 months old. The first time my baby flew he was 6 weeks old, haha. We were so excited to fly home for the holidays and Hayden and Gus did so well. They both slept the entire time. We now, however, are one of "those people." Ya know, the people that always make things complicated and hit your head either with their diaper bag, dog or car seat. The people that you hope can keep that baby quiet, yeah we are them and we are quite the sight to see. But we did it and we were all quiet:)

1 Month

1 Month News about Hayden: 8lbs 1.3oz, 21 and 3/4in long. Neck is getting strong. Gave his first gummy smile the other morning. Sleeps between 5-7 hours straight at night. Loves bath time. Fussy time is right before bed... he thinks he'll die if he is not fed for three hours straight. Talks up a storm in the morning. Still the cutest thing we have ever seen:)

What we have learned after a month: Don't wake up a baby at night. Wait a minute before fully removing the diaper. Not the best idea to have his changing area right by our bed. Not a good idea to have a white bedspread (which we don't have and probably wont get for awhile). Following the books word for word doesn't work. Never say never. Make sure bath water is warm and clean fast before the water gets dirty. Laundry day is every day. Smiles make 4am not seem so bad. Time goes by too fast so enjoy every single moment!

Hayden's first time at Church

In your face!

P.S. Miss Liv is two years old today, we love you Olivia!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Ever since we received our pictures from Erika Dotson, Todd has been checking the blog to see if I have updated it with pictures. My thought "umm have you not seen facebook, there's tons of pictures." I wont post tons of pictures again, just a few:).

Todd and I were so glad that we did birth pictures. At first we were a little weirded out about doing them. It isn't a glamorous time for anyone involved, especially me. But once we got them, we were so happy we did them. First off, it made us remember all the little things we have already forgotten, like the fact I had to wear oxygen for a bit or that Todd was hilarious during the pushing process. Second, Erika captured some of the most amazing moments and now we will forever have them.

Could this picture be anymore perfect? When we first got all the pictures we relived the amazing experience and I still get teary-eyed every time I see this picture. Todd was so happy and I am glad someone was there to capture it. There was also a lot of other pictures with Todd on his phone (surprise, surprise), him taking a picture of me pushing and sending it to Shelly and him watching the action down south. His face is hilarious in those pictures but legs in stirrups can be a little to much for people so we left those out (not that you see anything but ya know...). I love having pictures of the birth and having them in black and white doesn't make it so weird. If you ever want to see the whole thing, I'd show you, I have no shame anymore, haha (you see nothing, promise). And one day I can embarrass Hayden with them, it's great!

Hayden was so good during the newborn photo shoot. I think Erika was in and out in an hour because Hayden slept the whole time and was so easy to mold. The rest of us were dying of heat because we tried to make it as comfortable for Hayd as possible. The only issue we had was at the very end. We undressed Hayd to get a shot with Todd and Hayden peed all over Todd; very funny... that "thing" can shoot far!

Erika was only able to get one shot before the water gun started... glad the one pic was cute!

I just have the cutest boys at my house!

Hayden's First Halloween!

Halloween is a wonderful holiday; great food, fun parties and a great time to play dress up. I do not like the scary stuff though; no haunted houses or scary movies for me. Ever since we found out I was pregnant and due in October, I kept hoping "Chuck" (aka Hayd) would make it to October so I could have Halloween themed birthday parties for him. My wish came true and I am already planning his first birthday (although I really do not want this year to go fast). This Halloween however, was his first and his first ever holiday. We didn't do much, which kinda made me sad but we still had fun. We were originally planning on dressing up as the characters of "UP." Todd is a dead ringer for Carl when he wears his big ugly glasses. Todd ruined our plans by growing his big red beard and he refuses to shave it for 6 weeks... if you get my drift... Oh and someone from the stake saw him and his beard and we are now playing the role of Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus in our stake's Christmas program (and the lady told him not to shave till then? She's crazy). I don't know about you but me thinks Joseph did not have a red beard and I'm pretty sure Mary did not have blonde hair but oh well. Todd came up with the idea that we would dress up as giant bananas and Hayden would be a monkey. We ended up not finding banana costumes which is good because it would have been a waste of money. Hayden made a very cute monkey though. We didn't do anything except carve pumpkins, but we are just getting rested up for the epic party next year:).

Hayden loves his fingers!

Isn't he the cutest monkey you have ever seen?

So we only had one candle... Todd had to create this pic, nice work

I'm pretty sure this is our first and only picture of all of us

This is usually what his hair looks like:)

In other news... Hayden now has baths instead of sponge baths. The first bath wasn't his favorite. I told Todd the temperature of the room needed to be 74ish degrees but he thought I said the water needed to be that temperature. Needless to say, Hayden's first bath was a tad cold. We have gotten better and he now really seems to like bath time. He seems to like the water which is good since he is going to be the next Michael Phelps.

I love these two!

Hayden really is a great baby. I think he finally has distinguished his days and nights a little bit and actually sleeps very well at night. He usually only wakes up twice and sometimes even once and sleeps till 10. I can't really complain but I'm still struggling with having interrupted sleep but Todd is being wonderful and usually helps get him to sleep. Hayden has no problems taking a bottle, he'll suck anything. This is very nice because Todd can take a feeding. Sometimes I feel like all I do is nurse, actually, pretty sure that's all I do, haha. This weekend we are getting out of Arkansas again and heading to Branson, MO to do some shopping for me! I'm a tad excited! I hope all goes well with that but things are going great for us here in Arkansas. Hope you all are doing wonderful!

A Baby Story

This post might be coming a little late, but I have been waiting to get our pictures before I posted. Our photographer is crazy busy so we have yet to get our pictures but I thought it was about time to post about the new addition to our family. This will be long, as my posts tend to be, so take caution. I understand if no one reads it, but this is my journal. So here is Hayden's "A Baby Story" story.

For some reason both Todd and I thought for sure we would be having this baby early. We kept hoping he would make it to October (mostly because I want to do Halloween themed birthday parties), but we just had this feeling he would make his appearance way ahead of time; we were a tad wrong. I started dilating near the end of September but remained the same for three weeks. I really wanted my mom's help at home with the baby so we made an induction date for Tuesday the 11th. By this time, we had a feeling that he would not be coming early or on his own; we basically had no idea what was going on. Our plans once again changed early Sunday morning. The night before was no different from any other night. We had gone shopping early that day and that night, went to Wal-Mart, I made dinner and we watched the BYU game (well, I fell asleep). I woke up around 2:30am with some really bad upper abdominal pain and upper back pain. I had experienced the same pain earlier that week, but a warm bath and a heating pad relieved the pain. About two hours later, I was feeling no relief and finally woke up Todd. I knew I wasn’t in labor but I also knew something was wrong. Todd called the Mayo Clinic and the nurse told us to get to the hospital as soon as possible. We were out of the house and to the hospital in nothing flat (I think Todd thoroughly enjoyed driving like a mad man). I swear we waited in the ER for forever and no one else was in there. The nurse took forever to come and get me and I was in so much pain and not very happy. When the nurse finally came, she kept asking how far apart my contractions were but I kept telling her these weren't contractions (it was a constant pain and totally in the wrong area). After she hooked me up to monitors and checked my dilation, she too, decided I was not in labor. Everything seemed fine, no labor and no high blood pressure, but I swear I was in pain. She then gave me vicodin, which I was scared to take, but I guess they wouldn't give me anything that would cause harm. As soon as the nurse left I told Todd I was going to get addicted like House on HOUSE (don't worry, I'm not). The pain left and I was happy and ready to leave but that was not going to happen. After two rounds of blood work, the on-call doctor came in and told me something to the effect that my liver was shutting down and my protein levels were low... I had developed preeclampsia. Todd and I really didn't understand what was going on and kept asking if we could go home because I was being induced tomorrow. The nurse told me I could have a seizure and that my doctor wanted me to be induced today (apparently I was severely preeclampsia but no one told me that till after the delivery). After the seizure talk, we decided it was best to stay at the hospital. I wasn't induced till 2:30pm on Sunday. The day was spent having my blood being drawn, eating some and watching TV. Contractions really didn't start till 9ish that night and they didn't get bad till after 10ish, but when they came, they came with force!! Labor, not so fun. Come 1am I was in a lot of pain and thought for sure that it was time to push... but alas, I had no change. I was a little distraught which didn't help with my pain management. I'm not so sure what happened after that but apparently I wanted no one to touch me, I wanted them to cut me open immediately and take the kid out and I might have taken our my anger on the bed. When the nurse came back to check on me, about an hour later, I did not want her to check me; I couldn't handle more bad news. Luckily I was to a three and she was going to order my epidural. The nurse had given me some other drug so by the time the wonderful epidural man came, I was a tad out of it. Epidurals are easy peasy, and that's saying a lot for someone who is scared of needles. The epidural kicked in not to long after that and I was one happy girl. We finally were able to sleep some. The next time I was checked, which was two hours later, I was 8. It didn't take long after that till I was a 10 and this little boy was ready to make his appearance. Pushing was easy peasy as well and we all kept making jokes and laughing. My delivery nurse was English and I loved having her cheer me on in her English accent; it was great! At 9:15am baby Altom made his appearance. My first statements were "I made a baby", "I did it!" Having a human come out of you is a very surreal experience. Todd's first was "He's so CUTE!" For those of you who are wondering, Todd did not cry, but he did get teary-eyed and had the biggest smile on his face. It was such an amazing experience and we couldn't believe this boy was actually here. He weighed 7lbs 9oz, was 20in long and had a lot of blond hair. At first the nurse said he was 9lbs 7oz, which we were all a little shocked about, but apparently she was dyslexic. It took us about an hour to finally decide that baby Altom would be named Hayden Jack. 

His clothes were so big! We had to make a shopping trip for newborn clothes

We spent a full 3 and a half days in the hospital so I could be monitored and have more blood drawn. At one point, they told me to not get excited, weird directions to give a new mom. Our stay at the hospital was as nice as of a stay at the hospital could be. We loved on our sweet little Hayden and enjoyed having a few visitors. When the day came to finally leave, I was so happy but so scared at the same time. Being a mom is a very emotional experience but I am so happy to be the mom of this little boy. 

Love my cute boys

This is what I do best with him

Todd is an amazing daddy. While he was home for a week I swear he did everything for Hayden and I. I think I only changed one diaper the first week of Hayden's life. It is so fun to see Todd interact with Hayden; he sure loves his little boy. Both my parents were able to come out and they very much enjoy being grandparents. They were very sad to leave, but the good news is we will be home in less then a month. A few days after my parents left, Todd's parents came. We have felt so much love from our families and friends and are very appreciative for everything that everyone has done.

Hayden, Gus (who is adapting well to the new change) and I, are now all alone and we are doing well. Hayden has slept great the last couple of nights and is a very calm baby, until he realizes he is hungry (he gets that from his mom). He is such a sweet little spirit and Todd and I feel very blessed that Heavenly Father trusted us enough to have him. We have a lot to still learn and a lot more memories to make and I can't wait (although I must admit I cried everyday for a week when it was 9:15am, and when his umbilical cord fell off yesterday, haha, weird, I know, but it's crazy how fast time is going and how fast he's growing). 

 He didn't like doing this

Shocked Hayden

Cute boy!