A few pics...

First bath.

Reese carrying her baby in the sling mommy made for her. She found mine and wanted one too.

Getting all cleaned up.

Boston and Mom.

Clean boy.

Relaxing at home.

He's Here...

So I was trying to upload a couple pics but it wasn't working... the WI-FI here at the hospital has a few things blocked.

So Boston Todd Welch was born this afternoon at 3:25 P.M. 8lbs 11oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Everything went really smooth today. We arrived at the hospital around 7:30 this morning and by 8:30 we were in our room and hooked up to the IV. They started a very low dose of Pitocin shortly there after to get my contractions going. Everything went really well as we progressed to each stage. They broke my water around 11:30 and got my epidural a little after one. I don't care about being empowered as a woman by doing it all natural, I would rather be comfortable and relax. My epidural worked wonderfully! The whole time today I was just hoping things would go as well as Reese's labor and delivery, and everything was actually even better. Around 3 in the afternoon I was at an 8 and I figured I still had an hour or two. Literally like less than 10 minutes later I was feeling a lot of pressure and it felt like this kid was going to pop right out of me. So I was ready to go and pushed 3-4 times and he was here within like 5-10 minutes. It was a very easy, pain free, and wonderful delivery. He came out screaming and continues to be very vocal! His face was a little black and blue from dropping so fast within those last few minutes but he looks great! Todd and I are doing well and slowly remembering how to do all these newborn things. Reese has been staying with Grandma and Grandpa Welch. It's going to be interesting when she finally meets baby brother. I'll get some pics posted when I get home -- but that is where we are at.

Update...

So there is an end in sight... I had my 39 week appointment today, and I'm scheduled to be induced Tuesday February 2nd (if he doesn't come on his own sooner). I can't help but feel happy to know I only have to "suffer" being pregnant for 6 more days (at the most). Naturally thinking about having little Boston actually here presents a whole new list of fears and worriments (if that is a word). I pray that everything goes well! If it runs as smooth as Reese's induction I've got absolutely nothing to fear, but as I watch a more and more episodes of A Baby Story on TLC I keep freaking myself out (a simple solution would be to not watch that show). I'm supposed to go in at 7:30 in morning. I also went in the morning when I had Reese and she was born by 5:42 that evening. There is always the possibility of Boston arriving before Tuesday but I highly doubt that is going to happen. I am so grateful to my Dr. who suggested the induction at today's appointment. He also asked how large Reese was when she was born and when I responded with 9lbs 10oz he told me to expect another 9 pounder. Oh joy! Really I am excited I like large sturdy babies, anything smaller would seem too fragile.

So I'll keep you posted. Expect some pics early next week!

Just a little update...

Sorry I haven't posted lately... there really hasn't been too much going on. The past month has been pretty unexciting. Todd did start back at school full time. So I'm back to feeling like a single mom since he's gone from morning til night with work and school. I am so grateful that he is able to take on this full load and that I am able to stay at home but sometimes it's a bummer! The bits and pieces of time he has in the day when he's not gone he's grabbing a bite to eat before heading somewhere else or doing homework. The only comforting thought is he's almost done! So it's not actually Todd's birthday until Tuesday (he'll turn the big 26)! Last Wednesday we met Todd's family and a few of our friends in Pocatello to have a birthday dinner at Golden Corral (one of Todd's favorite places to eat). We celebrated a little early so we wouldn't have to travel any closer to my due date and because Todd actually had the night off from work.

Today Todd's birthday present arrived so Reese and I wrapped it up. Todd couldn't wait and asked to open it tonight (his actual birthday is going to be very dull)! Reese helped a lot with the wrapping. We went to the store and I let her pick what kind of wrapping paper we were going to use. Well she actually only picked up the Spongebob Squarepants card and I picked out the coordinating paper and ribbon. She had fun decorating the paper and I even let her wrap the smaller gift. She needed a little help applying the tape but did awesome folding over the edges of the paper. Todd was very excited to get a travel Phase 10 handheld game (something to do when we're at the hospital) and a new CD player for his car (his other one is shorting out and a lot of the buttons stopped working). He also got a new pair of shoes last week but they were more of a necessity for school so it doesn't really count (he needed something fun)!

So I was a little bored tonight and made some T-shirts for Reese and soon to be Baby Boston (I don't think I've actually announced the name yet so there you go). The original plan was to keep it a secret (since I was so annoyed by peoples comments with Reese -- "Isn't that a boy's name?" was the most common one), but I was too curious about peoples comments with Boston that it slipped out a bit too often. Naturally nobody really likes it but too bad - that is going to be his name. Boston Todd actually. No we're not any sort of Boston Red Sox or Celtics fans and neither of us have ever been to Boston - it was just one of the names that we both actually agreed on. We also like that he could be called Boss for short. So there you have it.

An update... I'm 38 1/2 weeks! Physically: utterly miserable (mostly due to lack of sleep and a constantly aching body). I had an appointment on Wednesday and I was at 2cm already! Which sounds a little promising that it might be soon! With Reese even a week after her due date there was nothing going on (hence the induction).

So that's pretty much it -- probably the next post will be when Baby Boston is finally here! I would be ecstatic if it was this weekend - but that's just wishful thinking.

Happy New Year!

So we had some what of a New Years party at 9 P.M. Todd picked up some poppers (which were a little scary for Reese) and some noise makers (which she couldn't blow hard enough into - so she just yelled into them to make noise). Yes we were already in our PJ's -- what exciting lives we live.

Making a giant mess for Mom to pick up. Side note: those little streamers did not want to vacuum up - so most of them were picked up by hand -- after they had already been scattered all over the entire house. I should have taken a picture of the mess afterwards -- at least she had fun I suppose.

Hair accessories.

Throwing them at Daddy. That was pretty much the extent of our New Years party -- Reese went to bed shortly after and Todd and I indulged on way too much junk and went to bed ourselves. How unexciting!

We are looking forward to what 2010 has to offer -- #1 birth of Baby "B" (4 1/2 weeks left) and #2 Todd's Graduation!!! I don't know which is more exciting -- just kidding.

The Birthday Party

Reese's 2nd Birthday!Her birthday is only 3 days after Christmas (poor girl - I know poor planning on our part), so we try to make it special. This years theme: Little Mermaid. It actually was more Under the Sea themed because you can't find too much Little Mermaid stuff anywhere. Its all the Disney Princesses and not just The Little Mermaid -- yes, I know you can find it online but we didn't quite get anything ordered in time (and it can be quite expensive for a few party decorations)... oh well. So we tried to keep everything blue and green, threw in a few fish, and had an Ariel cake. Let me just tell you the cake was a nightmare! I bought just one of the Wilton shaped pans and thought I had all the right frosting tools -- well needless to say I didn't. I was decorating the cake last minute (I had to wait for Todd to bring the supplies from Rexburg that morning) and nothing was working our as planned. I scraped her face off a few times because it looked terrible! I bought some premade black icing to do the piping and I think it had sat on the shelf for years because it was so dry and impossible to work with. Ariel just ended up with a silly looking face since I didn't have a tip to do the fine details -- I was on the verge of tears numerous times! You know when you have an idea of how something is supposed to be in your head and it's just not working out like that -- very frustrating. I know Reese probably thought it was the best birthday ever, and I was stressing over stupid details - bbllllaaahh!

We had a nice little lunch while watching The Little Mermaid movie and then Reese got to open more presents! I swear it's been nothing but presents for this little girl -- with Christmas and all -- I'm sure she didn't know what to think.

Dylan was a big help. A new My Little Pony play set.

A new kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa -- which apparently was more fun to just beat on the box. Sorry I didn't take a picture of her opening every present -- for those of you that sent presents. Thanks Torben and Angela for the sweatshirt (I'm secretly jealous and want one in my size) and Tyler and Candi for the Elmo pillow (you can never go wrong with Elmo at our house)

Trying to take a picture of the Birthday girl with her cousins -- never give children balloons and expect cooperation!

This is the best one we got -- the only one that didn't have a balloon blocking someones face.

Blowing out the candle. I kind of missed the moment and didn't feel like re-lighting the candle just to get a picture. She kept trying to blow it out from a foot away, so I'm pretty sure it was Brooklynn's puff of air that put the flame out. I'm sure Reese will still get her wish it was her birthday after all.

Christmas Day

We were up bright and early 7:30 A.M. I must admit - Reese was waking up and probably would have went back to sleep for a while longer but my 8 month prego body could not take anymore! Reese always sleeps in our bed whenever we are out of town (she refuses to sleep in the pack and play). She is a snuggler -- and by that I mean she is practically laying on top of you, sleeping sideways and her head on my pillow. So all night I'm an inch or so from falling off the edge of the bed (and yes I push her over to her side NUMEROUS times during the night). So it was time to get up!! It only took a little convincing -- once we said "presents" the magic word apparently her little eye balls were wide awake and wanted to go find Grandma -- so she could open her presents. This year was very unlike last year -- she knew exactly what to do and didn't waste a second before tearing into her stocking.

She opened present after present - always eager for the next. Yes Santa gives little girls clothes too!

She had to have a new baby -- an obvious choice since there will be a new baby in our house shortly.

The madness of opening presents started to fade when she realized she wanted to play with her newly opened presents. Especially her new dollhouse.

Enjoying some pretend tea from her tea set Grandma and Grandpa gave her.

--After breakfast we got ready and headed down to Preston. Every year we gather up at my Grandma's for dinner and more chaotic present openings! It's getting more and more crowded every year. We used to all fit somewhat comfortably in Grandma Nan's front room -- now we are practically stacked floor to ceiling. We had a lovely turkey and ham dinner and then opened more presents.

My little nephew Dylan sampling some peppermint bark! I think he likes it!

The annual crumpled wrapping paper ball fight (usually started by my brother Justin). Note: I found 4-5 crumpled balls lodged in between branches of my Grandma's tree. Stay out of the crossfire.

Here we all are! All nice and cozy! All the little boys got new Lionel Train sets from my dad -- they were pretty excited. Reese was pretty jealous - she has to wait until baby brother is a here to get one -- so maybe next year (in all reality I told my dad we have absolutely no room to put a train that she'll destroy in a day) -- so we'll wait a little longer. I'm a mean mom I know!

There were plenty of helpers all around the room!

The waiting game! My Uncle Kent, Aunt LaDawn and Nan patiently waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive so we could start eating! My brother Chris' family is always late to everything!!

Securing a spot on couches before we start opening presents. You wouldn't want to risk being lost amongst present debris by sitting on the floor.

Ah -- what could be better than bubble wrap!

All the little kids got matching red snowman jammies from my mom.

It was pure madness that night but it's so great to have everyone there together.

Christmas Eve

Once again it's taking like a million years to upload pictures on our laptop -- even after reducing the file size drastically (you'll notice the pictures are quite pixelated) -- it's sooo annoying. Anyways... I'll have to figure something else out for the rest of the holiday pictures because the current method is taking way too long.

So here we are in Downey on Christmas Eve. Currently it's the way we are doing things -- spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in Downey and spending the rest of Christmas in Preston.

We had a nice dinner Christmas Eve, gathered around after and read a few Christmas stories, played some Bingo and of course read the nativity story. Check our Reese's Bingo card -- I'm pretty sure she won that round.

Reese had a set of nativity stickers that Grandma Z gave her. She was able to put each character on the paper when it came up in the story.

The finished product! Don't you remember the part in Luke 2 where the wise men float around upside down?

Naturally Reese was very excited for Santa to come so she could finally open presents in the morning. I don't think we got her to bed until like 10 or 11! When I put her to bed I kept having to remind her that she needs to go to sleep in order for Santa to come and leave her some presents.

Wa-hoo Look Who's 2!

Call me cheap/lazy but I'm not sending Reese's 2nd year announcement out. I figured everyone who would receive one reads this blog anyways so I figured why bother. I've also included each picture from her announcement separately in case you wanted to print them out. So it's not her birthday quite yet (not til the 28th) but I might as well post it while I'm posting.

So yesterday I decided I better get going on taking her pictures -- got her all ready and made a make shift photo backdrop in our bedroom with a piece of fabric and some batting. Reese was really excited to be taking pictures too. Things were going to great in the beginning she was being such a good poser (actually listening to me) and smiling sooo cute. Then about 20 or so pictures into it I realized I forgot to put my memory card in, and our DSLR just acts normal and takes pictures even without it in -- and it has no internal memory -- so needless to say I was so furious! The worst part I could only be mad at myself! So I quickly got my card and tried to salvage the shoot. Naturally by the time things were going again Reese's cooperation was out the window. Thankfully I was able to get a couple decent pics so it wasn't a total loss, but in my mind I was thinking about all the pictures that could have been. It's just too much work trying to do it another day. I'd have to wait for another really sunny morning -- since we live in the basement the lighting is horrible and in the morning I'm able to open our blinds to let more light in (and pretty much everyday this week has been overcast and gloomy).

Here comes the airplane. Reese tyring to share her mac n' cheese with mom.

Man-No Party and other Christmasness...

Yes, I know it's been nearly a month -- I swear I've been trying to post but our laptop is being really stupid -- so I fired up the ole' desktop to please you few people who actually read this blog. I've been trying to post videos for weeks but it just says they are loading forever and ever so I've given up, but here are a few pics. So one Saturday morning Reese woke up and told us she wanted to have a Man-No Party (in Reese talk that's a Snowman party). Not sure where this little idea came from -- maybe because we keep asking her what kind of birthday party she wants -- anyways, we decided to make some Snowman cookies (which looked more like ghosts), cut out paper snowflakes (which Reese also calls Man-No Fakes), and sing "Once There Was a Snowman" over and over again.

Our B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L snowman cookies. Reese loved putting the baby candies (M&M minis) on for their buttons. They sure were yummy!! Reese was so excited all day about getting to make snowman cookies.

Finally decided I better get working on my quilt for Baby "B" since he'll be here in 7 or so weeks. I've had the fabric for months, but to be honest I've been putting off making the quilt -- since sewing = mucho stress. So I made my squares a lot bigger than what I normally do and I had the quilt done in 2 nights work. Honestly the worst part is cutting the stupid squares out -- especially when you're fat and pregnant. I know it's nothing fabulous but I made one for Reese and thought I better do one for this guy.

So after Thanksgiving we got our tree (which my wonderful mother went up to the mountains and cut down) and had it decorated by the 1st of December. As you can tell we had to stick it in our dining area since there is absolutely no room anywhere else in our apartment. I had played with the idea of temporarily putting our love seat in our bedroom during Christmas in order to have it in our living room but decided that was kind of ridiculous. So instead we are unable to sit more than one person at our table. Which we really don't sit at anyways (I know we're horrible but we are meal eatin'/TV watchers). Don't you just think the electrical box adds to the Christmas decor (yeah kind of an eyesore).

So Todd and I right from the start wanted to begin some family traditions. Every year we get a new ornament for the tree. It started out as buying one for each other but when Reese came along we started just getting her a new one each year. Which we'll do with all our kids from now on -- they will get a new ornament each year from now til' whenever they move out and start their own traditions. These aren't in the right order but I just thought I would share with you our collection so far. Above is the first ornament I gave Todd -- Christmas 05 -- we were engaged then. The significance obviously is the heart and being in love...awwww!

Todd gave me a set of owls Christmas 06 (our first Christmas married) -- I may have hinted to him that I specifically wanted them. The set obviously represents us and our first Christmas -- and they also matched my country/rustic tree theme.

The first ornament Todd gave me Christmas 05 -- he helped me set up some of my Christmas decorations when we were engaged and he noticed I didn't have a Nativity (a very essential decoration for Christmas) so he gave me one in an ornament.

Christmas 06 I gave this to Todd to represent our First Christmas Tree we hiked up and cut down together. This was before children and demanding work schedules - sadly we haven't been able to do it again and my mom has always had to cut ours down for us.

Christmas 09 - This is the ornament Reese got this year. She loves Elmo! It also plays Elmo singing "Jingle Bells" so that adds to the fun for her.

Christmas 07 Reese was due the 21st of December and I had held off buying a "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament just in case she wasn't here in time. Good thing -- because she wasn't. So I bought this I think on Christmas Eve -- since she was still a little spirit somewhere... and hadn't quite made it to our house for Christmas yet.

Christmas 08 - "Baby's 1st Christmas" nothing too significant -- just thought it was cute.

Sorry if that was incredibly boring for everyone - but it's something I look forward to every year when we start decorating the tree. Reminder for anyone doing this: write the year somewhere on the ornament because even though we've only been doing this for 5 Christmas' I had a hard time remembering for sure which year each one was from.