I don't know how they do it?!

Last week was my first official week back to work! And by Friday my house was a MESS! I don't know how working moms do it?! I attempted the dishes last night after Landon went to bed but my husband found me asleep on the couch. My mom came over (while my sweet husband went grocery shopping) and watched Landon while I got to work. Now that my house is spotless I'm exhausted. It will definitely be a takeout movie kinda night!

Family Photo Shoot

Thanks to the amazing Alex Smith, who also did our wedding, we took a family photo shoot a few weeks back. It was quite the challenge with a 3 month old but with all his talent we still got so many amazing pictures! Here's a few to enjoy :)

Goodbyes are never easy...

Yesterday was one of the hardest days of my life. My brother, who is just 2 1/2 years younger than me, left for the army for 5 years. I've grown up with him by my side; he's always been my best friend. My brothers and I have always been so close and this is so hard on my family. We already miss him so much and it's taking a lot in me to stay strong. He is being shipped to Ft. Benning, GA for basic training and that means no communication for 18 weeks! I will be praying for him and his safety throughout his entire journey. I am also praying for short and safe deployments! It's crazy to think that when he comes home Landon will be going into kindergarten. Please join me in prayer! I love you and I miss you more than you know Andrew!

Home tour part 1... through the lens of my iPhone!

I love our little two bedroom town house! Enjoy...

the view from the top of our stairs

our lovely kitchen

dining area

family room

Once I'm done decorating our bedroom I'll post pictures of that and Landon's nursery! Hope you all have a great week! I'll try to be a better blogger and check in at least once before the weekend ;)

Help me... I can't cook!

I'm trying to become a better house wife and now that I've tackled the cleanliness portion I need to start cooking. Growing up my mom hated cooking so I never really learned how. Chris's mom on the other hand is a great chef so he is used to healthy home cooked meals. I'd love to be able to give this to him so I'm asking for your help! Quick and easy meals would be best since I'm caring for this cutie all day!

Busy Friday!

I really shouldn't be taking a break from my busy Friday but I just can't stay away from the oh so addicting blogging world! Chris comes home today... he's been at Lake Arrowhead since Tuesday morning and boy have we (bear and I) missed him! It's the first time I've been alone with Landon and since I don't like to be alone he had his first sleepover! On Wednesday night we spent the night at my mom's house and it still feels like home to me! I just realized that I use exclamation points a lot!!! Anyways my mom and I stopped in at Home Goods yesterday to pick up a few things for my master bedroom transformation! I scored big and I can't wait until it's finally complete (considering we've lived here for over a year now)! It's not easy decorating when you have no money so new furniture will have to wait and I'll just have to deal with our ugly birch furniture. If any of you would like to donate pretty white furniture I wouldn't turn you down :). Oh and speaking of donations... hard wood floors and stainless steel appliances would be greatly appreciated too! I've realized that getting anything accomplished with an almost 3 month old is nearly impossible so I'll go ahead and guess that all my home projects won't be finished any time soon :(. It will be so nice to have my husband back... so I can finally go grocery shopping, pick up some fabric to make curtains (which I won't be doing because I can't sew), drop things off at the dry cleaners, get my car detailed, and pick up frames. Hope you guys have a beautiful Friday and thanks for listening to me ramble on about nothing particularly important!

Update in Pictures!

I figure the easiest way to update you guys on our busy life is by posting pictures from my iphone that I've taken in the last couple months!

Chris and I were in our friends Emily and Andrew's wedding on May 7th!

My boss took us to Disneyland and Club 33 for our end of the school year party!

I've been spending a lot of time at the pool!

Chris and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary and he got me these!

I'm the Matron of Honor in one of my best friend's wedding in October and we celebrated her engagement at Borderline!

Chris's grandma visited form New Hampshire for a week... it was so much fun and we miss her already!

I celebrated my 24th birthday and I was so excited to get this Steve Madden purse I've been wanting!

This cutie is almost 3 months old and he brings so much happiness to our lives!

It's been a while...

I've been busy enjoying my time with Landon! I can't believe how quickly these two months have gone by! He has already grown in so many ways and it brings tears to my eyes! I spend all day with him and I still can't get enough! Here are a few updates: last night was the first time he slept through the night (we pray it will continue), he smiles all the time, he loves talking & grunting, he is such a good eater & he drinks between 4-6 oz of formula at each feeding (I tried breastfeeding and pumping but I didn't have enough milk), he wears 0-3 & 3 month clothes, his eyes are still blueish gray & his hair is strawberry blonde, he loves his bouncer & his play gym, and he loves staring at the fan! We love him more than we could have ever imagined and we are so so happy to be his parents!!!

Our Blessing

He's here... and we couldn't be more in love! Landon Robert Page was born Monday, April 4, 2011 at 2:53 pm, weighing 7lbs 5oz and measuring 19in long!

Birth Story: I woke up Monday morning at 2:30 to a wet bed! My water broke so I woke Chris and the first thing he said was "Yay!" I freaked out a little but eventually took a shower and attempted to eat a bowl of cereal. We left for the hospital and I was in my room by 5:00 am. After three horrible tries they got my IV in. They checked me and I was only dilated at 2 cm. My contractions were 5 minutes apart but I wasn't even feeling them. By 10:30 am I was at a 3 so they called the anesthesiologist and by 11:15 am I had my epidural. One of my biggest fears was getting the epidural, but it was a piece of cake compared to the IV. After about an hour I was dilated to a 4 and I wasn't in any pain until 1:45 pm rolled around. They checked me and I was finally at a 9! The epidural stopped working on my left side and my contractions were so painful. Chris was amazing through every single one... I couldn't have done it without him! They called my amazing doctor and by the time he got there it was time to push. I pushed for 18 minutes and Landon was born at 2:53 pm! It was the most amazing feeling and I couldn't have been blessed with a better labor and delivery! My nurse and doctor were so fantastic! We got our golden hour and then we were moved to a postpartum room. So many of our family and friends came to visit and we were showered with so much love! We got to go home around 8:00 Tuesday night and life has been wonderful! Landon makes us so happy :)

Getting my Epidural

First Family Picture

Love Dr. Nish

Getting Ready to go Home

Loves His New Home

Tired Thursday.

Today I went to my weekly doctors appointment and once again... NO change! I didn't get my hopes up as much but it was still disappointing. If Landon doesn't come on his own I am being induced on Tuesday, April 5th. We chose this day for a few reasons. We wanted it to be sooner rather than later because my biggest fear is him being too big, leading to me being incapable of pushing him out and ending with an emergency c-section. We can't do Monday because Chris has an important meeting. April 5th is also Chris's mom's birthday so we thought it would be a nice present to her! Lastly, I thought it would be a cool order since Chris's birthday is May 10th and mine is June 15! Therefore being April, May, June; 5, 10, 15. I was banking on April Fool's Day, he's already such a trickster so it would only be fitting (remember... they told us he was a girl? and remember they told us he dropped so early?) and his parents both have holiday birthdays (Father's and Mother's Day)! I still have a little more than 17 hours; a girl can dream :)

Weekend Love

I love the weekends. I love spending quality time with my husband. We will have a newborn within the next 8 days so I enjoy that we get to do things we don't normally get to do during the week and that we won't necessarily get to do for a while once Landon arrives. We slept in together, ate breakfast together, took long walks, watched A LOT of basketball (we entered 3 brackets for March Madness), got our taxes done finally, and hung out with friends and family! On top of that I also stopped by the local craft store and picked up a few things to create! I made a couple decorative items for Landon's walls and I'm in the process of making him a growth chart! His nursery is almost completely decorated and once it is I'll post pictures so you can see all our fun work!

In the mean time here are a couple maternity pictures for you to enjoy:

Patiently Waiting...

So I had a doctors appointment today and it didn't go as well as I had hoped. I am only 1cm dilated and 80% thinned. I'm due a week from tomorrow and I really do not want to be induced! I've been walking and doing stairs, but apparently Landon's cozy inside the womb.

I'll fill you in on the last 9 months of our lives!
July: I skipped my period and after a week of waiting I took a pregnancy test! It was the scariest 2 lines we had ever seen! Just to make sure, I took two more tests... both positive! Our plans were to wait at least a year before trying but clearly our Father blessed us with another plan!
August: We had our first ultra sound and were so amazed at this miracle growing inside me! It was so amazing to hear his heart beat! My blood tests came back good and baby and I were healthy! Food never sounded good and I didn't have much of an appetite.
September: The nausea started and it was not just morning sickness it lasted all day long! Chris joked with me that we would never be having another child because I was so miserable but luckily it went away once I hit my 2nd trimester.
October: We had an ultra sound to check the chances of Down syndrome (which came back negative) and they told us they could tell the gender of the baby. We had them write it down and seal it in an envelope. I gave the envelope to my friend Heather and she made a cake, icing the middle pink or blue. Later that night we had a little party with family and friends and I cut open the cake to find PINK frosting! We were having a girl! We thought for sure we were going to have a boy so this came as a complete shock.
November: We had the official gender ultra sound and turns out the tech and doctor were wrong! We were having a BOY! As much as we would have loved a girl we were so excited and clearly our instincts were correct too! A few things needed to be returned and the search for our baby's name was back in full force but it only took a couple days and we decided on Landon Robert. Robert is after Chris's grandpa who passed away. I should also mention that my 2nd trimester had been amazing and there is definitely a reason they call it the honeymoon stage!
December: I was enjoying my 2nd trimester and not so much enjoying my baby bump and the maternity clothes.
January: I switched doctors for my final trimester. Dr. Nish is amazing and I highly recommend him to all of you!
February: We had our first baby shower (thrown by my best friend Shanna). It was Dr. Seuss themed and everything came out so cute! Landon got lots of great presents and we enjoyed the company of our friends and family.
March: I had another baby shower (thrown by mine and Chris's mom). The weather was amazing and once again Landon was spoiled. It was so nice to see all my family and I can't wait for them to meet our little guy. This month i have also officially become uncomfortable! I finished working at 37 weeks and have just been nesting like crazy. We pretty much completed Landon's nursery. The heart burn crept up and has not been fun (thank goodness for Tums). My biggest cravings have been fruit (Jamba Juice smoothies especially) and any kind of dessert. So far I've gained 28 lbs and hopefully no more! I haven't felt any consistent contractions but I've been walking a lot to try and get them started.

Overall this has been one of the best experiences of my life and I couldn't have asked for a better pregnancy (lets hope I can say the same for the labor and delivery)! Now I patiently wait...

Change

Life as we know it is about to change drastically (in a good way of course)! Landon is due in 10 days and everything is going to be so different! Right now Chris and I are enjoying this month living just the two of us. My brother had lived with us since we were married so we didn't get much alone time. Needless to say it's been amazing! My hospital bags are packed and our house is in order, except for a few loads of laundry :). It's just the waiting game from here on out. Words cannot describe how anxious we are, so keep your eyes out for the arrival post!

Hello Blogging World :)

Happy Monday! I figured I would try the whole blogging experience now that I'll be home until August! Chris and I are expecting our first little boy, Landon Robert, on April 1st (if not sooner)! We are so excited for this new blessing in our lives and we cannot wait to meet him! Friday, March 11th was my last day of work and although I miss my friends and co-workers I'm enjoying this nesting time! I look forward to following and sharing in this wonderful world of blogging!