Maverick & Mom

Over Thanksgiving weekend my brother Kevin and his wife Rachel were kind enough to snap some pictures of Maverick at one month old. Here are some favorites of Maverick and I:

Puffy Pears

Last night I had pears in my kitchen waiting to be eaten. So I jumped on pinterest for some inspiration and decided to make this:

Basically poached pears wrapped in puff pastry with honey syrup.

They were delicious, easy to make and tasted like winter.

I highly recommend them ♥

Rub A Dub Dub

Can I just say that I love having a newborn in the house again?

Here are a couple pictures of bath time- Maverick is just like Adelaide was and loves the calming water of a bath :)

Maverick's honorary aunt Naomi sent him this funny onesie... love it!

Inspirational to Me

&

"MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."

- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"

Loves Being a Big Sister

Adelaide is adjusting well to having a new sibling. When Maverick sneezes she exclaims "bless you baby Maverick!" and she kisses and holds him all the time. Sometimes she doesn't like him using "her" blankets (even though usually they aren't hers) and she can get a little jealous of him nursing... I nursed Adelaide for a long time and I explained to her that once the baby came she couldn't nurse anymore. She understands it pretty well now but one day she saw me nursing and wanted to nurse too. I said "no, nursing is for babies and you are a big girl." She thought she could outsmart me and pointed to the side Maverick was on and said "Maverick's milk," and pointed to the other side and said, "my milk." I explained all the milk is for the baby and we've been pretty good ever since. That funny girl makes me laugh.

Here are a few pictures from the day after Maverick was born:

Silly Grandpas

Adelaide just loves her Grandpas! Recently she was lucky enough to have some special visits with them:)

Grandpa lets Adelaide wear anything she wants!

Grandpa brought Adelaide some girly accessories and modeled how they are worn.

Adelaide loved building towers with her Grandpa.

Come visit us again soon!

Happy Halloween

Adelaide was a hot air balloon for Halloween and really got into the trick-or-treating spirit. We started out at a work trick-or-treat party where she got down the basics. Then Rick and Adelaide went out together for more while Maverick and I came home and waited for trick-or-treaters that never came.

Our little hot air balloon.

Rick was a cloud (although was often mistaken for cotton candy).

One of Maverick's first outings in his sling.

Maverick in his Halloween outfit.

Jessica was Miss Judy Little Hands from the SNL Lawrence Welks Show skits. If you aren't familiar please google a couple of them... hilarious.

Maverick's Visitors

This little guy is very loved and has had plenty of family visitors since his long anticipated birth.

Mimi.

Grandpa.

Grandpa and Mimi.

Aunt Jess... technically she lives here and is not a visitor but cute picture, right?

Uncle Eric.

Grandpa.

Mimi.

Grandpa and Mimi.

Grandma.

Uncle Nathan.

Aunt Lanie.

Thanks for all the love!

The Birth of Maverick Wesley

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting I finally seemed to be in real labor. Around noon On Wednesday October 26th after meeting with our midwife Becky and having my membranes swept, taking 1/4 cup of castor oil, and then rotating between black and blue cohosh tincture I was having pretty strong contractions. They weren't really painful but they were crampy... I knew that I was 7cm dilated but that my cervix was still a little thick so with each contraction I told myself to open up and thin out and tried to visualize it.

Once the contractions started getting a little more painful (around 2:30 p.m.) I asked my mom to sit in bed with me and play with my hair while I did deep breathing. I called Rick and he came home just in case this was the real thing. At 3:00 I called Becky and told her they were pretty consistent but not too painful and she said to call her back by 4:00 or sooner if I wanted her to come over. Right around 4:00 they started getting more intense and so I called Becky and we decided she should come over. After I hung up they quickly became even stronger and close together. Becky arrived around 4:20 and she could tell that I was having serious contractions so she worked fast to get everything set up. Another midwife named Dina came over as well. It wasn't long after she got there that I had the sudden urge to push. I pushed about five pushes total while my mom and Jessica massaged my shoulders and gave me support. At 4:51 our baby was born right into Rick's arms: 9lbs 9oz, 22 inches long and a boy! We named him Maverick Wesley Rampton and we are totally in love.

The birth itself seemed like it was never going to happen, but once labor finally hit everything happened really fast. With Adelaide we took lots of pictures and even videotaped the birth; with Maverick we didn't have time for any of that, we didn't even have time to drop off Adelaide at a friend's house (don't worry she didn't watch it or anything, she miraculously slept through it all). I am so grateful that everything went so smoothly and for all the love and support... I am so excited to have this sweet, healthy, strong, perfect baby boy as a part of our family :)

Our first moments with Maverick.

So in love.

Maverick always has his little hands by his face. So cute.

Mimi getting Maverick dressed for the first time.

Proud Daddy.

Adelaide awoke from her nap to a new addition to the family.

Our family of four.

Me and my two babies.

Our midwife Becky with Maverick.

So happy to have this little man in my arms :)

P.S. We had Maverick's check up today with our midwife and after one week he now weighs 10 lbs 3oz... Becky said my milk must be pure cream. We have one big boy on our hands :)

Longest Month Ever

I finally had my baby! I say finally because honestly since October 1st I have felt that every day was the day that I would go into labor. I started having false labor at an Oktoberfest party on the 1st of the month and it got me all excited that I would be having the baby soon. With Adelaide I never really had any false labor; my water broke when I was four days passed my due date and I had her 17 hours later. So this time whenever I had any contractions I really got my hopes up.

I had been given three different due dates throughout my pregnancy, Oct. 5th, October 9th, and October 13th. As each passed I got really discouraged and just wanted to meet this baby! Around the time of my last due date I was 4cm dialated so I thought that was promising ( my mom thought so too and flew out to Flagstaff to be with me for the birth). A week later I was 6cm dilated and finally 13 days after my due date I was 7cm dilated. I was so close to going into labor but for some reason it just wasn't happening. I have seriously never been so discouraged in my life and felt like the baby was never going to come out; it seems silly now but each night I would pray that I would go into labor and each night it failed to happen I would wake up and sob. During all this time I was doing everything I possibly could to go into labor including but not limited to walking a lot, taking castor oil (SO gross), driving to a lower elevation and back, eating spicy foods, taking black and blue cohosh, and I had my midwife sweep my membranes four separate times. Because I was getting so close to 42 weeks we went to the hospital to have a Bio Physical Profile done. Everything looked great (and they actually gave me a new, fourth due date- October 21st) but the doctors still wanted us to be induced and gave us until Thursday the 27th. So Wednesday the 26th we really gave it our all to have the baby and did all the natural induction techniques in a row and prayed a lot and I was so lucky because it actually worked... Next post I will write about the actual birth :)

At the Bio Physical Profile Appointment.

It was so embarrassing having to sit in a wheelchair while being transferred to radiology... Plus I was trying to get this baby out and needed to be walking as much as possible! :)

Sickest. Stuff. Ever.

OVERDUE.

At least my huge belly served me well as a table.