Another Milestone

As a new mother, I have learned to celebrate the small victories. I told everyone I knew when Christian first slept through the night. He does this regularly now. I about peed my pants when he gave me his first smile (sadly, this is not an exaggeration. I've been told that Kegals can help with this little problem.) And now, my new triumph...
Today I buttoned my jeans. HOORAY! Ok, they're the jeans I bought during my first trimester that had a little room to grow, but still. At least I'm not looping a rubber band between the button and button hole anymore. I gained a solid 60 lbs, 35 of which came during the third trimester. I soaked up water better than a ShamWow. A woman in my ward told me that my feet looked like hooves. Sadly, she was right. That weight all came off within a week, now I'm left with the hard stuff to lose. Tonight I'm going to have Ryan bring up the spin bike. Summer's a-comin.

My New Flip Camera

One of the perks of dentistry is that some of the specialists that Ryan refers to give him sweet gifts. An orthodontist gave us a Flip video camera that is designed to record videos for the web. Its not super high resolution, but its smaller than my cell phone and perfect to carry around. It does a good job for its intended purpose. And since I've been bugging Ryan about getting a video camera to capture all of Christian's cute moments for our blog, he's off the hook now!

These binkies are so funny! It reminds us of those fish that cling to the side of the tank that clean the algae off the glass. Ryan put his finger in the middle of the binky and said "Wow! This kid has got some serious suction!" Yes. I know. Believe me, I know. He's like a Hoover vacuum and a toothless alligator combined. Once this kid sprouts teeth, I'm SO done with nursing.

Spring Projects

Spring has sprung at the Thomas household. For weeks now, Ryan has been spending every free waking moment doing projects around the house. The list included building a workbench to do all of his man crafts on, organizing the basement and garage, and most importantly, the YARD. I almost think that Ryan's desire to work in the yard has almost eclipsed his one true love... firearms. Rest assured he has found some time to make a few trips to Stateline Guns (it's Ryan's equivalent of Macy's for the Evers girls.)
So, thanks to Ryan's mom and dad, things are shaping up around here. They make the trip from Belmont to New Hampshire every Wed and Sat to help with our To Do list and teach us things that former apartment dwellers need to know about keeping up a house. Last weekend, the boys planted the fruit trees in the back yard. Ryan really wanted to plant an apple tree when Christian was born to mark to occasion. Well, when the time came it wasn't just an apple tree. When the truck pulled up from the nursery, they unloaded two apples, two cherries , a peach, and plum tree. Ryan assured me that he got a great deal since there is a sale at the nursery every time it rains. I believe I have pulled this line before (It was such a great deal I couldn't afford NOT to buy it! I'm sure I actually saved us money!) Anyhoo, Christian's orchard got planted and it looks great. We will have many years of beautiful spring blossoms and tasty home grown fruit.

Christian may not appreciate the fruit trees and all the effort required to plant them in our rocky Granite State soil quite yet, but I'm sure he'll love taking care of them when he gets a little older.

The boys also busted out the power tools to take them for a test drive. One of Ryan's favorite purchases is a Toro super tool with lots of different attachments. It can be a tree trimmer, blower, edger, roto tiller, and more. It is truly the Autobot of garden tools.

After a full day of work, the trees in the backyard were stripped of their dead branches, the grass was edged, porch blown off, and the future planter in the side yard was roto tilled and prepped for planting.

I even got to try my hand with the new lawn mower. Oh, the smell of freshly cut grass! This was always Jeff's job growing up, so this was my first real attempt. I must say, the lawn looked pretty sweet after I got done with it. Maybe a few little boo boos, but overall a pretty decent job.

Ryan and I now realize how much work a house is, but also how rewarding it can be. We have loved seeing the transformation after all of the work that we put into it. Thanks again, Phil and Sherrine, for all of your help!

Per Grandma's Request...

Mom said she wanted to see more Christian pictures. Here you go.

Milestone

I just wanted to report that my son slept from 10 pm till 5:30 am last night. Way to go little guy! I, on the other hand, got up every hour after 2 am to check on him to make sure he was still ok. Also to pump my bazooms. I suppose I'll never sleep through the night as long as I'm nursing him. Stupid nature.

Home Improvement

We closed on our first house March 13th and have been working diligently to get everything organized ever since. Its amazing how much work a house is! I never knew that new carpet could create so much fuzz or that there could be so much construction dust. I did manage to straighten up a few rooms long enough to take a picture while Christian was happily in his Baby Bjorn. Here is the photo tour of the rooms that are completely done. Thanks to Mom, these rooms have some color. She passed the time waiting for me to go into labor by painting 5 of the rooms in our house. Thanks Mom!

The first room we finished was Christian's nursery. I realized the week before my due date that if I didn't paint now, it probably wouldn't get done. So Ryan and I went to Sherwin Williams to pick out a paint color and get supplies. Ryan picked the perfect shade of green and after two coats, a few touch ups, and many trips to Babies R Us, the nursery was done. Christian still prefers to sleep in his bouncy chair or car seat, but I know that some day he will appreciate the beautiful crib that his parents got him.

The kitchen isn't quite done yet. It still needs a coat of paint, probably green to match the granite, but that job will have to wait (Mom, when are you coming back to visit??) I love this kitchen! What you can't see is the big old pantry off to the right that gives me all the storage I need. There is also a laundry/mud room to the right that houses our brand new front load washer and dryer. This was probably the purchase that Ryan and I were most excited about. After years of apartment dwelling with tiny pint sized washers, it was a big day for us when we could actually wash more than two pair of jeans at the same time. All hail Whirlpool!

The family room is the only completely finished room. The family room and the entry hall have super high ceilings, so we asked the builder to paint it in our purchase offer. We were so pumped to be able to pick out colors and not have to live another day with all white apartment walls! Thanks to Ryan's parents who were downsizing their house, we were also able to get some cool antique pieces and big rug to decorate with. As a side note, the Lazy Boy in the corner is one of my favorite purchases for the house. It is perfect for nursing and rocking tired babies to sleep. A must for any parent. Also, you can see Christian sleeping in his bouncy chair in this picture. He has probably slept more nights in his chair in the family room than in his crib because once he is asleep, I am too nervous to move him. As the saying goes, let sleeping dogs lie. The last picture is another view of the family room looking towards the entry hall. We are still working on the two front rooms. They will require some major furniture purchases so they will have to wait. Until then, I can work on the upstairs bedrooms. They are pretty much done but still need paint. Mom...

The Little Guy

On April Fool's Day, our lives changed forever. Ryan and I welcomed our sweet little baby, Christian Clark Thomas to the world. I was never much of a baby person. I like them when they are at least 6 months old and you can play with them and see their little smiles and personalities. I was nervous that I wouldn't feel that kind of connection to an infant. I didn't believe people when they told me it was different when it is your own child. They were so right. I can't describe how much instant love I felt for this little guy. Even when he whines and cries (which is often)all I want to do is comfort and cuddle him to let him know how much he is loved.

I went into labor 2 days after my due date on Tues March 31st. After one premature trip the the hospital, 26 hours of labor, and 3 hours of pushing, my doctor told us that the baby was face up and would have to be delivered by c-section. I would have paid a million dollars to know this BEFORE labor, but oh well. Surgery went smoothly and Christian Clark Thomas was born at 10:51am April 1st. He was a healthy 8lb 4.4oz and 20.75in. The great thing is that now I can actually schedule the rest of my deliveries at my convenience. No more guessing on the birth date, relatives can fly out knowing they will make it in time, and best of all, no more labor pains! I suppose I can't complain. And Stacey and Kelly, you were right. The hospital RULES!

His first breath

Warning: Graphic video- my c-section!

Home Sweet Home

This March, Ryan and I officially became grown ups. We decided it was time to make the jump from renters to home owners. We looked (and looked and looked) and finally found the perfect house for us two weeks before I was due with our first baby. I was pretty much useless during the move and poor Ryan had to do all of the packing. It was SO much work, but so rewarding! We had a great apartment in Merrimack, but I will not miss the greenish white walls, interesting smells in the common hallways, parking lot noise in the middle of the night, hauling groceries up 2 flights of stairs...

The house wasn't completely done when we moved in. It needed landscaping, paint, and another coat of asphalt on the driveway. Two weeks ago, the crews came over and finished everything in a few days. It was so fun to see the transformation of the yard.

Here's the before

And after

Ryan has grand plans for the yard but there is still so much to be done inside and out. This Wednesday's project include planting the fruit trees in the backyard and building planter boxes for the garden. Ryan and his dad will tackle those projects while my mother in law and I will work on organizing the reading room and family room (assuming I have a cooperative little boy.)

Alright Already!

After over two years of pestering from my dear family, I have finally given in and decided it was high time I started a blog. I guess I never felt my life was that interesting that anybody would actually want to read about it. After all, it was just Ryan and I. While we did do lots of fun things exploring around New England the first year of our marriage, we pretty much got into the routine of work, tv, food, and the occasional outing during the second year. Not so exciting. However, during the last few months, our lives have taken an exciting turn. I now feel like I have a blog-worthy life. What were the triggering events? We joined the ranks of adulthood. We are now homeowners and PARENTS! (I don't recommend doing this in the same month like we did.)
So, I promise to do my best to keep everyone updated as we do various projects around the house, show you just how beautiful New Hampshire is in the springtime, and share as our little boy grows and reaches new milestones. Enjoy!