Proud Mama!

This is what I woke up to this morning and just had to capture it. After all, they are only this small for so long. And yes, that is spit up in the last picture where I zoomed out. We are officially parents now. I am just waiting to be peed on! We love him to death and think he is precious.

Gavin Forbes Miner

Yes, we have finally decided on a name (see above). This was actually our number one choice but we had a hard time committing until he was born. Some of the other names we liked were either too popular (Ethan) or clashed with our last name (Cole). But Gavin was in our minds for about 4 months and in the end it prevails. Plus, the meaning is really cool. It actually means "White Hawk of Battle" and comes from the name of one of the knights of the round table. Anyway, you can look it up.

Also, everyone came home Tuesday afternoon and both mother and baby are doing well. He loved his car ride home (see picture) and we are very excited to finally be home as a family.

May We Present Baby Miner

Yes, it's true. As you may already know, Kristen gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Sunday May 25, 2008. The name is forthcoming but Baby Miner is healthy and doing well. He was born at 2:02 pm and weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 18 inches long. Perhaps the most interesting part is his full head of hair which is a dark brown with blonde tips! That is the info and if you are interested you can keep reading and I'll give a little recap of the events but if not you can just go ahead and look at the pictures, I won't blame you.

Kristen woke up early Sunday morning (about 2:00 am) with some contractions and a few other signs of early labor. From that point she had a contraction every hour until about 6:30 am when she decided that this might be the day. So she took a shower and packed her bag. Around 9:00 am the contractions were more severe and only 5-10 minutes apart and she decided it was time to go to the hospital. Once at the hospital the contractions got more severe and Kristen toughed it out for a while with no epidural but after almost breaking her husband's hand and ripping the handle off the bed rails she decided to savor the sweetness of modern medicine. After the epidural Kristen was a completly different person and proceeded to push the baby out in about 2 hours. Everything went well and both mother and baby are in great shape. We are both super excited to be parents and feel very blessed to have a beatiful, healthy baby.

Our little guy fresh from the womb.

Looking at the new world . His right eye was a little swollen so he kept looking around with just his left eye. We called him our little pirate!

Mom and baby getting acquainted.

All swaddled up and ready for his first bath.

All clean and ready to go see mom!

His first hairdo! (The nurse did it. I wanted a mohawk.)

With Grandma Miner.

With Grandma Forbes.

Our little guy all relaxed and ready for life!

More pictures to come!!!

My baby is a bear...

...taking a long summer's nap. He has settled in and decided not to come out. The contractions have ceased! This boy is not going anywhere for a while. Last Friday and Sunday I felt all these false contractions and thought progress was here. And since then I have felt nothing! Of course, I feel him move so I know he is healthy and well, but nothing to do with pushing this kid out. I guess he likes it too much inside.

Stacey Smith and John Kramer Wedding

One might think this post is about tulips, but really Sean's cousin got married last Friday. It was his fault that the temple grounds were overflowing with beautifully colored tulips and the same with Thanksgiving Point for the reception. Our very own Johnny found the lady of his dreams. Good work and congratulations Johnny!

The adorable couple.

Emerging for the first time as a couple.

John Boy with his sweet mother Natalie.

Carston. He is two and super cute.

Goofy picture of the boys. My Sean is in the pink, stripped tie.

Whale-of-a-me at the reception.

I apologize in advance if you are related to this couple, but look at their very, old school outfits. They both are layered in cream and she has a robe on. It looks circa 1400's.

A pretty sweet cake!

Bring on the tulips!

Amazing!

If I was a flower, I would be a tulip.

Admiring the tulips at Thanksgiving Point. Notice the large, whale size factor.

Another Amazing Baby Shower!

The ladies at work outdid themselves this time! My cute friends threw me a baby shower last Wednesday and I have to thank Denise, Kim and Karla. Our little guy received some adorable gifts and of course, I get to dress him up in all of the clothes. Some of the ladies even pitched into a group gift for our stroller and bouncing bouncer. Let's just say we are so very grateful for everything.

We received so many adorable outfits!

Opening the stroller, it is the skeleton kind.

My mother and mother-in-law were even invited to the shower!

The lovely Bridget, Karla, and Kim. Need I mention the amazing strawberries!

Shelley cleverly boxed her gift inside a DENTRIX box!

And without too much embarrassment, a sweet friend thought I was having a girl. Hence the pink tissue paper.

Shelley and Denise, and Maqueca's sweet baby girl

39 Weeks Tomorrow!

Time is rapidly flying folks! I cannot believe I am almost 39 weeks pregnant. I slept in last Saturday and it was amazing! Who knows?! It might have been my last Saturday ever without a child! We are getting down to crunch time. I went for my weekly doctor's check-up just now and here are some of the results:

2 cm fully dilated
70% effaced
the kid is now very low
plan on delivering earlier than my due date (but so I do not kill my doctor he said I could go over too, but plan on early he said)

My butt bone has been hurting for the last four days and the doctor explained that the kid is now pretty low in the canal and causing ‘pressure.’ I was vacuuming until 11:30 pm last night, so the nesting phase is diffidently still here. And I hear you have great bouts of energy the day you deliver. For the record, I could barely open my eyes this morning so today does not look like the delivery date. :)

Overall though, I think we are ready for this kid! His clothes are washed, his bed is ready at home, and now I just need to pack my overnight bag!

Picture Time!

My beautiful birthday cake! Sean's mother and cousin have too much talent.

Sean's Uncle Greg at our Cinco De Mayo Party. And yes, he is wearing a hat on a hat.
Everyone fighting for the insides of the Pinata. Even my father-in-law!
The very first child's clothing we bought several years ago. Being a native Floridian and my father still living there, I always envision our child walking off the plane in this shirt.
Real Salt Lake vs. L.A. Galaxy on Saturday night. Landon Donovan and David Beckham are pictured.
On my birthhday we saw 'Baby Mama.' Sean reserved the entire theater for me! Okay, maybe we just went to a show in the middle of the week in the middle of the day.

My father has been offered good money for this antique bait holder. It was my grandfather Compton's (mother side).

These next two shots are from a 'couples' shoot our good friend Vanessa took before she decided to get married and move half away across the world. Or Vermont, same thing.

This pose is very similar to our engagement picture we sent in our invitations almost 4 years ago. Can time really fly that fast? Oh wait, I am having a kid in 23 days...yes, it can.

Birthday Recap

Note: Due to the lack of pictures for this post, I will make up for it by posting nothing but pictures on the next post.

Wednesday, April 30th was a great in the history books folks. Mainly I was excited for my doctor’s appointment, but it just so happen to coincide with my birthday. Unlike my last appointment, the visit was full of great information.

For starters, our boy has assumed the delivery position! His head is down and ready for the great descent (whether or not I am ready is way too late for that). His bum curls under my right ribs while his legs are under my left ribs. There is not much room for him change positions these days, so he just wiggles a lot. And mainly it is to poke his bum out or stretch his feet. Or to hiccup! This boy gets the hiccups every night after I eat dinner.

After some poking and prodding, the doctor reports that I am dilated 1 cm. Yahoo! But do not get too excited since this is normal and really means nothing will happen soon. There is no cause for early concern. ‘1 cm’ just means things are progressing down there as they should be. Now if I came back next week and progressed to 2 cms, we might be a little worried. But I could comfortably sit at 1 cm for weeks now.

The delivery date (May 29th) will remain the same, but will be moved up in case I come early. I laughed a little on the inside when I heard the doctor say this, since of course the delivery date would be moved up if he came early. Silliness, but I knew what he meant.

Lunch with my mom was followed by some productive shopping and a wonderful afternoon on the couch. I was tired after being prodded in the morning and shopping in the afternoon, so I curled up with a book and slept. Sean and I then saw a matinee of “Baby Mama.” With the cast of SNL and the previews that set-up the movie, we expected a slap-happy comedy. We were pleasantly surprised with the subtle love story and casual but normal characters. And of course the humor was great!

To top off the birthday celebration, I sadly did not make it to my church group with the Young Women (12-16 year old girls) like every Wednesday. Instead Sean and I attended the breast-feeding class put on the hospital. March’s date was too early and May’s date was too late, so April was the month. It just so happened the one time in April was on my birthday. Despite the numerous shots of other women breast-feeding, the class was quite fascinating. We learned a lot of great tips and interesting facts about the subject. I was grateful Sean came along too (spouses are pretty much signed up as well) so if I stress when the time comes and forget everything, he can help me remember and remain calm.

One final story I would like to share but not relating to my birthday: Sean came home on Monday and shared his walk during lunch. His office is near a stream/ditch and he decided to walk along the bank for an enjoyable break. He saw plenty of fish (normal), a half eaten cow carcass (not normal) and two deer legs not attached to anything else (again not normal). I laughed. He said he might never take a walk again by that stream.