Madsen: The first year in a nutshell...

Holy Cow! How is my baby ONE? Where has the time gone? I can't believe it's been (over) a year since I gave birth to my little nugget, I remember holding him in my arms for the first time like it was yesterday. This last year has been the CRAZIEST year of my life! I have never laughed so hard, cried so hard, or loved something so much since my little firecracker came into my life! One thing is for sure, I have learned A LOT. Has this been the easiest year of my life? Absolutely NOT. Has it been the best year of my life? Without a doubt! I remember being a clueless first time mom bringing that sweet little boy home from the hospital and thinking how crazy it was....I was now responsible for a tiny human. As most of you know, the first few months were really hard for me. Ok, lets be honest, they were AWFUL! I tell people that it's a really good thing that I loved Madsen so much, because for the first 6 months I didn't really like him. He literally screamed for 6 months straight. If he wasn't asleep, he was screaming. Poor little guy had the worst acid reflux and colic you could imagine, Then one day he started to crawl, and I think being on the move made all the difference in the world for him. He was born to be a busy boy. Since he started crawling, life has been bliss! Not bliss in a "life is absolutely perfect kind of way", bliss in a mommy sort of way. Life is hectic and crazy, but so much fun! Madsen started crawling and sitting up around 5-6 months, then shortly after that he was pulling himself up on things and walking around furniture, then before we knew it, at 10 months he was walking all over the place and climbing on everything. He is the craziest little one year old I know. He is full speed, ALL the time. He's not the kind of kid that wants to sit and watch mickey mouse clubhouse and cuddle with mommy all day, he's the kind of kid that runs to the front door first thing in the morning and pounds on it so I will let him go outside and play with his toy cars and trucks in the driveway, dig around in the dirt and gravel, or climb on his little trike and ding his bell until I get annoyed enough to go push him around the block in it. He keeps me on my toes to say the least! But I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. He is so active, and so smart. Everything intrigues him and he is just so ready to learn. When we took him to his one appointment, Dr. Later told us (as Madsen was running around his office getting into EVERYTHING) that Madsen was very inquisitive and acted like most of his 18 month old toddlers act. And it doesn't help much that he is big enough to be 18 months! At one year, he weighs 26 pounds (95th percentile), he's 32 inches long (99th percentile), and his head circumference is 19.2 inches (98th percentile). Dr. Later told us that all the smart kids have big heads- we'll roll with that :) He also told us that he's huge and we better get him ready for football! Anyway- some of Madsen's favorite things to do are going swimming or to the splash pad (really anything to do with water), ride his little trike, play with trucks or cars or anything on wheels, swing, climb up slides, and anything to do with the outdoors. He is starting to say more words, but never does them on command or when I'm trying to show him off. He say's mama, dada, dog (and he barks), baba, hop, purple,bat, uh-oh, hi, bye, and his favorite word, NO! (I wonder where he got that one from?) He also says other random words that he's learned from all his books, but that's all I can think of right now. Most of the time he just babbles off in his crazy baby language and looks at me like I should know what he's talkin about. He's such a nut! He's such a happy little dude and has four little teeth with a big old gap between the front two, and he will just run to anyone with a big cheesy grin on his face and you can't help but fall in love with him, he's so darn cute! He's the funniest little guy you will ever meet, he has such a huge personality, and along with it, a huge attitude! Luckily we get more of the big personality and less of the attitude MOST of the time. I could ramble on for days about my little Madsen, but I won't. This last year has been an emotional roller coaster trying to figure out how to be a mom, and most days I wonder what the heck i'm doing, but at the end of the day, my little family is happy. I have a sweet husband that works all day, then comes home and takes crazy Madsen off my hands, and I know he wouldn't rather be doing anything else. I'm not perfect, and neither are my husband or our crazy little boy, but they are perfect for me. We are perfect together. And I love it.

 

The first three months....

I can hardly believe it's been 3 1/2 months since I gave birth to this little nugget! Time flies...well sometimes it flies, and other times it can't go by fast enough. These past three months have been a whirlwind to say the least. The first three weeks we had our little guy home, we were just soaking it all in and trying to figure out what parenthood was all about, enjoying every second....and then BOOM. The colic hit. I would not wish a colicky baby on my worst enemy. It is the saddest, most frustrating thing in the entire world. It makes you want to pull your hair out. EVERY DAY. And my baby did NOT just have a mild case....it's bad. And it wasnt just in the evening, it was SCREAMING....ALL. DAY. LONG. People tell you to try a million different colic-curing things, (all of which they SWORE by and worked magic for their babies...I of course tried ALL OF THEM and nothing worked.) Other people tell you that none of those things worked and that by three months your baby will just grow out of it....which of course you think will never happen, but in our case it has finally started getting better THANK GOODNESS. People who say that parenthood is all fun and games, bells and whistles, are either freaking crazy or full of crap. BUT, I will say this....although the last three months have had some of the most miserable days I have ever experienced, the good days make all the crappy ones SOOO worth it.  I couldn't even imagine going back to life without our sweet (and sassy) little Madsen. He is the love of our lives. He has grown out of the really bad colic phase, but still has his colicky moments. Colicky times set aside, he has started talking (cooing) like crazy, has the biggest smile in the entire world (gets that big mouth from his daddy :) ) and is constantly playing with his tongue (which is weirdly long like his mammas.) He loves licking zippers on any of his hoodies or jackets, it's hilarious. He has really started paying attention to toys, trys to grab things, and of course puts them straight in his mouth! He can pretty much put his entire fist in his mouth. He loves watching TV (all those gay cartoons I swore I would never turn on...and of course ESPN with dad), and playing underneath his little play gym. He mastered the art of rolling over a couple weeks ago and now he WILL NOT STOP. I try to change his diaper, he's trying to roll over, I try to get him dressed, he tries to roll over, I put him to sleep on his back, I find him flipped to his tummy....he's a mad man with the rolls! This boy loves being on his tummy (he actually sleeps better this way so I don't mind so much)  Stat-wise, he is growing like a weed! Last check up, he was 100%tile for height and 79%tile for weight! He is a big boy and we love it. He has also started laughing these last few weeks and it is seriously the cutest thing ever! He has the cutest little giggle....only problem is it gives him the hiccups every freakin time- so annoying! But he really is the cutest thing you have ever seen in your life. He has finally started being happy enough that we can truly enjoy him. He melts my heart every day! We started giving him rice cereal a little before 3 months and at that point he started sleeping 9 hours straight at night so that has been SO nice! I hope he just keeps sleeping longer and longer! We are so excited to have our fist Christmas as a little family! It's fun to shop for your baby, even though they really dont need a dang thing. Madsen's biggest present from mommy and daddy is going to be his $2,300 HELMET. Yep that's right, of course my kid needs a helmet lol. It's ok though, no worries we have come to terms with it haha. Mads has tortacollis (he didn't have enough room in my belly which caused one side of his neck muscles to be shorter which caused him to only turn his head one way which caused that side of his head to get really flat) hence the need for a helmet! He has also been going to physical therapy to get the one side of his neck stronger and his is doing awesome. I'm making my kid sound handicapped....he really is normal, just has a funky shaped noggin that we figured we better get rounded out in case he ends up bald like his daddy! Anyway, sorry this post was so long, it's been a crazy 3 months and I had lots to share...I am going to start trying to be better at updating this so the posts will be shorter. In a nutshell....parenthood is crazy and hard, but the best thing in the entire world. We are so blessed to have our sweet little Mads, we love him more than anything!

 Newborn

 

One month

Two months

Three Months

Welcome to the world sweet boy!

Well here it is, the birth story in all it's glory!! I will try to make it short and sweet, but let's be real this might be a really long post! So here goes....I woke up at 7:00 a.m. on September 6th, this was supposed to be the day that I was going to welcome my little boy to the world. It was the date I had set for my induction (of course after going over my due date by three days....even though two different doctors swore they didn't think I'd even make it to my due date before going into labor myself, pshhh) The evening before I got a call from Labor and Delivery and the nurse told me that they should get me in by 9:00 a.m. the next morning, and that they would call me between 6 and 7 in the morning to tell me exactly what time to come in, but if I hadn't heard from them by 7:00 a.m. to call them. So my alarm went off at 7, and I hadn't heard from them. So I called L&D and of course they had a bunch of women go into labor that night and they were swamped, and since I was an elective induction they were going to have to push me back, but told me they thought they would be able to get me in by 11:00 a.m.....BUT if I hadn't heard from them by then, then I should call again. So, just my luck, 11:00 rolls around and no call from them, so I call back. Two emergency c-sections came in and they were too busy....sooo....you guessed it.....I should call back at 1:00 pm if I hadn't heard from them by then. 1:00 rolls around, no call. So I call back....they are still too busy and don't even have ONE bed open. At this point I lost it and just started bawling and decided I was never having this baby. The nurse told me that two women had just delivered and maybe if I call back at 3:00 they can squeeze me in, but it might not happen today. So after bawling in my bed for two hours I called back and they FINALLY told me I could come in. I guess if you are annoying enough they finally get sick of you and admit you! So me and Jord headed over to the hospital, got admitted, they started my I.V., hooked up the pit, and then the waiting game began! I was dilated to a 3 when I got there. The first hour was pretty boring, then I started feeling some mild contractions which weren't comfortable but didn't hurt that bad. Then the doc came in and checked me ( I was now at a 4) stripped my membranes REALLY HARD, and broke my water....oh my it hurt soooooo bad but I just bit my lip and didn't say a word! After doing that, he asked me how my epidural was doing, I told him that I hadn't got my epidural yet. He said "Oh dang, you are a tough girl then! What I just did probably wasn't very comfortable!" Yeah, it killed. Thanks doc. Immediately after the doc broke my water the contractions started KILLING. I will be the first to admit I do NOT have a high pain tolerance, but OH MY GOSH. I thought I was gonna die. But I was trying to hold off on the epidural because the doctor told me that I should try a couple doses of Fentanyl to get me through the pain before I get the epidural. So following the doc's orders, I asked for a dose of Fentanyl. The first 15 min after I got it, I felt high as a kite and was loving life, then it wore off and I had 45 min of HORRIBLE contraction pain. They say to breathe through your contractions....I could not even BREATHE period, it hurt so bad. And my breathing was mostly just cries because I thought I was gonna die lol. Then it was time to get another dose of Fentanyl, but by the time the nurse brought it in, I knew it would not be enough for the pain, so I asked for my epidural. Best decision EVER....next time I will not let them break my water before getting the epidural first! How women have babies naturally I do NOT know. They are either way stronger than me or just plain stupid!! JK, I have a lot of respect for women that can do it without the epidural....but I am NOT one of them and will NEVER try it. After the epidural it was pretty much smooth sailing until I got to an 8. I knew something was wrong because the nurse was kind of whispering and showing the nursing student some things on the monitor and they got out the oxygen mask and cranked it up to a 10 and told me I needed to wear it. Even though I'm not an L&D nurse and don't pretend to remember much about that section of nursing school, I'm not an idiot, I know how to read the monitors. My little guys heart rate was dropping really bad. Late decels, bad news. Next thing I know they are putting all kinds of internal monitors up me, the charge nurse comes into the room, then the doctor, and they are talking about taking me back to the OR to get ready for a c-section. The doc explained to me that my little guy probably had the cord around his neck and was causing his HR to drop, but they would try turning me over and repositioning me to see if his heart rate would come back up. Then if it did, he would give me 20 minutes to get from an 8 to a 10, but if I didn't progress that quick we were going back for a c-section. Luckily by the time they turned me over and got be repositioned, I had gone from a 8 to a 10 in like ten minutes! At this point the doc said I should be fine to deliver vaginally and that he just might have to pull him out with forceps if his HR started dropping again. Luckily his heart rate was good and forceps didn't need to be used (but after almost two hours of pushing I was thinking it wouldn't have been such a bad idea to just pull him out with forceps!) So after about an hour and forty five min of hard pushing, and a second degree episiotomy, and the doc unwrapping the cord from around his neck, I heard my sweet little cone headed baby's first scream! No, not a sweet little cry, SCREAMING! The nurses and doctors were laughing and telling me that he has one of the healthiest pair of lungs they had ever heard!  Madsen J. Van Ausdal was born at 1:39 a.m. weighing eight pounds thirteen ounces, and was 20 1/2 inches long. It was so surreal to see him for the first time, he looked just like his daddy. When they handed him to me I could not believe he was mine. It's the craziest feeling in the world. I have never been so happy in my life. I remember thinking from the very first time I saw him how beautiful he was and how much I loved those little lips! It was adorable to watch my sweet husband through the whole process, and to watch him hold our son for the first time and see him stare at our baby with so much love. Its crazy how watching your husband with your baby just makes you fall in love with him all over again! We are so happy with our little family, and can't wait to start the next chapter in our lives!

 

 

Plenty more pics to come!!

Showered with LOVE!

I. AM. LOVED. To say the least. And my little man has been spoiled. To say the least. Sooooo when people started talking about throwing baby showers, I started out just having two showers planned. My mom's amazing friends were going to throw me a big shower for all my family and friends, and Jord's family was going to throw me a family shower for their side of the fam. Well two showers ended up turning into FIVE showers. Like I said, we are loved :) My mom's friends threw me a huge shower for a lot of my friends and family, Jordan's Van Ausdal side threw me a shower, all of my awesome co-workers threw one, my ward had one, and Jordan's Nelson side of the family threw one! Oh my, were we spoiled! Everyone that helped throw the showers went totally over the top! Everyone was so nice! The majority of the showers were baseball themed...hmmm I think they know us pretty good lol. A huge thanks from me, Jord, and Baby Madsen to everyone that helped put on the showers, and for everyone that came and supported! I have the best family and friends that a girl could ask for!

Here are just a few pics from a few of my showers, I wish I would have taken more pics!

-The Babymoon-

Well it's about time I get this dang thing updated....life has been crazy to say the least! Before I get to what you would all probably rather hear about (the birth and the babe) I have a couple other things to post about. The first being the BABYMOON! Me and Jord decided that we wanted to take one last getaway before this baby came, so we went to Cali, and I am SO glad we went. We love our little hunk more than words can say, but I'm so glad we enjoyed one last vacation with just the two of us! It was nice to just get away from life and work and enjoy some time together before the two of us turned into the three of us! We stayed two nights on Newport Beach, and two nights in Carlsbad! The night we got to Cali we went to a Dodgers baseball game....that was an adventure to say the least....Long story short it was HORRIBLE traffic getting into LA to the game, so I was already ornery, and then as we were driving up the hill into Dodgers stadium our freakin rental care broke down....it was such a disaster...and at almost 8 months pregnant I was not a happy camper! I called hertz and gave them a piece of my mind, pulled the pregnant card, and ended up getting our entire car rental free (and they brought us a new car to the stadium)! Despite the car disaster we still enjoyed the game! Our other days there were spent enjoying the amazing  weather on Newport, Laguna, Carlsbad, Oceanside, and La Jolla's beautiful beaches! We did lots of good shopping at some great malls and outlets, treated ourselves to Cheesecake Factory and BJ's more than once, and just hung out! We rode around Carlsbad on our beach cruisers, went body surfing (Jordan wouldn't let me boogie board or surf, pshhh) and did lots of laying out and soaking up the rays, (it was so nice to dig a hole in the sand for my big belly, I hadn't laid on my belly in forever!) We basically just spent time hanging out together doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, in a Beautiful place, with beautiful weather,  and it was a BLAST!

33 weeks and growing!

How far along?  33 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 20 pounds exactly when I got on the scale this morning....I have been DREADING the moment I hit that number! Oh well, what do you do?
Maternity clothes? Getting sick of all the maternity stuff I have. I quit buying maternity stuff and started buying longer shirts from normal stores. Maxi dresses are super comfy!Stretch marks? Two small little white ones on my right side (where he hangs out all the time) I freaked out when I found them a week or two ago. Praying I don't get anymore but I'm afraid for myself!!
Sleep: Whoever said that you are the most tired in your first trimester was smokin pot! I am SOOOOO tired all the time still, all I want is to sleep! The only problem.....I have started waking up at night because I can't get comfortable...and rolling over in bed is hard work these days lol.
Best moment this week: Baby shower!!! It was so much fun and I got a ton of cute stuff. So many friends and family came to support, I love you all! :)
Miss Anything? FEELING NORMAL! I feel like I'm always whining to Jordan about feeling crappy, I just can't wait to have my body back and not feeling like something is hurting or aching or cramping all the time!
Movement: I swear the amount that this little boy moves is NOT normal, but I have nothing to compare it to, so who knows? He is literally jabbing me all the time! His little feet kick up in my right ribs all the time and it HURTS! Hahaha, you might think i'm exaggerating a little but it seriously does NOT feel good. Sometimes I poke him back but then he just kicks harder. Jordan keeps telling him that he needs to be nice to his mommy!
Food cravings: I still don't think I have any REAL cravings. I eat a lot of muffins and Eggo's. Breakfast food is something that always sounds pretty good. These days I get full really easy so I can't eat very much in one sitting. Shaved ice always sounds good, but I think it's just because it's summer and really hot!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  If I go too long without eating I start to feel nauseous, and Chinese still makes me want to gag, but other than that I'm doing pretty good in that department!
Labor Signs: I don't think so! Every once in a while I get what feels like period cramps....but I haven't even had any braxton hicks or anything like that yet. (Unless that's what those period cramps are and I just done know)
Belly Button in or out? Still in, but getting shallower by the day  :)
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy most of the time! I get really moody when my back is killing me, or my ribs are really achy, or I'm crampy.

Looking forward to:Seeing what this little guy is going to look like! The room is almost done, I can't wait for the finishing touches though! I will post about it when it's all done!

26 weeks and counting....

Well it's been a long time since I have posted much about my pregnancy, so here goes! I started feeling a little bit better while I was in Hawaii, but the nausea didn't completely go away until I was about 18 weeks along. 18 weeks was a big one for me, that's also when I started feeling my little guy move around. It began as flutters, but now he's got some full-blown kicks going on! He is a super active little thing. I like to make everyone feel my belly when he's moving, I don't know why I just think it's really funny when he kicks and then they freak out. I am getting more and more excited about having a baby, but I am nervous about being a mom! Baby's room is coming along, it's going to be SOOOO cute, I will post some pics of it in the next little while when we get a few more things done. We are doing a Baseball/ Red Sox room. I feel like I am getting really big, but I'm not really too uncomfortable yet. Things like bending over and exercising are getting a little harder though! Well....I saw this little questionnaire on my friends blog so I stole it (thanks Cando) Here's a little more about my pregnancy at this point:

How far along?  26 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 12pounds.......EWWW!!
Maternity clothes? Motherhood actually has some cute stuff contrary to popular belief...also Old Navy and Gap have some cute stuff.
Stretch marks? Nothing yet....Cross your fingers and pray for the skin gods to bless me!
Sleep: OHH MY! I'm still so tired! I swear if i don't get ten hours a day I am dysfunctional!
Best moment this week: Got the crib up and the room is looking so cute! And my little dude is moving around like crazy, that's always fun!
Miss Anything? My body!!! Let's hope it goes back to normal after the babe! Also, wakeboarding and all the fun summer activities that I can't really do while pregnant!
Movement: He is going CRAZY!!!  It is a super weird feeling, but so cool! I love it!
Food cravings: I'm eating a lot better now, but after being sick for so long it's kind of hard to like food! I still have a lot of food aversions. Not really any cravings. I can't get enough shaved ice and mexican food, but it was that way before I was pregnant so who knows if it's really a craving.....?
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Chinese. Or too much grease, Some gross while working at the hospital that I wont mention :)
Labor Signs: nope.
Belly Button in or out? Still very IN, but the deep dark hole is getting shallower :)
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy when I feel good, ornery when I'm uncomfortable or sick!

Looking forward to: Finishing babys room, baby showers, and seeing what this little nugget looks like!

 

Here are a couple belly pics....The one of me in the turquoise shirt was actually taken a few weeks ago when we got some family pictures done, and our cute photographer wanted to take a couple maternity pics of me, but I wasn't showing much at that point so she just told me to puff my stomach out as much as I can...Well it worked, I look HUGE in that pic. The other pic is one I took today at 26 1/2 weeks, and is what my belly really looks like :)