Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommas out there!!  Clearly this is my first Mother's Day as a mom myself and I think that gives the day a whole new meaning.  I have a new appreciation for motherhood now having a child myself.  There is nothing quite like the love you have for your child.  It is an amazing feeling to look at this adorable little boy and know that he is mine, a part of me.  It is equally amazing to watch him grow, develop, and begin to turn into a tiny little person all his own.  I am so very grateful to my mother for her unconditional love and guidance and I feel blessed to have such a lovely mother-in-law as well.

Matt surprised me with a morning at the spa last week as an early gift and it was simply amazing--a massage, facial, manicure, and pedicure made me feel like a new woman!  Today, we had a delicious brunch at a restaurant in nearby Louisville, spent the afternoon having a picnic in the park, and Matt prepared a tasty dinner.  The weather was absolutely perfect and it was wonderful to spend the day with my sweet boys.  I don't think my first Mother's Day could have been any better!

Two Weeks.

It's hard to believe that our little man is already over two weeks old.  He has grown immensely in such a short time, it's unbelievable.  He's up to 9 lbs now and 21 1/4 inches long.  He eats like a champ (and has therefore earned himself the nickname "Milk Monster") and is one strong little boy--he can almost hold his head up completely on his own!  He is not a fan of being manipulated into the car seat, having his diaper changed, or having his clothes changed.  This is unfortunate because he spits up constantly and thus ends up with multiple outfit changes during the day.  He can go about three to three and a half hours between feedings which means I'm able to get some sleep throughout the night.  I don't yet feel like a sleep deprived new parent (knock on wood) and I attribute that to the fact that I work nights and am used to functioning on small amounts of sleep.

It has been amazing to watch this little being we created start to turn into a little person.  Will makes some of the cutest little faces, though I doubt he has much control over his facial muscles.  Sometimes he coincidentally smiles at just the right time and it absolutely melts my heart.  He has the most adorable little nose (which I think he got from Matt) and precious little lips.  Overall I'd say he is a pretty easy going and sweet little babe and I hope his temperament continues like this.

I haven't been the greatest about taking pictures of him, though I do snap some with my phone and put a few on Facebook.  Here are few pictures from my phone so pardon the quality:

Wide awake at night...still working on figuring out night and day. :)

Milk drunk Will.

Loves his swing!

It's a Boy!!

I realize that I have neglected this space for the last couple months, but I wanted to introduce you all to our son (!!): William Oliver Joseph was born on April 4th at 0454 weighing 8 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long.

After his first bath.

I'm not sure how much interest anyone has in hearing his whole birth story, so I'll simply provide a quick recap.  We opted to schedule an induction prior to our due date, which I know can be a controversial topic. If you would have asked me if I would choose an induction earlier in the pregnancy I would have said, "No way, I have no problem going past our due date and this baby will come out when he or she is ready".  However, as our due date approached I was quickly becoming miserable (his head was sitting on my pelvis and yet he continued to kick me in the ribs!), making no progress towards labor, and our little man was just continuing to grow.  So, with that in mind our physician thought it best to get Baby out sooner rather than later.

Our original induction date was the night of April 1st.  We showed up to the hospital with our bags, pillows, blanket, and snacks and we were ready to get this party started!  Unfortunately, there was some sort of mistake and we weren't down on the schedule for an induction that night and the unit was crazy busy with pregnant ladies so there was no room for us.  This meant that we had to reschedule for two days later, Wednesday at noon, and head home.  I will admit that I cried the whole car ride home.  I was just so ready to meet our child and I had mentally prepared myself for what I was about to go through--labor.  Thankfully, they were able to fit us in the next night, Tuesday the 2nd.

I won't go through all the details of the induction, but it started slow Tuesday night and I really didn't seem to be making much progress until our doctor broke my bag of waters just after noon on Wednesday.  I requested an epidural a couple hours later once the contractions were a bit too painful for me and was able to rest comfortably for the rest of the day and night into the early morning.  I believe it was about 0230 or 0300 when I woke up nauseous from pain.  I knew that this was different from the earlier contraction pain as I had horrible low back pain and low pelvic pain.  I was given a bolus in my epidural and tried repositioning but that only lasted so long.  I don't know what time it was, but I told Matt to tell our nurse that I needed to push--you really can just feel when you need to push!

I did a few practice pushes through contractions with our nurse and it blew my mind when she asked, "Dad, do you want to see the head?".  Apparently I was a very effective pusher.  At that point, the nurse went to call my doctor to give her an update and let her know she should head over to the hospital.  I think we may have done a couple more pushes and I'm honestly not sure how long it was before my doctor got there and things started rolling, I was just trying to breathe through the pain of the contractions (the epidural was not cutting it at that point).  I do know that once she was there, I pushed through maybe two contractions and then our little man entered the world!

It was an absolutely amazing feeling to see and hear him.  I remember Matt crying and my being overwhelmed with emotion.  We were finally meeting this little person who had grown inside me for the last 10 months.  We had a son, and he was the most beautiful little boy I had ever seen.

It's hard to believe that Will is two weeks old now.  Time has just been flying and he has grown so much!  At our first doctor appointment at four days old he had already surpassed his birth weight and was 8 lbs 7 oz!  We have our two week appointment tomorrow and I'm excited to see how much more he's grown.  He is just the cutest and sweetest little baby and we are madly in love with him.  Parenthood has been an adjustment but it's also been absolutely wonderful.  I'm sure I'll be inundating this blog with pictures of him as he grows, but he is just too darn cute!!

Here are some pictures from the day of his birth:

XOXO, Matt, Ellen, and Will :)

Third Trimester.

At this point we're just over a week into the third trimester!  I can't believe that time has flown as quickly as it has and Baby J really is going to be here before we know it.  I had my 29 week appointment Friday and everything is still looking great.  It's always amazing to hear the heartbeat and Baby happened to move while we were listening so it was neat to hear the jump in the heart rate with movement.  I passed my gestational diabetes screening with no problem which was great to hear.  I feel Baby moving frequently throughout the day and he or she seems to really enjoy kicking me up under my right rib...it's the one spot I most frequently feel Baby kick and it's actually pretty uncomfortable!  It's starting to get harder to sleep well as my stomach is getting huge and I've always been a stomach sleeper.  Had to give that up a few months ago much to my dismay.  We've reached the point where our OB appointments are every two weeks now, pretty crazy.  We just can't wait to meet our little boy or girl!!

28 weeks and 5 days...Baby sure is growing!!

In Loving Memory.

Matt's grandfather passed away Monday morning after a decline in health.  He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.  He lived an amazing life and had quite a knack for storytelling.  I wish that I personally would have had more time to spend with him as he truly was an incredible man full of warmth and love; I feel that the few years I did know him were a gift and am very grateful for them.  I think the whole family takes comfort in the fact that he has gone to a better place and is reunited with his beloved wife Rosemary.  Below is a photo from our wedding, it's not the greatest picture, but Grandpa looks so very happy.  May he rest in peace.

Leo Higgins, Jr., July 24 1924 - January 14, 2013.

Looking Back.

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone.  I realize that we're already 11 days into January and thus this post is a bit late, but better late than never.  The year 2012 was another big one for us, full of changes and more ups than downs.  It marked the end of Matt's service in the Army, the end of my first nursing job, learning to deal with Colorado wildfires, summer in St. Louis, a move north to the Boulder area and adjusting to apartment living, Matt starting his MBA program at CU, a new job for me at Avista, and probably the biggest event of all, being pregnant with Baby J.  It was a year full of change and excitement, and I suspect 2013 will bring us even more of both.

We had a wonderful Christmas back in St. Louis with our family and friends...it was a much needed visit for both of us.  Our New Year was rather uneventful: I rang in 2013 at work and poor Matt was under the weather with an awful head cold.  I usually try to make a few resolutions for the New Year but opted not to this year.  I never seem to follow through on my resolutions and instead have an overarching goal for the year (and many to come): embrace impending motherhood and be the best new mom I can be to my coming child.  I know that our world is going to be turned upside down come April and while I am incredibly excited there is also a bit of trepidation about becoming a first time parent with our major support system two and half states away.  Of course, I believe these feelings are completely normal for any first time parent and I am incredibly grateful that I have a husband as wonderful as Matt to begin this new adventure with.

Speaking of Baby J, today marks 28 weeks which is the beginning of the third trimester!  I truly cannot believe that we are just three months away from meeting this child.  The reality is starting to sink in as we begin to prepare for Baby J's arrival; we purchased the crib and set it up in our room last week!  Baby J is one active little babe and I feel him or her moving around constantly and it seems to be especially fun to kick me in the right side or under my ribs.  I have a feeling this kid may have inherited Matt's athleticism as he or she delivers some powerful kicks--it's pretty to crazy to be able to watch my shirt jump when baby kicks.  I am still feeling great and feeling truly blessed that this has been a relatively easy pregnancy thus far.  Here's to the last three months!!

Long Overdue.

I've been rather bad at blogging this last month so this post will most likely be a long one and picture heavy as a result.  Nothing too crazy has been going on here, work has been keeping me busy while school has done the same for Matt, Baby J is continuing to grow and look healthy (more on that of course!), and the Christmas spirit is in full swing in the Joseph household.

We had a lovely and relaxing Thanksgiving, just the two of us.  Matt prepared the turkey, dressing, and green bean casserole while I tackled the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, and made two pecan pies and two pumpkin pies.  I must say, we did a great job for our first Thanksgiving on our own and the food was delicious!!  We spent the evening with some friends from Matt's class enjoying dessert (hence the excessive number of pies) and board games.

Matt's beautiful and tasty turkey!

We decorated our home for Christmas last weekend and went to the Denver Botanic Gardens to see their Blossoms of Light exhibit: over one million lights decorate the gardens to help you get in the holiday spirit!  Christmas is hands down my favorite time of year and I absolutely loved walking through all the lights!  Of course, we will still have to head to Tilles Park to see Winter Wonderland while we're in St. Louis but it was great to see Denver's light display.  Despite the fact that it was a bit chilly outside we decided to head to Little Man Ice Cream in the LoHi district...we didn't realize that it was an outdoor only establishment but the ice cream was well worth it and it was great to explore a new area of Denver.

The lights!

Matt really liked the blue and green combination.

Love the reflection off the pond.

So many lights!

Such a cute place to get ice cream...though
it's no Custard Station. ;)

We opted to get our Christmas tree from a tree lot this year (if you recall, last year we drove down to Pueblo and cut it down ourselves!) as we don't have space for a very large tree.  I believe we went with the second tree we looked at, definitely a record for the shortest time I've ever taken to choose my Christmas tree.  We just love our tree, it is absolutely beautiful and fits perfectly.  Normally, I wouldn't be decorating for Christmas quite so early but seeing as how we'll be heading back to St. Louis on the 20th, we wanted to enjoy our tree.  I've been ready for Christmas since before Thanksgiving but restrained myself from decorating or listening to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving.  I think part of all the excitement is the fact that we're going to be driving home this year to celebrate with our families.  While we loved spending our first married Christmas just the two of us out here in Colorado, there's nothing quite like being home for the holidays.  We are so excited to see all our family and friends in about a week and a half...it just can't come soon enough!!

Matt putting the finishing touches on the tree.

LOVE our tree! :)

J is for Joseph.

Representing good ole' Mizzou.

A slightly blurry Grinch...my favorite Christmas story.

And last but not least, an update on Baby J!  Our babe is growing well, we're over 23 weeks at this point, and looking healthy.  We had our 20 week doctor appointment the day before Thanksgiving and the ultrasound technician apparently could easily tell the sex of the baby...good thing we informed her prior to starting that we want it to be a surprise!  I've finally been feeling Baby move which is both amazing and strange.  Matt hasn't been able to feel it yet, but I suspect it won't be long before he can.  It seems like we have a pretty active child in there...he or she is often moving around!  I feel like my baby bump actually looks like a baby now, though people seem to think I'm on the smaller side for being a week shy of six months pregnant.   We haven't been keeping up with the weekly pictures like we had planned but here's a couple from a few weeks ago:

19 weeks.

20 weeks--halfway there!!

I'll have to take another picture this Friday to mark 24 weeks which is roughly six months!!  Matt and I joke that this baby is going to be here before we know it the way time is flying.  Our next appointment is in just over a week, can't wait to hear Baby J's heartbeat again. :)

Well, this post has gotten long enough, hope all is well with everyone and we'll be seeing some of you soon!!
Xoxo!

Cooper was a bit overwhelmed from all the Christmas decorating and excitement. :)