Visitors!

We had two special visitors at the beginning of the month at our house. Grandpa and Grandma came to visit/meet Seth and we had a great time! The weather was so beautiful the whole time they were here, so we spent a lot of time outside enjoying the fall colors and mild temperatures.
They were able to be here when we blessed Seth and it was so nice to have some family in town for that special occasion. Seth was kept pretty entertained for the week and when they left, I'm sure he was wondering where all his adoring fans went. :)





We love you both! Thanks for coming!

Seth's Blessing

Yesterday, while Luke's parents were in town, we had the opportunity to bless Seth in our ward. I was worried that he was going to cry through the whole blessing because he was a little fussy before the meeting started, but he was an angel and slept the whole time. The blessing was really amazing and I couldn't help but tear up as I thought of my little baby and all the potential that he has. I think we have a pretty special boy on our hands.

Posing in his cute little suit:


Looking a bit bored with the whole photoshoot thing:


Proud Momma and Daddy:

Chair Redo

I was looking for a chair to use in my guest room and I had an idea for the perfect cheap solution:
I went to an antique/consignment store and looked for an old, inexpensive head dining chair. I wanted one with arms and some character in the styling.
I found this 1920's chair for $22:



I gave it a rough sand and two coats of a high-gloss black laquer spray paint.



I also added some padding to the cushion, recovered it in a new fabric and wha-la! A brand-new chair for about $35.

Elusive Smile

Seth has been smiling since last week, but it has been incredibly hard to catch on camera. As soon as I try to take a picture, he gets a really concerned look on his face and the moment is ruined. But, this morning I was able to catch a bit of a smile from him. I couldn't get his full gummy smile, but this will have to suffice for now.
He can just melt my heart with his smile though: A few nights ago it was a particularly rough one -- he had been up at least every hour or more and I was SO tired. After getting him up for a third time in about 20 minutes, he looked up at me after calming down and gave me a big "I'm happy to see you, mom" smile, and it just melted me. The whole frustrating night was forgotten. I tell you what...sometimes it is really good that they are so darn cute.

1 month!

I can't believe my little squish is almost a month old! Time has just flown so fast!
We've been having a good time together. He has been really great, so I've been able to get out a lot. The weather has been ideal the last couple of weeks, so he and I have been going on a lot of walks. Thankfully he loves his car seat and stroller, so he's usually so good. We've only had to hurry home a couple of times. :)
He's a great eater -- in fact maybe too good; he thinks he's hungry all the time -- and he's already up to 8 1/2 pounds. Way to go, little man!

Here's a few more pics we've captured in the last few days:

New Look, Same Great Taste!

We have updated our web address for the blog to: beyond-idahome.blogspot.com because "houston-pals" just didn't seem to describe us that well anymore (as we are not there, sadly it was a short stay). We hope not to lose contact with anyone because of the change, so I have kept the old address alive with a redirect function and an update blurb when we post at the new blog. For those that have a link or shortcut to our blog, I don't think I will leave the redirect functional forever, so updating links is highly recommended (well, only if you want to see what Em, Seth, and I are up too). The new name was inspired by Idahome, my made-up nickname for Emily's hometown. Hopefully by using a geographically specific point of origin rather than a current location in the web address, there will be no need to change it for a long time.

Enjoying the ride

I love being a mom! I can't believe how in love with my little guy I am. In only six days, he's completely turned my life upside down, and I couldn't be happier. He is just darling and even though this last week has been an adventure learning how to take care of a newborn, I am loving every minute. Even the 3 am feedings.

Seth has been such a good baby. He was pretty impatient for my milk to come in (such a boy...hungry all the time)...but now he eats great and in turn, sleeps really well for a newborn. He's affectionately earned the nickname "T-Rex" from Luke because of how frantic to eat he gets when he first wakes up. He is quite vigorous. ;) Again, such a boy.
His bilirubin levels were slightly elevated when we left the hospital, so we've had to have a couple check-ups with the pediatrician, but he's doing great. Healthy and strong.

Mom and I gave him his first bath and he wasn't quite sure what to think about it at first. After we warmed him up by placing a washcloth over him, he calmed down and I think he actually enjoyed it.



Of course, cuddling in a warm towel after is the best part:



Seth and I chillin' during the few hours he's actually awake during the day:

Update on the Big Guy

Seth has been a pretty busy boy this week, lots of visitors, video conferences, appointments with important people (pediatrician and such), "partying all night", and multiple photo shoots. We have to be careful, or he will feel like a regular celebrity! He and Emily are both doing very well and are finding time to sleep whenever they can. But really, no one really visits this blog to read what I have to say, so without further ado, here are some new pictures:




Babies are always more trouble than you thought - and more wonderful.
-- Charles Osgood

I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy.

So, after much anticipation, our new little boy has arrived! We will not however, be calling him Squishy, or Mystery Cousin, or Little Dude. I still think they all look like Oscar the Grouch when they come out, but this morning he looks much better and Emily and I decided it was time to name the little tyke.

Seth Michael Werrett was born yesterday at 6:13 PM, at 7 pounds 1 ounce with a full head of hair and a serious set of lungs. Mom and baby are both doing great! We should have more pictures and info coming soon!

"Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it." ~ Marshall McLuhan

Kitchen Project

When we bought our house nearly a year ago, we were pretty overwhelmed with how many projects we had to tackle. We've been slowly working our way through the house and finally we've come to the BIG ONE. The kitchen. On Saturday, my wonderful friend Amber called and said, "My husband and I are coming over in an hour and we're going to remove your kitchen wallpaper." (I had been lamenting how long that project was going to take -- especially because I'm unable to help now.) So sure enough, they came over and Luke and Amber and Steve got it done in one day! Yay. That's a huge relief.
Last night Luke took out the bulkhead to open up the kitchen even more to the breakfast area. It was a huge mess, but renovation projects always are.

Yes, that is a big hole in our ceiling. Don't worry, by tonight it should be fixed:


The rubble:

Baby Mobile

I've been on the hunt for a cute baby mobile for a few weeks, but I've been coming up empty-handed Either they were too "cutsie", themed or overpriced; so I decided that I could make my own. I'm not a very "crafty" person, so I was trying to come up with a design idea that would be realistic, yet still cute. With some help from Luke (he's super creative), we put together a cute little mobile to go above our little guy's crib.



Closer look:


The view from below (as the baby will see it):


It's hard to really tell how it looks in the pictures, but this gives you an idea. Those little animals are so dang cute!

Bored

We are fickle creatures. A week ago, I would have given just about anything for even just a half-day just to do whatever I wanted -- Read, watch TV, go shopping, clean my bathrooms!, etc...but now that I'm being forced to stay in bed indefinitely, I've come to the conclusion that it gets old really fast! I like being busy -- in fact, I thrive on it -- so having someone sternly tell me that I am to go home, get in bed and not move except for bathroom breaks and to eat a little something every few hours has been a challenge.
That's right. I'm on bedrest for at least two weeks.
On Monday at work all day I was feeling a bit off. Just feeling lousy; having pain and "tightness" that I couldn't explain, and when I got home I was just miserable. My weekly appointment to see my OB-GYN was the next morning -- so I decided to wait until then to see if she knew if I should be concerned. So far any aches and pains that I've brought up have been "normal", so I just figured I was feeling the effects of only having a few weeks left. I brought it up to her on Tuesday morning and she decided to hook me up to the monitor and make sure nothing was going on. Well, something was. I was actually having regular contractions about every 2-3 minutes. Some I could definitely feel, but I had no idea that I was having them that regularly. She sent me immediately to the hospital to continue monitoring and to receive IV fluids because dehydration can sometimes cause contractions. After being monitored for a few hours, they gave me a shot that was supposed to stop the contractions and the doctor decided to send me home on temporary bedrest and an oral drug to keep the contractions stopped. Wednesday, I could feel that I was having them again despite the medication and I was sent back to the hospital for more monitoring. They upped the dosage of the Terbutaline in shot form and watched to see if it would kick in. They seemed to be fairly well under control for the first part of the afternoon, but about 5 pm, just about the time they were going to send me home, I started having very regular and full minute contractions. The doctor decided that to be on the safe side they were going to give me a steroid shot (ouch, ouch, ouch!) that would help my little guy's lungs develop quicker, and to keep me overnight. What a miserable night. I don't know how they expect anyone to get better in the hospital when they are bugging you every five minutes! By the time morning came, I was exhausted and had gotten maybe an hour of sleep the entire night. The nurse told me that the doctor wanted me to stay the whole day and continue monitoring. Also the steroid shot is in two doses, so I needed another one about 6:30 pm. When the doctor came by a few hours later, I told her I would be SO much more comfortable at home and if she agreed to release me, I would obey any bedrest orders to the 'T.'
So, here I am. At home, in bed, and pretty bored. As long as nothing gets worse, I should just be home for the next week and I'll see her Wednesday to check things out again.
In the meantime, does anybody have any good suggestions for books to read, etc? I was trying to figure out what Luke could pick up for me at the library, but I'm a browser when I go, so having to come up with something without looking around was proving difficult.
I'm sure that some of you are envying my position of being able to be lazy...so I need some suggestions. If you could have a day to do anything -- well, anything that you can do laying/reclining -- what would you do?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Last week my Mom, Amy, Bethany, Harley and my Grandma came to visit us! It started out with just Bethany and my Mom, but pretty soon I made it sound so fun :), that we got quite a crew. Luke was a little out-numbered for the week, but he was a great sport.

We picked them up from the airport early Tuesday morning and decided to spend the rest of the day in Chicago seeing some of the sites.

-The Famous "Bean" by Millennial Park


-Our reflections in the "Bean"


-Enjoying some of the parks near Lake Michigan


-One of the views from the Sears Tower (Oh, I mean the "Willis Tower" now)


-Bethany and Amy snapping pictures in the "glass box". For those who haven't heard, they've installed a glass observatory that juts out over the street, so you can walk out into this, well, glass box and see straight down to the street 103 floors down. It can definitely be a little unnerving at first, but it's pretty cool.




For the rest of the week, we spent a lot of time shopping. (Luke was glad work gave him an excuse to miss out on most of that). Everyone got some really cute stuff and it's a good thing they brought an empty suitcase with them, otherwise getting home would have been a bit of a challenge.

While they were in town, my dear friend Amber organized a baby shower for me and it was great for my Mom and sisters to get to meet some of the women in my ward.
Amber designed the theme around "books," first starting with the Book of Mormon, so she entitled it, "I, Baby Werrett, having been born of goodly parents..." It was so sweet, it brought tears to my eyes.











Everyone was so generous, our little guy is going to be sporting some pretty cute outfits soon!

For our last few days, we ventured to Shipshawana, Indiana to visit some Amish country. They have a cute little town that is full of shops -- mostly crafty things -- but Luke was able to score some great chocolate and other sweet stuff. I think the food shops were the only thing that kept him sane, while he heard "awww, isn't that cute..." about a thousand times.

-Amish buggies


-Resting our tired feet after a full day of shopping


-Apparently everyone was a little tired...


Whew! What a week! We all had a blast together talking, laughing, staying up late every night, finding cute stuff for everyone to try on...etc. It really was one of the best weeks I've had in a long time. I miss you guys like crazy already!

We're having...

A BOY!

Our Stick Family

Yep, that's right! I'm expecting!

Everything has gone really well up to this point and we are so excited. I'm about 5 months along and I'm due August 21st. We get to find out the gender in about 2 1/2 weeks (if of course, the baby cooperates).

In the coming months, I'm sure I'll be asking all the mommies out there for tons of advice, but for now we are just enjoying the ride.

Two Weeks of Awesomeness

I've admitted it on here before, but I LOVE the Olympics. I love the interesting stories about each of the athletes and their individual journey to make it to that kind of athletic level; I love the thrill, the stress and excitement of each event; and I love watching the excitement and joy the winners experience and my heart goes out to those who missed out on a gold by just a hair. It's pretty incredible how hard these athletes train for just seconds of competition -- and it is all or nothing -- they either give the best performance of their lives, or it's all over, just like that.

Highlight for me so far:
MOGULS. Both the mens' and womens' freestyle mogul competitions were amazing this year. I had the opportunity to see a world cup competition right before the Torino Olympics in Park City, UT and ever since then, the moguls have been one of my very favorite events. This year was insane. I've never seen a mogul competition come down to speed so much (it only counts for 25% of the score), but this year, it was all about the speed. In order for the women to be in the hunt for a medal, they were needing a time of about 27 seconds and the men needed under 24 seconds. Crazy.
Even though a Canadian guy won the gold this time, I was happy for him. He was the first Canadian man to win a gold medal in a "home" Olympics EVER. Good for him.

See what I mean? It's so exciting. History being made.