Yes, I really am this cute. ;-)

Where have you been?

Well it turns out it is not easy for me to blog and also raise a baby. Go figure. :-) However, Thomas and his mommy have discovered something so revolutionary that we are still blown away - the mid-day nap!!! Currently Thomas has been sleeping for almost 2 hours - I can't believe it! I actually find myself walking around the house looking for things to do.

A lot has been happening around here. Let's catch up quickly.

First up: Thomas turned 1 month old!

 He is in LOVE with this play mat. He could stare at the blinking light and listen to the songs it plays all day. Sadly, mom and dad now have the music memorized.

Thomas met his cousin Caleb! I have no doubt this little guy will be getting Thomas into all sorts of trouble when they are older. :-)

One stylish grandma at the zoo! 

Of course, Thomas is a Bronco fan!

Thomas met his Great GREAT grandpa. There is a 90 year difference between these two. :-)

Little Thomas has developed a SERIOUS mullet.

Mullet close up. Awesome. Scot wants to cut it. I say no way!

Thomas turns 2 months! Whew, that was a quick two months!

Week 2 - Thomas takes over

Yes I am posting about week 2 and Thomas is now 4 weeks old but we'll get to that. First a little catching up.

Thomas meets great grandma Dopko

And then he meets great grandma Shafer (Grandma Scheffel's mom)

Looking cute for the camera

You talkin' to me?

Discovered his thumb

First road trip to Soda Springs Idaho at 2 weeks old. This is how we changed diapers.

Thomas needed to eat so we pulled off at a random exit. This is my nursing view from the car.

This picture was taken moments before Thomas peed on Uncle Pete

Thomas meets Uncle Andrew

A Beautiful Beginning

This past week has been painful, tiring and absolutely beautiful.

Time to go home Thomas.

 Sleeping.

Nap time with Grandma Dopko

Hanging out with Grandma Scheffel

Cuddling with daddy.

Thomas and Josie Dahlberg. He will be chasing this little cutie around in a few years. :-)

The Night You were Born . . .

WOW! What a busy week. I guess you have all heard by now that our little boy has arrived! Last Thursday started like any other Thursday. Scot takes Thursday mornings off and I am out on leave from work so we walked to our favorite breakfast spot, Goldy's. After breakfast we laid low around the house and ran a few errands. Around 6:30 pm we started making dinner and then went out back to eat and enjoy the summer night.

As we were finishing up dinner, my water broke! Here is an image of the 'last' meal before the long night ahead. Yum! :-)

Last picture at home at 41 weeks pregnant.

I was not sure if it really was my water (slow leak) so Scot went to the Hawks baseball stadium to check in on a baseball player. It was not 30 min. after he left that I called him and told him to come home. This was it! :-) Scot got home, we finished packing for the hospital and off we went. It was both exciting, nerve racking and wonderful!

We arrived at the hospital and are settled in by 9 PM. Contractions were slow to start. So we did a little of everything to get them going. Here I am on the exercise ball. I labored through the night and they started me on Pitocin at 3 AM. That really got the contractions going! I labored some more and at 6 AM decided it was time to bring in reinforcements! Hello epidural. 

 Here I am after the epidural. I am sure I am having a crazy contraction.  . . .

 but I can smile through them.

So by noon on July 22 I am dilated to 10 cm - time to start pushing. Scot was an AMAZING labor support/ coach/ partner/ best friend. We pushed for 3.5 hours but our little man's head was not making progress. Finally we made the call to have a c-section.

 Scot suiting up for surgery.

Thomas Matthew Scheffel arrived at 4:13 PM on July 22. He weighed 9 lb. 2 oz. and was 22 inches long. He had a 15 cm diameter head (the average is 13 cm)! Needless to say, it was a long night/day but worth every second to have our new little love safe in our arms. :-)

Past Due

Someone should really talk to this little baby of mine and let him know that he is past due. 

For anyone keeping score (like myself) we are now 5 days past due. I have been pregnant for 40 weeks (and 5 days) and I have to say that going past my due date has been harder mentally than all 40 weeks. I think it is that I had a due date in my head and figured that was it. Good to know that someone else is officially in charge and it is not me! :-)

In all seriousness, I am doing fine and know that baby is not here yet because he still has some cooking to do. I am comforted to know that he is healthy and doctor is not worried about him. And in the meantime our closets have never been cleaner thanks to some serious free time and nesting instincts. :-)

You would think . . .

You may or may not know but July 15 was baby's due date. In order to celebrate Scot and I went to a Michael Franti concert and I danced my large belly off. For those of you on Facebook, you can see a video here (https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150246735312850) compliments of my friend Renae. The concert was a total blast but I woke up on Saturday morning without even a hint of contractions. What is a mommy to be to do? Walk in a 5K fun run? Sure thing!

One would think a rock concert followed the next day by walking 5K would shake something loose but it was not to be.

Scot and I at the Michael Franti concert. Due date - 7-15-2011