What's In a Name?

The first year Mike and I were married we made a list of names that we liked and wrote them in a journal of mine. Every couple Sundays we would look at it and sometimes add a name or take one off. At the bottom of the page we made a list of the middle names we wanted to use. We decided that we wanted to use family names for middle names. Both Mike and I have family middle names and we thought it was important to do the same for our children. We believe that our children should honor their name and want to live up to the expectations that it holds. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted our first girl to have my mom's name as her middle name. Oh gosh I'm already starting to cry. Anyone who knows my mom will tell you she is one of the most generous, selfless and classy people you will ever meet. I think to most everyone she fits the category of super mom. She is not only this way to her children, but to so many others. She is a loyal friend and one of the hardest workers I have ever known. Her qualities are everything I hope to be as a mother and everything I hope that Violet will want to be.

My mom has never been a huge fan of her name. We hoped that by giving Violet this name that my mom would finally see how beautiful it is. There is no one else I would rather have as my mother. She is a perfect grandma and she loves her grandkids probably more then even her own kids. I know that Violet will love her grandma as much as I do and I hope that they will always be able to share a special bond because they share a name. 

I just wanted to express my love and gratitude for my mom. I am leaving for Utah in 2 days to spend a month with her and my family. I can't wait to see them and let Violet get to know them better. These are some pictures of my mom getting to meet Violet for the first time and a few pictures of me and my mom when I was a baby. I love you mom. Thank you for your example and everything that you are.

Tubby Time

Violet loves the tub and when aunt Kate was here we did a little photo shoot of Vi in the big girl tub for her first time. She is honestly so happy in there and would stay in there all night if I let her. She only starts to cry when we take her out. Tub time has turned into a really fun part of my day with this special girl. I have a feeling she is going to love Grandma's pool this summer.

Thanksgiving Break

yeah she was loving this as you can tell

While Kate was here we had her take our christmas card pictures. Vi was not a huge fan of being out in the cold so all our pictures are her bundled up. She did have a cute dress on but oh well. Happy holidays from the Reids

Good Morning Dad

Aren't they so cute together? Violet loves spending time with her dad. She would sleep all day on his chest if she could. I decided to catch some pictures of them together over the Thanksgiving break one lazy morning. Mike actually had some free time and he spent lots of it with her. She is going to be a total daddy's girl. 

She is starting to be a little more awake these days. She is still an amazing sleeper and we have nick named her our little piglet because this girl could eat with the best of them. She is a sweet girl and it doesn't hurt that I could just kiss that stinkin cute face all day long

is anyone else bugged about blogger saying you are out of space? I'm afraid my picture resolution will not be so great anymore.

Tummy Time With Vi

Violet loves laying on her tummy. She also has a crazy strong neck. She picks up her head and looks around all the time and has been doing it since the hospital. Here are a few more tidbits about our girl. She is an amazing sleeper. She sleeps for one 4 hour stretch and then a 3-3.5 hour stretch at night. She has been doing that since the second day we brought her home. It has been so great for me with sleep. I felt like my recovery went so much better because I was actually getting a good amount of sleep. She is a good eater. She weighed in at 9 pounds this week. The doctor says she is gaining weight beautifully. Don't we wish that was how everyone looked at getting fatter. The only time that Vi is really unhappy is when she has gas and the poor girl gets it really bad. We are trying to figure out if it is certain things I'm eating or something else. We just started gas drops so I am hoping that will help. Overall she is such a good good baby. I feel like I am always telling Mike how sweet of a baby we have. Life has been great and this week aunt Kate is here to visit for Thanksgiving so we will be having lots of fun!!

The Birth Story

 Yikes guys. I had to post one for documentation purposes but it is pretty evident that I did not sleep the night before. Yup I'm a looker

So I am finally getting around to writing the story of Violet's birth. This is mostly for me so that I have it written down and have a good record of it. I will not be going into all the crazy details but I just want to make sure I don't forgot the whole experience. 

So to start out I had the worst expectations going into labor. Everyone had pretty much told me it was so terrible and the pain would be the worst ever and all that jazz. I hadn't had any anxiety about it until Sunday the 28th when I started having contractions all day. That was the first time I really felt that ahhhhh feeling because I knew this was happening soon. All day Sunday I had small contractions. They were not really painful just a bit uncomfortable. They were really spaced out so I honestly didn't think anything of it. We video chatted our families that night and I told them I was finally starting to feel some contraction. I still thought I was a ways away from going into labor. I had not had any consistent contractions before this so I thought I was just starting to finally get some and that maybe I would be a bit more dilated for my next appointment. I went to bed that night and that's when my contractions started getting a lot more consistent . They started out being about 10 minutes apart then a few hours later they were 8 and then eventually 7. It kept me up all night. They were getting to the point where I had to breath really deep and count, but they were manageable. I took a shower at about 4:30 in the morning because there was no way I was going to go to the hospital without a shower and at least trying to fix my hair a little(diva moment but I knew things were only going to get worse so I might as well start clean right?). I eventually woke up mike and told him they were getting closer together and stronger. We got up that next morning and cleaned the house. I really wanted to come home from the hospital to an organized and clean home. Around 12:00 they were getting closer to 5 minutes apart and some were lasting about a minute. I had sent out the text to my family and had talked to my mom on the phone a few times. She got a flight for the next day with the anticipation that this would happen by then. I called the doctor and they told me to go in. Oh yeah and I threw up twice. Yes you are correct I threw up literally my entire pregnancy.

 Around 2:00 mike and I drove to Panera to get me some soup as my last meal and then we headed to the hospital. At this point I had a bad contraction in the lobby of the hospital and started to cry a little. I think part of it was the discomfort but a lot of it was how anxious I was to be finally doing this. We got to the waiting area and they checked me. I was at a 4 almost a 5 and they said I was good to be admitted to a room. I got there and told them I wanted my epidural now. I had heard from a lot of people that if you wait too long and the the doctor is busy it could take awhile and by then you are in a lot of pain. So I decided to just go for the drugs. Can we all give Lauren a huge pat on the back. I got an IV and an epidural and stayed conscious. Big steps for this girl. The epidural was an interesting experience. The guy doing it kind of struggled. He kept saying that I should feel pressure since he numbed me but every time he would stick me I was like ouuuuch that hurts. It was like a sharp pinch on my right side. He had to do it a few times before I was like okay that doesn't hurt. I have a feeling that is not how it is suppose to happen and that sets the stage for later events.

After that I was loving life. Mike studied and I watched The Voice and drank apple juice. I took a little nap and my friend Sarah came to visit me. I did throw up in front of her once and I apologize for that Sarah. Then came in the new nurse for the night shift. I have mixed feelings about her. I was at a 10 and 100 percent effaced when I woke up from my nap but I had no urge to push. My water had also broken right before then and that's what woke me up. I did not feel like I was ready at all to push but my nurse was like lets " practice" pushing. I thought oh that's a good idea I need to kind of get a feel for what it will be like anyway. The weird thing is she had me practice for over an hour even though nothing was going on at all. She had me do some crazy stuff too like pull on a sheet and squat and push my feet against this huge bar. I didn't really get why I was doing it since I honestly felt like nothing was happening. 

At this point I started to notice that I could feel my right leg really well and I could lift it really easily. I told the nurse and she said we wouldn't do more epidural because then I could feel the contraction better( insert me freaking out ). I wanted an epidural for a reason so I was not too thrilled about this. Then it seriously hit me like a ton of bricks. I could feel my contractions full force and I was not a fan. I can honestly say I have never had pain like that in my life and after about 20 minutes of uncontrolled crying I begged mike to get them to give me more meds. The poor guy was crying because he felt so bad that he couldn't do anything for me. He ran out in the hall to get the doctor. They came back and gave me more and I was back in epidural heaven. I then slept for 3 hours ha ha. 

When I woke up I could tell I was ready to push. It was night and day from before. I could feel that distinct instinct to push. That was when the real pushing start. I'm not going to lie I kind of liked pushing. It was not hard for me at all. Our doctors and nurses were so fun and we chatted it up between each contraction. I actually laughed a lot and just relaxed. I don't mean this to sound like it was no big deal or anything. I think maybe heavenly father knew that my pregnancy had been so hard so she deserves an easy labor. About 1 hour and 45 minutes later our sweet baby girl was born at 8:23 a.m. The doctors had me push slowly because they said she had a big head and they didn't want me to tear. This will be my only part that is a little TMI and I am sorry but it was crazy. As our little girl's head came out and then her arms the doctor turned to me and said pull her out. I was like uhhhhh what? They told me to grab her under her arms and pull her out. So I did!! Haha it was totally crazy and very Kardashian but I did it and to be honest it was kind of amazing. 

You would think since I am pretty much the crying queen that I would have been sobbing but I didn't cry. I still don't get it because i have cried a bunch about her since then. The sweet thing was that the cute hubby totally cried. I loved it. For once he was the emotional one and not me.

We are honestly so in love with our little girl and she is an amazing baby. I hope everyone enjoyed that little story and I am sorry if it was too much. For all my friends out there about to have babies it is not as bad as you think and you can do it!!

My Baby

I can't even believe how lucky we are to have such a sweet baby. This little girl is the best sleeper and she has been so happy. She has made my life so easy. I have had a lot of time to think about motherhood over these past few weeks. It is still so overwhelming for me to think that this little girl is mine. Over the past 3 and a half years I have completely lived through my brother and sister in-law. I have loved and obsessed over their children. My sister Kate and I always refer to them as "my babies". Whenever I had free time I was there spending time with them. Now I look at this sweet baby of mine and I can't get over that she is my baby. Mike and I made her and she is all mine. 

For months I wondered what Violet would look like and what kind of personality she would have. I have loved getting to know her more and more each day. I have had a few moments where my emotions have gotten the best of me. It is hard to have this sweet girl and be so far from family. I want her to have a good relationship with them and I want her to know them. It has made me value my family more then I ever did before and especially my mom. It will be a good growing time for us and a time where mike and I will strengthen our relationship. For now we will just love on this sweetie pie as much as we can.