:: Ryker Gabriel Wood ::

Ryker Gabriel Wood joined our family July 22, 2010 at 6:08pm
8 lbs. 8 oz. and 20.5 in long

I will give you more of a story on my next post but here are a TON of pictures. I hope ya'll enjoy them because we think he is super cute and fun. 

signing his name for his first time. cute little feets. 

remember how i said he had a HUGE head... see what i mean... good thing it looks normal now. poor little guy. 

a very proud daddy.

happy little family full of love. 

being a snug.a.bug with nana just moments after birth. 

blowing bubbles at mom. i was in my bed and my epidural had not worn off so i had to try and get some pictures from a very weird angle. 

my first bath. they dont have a nursery at this hospital so he was with me from the moment he was born until we left. they even gave him his first bath in my room. 

this little man of mine loves his hands. he must have had them in his mouth all 9 months. 

sporting his first pair of kicks. 

telling nana a story. 

hanging out in his bed with his new friend. 

this little guy is a daddy's boy already. the nurse said "oh grab your camera. you need a picture of this" and boy was she right. are they not just a dream team. 

bright eyes for his daddy. 

giving my daddy loves after he had a long hard day of mid.terms at school. 

being silly with mommy. 

he is such a snug.a.bug already and i love it. i think his little frog legs are so cute. 

sorry it took me so long to get these posted. the hospital was crazy and we had people in and out of our room all day long and then we had a rough go at getting this guy to eat. but we are home now and doing great. thanks for all of the love and support from all of you around the world. 

:: waiting ::

We are approaching hour 23 of labor and still NOTHING... I was expecting this to take 24 hours but not 36 and that is what it is looking like as of now. Good thing I have my mom here with me since Brady went to school today. She has been GREAT company all day. All I know is I DO NOT want to ever be induced again and I want something to start happening. 

Thank you for all of the sweet phone calls checking up on me! And for those of you who were wondering what was going on now you are in the loop. Lets hope the next few hours bring CHANGE!!

:: Tuesday ::

Thursday's doctors appointment verdict.... Ryker's heart beat is perfect and they will be inducing me on Tuesday. I tried really hard to get them to schedule me for this weekend but for some odd reason these doctors like to spend time with their families on the weekends and not schedule babies to arrive then. I know who would have though. I am still at a "finger tip" (1/2 cm) and "squishy" (about 50% effaced) the same that I have been for the past 3 weeks. I find it really funny how the doctors in this office say this instead of "your X cm and X% effaced" but I really like them.  Ryker is not making much progress but my contractions seem to be getting much stronger and more frequent. Maybe he will come on his own before Tuesday. Maybe.

I didn't think that delivery would scare me but the last two days I have been very nervous about it all. I know it will all work out and be fine but I am scared of the hours and pain of it all.

Funny side note about them inducing me on Tuesday night. Remember how I said that a  few months back Brady and I picked dates that we thought Ryker would be born? Brady said July 7 and I said July 21. Well it is more than likely he will be born July 21. Kinda funny if I guessed his birthday. And since we are the guessing of things I think this baby is going to be about 8 lbs 21" long and have a head full of dark curly hair. Does anyone else have a guess?

My mom arrived after a very LONG day of traveling yesterday and I am LOVING having her here. I have missed her so much.

Wish me luck!!

:: too anxious to sleep ::

Last night I felt like a little kid on Christmas eve . . . too anxious to want to go to bed/sleep even though I was dead tired. Why was I full of so much anxiety?

1. My mom will be arriving on Detla at 2:05pm and I have missed talking to her daily over the past 3 weeks as she has been running around France without me.
2. I have a doctors appointment at 11:30am and I can't wait to find out what he has to say . . . last week he told me if I were still prego then he would schedule me to be induced. I know I know I said I didn't want this but my back has been in more pain the last week than I can take and with everyday it just keeps getting worse. And its not like he would be taking him weeks early. My due date is in 5 days. So I am really hoping we get to meet our Ryker guy this weekend.
3. House is clean and ready for Nanna's arrival (and Ryker's).
4. I painted my toes yesterday - all by myself. I'm not really sure how I reached them but I did.
5. Brady has two big test today that I hope he does REALLY well on. He has been studying like a mad man.
6. I hope my next post has some REALLY cute pictures of our new little bambion. HOPE.

:: our new home sweet home ::

I know I have been promising ya'll pictures of our new home here in Atlanta for weeks but I was having some design issues with Ryker's room therefore not being able to post sooner. Sorry. But I think I got it all worked out other than I think I want to get a wall decal for behind the crib. We love how his room turned out and can't wait for him to arrive and see what he thinks of his new room. I am actually very proud of myself with this room because I made almost everything in it (the bedding, paintings, and poof balls). Can you tell I am proud of myself for this accomplishment.

We have been so lucky with all three of our apartments to have an open floor plan which I LOVE. This kitchen is even better than the last two because it has more counter space and more cabinets (a much smaller pantry but all of our other closets make up for that).

Yes we are ready for our Ryker guy to come as you can tell baby things have taken over every room in the house.

Brady loves to sit at his desk and push the swing with his foot and say "Ryker is going to be in here soon". I think it is very cute how excited Brady is to be a daddy.

This is what we like to call "Brady's domain" he gets to hangout here for many hours a day studying. Good thing he is always well stocked with his sunflower seeds to help him concentrate. Oh and I have given up already on trying to keep it neat and organized. Oh and sad side note my orchid that is in the back right corner has died. I did a good job at keeping it alive since February and then we move here and it was not so happy. Oh well I guess I will have to try again.

This HUGE window is the one I got fabric to make drapes for. If you are thinking Linds that window is really not that big guess again it's 93" wide. Most rods are only 85". This is a project that is going to be waiting until my mom gets here next week. She is amazing at sewing and I think it will make the project MUCH faster and easier with her help.

Our bedroom is not very large and needs a little TLC but it works. The important part is our closet is HUGE. For those who remember our house in Provo - it is about the size of our second bedroom. I would much rather have the amazing storage space than unused bedroom space.

Projects for our bedroom: 1) make drapes 2) buy new comforter that I have had my eye for the past year with birthday $$ and 3) refinish night stand. I think after all of this our bedroom will look like a finished room.

{Good News}

• I finally learned how to make my pictures HUGE and I love it!
• Ryker has not made too much progress in the past week. I am still at a zero and slightly effaced. My doctor did say that if I have not had this little but really not so little guy by Thursday then they will schedule me to be induced. I don't know how much of a fan I am of being induced but at least my mom arrives that day and lets be honest he is already HUGE and only growing more so getting him out a few days sooner might be a good plan.
• My mom arrives on Thursday!!!!
• I went running YES running last night and it felt AMAZING!! Maybe this will help Ryker to start moving down.

:: 38 weeks ::

Today I am 38 weeks and I think I am OK with the idea of my Ryker guy coming at anytime now. Actually his daddy is even more anxious for him to get here than me (Brady is pretty cute and excited to meet his little guy). Look at these 2 pictures.... they were taken just moments apart from each other yet I think my belly looks totally different in both of them. Kinda crazy. Brady says Ryker has dropped a lot in the past 2 days. I find it hard to tell from my angle of looking down. But I think he might be right because I seem to be able to breath better and I can't feel a ghetto booty in my ribs anymore. Which I think is a good sign of Ryker thinking about coming out to meet his mommy and daddy.
We are a little anxious to see what the next 24 hours bring us... you ask why? Funny story. One night when we were still living in St. George I asked Brady:

Linds: What day do you think Ryker will be born on?

Brady: Ummmm... I think July 7th

Linds: Why that day?

Brady: I don't know but I just think so. What day do you think he will be born on?

Linds: July 21st

Brady: Why?

Linds: Because I don't think he is going to come early and I don't want to get my hopes up of him coming sooner.

And now you are all wondering why I am making such a big deal out of such a simple bedtime chat. Well Brady has this gift of always being right (I know I don't like to admit very often that I am wrong but I usually am with him). Everything Brady has said about this baby from the get go has been right on the money. I guess he is just way "in tune" with Ryker. So we will keep you posted on if he is right again. But as for now I still have a busy week ahead of me and much to get done. Oh and I would really like for my mom to be here when I deliver as well.

Hot chocolate in July? Yes please. This has been my key to sleeping well the past few weeks. One mug of hot chocolate before bed. It calms my usually unhappy stomach and I have been sleeping like a queen and only getting up once to go to the bathroom (that beats the 3-4 times a night my friends are getting up). I kinda feel like my mom drinking this before bed because as a child my mom would always have me make her a glass of hot chocolate with malt in it for her.

My next choice of beverage has been grape soda. I can not seem to get enough of it. Funny thing is I normally am not much of a soda drinker but WOW does this stuff hit a heavenly spot for me. Good thing Brady loves to find good deals on soda so we can buy it (we are normally to cheap to buy it very often).

Memories of pregnancy:

• I LOVE feeling Ryker move in my tummy. I think I will actually miss it a lot.
• I LOVE how Brady talks and kisses my belly and checks up on "his boy".
• I have LOVED having a baby bump of my own - I think they are really cute.
• Grape soda.
• Hot chocolate.
• I have LOVED being able to sleep A LOT.
• Love buying baby anything and everything. Even before I was pregnant I always had to stop and look at the baby clothes.
• Love floating in the pool. It feels AMAZING on my back.
• I have worried more about Ryker's health than I ever thought I could/would.
• Pregnancy is harder than I ever thought it would be. I guess it has been one of my life humbling lessons and I feel bad for women who have really bad pregnancies.
• I LOVE just thinking about Ryker and what he is going to look like or his personality and can't wait to meet/hold him.
• I LOVE the feeling of Ryker already being my best little friend.
• I can't wait to have my normal appetite back.
• I hope at least some of my brain comes back to me.
• I have LOVED how much my hair has grown. It's finally long!

:: Happy Freedom Day ::

This year's 4th of July festivities were very different from what we normally do in Delta. Brady had a great day filled with studying and a night filled with friends, food, swimming, fun, and fire works. Lori and Erin are just a few of the wonderful friends I have made here in Atlanta. Their kids are lots of fun to play with and it works out perfect for us to hangout with us all having our hubbies in grad school.
We got a much better group picture with all of the munchkins actually smiling but all of the guys heads were cut off. oops. Oh and don't mind me this dress makes my belly look 3 times larger than it really is.

One of many reasons we love where we live. We have this beautiful swimming pool 50 feet from our door and there is a grill and tables right by it perfect for a fun night outside. Oh and some how we lucked out and we were the only ones out at the pool Friday night. The kids were loving having the pool all to themselves.

We finished off the night with some fire works of our own.

The kids were LOVING them and after each one was finished they would all say "again, again!!".

Brady was the master at lighting them all off and did a fabulous job at setting a bunch off all at once and not getting burned.

Earlier last week I was over at Erin's house sewing and Hannah and Wills decided to dress up. They are so cute and helping me deal with living so far away from all of our nieces and nephews. Wills did love me until he got to hangout with Brady a few times and now when he sees me he says "where is Brady?" man why is Brady so much cooler than me?

We hope all of ya'll had a fun 4th and that no one had any run in's with the 5-0.

:: 20 days = zero ::

My new doctor here in Atlanta wanted me to have another ultrasound today. What did we learn from this? One mom you have been right all along and this baby is going to be HUGE! He was measuring to be 7.5 lbs already and he still has 2 1/2 weeks left to cook. We also found out that his head is HUGE... it's about a 39 week head. What does all of this mean... well he is not sure if I will be able to push him out if his head gets much bigger. So we are really hoping they are off (I hear that happens). And after all of this I am still at a zero on everything so Ryker wont be coming early. But all is well and his head is down and his heart is looking good.