INTRODUCING

tess harper smith. she surprised us and came one month early. little nut. 

i was quite nervous when my water broke at 5am on october 20th (a. because i wasnt due for another month and b. because i was still on blood thinners [i was on blood thinners because after my three miscarriages, it was the only thing that helped me keep a baby. i was scheduled to go off of them closer to my due date]) but craig was one cool cat. im very lucky to have him balance out my neuroses.

but as soon as we arrived at the hospital my doctor assured me everything would be ok. the only hitch would be that i would have to have to go under while they performed a c-section to deliver the baby. i didnt care how the baby was delivered at that point, i just wanted us both to be healthy, safe and most of all i couldnt wait to find out the gender! aaaaaaaand one hour after going under, i came to and met my NEW LITTLE BABY GIRL. 5 pounds, 13 ounces and 19.5 inches long. 

first moment with my baby.

happy humans.

another little fun surprise that day? jocelyn came up from camas to meet tess.

the next morning, craig and i spent more quality time with our new little nugget. (we were blessed to have both sets of parents help with tagg and sully while we were in the hospital)

snuggle time. cant explain how much i loved that little pouf the nurses put on tess' hat.

always love the little white board. its where you get to see your baby's name written down for the first time for all to see!

she is such a good little girl.

that night, my parents brought tagg and sully to meet tess for the first time. i love their faces.

first shot of all five of us.

my parents are SO ecstatic to have a granddaughter!

craig's parents are pretty happy too. :)

our last morning in the hospital we swaddled tess up and took a few pictures.

i honestly couldnt be happier that i have a little girl now. i still cant believe it.

tagg and sully are such sweet brothers. cautious and curious. :) 

because tess was a month early she did have to lay on a light bed for the first week. i felt very lucky that we were able to do it at home instead of at the hospital. she loved her little light bed. 

despite being a month early, she is quite the champ. she is eating and sleeping well and loves to snuggle. her faaaaavorite thing to do is stretch. she loves a good stretch. we love her so much already and feel blessed to have her join our family!

scottsdale babymoon

i just returned from a weekend in scottsdale with jocelyn. and like my aunt said "i dont think you know what a 'babymoon' means", it wasnt the traditional husband and wife situation. but i didnt want to fly too far, craig and i just vacationed to southern california last month, and scottsdale (with its spa and shopping) didnt really seem like a couples thing. so next best thing? JOCELYN.

our first night there, we stuuuuuuuuffed ourselves at culinary dropout.

the next morning we headed over to our resort's spa. we got massages and goofed around taking selfies in the "quiet room".

the montelucia has a fabulous spa but it was very holistic. we had to touch this huge crystal and close our eyes to make a wish. i had a hard time with it. jocelyn loved it. :)

after our massages and close encounter with the light-up crystal we lounged around at the spa pool.

pina colada time!

the beautiful grounds.

that night we had a great dinner at blanco. all 21 dollars of it.

the next morning was more pool and more pina coladas.

that afternoon we met up with rebecca (who lives in gilbert and is so sweet and fun) to get our hair braided at a braid bar. we also had sweet tooth fairy and cafe rio. bonus.

 

 

later that night, jocelyn and i drove back to scottsdale and had ice cream at the sugar bowl. very retro of us. our friend between us wasnt feeling it.

on our last day we sat by the pool, shopped a bit and had grimaldis pizza. the perfect day.

with the perfect best friend. ok, baby! im ready... in about 6 weeks or so. :)

20 weeks!

i am twenty weeks along and everything is looking splendid with the baby. keeping it a surprise again! i just love a good surprise. cant wait for november 20th.

so this happened on halloween.....

i had emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. i had known i was pregnant but the day before halloween was told that it probably wasnt going to be viable. but at 12.30am, on halloween eve, i knew something was really wrong (something more intense than just a normal miscarriage) so i woke craig up and had him take me to the ER. and i am so glad i did. because (randomly. as in, i had no risk factors) something was really wrong. my right fallopian tube had started to rupture due to an ectopic pregnancy. at 4am i went under (for my first time!) and they removed my fallopian tube and fixed me all up. the entire ordeal was quite scary but i am glad it is over and VERY grateful my the doctors, my friends and my amazing family who helped me through it all.

sullivan tyler

sully is here! he was born sunday, august 15th at 8.55pm. he weighed seven pounds, seven ounces and came into this world via VBAC! thank you very much. its crazy how it all worked out..... i wasnt even that set on having a vbac with this baby but it just so happened that my doctor turned out to be the only doctor in the seattle area that performs vbacs and thought i was a good candidate. the only problem was was that he was going out of town the week before i was due so if i wanted a vbac we were going to have to get a little creative (you cant induce a vbac). my doctor had me go into the hospital at noon on sunday and inflated a balloon inside me to try to dilate me to more than a three (which i had been at for a couple weeks). after three hours with the balloon, there was no progress. so i started bouncing on a big ball (humiliating!). after an hour of that, i was dilated to to a six and the doctor broke my water. i got my EPIDURAL and two hours later, was pushing sully out! i only had to push for about twelve minutes and it was such a cool experience. definitely more exciting than a c-section.

tagg and me, on our way to the hospital to see if we could magically make this baby appear.

obligatory family portrait on the hospital bed. tagg was mesmerized by sully and even offered up his favorite blue blanket and pacifier.

i am obsessed with my two little boys.

craig was great throughout the whole thing (except when he mentioned how tired he was, right smack in the middle of my laboring).

i am so grateful to live close to my mom. she was there from the second we went to the hospital until the minute we left. i dont know what i would have done without her.

tucker is one proud uncle.

my mom made this gorgeous quilt for sully. well actually, she made a boy and a girl version (just like she did for tagg) so we would be ready for either gender. i have a feeling we are going to have LOTSA extra baby girl quilts lying around after i am done procreating...

my boys.

sully is such a sweet little boy. and he is named after my cousin and best friend, tyler, who died of cancer ten years ago. which makes him have an even sweeter spot in my heart. i love sully so much already.

perks

one of the things about not knowing the gender of my baby is that my mom cant give me a traditional baby gift. so instead, she surprised me with these babies! i am obsessed with them and i cant stop staring at them in my closet. i love fryes and i love my mom.

always be prepared

only a couple more days to go (my c-section is scheduled for the 23rd) so i am getting everything all ready. there isnt much to do because i dont know if the baby is a boy or girl but i did make these blankets for the little cherub. i cant wait to bundle this new baby all up.

22+ weeks

please excuse my hand and the stupid position i put it in for this shot. the pregnancy is going fabulously. i feel great and am more than halfway! we are all looking forward to august to find out who is kicking around in my tummy.

speaking of babies......

here's me, (looking like i kill people) at my half-way-there! ultrasound. i cant even begin to explain how odd this ultrasound doctor was so i wont. but trust me, if you were in the room you would have been laughing.

tagg's little sibling. tagg was downright adorable during the entire ultrasound. he sat on craig's lap (a WONDER) and when it was over he said, "thank you, baby."

ok, so like craig says: if i am going to spend soooo much time trying to decipher an ultrasound to figure our the baby's gender i should have just asked the doctor. but i love the suspense too much! this is the shot where i was sure it was girl. but then there was another shot (dont have an image of it. annoying) where there was a definite little "nodule". guess we'll see in august......