Life in Pictures

 Madden's second road trip.  We went to Vegas for the Nike Coaches Clinic.  The boys spend most of their time in the hotel, while I was at the clinic, but we took advantage of the pool during lunch and dinner breaks

 Madden did so well on the ride. We only had to stop once.

 Sitting on the porch listening to thunder and watching the storm

 The new house.  Our weekends now consist of yard work and I don't mind it at all

 Taking a break for the yard work.  Madden being a gangsta

 Aunt B, Madden, Andrew and Sofia

 Playing at the pool in St George

Madden loves the water

Letting Go

Letting go can be hard, especially if you're like me.  Once I've let go of something I forget about why I let it go and I find myself into missing it. It's as if I forget about all of the bad things that made me let it go in the first place. This is something I've done for years.  Years back it was probably a boy and then maybe it was a house and now it is a job/living situation, the day treatment house to be more specific. 

It really started to hit me last week when Andrew and I went out for sushi with the girls we used to live with.  As we were driving through the neighborhood to pick them up Andrew and I started reminiscing of all the memories we had there and then to both of our surprise we confessed how much we missed it. We then had to stop and remind ourselves why we let it go.  We. Started. A. Family. We. Built. A. House. We Wanted. Alone. Time.  We. Needed. To. Give. 100%. To. Our. Son.

I realized that I need to be grateful that I had such a wonderful opportunity to make an impact on those girls lives and how blessed I am that I was able to have them in my life to make an impact on me.  I also need to remember that letting go is necessary to move on to bigger and better things and that is just what we are doing.  Life is going so well for us.  We are best friends, we have a perfect baby boy, a new house and we are making new memories everyday.

Letting go can be hard, but it is necessary.

2 Months Old

Well our baby is two months old and today Andrew and I took him to his two month appointment.  He weighs 12 lbs 6 oz (75 percentile), he is 23 inches long (75 percentile) and his head is 16 ¾ inches round (90 percentile).  We weren’t at all surprised about his head size.  He has a good sized noggin.  

  Here are a few of the things Madden is up to now that he is 2 months old.

·         He still HATES being on his tummy

·         He loves to cuddle and he is such a good snuggler

·         He is constantly cooing

·         He loves to smile especially in the morning

·         He has slept through the night a few times, but it’s still not too consistent

·         Bath time is his favorite time of the day

·         Andrew and I finally gave in and started giving him a binky occasionally.  It’s been a lifesaver when we are out and about

Here are some pictures from the past week

 Madden at his appointment, before getting his shots

 Recovering from his shots (it was a traumatic experience)

 Cuddle time

Happy Boy

 

I

Life is WONDERFUL

 Madden and his cousins.  They are already teaming up on him, but he doesn't seem to mind.

 Andrew's hair is way too long.... and for some odd reason, I really like it in this pic

 Me and one of my handsome boys

I can't get enough of those cheeks.  Yes, I know Madden is a total code 9  in this picture.

 Madden and his twin cousins

Our first razor ride since we had Madden

Time is flying by here in the Vera household.  Madden seems to be growing every single day and it is is happening way to fast for this momma.  I catch myself getting excited for the things he will do in the future like playing catch and running around the backyard, but then I remember how precious he is right now and it makes me sad that he is growing so fast.  Madden's newest accomplishment happened about a week ago.  He was laying on his tummy, which he absolutely hates and all of he rolled himself over to his back.  Needless to say, he isn't spending much time on his tummy anymore.  If he doesn't roll himself over, he lays face down and screams until I pick him up.  I am so grateful for my little family and the happiness that Madden has brought to our family.  For anyone who reads our blog, here are a few pics and I will hopefully do a two month update on Madden in a few day.  WHAT?! I can't believe he is two months old already.  Time needs to slow down.

Sneak Peek

One Month Old Already

Madden turned a month old on March 4th.  He is already growing so fast. 

Here are some of the things Madden is up to:

He can hold is head up like a champ. 

He is making more noises.

On March 5, he started smiling at people.  He smiled at Me, aunt Mari and Aunt Mallory.

He is staying awake for longer periods of time and taking shorter naps.  Most of the time only lasting about a half hour

He LOVES bath time.  Anytime he is fussy we can give him a bath and it’s a guarantee fix.

He’s been on two walks.  He slept through both of them, but I can tell he is going to love being outside and going on walks.  I can’t wait for the weather to warm up so we can play outside and not be cooped up in the house all day.

He still isn’t a huge fan of tummy time, but he will tolerate it for about 5 minutes at a time.

He usually wakes up twice a night, depending on when he goes to sleep.  If he goes to sleep around 9, he will be up at 11, 3:30 and again around 6:30.

 Such a big boy

 He was so over having his picture taken

A Bitter Sweet Feeling

Andrew and I moved out of the group home a couple weeks ago.  The transition took place on Saturday Feb 16.  Andrew and I finished packing that morning (there wasn’t a whole lot left, thanks to the Vera’s who came the night before and helped load almost everything.  I don’t think I could have managed without help.  I was still in so much pain from having Madden) and were out of the group home by 11 am.  The girls were at the gym when we left.  It was the plan to have them out of the house when the transition of house parents took place.  It was a sad moment when we left the group home for the last time.  We have so many memories there, some good and some bad, but I will cherish all of them.  I also cherish the relationships we made with the girls while living in that house.   I would sometimes get annoyed that there was never a moment of quiet time and Andrew and I rarely had alone time, but we've only been gone a couple weeks and I'm already missing the chaos.  I miss having the girls at dinner and hearing about each of their days.  I miss the hugs I got when they were having a bad day or when they knew I was having a bad day.  I also miss the van rides, jamming out to Taylor Swift.  I knew that leaving the group home was going to be hard, but I also knew it is what would be best for our little family and for the girls.  Andrew and I knew that we wouldn't be able to split our time between Madden and the girls and they all deserve to have our full attention.  Those girls became family and it was so hard to leave. I have been forever changed by some of the experiences we went through with these girls and I am so grateful for the opportunity we had to live there and be a part of their journey.

Memories
Water fights in the kitchen, ending in me getting tackled
Laser tag
Running through the sprinklers on the golf course
Sitting around the fire
Outdoor movies
Singing in the van
Hiking

Madden's Story

Andrew and I had just about tried everything to induce labor, including taking evening primrose oil multiple times a day.  Supposedly, it softens the cervix.  I think after a few days of taking them, it did the trick because on Sunday, February 3 at 1:30 AM I woke up having horrible back pain.  I wasn’t 100% sure I was in labor, but the thought did cross my mind.  The back pain was pretty persistent at first and that’s why I wasn’t sure if they were true contractions.  I woke Andrew up, not long after I woke up and he stayed up with me.  After about an hour of only back pain I started to feel a cramp like feeling, but only on my right side.  I still wasn’t sure if these were contractions, but I was starting to be more convinced.  We started timing these “possible contractions” and thought they were about 6 minutes apart, but we weren’t positive because the back pain never went away so we weren’t sure when to stop and start the timer.  After a couple of hours the back pain started to fade after each contraction and that’s when I was sure I was in labor.  The contractions were consistently happening about every 5 minutes for over an hour so we called the doctor (not my doctor because he was still on Vacation for two more days at this point).  Dr. England said not to come in until contractions were 3 minutes apart.  We stayed home and continued timing contractions and trying to breathe through them as they grew more intense.  

A few days before the super bowl, I let Andrew convince me to have a super bowl party at the house.  He didn’t really have to convince me, but I did remind him that there is a chance that we would have a newborn baby by that time and if there was a baby there would be no party.  After having contractions for about 10 hours we started thinking about this party and what we should do.  We had texted Tevita (the guy who would be taking over the house when we move and had also committed to staying at the house when Madden came) and told him that I was in labor so he headed over to hang out with the girls in case we needed to leave.  We told him we had planned a super bowl party and asked what he thought.  Tevita was okay with still having the party as long as he could invite a few of his family members.  Around 3 pm, an hour before kick off, my contractions had been about 3 minutes apart for an hour so we decided to head to the hospital.  They checked me and I was only dilated to a two.  The monitored Madden for an hour and checked me again.  I had progressed to 3 cm and was 100% effaced.  They said I could stay, but we requested that they let me go home and come back when I felt I was further along.  We got home and the game was started and our house was FULL of people, over 20 (I felt a little guilty that I wasn't more hospitable, but I think that our guests understood).  I went straight to the bedroom and spent my time trying to get through contraction and watching the game in between.  Andrew went out and said hi to all of our guests, grabbed some food (wings, pizza and lots of other football food,  It was torture watching him eat it since I hadn’t eaten anything, but maybe 5 crackers in the last 24 hour) and came back to the bedroom to be with me.  At the beginning of the fourth quarter the contractions were getting super intense and I told Andrew it was time to get to the hospital.  When they got there they checked me and I was dilated to 6 cm.
I won't go into detail on everything after this, but 12 days past his due date and after 30 hours of labor Madden was  born at 6:48 am on February 4.  He was 20 inches long and 7 lbs 10 oz of perfection. 
I always wondered what it would feel like to hold my baby for the first time.  I thought maybe I would cry, but I didn’t.  I think I was too amazed…. And maybe a little too tired.  All I know is that I thought Madden was amazing and I couldn’t stop looking at him.    I am absolutely loving being a mom.  It's crazy to me how a baby can completely turn your world around and in such a perfect way.   

Here are a few pics of our little man.  Hopefully there will be more soon.

 Andrew's Hospital Kit.  I stole the idea from my friend Rika.

 Andrew was quite fond of the hospital bed.

 Heading home from the hospital

 Madden Andrew Vera

3 weeks old. Watching tv with Dad.