Life as a Lents: In the Beginning.....

Greetings! This blog is going to be written for my daughter Addison. I want to be able to remember all the special and fun times we have together. She is now 11 weeks old and I feel like I'm already forgetting things. I want to be able to look back and remember our good times! I also want Addison to have this when she gets older. And lastly, I will use this blog to keep our friends and family up on all our adventures!

I will start from the beginning. It will take me a little bit to catch up. I took two classes this summer, so any free time was focused on class! Now I am done till the end of August, so I'm starting Addison's blog!

Last summer Ryan & I decided it was time for us to start a family. We found out we were expecting at the end of August. It was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Soon after, the morning sickness began. Like many mothers, not sure why it's called "morning" sickness. It was all day long! But definitely worse in the morning. I ate more saltine crackers than I ever thought a person could eat. Fall is a very busy time for us at work, plus I was taking classes two nights a week. It was rough! It was also football season, so Ryan and I were rinsing out beer cans to fill with pop, and trading beers throughout tailgating. We told Ryan's family we were expecting towards the end of October. We told my family after ISU shut out Texas on October 30. We think everyone was pretty surprised :)

So far pregnancy was going well. The week before Christmas we had our ultrasound. We did not want to know the sex of the baby. But we found out Baby J had ten fingers, ten toes, and a good heartbeat! We called the baby "Baby Julius". I always told Ryan I wanted to name a little boy Julius :) So this baby throughout the pregnancy was known as Baby J.

I had to do the glucose screening but thankfully passed that long test. I was feeling pretty good in the second trimester. I never thought the morning sickness would go away, but it finally did! My supervisor had a baby in January, so work was crazy business from January through when I left. Between work and school, I didn't have time to worry about anything! Or get anything ready for the baby!

In March we flew to Nashville for my brother-in-law Hugh's surprise 50th birthday party. It was so much fun, even pregnant! I agree with Landon, Nashville is better than Vegas. I was 33 weeks pregnant when we went to Nashville. My body was sore and had a lot of back pain from about 30 weeks on. Later in March, ISU made it to the sweet 16. The game was in Chicago, so Ryan, my dad, Tracey & Kelly all met up in Chicago. It was a short trip, sadly ISU was not able to make it to the Elite 8. It was still fun. One of the best parts was when Ryan imitated the Michael Jordan statue outside the arena :)

By this point in the pregnancy, work was absolutely insane and pretty hard on my body. I was on my feet so much and started having to take the elevator. My feet were so swollen! I was working a ton of hours as well. The nights I didn't have class, I usually ate supper and went straight to bed! Classes ended on April 6th, so I had about two weeks to really focus on the baby before the due date. I was so wore out from work, I decided to take 3 days off before my due date. It was the best decision! I relaxed and cleaned the house before the baby came. On our due date, we had an appointment to do an ultrasound and non-stress test. The ultrasound went fine, but during the ultrasound we found out there was no fluid left for Addison. So they sent us across the street to the hospital.

We were induced around noon that day. It was exciting and a little scary at the same time. I had complete faith in our doctor and hospital staff so I wasn't too worried. They said the baby was fine but needed to come out since there was no fluid. Labor & delivery went well. I was expecting to not feel anything with the epidural but I still felt every contraction, just not as strongly. We pushed for about 2 hours. Addison finally made her appearance at 11:28pm! Everything was great with her. What a relief!

We didn't decide on the name right away. We went to the hospital with 3 girl names and 2 boy names. We had front runners, but it was still a big deal to pull the trigger on a name! We finally made the announcement the name was Addison Taylor early Saturday afternoon. On that Saturday, Addison Russell, who plays for the Cubs, hit a home run. And Friday, the day she was born, the White Sox turned a triple play. So Addison brought good luck to both our teams!

Addison, your cousin Makena was super excited for another girl in the family. She couldn't get to Iowa quick enough! Tracey, Hugh, Makena, and Grandma Rita came to the hospital Saturday afternoon. Then Saturday evening Kelly & Dave came, along with Grandpa Dale. Of course Saturday morning Grandma Rita ran to the mall to buy girl clothes :) You had lots of visitors at the hospital, we were surprised! We thought it would only be Grandma Rita! We were sooo ready to get out of the hospital. Everyone told us how scary it was to leave the hospital, but we were ready. We got home Sunday at noon and I was absolutely exhausted as I didn't hardly sleep in the hospital at all. Sunday afternoon Grandma Evonne & Grandpa Dale came and so did Grandma Rita. Then Ryan's Aunt Cathy came over as well. By the end of the day, we were all so completely exhausted!

The first week was really easy! Thankfully Grandma Rita bought you a couple newborn sleepers as you had no clothes that fit! We had some of your cousins hand-me downs but nothing newborn size. When you were one week old, I left you alone with your dad for a day. I had to report to Jury duty! Ugh! I had to report for two days but thankfully got deferred to a later date. I was so worried I would get chosen, especially since the trial was estimated to be 3 weeks long.

That's all for today!