She's Gives Me My "Little Girl" Fix

This little gem is one of my favorite people in the world. She is fantastic and smart and beautiful. She loves her cousins and always makes me smile. She is going to be a great big sister and I look forward to watching her lead our little brood of boys and giving them the business!

My Favorite Nurse

During my stay in the hospital, we decided that Chad would work the two days that we weren't delivering or going home so that he would be able to be home with me the entire next week. This beautiful woman became my assistant in his absence. She changed diapers, filled my water cup and cuddled my baby and I never once had to ask for anything. While I know that she was helping me out of the goodness of her heart, I think she was also using it as practice because she'll be having a little boy of her own in 8 weeks!
Here is Aunt Jenny and Baby Bodey (and his cousin Brett) enjoying a little time together.

Thank you for everything Jen, I am so thankful to have such a wonderful sister and I owe you BIG TIME!!

A Bodey Story - Version Two

I wrote this blog the other day but when I went back and read it, I wasn’t happy with it. I felt like it was depressing. It didn’t tell the true story of one of the best days of my life. Here is Bodey’s story…


We had decided that our best bet would be to send Hunter to daycare for the day. We dressed him in his new Big Bro t-shirt that we had made for him by Molly and away he went. We got to daycare around 8:30 and I hugged and kissed my little man goodbye. That sweet little booger had no idea what a big day it was for our family.

We were supposed to be at the hospital by 9am and since we had a few extra minutes we stopped by Walgreens to pick up some chapstick and two magazines to entertain me while I waited to go in for my section and then it was off to the hospital.
We were in admissions for probably 30 seconds before we saw what would become our first “bump.” It was like a scene out of a movie where a woman comes racing down the hall in a wheelchair being pushed by her husband and they are both panting and panicking. The woman was moaning. It was all so dramatic – and, because I’m twisted, I also found it comical. Turns out the woman was scheduled for repeat c-section the following week but her water had broken. This meant that her c-section would obviously take priority over mine. Before we finally made it into the OR, there would be another woman in a similar situation.
Triage was an interesting experience. We had a lovely nurse who shared stories of life raising two boys that made me want to rethink having boys. When it came time to put in my IV she informed me that she didn’t usually work in triage and hadn’t done IVs in awhile so she had called on the pros in IV therapy to come up and do the deed. Here is how that went:
IV Therapist One:
Stick 1 – Has trouble threading the IV and loses the vein.
Stick 2 - Blows the vein. Calls for a second IV Therapist.
IV Therapist Two:
Stick 3 – Blows the vein
Stick 4 – Blows the vein. Decides to call for a third IV Therapist.
IV Therapist Three:
Stick FIVE – Nails it. Pain free stick. This woman was a pro!!!
Thankfully all three of these nurses had fantastic personalities and I was never stressed about the situation and we were all able to actually joke about the process. Though I did wind up looking like a heroin addict before it was all said and done.
Finally it was time to get Chad suited up and get ready to go in for the procedure. It was so weird, but I never once got anxious about the whole deal. I could see anxiety in Chad’s face – especially once he was in his scrubs and it was time to go. I was just so excited to finally meet my little Bodester.

The procedure went really well. The spinal was really the most traumatic part – that freaking thing hurts! Soon enough Bodey was out and vocalizing his presence. It was such a wonderful and exciting moment though kind of a blur.



Chad and I decided to use recovery as a time for us to bond with our little addition before introducing him to the masses. It gave me an opportunity to nurse him for the first time and really just rest with our new bundle. This is also where Bodey had his first bath.

An hour or two later we were moved into our room. As we passed the waiting room we saw many smiles as all the grandparents as well as my sister and Bodey’s BIG BROTHER were all waiting to meet him.

Hunter’s introduction to Bodey went pretty well. Hunter didn’t really know what to think of the hospital and seeing mommy in a bed where he couldn’t crawl all over. He sat up on the bed with me for awhile but would try to climb on top of me and finally had to go back to walking around the room. That was probably the hardest part of the whole day for me – having to tell Hunter that I couldn’t hold him and cuddle him and watch him cry in response. Shortly after, my folks took Hunter home in an effort to keep him distracted. Chad’s parents left shortly after. My sister stuck around for awhile to make sure I was well taken care of. She truly was a saint through the whole thing and took amazing care of me.
Once Jen left it was just the three of us and we were able to reflect on what a great day it was.

Bodey Landon Gerhardt
Born: June 29th, 2010 @ 12:20pm
8lbs 7oz, 19.5 inches

Count it down...

The final countdown…
Tick…
Tick…
Tick…
This is what is going on in my head. Minutes and days, ticking away.
We are officially a week away from Baby Brother Bodey’s B-Day.
Seven days
168 Hours
10,080 Minutes
604,800 Seconds
But hey…who’s counting?

People like to ask if we are ready. I don’t know how to answer this.

Mentally, I don’t think that you really can be completely ready. There is always the unknown. My mental anguish comes more from how Hunter will deal with his baby brother than how I will deal. Hunter has been my EVERYTHING for the last 16 months. I love this kid more than life itself and now I have to figure out how to love another baby just as much without slighting him. I’m having a hard time dealing with the fact that I won’t get to hold him for a week or two while I’m recovering. I don’t know how I’m going to handle him looking up at me with those “pick me up” arms outstretched and having to tell him I can’t. It’s probably better if I don’t think about it – it only makes me cry.

Physically, my body is ready. I’m finally starting to feel like this pregnancy is getting the best of me. I have felt great up until now. I thought I was somehow cheating the pregnancy system. I was sleeping well, I was walking with only minimal waddle. Life was good. This morning, the pregnancy gods must have realized that they had let me slip through the cracks. I am tired and achey…and tired. I’m not miserable though so I suppose I should quit complaining. My hair is colored and my toes are painted so I’m ready to get this show on the road!

Our house is a mess. Neither nursery is ready for either of our boys. I have a stack of newborn clothes that need washed. My bag isn’t packed. The car seat is still in the closet. The bassinet is in the garage.

And yet, amidst all this chaos – I am more calm and “ready” than I was 16 months (and 12 days) ago when the HuntDog entered the world. Perhaps it’s the benefit of baby #2, or perhaps it is that it just hasn’t hit me yet and I’ll start hyperventilating any second now.

Swimmin'

It has only been 2+ months since my last post – ONLY? ONLY? What the heck have I been doing??? Okay, you don’t really care and I get that so I won’t bother catching you up. We’ll just jump right into the current stuff.

Saturday morning was Hunter’s first swimming lesson at the YMCA. Chad taught swimming lessons when he was younger and we both think it is important to get Hunter in the water at a young age.
When we first arrived, Hunter didn’t know what to think. He had a little bit of terror in his eyes, which broke my heart. Since I am still incubating Hunter’s little brother, Chad took the class with him. Hunter was obviously the youngest kid in the class, but not by too much – I imagine that there was at least one other kid under the age of two there.
When they first got in the water Hunter was NOT having it. He was crying and I was stressing because I was in street clothes and couldn’t make him better (I’m a crazy, neurotic helicopter of a mother, but that is okay – I am working on it). Once they got in a little deeper and class started, Hunter really started to enjoy himself. They gave them little koosh type balls to play with and those helped keep the little guy distracted and happy. He smiled and cooed for most of the 30 minute class. It was so fun to watch him and I look forward to going every week and watching this great bonding time for him and his daddy.

Hunter getting ready to get in the pool with daddy. I love his little trunks.

Just a swimmin' fool

Floating on daddy

Getting ready for the big jump!

Loving that slide!

My favorite pool rats!

A Birthday Letter

I know that I am late posting this as he is now almost one year AND one week old, but here is my letter to my ONEderful son…


Dear Hunter,
I can’t believe that you are actually a whole year old. What an amazing 12 months the last 12 months have been! You have brought so much joy into your daddy’s and my life. I can’t even begin to describe how much we love you, and that love grows more and more each day.
You are so much fun and changing and doing new things every day. You love to smile and laugh. You’ve started dancing and scooting around to music and it’s the cutest thing ever. You will eat anything that you can get your hands on and try new foods all the time. You love daycare which makes me feel not quite so guilty about having to send you to one. You are a wonderful sleeper and this past weekend, Daddy and I were both awake before you! That has NEVER happened.
Daddy can’t wait to take you fishing and was just talking about how excited you will be the first time you see him pull a fish out of the water. You are certainly a daddy’s boy and your daddy wouldn’t have it any other way. The two of you recently spent three days without me and while I worried and missed you like crazy, you and Daddy just had all sorts of fun without me.
In a few months, you are going to be a big brother. I’m so excited that you will get to grow up so close in age to your brother or sister but it still makes me a little sad that you didn’t get to be “the baby” longer. I’m a mom, so you’ll always be my baby though!
We are so excited to see what the next 365 days bring for you Hunter. You’ll be walking in no time, and then running and talking (besides mama, dada and tickle tickle). You have changed so much already. Part of me wants you to stop growing and stay my baby forever but I know that the world is waiting for you Hunter, so go get ‘em!
Love you baby!
Mommy

A New Rope

Sometimes I just get to complaing. I’ll start griping about one thing and then that will lead to something else that ticks me off and before you know it, I’m just angry at the world. I would like to blame this on pregnancy…but let’s get real. It’s just my personality. It’s not that I’m never happy. I can’t stand people that complain all the time but sometimes, I just get to goin’ and can’t stop. A few times lately, Chad has looked at me and said “Geez, you’d complain in they hung you with a new rope.” OBVIOUSLY I would complain about this – but more so because I was being hung and notsomuch about the rope itself. (The saying makes no sense to me, as most of my husband’s hillbilly Holton talk comes out similar to the teacher from Charlie Brown – whah whah wah…)

But yesterday, I realized that he was right (GASP!). Sometimes I really do complain about things that I should be thankful for…as least I think that’s where he was trying to go with that statement.

It’s the middle of winter in Kansas. The temperature barely ever breaks freezing and the cloudy and gloomy sky appears to have moved in for the long haul. Yesterday, there was this glimmer of beauty. The Sun! And highs in the 40s! You know what? I actually complained about the sun. There’s my new rope for ya!

My commute home from work takes me about 15 minutes. I have to be at daycare by 5:30 to pick up Hunter so it does cut it pretty close if I leave any later that 10 after 5. Yesterday, I left and had to get gas and wasn’t on the road until almost 12 after and I actually began cursing the sun…

The highway home takes a steady turn about midway through that lands you smack dab face to face with the sun. This blinding moment causes one to slam on their brakes, which then causes the car behind you to slam on their brakes and so on and so forth. A traffic jam – and the culprit cause is the sun. The glorious, wonderful, powerful sun, with all of its delicious Vitamin D and skin tanning abilities is going to make me late to pick up my son. I can’t back charge the sun the extra dollar per minute that I’m late. Grrrr…

But I wasn’t late. I’m never late. I was complaining about something that I had no control over and that really ended up having no effect on me at all. As I drove home, after picking Hunter up the sun was setting and absolutely beautiful and I actually felt compelled to apologize to it, and to God. I could not believe that I had been complaining about something like that. I felt guilty and ashamed.

I am 100% sure that I am not done complaining about things but I’m hoping that this little moment has been enough to let me step back and think about what it is that I’m complaining about and make sure that it isn’t this new rope...