Baby Blessing

Our little Luke was blessed in our brand new church building last Tuesday night, the 9th. Why Tuesday, you ask? We were planning on blessing him on Sunday the 14th, but Adam found out on Monday afternoon (the 8th) that he had to deploy to Puerto Rico Wednesday morning (the 10th) for 4 months. Adam had been warned the week before that he might be deployed soon, but we were expecting at least a few days notice! I was pleasantly surprised that despite our having to somewhat rush to bless Luke before Adam left, it was a very spiritual experience.
The Bishopric was at the new building moving in to their offices, so they and a few others joined Adam in the blessing, including our good friend Carl. I joined them up on the stage of the Chapel for our private little ceremony. Adam gave Luke a beautiful blessing, and the intimacy of the experience made it so wonderful and incredibly special.

Here are Adam and Luke at the airport right before Adam had to leave:
Adam's parents and sister Andrea had been planning a trip up to see us and the new baby. Unfortunately they missed Adam by about a day and a half. We still had a fun time though during the weekend they were here, and they were kind enough to watch Luke so I could get some naps. I must say I hadn't slept that much in awhile!
Here's the best family photo I could get for now - haha :

Here's a little video of my favorite baby:


And just so Heidi isn't left out, here's a video of her we took shortly before Adam left:

We are doing well. I'm pretty sure Heidi misses Adam as much as I do...which is a whole lot! We love you, Adam!!!

1 Month Old!

My little baby is 1 month old! Well...1 month and 6 days! He had his checkup yesterday, and here are his stats:

Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz
Length: 21 inches
Head: 37 cm
He seems so big to me. I can't believe some babies are BORN this size!!! haha We're doing great though. He has started to smile back at me and is just starting to discover his voice. I love my little man!

My Baby Boy!

Prepare for baby picture overload!!!

Holding my precious baby moments after he was born:

Getting all checked out:

Being a daddy!

Sweet little baby:

My poor little Luke had jaundice for a few days, so he was put on phototherapy at home. We decided he looked like the "force" was with him:

Chillin' in my crib:

Christmas Day:

Sleeping like a babe:

My favorite Christmas present under the tree:

And last but not least, a picture of my first baby Heidi, who is absolutely THRILLED to be sharing her time and attention with baby brother:

I'm still loving motherhood, although the initial adrenaline rush has worn off, exposing the underlying exhaustion. Feeding him has been getting easier by the day, which has made things much less stressful for me. Luke is generally happy and is such a good baby. I just love him!

Merry belated Christmas everyone!

Luke Adam Baker

Sorry to keep everyone waiting, but I'm finally taking a second to post a picture of my precious, adorable, wonderful, handsome little boy! Luke Adam Baker was born on December 23rd at 12:02a.m. with a full head of BLOND hair!!! He weighed 6lbs 5.9 oz and was 18 inches long! I believe that means 15% of you were correct on my poll! Congrats! : )

I ended up being induced since I was past my due date and the baby still hadn't dropped all the way. The doctor was afraid my pelvis was too narrow for him to fit through, and if we waited too long, he would be too big for me to deliver him without a C-section. It turns out, he was right! I was really nervous to be induced, but after pushing for 3 1/2 hours, having a 2nd degree episiotomy and 2nd degree tearing (TMI?), and having to use a vacuum, I realized there was no way I could have delivered a baby any larger! Once the doctor started with the vacuum, he told me he was going to give it 4 tries or we were going to have to resort to a C-section. I absolutely did NOT want a C-section, and on the 4th contraction, my millions of mind prayers were answered as the baby finally made it through. The doctor kept telling me afterwards how he really didn't think the baby was going to come that way because he kept sliding backwards after every push. He was pretty shocked. I just told him the power of a determined woman shouldn't be underestimated. ; ) lol.

I thought that having a newborn was going to be the most stressful thing and that I would be hoping for the first month to fly by. But now that he's here, I just want time to stand still so I can enjoy how sweet and little my angel is. I'm already sad that he's going to grow up, and he's not even a week old! lol. Even though he keeps me up all night, one little tired smile from him makes my world feel like heaven. I'll be sure to post more pictures later!

Check out my Poll!

Since the baby has decided he's waiting for warmer weather to make his appearance, I've decided to spice things up with a little poll to the right. Guess how much my baby will weigh at birth! To save some confusion, 0.5 = 1/2 lb (7.5 lbs = 7 lbs 8 ounces, not 7 lbs 5 ounces). Now VOTE!

Nursery!

I finished the nursery a few weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting pictures! Here is the room's cute little welcome/warning sign courtesy of Heather Shirley:

When you first walk in:

I love my crib : )

Don't panic folks - the stuffed animals are coming out before the baby goes in ; )

The most comfortable recliner we could find:

The dresser/changing table area:

My diaper stash:

And for your entertainment, my 38 week belly photos!

(These are Adam's manly hands by the way - not mine...lol) My flat belly button cracks me up!

Okay, baby! We're ready for ya!

Devil's Tower National Monument

I had a baby Dr. appointment last Tuesday, where they told me I was still all sealed up, so we decided it would be okay to take a little trip. We've been wanting to go see Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming, which is about 2 hours away from Rapid City. Adam took last week off, so we made a day trip of it on Wednesday.

Of course, being the pregnant lady that I am, I had to pee halfway through the trip. Unfortunately, the only place to stop was a little town called Aladdin, Wyoming, with a population: 15 sign. The little town boasted a 110 year old convenience store that was open for business. The lady inside said the bathroom was behind the building, and lucky for me, she had just "freshened it up."

Adam got quite a kick out of the fact that I had to sit on the nasty wooden bench with a hole in it to do my business. The hole was too far back on the bench for any attempt at hovering. I thought about all of the men that had soaked the wood through the years. It's not like you can really sanitize porous wood, right? It was really cold and dark in there too. It made me feel bad for the pregnant ladies in the old days that had to get up 4 times a night to use the outhouse. I decided I would have kept a bucket by my bed...

We finally made it to Devil's Tower, where we were greeted by hundreds of prairie dogs.

You can kind of see Heidi in the picture below. She wasn't allowed on the 1.3 mile trail around the base of the monument though, so she had to wait in the car.

The little hike was quite enjoyable. There was about an inch of snow on the ground and the trail was paved, so it wasn't too bad. The lady at the visitor's center seemed really worried that I was going to fall and hurt myself, so I used Adam as my walking stick.

It was a nice little family day trip, and we were glad to have made it out there before they closed for the season.