Baby Blessing- 1 month!

Happy one month to our Colten! He is SUCH a wonderful baby. We have been all over the place in his first month. We babysat together when he was 8 days old & are now babysitting about 4 times a week. We go grocery shopping often & do not like the car seat. Last week Colten and I met Andrew in Wilmington for Dog Days at the Blue Rocks Stadium. We met all of Andrew's work friends, ate good food, and sort of watched the game!

This past week my sister and I took our kids to the pool for the first time. Boy did we have our hands full. Gavin needed help in the water, and both of our babies wanted to be held.. hmm, so that put one of us on baby duty & one of us on Gavin duty. We decided next time we'll ask Grandma to tag along for an extra pair of hands :) All 3 of the kids liked the water though, so that was exciting.

On Friday, Andrew and I met his brother & family in Rehoboth for a beach day! It was a gorgeous day, and the water felt amazing! Colten didn't love the ocean water, but he fell asleep in his little tent for most of our time there. We were having a blast with family, but unfortunately, the 4 o'clock thunderstorm was more like a 1 o'clock storm. We had to RUN off of the beach as the rain poured, lightening struck, and the wind blew umbrellas everywhere. It was crazy.

Today Colten is one month old! One month has gone by so quickly, and yet it feels like he has been around forever. After church Andrew and his mom cooked us a delicious meal, and Andrew gave Colten his baby blessing. It was wonderful to have so much family around for that special event.

 So gross... right as I was about to say the blessing on our food, Colten had a minor blowout :P

 Grandpa/Bishop with Colty :)

 Aren't they ADORABLE?! Looks like they're getting married!

So much love.

And I thought I loved you then..

One year ago I married the most beautiful man I've ever met. Andrew is kind. He is timid and gentle. He loves animals more than people. He loves his parents and siblings. Andrew makes me laugh.. always about the dumbest things. He apologizes when I'm grouchy & holds me when I'm sad. He always thinks of me before he thinks of himself. He is patient and smiley. He is sunshine to my soul. I couldn't ask for anything more <3 

Look where 1 year has gotten us... :)

Happy 1 year, babe!!

First trip to the park!

Last week Andrew and I took Colten to the park for the first time :) There is a fun school playground right behind our complex, so we made a pit stop there on one of our walks. It was a chilly, beautiful night.

C's first time on the swing :)

Trying out the slide with Dad <3

Colten and I went to the Farmer's Market last week, too. I dressed him in his adorable, hick attire for the occasion, ha. This baby weighed 10 pounds 2 ounces at his 2 week checkup.. we're gonna have a major chubster on our hands! :P

CAZ :)

What a blessing this sweet baby is.. oh, how we adore him. Although he took almost 42 weeks to show himself, he was well worth the wait. Wednesday the 23rd, Andrew and I went to the hospital at 6:30 pm for my induction. Unfortunately, I wasn't showing signs of progression, so the the doctor gave me cervadil and said he'd check me in 12 hours. We never made it to the 12 hr checking :P I started having contractions around 1:30 am, but I thought they were "nothing" and told myself not to be a baby. At 4:30am, as I lay awake in bed, I decided to call the nurse & see if she could drug me up. She said she'd give me something to "take the edge off" and help me sleep. I slept for 2 hours, and boy was that a blessing. I woke up at 6:30 & was in a great deal of pain. Around 6:45 I woke Andrew up & called the nurse back in. Time felt to be moving sooo slowly. I HURT. Finally the nurse came in, checked me, and said it was time to get the doctor.. I was ready to push. I sure as heck wasn't.. I wanted DRUGS & I wanted them now. No such luck. I pushed for roughly 20 minutes & Colten Anthony Zimmerman was born at 7:22am. He was so much bigger than we all thought he'd be.. 9lbs 5 ozs! 22 1/2 inches long! And beautiful :) I fell in love instantly; although, it happened SO fast that it was a bit shocking.

Andrew was perfect throughout it all. He held my hand & basically didn't say a word. He did laugh at me a few times, because I said some ridiculous thing during those 20 minutes of what I thought was going to be the death of me :) Colty looves his daddy & it's evident that Andrew loves him just as much. He miiiight still be in shock though.

Since Colten's birth, we have been busy! My recovery has been perfect, so we've been out an about. We left the hospital saturday morning, stopping by Andrew's parents on the way home. I took a nice nap, we headed to my parent's for a photo shoot, and then we went to wally world.

On Sunday we went for Colten's very first walk.. well, not including our walk around the 6th floor of the hospital. He liked the stroller other than the huge bumps we hit constantly on Harrington's wonderful sidewalks.

Finally, we ended our long weekend by going to our church's annual Memorial Day Picnic. It was a great time with delicious food, fun activities, and wonderful friends.

(First trip to the pediatrician.. this little piggy is already back to his birth weight) Thank you to all of our family and friends who have been so helpful & loving as we welcomed our new love into this world. Andrew and I are blessed beyond words.

---> 40 weeks

Here is the journey of my pregnancy through pictures.. let's hope my next blog will be about Colten's arrival! :)

12 weeks :)

20 weeks- I seriously thought I was HUGE.

25 weeks.

26 weeks.

27..

28 weeks.

30 weeks.. getting big!

31

32

33..

35.. erased 36-38 off of my phone last night- thought I sent them to my email. Oops!

39

40! We're hoping there's not a week 41 to photograph next week. This little boy is a little too comfy in there.. :)

Proud minivan almost-mom!

Say goodbye to my beautiful, yet money-stealing Edge...

...and say hello to THIS :)

Light green 2006 Toyota Sienna XLE. You have to admit, for a minivan she is a beauty. I'm already excited about how much space we have in the van! Now bring on the baby!

THE car & THE bike ride

My wonderful, beautiful (always has something wrong with it) Edge has been in the shop for 2 weeks now. We knew it was going to be a while to fix the airbags in the car, so the Ford dealership gave me one of their cars to drive for free for the time being. AWESOME! I AM grateful to be putting thousands of miles on a car that's not mine without any cost & I'm grateful that this car has such great gas mileage; however, take a look at what I've been driving. A Lime green Ford Fiesta hatchback.

People really do stare at me while I'm driving by. I noticed it terribly for the first few days that I had the car. I even heard people in the car next to me at a stop light talking about how terrible my car was! Sometimes now that I've had it for such a long time, I forget why heads are turning as I drive by & I think I'm hot stuff ;)

37.5 weeks! He's really sticking out in this outfit! :) On to the bike ride.. from hell. Being 8 1/2 months pregnant and all, normally I realize I can't quite do everything that I used to & I hold back a little. Well, Saturday night I REALLY wanted to go for a bikeride. I've been wanting to go on one for weeks, but had convinced myself it wasn't practical until Saturday. Andrew wasn't home. We live on the 3rd floor. A thunderstorm was predicted to hit any minute. The sky LOOKED clear, so I thought I was safe. I carried my bike down the stairs with a bag of trash, took the trash to the dumpster, and hopped on my bike. Huh, not as comfortable as I remember. Wait, was I really out of breath after pedaling 10 feet? Couldn't be! I used to ride my bike for miles and miles without any problem at all, surely I could ride a mile or two with this belly? Not really. I had to put the bike in its easiest settings--so I was pedaling 100 times just to move 3 inches. Each time I pedaled, my thighs hit my belly & it was quite uncomfortable. I was determined to AT LEAST ride around the school next to our complex. As I was about 1/3 of the way done, a boy yelled out to me sarcastically, "I hope you enjoy your bike ride!!!". As I hit the half way point, the rain started coming.. and I mean realllllly coming. I thought I might die right there on the sidewalk, if not, at least I'd go into labor? About 15 minutes later, I got back to our complex, somehow managed to carry my bike back upstairs, and sat down completely winded vouching to NEVER do that again. Yikes. Sometimes I'm dumb :)