The mommies are gone and now life begins.

The past two weeks Brendan and I have had our moms here helping us out. My mom was here for the first week and Brendan's came for the second. Well, we just dropped Brendan's mom at the airport and now we get to experience what life is really like with a child. It was really nice having our moms here to help cook and clean. Every morning we would take Cruz down to Brendan's mom around 7ish and then we would sleep for another couple of hours. What are we going to do without a babysitter now?

Cruz is getting bigger by the day. We put him in his car seat yesterday and you can really tell how much he has grown since he came home from the hospital. When he first came home the car seat buckles were practically in his face because he wasn't tall enough, now there is plenty of room. His eyes are getting bluer too.

So my sister-in-law was kind enough to lend us her baby monitor while we get one for ourselves. I really didn't think we would need one because, all though we do have two stories, our place really isn't that big. But, I was wrong, it has been very helpful, especially when we are down stairs watching TV and he sound asleep in his little crib. Now that we have gotten more used to the little guy we decided it might be a good idea to get a two way monitor. Do any of you have one and what would you suggest?

1 week later.....

I finally am starting to feel well enough that I decided I should write about my version of the labor experience. Overall it was a good experience, I'm not saying the best ever, but it was one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I have to admit that it was better then I expected, but maybe its the mommy amnesia kicking in now and I don't remember all of the pain little Cruz put me through.
At 3am when I started having contractions I couldn't tell if they were the real deal, because they felt nothing like the braxton hicks contractions that I had earlier in my pregnancy (maybe they weren't braxton hicks then). To me they felt like the worst menstrual cramps that I had ever had. Did anyone else feel that way, because when I told my mom she sounded surprised at how I described them. Finally at about 4:30ish they were bad enough that Brendan and I decided that it was time to go.
When we got to the hospital I was already 4-5cm dilated, but I had also been 3cm dilated for the past two weeks. I told them that I was ready for my epidural and my nurse then tells me that they had three back-to-back emergency c-sections and it could be a few hours until I could have one. I thought I was going to die. Luckily the doctor came in a few minutes later and told me that an extra anastialogist had come in, whew!!!!! By that time I was already 7cm dilated and boy was I ready for some pain relief. The epidural felt like a warm blanket. It was really nice too, because I got to control how much pain relief I wanted. They gave me a button that I could push ever 15 minutes to give me an extra shot of relief. My labor was moving along really quickly, but after I had the epidural it slowed down, so I was finally given some drug to move my contractions along. I pushed for about an hour, but it went by so quickly. My mom was able to be in the room with me and Brendan did great. I was really expecting for him to get grossed out, but nothing really bugged him.
When Cruz came out I couldn't believe that I had carried him for 9 months and given birth to something that large. How is it possible? When they handed him to me it was all worth the pain that I went through.

Cruz on his way home from the hospital

Wow what a difference a week makes. We are trying really hard to get used to this parent thing. All of our friends have told us that we should really enjoy our pre-baby sleep, and we should have listened better. Cruz is not a bad sleeper he is just a confused little boy. He sleeps great from about 3 am to 7 pm. But the other hours of the day he feels is a great time to be awake, and for some reason he feels that he is really hungry that whole time. If he is not eating he will grunt and grunt and grunt........ and keep me awake wondering, is there something wrong, do I need to pick him up? But I think he just likes grunting.

Cruz Evan Marchant has made his arrival!!!!!!

Well the day has finally come. Brendan and Tatem are now parents. (well not yet at least, Tatem is asleep and is all drugged up with her eppidural and I am wide awake so I thought I would start this new blog post)

This morning around 2:30 or 3:00 am Tatem woke up with some contractions, around 4:30 we called the hospital to find out when or if they wanted us, and they said that we could come in if we wanted to be checked but they couldn't tell us over the phone if it was real or false. Tatem didn't feel that the pain was very bad and was afraid that they would send her home so we decided that we would try and wait for an hour or so. It seemed like as soon as she hung up the phone, her contractions got allot more intense. The contractions were getting so close together that she was having a hard time brushing her teeth etc. So we decided that it probably was a good time to go.

It now is 10:00 am her water has broken and is really close to delivery.

News FLASH.......

1:35 Cruz has entered the world.

7 pounds 11 oz

19 inches

he was rated a 10 on some scale


We are really excited and now have a better reason to add more posts...

New Camera.

We have been wanting a nice camera for a long time. So we bit the bullet and got one from Costco.... (We are the king and queen of costco, It seems like we go every other day)

It was cold, rainy, and dark on Monday night by the time Tatem got home from Wells, and since we are trying to coax the little one out, we decided to walk the Costco Halls. After drooling over the big T.V's, we started looking at the cameras. We decided on the Panasonic DMC-FZ18 which I have really enjoyed getting to know. It can do everything........ point and shoot, adjustment of the shutter, apature, as well as a 100 page book of stuff I don't have a clue how to do.

Realistically it is not D-SLR quality (it is fun to use new words, and sound like I have even the slightest clue) But it did get great reviews and will work great for my skill level. Here are a few samples of my one day of photography.

The wait is on.....

We had a great Christmas and New Years.

Christmas eve we went to Portland to spend Christmas with Tatems family. It was fun to get everyone together and hang out with the fam. Tatem and I got Guitar Hero 3 and it was a huge hit. When I first saw the game I thought it looked really dumb, but I was wrong. I now have an guitar hero addiction. It was really funny to see her Parents "rock out" on the game.

On the 28th Tate and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. It is really exciting to see how fast time has gone, where we have been, and what we have done in these few years. We spent a few days in Bend OR. shopping,eating and just relaxing.

Well the most exciting news is that the baby should be making his arrival any day..... Tatem had a check up on Friday and her doctor was telling us that it is very common for 1st born's to come late. (she is due on the 18th). Then she did her check and as of Friday Tatem is 3cm dilated and 90% effaced. So I guess this little guy wants out. Even if he takes his time it will be ok.

We spent Friday and Saturday getting everything ready. Even with all of the great hand-me-downs we have gotten there still is a ton to get. It is amazing how much a little person needs.