Friend Visits, Family Fun and First Vacation

Dean is now over a month old! I can't believe how fast the time is flying!

We are now enjoying watching him smile and grunt and make "dinosaur noises" when we talk to him. He still has a fussy time in the night, but he is starting to become so much more interactive it's fun to spend so much time with him! Yesterday Mark even watched him roll over from tummy to back. We've obviously got the strongest, smartest, cutest baby in ALL the world :)

Apologies for my baby talk, but Dean "talking back"

Had our 6 week visit to the doctor and both he and I are healing well.Dr. has cleared me to start doing more things so Mark and I have been taking more walks around parks took Dean to Afton State Park and other regional parks around our home! I also got to go to the YMCA for the first time and I'm not sure if I enjoyed the freedom from anyone or the Yoga class more. Regardless I can't believe how excited I was to see Dean when I got home and how much I had missed him!

We've also been enjoying lots of time with friends and family: Max's 3rd birthday, trips to Northfield to visit my parents, visits from them here, park trips with Paul, Susan and Henry and random drop in visits from friends!

Fell asleep right away in her arms

Matching cousins

Park time is tiring!

Grame love

Jimpa with Henry

Speaking of friend visits, Cathy came to visit the first week of July and we had such a great time with her! We didn't do a ton, but she was such a help, bought us food, took care of Dean, gave me time to sleep and bathe; it was wondeful! We definitely miss her!

She messed his hair up haha

My babies and buddy

Beautiful view

The 2nd weekend in July Mark and I decided to be brave and make a family trip (me, him, Dean and Cici) to the cabin. It turned out great! We ended up making great time even in rush hour traffic, Dean hardly cried, and we only had to stop 1 time in 5 hrs! Not bad. We all enjoyed the relaxing, peaceful time at the lake, even if sometimes we did have to deal with a baby crying. It's hard not to feel happy when you are surrounded by such beautiful views, have a good place to stay and gorgeous weather.

Relaxing at cabin

He only sleeps being held

Family picture

Cabin Baths are fun!

This weekend we are headed to Afton for a big celebration with all the Aronsons because Mark's sister Sarah and her 3 kids are in town. We are excited to spend time with them this weekend and week and next weekend the entire Aronson clan is headed up to the cabin. It should be a crazy but fun time. Between 2 babies, 2 toddlers, 2 kids, 3 teenagers, 8 adults and 3 dogs, it will be quite an adventure! Very different from our last cabin visit.

Next month we look forward to spending some last days with my parents before they head back to NC, I will start teaching classes at the YMCA again, Mark and I both have a few professional development work days and we get to see Deanie turn 2 months. I can't believe how fast he is growing! Just look below...

3 weeks old

Today is Mark and I's 2 year anniversary. The sad thing is I didn't realize it until 2 days ago... Mark said to someone else that it was and I realized amidst all of this craziness of baby, life keeps moving on! I can't believe it was 2 years ago today that it was the HOTTEST day NC had seen and we became husband and wife celebrating with all of our friends and family. Today as I sit here and reflect on that day, it's crazy how different things are: first it's 65 degrees :), 2nd Mark is holding our sweet baby boy, 3rd we are sitting in our own house that we have now owned a year. It's crazy how quickly time flies!

Lately our lives have revolved around a tiny little 9.5 pound boy. I feel as though my schedule is dictated by feedings (I fed him one hour ago, so I have 1 hour to do something... Oh wait, he has to be held, ALL THE TIME) poopy diapers (Oh gosh Mark he just peed on himself! Get the tub ready!) sleeping (he finally fell asleep! Make sure you keep rocking him or he'll wake up) and staring at him (he is the cutest baby we have ever seen).

First Bath

Marcella wants baby

Although a newborn is obviously lots of work, I don't feel as though I'm "in a fog" like a lot of people say. Maybe we've gotten lucky? I mean we both are home from work which can help us share the responsibilities of a newborn. He is sleeping, ok, usually in 2/3 hour stretches (last night he had a 4 hour stretch!) And he generally doesn't cry unless he's hungry or wants to be held. He's been growing well, feeding great and has encouraged lots of people to come and visit us which has been nice :) And I've been healing. It's definitely been slower than I expected (a 1/2 mile walk is the best I still have yet to do and I still can't sit down on hard surfaces) but I've been listening to my body which will hopefully make things easier in the long run.

Julie LOVES Dean

Oldest Aronson Cousin and Youngest

Proud Grandparents

Bunking Cousins

With Grandma

Mark jokingly says he feels like he's on house arrest, but in reality I've been amazed at how much we have done with the little one. Our house is actually staying relatively neat (thanks to our anal ways), I made so much food and stored in freezer that I STILL have yet to cook (aside from a carrot cake I made to celebrate Paul's 26th birthday), we've made almost daily visits to home depot as we repair flood damage to the walls of our family room, Mark put together our new grill (YAY for a grill that works!) and I've gotten out of the house probably every other day (yesterday Dean and I went to the Eagan Art Festival!).

First Grocery Trip

3 Weeks old Grocery Shopping

He likes to escape from this one

Trusty Carriers help us get around

Overall the summer is definitely more relaxed than normal but at the same time we are staying sane by doing things we would otherwise want to do. Our one wish is that we could go to the cabin sooner than the end of July (which is our plan with his entire side of the family) so HOPEFULLY Dean will show us he wants to go too by continuing to sleep well at night? We will see. Regardless we couldn't be happier with our little boy. He's a lot of work, but like all parents say TOTALLY worth it. Now for an obnoxious amount of pictures :) ENJOY!

Dean Markus Aronson, A Birth Story

I can't believe I have been a mom now for 2 weeks! Mark and I are just IN LOVE with our little bundle of joy.

 How did he arrive?

6/5/2014 6:30 pm A sick mark and a nervous Sandy leave for Methodist
Hospital in St. Louis Park, MN. The plan is to be induced at 8pm. We arrive and are brought into the first room of the night. We later find out that shortly after we arrived THEY CLOSED the hospital to any one else giving birth. They had run out of rooms, boy were we relieved we made it!


8pm Dr. and nurse discuss possible induction methods with us and we
find we will try the must natural, starting with a med-free induction
by inserting a balloon catheter into the cervix. We decide to go to sleep. I
spend the next 3 hours tossing and turning through minor contractions
thinking that it's not fair that it's not real labor, and that my body
is doing "Nothing" according to our nurse.


6/6/2014
2 am Contractions become too much for me to even pretend to try and
sleep. Luckily Mark has been resting this whole time. I decide to
bounce on the labor ball and my water breaks!

2:45 Nurse comes in and confirms that my water has broken and we
remove the balloon catheter. She informs me that at this point it
appears I am "in labor" (What was I in before?) And that they will
continue to keep me and baby on the monitors for a little while but if
his heart rate continues to look good I will be taken off and we will
be no longer an "induced" labor (which is high risk) but a natural
labor! I am so excited at the prospect of not being tied to a monitor
anymore!


2:45-6 am I continue to labor through ever-increasing contractions
with the help of Mark and the birth ball and constantly changing
positions.

Keeping Everyone Updated

6 am Things start to get hazy here for me but we move into a new room
(nurses magically whisk all our things away) and I immediately jump
into the huge whirpool birthing room. I know at this point my labor is
hitting the "transition" phase. Which is considered the hardest phase
of labor. At this point I am exhausted and need a break. I found it in the 1-2 minutes
between contractions in which I started to doze in the tub (THAT is
how tired I was!) At one point I was dozing and a contraction began
and I tried to move my head slammed it into the tub and my doctor and
Mark just looked at each other. I don't even remember it happening. I
do remember looking at everyone watching me labor and saying "Gosh
this must be boring for you guys! Just waiting for me to finally do
something!" They just laughed. As painful as it was I tried to stay
calm and I remember continually apologizing for things and people
telling me I was doing just fine and to continue the way I was.


10:30 I'm finally told I can start pushing. I get excited thinking
that I will have relief to the incredible pain I've been feeling and
that by 11 am I will get to meet my little man. Boy am I wrong.
Pushing goes on FOREVER.

11am I'm still pushing.

11:31(ish) I give a HUGE push and they say this is it HE IS COMING! I
look down and he's put in my arms. A mix of love,
relief, exhaustion and excitement are washing over both of us. It's
such an incredible experience to have my baby finally in my arms.

Proud Papa

Our new Family

 Turns out that the rest of the day would be hard for me. Labor was
exhausting, hours upon hours of pain, no food, no sleep my body was
shot. We end up getting to stay in the birthing room a bit longer than
anticipated because I pass out on my way back from the bathroom. I end
up passing out one more time that day. Of course this happens when our
parents are all visiting and gives everyone a scare, but turns out,
doing the hardest thing of your life on no sleep can really take a toll on your body!

Weighing Baby

Lucky for Mark and I, Dean decides that he is exhausted too and pretty
much sleeps through the night. Our 2nd day in the hospital is much
more pleasant and we find that I appear to be healing ok, my blood
levels are ok, no signs of fever, and Dean passes all his newborn
screenings. He is feeding well, having good diaper habits :) and I am
able to walk to the bathroom on my own. We become a favorite of some
nursing staff because of our cute baby with "soo much hair!" and the
individually prepared bags of cookies I give out to anyone who helps
us. We are appreciative of the time we had in the hospital and the
help of the nurses but are more than ready to go home the next day.

Visitors

With Nana

Day 2

More Visitors

41 Weeks Pregnant

Boy has this week had its ups and downs! I think maybe the pregnancy hormones (YES I AM STILL PREGNANT) may have something to do with it. Or maybe it's the constant wondering "will today be the day?" Or the texts, e-mails, phone calls "DID YOU HAVE THE BABY YET!?" (Don't worry, you will know when it happens!) Or maybe it was hearing that I may not have the exact birth I want. Needless to say poor Mark has come home to a crying wife more this week than he's used to. The moments are fleeting and I quickly recover, but I have found myself extra emotional as this pregnancy comes to an end. (It has to come to an end right?)

41 week belly

I'm currently 41 weeks pregnant and am now being monitored much more often. Yesterday I had a NST (non-stress test) where they monitor baby's heartbeat for 30 minutes. He was active and constantly in 130's, 140's (spiked to 160 when doctor came in). Today we had an ultra sound to check fluid levels and breathing. He passed in 5 minutes (they give them up to 30). We even got some cute glimpses of fingers and toes!

Cici is ready to protect him already :

It's funny because his birth is something we've been anticipating and expecting for MONTHS, but on our walk today Mark and I realized seeing his "due date" come and go, has left us unprepared once again. It's like we had been prepping and prepping for this big event, and when it didn't happen.... we thought it was over! But, I have to keep reminding myself he is going to come and soon! If he's not out by Thursday I am going to be induced. I know many people are induced (many choose to be) but I am nervous about it, simply because it wasn't the way I saw it happening. I am hoping for a water birth, as natural as possible, with the majority of laboring to be done at home. But, perhaps baby is teaching me to expect the unexpected and to prepare myself BEFORE labor happens, so that when curve balls are thrown I am more prepared. Or maybe he's just having way too much fun punching me from the inside... Who knows!

Regardless, in 4 (or less!) days, Mark and I are going to get to hold our little boy in our arms. I know this could be some of the LONGEST 4 days of my life, so I'm trying to come up with little projects that keep me busy. Today I made three little burp cloths :) I've pinned quite a few projects that I hope to get started tomorrow and continue throughout the week. And I'm hoping that MAYBE, just maybe, because I've got all these plans made, he's going to say "SURPRISE!" and come tonight (or tomorrow) :) It's all a game in patience, but the day will come. And to all those out there wondering WHEN.... don't worry, We will let you know :)

Burp cloth