2 Weeks Old!

So we survived the first 2 weeks! T & I are still a bit tired & I'm still a little bit sore but it's getting easier every day. We're not quite sure who he looks like- T's fam thinks me & my fam thinks T. Eat, sleep, poop really is all that he does right now & WOW diapers go fast! It's great fun seeing his personality start to develop & we love some of the faces he pulls! He got his newborn pics taken last Monday so stay tuned in a couple weeks we'll get them back.

Labor & Delivery~

At 9:30 pm friday night (a full moon night) my water broke, so we rushed to the hospital. The hard part was that my water broke far before my cervix was ready. We checked into the hospital at about 10:45 pm which began what seemed to be the longest wait of our lives. I was not even a 2 when we checked in. I tried to walk a lot around the hospital to speed the process up but there was no change. At about 8:00 am I was a 4. I finally was a 10 at about 11:30 am, started pushing at noon-ish and had baby Grayden at 12:38 pm. My husband would be upset if I failed to mention that he was able to watch and help with everything. I thought for sure he would faint but he was fantastic in every way! The delivery seemed to go very well. I had them bring in the mirror so I could watch the process and I really recommend it. It was a neat experience and it let you know what was going on. It's very surreal that I'm a mom now, that I have a baby and how you can love something you just met so much. Thanks to all of our family and friends for your gifts, visits, meals, calls, prayers and all of your other ways of showing your love and support. Thank you!

Introducing...

GRAYDEN TIMOTHY HOWELLS!

Born August 16th 2008 @ 12:38 PM

8 lbs 2 oz & 22 in. long

Go USA!!

Since we Howells are huge Jazz fans you can only imagine how excited we are that Deron Williams & Carlos Boozer are representing USA on the Olympic Basketball team! After killing China by 31 points today it would seem that we have a great chance for the gold~ GO USA!

Hmmm... I'm not sure about this

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

I'm not gonna lie~ I was totally surprised by this result and I'm sure my mother & sisters will be too. 

Gentle & soft-spoken... not around my family & closets friends

Patience... well I'd like to think so & I've probably gotten better through the years but no I wouldn't say I'm very patient.

33 Weeks~

Okay so I'm actually 35 wks now, I'm just slow in posting. For the past month my baby has been measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule but I had a doc appt yesterday & it looks like he's starting to measure back to normal now- thank goodness.

Seattle Washington

Here are pics of some sights we saw in Washington.

Yummy restaurant with the best clam chowder I've ever had- seriously.

NERD ALERT!

One of the entrees were crab & that's one of the shells on Frankie's head.

Farmer's Market~ where they throw the fish.

I hate sharks.

Frankie as a jelly fish.

The Seattle skyline.

The kid was having so much fun that he fell asleep on the boat.

The Museum of Flight

This place was pretty cool & huge! It had the main room here of all kinds of models through the years. It had a NASA section, WWI & WWII, Wright Bros, Air Traffic Control, & a kids hands on learning section. Oh & my mom's favorite section was the display of past flight attendant uniforms- go figure.

Spy plane

Bonsai Gardens at the Weyerhaeuser campus.

Trail to get to the gardens.

29 Weeks~

Here I am at 29 wks. Baby Center says that he weighs about 2 1/2 lbs & is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. They also say that a healthy pregnancy gains 2-5 lbs the 1st trimester & about 1 pound per week for the rest of the pregnancy. So I have 11 wks to go which means 11 lbs & that thought makes me very nervous. Seeing that I'm already so uncomfortable & that I can't sleep. I'll tell ya what though, feeling him squirm around inside of me sure makes it bearable. Now I know that this is my first so I have nothing to compare him to but he sure seems to be a very active one. Whenever I'm sitting down & not doing much he'll go crazy & I'll watch my belly jiggle around like jelly. It's extremely weird but puts a smile on my face.

Asteroids

I remember playing this on our first computer a long time ago. Use the arrow keys and space bar.

Guess Who's Back... Back Again!

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK YA'LL!!

Wow! I saw this & about died & thought I should share it with all of you. Anything can happen, eh? I remember going to one of their concerts back in NC. We had the dolls and even their sleeping bags. Maybe rat tails will come back in fashion~ Yuck!

"The Right Stuff"

My Current Pregnancy Necessities

These are some items that I currently can't live with out & must be in stock at all times...

• Body Pillow~ My outstanding husband bought this for me for Mother's Day & I couldn't have wanted anything more. It has been next to impossible to sleep lately & when I don't get enough sleep I'm even more light-headed then normal. 
• The Bella Band~ A lot of you have already heard me boast about this fantastic article of clothing. It's a life saver! It keeps you in your regular clothes longer.
• Dannon Lite n' Fit, Apple Sauce, Cheese Sticks~ These are my favorite little healthy snacks that keep me satisfied through out the day.
• 7Up~ So lately I've been experiencing some serious morning sickness which is weird because I thought that was most common during your 1st trimester. During the 1st I never really got it in the morning it was usually at night. 
• Pregnancy Books~ I have the What To Expect as well as this one my doc gave me which I really like. It's short & to the point.
• Prenatal, Omega 3 Fish Oils~ I'm taking the prenatal for obvious reasons & the fish oils (2 a day) because my doc suggests I do.
• TUMS~ My new love! Before pregnancy I've never experience any stomach stuff that would suggest me taking this. I still don't think I get heart burn but after many weeks we realized that I do get some kind of acid indigestion/reflux type thing. Thx to my sweet husband at 3:00 AM he gladly went to a gas station to buy me some. (I felt bad but that's probably the worst thing I've made him do so far.) So my last trip to Costco I decided to just buy their monstrous like 10 yr supply. (The berries kind is good)
• Tummy Honey Butter & Mother's Special Blend~ These are to hopefully help prevent stretch marks (fingers crossed). They also help prevent itching.

I love these old school games~ Have a go at it!

I decided that It's going to be my new thing to post a new game every so often. Enjoy!

25 Weeks~

I know, wow right?! The freaky thing is that I still have 100 days to go! My stomach is completely relaxed in this photo to make it seem worse, but everyone & my doc tell me that I'm where I should be. It's just crazy to think that the baby isn't quite 2 pounds yet & he has at least 5 more to go. 7+ if I'm a Heather! (Oh please bless no! Sorry Heather:)

OuR DeToUr To SeAttLe

5th & Final Stop... Puyallup, Washington

(about 30 min south of Seattle)

This is our temporary home through August. The pic is of our apartment complex sign. We have a pretty sweet set up here. We have a workout room, full basketball court, theater room, tanning bed, sauna, & indoor & outdoor pools. It's not quite home sweet home but it will do for 4 months.

OuR DeToUr To SeAttLe

4th Stop... Gold Beach, Oregon

We stayed here for about a total of 14 hours. Just to eat and get some shut eye. It's a very pretty town on the coast but also very small. It almost felt like a ghost town. Maybe it wasn't the vacation season. We have a pic of the town's one landmark~ the bridge. These other pics are of the Oregon coast.