Aiden is 5 months old!

Well yesterday was Aiden's 5 month old birthday. We made sure to remind him of that all day long, even singing it to him at one point. 

His surgery went well and he seems to still be in recovery mode. They found an absess while they were operating and were able to also get that removed so that it didn't have the chance to cause any problems. There were no complications and he seems to be coming around feeling pretty good. We are doing our best to keep him pumped up on tylenol just to be on the safe side! Such a great little baby boy!


I must say though, that I worry sometimes about the amount that kid eats!! Dan and I were reading up on the recommended intake for a 5 month old yesterday and it was nowhere near what Aiden eats!! It says on average, a 5 month old will take in about 32 oz of formula a day (Aiden does that just during the night) and 1-2 Tbsp of fruits or veggies...(Aiden eats 5 or 6 "2nd Foods" a day!!!). He is doing great growth wise so I haven't put too much focus or energy into the issue but it's still rather interesting. He also isn't sleeping through the night yet which is slightly frustrating. He wakes up 2-3 times during the night to drink his formula which makes my few hours of sleep even less when you take the 30 minute wake up feeding sessions into account. But, by at least 9 months from now when the new little bundle arrives, Aiden will be pro at everything that he isn't already pro at. He's one smart cookie!!

Moving forward...

So most people will probably immediately realize that there is a huge chunk of postings missing from this blog. I went through a period of time after Aiden was born where it took everything I had to make it through each and everyday. I had severe postpartum depression and was medicated and had to see a psych. We were facing a military deployment and me possibly losing my job over the medications I had to take. It was an extremely difficult time. I didn't realize until just now when I was going through and hiding those posts how much I have really improved since then. I still have hard days but the difference in my coping skills is just amazing and it's pretty exciting to understand.

I struggled with the decision of whether to hide the posts or not. It was one of the hardest times in my life and one that I would prefer to forget, but I learned a lot from it and grew immensely through the process. So as a compromise, I kept the posts to read over later and remember what I've been through to get to the point I'm at, but I made them private so that it is easier to focus on the wonderful things in my life like Aiden and soon to be baby #2.

That's right! We are officially in baby #2 mode!! We are so excited!!

But before I get into that, I need to go into the fact that Aiden has surgery in the morning. I'm so anxious about it. Bilateral Inguinal Hernia. It's about an hour to two hour procedure. Lots of risks involved because of the area but they assured us that they are great at this particular surgery and don't plan on damaging our little boys goods at all. Other than not getting to eat for 8 hours straight, I know it’s going to be harder on me than it will be on him. The not eating for 8 hours part is going to make him miserable!!! But we’ll make it through. We always do! Aiden has taught me that. Aiden has already taught me many things in his 4 months of life and I couldn’t be more grateful for him!

And now on with the awesomely exciting news!! We are officially TTC again!! (trying to conceive). I stopped taking my b/c on the 7th and now we start the waiting game again. After

having had to try for Aiden for 4 months, we are very familiar with this game, but much more patient this time around. We learned through Aiden that however long it takes is completely worth it in the end (though I may need to be reminded of that a couple months from now if it takes a little while again).

We are so excited to be able to keep building our family and to bring another life and more love into our worlds!

It’s crazy that we are doing this during our year of debt dieting as another baby will surely have an adverse effect on the whole saving money thing, but we are already on such a great path with the debt and we are way too excited to build our family to put it off for anything!

Now if we could only get moved up to Canada within the next 9 months or so to get us a year of paid maternity leave!!! (It’s an actual possibility…the whole moving to Canada thing.)

Welcome Aiden!!

So he's finally here!! As of May 16th, 2009, at 1355 in the afternoon, we are a mommy and daddy to Aiden John Cantu! Weighing in at 7lbs 10oz on his birthday, and 19 inches long, he is definitely a future heart breaker!



After 8 days, I can say that all the books in the world could have never fully prepared us for the wonderful world of parenthood. We have learned more in the past 8 days than we did over the past 9 months of reading and probably beyond. It has been challenging to say the least.

It's crazy to me how fast time has passed by already. I only have about 4 more weeks before I have to go back to work and I already know that I'm going to miss the little guy like craaaazy during those 10 hours everyday, but alas, diapers and formula are waiting on the store shelves to take our money so work is pretty necessary and I know (this is the denial and partial-optimist in me talking) that it will be a great growing experience for both of us to be apart during the day!

I still sit and stare in amazement at him, completely flabbergasted by the fact that he was in my tummy just 8 days ago! I found a video on my camera that I had taken of my tummy where you could see him kicking and moving around..it's awesome! Who would have thought that I could be so in love with a boy who, mid-nap, starts making noises, stretches out his legs, and lets out a fart that is so big it seems nearly impossible that it came from someone his size! His daddy is so proud!! I love the fact that even when he spit up on my face after a nice dinner time bottle, I just kissed him on the forehead and congratulated him on his great burp - that's mommy-hood to me, and that's what my world has become, and I honestly couldn't be happier or more excited to be here!!

We just can't wait to see how much he grows and changes each and everyday!

A very long and trying 2 weeks...

I'm going to do my best to not come across sounding negative during this update but I've really been struggling with how everything has been going the past 2 weeks. For anyone that hasn't been hearing from us or others via text or phone, I'll try to summarize what's been going on...

On May 1st, I was in the hospital with nice solid contractions that were only 4 minutes apart for hours and after doing some walking around the hospital and monitoring the contractions and Aiden's heart rate for a while, we ended up being sent back home. We were told to wait until my contractions were so strong that I wouldn't be able to talk through them before we try to return to the hospital. Since then, I've had bouts of contractions nearly everyday, sometimes only mild ones coming sporadically throughout the day, sometimes coming full on and intense every 4 or 5 minutes for hours at a time, leaving me on my hands and knees rocking around on the floor at my desk. It's a pretty rotten situation to be miserable but be told you're more or less not miserable enough to do anything...

During our time at the hospital, our nurse was monitoring my contractions on a machine and noticed that in addition to the strong spikes of actual contractions lasting a full minute and coming every few minutes, there was also a constant almost twitching or clenching of my uterus that was registering on the machine. After watching for a while, she determined I have what is known as "Irritable Uterus". Not really knowing what that meant, it didn't mean too much to me at the time but I've since been able to do some research and what I'm finding is leaving me somewhat torn. Here is a website all about the condition: http://www.irritable-uterus.com/

In some ways it's really nice to read over the information knowing that the majority of it is exactly what I've been trying to describe myself as feeling for the past couple weeks. It's sort of comforting to know that there's a name for this and it also makes it seem like it's easier to communicate how I'm feeling and what is happening with us. At the same time, it's still irritating because I feel like it's not any positive information. Basically, nobody has really studied much into this so there is no treatment and some doctors (like ours) don't really take it very seriously and just tend to blame braxton hicks contractions and have a sort of "get over it" attitude.

It's really difficult to come so close (I was checked in and hooked up in Labor and Delivery, totally ready to go) but then have nothing happen. Then to continue to have contractions almost daily for 2 weeks and still nothing, it's very defeating... I've started taking time off work on the days I'm having strong contractions and it's frustrating because it just takes away from the already limited time off I get after Aiden arrives. Our doctor left town for 2 weeks so he will not be back until Memorial Day weekend which doesn't leave us with much help during this time. We have an appointment Thursday with a substitute doctor from the same office, and I will hopefully be able to communicate the situation well enough to her to maybe get some understanding and, if we're super lucky, even an induction scheduled. I am in my 39th week and couldn't be more ready for Aiden to be here.

Dan has been wonderful through this whole thing, constantly reminding me that Aiden can't stay in there forever and once he's here, it wont matter that we had such a tough wait because he will be completely worth it. My mom and sister-in-law Sarah have also been a huge help through all of this, checking on me often and listening when I just needed to cry. I couldn't be more appreciative of all of this!!

Hopefully we'll have some better news after our appointment on Thursday or maybe even an Aiden to show off by then! But until you hear from us again, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and stay tuned!! :)

Any day now!!

So we're officially to term (week 37) and Aiden could be joining us any day now!! :) Can you believe it?!

We had our checkup yesterday and it went great! The doctor started by telling us he would guess we had a few more weeks to go..but then he did the internal exam and realized how low and settled Aiden is already. He said that as soon as labor starts, we're good to go! Aiden is big enough now that he would be perfectly healthy if he were born today! Yay!! We did it!!!!! The Dr says based on the growth rate up until this point, Aiden will most likely be about 6.5 pounds when he's born. Weather that's next week or 4 weeks from now is completely up to Aiden!





The nursery is completely ready and waiting! :) It looks so great and I'm so excited about how it turned out!







Everything else has been going great! Dan and I have been going on a lot of dates with just the two of us, trying to get some good alone time in while we still can. We are so unbelievably excited for Aiden to get here too! Dan has the diaper bag all packed up and ready to go and we've already set out Aiden's take home outfit from the hospital.

Dan just recently got hired on with a security company to keep him busy until he can get on with a police agency. He's passed the interviews with a few different agencies and is still working his way through the rest of the processes but they're going well!

Other than that, we're just waiting!! Waiting for Aiden to decide he wants to evacuate and join us! :)

The countdown continues!

Can you believe it?! Only a month and a half to go until Aiden is here! If Dan had it his way, I would have delivered a couple weeks ago, but I am glad Aiden has had this much time to grow and get ready for life in this big big world.

So much has happened lately! My baby shower was a huge success and I couldn't have been happier with the way it all turned out! There are no words to really say how much I appreciate everything my mom and Sarah did!





Dan has started his terminal leave from the army is home full time right now and pretty much bored out of his mind. He's continuing to test with different police agencies and progressing through their various processes. He's been keeping busy with getting everything all ready for Aiden around the house and the nursery.



Aiden and I are continuing to grow! I can't believe how round I've gotten!! Aiden is approximately 5 lbs and 17 inches already!! Just a pound or two to go and he can come out already!!



Other than that, I survived a kidney infection with no pain meds! I was running a fever of over 102 degrees for about 3 days straight and in quite a bit of pain, but the positive side is, I'm not so scared of labor anymore because at least it comes with an epidural!! :)

Dan and I are just relaxing together for the next few days and working a bit more on organizing the nursery. I'm officially in my nesting stage and have been going crazy around the house. We can't wait! Hurry up Aiden!!

Nursery progress!!

So it only took 6 ½ months but we’re finally making some great progress on the nursery!! We’ve been working hard and still have a few more things to do but it’s looking awesome! I can’t wait to start adding furniture and more decorations!

Welcome to the final countdown!!

We've made it so far!! It's finally the third trimester! Can you believe it??

In some ways this pregnancy is seeming to last forever. As I see everyone else around me start to have their babies. But in some ways it seems to be flying by. We still have so much to get done before Aiden arrives! But I'm sure we'll get it all finished in plenty of time.

Everything with our checkup went well. I had to take the glucola screening which tests for gestational diabetes. I survived 3 different needle pokes cause my arms just weren't wanting to share their blood. Needless to say, I had a hard time with it, but Dan says I did great and he's very proud of me! Yay!! I couldn't do it without him! :) We should have the results in the next couple days. Based on some symptoms I've been having lately, the Dr thinks I most likely have what is called "reactive hypoglycemia", also called "postprandial hypoglycemia". Basically, what it means is that my body doesn't initially produce enough insulin to control my blood sugar after I eat, and then my body tries to over-correct by producing even more insulin, which then makes my blood sugar too low. It's not extreme at this point. I tend to get either really tired after eating or really dizzy, but have yet to pass out or have any worse symptoms. Other than that, we are both growing big, and staying healthy!

Aiden is most likely around 14.5 inches long and 2.5 pounds at this point.

We picked out our paint color for the nursery and bought the paint. Now we're just waiting for a good day to slap it on the walls. We're very excited!! Dan's even planning to build a dresser to put in the window cubby area of the nursery! I can't wait!!

Everything else is going great also! Dan has only 13 more actual work days in the Army before his terminal leave starts and he is free! Dan's terminal leave is him getting to use all of his accrued paid time off, so he will be home and available for job testing and interviews for almost 3 full months! Woohoo!! He's still doing great with his PD testing. We've added more agencies and will hopefully be hearing stuff soon. My work has been busy busy busy. I've been working overtime non stop to fill up my banks of time off for my maternity leave. As of today, I only have to work 8 more blocks of overtime before my banks are full! That will be such a wonderful feeling!

We can't wait for the shower coming up soon to get to see everyone again! And we can't wait for summer! All of these gray rainy days can hit the road! :) Common sunshine!!!

Growing indeed!

Things are going well on the home front. Aiden is kicking all day everyday and especially at night when we lay down and Dan starts talking to him. It's so funny because you can see him squished up in different areas of my stomach. He has no regard for making things comfy for mommy, that's for sure.
This is a picture of my belly taken today, during my 25th week. It's going by so fast!!

We're starting to try to work more on getting the nursery planned and hopefully put together soon. It seems like there's so much to get done!! We haven't even painted yet!! But there's still plenty of time I guess.

Dan is so very anxious for Aiden to get here. Every time we see a baby he talks about how he wishes ours was already here and how he can't wait to hold him and carry him around. He's going to be such a wonderful daddy!! I can't wait!!

Other than all the growing, there isn't too much else going on. I got a new shift at work that I will start next month. It's not so wonderful, but we'll make due, everything always works out. :) Dan has heard back from Auburn that they liked him at the interview and want him to continue on in the hiring process so the next step is for them to do the background investigation. He's also applying with a couple other agencies but is really excited about Auburn at this point. He is almost done with the Army and we're both counting the days.

We don't have our next appointment until the end of February so I will post another update then. At that point, we'll be down to less than 3 months until Aiden arrives...how crazy is that??