Easter Pictures

We took Easter pictures with my friend Heather , Chunky Monkey Photography. I was pleasantly surprised that she got some good pictures. He came down with a cold that day and didn't seem photogenic at all. We also thought he would be more into the live rabbit, but turns that the table and chairs he was sitting on were more interesting. I guess he gets that from his mom.

Easter - April 4, 2010

This year was Mason's first Easter. We had a great time with him. He was so observant and loved watching all the fun that his cousins were having. I am sure that next year will be even more eventful when both Riven and Mason are one year older. Mason is 10 months old, Riven is almost 2 months, Koda is 3 and Ryder is 4. I can't believe how fast they are all growing up.

Riven Belle Burdette

My sister had her 3rd child this past month. Riven Belle Burdette was born on February 10, 2010 (2/10/2010). Perfect date wasn't it? She was 6 lbs 14 oz. Kim weighted the exact same as Riven did. We are so excited about her arrival and so are her brothers. Here's a picture that my friend Heather with Chunky Monkey Photography took of her. Isn't she gorgeous!

Quick Update...

Okay, so a lot has happened since my last blog entry. It's true that having a baby changes everything...including any small down time you have. You just don't have much of it at all.

Here's the break down and a couple of photos of what lead up to having our sweet baby boy on June 2, 2009.

Saturday, May 23rd:

Tony and I took maternity pictures at the Arboredum and our house. The pictures were taken by a friend of mine, Heather, with Chunky Monkey Photography. She did an awesome job. We are just so fortunate that she has shared her talent with us. Here are just a few of so many great pictures she took of us.

(Check out her website at http://www.chunkymonkeyphotography.com/)

Wednesday, May 27th:
We had our last sonogram of Mason. The picture didn't turn out that great because of his size. Not that he was huge, its just harder to see the full view of a baby at 36 weeks. They predicted that he weighed 6 lbs 12 oz at this visit. They also said that the sonogram can read 1 lb give or take off. This kind of worried me. I knew we had at least 3 more weeks to go and that they grow 1/2 lb each week from this point in the pregnancy. So I was thinking that I could potientially have a 9 lb baby. Yikes...

Friday, May 29th:

In the nick of time, Tony and I toured the Labor and Delivery & Post Pardum wings of Baylor Grapevine Hospital. See Tony and I decided against taking any birthing classes while we were pregnant. Since the hospital tour is part of those classes we at least thought we should know where we needed to go and ask the nurse any last minute questions about that big day. I thought I'd feel better about being familiar with where we needed to go and taking the tour. It actually did the opposite. I kind of freaked out on Tony and balled my eyes out all the way home. All I could think of is how unprepared we were and that we should have taken birthing classes. Tony eventually calmed me down but of course that was after many many tears later. I attribute that to the pregnancy hormones. Oh well...

Sunday, May 31st:

At 5:30 am, I was woken up by my youngest dog, Molly. Sure enough, I felt my water break. Its weird, but they do say that your pets can sense things and she was right on to sense that there was something wrong with me. Well, I woke Tony up and we called the doctor. She told us to go ahead and get to the hospital. All I could think of was how thankful I was that we took that last minute tour. When we got there I was 1 cm dialated but it turns out that my water hadn't broken yet. I started to get some pretty strong contractions that were around 2-3 minutes apart. To help with the pain, they gave me pain meds. Waiting to see if I would dialate any further, the doctors noticed that my blood pressure had spiked. This was a concern because I'd had been experiencing major feet and ankle swelling through out the end of the pregnancy. They call this pre-clampsia (sp?). Around 3:30pm, the measured me again to see if I had progressed but I had only dialated to 2cm. The doctor decided that she would not induce labor at this point since I was only at 36 weeks. She wanted to make sure that he stayed as long as he could so his lung would have time to develop properly. Even one more week would be better than taking him then at that point. So she put me on bed rest because of the pre-clampsia and we went home. Here are some pictures from our FALSE ALARM DAY!

Soon to be Daddy waiting patiently thinking, "Is today the BIG day?"

And here's a picture of my dreaded ankles and feet. I decided to let Tony take a picture of them so we could look back at how big they got. I called them my "Flintstone" feet. And always told Tony that if my car ever broken down not to worry. I would be able to use my feet to paddle my way home like Fred Flintstone would do. By the way, I did everything possible to cover those bad boys too. I managed to wear pants and jeans every day of my pregnancy. Thank goodness it didn't get too terribly hot there towards the end.

36 Weeks - May 23, 2009

Memorial Day weekend marks the 36th week of pregnancy. We are only 4 weeks away from meeting our little boy. This weekend was pretty eventful for us too. Tony and I made a big trip to BabiesRUs to pick up some of the bigger items left on our registry. Our biggest concern was the stroller and car seat. I kept having anxiety that we'd go into labor and not be able to take him home since we were without a car seat up until now. Of course, there wasn't too much anxiety because my sister and mom live within 10 minutes of us and have plenty of car seats to go around. That's the plus side of having nephews who have lead the way.

We were also fortunate enough to meet up with two of my college friends.

Here are a couple pics from our visit. Jennifer and I are sorrority sisters and were roommates throughout college. She now lives in Washington state with her husband, Kal, and 3 month old little girl, Ava Grace. Her husband, wasn't able to make it down this time. We did miss visiting with him though. Her parents and sister meet us for lunch as well. It was great catching up after all this time.

Here are pictures from our visit with Kelly, Robby and little Anthony DeSanto. Kelly and I were Interior Design classmates. We labored many hours without sleep designing projects for four years at Stephen F. Austin State University. I figure if we can go without sleep for four years getting through design school, we can both make it through the infant years of no sleep as well.

The Crib is DONE!

Tony finished the crib just in time for Mother's Day - May 10, 2009. This was the best gift he could give me...and his little boy. He was also able to show it off to his mom and pops who flew down for Mother's Day and a baby shower that weekend. I know they were just as impressed.

So here's the story behind this picture. Tony had been questioned whether or not the crib would support the baby or not. He was told that he should test it out by putting a couple cement blocks in it to see if it would withstand the weight. Of course he met the challenge and took it even further. He decided that he would get in it and sure enough it held him. I will say its a relief to know that it will hold our baby. If it can hold a 200 pound grown man, then our baby will be just fine.

Look how excited he was. He's so adorable!

And then of course, he had to test whether or not it would sleep comfortably. I think it passed with flying colors! We'll have to compare these pictures to when Mason gets here. I wonder if he'll look anything like his daddy in the crib. Hopefully he'll look like his daddy...just not as big as his daddy. :)

And in closing, I'd like to leave you with words from the Author / Editor of this blog to my loving husband.

Tony,

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You did a fabulous job making the crib. I couldn't be more impressed with your craftsmanship. I am so proud of all your hard work, determination and effort you put into making this wonderful creation happen. Thank you for being patient with me and for letting me assist you as "Quality Control Manager". I know sometimes you wanted to throw the QCM out of the garage (workshop) a couple of times. But through it all, I think we made a great team. Hopefully you thought so too. I can't wait to share this wonderful piece with our children and may be even our grandchildren. You're the best husband and I just know you'll be the best father!

- Love always and forever

Melissa (aka you're loving QCM)