Craziness

My life has pretty much been a crazy whirlwind since Matthew was born... mostly in a good way. :-) Here are some of the craziness highlights:

-We found out that we are moving to Phoenix!!! We are super excited to be moving to the West, but also sad to be leaving the place that we started our little family. And even though when I first pictured Phoenix in my head I saw this....


....Michael has helped me start to see it like this:


I hate moving, and we still have so much to do before we leave. Did I mention that we leave this weekend, and we've barely started packing? Yikes. At least I don't have to drive across the country with a newborn- Michael is doing the driving and me and Matthew are flying. Please pray that my baby behaves on the plane! :-)

-Matthew has decided that he just doesn't want to learn how to sleep during the night, no matter what I try. We've had a couple of really rough nights, and one morning after Matthew was crying all night because he had an upset tummy I even said to Michael, "That was the worst night of my life." Thank heavens for a husband that is SO great with Matthew and helps out all the time. And by the way, how does anyone ever sleep if they have more than one kid? I'm only functioning because I can take naps whenever Matthew does.

-Speaking of Matthew, I pretty much LOVE most of the craziness he has brought into my life.... even if his sleeping skills aren't so great. :-) He is so fun and I can't believe how much I love him. He is already growing up way too fast. I am so glad that he is ours forever. Even though I may have had a couple of the worst nights of my life, I have also had several of the best days of my life. My baby is so awesome.


-We had some visitors- Michael's mom and then my sister and niece. I loved having more people around here and my sister even treated me and my niece to a Taylor Swift concert! It was a seriously cool concert and I was incredibly impressed. Oh, and then my sister took some amazing pictures of Matthew that I'm just loving. Plus, I got to enjoy some fabulous girl time. It also didn't hurt to have so many helping hands around here- especially since I still sometimes feel like a deer in the headlights when it comes to taking care of a newborn.


This week will be all kinds of crazy with packing and saying good-bye to friends but I'm so excited for the new adventures that Phoenix will bring. Good-bye Nashville!

Matthew Michael Byram

Well, Matthew has been here for over a week now, and I figured that it was time to post the story of how he made his way into this world. :-)

On Friday, August 19th, me and Michael decided to go on a date. We grabbed some lunch and then walked around the Opryland Hotel. We had fun looking around in all the little shops and made jokes about how all the walking was going to put me into labor. (I'm not convinced that that's what did it, but hey, it couldn't have hurt!) Anyway, I felt pretty normal until later that night (around 11:30 p.m.) when we were getting ready for bed. I started having what I thought were some uncomfortable Braxton Hicks contractions. I layed down on the couch and watched an episode of House with Michael, and the contractions just got stronger. I was still thinking it was Braxton Hicks so I told Michael we should just go to bed. Within three minutes of laying down, I knew that sleep was NOT going to happen for a while. The contractions got uncomfortable enough to make me jump out of bed and want to walk around. Michael thought that it might be labor, but I still wasn't convinced. I had it in my head that I wasn't going to have my baby until September, and that I might even have to be induced. Anyway, we decided to go back out to the living room and watch TV for a while and just see what would happen.

Well, within about an hour my contractions had gone from really uncomfortable to downright painful. Michael kept asking me during my contractions to rate the pain on a scale of 1 to 10, and soon I asked him to stop talking to me during my contractions. He didn't listen, and at first I just ignored him. Then, during a really bad contraction, he made the mistake of once again asking me to rate my pain. I said something ridiculously mean, like, "If you talk to me again during a contraction I'm going to beat your face." Yes, I seriously said that! Even as I was saying it, I was thinking to myself, "Whoa, chill out!! You're being so mean!" Luckily Michael just kind of laughed, and said that he thought we should get ready to go to the hospital. I SO did not want to get to the hospital only to get sent away, so I had Michael call the OB unit at the hospital. The nurse told Michael that as soon as I no longer wanted to talk to him, we should come in. So, based off of my behavior, and the fact that my contractions were 5 minutes apart, we decided we should probably go. In between contractions I helped Michael pack up, and within 10 minutes we were ready to go. I was still terrified of being sent away, but by this time I was in so much pain that I knew that even if I wasn't in real labor I would need some kind of painkiller, because it was just getting worse and worse. We left the house at around 3:15 a.m.

The drive to the hospital was horrible. It was much more like a movie than I care to admit... you know... when the woman in labor is whining and breathing heavy and telling her husband to drive faster. ;-) My contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and I remember just desperately wanting to get there. We had been told to go in through the main ER entrance, and as soon as I walked in the worker said, "You must be in labor." We filled out some paperwork and I kept having to stop what I was writing or pause what I was saying every time I had a contraction. I remember feeling super annoyed at the worker because it seemed like she was taking her sweet time. She also told me that labor, for her, "wasn't that bad" and it made me want to punch her in the face. (As you can see, I'm definitely not the nicest person in the world when I'm in labor. I am also, apparently, a wuss). When I finally got up to my hospital room, I was told to put on the hospital gown. When I was walking to the bathroom I had the worst contraction yet and the nurse told me that I needed to take slower and deeper breaths or I might pass out. I thought to myself, "Hmm, that would be AWESOME." (See? Biggest wuss ever). The nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 5. Michael asked, "So does that mean we're staying?" and the nurse said, "Definitely. This baby is coming very soon." She asked me if I wanted an epidural and I said "YES!" Michael, who is the best husband ever, added that I would want it ASAP. :-) She told me that I would have to get my IV put in first, but she and another nurse blew TWO veins before they finally got one in. Throughout all this I was trying to stay in control and be patient, but I can honestly say that this was the closest I've ever been to losing control. Seriously, women who give birth naturally are so tough.

Anyway, I finally got my epidural around 4:30ish, and I was already dilated to a 7. They were actually pretty quick at getting my epidural, but it felt like hours. :-) The worst part was having to hold still during a contraction while she was putting the needle in my back. The funniest part was when Michael squeezed my hand so hard during it that I had to tell HIM that he was hurting ME and needed to not squeeze me so hard. And the best part was the almost instant relief. Life was so good that I wanted to cry, and I think I may have. I was nice to Michael again, and we took happy pictures.


The epidural slowed down my labor, but I didn't mind. We chatted, got excited, and even took a nap. (We were both exhausted). I was also incredibly nervous because it was still 10 days before my due date and I didn't feel prepared. Looking back, I think I would have felt nervous and unprepared even if I was overdue. Having it all suddenly be so real can really bring out your insecurities. Anyway, by 9 a.m. I was at a 9+, but they decided to let my baby drop as much as possible to shorten the time I had to push. At 11:15 I started pushing with the nurse and within 5 minutes she was telling another nurse to get my doctor. At 11:47 I layed my eyes on the most beautiful baby boy I have ever seen. He was really purple at first but came out screaming so he pinked out pretty quickly. :-) When I held him for the first time I think I felt about a billion emotions. I knew that I had been preparing my entire life for this, and I felt so much love and gratitude toward my husband, my parents, and Heavenly Father. There is nothing quite like the moment where you hold your child and know that your life will never be the same.


The rest of our hospital stay went well. My mom flew in the next day and stayed with us for a week. Thank heavens she did!! She was amazing and it was hard for us to see her go. She made us delicious meals, showed me how to take care of a newborn, and even gave me a much needed pedicure. :-) When she left, I almost felt horrified that she was leaving me alone with a brand new baby. We're still learning, but so far things are going pretty good. People are right when they say that it's hard, but people are even more correct when they say that it's beyond amazing. I can't imagine our life without Matthew.

Some of my favorite things about Matthew include the way he's ALWAYS making noises, how he eats his hands to let us know when he's hungry, (which seems to be pretty much all the time...haha) and the cute faces he makes. He only really cries when he's hungry, and he loves to sleep on people's chests.

Oh, and here are a few of my favorite pictures. :-)

He's Here!!!

Matthew Michael Byram
Born 8/20/11 at 11:47 a.m.
7 lbs, 14 oz
21 inches long

Everyone is doing great, and we are loving getting to know the newest member of our family. He's got dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and some seriously healthy lungs. :-) More pics and info soon!

All Kinds Of Good Things

Lots of great things have been happening around here lately. I never even mentioned that Michael finished school a couple weeks ago! What a stud. He now holds a Master's degree. Well, technically he will after he defends his thesis next week, but close enough. He thinks his new title should be Master. He wishes. ;-)
Also, last weekend was fabulous. My amazing friend Anna threw me a baby shower and it was perfect! The theme was 'ABC' and it was adorable. That girl really knows how to throw a party. She has a good amount of the pictures but here are a few that I took with my camera....

Cute invitation huh? (I crossed out her address in Photoshop for this picture because I didn't think Anna would appreciate me advertising her address to the blogging world).

The food was seriously so yummy.

A few of the guests....

Me and Anna

I am so thankful for such good friends and family here in Tennessee, Utah, Vegas, and CA that have been more than generous and have spoiled our little boy rotten already. THANK YOU EVERYONE! You are all so great.

Anyway, last weekend was also our first anniversary!! It was actually on Sunday, so we mostly celebrated on Friday and Saturday. On Friday we saw a movie with some free movie tickets we had, and on Saturday after my shower we went to a Color Me Mine type place and then out to dinner. Am I weird for loving Color Me Mine type places even though I have absolutely no artistic ability whatsoever? Probably. Anyway, we made salt and pepper shakers because I needed some anyway. We even made them lovey-dovey. ;-)

This last year has flown by. Being married to Michael has been so wonderful and so much fun, and I am looking forward to our second year together! (And an eternity after that!)

Have I mentioned yet that there are only 18 days left until my due date? That's another wonderful thing happening around here. :) I am feeling enormous, excited, and nervous. Mostly excited though. We have narrowed down our name choices to Matthew and Joshua. The middle name is Michael. Speaking of names, why is it that we already have all our girl names picked out, but boy names have been the biggest headache ever for us? Sheesh. Anyway, now that we have his name almost figured out, I would love for him to grace us with his presence any day now.... I know a lot of people go over their due date though (especially first-time moms!) so I'll try to be patient. :)

Enjoying The Moment

For the last couple of weeks, I have often found myself not really stopping to smell the roses very often. I justified it by how ridiculously hot it is outside (I pretty much don't go outside unless I'm going from point A to point B) and how it often seems like I'm the only person in the world who hasn't had her baby yet... not to mention all of the third trimester discomforts that have finally hit me full force. (I pretty much don't sleep at all, I'm in desperate need of a pedicure, and I move around like I'm 1000 years old). Also, as we've been preparing for this baby and the baby's room gets more and more stocked up with adorable baby blue items, it's really hard to appreciate the moment that I'm in right now since I just want this baby to be here already!

Well, I've decided that this needs to change. There is SO much to enjoy about NOW.... like the fact that me and Michael get wonderfully ridiculous amounts of time together for the rest of the summer. This is going to happen again....... when he retires? Yeah, it'll probably be that long. My baby shower is in two days, and our anniversary in three. Oh, and I get to pretty much do whatever I want all day, even if it's to just sit around and watch movies while my baby rolls around in my belly. It's pretty great. Life is good. I have no doubt that it'll be even better once Baby Byram makes his appearance, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy these next three weeks(ish) as well.

So, here's to enjoying the moment. I have so much to be thankful for.

And here are a couple pictures of our summer adventures. (bowling and a picnic.... yes, I braved the heat for a few minutes....)