Pictures from the Earliest Days

Minutes after delivery. Silas missed the memo to smile.

The next day...perhaps we look a little less exhausted.

Ready to go home.

Silas Ryan Montgomery

Born 5/13/12 at 9:13pm. 7lbs 8.2oz. 18.5" long.

I'll post more about him later but it's not so easy to find time to blog anymore! Between diaper changes and feedings, my free time goes to napping! :)

39 weeks: Almost there...

Look at me getting these pictures up in a timely manner!

Yesterday (the day we took these pictures) was the first day my wedding rings didn't fit! Ahhh! They fit (kind of) today. Stupid swelling for no good reason. Except it was hot. 

Elk in our backyard...kind of

Last night I wanted to get out of the house so we went for a little drive. We drove about 10 minutes west into the foothills just to explore an area we hadn't yet and we found the most beautiful landscape and trails that we didn't know existed so close to our house! The best part was when we came across these guys:

Stopping for a drink at the puddle.

Two bull elk were just hanging out on the side of the road. They were shedding like crazy and their antlers were covered in velvet. They didn't care at all about cars or people taking pictures. I love it!

38 weeks: Babies for everyone!

We are getting more and more impatient for this baby to be here. He'll be here soon enough I suppose...then we can stop calling him Lil Monty and start calling him by his actual name :) We have had many guesses for what SRM stands for...some are very interesting and some are pretty good. Some are correct. We've had many pleas from people to "just tell them" because "they won't tell anyone". That's right, you won't tell anyone - because we won't tell you. :) All in good time.

Friday night we had a cookout with friends at a local park. I THINK being pregnant is in fact contagious here because almost all the girls that were there are in fact with child. We decided to take some pictures. We lined up, of course, in order of due date.

There is Kara (September), Carolyn (September), Margo (August), Rachael (July), and me (today please!).

Kara and Carolyn still look pretty normal :)

Here are the "usual" picture update pictures. It was hot that day, if you can't tell by my glow.

37 weeks: Full Term Baby!

As of Thursday April 29th, Lil Monty is full term! 37 weeks marks the "official" full term marker but it is ideal to go to 40 weeks still. We are getting more and more impatient to have this baby - although I keep reminding myself that once he's here, we can't put him back - so we need to just revel in our independence a little longer.

I'm ready to not be pregnant. Perhaps I'll miss it once it's over but I think that's unlikely. I don't think I'll be one of those who just "loves to be pregnant". There are some sweet moments when he's moving around and stuff but those moments are quickly un-romanticized when he kicks me in a way that hurts, stomps on my bladder, gives me heartburn, and (long term) disallows me to move or sit-up easily. What was it like to get out of bed without hurting or straining? I can hardly remember.

At the last doctor's appointment, I got a good report. They measured my amniotic fluid again and it was higher than it's been since they started measuring it. Lil Monty's bladder was full at first so they told me to dance around the room and get him to pee it out to increase my measurable fluid. It worked! They also checked to see if I'm dilated at all - I'm just barely starting to dilate so we'll see what happens this week. 

In other baby news, my friend Laura (who I met on my mission trip to Daytona in 2005 and yes we are still friends!) just had her baby yesterday. She lives in Florida but we've kept up during our pregnancies since she was due about 3 weeks before me. That's been fun.

This weekend was very busy with building our new firepit! I wasn't a ton of help because I can't really do much in the way of lifting heavy stone but I served as foreman and did some work on the gravel. We got most of the stone from Ryan's uncle who wasn't using it so this project actually cost us very little out of pocket.

After hosing it down

We caught Grover sleeping in the funniest way the other night. Thought this picture was worth sharing. Even after we woke him up for a bit, he kept his foot in his mouth - I guess it was really comfortable.

Yesterday Grover cut his foot somewhere in the backyard and if you've ever experienced a dog with a cut foot pad, you know it bleeds and bleeds and bleeds and then bleeds. I've had to play doctor and bandage it. Grover is a great patient - lets me bandage it without anyone holding him and then doesn't really mess with the bandage once it's on. I'm very glad about that!

Here are some pictures of the nursery. It's pretty much finished with the exception of the wall over the crib - we'll be putting Lil Monty's name there but we have to wait lest someone sees the room and learns his name! :)

Lil Monty's name will go above the crib there.

Changing station and dresser

Grover wants that giraffe.

View from the glider.

And finally (this post is too long...), the picture update.

Basketball baby! Geez...

Not as scary from the front :)

The End!

I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow. Two weeks to 40! Holy cow.

36 weeks: Moths and Consignment

This week we had our last baby class! It feels good to be done with those and now we are just waiting eagerly for Lil Monty to get here so we can use everything we learned (or realize how little we learned).

We went to another consignment sale in Denver on Wednesday night. We got to go before the general public because we are first time parents. We scored a Pack-n-Play and a stroller that the car seat can snap into. I also got a Moby wrap! All were great deals so we are pretty excited! At the sale the week before, we got a swing, bouncer, Boppy, front carrier, and a couple books. Things are really starting to get baby-fied around here.

The weather has been great. No contest that Colorado has better weather than North Carolina. All the stories are actually true.

However, as of last night, there seems to be a moth epidemic sweeping the house. Not sure where they all came from all of a sudden but last night there were a ton flying around the garage and I've had to deal with three in the house today. Perhaps yesterday was Emerge-From-Your-Cocoon Day. Thankfully Lil Monty was content to stay in his.

Speaking of Lil Monty, he has begun his descent so to speak. At least I think so...I can't speak from experience but when he moves, I feel it much lower in my pelvis and my poor little bladder is more squished than normal. I haven't experienced the other signs they say to look for (easier breathing, hungrier, visibly carrying lower) but if he's not knocking at the door to come out then I'm not sure what he's doing.

In other baby news, our friends Carolyn and Brock went for their gender appointment today and they are having a boy too! Lil Monty and Lil Homsher will be best friends...because we will make them. They'll also be competing for Rachael and Steve's baby girl's affection. May the best man win.

Picture update: