Declan's Tour de'MidWest

Many have said we were crazy... well, we kind of were... and I have been tired the past week paying for it... but the crazy traveling we did this past month was worth it for all of our family to meet Declan.

Declan's Family & Friends during Tour de'MidWest

It is fun to watch that YouTube video and just watch Declan change from beginning to end!

When he was just a week old we took off to Omaha for the Looten's (Andy's mom's side) reunion!  There was a lot of relaxing, laughing, drinking, people getting lost, slip and slides from a playground slide, fence breaking and repairing, shopping at mall and College World Series, and watching sports finals of hockey and basketball on tv.

FOUR GENERATIONS!!

 Next was Duluth for the Purkat's Cabin Fourth of July fun!  There was lots of disc slam, FOOD, more drinking, jogs, bike rides, tubing, pontoon rides, fireworks, mosquito bites, golf for the boys (rained out after 13 holes... only bad weather we really had), and a little fishing with a little boat trouble!

 FOUR GENERATIONS! 

 Declan hung out on this blanket all week! 

   

 The Young Kids ;) 

      Our third vacation was Wisconsin!   We only had a few days to head to  Lake Michigan for the Thrall-a-Palooza reunion!  But it was worth 14 hours roundtrip in the car.   Everyone again approved of Declan even with his one rough night since his birth where he cried for 30 minutes straight at 4:00 am!  The Arizona Thralls and Illinois Thralls were all present!  The weather was so perfect... and the lake so calm I would've loved to waterski.  The beach was like ocean sand and water way warmer than I would have suspected. Again, disc slam was a hit

We had to make a pit stop at Lambeau Field as we stopped in Green Bay!  

 The Thrall Men! 

  The Young Kids ;) ! 

        The last stop was the closest (and nearest and dearest to my heart I felt bad I couldn't get their sooner) was CHISAGO! My amazing Aunt Judy invited everyone to her home to be able to meet Declan, eat some excellent lasagna and sing some happy birthday with some dessert for my mom on her 60th birthday!  The morning of my mom's birthday I took her out to breakfast and I ran into my high school golf coach. That was fun to see her and reminisce!

 Declan's third cousin M.D. is just about 10 months old and it was so crazy to see how big he'll be then!  M.D. got a little jealous when his mom and grandma had Declan! 

 Grandma with Declan and her cake! 

              Baby Whisperer Michelle ;) 

We are home for the next month before one more trip to Racine Wisconsin when we see Jimmy Buffet in concert and visit before I go back to work!  It can go slowly.. I won't mind ;) 

Damn that show Revenge...

Andy sent me this link, Top 100 Boys names of 2013, this morning with the email subject line:  Crap... not as unique as we thought..

#3??  Seriously..??!!  NUMBER 3!!!

Let it just be known I have liked the name Declan for over 3 years... well before the show Revenge was on or popular at least...(I've never even watched an episode...)  And I kinda figured the name may be getting more popular based on Irish names being popular and the Social Security popular names search, but #3 this first half of the year!!   It is hard for a teacher to pick names as is, so I just knew this was THE NAME for our future boy baby for awhile...  Through this site Nameberry  and the "#3" rating does not mean people are for sure actually naming their boy that, just "clicking" on the name and viewing it....

Ahhhh.. oh well, I love his name and just looking at the positive side that the pronunciation of it will be easier when people have heard of the name.  A few less, De-Clan's....   And hopefully we are the start of the trend with his name and he doesn't have 2-3 other Declan's in his grade!  (And that the "trend" ends fast.... because if you know me... I'm not much of a trend follower)


But his other appreance online is Hutch Health finally updated their website:
Declan's Nursery Gangster Pic

I plan to keep an eye on this page this year though and see if anyone around Hutch uses Declan as a name!

And in conclusion... my cute boy:

Dear Declan... You're One Month Today!!

ONE MONTH OLD

Dear Declan!

You're ALREADY a month old!  I can believe it because time keeps going faster the older I get, but I don't want to believe it... that's for sure!  Grandma Connie wrote me letters when I was young so I wanted to try and start the tradition with you a little earlier!  Maybe I'll get Dad to write you a few here and there but most likely he'll just "proofread" mine, find all my errors and tease me with "How do you even teach writing when you can't write?"  But you see, your dad has the better memory of the two of us so he'll be able to remember every detail of stories to tell you but if I don't write some down in these letters and blogs, I'll forget them...

We just got home last night from your first trip to the Purkat Cabin for our 4th of July nearly-annual trip after just a week earlier getting home from your first road trip to Omaha for a Looten gathering.. This coming weekend we are headed to meet all the Thrall's!   In all these trips you have been a great traveler and everyone gives their stamp of approval that you are an amazing and adorable baby.  The nicknames have been continuing... I most often use just your name or Dec, but Auntie Britt loves saying Deckers, Daddy hates when I call you Deckels, Uncle Brian gave you the endearment Upper Dec, and my newest favorite from Uncle Craig is Nightcrawler because you are the squirmest and strongest month old baby all of us have held.  We are ready to place bets again  on facts that you'll be crawling by 4 months and walking by 8!!  I hope those don't come true!   (There was betting going on with those gambling Lootens on the date you would be born... cousin Connor won the 60$ on that bet..)

I really feel so blessed to be your mom as you have been just the perfect baby.  You eat so well, only get me up once a night since you've been home from the hospital (Except one night a few days ago up at the cabin it was three times, but all day you ate lots and I'm sure you were just going thru a growth spurt) and you are just a content boy... when you cry we can fix it with a diaper change, some food or a burp.     I joke you will pay us back in your toddler or teenage years.  Even though I sometimes think... "Man, a diaper change already!?!"  and, "Really, it is time for you to nurse AGAIN?"  I can just look at you and tears come to my eyes with how much I love you and how excited I am to be your mom so I know all the diapers will be forgotten down the road!  

Here are some other facts about you right now:  

Age: 1 month

Weight:   I'm guessing 10 lbs 4 ounces but you have checkup tomorrow!
     7/9/13: I was way off... 10lbs 13 oz!  You've gained over 2 lbs in a month!  74 percentile!

Length:   22 1/2 "  89%
Head:  15 1/4" 89%

Feats/Mobility: You are STRONG!  You've rolled over from tummy to back at 2 weeks old and just the last few days you will roll from back to side... kick a little... than side to back... kick a little... and then you are on  your side again... you made your way off your blanket at the cabin and off your turtle mat a couple of times!  

No more leaving you unguarded up high!  Your head is almost always strong enough but you still head butt yourself and us when we all get lazy and forget you aren't totally there yet!  

Likes:  Your mirror/singing snail! Staring at lights and you are starting to really focus  And pretty much everything else... You are always content...  I can't wait til you start really smiling in a couple weeks and telling us what you really love!  

Dislikes: Sometimes just being held... you want to stretch and wiggle and not have us always cuddling with you!  You won't keep a hat on to save you from sun, cold, or the 4 mosquito bites that happened on top your head at the cabin!   Your arms in a burrito swaddle... in fact you normally sleep with both arms up by your head! " I-surrender"-style!

I love you through and through,

Mom

Lists I've been thinking about....

These are things I loved about being pregnant:

5.  Having new wardrobes from my dear friends who borrowed me their maternity clothes
4.  Catching up with friends I hadn't talk with enough lately
3.  Enjoying every last day and date night with just Andy and I.
2.  Every flutter, wiggle, kick, punch, kneeing, rollercoaster movement my baby made.
1.  Talking about the future and names and the traits we hope to raise in our baby

These are things I didn't like about being pregnant:

5.  Peeing every hour.  It is so wonderful now to have my bladder back!
4.  When people said, "Your life will never be the same.."    Duh... we know this... we planned this baby and we are excited for the change or when people said, " You'll never leave your house again and do anything fun."  B.S.... this isn't true if you don't let it be true. Declan has done more in 2.5 weeks than some kids do thru high school!
3. When people said,"Ohhhh... you are SOO gonna have that baby ANYDAY."  Well, they were all wrong.  Wrong wrong wrong.
2.  When people said, "How can you NOT find out what baby is?"  That just annoyed me.  I loved not knowing and don't think we'll find out with our future child/ren now either.  The only tears I shed during labor/c-section were finding out we had a boy.
1.  Getting hives.  Torturous... wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.  BUT THEY ARE GONE... My back of  hands still itch a little each day but there are no visible hives on legs/arms/back!

These are things I love about motherhood:
5. Nursing... I get my boy not matter what every few hours.  (but I'm thankful for the invention of the electronic pump because he can have a bottle and I can leave for more than 2-3 hours if need be)
4.  Amazing family and friends flock to visit and help and spoil us with gifts of meals, clothes, gifts and gift cards.
3. The respect I have gained for my mother and mother in law and all mothers out there.  I can truly understand better now how no job is harder and equally as rewarding.
2. He knows my voice and smell and is instantly content with me if he was hungry/fussy with someone else.
1.  Parenting with Andy and seeing him be an awesome Dad.

These are my favorite things about my baby boy:
5.   His perfect name.  Declan: full of goodness    Yeah, we picked it but it couldn't be more fitting and it just IS HIM better than I would've thought at this point.  All the nicknames being thought up with it too, I love... Deckers, Dec, Deckels, Upper Dec...
4. When he his "rooting" before he eats... I LOVE the fast, cute head shake... Reminds me of when Croix is shaking around his toys!
3. He is a fantastic eater, napper and nighttime sleeper... for now... fingers crossed ;)
2. His big blue/gray eyes discovering the world
1.  It is impossible to not just stare at him and smile.. all day... every minute... the variety of faces he makes are precious.   Even when he is crying he is cute... again, for now...probably because he cries so rarely too... fingers crossed ;)   Here is our link to his newborn pics if you want to see them and you'll understand how cute he is!  Password is croix

 2 Weeks 

 His adorable crabby outfit- Thank you DeRocks!

Got my diaper changed before going to the College World Series

Declan's First Week of Firsts

The last two blogs (Week Before Declan and Declan's Day) were much more narrative (and probably boring to most, but I'm trying to save memories for me because I have come to learn my memory is seriously getting worse...) but this one I'm going to fill with pictures because the cliche is right, the pics are worth a thousand words!

Preparing for first car ride leaving the hospital

First Car Ride

First of many kisses from Big Bro Croix... Croix is doing wonderfully with Declan though! 

First Bouncer meeting... Fuzzy hasn't been around much but saw her peeking in crib at him once but couldn't get camera in time!

 

First time in crib during tour of house and reaching out towards Croix!

First outing to Target and Mall for Father's Day present shopping!

 First volleyball game and hanging out with pal Noah!

 First 5K watching Sarah and hanging out with pals Eli and Adam. They brought the bell for him to ring!

 First Time on Turtle play mat!  Definitely a favorite place to be!

First time with Snail "Junebug"  He LOVES mirrors/songs/lights & has figured out to tap it to keep it playing!

First Cribbage game with Auntie and me

 First Bath... it had a MESSY start... but you can ask Andy about that ;) 

First bottle from Daddy!  (I had my first "bottle" too ; ) ) 

ONE WEEK (plus 12 hrs...) OLD!!  And First Father's Day!

 First time with grandparents all together!  

If you haven't seen enough, here is a video of all his friends and family visitors this first week too!  With the Smashmouth song, just ignore the pronoun she/her and change to he/his... need to get a few more songs on my computer :)

  Declan's Family and Friend's

His second week of life is going to be jam packed with family from Sue's side in Omaha, NE.  We are headed out on our first road trip!  This trip was up in the air if we'd be up for it, but Declan is proving to be an amazingly easy baby (knock on wood...), I'm healing from my c-section wonderfully and nursing is going smoothly too! 

The Week Before Declan....

The exhaustion physically, mentally and emotionally had definitely hit this 39 week pregnant person.  I went down to half days at work because I cried in my doctors office... or at least that is why I think she made me.... Those were nice and made it possible to nap and take 2-3 oatmeal bath/showers a day to relieve my hive itching... which was at its all time worst at this point.

I also had started having regular bouts of contractions starting May 29th... and I remember this date as it was the night before I was to take my girl's to golf sections in Pebble Creek in Becker, MN... around 2 hrs from Hutch.  I was nervous about going and put my awesome partner in his last year before retirement on call ;) But I made it thru the meet (with an hour straight of contractions that were getting me a little nervous but they subsided :) )

 39 Weeks

 June 4th (39 W 5 Days) "Induction Day"

What we thought would be last picture of us as just the two of us.

Notice Andy's shirt...Obviously Nintendo but the 1UP mushroom to "Get a Life"... He was on his way to "get the new life" :) But of course you all know Declan's birthday was June 8th so no it was not a 4 day induction :) 

My doctor had suggested inducing me about 39 weeks if I still was miserable and with hives, and I had reservations about it and wish I would've gone with my gut and not my selfish mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted self...  But the date was pushed back from Sun 2nd, to Mon the 3rd and finally on the 4th my doctor was not letting the Labor and Delivery reschedule me even though they had 5 babies in house and 1 woman in labor... but I was easy enough to take care of and monitor... especially after two rounds of Cervidal my cervix didn't change and they offered to try one more thing.  In the hospital though, I had the best night of sleep I'd had in over 3 weeks as they gave me an Ambien... who knew I could've been having a sleeping pill the last couple weeks?? I didn't... but really was disappointed the first time in my Dr. that she hadn't suggested this as I know I could've made it if I had just SLEPT!   Anyhow, I  was ready to go home and wait and see and wait and see...with prescription for Ambien... and keep my fingers cross baby would be here before June 13th we they would try again to induce...  It was only sad to be going home without meeting my baby but I knew in my RESTED HEAD and heart it was right.  

Going home had me facing one more problem... I had NOTHING left to do in my house to keep busy... I had gotten EVERYTHING done before induction day... so I mowed the lawn Friday morning June 7th while Andy was still asleep.. but of course the lawn mower woke him and he was a little worried all the neighbors were judging him for letting his 9 month pregnant wife mow... but I think those vibrations and walks did it... contractions started that Friday night... 

and thankfully continued thru.... THE DAY OF DECLAN!  

THE DAY OF DECLAN

As my previous "part 1" The Week Before Declan ended with... contractions started Friday night pretty regular and weren't stopping after 3-4 hours but weren't 5 minutes a part the whole time... so I went to bed because I was NOT going to the hospital unless it was real...

Well, at 3-4 AM, I knew it was real...and the contractions I'd been having the last week were always tight/cramping top half of stomach, but they had to  switch to lower half and stronger cramping...  I broke the news to Andy at 6 am he wasn't able to golf that morning... by 10 we were at the hospital, I was at 4 and I was STAYING!  BABY DAY!!

I was going to try to not have an epidural, but liked that the possibility was there if contractions were unbearable.. But was told at my 39 week appt. it was not going to be an option as the anesthesiologists were worried with scar tissue from my rod it may not work well, and didn't want to risk infection on the hardware. So I was explained options they could do with IV drugs and the 2-hr spinal shot... both I did end up doing...

But truly, my labor and contractions still were not as bad as I anticipated.  Andy was awesome at counter back pressure with a tennis ball that made me think of and miss my Croix boy!  I got to relax in the tub, and still took walks and stayed busy watching lots of Friends between contractions! At 8 cm I opted in for the fentanyl as was getting nervous about pushing, and my dr. urged me to do spinal at 9cm.... by 5:30:

I'm at a 10!!  Push Time.....   but 2 hours later... still at a 10... baby hasn't moved... stuck... csection time so Andy got all prepared in scrubs.  He looked GOOD to me in scrubs... but maybe that was the "drunk" fentanyl talking!!
  I was prepared and had a good feeling we would end up with a csection due to my scolosis rod in my back  (also sprung on me at my 39 week appt...) and was at peace with that and ready to meet my baby!

It's a BOY!!!  Declan Andrew Thrall!  8 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches long, 9:27 pm

Declan's Name, Meaning and Audio

Cutting the cord!  Andy says it is A LOT harder than you'd guess... he had to squeeze hard twice!

 First family photo.  That same grumpy face by Declan is still a favorite of mine.  But you can see how Andy is just smiling and glowing under that mask? Ya, after almost all 12 hours of hospital, thru contractions and pushing and csection news, I didn't cry... I cried when Andy told me it was a boy and was just smiling and tearing up thru his masks.  I was so serenely overjoyed (but truly shocked...as I've said before... I truly thought/felt all along "Junebug" was a girl!)

His first "burrito roll" by Dad... He loves burritos just like Daddy!

Of course every mom is the most biased, but man, I think he is the cutest newborn ever ;) 

I want to close this part with a shoutout to all my nursing friends.... I know you are all fabulous and I definitely have always appreciated people in the medical field, but every single nurse in the Labor and Delivery wing was just wonderful and empathetic and hardworking!  They gave me a much closer viewpoint to all you have to do in your jobs and I THANK YOU!!

Soon Declan's picture should be here:  Declan's Gangster Hutch Hospital Birth Announcement