Raspberry Branch Photography got a Customer for Life!

I never knew what exhausted was before having a baby. . . 

Our little girl has kind of put herself on her own schedule, and it's not one that mom and dad like so much. She sleeps from about 3 am to noon. . . waking up only when hungry or needing to be changed. But then she's super fussy and impossible from a little after twelve to about five. And from five to two she goes in and out of little naps. So when does dad sleep? Never. And when does mom sleep? From three to noon, which is not a schedule I can stay on. We need to find a way to get this baby our schedule, ASAP.

Baby is not a breast feeder, she refuses to latch and it's a bummer 'cause I hate to pump, but formula is so dang expensive. Arrrrrgg. . . .

. . . But isn't the way she holds her hands when she eats from a bottle adorable? I love it!

We go through about 12 diapers a day. . . there's at least one time every day when she goes through three diapers in five minutes. You'd think we'd know and be able to tell when she's finished doing the deed, but nope. She surprises us every time!

She makes eye contact with us now, and it's pretty cute and I love it!

Val is still a snuggler, and we can't get enough of it!

She got to meet great grandma Hermansen for the first time on Father's day, they loved each other!

I hate to admit because co-sleeping is one thing I said I would never ever do, but every morning after her 4am feeding, I let her sleep in my arms, mostly because if I try putting her back in her bassinet, she cries for an hour. But I do love her snuggling with me when she sleeps! The hardest thing about this though is that after 4am she wakes up around 7am to eat, and then she sleeps laaaaaate. Well, I don't get up at 7am so I let her go back to sleep in my arms, and then I find myself stuck in bed with a sleeping baby when I want to be up doing things. But how in the world can I move away from such a sweet little girl? I mean seriously, just look how cute she is sleeping! SO content!

So we got her newborn photos done when she was one week old at Fotofly. . . they were cute, but we weren't impressed and probably won't be going back. The most frustrating thing about it was that it was a timed session, so the more she fussed and cried, (like all newborns do,) the less time we had to get shots. So in the end we didn't get much. But we did love the one with the flower on her head, that one was great!

Anyway, we weren't happy with them, I was really bummed. So my mom surprised us by getting her photos done by Raspberry Branch Photography when she was two weeks old. Not only were these pictures cheaper than the Fotofly session, but they turned out ten times more amazing! We haven't gotten the cd yet, but we got to see a sneak peek, and holy crap, I made a gorgeous baby. 

I'm not kidding, if you need photos done, not just newborns, any photos, go to Raspberry Branch Photography. Danielle is amazing and her pictures turn out perfect! I have the fussiest baby who never has her eyes open, and Danielle not only got a picture of her eyes open, but she got one of her smiling! And her prices are super affordable, I can't believe she doesn't charge more! Really, I cannot say this enough, Raspberry Branch Photography is for sure the place to go, and I will never go anywhere else for photos!

My Baby!

I love this little girl! 

We Are A Happy Family

At my 37 week prenatal appointment, I learned that Valarie had gone from being head down to head up. Most every doctor will not let you give birth vaginally if your baby is breech, and since that was my plan, we wanted to do everything we could to get this little girl to flip. So the next day I went to the hospital and my doctor performed an external cephalic version. (I was given medicine to relax my uterus, and then the doctor kneeled and kneaded my belly to try to force baby to turn.) It was extremely painful and I could only stand so much of it. After trying for a little over five minutes with absolutely no success, we decided to schedule a Cesarean Section. . . 

The night before May 28th was the hardest night of my life to sleep. I was tossing, turning, worrying, getting excited, thinking, etc. I got almost two hours of sleep. Once 7am hit I could not force myself to stay in bed any longer, so I got up and got ready to go. Shane got ready at the same time, but he was able to nap while I finished getting ready.

We were ready super early, so we took a few pictures and made a couple videos, trying to pass the time until we had to be at the hospital. 

Finally 9:45am rolled around, and we were out the door!

Once at the hospital, I got really nervous. I was terrified, mostly of the spinal, (I do not do needles.) I was also worried something would go wrong and either me or Valarie wouldn't be ok. Shane did a great job calming my nerves and took lots of pictures to force me to put on a very happy face.

Once noon hit, we were walked back to the operating room, where I was given my spinal. It wasn't near as bad as I'd expected. It was only a burning sensation that lasted about a minute. Once it kicked in, I felt so strange! From my chest down, I got really hot, super tingly, and then, I couldn't feel a thing! I was trying so hard to wiggle my toes, and they just sat there, as if they weren't mine at all! It was the most frustrating feeling and honestly, I never want to do it again. 

Once I was lying on the table, they prepped my belly for surgery and pulled the curtain up. I could feel pressure, it felt as if they were massaging or kneading my belly, but it didn't hurt. After a few minutes I asked the anesthesiologist when they were going to cut into me and begin. He laughed and told me that they already have the baby's feet out! 

In a matter of minutes, I heard the crying. The cutest little cry I had ever heard in my life! My baby was here! The little one I'd been waiting for was finally here and I couldn't be happier! They lifted her up to show her to me, but I wasn't really able to see her because a gush of amniotic fluid had spilled out all over my pillow and barely missed going all over my face. 

After about five minutes, they had her cleaned up enough that they could show her to me. She was beautiful. She was perfect. I'd never been as happy as I was at that moment. 

(Not the most flattering picture, but this was the first time I got to look at my baby.)

Valarie Violet Anne Randall was born on May 28, 2013 at 12:23pm. She weighs 7 lbs 9 oz and is 19 inches long. She has a full head of black hair and her daddy's eyes. 

Once I was sewn up, we were wheeled into the recovery room, (and slammed into the wall twice. The doctor was not a good driver.) I held my baby for the first time and got to give her lots of loves! (Unfortunately, I couldn't kiss her because of a cold sore.) 

Over the next few days Shane and I got to spend time getting to know our new little girl. We learned that she loves snuggling, getting burped, being talked to, and her hair being played with. She does not like breast feeding, baths, getting changed, and bad jokes. :)  She's also a night owl. 

Since being home, life has been perfect. We love having her here and couldn't be happier. She is the best little baby and makes our life complete. I can't wait to continue to raise her with the love of my life. 

38 1/2 weeks!

I thought ladies were exaggerating when they said the last few weeks of pregnancy was the most difficult. I had a very easy pregnancy, so I figured it would be easy the entire way through. Holy crap, was I wrong. It felt like the second 37 weeks hit everything got drastically harder! I slowed down a lot with my serving at Sizzler, I'm feeling more pain from walking too much, sitting too long, or lying on one side for a long period of time. I don't sleep anymore. My sleep schedule looks like this:

11:30pm Shane is asleep and I'm lying in bed, wide awake.
12:00am I get up and waddle to the bathroom.
1:00am Still can't sleep, so I play on youtube and have at least one bathroom break.
2:00am Force myself to put the phone away and try harder to go to sleep. I also go to the bathroom again.
3:00am Usually by this time I'm finally asleep.
4:00am Bathroom time.
6:00am Shane's alarm wakes us both up and I get some breakfast and watch TV because I can't go back to sleep.
8:30am I'm able to drift off again.
10:00am I wake up and very slowly find the motivation to get ready for the day.

So in total, I usually sleep about 5-6 hours, which was more than enough time before I was pregnant, but I just don't feel well rested anymore, ever. Oh well though. . .I guess it's preparing me for motherhood?

I'm just so ready to have little Valarie in my arms. I stress so much with her in my belly, it will be so much easier to check on her and make sure she's breathing when I can actually see her.

I'm almost there, I'm almost done! Less than two weeks! I can do this, I hope I can do this, I better be able to do this!

So Ready for Valarie!

We are so ready for Valarie to be here. The apartment is clean, the nursery is finished, (except for the bow holder,) our jobs are ready for us to take time off, and we're registered at the hospital. I'm going crazy waiting for this little girl to get here!

Her due date is so close, but too far away! Waiting for her to get here is testing my patience more than anything else ever has! If you know me, you know I don't like to wait for things. (Just for example, Shane and I only dated for one month before deciding to get married. We'd planned to be married 4 months from when we got engaged, but that was too far away, so we pushed it up a month.) Waiting 9 months for something is just ridiculously long and I am going crazy!

To prepare for baby Val's arrival, we decided it was time to buy a new camera. We got a very affordable one, so the pictures aren't amazing, but they're much better quality than my old camera's pictures!!

 Testing out the new camera.

 Trying to get baby girl to drop, (or my water to break.)

It didn't work.

Oh just us on a random Sunday morning.

And now on to baby things. . . 

 Looking into Valarie's nursery from the doorway.

 (Don't mind the flowers on top of the changing table, they're waiting to be put onto the bow holder. . .)

 Just one of the shelves.

(The dog is a bank!)

 Real simple crib. We don't feel the need to go all out making it super frilly and crazy.

 The mobile Shane and I made.

 A rocking moose!

 I love Eric Carle so when I found this I just HAD to buy it!

 Sometimes we walk our stroller around the apartment. . .

Also, notice the hospital bags are ready to go!

 This is the bassinet by our bed. It's HUGE and super old fashioned because it's the one my parents used with me! 

 This will be a bow holder eventually. . . 

Awww, love the little bath tub!

Dear Valarie, you can come anytime now because we are as ready as we're gonna be! 

Loving My Job

I've had many jobs that some would say are better than being "just" a server. People tend to look down on servers, like they're serving because they can't find a better job anywhere else. I just want to clarify that I am a server because I love serving, not because I have to serve. Before becoming a server I had a job that had pretty good hours and amazing pay that easily could have supported Shane and I without him working at all, but it wasn't a job I enjoyed, and it actually did more harm to me than good. I made the decision to leave that job to do something I love. 

I really do love serving. I am not usually a social person, so serving is a great way for me to socialize with others, get to know people, and have fun while doing it. Not to mention my coworkers are awesome and I get to eat awesome food all the time. And the customers, I love the customers! 85% of the people who come in are just wonderful people and I love getting to know them!

I had a table last night that I had been talking with for a while, and before they left, the man handed me a very generous tip and wished me good luck with my baby. I was so grateful (and hormonal because I'm pregnant,) that I almost started to cry. It's the people like that who seriously make my job worth it. Servers are not worthless, they're no better than anyone else, and most serve because they really do enjoy it.

And besides, someone has to serve, right?