1 month old

Our little man is a month old as of yesterday! Time flies when you're having fun (except in the middle of the night...). He is growing and changing so rapidly. He continues to be very active and makes lots of cute baby noises. Samuel loves playing under his activity gym & being in the jogging stroller. We're getting braver and are leaving the house more often...for walks, XC practice, eating at restaurants, hanging out with friends, etc.

My parents were in town last week to meet Samuel. We enjoyed spending time with them and appreciate all of their help! Samuel loved being cuddled by his grandparents. The time went by too quickly!

The 2016 Olympus Cross Country season is underway! We had our team time trial last night and there were lots of great performances. We're eager to see how the team does at our first invitational next week Thursday.

Big yawn!

Samuel takes his eating very seriously! He likes to hold the bottle himself :)

Post bath crazy hair

Story time!

Spending time with Bumpa & Gramma VanWyk

One of Samuel's favorite toys...a stuffed alien

He likes to sleep this way with daddy

Baby toes :)

1 month pictures

Trying to hold his head up

Who sleeps like this???

Relaxing in the shade after shopping at the downtown farmer's  market

Talking with Gramma

We are so thankful for friends and family who care so well for us! We have received lots of love and support since Samuel's birth...in the form of meals, visits, cards, gifts, phone calls, and more. It takes a village to raise a child!

Samuel is 2 Weeks Old!

Samuel Scott turned 2 weeks old yesterday! These past two weeks have been full of joy and challenges. We have fallen completely in love with our little boy and life has changed in almost every way. 

Todd and I enjoyed some quality time together before Samuel joined us. Assuming we wouldn't have as many opportunities to spend time with just the two us after the baby came, we enjoyed some date nights, hikes, and a day at Pine View reservoir. In fact, we hiked up to Lake Solitude on the Sunday that I went into labor. We were timing contractions during the entire hike...unsure whether they were the real deal or not!

A Sunday afternoon hike to Bells Canyon Reservoir

Spent the 4th of July at Pine View Reservoir

Lake Solitude

At 10:30pm on Sunday, July 10th, my water broke just after we had climbed into bed. We packed up our bags and headed to the hospital shortly after. 

Just after checking in...still smiling because the contractions weren't so bad yet :)

The contractions became stronger very quickly. I'm so grateful for Todd's support and encouragement through the entire night, I could not have continued with my goal of a natural birth without him! I labored on a birthing ball from about 12pm until 7am when I was ready to start pushing. After an hour of pushing, Samuel Scott was born! I have never experienced something so difficult, but the reward was well worth it!

I thought the pain was over after Samuel had been placed on my chest, but there were complications with the delivery of the placenta. After 30 minutes of trying to manually remove the placenta, my OB-GYN determined that I had placenta accreta (placenta had attached to my uterus) and I was wheeled to the operating room for a minor surgery to remove the placenta. A little more excitement than we had bargained for, but we are so thankful that everything turned out fine!

6 lbs, 14 oz. 19 inches long.

Back from the OR. Happy to have Samuel back in my arms!

We were moved up to our postpartum room in the early afternoon on Monday. Todd and I both took short naps (we hadn't gotten any sleep since Sunday at 8am!). We really enjoyed our 2 days in the hospital. The care was outstanding and we appreciated the help & advice from the nursing staff. We spent lots of time introducing family to Samuel via FaceTime. 

Samuel's first bath

Family Photo

Ready to go home!

Our first night at home was really challenging, but since then we've been doing pretty well! Samuel is sleeping much better now and he's eating great too! We enjoyed having Todd's parents visit for the past week. It was great to have some extra hands to help with meals, holding Samuel, and running errands! 

Visiting Brian, Jessie, & Lucy Strike (Lucy was born the day before Samuel)

Samuel & Lucy

Samuel's first walk

Grandpa Mitchell

Grandma Mitchell

A sneak preview from the newborn photo shoot

Pool time!

We had Samuel's two week appointment this morning. He now weighs 7 lbs 8.5 oz--must be a good eater! He has changed so much in these two weeks. He is awake more often and enjoys tummy time. He focuses on faces and reacts to noises around him. We are excited for him to meet his other grandparents next week!

36.5 weeks

We are now within 1 month of our due date! We are feeling ready fr him to make his grand arrival in some ways...but hoping he doesn't come too early in other ways. We had our 36 week appointment last week, and the little guy has grown quite a bit in the last 2 weeks! He's still supposedly on the small side, which I don't mind! But things could change in the next 3.5 weeks.

36 weeks

We spent Memorial Day Weekend in Canyonlands National Park. We explored the Needles District of the park--an area we had not seen previously. We did some nice, short hikes on Saturday & Monday and then a long hike on Sunday. The views were incredible! We used our brand new tent and enjoyed having space to set up our air mattress inside. I slept quite well despite being 33 weeks pregnant...besides needing to get up a lot :).

Our campsite

Slot Canyon

Hiking towards the Needles. Thankful Todd carried many, many liters of water on his back...

Bonnie hosted a baby shower in Minnesota for Baby Mitchell on June 5th. I had a great weekend with family and really enjoyed the shower. Todd's grandparents came up from Iowa and my Mom, Holly, & Lily drove over from Michigan! Grant was even able to catch a flight from Chicago. The baby shower was beautiful and it was good to see many of the Mitchells' family friends. Holly's birthday was on the Monday following the shower. We spent the day at the Minnesota Zoo!

A beautiful wall hanging made by Bonnie!

Thanks to Bonnie & Paula for hosting & planning the shower!

Lily at the Zoo

Petting the goats!

Jake & Alissa Baker spent several days with us in Salt Lake City. Alissa's brother got married in eastern Washington, but the Bakers flew into and out of Salt Lake City so we got to see them on both ends of their trip! We got an unusual amount of rain while they were here, so we played a lot of board games! We did get out for a quick hike to Clayton Peak--a hike Todd & I hadn't done before. Always good to catch up with high school/college friends!

View from Clayton Peak

Alissa and I

Todd spent last weekend up at Bear Lake for Cross Country Team Camp. We usually have team camp in late July...but that just wasn't going to work this year with Baby Mitchell coming! Team Camp was a success...lots of scenic runs, fun games, goal setting, team bonding, and swimming. We're looking forward to another great year of Olympus XC!

Spikeball at the Beach

Rope swing at Bloomington Lake

Getting ready for 4x1 mile workout

While Todd was at Bear Lake, I went to a beautiful baby shower hosted by Jessie Strike & Amanda Rottman. Baby Mitchell is receiving a lot of love already!

Thankful for all these wonderful ladies!

These next few pictures are from the XC Team Baby Shower...I just got these pictures recently :)

We bought a new car a few weeks ago. It's a 2013 Subaru Forester. We've really liked it so far! After 5 years of being a one-car family, we've graduated to each having our own car. Now we just need to install our car seat!

We'll have to see how many more of these posts I write before baby arrives...