Camden Jex

He's finally here!

He'll actually be 4 weeks on Monday so this post is a little delayed.. but with being a new mom, blogging has been the last thing on my mind.

Camden Jex Hiatt decided to join our family on June 4th at 9:59 pm, weighing in at 7lbs 13oz.  Thankfully he came 3 days before his due date. He's just perfect. He has a beautiful full head of dark brown hair, which is totally not what was expected from a red headed dad and blonde mom but it is the cutest thing you'll ever see :-).

Being a mom has been one of the hardest things I've ever done. Scratch that. It IS the hardest thing I've ever done. No one can prepare you for what it's really like, but it is also the most rewarding thing you'll ever experience.

I won't go into detail with the whole birth story thing but I will say that epidurals are amazing and people that have natural births are either my hero or crazy.
Here's the watered down version....


I would first like to say that I thought this kid was never going to come and I would just be pregnant forever. Around 6:30 am on the 4th I felt my first real contraction.  Throughout the whole pregnancy I hadn't really felt any big ones, so I thought it must be Braxton Hicks. This one hurt like crazy and I had a few more within the next hour, but I didn't think it was anything to stress about so I decided to tough it out and go to work.  Pretty sure I was in denial that this could actually be happening...  
I just had a few people to train that morning so I waddled into to the gym and got started.  I felt the need to pre-warned all of my clients that if I drop to the floor and curl up to just keep going and not worry; they looked at me weird cause I literally did drop to my knees a few times.  After my 3rd client I couldn't handle it anymore I had to get home, these weren't just braxton hicks and they were happening more and more.  So yes, I drove myself back home from Salem to Provo (luckily made it safely there), and called the Doctor. I talked to the NP who told me that if I could still walk, talk and breath during the contractions then I should wait. Well, I could breath... but not walk or talk and she told me to still wait it out.  I then called Riley at work to let him know what was going on and told him not to come home yet.  He knows me too well. He ignored the fact that I told him not to come home and he just said he would be there in a minute.
About a half hour after that we finally decided my contractions were bad enough to go to the hospital.  It was around noon when we got there and I was all hooked up to the machines.  They had to monitor me for an hour to see if I was far enough along for them to keep me or send me home.
That was the most painful hour of my life. There was no way in heck I was going to let them send me home.  When they decided I could stay, I couldn't get the drugs fast enough. After that it was a blissful waiting game. Long story short and G rated, for the next 9 hours we watched The Office; at 9:30 pm we were finally ready for the real work to start and at 9:59 pm our handsome little man was out.  Everything went smoothly and we couldn't ask for a cuter kid. We did a pretty dang good job :-)

It's crazy to see how much they change in such a short amount of time.  His facial expressions are priceless, he can already hold his head up pretty well and is very alert and smiley. He's definitely his dad's child... minus the hair. I just can't wait to watch him grow and see his little personality develop.

 He had to be in a Bili Bed for a few days to help the Jaundice.. 

that was no fun but he handled it pretty well

My boys on our first walk

My Stupid Dilemma

My dilemma really is so silly, but I have to share. Here it is:

Shar - enjoys sports, loves baseball especially, and has always dreamt of her boys playing.

Riley - Loves grease, cars (anything with a motor) and tools wants to do those things with his son.

In fact, when I made the baseball baby shower invites Riley asked if we could put a disclaimer @ the bottom saying that he'll like dirt-bikes and stuff too. 

Which is totally fine. I 100% support all of that, and when the little punk is old enough he can like whatever he wants.

But for now....how do I decorate the babies room? Yup that's my problem ha ha. Oh the dumb things I worry about sometimes.

We painted the room in a way that could really fit either theme but when it came to the decorating part I spent an hour @ Hobby Lobby going back an forth between the cute sporty stuff and the equally cute tools and cars.  What did I purchase? Nothing.

Here's the room

The colors are a little off in the pic, but the top is grey and the bottom is turquoise 

So if any of you creative visionaries have an idea on how to combine the two I would love to hear them.


Other than that things are going great! Riley just finished @ UVU and he's headed to BYU.  He still has a while to go but it's another exciting step toward reaching his goal! Wahoo!!

I'm 34 weeks along and getting more and more excited every day to meet my little guy.  I'm still at the gym training and teaching classes which is pretty funny to see, but everyone is so nice and supportive.
He likes to hang out in my ribs which makes it hard to breath sometimes, and simultaneously kick my bladder. I still don't really have cravings (except last night when I couldn't get Krispy Kreme out of my head and had to go get some), I haven't swelled up or retained water and I've only gained a total of about 15-ish lbs.

All in all its been a good experience, definitely tough @ times too for sure.  We have a name picked out but I'm not telling :-) Riley still can't fathom that it's real. To him I'm just getting a weird belly, and I don't think he'll really believe it until he holds his child in his arms. That will make it all worth it.

6 weeks and counting!

Spring Showers!

Since my sister and I are both preggo and having babies almost exactly a month apart we've done most of our showers combined which has been fun.

The first one was put on by my aunt and cousins for my mom's side of the family.  Its always nice to get together and visit.  Here's the crazy thing; on just that side of the family there are 4 pregnant women and 2 babies have already been born which gives us a grand total of 6 just this year. Whoa, stay away from whatever is in the water at family get-togethers if you don't want to have a baby. Thanks Dawna and girls for a great night!

All of us in order from right to left is first due to last due.

(Kelli, Shellie, Shar, Amanda)

The second one was put on by my freakin' awesome mom and sisters.  They whipped out some crafty skills I didn't know they had and put on one cute shower.

I designed the invites which I'm pretty proud of, so yes I'm going to show off my skills.

They made these cute diaper motorcycles

The kids of course, loved the chocolate fountain

Shellie and I

We're sexy and we know it.

Oh The Belly

Oh the belly is right!

It was like one day you couldn't even tell I was pregnant... and the next.. WABAM! I had popped.  People keep telling me I'm tiny but I sure don't feel that way. Whenever I get up from a couch or turn over in bed there's a nice grunt and some deep breathing.  Riley always asks if I'm dying so it must sound pretty intense... If only he knew.

Funny Story

So my sister and I were helping my brother in law move the other morning. My sister would always check my box to make sure I wasn't lifting anything too heavy (I have a tendency to do that..) and once I had permission I would be on my way. A little annoying but I know she's just looking out for me.
Well, I was packing a box of kitchen stuff then walked into the living room to grab something else.
Then all of a sudden..
"(sniff sniff) Do you smell something?"
I looked back into the kitchen and the cardboard box I had been  loading was sitting on top of the stove, and was smoking. I hurried over and moved the box and my sister turned off the stove.  Luckily there were no flames yet :-) but the box did have a nice, crisp bottom.
 Their kitchen is pretty small so I must have turned around, hit the knob just right with my belly  and turned on the burner without even knowing it.  From then on the apt. smelled of smoke but the important thing is that it was still standing, and no one got hurt.

The End.

2 Years

Well folks we've made it two whole years!  Jan 15th was our two year wedding anniversary... best two years of my life.

Because of school and work we actually had to celebrate the week before on the 6th.  Last year we went to the Zermatt up in Midway and loved it, so we decided to do it again.

Friday morning we headed up to Salt Lake so Riley could tour the U of U to potentially transfer there.  We figured while we were up there, we should go to Temple Square since I don't think we'd been back since our wedding... It was really nice to walk around there we even saw few newlyweds outside doing the whole picture thing which was fun to see.

We then headed up to Midway for a weekend of relaxation mmmmmmhhmmmm.

But wait. Here's the best part

My sister in law works @ Mountain View Hospital in Payson, on Saturday my brother called and wanted to know if we wanted to come get an ultrasound and find out the sex of the baby.  Now here's the choices... Option (A) do we drive all the way down to Payson and then back up for our last night? Or Option (B) do we stay and just wait for our regular appt 2 weeks later to find out? If you chose option (A) you are correct!  Duh... that was a no brainer. I couldn't wait to find out

Well, here's what we found..

Tiny little foot.  Baby feet are the cutest ever.

Creepy, cute little alien face

And last but not least..... a little dingaling!! Its a boy! 

We couldn't be more excited! Boys were needed on both sides of the family.  My family has 6 little nieces and one nephew.  And Riley's has 3 nieces and one nephew.  Not only that, but he will be the first boy to carry on the Hiatt name which is cool.  I'm currently 21 weeks along and feeling great! Just can't wait to meet my little boy.

Lemons

People keep asking me if I have weird cravings, and it may be a little odd.... but I don't really have any.

Except... Lemons

I've always liked to eat lemons (real lemons, not lemon flavored stuff) But now I have @ least two a day and always have to have them on hand....
Here's how it's done: cut them into slices sprinkle a little salt... okay A LOT of salt and wala heaven.  Yes I know its bad for my teeth but I don't really care.... plus.... I brush and I plan on getting dentures someday anyway so for now, I enjoy!

Thank You 2011

2011 was such a great year for us; I can't even begin to describe to you how blessed we've been.

I have been trying to find the right word for how I've been feeling lately... Reflective? Nostalgic? Thoughtful? All good words, but none of them could quite capture all of the emotions that were swirling around in my head. Finally I found the perfect word

Pensive: Engaged in, involving, or reflecting deep or serious thought usually marked by some sadness.

I know, those of you who really know me are probably thinking "You in deep thought, riiiiight." But it's true, I have been. 

Maybe it's because this baby has opened up tear ducts that have been closed for 22 years, or maybe its my recent kick of listening to country music.... I personally blame hormones.  Whatever it was, I've been thinking a lot lately about how I got where I am in life, how lucky I am to be here and what I could have done better.  I'm not going to go off on some tangent or pour out my soul on the internet, however I am going to reflect back on the year because lets face it, it has been one a-mazing year.

*We started out by celebrating our One Year Anniversary. Marriage is awesome, but let me tell you, year one was an adjustment.  As we're getting ready to celebrate year next week and looking back it was seriously 100,000,000 times better and I love him more and more every day.

*We bought a house in April.  After months and months of looking, we landed the perfect house for us and made it our home.

*I started my Personal Training program in Feb and finished in Dec.  I don't miss school one bit, and I absolutely love what I do.

*Riley's job with a great company.  They treat their employees extremely well and push for excellence.  Not only do they provide a paycheck, great insurance and fun company activities all year long... they help pay for school. That alone is a huge plus, school is expensive.... and Riley has a lot of it left.

*Awesome family activities! Camping, Lake Powell, boating, birthdays, dinners... la la la. We are both very close to our families, who needs friends when you have awesome brothers, sisters and parents? My point exactly.  Although we do have pretty awesome friends too....

*My domestic side really started to shine through, and I found that I actually enjoy baking yummy treats.

*From the time we got married I knew I wanted to wait a certain amount of time to have kids, I knew which  month we wanted to conceive, and when I wanted to give birth.  I tried to calculate it all out perfectly, but figured it was a long shot since my plans never work out.  But guess what? All of it happened. Baby will be here in June and mommy will have a summer not prego, and we'll have a new friend to share it with.

Looking back on all of this is kind of overwhelming.  We've never been without, or given too much to handle. Of course we've had our trials...  The only thing I can do is try to better myself, think of ways to serve and somehow deserve all we've been given.  I look forward to 2012, I know it will bring on a whole new world of trials and blessings and all I can say is Bring-It-On.