Tristan 2 months - and a comparison with Andi

Our little man is 2 months old! Over the last few weeks he has learned how to smile and coo, and it is so much fun! Andi gets a kick out of it too, when she gets him to smile :)

Tristan is doing great, nurses well, and acts like a typical baby. He usually gives me one stretch of about 4-5 hrs of sleep at the beginning of the night, but from then on it can be all over the place. Unfortunately, Andi still wakes up 1-2 at night still as well, so that makes nights a little rough on mom sometimes....

We took Tristan camping on his first camping trip when he was almost 9 weeks old, and he did great. Destined to be a little outdoor man!

Below 2 pictures of Tristan at 2 months, and 2 pictures of Andi at 2 months. They look quite different in these shots, but in others there is definitely more of a resemblance. Andi of course was bald for the first year+ of her life, and has my square/butt chin, while Tristan has dark hair, and has Ben's pointy chin. I think just like Andi though, Tristan is going to be a little chunker with lots of rolls :)

We had Tristans 2 month well visit this am, and he did great. Here are Andi's and Tristan's stats for comparison:

Andi:

weight: 10 lbs 8 oz (50th %tile)

height: 21 1/4 inches (13th %tile)

head: 38 cm (30th %tile)

Tristan:

weight: 12 lbs 2 oz (50th %tile)

height: 22 1/2 inches (25th %tile)

head: 40.3 cm (90th %tile)

Introducing Tristan Thomas Bryan! - His birth story.

God is so good! We are happy to announce the arrival of Tristan Thomas Bryan, born on July 4th, 2011 at 1:22am!

Tristan’s birth story really starts at my last OB visit, on Thursday morning June 30^th. I was 38 weeks and 5 days at that moment, and had not had any contractions. The doctor checked me, and I was still fully closed, and hardly effaced. Even 2 mile walks in sunny 95F would not bring up a single contraction. This lead us to believe that it was safe to go up to Laramie for the 4^th of July weekend as Tom and Marilyn had a big party planned at their house on Saturday the 2^nd. Partly as a joke though, we do decide to bring my hospital bag and the infant car seat.

The party was a big success and I was on my feet all day. We went to bed tired at about 10:30pm, sleeping in the camper. Around midnight I woke up and noticed contractions! They were about 15 minutes apart, but not very painful, just cramping. They remained regular until morning, when some of them even came at 10 minutes apart. Sunday afternoon we decided to go to an LVC picnic to catch up with friends. I was still having contractions, but in a denial that it could be actual labor as for one, nothing was happening yet the weeks before, two, I had not lost my mucous plug or anything, and three, the contractions just didn’t seem that painful yet! I had Andi’s labor and delivery in my mind, and those contractions had been severely painful for quite some time.

At 3pm we do decide to take off for the 2.5 hr drive home, and I keep having contractions about every 10 minutes. We get home and I go about the normal routine, unpacking after the weekend away, and fixing some dinner. I go to bed early at 9pm because I was exhausted from the night before staying up with regular contractions. Still in denial that I could actually be in labor! I mean, it wasn’t time yet, right, a full week early, and I needed a good night sleep first ;). Never did fall asleep though as contractions became stronger and stronger, and closer together, and finally at 10:30 pm I came downstairs to Ben telling him about the situation. We decide to call the hospital, and they say it might not be a bad idea to come by. We call Marilyn at this point, who is a 3 hr drive away, as we had planned that she come over when I go into labor to watch Andi. But, we just give her a heads up, telling her not to leave yet, as I am still thinking we’ll be sent home at the hospital because I have no other signs of labor starting.

We pack our bags, and have no choice but to wake up Andi and take her with us to the hospital. It’s about a 20 minute drive, and during this drive the contractions get stronger, so we decide to call Marilyn back and tell her to come drive out!

We get to the hospital, and I walk in with just my purse, hoping to forgo the embarrassment of taking in all our bags etc., and then get sent home with false labor. We check in just before midnight, walk up to the labor and delivery floor (“no, I don’t need a wheelchair, I’m fine!”), and I buzz in, saying “uhm, I think I might be in labor?”. I get settled on the bed, and after a first round of questions the nurse checks me … her face turns quite surprised, and she tells the other nurses that I’m at 8 cms already, my bag of waters is bulging, and to call the doctor RIGHT away, and get the room ready for a little baby! At this point we definitely know that Marilyn won’t be here in time to watch Andi, so we call Ben’s brother Grant, who is staying with family in Westminster, about 45 minutes away.

I was feeling very overwhelmed at this point! Ben was in the corner of the room trying to entertain Andi, while my contractions are getting stronger, and stronger, and closer and closer together. They sure are painful now! I try to focus on a picture on the wall with a mountain landscape, but the thought of having to go through the whole process without Ben (who is showing Andi movie clips on his phone so she doesn’t really see what’s going on with mom) gets to me at this point, and I freak out a little….this wasn’t how I had imagined things! Ben stayed very calm though, and he said Wiesje, look at our room number, you KNOW what you need to focus on. We were in room 316. He mentioned that in reference to our old church LVC, which is on interstate exit 316, and they always say how fun it is that it refers to the gospel, John 3:16. This readjusts my attitude, and focusing on God calms me down as I pray through each of the following contractions. The doctor comes in and gives me the option to break my water or not, which I choose to do, because I want to make an end to this pain and get delivery over with! She breaks my water and leaves the room to check on someone else and soon I start feeling the urge to push. The nurse checks me again, and I’m fully dilated so she tells me that I can start pushing with her help if I want. Ben is now really trying his best to keep Andi from all that’s going on in the room. I go through about 3 or 4 rounds of pushing when Grant shows up and can take Andi. What a relief and praise, just in time! I see Ben and Grant standing in the hall way as I push…kind of odd. Unlike with Andi, it takes me quite a little while to find a good position to push, as I’m just not feeling like the pushes are being very fruitful. Finally Ben is able to come help, and he holds one of my legs as I’ve finally found the right pushing position. After a couple more pushes later the doctor says “look at that full head of dark hair!” I couldn’t believe it (as Andi was pretty much bald/blonde), so I lean over to see, and I’ll be, a little head of dark hair! I guess heartburn does mean you have a hairy baby! After two more rounds of pushes Tristan Thomas Bryan is finally born at 1:22am, and they put him on my belly immediately. Ben cuts the cord, and I get to nurse and hold Tristan for about an hour before they take and weigh him.

He is a healthy little boy, who weighed in at 6 lbs 15.4 ounces and is 19 ¼ inches tall.

Andi meeting her little brother.


We are a family of four! :) :)

More pictures here.

Update #2!

We got an offer! Praise God!
Now we're trying to get this house under contract and sold! Wohoo!

Bryan Update.

Jer. 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

A lot has been happening in the Bryan household over the last 2 months! 2 Months ago, Ben accepted a job with Lockheed Martin in Littleton, CO. Though we are very excited for this new work opportunity for Ben (what guy doesn't dream of being a rocket scientist :) ... and a job with Benefits, an unheard of word in much of the Laramie work world it seems!), and a new area to live in and explore as a family, we are of course very sad that it also means having to leave our Laramie friends and family! At least we'll still be relatively close by (2.5-3 hr drive), so no need to really say "goodbye".
It has been an interesting time for us as a family, a time of ups and downs for sure. God has been showing and teaching us so many things in this time, that even though it's a trial, we wouldn't want to miss out on any of it. Ben's last workday in Laramie was the end of March, which meant a whole month with no income. But, good news, Ben was released from the Wyoming National Guard, which then actually allowed us to move to another state. Almost immediately, I put up a website http://1809symons.blogspot.com/ to advertise the sale of our house (due to some paperwork details we had to wait on listing with a realtor, though we have now been listed with Century21 for about a month), and we went to the Littleton area (Roxborough to be exact) to start shopping for a new house. We made an offer on a house there, and were under contract with the contingency of our house selling here in Laramie. We got an offer on our house here last month, and things seemed to move along swimmingly (it was even 4 girls....how perfect for our pink house!!) ....until the buyers backed out. Ever since then things seemed to come to a halt.....enter the above verse, which I have repeated to myself many, many times over the last couple of weeks. :) I am a planner with a capital 'P', love to know what is coming on my path, and I may have the best plans in my mind for how I would like things to move along (a hormonal 'want' to nest for a baby boy hopefully joining us in July isn't really helping either!), but God is still the Ultimate Planner, and obviously has something different in mind for us. It has been a time of lots of praying, continuously learning to show our faith in the Lord, and not holding on to worldly things. Like I said, something that is not easy, but definitely something we know we don't want to miss out on as we know that God is refining us. The bible teaches that God brings sifting, testing and refining in our lives to purify us so that He may be magnified in our lives! How awesome is that knowledge?!
And, I've been able to make myself laugh with my ever rambling thoughts: "Lord, is my lesson in patience over yet?" :)
Anyway....Ben started his new job today, which means he will be living in a Denver hotel during the week, coming home on the weekends, and Andi and I will stay behind in Laramie and try to sell our house (at least that's the plan for the next few weeks...we'll see how the plans change as my due date comes closer). No fun. But, we had an open house yesterday to which 6 people showed up, so who knows! We'll keep you posted!

Happy 2nd Birthday Andi!! - Part II

And the birthday fun continues...
This morning we had her 2 year checkup with the pediatrician, and Andi is doing great, right on track developmentally, a little ahead on the verbal/visual parts. She speaks in small sentences, uses a lot of words, and is starting to understand counting. Her favorite books and movie (Nemo) include sea creatures, which she knows quite a lot of by now! But really, any animal will do, especially animal families (mom/dads with babies).
She loves running on the sidewalk with me (and kicking a ball), and stretches with me after I run on my treadmill, which is too cute. But, she still can't jump!
She gives the BEST hugs and kisses, and loves snuggling in bed with us in the mornings. She also has a very caring heart, and asks "You OK?" and "You like it?" a lot.

Some of her two year stats:
Height: 32.5 inches - 11th percentile, down from before.
Weight: 25 lbs 6 oz - 35th percentile, up by a lot from before.
Clothes: size 24 months
Shoes: size 5

There are some things we have to work on too though! Little miss toddler can have quite the temper and own will. Also, she still LOVES her pacifier and has it in her mouth as much as possible.

Now, on to a picture extravaganza ... part II of birthday fun:

We start with her traditional 2 year shot with Slungel:


It is actually becoming increasingly difficult to take a picture with her and this bunny :) Little toddlers have their own will! NO mommy, I don't want to take a picture:


To: Ok, this is kinda fun :)


After part I we left you with swimming in the morning. After a nap after lunch, the afternoon was actually nice enough to go play outside for a bit! A few weeks ago I bought this tricycle at Once Upon a Child, and it's been sitting in our garage waiting for some spring weather! She can't quite reach the pedals yet, but she loves riding it :)


Brothers Weston and Tyler also came by to tell her happy birthday, and boyfriend Weston even gave her a beautiful rose...too cute :)


In the evening grandpa and grandma came over for dinner and brought more presents! Sadly grandma had to go home right away as she was sick with the flu :(


Grandma and grandpa got her a little baby doll stroller! She absolutely LOVES it. It works great with the baby doll that she got from great grandma and grandpa Maynard a while ago.

Putting baby Rose (she's called baby Rose because she smells like roses :) ) in her stroller:

Walking all around the house:

Such a great little mommy:

Rocking her baby:

Then for dinner we feasted on roast chicken with french fries (Andi's favorite) and salad:

And of course her birthday cake! We sang Happy Birthday to her and after that she blew out her candle (it was on a #2 stand in case you're wondering why there are not 2 candles).

Mmmm red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting :)

At night we watched cartoons, and Andi got to open one more present...a little potty! We're not really starting potty training, but now we'll have the potty, and she can get used to the idea.

Here some short videos from her birthday.

Happy 2nd Birthday Andi! - Part I

Two years ago today, at 4:49 pm, Andi was born. I remember it as it was yesterday, and can't believe she's already 2 right now! Time flies when you're having fun!

(last year's sign with a 2!)

Here's part I (of II) of her birthday fun...we have family far away who are curious about a sneak peek into her day! .... Tomorrow I will post the second half, with more of an update on her (we have her 2 year checkup with the pediatrician as well).

For tonight we have dinner planned with grandma and grandpa, and of course some birthday cake!
But, first things first. This morning we started the day off with Balloons: wild bedhair and balloons :)

Then for breakfast, she got to have chocolate cereal, her favorite:

She also learned how to say "Andi's Birthday" and answers with "two" to the question "How old are you?". She tries to make a two with her fingers as well, but doesn't quite have that down yet: :)

Then it was time for a present! Unwrapping:

A magnetic drawing doodle pad!

Midmorning we went to the rec-center to go swimming with some friends!

(...so mom is in desparate need of some sunshine on that white skin! ;) )

Andi does really well balancing/swimming on a poolnoodle....

Loving it :)

Here mom, I have two noodles now!

Princess on a pool chair :)

February came and went....

...thank goodness, that may mean spring will come soon?!


After the last post I left you hanging on the certainty of whether we're having a boy or not. Well, turns out we are! Last week we had our 20 week ultrasound at the clinic, and we are so happy that the little one looks all healthy. He's measuring right on track and likes to move. I'm 21 weeks now, and can start to see movements on the outside of my belly as well, which is always fun :)


I am still feeling great with this pregnancy, and a small belly is starting to pop. This was my 20 week belly pic:





I think I show more than my 20 week belly picture with Andi.


I still enjoy running a few miles in intervals a few times a week, and will see how long I'll keep that up. With Andi I stopped running at about 28 weeks in pregnancy. I have no intent of pushing anything....it is already amazing how much things have slowed down: this fall, running 10 miles on mountain trails was easy, and now a few miles with walk/water/bathroom/ "mommy refill my sippy cup"/"mommy please fishies movie?" (i.e. can I watch the movie Nemo...again?) - breaks are enough. But, it makes me feel great, and I enjoy it :)

Andi is also starting to understand (maybe?) that there is a little baby brother growing in mommy's belly (she pats my belly and says: baby brother). It is still amazing to see how much she developes in just a few months, and will have to make sure to make a more detailed post of it soon, at her 2nd birthday coming up!
There have been some other small changes in Andi's routine, as I started a part-time job at the University Dept. of Atmospheric Science in the middle of January. For about 1.5 days a week Andi gets to go to Debbie's house, and has an absolute ball playing with Weston and Tyler ("Tyler laugh" = Tyler makes me laugh!) and practicing her big sister skills by making sure baby Asher always has a pacifier in his mouth, even if he doesn't want it. Most days she doesn't even want to come home with me! She is learning a lot from being around those boys, and is already becoming more independent ("Andi do it!" Putting on her coat, shoes, clothes etc.).... if only she would now also mimic their eating and would finally put a piece of meat and vegetables in her mouth! Oy, does she have a sweet tooth.

No sweets or any other type of food for her in the last few days though, as the poor girl has been battling the flu....no fun!

Trying to cool down after a fever spike.


Taking a nice nap on the couch. Rest is good.

Keep posted, as there may be some big news coming soon!!

..

Feeling Blue ...!!!....

Baby #2 looks to be a ...... BOY!!!

We had a fun ultrasound with Debbie again this afternoon, and even though she suggested we perhaps wait with an announcement until after our appointment with a doctor at the clinic in 4 weeks, I have full confidence in her ultrasound skills, so here we go! :)

Baby was moving around like crazy which made it a little hard to get measurements initially, but everything seems to measure on track.

In the above two pictures, in the upper right part of the picture you see a half moon shape ... that's the butt with two legs sticking to the right, and, is that a little turtle in between?

Baby's profile with hand to his face.

A hand with fingers.

A little foot! It measures 2.3 cms long!

I thought this was a cool picture, it s where the umbilical cord inserts into the belly!

This is another side view of the baby, with his butt up in the upper left side, and then head down in the lower right corner.

We also got to see some great images of his brain, and got to see how different parts of his brain are developing! Such a miracle.

Big sister in training!

We have a little announcement ... :0) ... Most of you know already, but Andi is a big sister in training!! Wohoo!! Praise the Lord!

I'm currently 13+ weeks along, almost in the second trimester. Apart from a few minor things (let's just say prunes have become my friend), I have been feeling great. I have not had a single day of nausea which feels odd, and sure different than the pregnancy with Andi (maybe this one's a boy? ;) )

I actually found out on Halloween (October 31st), and Andi and I had fun 'telling' Ben: Even though I had already made her a Dutch milk maid costume, I had quickly made her an exercise outfit with tights, sneakers and a leotard reading "Big Sister" in the front, and "In training" in the back. I told Ben I made Andi a second halloween costume, and he replied "Why would you do that, you spent hours making her Dutch costume?" Then when Andi walked into the room, Ben's face was priceless :)
We had been praying for a sibling for Andi for quite some time, and feel so blessed with this pregnancy. We appreciate your prayers over this baby and pregnancy, and hopefully he or she will make his/her arrival sometime around July 9th!

Andi's 2nd costume on Halloween:



No explanation needed :)


Even though I'm only 13 weeks along, I've already had 3 ultrasounds. At 7+ weeks we had a fun-ultrasound at the Heart to Heart pregnancy center with Debbie. What a treat! Because I had been taking Clomid I was a little bit anxious to find out if I was carrying multiples. Thankfully, even though I think Debbie would have thought it to be fun to see twins or triplets in there, I was sure a tad relieved when it showed only one :)
He/She measured about 1cm, and had a heartbeat of 126 bpm.

Then at 9+ weeks we had our first ultrasound at the Women's clinic. Everything looked right on track. Amazing to see how much a tiny baby like that grows in only 2 weeks! At this point the baby measured 2.4 cms and had a heartbeat of 171 bpm.

Then this morning I had just a regular checkup appointment at the clinic. However, when the doctor put on the fetal stethoscope, he was not able to find a heartbeat, no matter how much he searched for one. Even though he said that that is not that uncommon at early stages of pregnancy, he did for sure want to perform an ultrasound. Definitely a 'Breath-in-deep-and-trust-in-the-Lord!' moment! A long 10+ minute wait later, the ultrasound image showed up on the screen (and Andi recognized it saying "baby"!), I saw the baby's arm move right away, and the doctor was able to see the heartbeat. Praise God!

This was a very quick ultrasound, no measuring or pictures of any kind, but still, it was again awesome to see how much this tiny baby has developed in just those extra couple of weeks.

On the first day of 2011 ...

.... the Bryans cut up their first Elk!
Ahh to be married to an Alaskan/Wyoming burly mountain man ;) Even though I had seen friends cut up their elk/deer/antelope, I had never had the privilege of doing something like that myself, and it is most definitely not a common way to spend New Year's Day in any Dutch household!
It was a female elk (NL: edelhert), and we spent a good 3 hours with 4 adults (Ben and I, and Tom and Marilyn) cutting and grinding it up into mostly hamburger and a couple of steaks: 65+lbs of hamburger, 11 lbs of hamburger with pig fat (for the flavor) mixed in, and about 14 packages of steaks! Now that'll fill our freezer and feed us nicely until next hunting season!

Ben posing with the animal:


We cut it up in Tom's shop, nicely heated, stove crackling with fire, tunes, and we had a fun time butchering on this otherwise fridgidly cold and windy (-34 with the windchill!) first day of the year.

Getting everything ready:

Tom, Ben and I on the cutting station, and Marilyn on grinding and packaging duty:

These pictures are taken mostly at the beginning, when everything looked nicely clean still :)

There we go, a nice chunk of meat!

Andi was also hanging out in the shop with us. We brought in some toys for her to play with, and she did so great entertaining herself, and watching the adults cut up that elk.

It was however the day after all that New Year's Eve, up late, partying, so she did get quite tired after 3 hours.

However, more, more, and more meat had to be cut still! ....amazing how much meat comes off an animal like that!

....

Marilyn rockin' the grinder!

Happy New Year everyone!!