On Saturday we had the pleasure of attending the Due West concert in good old Bear Lake County. I didn't know much about them at first, but was thoroughly impressed, and Lance was as well. We had a great time listening to their music. Lance couldn't believe the lack of enthusiasm in the crowd, but Montpelierites sometimes show a lack of enthusiasm. I'm doing my duty of getting the word out about them because I loved their songs so much. The first song they've released is "I get that all the time" and it's so cool. Check them out.

Guess who's one month old...

Rydge turned a month old today, and I can't believe it. Time goes so slow until babies are born, and then races off after that. A lot of his personality traits have come through in such a short time. One of the most lovable (frustrating at times) traits he has is that he's very laid back. It's way nice for 95% of the time, but when he starts to feed he's so lazy that it takes forever for him to figure things out. I swear every time I go to feed him he has forgotten how to latch on. He has helped me figure out how to possess the patience of Job. He also loves his big sister. She is the only one who has actually got a true smile from him. He's also well-mannered and lets me get pretty good sleep most of the time. I love this little guy.

Many people have told me that he looks just like Jaycee, so I thought I'd post some pictures of her around the same age. I see definite differences, but similar features.

Latest pictures

Here are some recent pictures of Rydge. You probably can't tell, but he has changed a lot in three weeks (almost). This picture is when he was 1 day old.
This is him at two weeks old. It's kinda hard to catch him when he's awake, so I don't have one of him with his eyes open after that.

Here is a picture of his foot. Whenever anyone sees his feet, they are always shocked. They are so long. He's got some extremely long toes as well. In fact, the nurses at the hospital told my father-in-law that he has the record for the longest feet. When they took him to get his footprint, his foot was too long to fit into the square.

He is such a cuddly little guy.

Jaycee is such a good big sister. She sometimes does things that aren't nice, but most of the time she is so loving to her little brother. She always comes up to him and says, "Oh, he's such a darling!" She will also call him a cutie pie, or sweetheart. It's so funny.

These are the only pictures I took of the 4th of July. We really had a fun day, and went to a lot of celebrations, but I had a baby in my arms, which makes it hard to take pictures. We started the day out by going to a breakfast to support the Lions Club to help pay for the city fireworks. Then we went to the parade in Paris. I thought about Meghan and Brad the whole time because we saw their family reunion out in her grandparents' yard. Too bad the Schow's weren't able to be there. After the parade, the men went golfing, and the women stayed home and talked while all the kids slept. It was no small feat to have three little girls and a baby boy all asleep at the same time. All we had to do was wear them out until they couldn't keep their eyes open. Then for dinner we went to the good old Ranch Hand. Our final event was going to the fireworks, which were so awesome for such a small town. These pictures of Jaycee are actually from Sunday night because we didn't have time to do fireworks of our own.

FYI

I started a draft about my labor story a while ago, and finally finished it. The only problem is that it is after my post with all the pictures since I started the labor one before. I just wanted to say if anyone wants to know how it all happened, it's there, just keep scrolling down the blog.

Pictures!

I have been meaning to do a great big post, but have realized that I don't have much time. Since Rydge was born I have been to a wedding, gone to church, gone and drove a cart while Lance was golfing, and countless other things that are not typical postpartum activities. We also have 4 or 5 reunions to go to, and I am supposedly participating in a Relay for Life thing in July. I did want to put some pictures up, and then a long post will come later. Jaycee is such a great big sister--sometimes a little too helpful--and she loves her baby brother. He sleeps a lot, which is normal. I always think he sleeps way better in the daytime than at night, but I can't complain.
I love how much hair he has. That's everyone's first reaction when they see him--"Look at all that hair!"

I love this face. He sometimes looks like an old man.

I love epidurals!!!

Well, Lance asked me if I was ever going to do a new post, so I figured I'd get the labor story details in here (mostly for journaling purposes). I will do a disclaimer and say if you don't want to know the details, don't read this post. I won't be too descriptive, but some things have to be mentioned. It was pretty much exactly like Jaycee's delivery. When I walked into the hospital I was in no pain. I could barely tell if I was having contractions, and yet I was dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced. My doctor wanted to start me into labor because I was progressing pretty well, but also tested positive for Group B Strep, which means I couldn't go into labor without having an antibiotic treatment. My doctor was also heading out of town over the weekend. We went to the hospital around 11:00 AM Wednesday to get everything started. They gave me my epidural, then induced labor. While waiting for everything to be ready, I was falling asleep. I was thinking how nice it was to be able to have an epidural. I was totally relaxed. I only had to push for 4 contractions. That's not me bragging, though, because I ended up having a fourth degree tear. Rydge came out screaming, and everything was great. He was born at 2:55 PM June 17th. I will take the painful recovery if I can get healthy babies. I'm so grateful that he came when he did. I could not imagine still being pregnant. I have to mention how nice it was to be in our hometown hospital. We knew everyone who was taking care of me, and Lance also got to deliver Rydge. He got to scrub up and assist Dr. Robinson, which was really awesome. He was so willing to show Lance how to do everything.

I also told many people that I was so worried about my little baby having to get a circumcision, but Rydge was a champ. Lance says that he whimpered at the first, then just sucked on his binkie and stayed calm.

After I got into my room at the hospital, we decided it was finally time to decide on a name. We had Jaycee in there, and Lance asked her what the baby's name is. She said matter-of-factly that his name is Rydge, and so we kept it. Jaycee got to name her baby brother. We had kind of told her that name a couple of times, so it wasn't completely her choice.

My recovery this time has seemed like it has gone so much faster. I really feel great, and have been enjoying having two kids. I am so grateful for the family members who have helped me. It has really eased the transition of having a newborn and a 3-year-old. He is also a really good baby. There has been a couple of nights where he didn't wake up for 6 hours, which resulted in really good rest for me.

Introducing Rydge Glen Jacobson

Due to my (Lance) non-existent blogging ability and Chemene's current state I am deeply saddened to inform you that this post will not be earth shattering. What you get are pictures of our big day and a promise that Chemene will right my wrongs shortly. Thank you for your patience.


Rydge Glen Jacobson -- 6 pounds 14 ounces -- 19 inches


Rydge, Grandpa Dixon, and one proud big sister


The same big sister after a long day of sistering

One proud (and good looking) momma

Update

Isn't it weird how the time involved in 35 weeks of pregnancy seems to be equivalent to the last 5 weeks? I can't believe how slow time goes in these last stages. I got my hopes up that I would be having my baby last Wednesday, but told my doctor that I wasn't quite ready yet. I was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. I didn't even know if I had insurance yet. I also had just hit 37 weeks, and my belly was measuring small. I got to go get an ultrasound to make sure he is healthy and growing. He's even measuring a week ahead (I was 37 weeks, and he averaged 38 weeks in measurements). Since then, it has seemed like time is standing still. I really can't complain, though, because I'm pretty sure this baby is not going to stay in there until his due date. I'm thinking Wednesday night/Thursday morning because that's when my next appointment is. Maybe I'm just hoping. I have a narrow time frame to work with, though. Lance's brother is getting married out at the cabin on Bear Lake on Sat. the 20th. My mother-in-law has requested that I don't go into labor that day. That could get a little stressful for her. Anyway, I just thought I'd give an update for those of you who were curious.

Home again!

Well, I was going to do a great post about Lance finishing his first year of medical school, the celebration we had with most of our friends, and also post a picture of all the successful students that were at the party, but alas, my husband forbade me to do it. He said that everyone beat me to the chase, and you'll have to look at all the other blogs for pictures. I will just say that we did finish up our first year of medical school, and that we are officially second-years. We had a great year. It went by so fast.
We are lucky enough to be able to spend our summer at home in Bear Lake. We have looked forward to being able to go home so much that we can't believe it is actually happening.
We had pretty uneventful flights, and were very grateful for the lack of excitement, as I had entertained many thoughts of delivering a baby on an airplane. Since we've been home I've been thinking about all the things I have missed about being in the wonderful valley of Bear Lake. The most obvious reason is the family members who all live here, or close by. Another thing I've missed are the mountains. They bring a sense of security, and produce breathtaking sunsets. Along with that is the actual lake. It's gorgeous. I can't wait until we get good weather long enough to warm the water up. I also have missed driving down the street and seeing familiar license plates. I know who's in a lot of the cars. Call me a weirdo for memorizing license plates--my husband does all the time. It's also great seeing people I know in the grocery store. It makes grocery trips that much more enjoyable.
There are many more reasons, but I won't bore you guys anymore. Now that we're here I can look forward to baby #2 coming. We still haven't decided on a name yet, but don't worry, we will at least before he leaves the hospital.
We miss all our friends in Wisconsin, but we'll be back soon enough.