Crazy summer

We have had a lot of fun being home for the summer. There are so many things that we've been doing, and I've been so behind on blogging. I have also been pretty bad at taking pictures. I would rather be in the midst of the event instead of looking on behind a camera. I have been doing many things to stay active and lose baby pounds. I confess that I went skiing a couple weeks ago (before my six-week mark)and deeply regret it. I crashed twice, and my muscles were quite sore. We've also been floating on a drift boat down the Snake River and the Salt River (Wyoming). My dad and Lance's dad both have drift boats, and we've almost worn them out. I can say that I'm pretty burnt out of fishing, but Lance still has some trips left in him. We have also been golfing, playing at Bear Lake, attending lots of family reunions, and this past weekend we even went camping. Rydge isn't even 2 months old, but he was a great camper. He slept better in a tent than he does at home. I have lots of pictures, but am just posting them at random. I hope you can tell what's going on.

This is Rydge in his Baby Bjorn. I just had to post this picture to show that I have been using it. Lance didn't think I would use it, but he always falls asleep whenever he's in it.

This was the family reunion football game. Lance had a pick 6 and did his best Deion Sanders impersonation. I also put this picture in to point out his amazing farmer's tan. Yes, he already took his shirt off.
We were able to bless Rydge out at the Jacobson family cabin. Lance's sister bought us his cute blessing outfit, because we wouldn't have had one otherwise.


If any of you know my brother Chase, Rydge looks exactly like him in this picture.
Lance and his cousins decided to bury money and candy in the sand at their cabin to give the kids a treasure hunt. They had so much fun finding everything.
Last, but not least, I thought I'd post a picture of Jaycee with her mosquito bite right in the middle of her forehead. Jaycee has always swollen up wherever she gets a mosquito bite, but it's never swollen quite like that, and it's never been in that location. The swelling went down into the bridge of her nose, and her eyes. She looks pretty scary in the picture, but has her normal forehead back now.

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.