Dinnertime can be pretty fun around here!
Hutch loves giving high fives (to anyone and everyone he meets) and he is pretty proud of his high ten as you can see! The sound of a dog (or a train or a motorcycle) in the distance will draw his attention immediately. He loves making animal sounds. A few of our favorites are his elephant, dino and owl… a few that, unfortunately, were forgotten in this video. I guess we’ll have to make another video of those soon.
We had Hutch’s 15 month doctor’s appointment this week. And, he is doing great… not that we needed to go the doctor to figure that out… but still it is nice to hear!
He is growing. He has grown an inch since our last appointment almost 3 months ago and has gained 3 pounds. He is long and lean… maybe a bit like his dad. He is in the 90th percentile for height at 32.5 inches, and the 50th percentile for weight at 24.8 pounds. We’re not exactly sure how he stays so lean with all that he eats. A few mornings ago he ate almost 3 eggs plus half of an english muffin, half of a banana, and a small dish of oatmeal!!! That seems to me like a big breakfast… especially for a 15 month old! He doesn’t seem to have any trouble burning off all those calories… but he may also be burning a hole in our pockets!
He got shot… twice. Once in each leg. He didn’t like that at all! He cried with each poke. Shots always seem to make the little guy a bit more sleepy than usual. He took an extra long nap that afternoon but woke up with as much energy, appetite and spunk as ever.
The doctor asked if he had 3-5 words in his vocabulary… I told her he probably had around 20. She was very pleased with that amount at this age… she said she would expect that amount closer to 18 months. Then I started thinking that maybe I had exagerated a bit. So on our walk that evening Derick and I decided to start listing and counting the words that he regularly and consistently says on his own. We flew past 20 and made it to at least 40.
Now obviously, not every word is properly or always fully pronounced, but these are words he regularly uses without prompting and consistently pronounces the same way. Papa is always whispered and it is the most precious thing to hear! It definitely endears Hutch to his Papa! Bock-bock is also always whispered, but I don’t think the chickens love Hutch any more because of it.
Hutch also has a ton of words he loves to repeat when prompted. A few of those regularly repeated around here include: oatmeal, amen, Jesus, doctor, ocean, Ernie; and thanks to the prompting of friends: tattoo, minion, and dude.
This word learning phase has been one of my favorites. It is awesome to see his little brain soak up and repeat everything he can. It blows my mind that just a year ago, all he did was just lay there and look around. And now… he can understand us and we can understand him (at least some of the time)! I love this experience of watching our little boy learn to communicate!
Ho-hum-i-ness
Leaving husband at home for our quick trip north! Sad for him. Very sad for me.
Trying to travel with a toddler and all of his stuff (which includes a large bulky carseat), all of my stuff, and a baby bump… I am sure we are quite the site! And I am quite tuckered out.
The full-body pat-down (yes, baby bump and all) that I received at the airport. As I if we needed an additional challenge!
The neckline of my dress… Tried it on real quick before I packed it… seemed fine with a quick glance in the mirror as I stood still. Not so good with any movement, especially dancing as I found out once I was surrounded by people. Sorry to those who saw more than I would have liked! Embarrassing!
Happiness
A quick 24 hour trip up north where Hutch got to see his Grammie and his Uncle Ron.
How good Hutch was sitting on my lap on our flight! We got lots of complements on how good he was… even from the man who got stuck sitting between us and a very large man. He seemed pleasantly surprised. So blessed to have such a good little guy!
Watching two dear high school friends celebrate 10 years of marriage! Congratulations Jeremy and Emily! So happy I was able to celebrate with you.
Seeing other old friends.
Dancing with my best high school girl friends.
Dancing with a big belly… awkward and embarrassing, but in a fun way!
A half empty flight on the way back home… which meant Hutch and I each got our own seat.
Ending our flight by watching a beautiful sunset over the ocean (and a tiny island).
Seeing dad at the airport! Yay! We’re home!
Happy New Year everyone! Not only is today the first day of the year, it is also my birthday… that’s right, I am a New Year’s baby. Today is the first day of the last year of my twenties! Whoa! And with only a few hours left to this first day of 2012, here is my very first post of the year. I asked my mom, Cathi, to write a little bit about that New Year’s Day twenty-nine years ago when I was born.
This photo is from the front page of the January 2nd, 1983 edition of the Auburn Journal. This photo was accompanied by an article announcing the arrival of the first baby of the New Year in Placer County, CA: Rebecca Ariana Hutchinson, born on January 1, 1983 at 5:23 AM.
Our little girl came into the world without too much difficulty. She was our fourth baby and an extra special blessing. She was an answer to prayer following the birth of her brother Joel who was born with unexpected heart problems. Unfortunately, these heart problems cut short our time with Joel to only six days.
When the nurse first brought Rebecca into my room, she said that there was a problem with my baby. My heart dropped, remembering our experience with Joel. The nurse went on to tell me that Rebecca’s body temperature was a little low and that I would just have to hold her and snuggle with her to keep her warm. You can’t even imagine how relieved and overjoyed I was. I snuggled with Rebecca for hours and just couldn’t keep my eyes off of her.
She was an answer to prayer and a bright little light for all of us on that New Years Day and has continued to be so all of these years.
Christmas day is here! Really it’s less than an hour from over but it is just the beginning of our celebration. Tonight is our Christmas Eve with Derick’s family and in a few days we will celebrate with my family.
We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas! We have been blessed with so much joy and laughter and love this year. We are thankful for our little boy and so thankful for our baby on the way! But we are even more thankful for the little baby that was sent to this earth so many years ago to bring us salvation.
Alleluia! Praise Him!
Today’s first remember: Remember when we found out we were pregnant!
On Thursday, February 4th, 2010 we took our very first pregnancy test. The box said to wait 3-5 minutes for results. So, I peed on the stick and then we went and did a few things to get ready. When came back to check on the test a few minutes later, but to our dismay there was only one pink line… a big negative. And so we continued getting ready for work. A few minutes later when I went back into the bathroom I noticed a second faint pink line so I called Derick back in and sure enough, he saw it too! But the box said not to look at the test once 10 minutes had past because it could show false results. Aahh! Had it been 10 minutes?? Well over. Were we pregnant?? We had no idea! We had failed at taken our first ever pregnancy test.
So we decided to wait a few days to take a second test. So on Sunday, February 7th we tried again. So I peed on the stick and Derick left the bathroom to go do something… not sure what, doesn’t matter. He figured he had 3-5 minutes to wait like last time. But, no. As soon as I looked at the stick, there they were, two pink lines!! We were pregnant! We were ecstatic and we couldn’t stop smiling.
Seriously, we couldn’t stop smiling. The curve just took over our faces. We realized we couldn’t go to any Superbowl parties with these big smiles on our faces. Everyone would immediately know we were pregnant! So we went out a date to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate.
Today’s second remember: Remember when we found out we were pregnant with Baby Z #2!!!
It’s true. I’m not lying. We’re having another baby!!
I found out that a friend of mine is pregnant with her second baby. She and I were pregnant at the same time with our first babies. The same day I found out she was pregnant I fell asleep on the couch for the third day in a row. I told Husband, “I’m sorry I’ve been napping so much lately. I’ve just been so tired.” To which he replied, “Maybe you’re pregnant, too!” And we laughed! And then we dismissed the thought.
In May, I had surgery to remove half of my thyroid. This of course has affected my thyroid levels and a main symptom of this can be fatigue so I figured my tiredness was most likely caused by this. Also, since my surgery, my neck and back have been extremely sore due to the position that they put you in during the surgery. In general, my body has just been feeling a bit out of sorts due to my whole thyroid situation.
But as the week went on, I started thinking about husband’s comment… and I started thinking about my out-of-sort-ness– tiredness, sore/tight back, and I had had a few very emotional days. I had only had one period since I was pregnant… a second still had not come which figured was common as your body and hormones are still getting back to normal, besides, I was still breastfeeding. But then, I started to get a little picky about my food and this I thought was weird! And then I thought, “maybe I am pregnant”… but still it was more of a funny, unlikely thought.
I let a few more days pass in which time my food pickiness was getting worse! I finally told husband “I’ve got to take a pregnancy test because either I am pregnant or I am convincing myself that I am.” So that night we went to the dollar store and picked up three pregnancy tests for $3.
The next day, I took the test, and within seconds two pink lines! I couldn’t believe it. I decided I better take another test in case the dollar store test was faulty and once again… two pink lines almost immediately. We took a third test just for the certainty. And why not? It was a dollar and needed to be used.
So there it is friends. We are having another baby! Baby Z 2. Or as some of our friends have said, “the Z-quel!” We are due in late April/early May. We are very excited and this week of remembering meeting Baby Hutch and looking at photos makes us even more excited!
We are very excited for Hutch to be a big brother. He already loves “baby”! : )
Remember when my belly looked like it was going to pop?
One year ago today, there was a big baby in my belly. We didn’t know if that baby was a boy or a girl. We didn’t know when we would finally get to meet that little one, but we were very anxious to do so. That baby was already in my belly a whole week past it’s “due date.” My belly was big.
One year ago, it was a beautiful sunny day so we went and had breakfast on the beach at Thousand Steps Beach in Laguna with my sister. My sister came down three days before my due date for the birth… eleven days was as long as she could stay before she had to be back to work, so this was her last day. Sister, Husband and I had already walked about a thousand miles that week trying to get the little one out… we were hoping that maybe the thousand steps down and back up would do it! And if not, at least we could enjoy the beach. And we did. The weather was perfect. The water was beautiful. And we saw dolphins which always makes for a fun beach experience.
I’m not exactly sure how we spent the rest of our day one year ago, but I do know we spent some time looking up ways of getting labor started and we tried at least one of the fun ones. Later that evening we went out to dinner with Derick’s parent as well as his brother, Ryan, and our sister-in-law, Jenn, who was also pregnant and I believe due that day. We had been told that if I ate italian food, I would go into labor… guess what, we ate at an italian restaurant. Sidenote: You wouldn’t believe the silly, crazy things that people tell you to do to start labor. Pretty much whatever they did the day they went into labor is the key. Anyway by this time, I was starting to feel pretty discouraged and I was sad that my sister had to leave before the baby was born and I was so sick of hearing “Has the baby come yet?” Obviously not. Do you see my belly?! In my sadness, I’m pretty sure I just ate and ate and ate… way too much.
But something we did that day one year ago worked! Or maybe it was just that the baby was finally ready! But around 7:30 or 8 pm I started to have some contractions that felt very different from the Braxton-Hicks that I had been feeling for days. My sister was about 8 hours away, still driving home.
One year ago today, I started labor. One year ago, my body was experiencing some crazy contracting. One year ago, we were experiencing the first of many sleepless nights. One year ago, we were so excited to know that we would be meeting our baby soon!
It’s budget baby time! And to get right into it, my first and foremost frugal tip is this… breastfeed your baby!
Why is this my top suggestion for saving money? Because it’s free! And formula is expensive. I’m not even sure how much formula is, but everyone I know who uses it complains about the cost. And, I know that its starting price can’t be very low when I receive coupons for “$5 off one can of formula” in the mail.
Benefits
Cost. Again, It’s free! Awesome.
Convenient. There is already so much to have to pack when you go on an outing with a baby. It’s really nice to not have to worry about adding bottles of formula to that already heavy diaper bag.
Health. There are so many health benefits for baby and for mom! There are books on it! I won’t write my own.
Bonding. It’s a really amazing thing to feed your baby this way. It means you get to cuddle with them many times throughout the day… so special. And it is beyond words to watch your baby suck and know that all of his nutrition and his growth is being provided by you!
Weight loss. I was amazed at how quickly I was back to my pre-prego weight. That is a really nice benefit of breastfeeding! Unfortunately, I’m still not back to my pre-prego body. But I’m pretty sure that is a benefit of working out… more often than I have been!
Challenges
Supply. It seems like supply is the biggest deterrent to breastfeeding. Some women just never quite produce enough milk to keep up with their baby’s needs. I am so thankful to say that I’ve always had enough. However, in the beginning, I had an over-supply… and this didn’t thrill Hutch’s immature little sucker. Way too much milk would come way too fast and he would get so mad at me… which made me so sad and led to some tears for the both of us! But, this is just something that is remedied with time. Hutch learned to suck a little better and my body figured out that it could slow down a bit. In those first weeks, it was a common sight to see what husband and I called the “milk-splosion.”
Feeding in public. This over-supply and milk-splosion definitely made it really hard to breastfeed very discreetly in public those first few weeks. Plus, the baby isn’t very good at latching yet. But once those things settled, it got a little easier. But then came curious, distracted, wiggly Hutch who refuses to keep the cover or blanket over him when there is anyone else around.
Fashion. While it’s a lot of fun to dress your baby bump all cute during pregnancy, I know that I looked forward to being able to wear my regular clothes again. Little did I know that a lot of them would have to remain sidelined for a while. I love to wear dresses. But most of my dresses are breastfeeding un-friendly. I can’t pull the front down enough, and hiking the whole thing up is just awkward for everyone involved. But, it’s gotten easier now that Hutch can go longer without needing to eat.
Pumping & Hospitalization. I had thyroid surgery when Hutch was six months old and this was by far my biggest breastfeeding challenge. Due to medications and such, the doctors didn’t want me to breastfeed for 48 hours. So the weeks leading up to the surgery I pumped, and pumped, and pumped. And then in order to keep up my supply, I had to continue to pump (& dump) every few hours in the hospital. I remember my hospital roommate being very annoyed by the sound of the pump… but the nurse just told her it was a monitoring machine. Oh, and by the way, my nurse was a younger guy… that’s not awkward to have him walk in on you pumping! Needless to say, I’ve just about had my fill of pumping. I try to do it here and there just to have an emergency stash… but without the necessity, I’m a bit of a slacker. But I am very thankful to have had such a good pump!
These are just the challenges I encountered. I recognize that there are a lot more challenges to breastfeeding than these… some that prevent mothers from breastfeeding their babies. But for those who are able, breastfeeding really is wonderful. And for those just starting out, don’t let the challenges discourage you. So many people told me that it gets easier sometime after 4-6 weeks… be encouraged, this is true!
For those who made it this far, I hope that all of booby talk hasn’t been too much for you and I hope the photos haven’t offended you. For those who wish they hadn’t made it this far, feel free to stop reading now! : )
I will leave you with this: my very first breastfeeding moment. What a special gift God has given mothers… to add on to the very miracle of pregnancy and childbirth!
Are you ready for this? Dress, Boots, Earrings: all from Target! Maybe a little much… but I made my leather ring, at least!
It’s been so long since I’ve posted I’ve almost forgotten how. But we’re back and I’m ready to get back in this posting game!
For those who don’t know, my sister had her baby on October 7 and Hutch and I went up to visit a few days before the birth and stayed for a while after (more details and photos from our trip and the new baby to come). I took the computer up with me with plans to post at least a few times while I was there, but my sister’s new house didn’t have internet access so my plans were kinda foiled. I didn’t use the computer once while I was there… I kinda wish I wouldn’t have bothered lugging it up there. Oh well. Other than a few kinks in my neck from the heavy luggage… no harm done.
The trip was great and I’m so glad we were able to go, but being away from home with a baby and without a Dad is exhausting. Hutch and I are so very happy to be back home with Dad. We missed him a lot!
Hutch has gotten four teeth this week and he is exhausted from it. He has been the sweetest, sleepiest little guy the past two days. Yesterday, he slept on me from 1-5 pm and then with dad until almost 6. And today, he slept on us for another hour or two. When he isn’t sleeping, he mostly just wants to rest and cuddle. We haven’t had this much cuddle time since he was a tiny little infant. We haven’t gotten much done, but we have gotten to rest which I think is just what we have been needing. It breaks my heart a little to see him so out of his element but it does my heart good to get so much sweet cuddle time.
Every once in a while, he gets some of his usual spunk back…
But mostly… he cuddles or sleeps…
the orange blossom 