1 & 20 months *Snowmageddon edition*

Age: 1 Months

Weight: 10 lbs

Height: 21 in

Size Clothes: 0-3 mo

New Trick(s): Following things with my eyes and an occasional grin or two

Hours Sleeping at Night: 3-4

In a stark contrast to his colicky big brother, Tristan is the BEST baby. He's so chill and it is wonderful. Although, he doesn't sleep as well at night as big brother did. Tristan wants to party at about 2am and Mommy and Daddy are not ok with that. But otherwise, he has just been awesome.

This kid has become famous for his hair. I have never seen a baby with crazier hair than this one, but I absolutely love it! He definitely has his daddy's hair, but he's got mommy's eyes, nose and temperament so, I win. ;-)

Tristan takes Elijah's craziness like a champ and doesn't even mind when big brother holds him and rubs his face in Tristan's hair. lol

Winter came with a vengeance this year and Mommy and big brother are going nuts from being snowed in for weeks. We got 20 inches of snow here in one day! But, once the cold let up a little, we were able to have a snow-play day with Elijah!

The snowman Elijah named "Olaf"

These two are best friends

How to survive snow days: Elijah edition

1. Invent new and interesting ways to enjoy your breakfast.

2. Make toys out of EVERYTHING.

3. Catch up on your reading with Dad.

Tristan Jude Ater is here!

Tristan is here!! 

Tristan Jude Ater

Born January 22nd, 2015 at 6:03PM

Weighed 8lbs 11oz

20 inches long

Well everyone, here he is! I know there wasn’t as much anticipation behind his arrival because I didn’t document every moment of my journey through pregnancy as I did with his big brother, but I wanted to share his birth story with all of you, as I did with Elijah. 

Although the two of them were similar in weights at birth and were the same length, the similarities in their birth stories just about ends there. With Elijah, we arrived at the hospital at a certain time so I could be induced and, with my husband, mother, and two best friends at my side, we waited patiently through the not-so-painful contractions until he was born. Tristan, on the other hand, was a completely different story…

About 2 weeks before he was born (I was 36 weeks pregnant), I started having regular, increasingly painful contractions that lasted from 8AM to 2AM the next morning. I called the hospital when my contractions were 5 minutes apart and they told me I should come in. When Josh and I got there I was only dilated 1cm and after an hour, I had not progressed. The nurses voiced their apologies because my contractions were so regular, they just new I would be in labor, but alas…it was false labor. By my next doctor’s visit, I had progressed to 3cm and my OB said she expected my water to break any day. So, on that news, I waited for 2 weeks thinking it was never going to happen.

Mom with Tristan

The baby was measuring huge on ultrasounds (the last one put him at almost 9lbs) so they had scheduled to induce me at 39 weeks if he didn’t come beforehand. My wonderful mother stayed with me for 2 weeks as we awaited my induction date (Jan 24th). 

My husband had a big meeting at work on the 22nd and so every morning that week he would say, "Don't go into labor today. Just hold out until Saturday. Ok? Ok." Well, Tristan must have misheard his daddy and thought that he was telling him to be sure he came on the 22nd because I woke up that morning having incredibly strong contractions. My contractions were extremely irregular and sometimes they would be 12-15 min apart and because of my previous, false labor experience, I kept putting off going to the hospital. Finally, at around noon I decided the pain was just too much not to be real labor. I asked my mom to stay at the house with Eli, just in case I wasn't actually in labor and I called Josh. His meeting was supposed to be at 12:30 so he said he would get there as soon as he could. 

I drove myself to the hospital, pulling over twice to have contractions. When I got there and the nurses checked me, I was dilated 6cm. After being checked, my contractions sped up significantly and they were excruciating. I called Josh and my mom. It was now around 1:30PM and Josh said the guy he was meeting with still wasn't there, but he was trying his best to get there and my mom couldn't leave the house until someone got there to take care of Eli. After about a few hours, I finally got an epidural, but my blood pressure plummeted. This would have to be the moment my mom got there and she wasn't allowed in the room. After my 7th iv attempt, they were finally able to get a line and my blood pressure regulated. Naturally, my mom was terrified when they wouldn't let her in, but I was no longer in pain so I felt wonderful. Josh got there about 30 minutes later.  

We waited for the next few hours until I reached 10cm. When it came time for me to push, Tristan was born on the very first push...so he basically shot out like a rocket. At 6:03PM he was born and he was perfect. I could not have been more thankful for such an easy birth after that rocky start. Unfortunately, after they put him on my chest for kangaroo care, my blood pressure dropped again and they had to hand him over to Josh to try and get it regulated again. It didn't take long before I was back to normal and I could hold my not-so-little baby again. 

Big brother was finally allowed to come in and see him, but at this point it was way past his bed-time and he was exhausted. It had started snowing really bad and so Josh's dad and step-mom had to take Eli home before the roads got too bad. 

Snow the morning after Tristan was born

Tristan didn't actually get his name until the day after he was born. Josh and I had been debating for months over what to name him and, although "Tristan Jude" had been an option for a long time, we had wanted to call him "Jude" instead of Tristan. Well, after he was here, we decided on Tristan and I am so glad we did. 

All in all, everything went well and we are very blessed. We now have two of the cutest little boys imaginable and we couldn't be happier! 

Daddy watching the UK game in the hospital with Tristan

Uncle Trent holding his nephew for the first time

1 week old baby Tristan

The Lost Years...well, Months.

So, because it was September  the last time I made a blog post and it is now December - I decided I should probably do a quick update on everything that has happened over the past few months.

First off, Mommy and Daddy got married! I know, I know... about time, right? But we had a really simple ceremony on October 10th and we'll be having a "big" wedding on our 1 year anniversary. Yes, it is strange, but since when do we do things the way they are supposed to be done? lol

The Ater Family

Baby Ater #2 (name still pending) had his first baby shower! My wonderful girlfriends threw me a shower and it was perfect! We had so much fun and I don't know what I would do without them.

The extremely talented Ms. Janna made these for everyone at the shower!

Elijah fell in love with Auntie Kayla

And of course, he couldn't get enough of Aunt Janna 

We had our first big snow on Thanksgiving Day! Elijah, who loved the sight of the snow, DID NOT love being put down in it. As long as his feet were off the ground, he was fine. Otherwise, it was a crying nightmare. lol

Elijah finally, FINALLY has teeth! Yes, my son did not get his first tooth until he was 16 months old, but he got 4 at once, so he's making up for lost time. :-) I love his little toothy grin! It's absolutely adorable!

Elijah with his big cousin Ace

Mommy is currently 32 weeks pregnant and feeling extremely large. Some of the things I have experienced this pregnancy that I did not experience with Elijah are: swollen hands and feet, really intense Braxton Hicks contractions, incredibly dry skin, and far more weight gain. I currently weigh more than I did when I gave birth to Elijah and I still have 8 weeks to go...Dear. Lord.

Lastly, Elijah went on his first trip to the zoo! He absolutely loved the tiger and the polar bear. He kept "rawr-ing" at the tiger and he giggled while the polar bear played with a ball. We also saw an orangutan who would come up to the window if you show her your purse and point for you to pull things out and let her see! It was so cool! So, tip, if you go to the Louisville Zoo, you can show the female orangoutang your purse and she will be very interested. :-)

Round Two...

Well, since Elijah is now a year old and we will no longer be doing monthly pictures, I decided the only way to keep this blog going would obviously be to get pregnant AGAIN!   ...just kidding. But really though, baby boy Ater numero dos will be here in February! Ok, to answer a few questions I know is burning in everyone's brains:

1. Q: Was this planned?
    A: Negative. We are just really good at making oops babies. :-)

2. Q: Are you freaking out?!
    A: Absolutely. I'm just starting to get used to one kid...now I'm going to have to go through an entirely new transitioning phase! At least they're both boys so I'll be able to use most of what I've learned from Elijah on baby #2.

3. Q: Wait, you already know it's a boy?
    A: Yeeeeeah...we waited until we were about 18 weeks before telling anyone. Even though my body is expanding at an ever increasing rate, living out in the country and having no social life made it much easier to conceal my baby belly. That, and we have just been so crazy busy that we decided instead of 2 announcements (1 about the baby and 1 about the gender) we would just do 1!

4. Q: How are you going to handle being the mother of 2 boys?
    A: I think if there was ever a woman created to deal with boys, it was me. I have 2 little brothers and all of my cousins are boys. It's second nature to me. lol

5. Q: Are you excited?
    A: Yes! My baby is hitting toddler phase and I was just starting to miss all of the baby-ness... Now I get to enjoy both simultaneously!

6. Q: Do you have any names picked out?
    A: We have 3 that we are deciding between right now: Jonah, Malachi, and Noah.

7. Q: How far apart will your boys be?
    A: 18 months - crazy right?

8. Q: When are you guys getting married? (I get this ALL OF THE TIME)
    A: Well, when you plan on an October wedding and buy your dress and then, oops! - you're going to be 6 months pregnant by the time you get to wear this beautiful, tailored-to-your-prebaby-figure dress - you realize that the wedding of your dreams is probably going to have to be postponed. So, we're getting married in October of 2015.

Ok, ok. No more questions. lol This time around I'm not going to do the weekly pictures. I know, I know...I'll probably regret it later, but I never fix myself up enough for photo ops because I'm always at home with Elijah so I don't plan to start now. Yes, this is entirely based upon my laziness factor hitting about a 9 on the Richter Scale.  All of that being said, I will keep you guys updated on my progress and this will give me an excuse to keep posting pictures of my adorable kid so...win, win!

So here was how we actually announced it to everyone:

And this is just a cute picture of post-mud bath time! Enjoy!

12 Months - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIJAH!!!

Age: 12 Months

Weight: 26 lbs

Height: 35 in

Size Clothes: 18-24mo

New Trick(s): Blowing kisses, following directions, saying "Thank You!"

Hours Sleeping at Night: 12-13

Elijah is a year old!!! I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by! It seems like just yesterday we were bundling up this little 8lb 8oz baby and taking him back to our apartment to begin our lives as parents. Now he is our entire world and we couldn't imagine our lives without him!

For his first birthday, Elijah got to experience all kinds of firsts! He had his first cake (which he got to smear all over himself, as every baby should), his first party, and later on, his first trip to a dairy farm and his first kiss! 

He absolutely loved opening all of his gifts and smooshing cake everywhere, although he did share a little with Mommy and Daddy. We had lots of bubbles and balloons and he got to play to his hearts content!

We had his party a few days before his actual birthday because we were going to Pennsylvania for our friend Jake's wedding! We stayed with Jake's parents, Jean and Keith, who own a dairy farm and Elijah had SO MUCH FUN! We couldn't be more thankful for Jean and Keith and their wonderful family. Their house was absolutely beautiful and the view was amazing. They are definitely some of the most loving, humble, hard-working people I have ever met and I can't wait to see them again!

At the rehearsal dinner on this actual birthday - June 27th

Josh was the best man and the beautiful Mrs. Molly was the maid of honor

This was a shot from the mountains at Jake's family's camp.

Elijah absolutely loved the calves!

Keith and Elijah were best buds.

Daddy and his mini-me.

Elijah's first kiss with Leah!

Letting out the cows

Elijah's favorite cow. This one started sucking on his foot!