Life With Ben

I am a little behind on blogging! My life has changed dramatically over the last three weeks! Duh! No sleep at night, attempted naps during the day, lots of diaper changes, and of course lots of feeding. My latest piece of advice is to fly your mother into town and hold her hostage for at least two weeks. If she lives in town present her with a fake ticket that commits her to helping you. I know I would have not survived the first few weeks without my mother! I will post more regularly again I promise! But for now this will have to do.

One Week Old!

I can't believe that my baby is already one week old!! It has flown by so fast! The first couple days were a little tough. Mom and baby were having feeding issues, but thanks to a lactation specialist we are great now (EVERYONE who has a baby should go see a lactation specialist right after birth. Nursing isn't as natural as you think it will be). Ben had a bit of jaundice after he was born so we had to put him under lights for a night, but he made it through. Now he sleeps and eats like a dream. Scott and I are still a little shell shocked about being parents. Ben caught us a little off guard by coming ten days early. But we are thrilled he is here and are loving every minute with him.

B is for . . . .

BENJAMIN CLARK BRUDERER!!!

Our little angel came 10 whole days early! Mom is still trying to recover so posting pictures of the little guy is going to take a while. But I did want to put up one Megan took. (Thanks Meg!) Benjamin weighed in at 7 lbs. and 1 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. He clocked in at 12:16 pm on March 3, 2008.

Egg Press Discovery

This is the most adorable do it yourself piece of stitchery I have ever seen!! Granted I am a complete sucker for anything wiener dog related, but come on!! Who wouldn't want to make their very own snuggly wienie dog made with two fun sides to its personality! This item was discovered on the Egg Press website. (Thanks for leading me to it Capree.)

Lime Ricki Swimsuits!!

Get ready for summer!! Here comes Lime Ricki's new swimsuit line! Lucky for me I got to preview the entire line last night because I was the photographer. The shoot was a lot of fun. Cute young girls with a lot of spunk. I love the new swimsuits. You will have to keep your eye out for them on their website.

Friends and Bellies

Today I talked Kim into coming into the studio to do some pregnancy pictures with me. The amazing Logan did an incredible job with us and our bellies. Kim and I planned our lives out when we were in seventh grade and of course we were going to have babies at the same time! I thought it is hilarious that this prediction of ours actually came true so I decided that it needed to be documented.




This is our kids engagement picture. They just don't know it yet!

This is us doing a serious face. Yeah Right.

Hooray for AMAZING Friends!!

My friends put on a baby shower for me last night. And I am speechless. I can't believe how many people came and am still in awe at how generous everyone was. Wow. A special thanks needs to be handed out to Kim, Alisa, and my mom for being incredible hostesses and pulling the whole thing off. The food was wonderful, the company even better and the presents a very nice bonus. Thank you thank you to all of you behind the scenes people (who I suspect helped the mess vanish) and everyone who came to support Scott and I in our upcoming adventure. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart and love you all!

Snowed In!!

A HUGE storm hit Utah on February 13th. It hit the hardest in Alpine, Utah. That is where Scott works. The only highway in and out of IM Flash was closed down. The road was so bad that people driving on it gave up and abandoned their cars. So not only was it closed due to bad weather conditions, but because they had to get tow trucks to haul away the abandoned cars. The day shift at IM Flash couldn't leave and the night shift couldn't come in. So Scott ended up working a 24 + hour shift. Luckily IM Flash provided the stranded employees with dinner. It was a good thing Scott got in line quickly because they ran out of food. IM Flash also relaxed on their CNN and Weather Channel only policy and let employees watch American Idol. They even put on Lord of the Rings in one of conference rooms using a projector. Don't worry Scott got a little sleep. By a little I mean barely four hours on a wooden bench by the lockers!! Poor Scott!! When the bosses showed up the next day and realized how many people had been stuck there overnight they let them go home to get some sleep so Scott got Valentine's Day off. Hooray for Utah weather! (pics courtesy of ksl.com)

My Most Recent Purchase

Thank you Poppy Talk!! I found these through this fun blog and I have big plans for them in my house!! Yeah for amazing finds!

Snow Day!

Sunday morning we woke up to a blizzard and about 15 inches of fresh snow! We were officially snowed in when they canceled church. Our patio transformed into an ice cave overnight. When we went to sleep we had maybe 4 inches out there. We were bummed that we weren't able to make to my grandma's super bowl party, but we went next door to Mindee and Jerry's house to watch the game.

Just Like Dad!

Scott and I found these shoes at Kid to Kid while we were looking for other baby items and we simply couldn't resist. For as long as I have known Scott he has had Adidas shoes just like these. Since we have been married Scott has received a new pair every year. So when we found a pair for our little guy, we had to buy them. Now he can run around with shoes just like dad (granted that will take some time.)

Current State of the Belly

I don't really remember what it is like to sleep through the night or to really be and stay asleep longer than 30 min. Hmmm. But I am pretty sure I won't experience good sleep for a long while yet. (I know I know "It is only going to get worse.") Baby boy still refuses to grow out. He just grows up higher and higher into my lungs and rib cage. He viciously reminds me when my posture is unacceptable with a swift kick to the ribs. I am afraid he is going to bust a hole right through by belly before I ever go into labor. The most recent development is that once again I have found myself experiencing "reverse" pregnancy. I didn't really have morning sickness in my first trimester, but oh boy do I have it now. My body isn't a fan of my estrogen levels. So I spend about four hours (at least) every morning wanting so badly to puke while trying to be a cheery Silver Pelican Employee! Fun!

Biggest Pregnancy Pet Peeve

So I am SO SICK of the phrase "Just wait, it only gets worse!" Just about every mom I talk to tells me how horrible labor and delivery are and then how irreversibly altered your life is after the baby. Why do people keep having kids if it is so awful! Maybe I am crazy, naive, and dumb for being excited about being pregnant and adding a little one to our family! Just let me be happy!

2 Months to Go!

How am I already seven months pregnant!!! Wow. The last two months are going to FLY by, and I am really really not ready. We still haven't painted the baby furniture. Therefore the baby's room is not done at all. Yikes. We still haven't purchased a lot of essential baby care stuff and I am starting to get overwhelmed! But at least I have a belly!
So here is a funny story for me to tell the munchkin later in life. So this baby is incredibly active. My ribs and organs hurt all the time because he beats the crap out of them. This week I overdid it a little bit with work and household chores and stuff. Then baby's movements changed. He started to move very very softly and not as much which scared me to death. I spent Saturday and Sunday morning crying because I was sure there was something wrong with him. I finally gave in and called the OB/GYN on call. He told me to go and drink some OJ, lie down on my side and count the baby's movements for an hour. If I didn't feel 8 movements within the hour then I should call him back. So tearfully I laid down, with Scott by my side. We counted kicks for a whole hour. When we added them up, we had 68 movements within an hour. I will chalk this one up to first time paranoid mom!

My First Baby Shower

My cousin Tara and my aunt Sharon graciously hosted a baby shower for me on January 3rd. It was wonderful to see family. I don't see them as much as I would like all though all of us live so close! We are lame. But the shower was so much fun. We played the identify what is in the diaper game. It was funny to watch everyone smelling "messy" diapers. My little cousins kept plugging their noses because they were sure it wasn't food in the diapers. Thank you thank you to all that helped, I appreciate it more than you know!