Tricks and Treats

I've had so much fun this year with Halloween. I've made lots of fun treats and having Tanner just makes the whole holiday more fun. He's so fun to take pictures of and to play with. He's such a good baby that I just can't get enough of him. I made Tanner's costume last week, but then when I had him try it on six days later- we sat him up- and the zipper ripped out. He's such a little chunker. So then I decided to remake it- but I waited until two days before this time. Luckily he didn't out grow it this time.
So after making Tanner's costume twice- we finally got our act together- this is the herb family- Halloween 2009.Chris is Zeus, I'm Hera, and Tanner is Hercules.


Here is a close up of Tanner- He's so fun and didn't cry at all!


We had a blast. We went to the ward party for a little bit. Tanner hasn't been feeling very well this week after he got his shots on monday, so we didn't stay long. We ate some Chilli, saw the costume parade then headed to my parents house. We watched the orginal Dracula and Frankenstein with them while Tanner slept. It was fun- I'd never actually seen the original movies.
While we watched we enjoyed the halloween treats my mom and I had made a few days before. Here are some of the things we made

Scary Snack Mix

Ding-a-ling Spiders

Candy corn pudding cups

Donut hole eyeballs

Oreo magic dragon
I also made these little halloween place settings. Teethy grin plates, mummy napkins and pumpkin glasses.


All in all, a great halloween. I can hardly wait to start planning our costumes for next year. It will be so fun, because hopefully Tanner will be walking by then, and we will get to go to the kid's halloween festival and the hayride. And he'll be old enough to understand more of whats going on. I hope everyone had a safe and fun halloween!

Fall Fun and Crafts

This is Tanner at Nanny and Papa's house- he was so smiley- he loves to sit and smile at Papa. And he loves to rock and fall asleep in Nanny's arms. I love that they love to watch him.

Tanner wearing one of his Halloween onsies and hat. He hates wearing hats- but he was being very tolerant. I just love this boy!

We went to this nursery to find a pumpkin and it was such a beautiful day that we had to take some pictures!

We finally bought our pumpkins and carved them Tuesday night. It was really fun- Tanner laid on his pillow on the table the entire time and watched us. We got a pumpkin for each of us, and after carving our own, Chris and I turned our attention to Tanner's pumpkin. Chris' pumpkin is the silly face, mine is the haunted house, and Tanner's is the little zombie boy.





Oh and Tanner and I took some fun pumpkin pictures too while we were carving- he's such a good sport.



Then I was talking to my sister Sarah about our Halloween costumes and how I really wanted our costumes to all match and have some kind of theme. She gave me the idea of making Tanner a mini Hercules costume to go with mine and Chris' Greek god costumes. Its been a fun little project. I'll post pictures after Halloween, because I want to get a family picture and I will only be able to get Chris into that costume once.


Also I finally finished the wooden block letters for Tanner's name in his nursery. I really like how they turned out- and the colors are pretty close to his bedding colors.

This is Tanner at my grandmas before we left to look at the fall colors.


Yesterday Tanner and I went over to my Grandma's to hang out with her and we took a few pictures on her front porch with all her cute fall decorations. Then we all took a drive around to look at the fall colors. It was fun, and the maple trees are beautiful this year. I've missed the fall colors- in Idaho it just changes from green leaves to bare trees.
Oh- p.s. Tanner is two months old today- I can hardly believe it- he's such a little man already! Here are some other random pictures


Here is a picture of our home. Its a duplex- so I only took a picture of half of the unit.


Here is Tanner with Chris and I eating sushi- he just wanted to sit on our laps the entire time. I think he is going to be a sushi lover!

This is our little chunker. I love his rolls!

I love dressing Tanner up in little man clothes. Except- it makes him look so old, he's only 8 weeks old here.

The Start of Another Week

This is a classic Tanner pose- He loves to lay against his Dad. And that pot belly is no optical illusion- he is such a chunker!

Tanner and I playing together- he is so fun to watch because he makes the funniest faces. And last night- I'm convinced he was trying to laugh- it was the cutest thing ever!

I just love to snuggle this baby- he is so cute and cuddly. He loves to be held and snuggle up to you.

This is what Tanner wore to church yesterday. I love this little outfit- too bad its starting to get cold and the little shirt has short sleeves.


Tanner all bundled up before we go to cheer Laura on at her Cross Country meet- after I got him in the car seat all bundled, he slept the entire meet. The cold and wind didn't even bother him with that car seat canopy.


I think that God must have blessed us with an awesome baby because if Tanner would have been a hard baby or had colic- he would probably be an only child. I'm SO glad Chris and Tanner are such good buds- Chris loves to come home at lunch and see Tanner. He holds him most of his lunch break and Tanner loves to smile and play with him. Its a nice break for me- because I'm pretty sure Tanner gets tired of seeing me all day.

I can't get over how much he has grown during these last few weeks- he's started gaining weight and now he doesn't know how to stop. His little face has really filled out. He's doing a lot better at nursing- it only takes about 15-20 minutes and he's sleeping 6 hours stretches- if not more at night. He slept through the night twice last week. I'm hoping we are on our way to a full night's rest every night. I think at that point- we'll put him in his nursery.

I'm so grateful that I get to stay home and be with Tanner during the day- I think I'd miss way to much if I was still working. On Thursdays my Mom will watch Tanner for a few hours while I have some "me" time- but by the end of my 4 hours- I'm so ready to hold my baby again. Its crazy!

We're getting really excited for Thanksgiving. We are leaving for Utah on Nov. 14th to visit my sister Sarah, my brother Joesph and his wife Julieta, and Jon and Julie Arndt. Hopefully we'll get to see Kelsey- she's getting off her mission in two weeks, and Christie and her family. I haven't seen Bree since she was three months old- now she is 1. I'm so excited. Then we're heading out to Oregon to spend Thanksgiving with Chris' family. And I have two new little nephews I haven't met yet- so that will be fun. We'll have all three little boys together. I can hardly wait. I really miss my sister-in-law Stephanie- we got really close when we lived in Oregon for 5 months- and it was like loosing one of my best friends when we moved to Arkansas. So it will be fun to hang out together again.

It hardly seems fair that my life is so awesome right now, I can't help but think that God must have some big trial up ahead, because no one person should be this happy.

Introductions...

I've finally given into the blogging trend. I decided this would be the easiest way to write about Tanner as he grows and post pictures- then I'll have it printed up as a book and that will save me from writing in a journal. Which I've pretty much given up on anyways...

So if you've already heard Tanner's birth story than you can ignore the first post, I'm going to get caught up on his life then I'll write about whats going on with us now.



Tanner was born on August 24th, 2009 at 2:32 p.m. He was actually due on the 22nd of August, but he decided to check out late. When I went in for my 40 week check-up appointment my blood pressure was elevated, and it had been slowly climbing for the last few weeks. The doctor decided he was going to induce me- which was fine because my sister was heading back to BYU and she didn't want to miss Tanner's birth.

Chris and I went to the hospital at 6:00 am on the the 24th and we checked into our room. By 7:00 am they had me hooked up to the pitocin to induce my labor. At 8:30 the doctor came in and broke my water- that was a really weird feeling. Like I was constantly wetting the bed but I couldn't control it. Anyways- When I came in that morning I was dilated to almost about a 1 1/2. At first I couldn't feel any of my contractions. Then as time went by they got gradually stronger. At first it felt like Tanner was just kicking me, then it was like really bad cramps in my back. Then it had progressed to full on back labor. VERY PAINFUL! At that point I asked for some pain meds. It wasn't horrible- but I figured "Why be in pain if you don't have to be?" I was dilated to a 2 at that point. They gave me stadol- which was great- but it made me really loopy. I started hallucinating and saying really crazy things. By that point my Mom and sisters were also in the room with us, and the things I was saying were cracking them up. I remember thinking my tongue was a piece of wood and it was really heavy. And my head was block of wood and was too heavy to hold up. The room kept spinning and so I had to close my eyes. I dozed on and off until the pain meds wore off. At that point I was dilated to almost a 3. The doctor came in and gave me an epidural. I remember my hormones were making me shake so bad the nurse had to hold me still for the epidural. After I got the epidural I lost feeling in my left side, but I could still feel the contractions on my right. So the nurse had my lay on my right side and let gravity work its magic. By the time the epidural kicked in on my right side it was about 1:30 p.m. I was feeling good and even able to close my eyes a bit. At about 2:00 p.m. the nurse came in to give me a catheter and check me again to see how much I'd dilated. At that point she got a confused look on her face and said she couldn't feel me- she said I was complete. (meaning completely dilated). She got another nurse to double-check, she agreed and the nurse started to help me practice pushing. The doctor came about 15 minutes later. I pushed 4-5 times and Tanner was here. I had dilated from almost a 3 to a 10 in about 45 minutes and then our little baby was in our arms. It was a really easy labor and delivery- I can only hope it is always that easy.

While I was pushing the nurse said "Oh my, he has lots of hair" but even with that preparing us, Tanner's head of dark hair was a big surprise. I LOVED his hair though. He came out and it was love at first site. I couldn't wait to hold him. They let me hold him briefly while Chris cut the cord, then they took him to the warmer to get cleaned up. Then they brought him back to us. He was absolutely perfect to me. I couldn't get over how much I loved him. It was the most amazing thing ever. Tanner and his dad also bonded right away. The first time Chris got to hold Tanner, Tanner's little eyes were closed, but as soon as Tanner heard his dad's voice, he opened his eyes and looked up at Chris. It was like he was saying "Oh yeah- I know that voice- that's my Dad, we're buds" Chris and I were both in seventh heaven. They had my breastfeed him right away, and then my family was allowed in the room.

Sarah and Mom were of course crying from the moment the nurse said "he has so much hair," during delivery. So they both were so excited to hold him. I was kind of out of it at this point. I'm sure he was passed around and pictures were taken, but I don't really remember any of that going on.

We stayed the night in the hospital and Tanner was brought into us every 2-3 hours for me to feed him. At that point we still hadn't picked out his name, so we were just calling him baby. We talked about the names we liked. For me, Tanner was the only name that fit. Chris however, threw a new name on the table. When Tanner was born Chris felt impressed that his name should be Michael. Chris felt like we need to name him Michael because just as Adam (Michael) was the first of Heavenly Father's sons to come to earth, our baby was also going to be the first of many things for us. So by the next morning we had decided on Tanner Michael Herb. We got to check out of the hospital by about 3:30 p.m. on August 25th.

When we got home, my mom had turned our bed down, put flowers on the table and a "Its a boy" balloon outside our house. It was quite the welcome home. For the next few days we just got use to having a baby. Tanner slept ALL the time. Which isn't unusual for newborns- after all the trauma they've been through, but we were convinced God had sent us the easiest baby ever. He was so easy to take care of- all he did was eat, sleep, and poop.

By the end of week 1 we felt like we had an idea of what was going on- and Chris headed back to work. My mother-in-law flew in on that Saturday after Tanner was born, and it was nice to have to around to help after Chris went back to work. When we'd left the hospital, Tanner weighed 6 lbs 9 oz. By his first week check-up he weighed 6 lbs 14 oz. They told us he should gain 2/3-1 oz/day. We woke him every 3 hours to eat- even at night. And it was getting old. I hated waking him in the middle of the night to eat. I figured if he was hungry he'd wake up, but the doctor stressed the importance of waking him every 2-3 hours.

Week 2- At his week two check-up Tanner weighed 7 lbs 4 1/2 oz. He had gained the right amount that week- so we figured he was getting enough to eat. My mother-in-law returned home and my best friend from grade school, Adrian, came up from Florida. It was so nice to have her. She is the biggest sweetheart. Then about 4 days later she left for home. That's when my alone time with Tanner really started.

Weeks 3-5 are kind of a blur by now. Tanner slept really well though- I do remember that. I have been so lucky, because Tanner has always slept good at night. At this point I have him sleeping for 4-5 hours at night between feedings. We were able to take him out and around more too. We started feeling like we might be able to handle be parents after all. Each day it got a little easier.

Weeks 4-7- Tanner started having reactions to things in my diet. I've had to cut out milk- because it gives him tummy aches and makes him cry- which by the way- is the saddest sound ever. It just breaks my heart every time he cries. Its hard to even by annoyed because I just want to make him feel better. After cutting out milk, Tanner did awesome. He sleeps about 6-7 hours at a time during the night, only waking up once to eat, and sleeping in until about 8 or 9:00 am. At that point I'm getting up anyways to make Chris breakfast and see him off to work. So then Tanner and I just play until he wants to eat and fall asleep again.
My life is so wonderful. I think if all of our babies are this perfect-I'm going to constantly be pregnant. OK- maybe not- but it sure leaves a lot to look forward to.
At 5 weeks I had Tanner weighed and he was at 8 lbs 15 1/2 ounces and 20 1/2 inches. He is quite the chunker. Its so cute.

Now Tanner will be 8 weeks tomorrow- and I can't believe it. He is so adorable- every time I look at him I just fall in love all over again. I know I probably sound really conceited, but I can't help it. I just think my baby is the cutest thing ever- but I'm sure all moms feel that way. I haven't had Tanner weighed since week 5, but I'm pretty sure he's close to 10 lbs now. My arms get a little tired holding him all the time- so that's a good sign. Chris is such a good Dad. He gets to come home everyday for an hour at lunch- and him and Tanner play during that time while I get a little me time. Its wonderful. Tanner adores Chris, but every once in a while- he just wants mom- which makes me feel like a million bucks. I love being the one to make him happy again. Last week Chris blessed Tanner in church, He gave a beautiful blessing. Made me cry- which isn't saying much,because with these post-baby hormones, everything makes me cry. But it really was a beautiful blessing. I was so proud of Chris!
Also last week- Tanner made his first big car trip- 4 1/2 hours to St. Louis. We had a ward Temple day, and Chris, Tanner and I rode up with my parents. We left on Thursday and Tanner did wonderful the entire weekend, but he was happy to be home on Saturday. He loves car rides- He slept for almost the entire drive both ways. Such a good baby!

Anyways- that's life up to this point.