Childhood Dream

Recently Cody made one of my childhood dreams come true.  First I'll explain the background story. 

In elementary school (when I was in second or third grade)  we had an assembly and a Lobo basketball player (Luc Longley) came and talked.  And I became fascinated with him.  I think it was because he was sooooooo much taller then me.  After the assembly, school was out and he was signing autographs but I think my mom was in a hurry and I didn't get to get one.  And I was so sad. 

So life goes on and he plays for the Lobos for four years.  Then he gets signed to the NBA and plays for the Timberwolves.  By this time, I started getting into basketball.  I knew players, I knew who they played for, and stuff like that.  Then he gets signed to the Chicago Bulls.  My favorite team.  So I'm pretty excited I get to watch him play.  Then to make things even better the Bulls come to town for an exhibition game.  So of course I make my brother go buy tickets so I can go watch them play.  And it was GREAT!  I got to see Michael Jordan, Scottie Pipen, Luc, and my other favorite basketball player Dennis Rodman.   (Yes Cody did know I was in love with Dennis before we got married).  I know he has major issues but he was a fantastic rebounder.   I loved Dennis Rodman so much that I read his first autobiography when I just didn't read books except for school.

Alright back to Luc.  I watched him play with the Bulls for three years, then get traded to go play with the Suns :(  By this point I'm starting to lose interest in basketball and stop watching.  Fast forward a couple years and I met Cody and told him the story of how I was sad that I never got Luc's autograph. 

So for Cody's graduation present this past year, I got him season tickets to the Lobos.  He worked really hard , so I decided to do something extra special.    So can you guess who showed up to one of the games?  Yes, Luc Longley showed up (to a game that I did not go to).  And Cody being the sweet husband that he is went and asked him for an autograph.  I finally have his autograph and I'm so excited!

You totally can't read what it says from this picture but it says "To Erika, All the Best, Luc Longley."  : )

Owen's Two part 2

Two months later. Oh well. 

We started off Owens Birthday by getting breakfast donuts.

Then we went to the Zoo.

And we rode the train, to which Owen said "Train!Train!

Then we went back home, had naps ,and then opened some presents.

 Here is one of his birthday cakes.  I think it turned out pretty nice.

And here are some random pics of Owen. 

 

Owen is a really sweet guy.  He's growing up soooo fast.  He's been talking a lot more and he likes to play En Guarde (swords).  Yes,  he speaks French and Lily speaks German.  He's just a great kid and I love him.

Owen's Two part 1

My little boy turned 2 on Wednesday! It's hard to believe he's two already. I feel like if I blink, he'll be married and have his own kids. So I'm trying to appreciate everyday with him. Even when he's on the floor throwing a fit.

I realized that I've never written about his birth story. So here it is.

This is me 24 hours before he was born.

Owen's due date was on January 24 but that day came and went without any excitement. The next day was a Monday so Cody headed off to work. I planned to stay home with Lily all day. So we watched some movies and then I made lunch. Around 12:10 I felt my first contraction. It felt so different that I knew something was happening. I waited two hours and I was still getting contractions but nothing too bad. But I figured I should call Cody and let him know what was up.

He picked up the phone and was like, do I need to come home? I laughed at him (and so did his office mate) and told him not yet but he might want to be ready soon. I wanted to labor at home more this time around, so I tried to push my pain tolerance. I noticed that when I would sit down the contractions would slow down so I started to walk around the house as much as I could. About an hour later I was in serious pain and the contractions were getting closer together, so I called Cody and told him he needed to get his "butt" home now.

30 minutes later he came home and we packed Lily's stuff so she could go over to Cody's parents' house. We got to the hospital around 5:30 and I wanted to die from the pain. I kept telling Cody this was our last kid, I'm not doing it ever again, and people who have natural births are crazy (no offense but I was in alot of pain and don't see how you girls do it, but more props to you). We went up to triage and checked in. The midwife checked me out and was so happy that someone showed up qho was actually in labor that she kissed me on the forehead. I was dilated about 4-5 cm so she gave us a room and 30 minutes later I got one of God's most precious gifts to women (at least in my opion): an epidural.

I LOVED my epidural. This one didn't work as good as the one I had with Lily (I didn't feel a darn thing with that one) as I could still feel a little pain on one side but it was totally manageable. For me personally, I didn't want to be screaming when my child came into this world, I wanted a nice relaxed and calm birth. My midwife had asked me what my birth plan was and the only two things on it was an epidural as fast as humanly possible and a safe delivery for Owen. Everything besides those two things, I just didn't care. A little funny story on a side note was after the epidural I called Joanna (my cousin) and she's like, did you have the baby already, because I was nice and calm. I was like, nope I had an epidural, and she laughed at me.

So nine o'clock rolled around and I started to feel some pressure, so we got a nurse and she checked me and I was 10 cm and ready to go. My midwife came in (who by the way is one of the nicest ladies ever) and I pushed for about 5 minutes and Owen came out at 9:28 pm. He was so not happy about coming out. He cried and cried and cried. But eventually he calmed down and ate and then was quite content. And that is Owen's birth story. So nothing (Thank you God) too exciting happened; it was a nice and calm birth.

Here's Cody's brother Raudy holding Owen for the first time.

And here's Lily meeting her brother for the first time.

Graduation

I'm soooo behind on blogging. But that's nothing new.

So here are some pics from Cody's graduation. He got his MBA with a 4.0. He did this while having a pregnant wife, young daughter, newborn, being married, being a father, and having a full time job which meant after the kids were asleep (and usually his wife asleep on the couch) he would do his work. I'm so proud of him.

Lily with Memo.

So while we are very Thankful that Cody could go to State pretty much for free, we couldn't help but throw the Lobo sign around a little. Once a Lobo, Always a Lobo (even when you have to go to the rival school).

Here is Cody with State's mascot Pistol Pete. What Pete didn't realize was Cody giving the Lobo sign :) I'm still trying to find that pic. By the way, State's lovely fight song includes the lines "And when we win this game,We’ll buy a keg of booze,And we’ll drink it to the Aggies‘till we wobble in our shoes!" Nice :)

Notice I'm the only one looking at the camera. :) Oops.

First Wedding Cake

Here are some pictures of the first wedding cake I made this past weekend.