he is learning

my happy little man

2 Months old!!

Oh my little man is 2 months old today. How did that happen. He is so big now. Its not fair that when I was pregnant the time just went at a snails pace, and now that he is here, the time is just whipping by too fast. I love that little guy so much. Today he goes in for his first shots. The next thing I know he'll be starting kindergarten.

Well it must be praised, that little man finally made it 8 hours of sleep last night. That is the longest he has gone, and boy did it feel good. Jon and I slept probably 6 hours straight of those 8 hours so I feel like a whole new person. Its wonderful.

Also last night, his aunite carlie babysat while Jon and I went on a date. It was much needed and we had a good time. We went and drove through fantasy lights in spanaway, and then went to dinner. We had some good laughs together just being goofy. And actually tonight, Sawyer's Oma is gonna let him sleep over so Jon and I can go to bed early and then sleep in. Im gonna have so much sleep Im not gonna know what to do with myself. I feel so grateful to have such wonderful help.

And lastly, I just have to mention, that I now have 4 friends, that are all due in June. And then I have two friends due in March. Its just crazy exciting. I mean I know its our age group and time of life, but wow, thats a lot. Its so exciting. Its much more exciting sharing in a best friends pregnancy then experiencing it myself, haha.

Well Ill post Sawyer's 2 month pic later today after he is up. Right now, this is my early morning time to be alone, and do some computer stuff, and have my latte in peace. :) Love you all

Well, a quick update is that I AM EXHAUSTED...today im so tired that i feel nauseous. Im not sure why I am this tired. I mean he does pretty well at night..he goes 5 hours at night....but I guess its cause Im working now. But even then Im only working part time. I just cant figure out why I am so beyond tired. Maybe its just the combo of working, and breastfeeding, and less sleep..I dont know. Poor Jon isnt getting much sleep either.

To be honest I dont even have much to say right now cause Im just so tired, that my brain feels fried, but I knew I needed to get some new pics up on the blog. Maybe Ill try to write again later when I have something more intelligent to say. :)

love you all

2 year accident anniversary

Ok, so I wanted to do another post today, about something different. Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of the accident. If you are reading my post than, Im sure you know all about the accident and the recovery it has been. This year, for some reason seems more emotional than last year. Im sure it has to do with having Sawyer, and just my hormones being more crazy after having Sawyer, haha. A few weeks ago, we went to the victims of DUI candlelight vigil, and the list of victims was sooooo long. I cried. I cry, more because, I see families who have lost their loved ones, and I think, man, I am so lucky to be alive. Why did I get to live, and that person's 18 year old daughter have to die. It makes me so sad. But 2 years later, here I am, married to the most amazing man in the world, with the most amazing little baby in the world.

It NEEDS to be said...that I would not have been able to fight for life, without the people around me that fought for me. Many people say to me "Dana you are so strong" but the fact is, that it was not me that was strong, it was all due to God's love and grace, and my family around me who nursed me back to health, and all of their prayers. My recovery has been so amazing due to my amazing support system. You all know who you are. I love you always and forever, and I will never ever ever forget what you have done for me. Thank you

Sawyer's 7 week update!!

We got some family pics done by the amazing Jeff Marsh, who took our wedding photos. Here are a few of them, but I didnt want to put the one up that we already put on our christmas card.

Update for Sawyer - Sawyer is 7 weeks old. 2 days ago we moved him into his crib. It was hard cause Jon and I love having him right next to us in the moses basket. I mean its not like his nursery is far from our room - its right next door - but we thought, we may as well start now, especially since our little boy is getting so tall, he will soon be too long for the moses basket anyway. He still eats about every 3-4 hours during the day. Our goal is to get him to go longer at night. He usually goes one time, 5 hours between feedings. So I usually feed him like at 10 or so, and then he goes until about 3 am to eat again, but then after 3 hours he wants to eat again, so about 6. So Jon and I are still pretty tired. I started work last week. I was scheduled to work 3 days. My first day back was funny...I got up early that morning to get everything ready, I was anxious all day...my Dad came over at 2 to watch little man until Jon got home from work. I left the house, almost in tears, and I pull out of the driveway, and get a call from work saying that we are low census so they put me on standby. So I didnt even go into work on my first day back. They tricked me. I worked the next day. And then my third day, I was sent home early, again due to low census. So now I have a few days off, and then I will go back for a 6 day stretch. That stretch will be very hard. Im only working 3 days a week, but my 3 days each week got put back to back which is why Im working a long stretch. But Jon is getting good practice being with Sawyer for long periods of time. My first day working, I got home, and Jon said, "boy that was hard." I had to laugh, and say "yeah, sure is." Cause before that, Jon had not been with Saywer by himself for that many hours. Anyway, Sawyer is doing fabulous, putting on weight, smiling more than ever, and just a happy little boy. I love him sooooo much.

Sawyer's 1st Thanksgiving!

I cant type much cause I chopped off the tip of my finger making an apple crisp so Ive got a big bandage on my finger making it difficult to type, but I wanted to at least get some pics up. Thanksgiving was wonderful at Gma's house - lots of people, making for a stimulating day for little man. Then after stuffing our faces just the immediate family went back to Oma and Opa's house for some more family time. Sure is nice to have Kevin back from Germany. Will be even double nicer when Brian gets home from wherever he is right now...Thailand, I think. I start back to work on Wednesday Dec 1st. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry, but luckily he wont be in daycare. Opa will be watching him on my first day back, and then most of the time it will be Jon or Oma, just all depending on our work schedules.

work baby shower!

My wonderful co-workers at St. Joes, gave me a baby shower this past Sunday. It was so good to see everyone, since I havnt been to work since Oct 7th. It was so sweet of them to love on me and Sawyer. They all loved Sawyer. It was so cute to see them all hold the little man. We got spoiled with some great stuff.

family time with the Bergstrom's

Sawyer got to spend a day with my other family, the Bergstrom's on Saturday. For those of you who don't know, the Bergstrom's are the family of my very best friend Carlie. Joyce, also known as Mama J was our cheer coach in high school, and Carlie's sister, Kelsy also cheered with us, and I refer to her as my sister too. And of course who can forget papa Steve, who put up with all of us girls for so many years. They are some of my favorite people on earth.

So Sawyer and I drove out to covington to have a few hours with them. It was so cute to watch them all with Sawyer. They all loved on him so much. I took so many pictures and took some video's too. It was such a fun, perfect day. I dont get to see the whole family very often, since mama J and papa steve live in covington and kelsy lives in seattle, so it was nice to have everyone together. Luckily Carlie lives close, so we try to get together once a week. Also Jon and I asked Carlie last week to be Sawyer's god-mama. Carlie has always been such a spiritual leader in my eyes, and I have always admired who she is and the decisions she makes, so it only made sense for her to be a big spiritual part of Sawyer's life, and to pray for him and be a mentor for him in his life. We also asked Mikey, one of Jon's buddies, to be the god-papa. Sawyer is so lucky to have such a good support system around him.

1 month perfect!!

Sawyer weighs 10lbs exactly and is 21 1/2 inches long. He is exactly 50th percentile on everything. He is my perfect boy.

Sawyer is 1 month old

Sawyer's first walk around the track at the gym..and my first walk post partum too

Henry loves to steal Sawyer's binky's. He was trying to be sly but I knew what he was up to, trying to take it right from his mouth.

Sawyer is one month old. I can't believe it. On one hand it feels so long ago that I had him, yet it was just yesterday. So wierd. Sawyer and I are starting to get the hang of things together. While Jon is at work, Im learning to be at home, (which yes is an adjustment for me, because I have always been such a busybody, working, exercising etc etc). I admit, sometimes I feel a bit stir crazy, but I am very grateful to be at home with my little man. Im learning to not let my schedule be dictated by baby. As my mom says, I just have to go and do the things I need to, and learn to do things while I am out. Such as feeding. I feel uncomfortable feeding him in public still, so basically I just wait at home, waiting for his feeding time before I will leave the house, which sometimes means I am waiting 2 hours for him. I want him to get hungry on his own, I dont want to feed him just because it has been a certain time, yet I dont want to go anywhere just in case he wakes up screaming for food. Its all a learning experience for me. Jon and I are becoming pros at changing diapers and giving baths. Last night Sawyer did great. I fed him right before bed, and he went 5 hours to feed, and then another 4 hours. So I only had to wake up twice last night, which was wonderful. For those of you who know about Mr. Winston's reaction to Sawyer's arrival, he is doing much much better. I would say Winston is back to his old self. I feel a bit bad for the dogs sometimes, because before Sawyer they were our whole world and got so much attention. Now they are on the back burner and they notice it. I can't wait til one day we can provide the doggies with a back yard. It would make things so much more simpler in the Ruch household.

more pics

JJ and SJ

Sawyer scowling just like his daddy

cousins JJ and SJ

Libby and JJ got to visit this week. It was so fun to see JJ and how big and active he is now. My parents were in absolute heaven having their two grandchildren together. I seriously dont think I have ever seen my mom with a permanent grin on her face for 3 days straight. And my dad was so proud showing the kids off to the customers at work.

Bath Time

My first day of freak out!!

Other than this cute 5 minutes of Sawyer's tummy time, today was very challenging and emotional. Sawyer cried off and on all day today. And Jon being at work, and both my parents being at work, I was by myself. At one point he just wouldnt stop crying and I had done everything I knew to do, such as feed him, change his diaper, rock him, etc etc...nothing was working. Therefore it upset me to see him so upset so I just started crying. Im sure that upset him more, but I couldnt stop crying because he couldnt stop crying and I didnt know what to do. Between Sawyer crying, and both of my dogs acting out....henry barking, winston on the furniture, and peeing in the house....it just sent me for an emotional rollercoaster. I know this is something I have to get used to dealing with, but today dealing with it on my own for the first time was quite a challenge. My dishes and laundry didnt get done, and of course that stressed me out even more. oy yoy yoy what a day. I have a lot to learn and I have to learn to stay calm in the midst of days like these.

So enjoy the cute little sweet video of sawyer, but today really wasnt one of his sweetest days....but right now Oma came over after work to help me out, and now he is sleeping, being his sweet self. I AM EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!!!!!

almost 2 weeks old!!!

Sawyer is just 2 days shy of 2 weeks old. Mama Ruch flies home to Virginia tomorrow, and Jon goes back to work on Sunday. So it will just be Sawyer and I at home for most of the day. Technically Im not supposed to drive yet, but I think Ill start early anyway. This past two weeks has been tiring but perfect. I love him so much. But I must admit, when he starts crying at 3 am because he is hungry I just wish I could sleep some more. But overall Sawyer does pretty good at night, except for when he wakes up to eat. Last night he went 6 hours without eating. Thats pretty good.

Welp my brain is pretty tired right now. So Im not really up for writing a whole lot right now, but at least wanted to update with some pictures for you guys.