April 9th, 2012 - Your Birthday!

Dear Brayden,

April 9th, 2012 was the HAPPIEST day of my life!

Why?

Because this was the day that you and I met for the first time, face to face.  I was in labor for about 40 hours (I first went to the hospital on Saturday evening and you didn't arrive until that following Monday!).  You really wanted to stay in there, all warm and cozy, didn't you?  ;)

You finally arrived at 10:44am on Monday, April 9th, 2012.  You weighed a whoppin' 8 pounds and 9 ounces (as you can see in the picture) and you measured at a lengthy 22 inches!  No wonder I was having such bad back aches, especially toward the end of my pregnancy!  (You were so worth every little pain)  I initially got an epidural when I couldn't bare the contractions any more.  BUT... somehow, the epidural was flowing more towards my left side, to the point where I couldn't even move my leg or wiggle my toes on my left side.  I was told that if they continued the epidural, I wouldn't be able to walk for days!  Immediately, they stopped giving me any more epidural.  That magic juice typically wears off within one or two hours and I didn't have you until a good 12 hours later so I would consider myself having you naturally (yay me!).

Anyway, you arrived so safe and sound... perfectly!  You cried for only a few seconds but once they put your precious self on Mommy, you stopped crying and just looked up at me like you knew exactly who I was.  And THAT was the best moment of my life, thus far.

Brayden, I LOVE BEING YOUR MOM!!

8 lbs, 9 oz - 22 inches long

BIG FEET like his Momma!

My HAIRY baby!

My sweetheart... love him so much!

Dear Brayden,

This is probably Mommy's 409th time trying to start a new blog about and for you.  Nothing I did seemed to be good enough for you, my love.  I would write posts and kept them private or in my drafts, reminding myself over and over that I needed to rewrite and perfect it all for you.  The truth is that I would never be able to do anything that is good enough for you in my eyes because to me, you always deserve something more or better.  Therefore, I have decided that I am just going to go ahead and lay it all out here for you, even if it may not be perfect or up to my standards of what I want for you.  I am too busy spending true quality time with you that I wouldn't want to waste any of that precious time trying to perfect something that could never be perfect enough.  Trust me when I tell you that the only time that I will be posting is when I can't be with you (the times that I spend pumping milk for you, on my lunch breaks, when you are sleeping, or when you are preoccupied with something or someone else).  I may even gradually go back to some of the old blogs where I wrote about you and post it here because they were all too wonderful of memories to leave out!
Oh Brayden, you are the sweetest baby in the world.  I LOVE BEING YOUR MOM!!!