Three's a Crowd (Tommy's song)

Everyone knows that babies recognize mom and dad's voice when they come out. Before I got pregnant I heard that if you repeatedly say or sing or read something to your baby before they are born then they will also recognize that.

I had decided that I wanted to Matt to write a song for each of our babies that we can sing to them while I am pregnant ( I would do it but I'm not a song writer so I handed the duty to someone who is).

Matt wrote a perfect little song for Tommy that we would sing to my stomach every night. 

The first time we sang Tommy the song after he was born the recognition in his eyes was amazing. This little song has been such a source of comfort for our little boy. There are have been so many times when nothing seems to console him and the second we start singing this song to him he stops and listens.

We still sing it to him every night. 

Blogger wouldn't let me only upload the song so I had to create a slideshow to go with it.

Enjoy!

Be careful not to blink...

My Tommy is 2 months old and I honestly don't know where the time has gone. I know everyone says that, but seriously. 

I love life with him. 

He makes me happier than I ever knew a little baby could. He is the sweetest thing in the world. He smiles and laughs and coos. He doesn't just smile with his mouth, he smiles with his whole body. He kicks his little legs and waves his tiny arms. 

I love watching him discover the world around him. His favorite thing is "the baby in the mirror". There is a mirror above his swing and he can watch that little baby looking back at him all day. 

He usually wakes up about twice in the night to eat. I had tried laying down while feeding him a few times and he wouldn't have it. He'd try for a second then scream at me until I picked him up and took him to the rocking chair. But a of couple nights ago I tried it once again and he ate like he had never eaten any other way. I was so excited! After a couple of nights of laying down to feed him and barely waking up as he ate, I realized that I really missed those middle of the night feedings. 

I missed the quiet house. I missed the dimly lit bedroom. I missed the rocking chair. But mostly I missed the sleepy baby and the sleepy mommy silently snuggling together. I missed softly talking to my sweet boy and telling him how much I love him. I missed singing to him and whispering my hopes and dreams for his future into his ear. I missed starring at all of his perfectly tiny features while he guzzled away. I missed him taking forever to burp so that he could have a little extra cuddle time with mom. I missed him falling asleep in my arms feeling safe, happy, full, and most of all, loved.

Needless to say we are back to eating in the rocking chair every night. I figure I should take advantage of the time that he so willingly lays in my arms and snuggles because I swear, if I close my eyes for too long he'll be all grown up.

Shut up and run

After having Tommy 6 weeks ago, I got the ok from my doctor to start running again. I couldn't be happier. I have missed it more than I thought I would. I love, love, love training for races. Especially half marathons, so I thought the perfect way to celebrate me being back in the world of running would be to pick a half marathon and train for it. The Zion half marathon is 10 weeks away and I am beginning my training this week. If you want to join me, here is the training schedule I will be working on: 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
35-45 min. Cross train	2 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	2.5 miles	30-40 min. light CT	3 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	2 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	3 miles	30-40 min. light CT	4 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	2.5 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	3 miles	30-40 min. light CT	5 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	3 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	4 miles	30-40 min. light CT	6 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	3 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	3 miles	30-40 min. light CT	7 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	4 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	4 miles	30-40 min. light CT	8 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	5 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	4 miles	30-40 min. light CT	10 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	4 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	3 miles	30-40 min. light CT	12 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	3 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	4 miles	30-40 min. light CT	5 miles	Rest day
35-45 min. Cross train	3 miles	35-45 min. Cross train	Rest day	30-40 min. light CT	Race day!!	Rest day

Keep me updated on your training!

Birth story + Thomas' first week of life

10 days ago my life changed. 10 days ago I became the happiest person in the world. 10 days ago my little Tommy baby was born. Honestly, I can't believe it has only been 10 days. It seems like I have known my little guy for an eternity. I can't even remember what my life was like without him. He has made Matt and I so incredibly happy. I become overwhelmed with emotion when I look at how perfect he is. I could just sit all day holding him and starring at his little tiny features.

Love

I wanted to share the birth story while it is fresh on my mind. As probably most of you know I went 9 days past my due date. When I went in to my appointment the Monday after my due date the midwife I saw suggested we set an induction date for the following Saturday (November 24). If you read my previous post you know that I wasn't super excited about being induced but either way, I was excited to meet my little guy.

On Friday, the night before the induction, Matt and I went over to my parent's house to hang out and play games with my family. I was glad we went over there because it took my mind off of how nervous I was for the events the following day. Matt and I left my dad's around 10 so we could try and get a good night's sleep before the induction at 7:30 the next morning.

To say that I had a rough night was an understatement. I was so nervous and anxious. I didn't fall asleep until midnight and then I woke up every single hour. Each hour I woke up very uncomfortable. I would get up, go to the bathroom, and walk around for a second until I felt better. I figured I was just super nervous for the morning. It wasn't until I woke up at 4:30 that I realized I was having contractions. I had been contracting for days before that so I didn't really think much of it. I just laid in bed and timed them. They were consistently 6 minutes apart and they were getting stronger. I woke Matt up at 5:30 and told him I was contracting. The contractions quickly became very strong and only 3 minutes apart. I was pacing around the house and whenever a contraction came I would tell Matt, he would start timing them, and I would sit down because they were too strong to walk through.

I told Matt I wanted to wait until 7:30 to go to the hospital because then if I wasn't in real labor they would just induce me like they were planning on doing. But at about 6 I felt like we should head up. Matt ran around the house gathering our last minute items that we needed. We then got in the car and matt sped up to the hospital.

Matt's parking job. I didn't even notice it but I am so glad Sam did and got a pic. 

By the time we got to the U the contractions were killing me. Matt was so sweet and patient with me as I stopped every few seconds for another contraction. When we got up to labor and delivery they checked me and I was dilated to a 6.

Most of my pregnancy I had felt like I wanted to get an epidural. But for some reason just a week or so before my due date I decided I really wanted to go natural. At this point in labor I was starting to feel like I was crazy and really started wanting an epidural. Thanks to a sweet nurse, my Matty, and some counter pressure I was able to make it through without an epidural.

We got to the room that I would be delivering in and I got hooked up to an IV because I was pretty dehydrated. It took 3 pokes but they found a vein that worked and got the IV going. The thing that saved me throughout the labor was the bathtub. I had heard that a bathtub does wonders during labor. Well.. its true. It was so nice. I laid in the tub up until it was time to start pushing.

For me, the pushing stage was by FAR the worst part of labor. My little Tommy baby was stuck under my pelvis so I ended up pushing for 3 and1/2 hours. It. was. misery. Honestly. There is no other way to describe it. The first hour wasn't so bad but after that I lost my energy, my motivation, and I truly didn't think I could do it.

They thought Thomas was going to be pretty big and they felt like if I got his head past my pelvis he would be stuck at his shoulders. So the midwife called in a team of people to be waiting in case that happened. There were probably about 10 doctors in the room waiting for me to push out Thomas' head.

As I was pushing I noticed my midwife talking with an OB and I could tell something was wrong. They came back and told me that the baby's head was really swollen from being stuck for so long. They said that they would give me three more contractions to get him out and if he was still stuck they would have to take him by C-section.

They took a mirror and showed me just how close he was. I saw the top of my little guy's head, I felt it with my hand, said a prayer that I could have the strength to do this and 7 minutes later, at 1:37 pm, the world became a better place.

Proud papa

Because of the swelling in his head they had to quickly check him out and make sure he was ok. They had him at a table near my bed and there were doctors surrounding him. Every few seconds I would catch a glimpse of this perfect little human. I was laughing and crying and kissing my husband. My midwife told me that If I would have gotten an epidural they would have had to do a c section because I wouldn't have been able to push as hard as I needed to in order to get him out. I think that I was prompted to want to go naturally so that I wouldn't have to end up getting a c-section. Tender mercies.

Finally I got to hold my sweet boy and let me tell you what, it was love at first sight. Since then I have barely been able to put him down. I love snuggling with him and starring at all of his perfect little features. There truly are no words to describe the love I have for him. I thank my Father in Heaven for blessing me and trusting me with such a sweet spirit. He is the best baby. He rarely cries and when he does it is so easy to soothe him. He loves to suck his little hand. He LOVES to snuggle on mamas chest. But I'm pretty sure I love it even more than he does. He is usually awake and alert for a lot of the day and I love watching him look around and learn about the new and big world that he is now a part of. I love when he makes eye contact with me and just stares at me like he is starting to recognize that I am his mama.

I was looking at myself in the mirror the other day and I realized that I'm a mom. A mom. And I will be for the rest of my existence. I can't even believe it. But I also couldn't be prouder to be a mom. Specifically to be the mother of Thomas Matthew Weiler.

I love you, Thomas. My life feels so much more complete with you in it. In your short mortal existence you have made me and your dad so so happy. I can't wait to watch you grow and learn. Just promise me you will never grow out of mama baby snuggle time, ok?

The Weilers. Couldn't be happier.

stubborn little guy

November 15. For nine months I expected that I would have my little guy by that date. That was one week and one day ago. Still no baby. It's funny, and a little ridiculous, how hard it has been for me. I have cried, gotten angry, frustrated, gone to bed feeling positive I would wake up in labor. And still... nothing. I feel the same every morning when I wake up. 

It's such a silly and little thing to be upset over though. I mean, as far as we can tell we have a healthy, happy little guy. That's all that really matters. And I know that. Inside me, I do know that is what really matters. The only thing that really matters.

Tomorrow I am going to be induced. I didn't want to be induced. I still don't want to be induced. I wanted to feel labor start. I was excited to have it happen on its own. I always imagined where I would be when it happened. I imagined sending a text to all my family and friends, who have anxiously awaited the arrival of this little guy, telling them this was it. It was finally happening. 

But now I know exactly when it will happen. I know exactly where I will be. All of my friends and family won't need a text or a call because they already know at 7:30 am tomorrow, Matt and I will be in the hospital getting things going. 

Oh well. Life never really turns out how you expect, does it?

I have a healthy, happy, safe, overdue baby. And I'm ok with that. More than ok with that. I am thrilled with that.

baby boys a'comin

Its weird.

I feel like I have been preparing to be a mom my entire life. Before I was even married I thought about and dreamed about being a mom. The fact that I only wanted to be a mom was the reason I chose my major, which is family studies. 

I have read about what a good mom does. I have looked at the wonderful examples of mothers that are around me. I have said endless prayers for help to be a good mom when our little guy comes.

But the closer I get to him getting here the more unprepared I feel.

I have his bedroom to get ready.

We have things we need to buy.

I want to clean our house because I don't want our little guy coming into a home that looks like a war zone. 

I started making a star wars quilt for him that I need to finish.

I want more time to work and save up money for him.

So many things....

But here we are. 

4 weeks away from my due date.

And none of it is done.

I feel like I should be freaking out.

And I am.

But mostly...

 I'm excited. 

So so so so excited.

I can't wait to see my little boy.

This little guy that I have come to know over the past 8 months.

I can't wait to feel his soft baby skin and smell his sweet baby smell.

I can't wait to hold him and snuggle with him.

I can't wait to see his dad be a dad.

I can't wait to take care of his every need.

So maybe my house won't be the cleanest and maybe he will have an unfinished star wars quilt. 

oh well.

I'm gonna be a mama in 28 days.

Happy year one, Matty

Man I've been good at blogging the last little while. Better than I have been in months. But then again... I've had a lot of time on my hands these days. 

Plus I needed to blog today because today is a day that I have been looking forward to for a long time. Today is me and Matt's year anniversary! One year ago today I married the greatest man in the world. I know that everyone says that but honestly, there is no man out there that could ever be as perfect for me as my Matthew is. 

I never knew that I could love someone as much as I love him. Everyday I love him more than the day before.

This year has been the greatest year of my life. I have felt more happiness than I could ever have imagined. And if I ever do get sad, Matt is the best at making everything better. We have so much fun together. He makes me laugh harder than anyone. He loves me even when I don't deserved to be loved. I know that there is nothing that he wouldn't do for me and there is absolutely nothing that I wouldn't do for him. 

He is my everything and I can't picture a life without him. I'm glad that I don't have to. I get him forever. And that's the greatest blessing I could ever ask for.

People say that the first year is the hardest.

If this is the hardest year than we are in for a life of bliss.

Happy anniversary, sweetie. I look forward to many, many more. I love you so.

popped lung take 2

So if any of you read my blog a few months ago you would know that almost exactly 6 months ago Matt was in the hospital because he collapsed his right lung. He had what is called a spontaneous pneumothorax (if any of you have seen Just Like Heaven, you know what I'm talking about). It's basically a collection of air around the lung that puts enough pressure on the lung to collapse it. Usually when someone collapses a lung its because of some sort of puncture to the lung like a stab wound or a car accident. The first time it happened Matt was walking around on campus, who knew school could be so dangerous, huh? Anyway, apparently it is common in tall, skinny, young males. Everything that Matt is. So we spent 6 days in the hospital in December.

On Thursday Matt was at work (he works as a bank teller so nothing too crazy) and he felt the exact same pain as the first time except this time it was on his left side. So we went to my parent's house to get a blessing from my dad. We both felt very calm and felt like everything would be ok. So we didn't go to the hospital that night. The next morning though we both felt like we needed to get to the emergency room. So we did and basically we heard the exact same thing that we heard 6 months before.

It seriously broke my heart. My poor Matty. I hated seeing him go through it the first time and it sucks just as bad the second.

But if you know anything about Matt, you know that he can make people laugh even in the worst of times. We have done a couple photo shoots since he has been in the hospital that I think are hilarious. So I thought I would share.

P.S. Did I mention that we will be in the hospital over our year anniversary? Happy one year, huh? Ah well.

A pic of his chest tube

His true love

At least was have a cool view from our room

First sort of father's day was spent in the hospital. Poor guy.

Snuggled up in Sam's blanky

lovin the ride

abandoned

Our first family pic. Baby boy Weiler at 19 weeks.

sweet sister. Love her. We couldn't have done this without her



Anyway, hope you enjoyed those. I want to thank everyone who has brought us food or came to visit or  prayed for him. It means so much and we really appreciate it. Let's hope this doesn't happen again in another six months because then we will have a little boy to take care of! Cray-zay!

Pitts' fam dictionary part I

For the last 5 years Matt and I have had continuous friendly banter about some of the words in my vocabulary. He claims that I talk weird while I argue that the words I use are completely normal. It wasn't until a few weeks ago, when he started listing off some of my common words and phrases, that I realized he might be right. The Pitts kids do have a lingo of their own.

Matt's list inspired me to contact my siblings and put our heads together so that we could come up with a bunch of the most frequently spoken Pitts words. I compiled the list into it's own dictionary so that others, if exposed, can understand us.

Boot, n. No different than the real definition of boot, except its pronounced like foot.

Brewskies, n. Used in place of the name of any beverage.

Egyptian, n. A zit right between your eyebrows. Not meant as a racial allusion, it came about by mistaking the Indian culture with that of the Egyptians.

Geegles, n. 1. Glasses 2. A nickname for my sister Kim.

General Authoriy, n. A long prayer.

Ghetta, n. Used in the place of "ghetto."

Jncos, n. Used for pants or shorts or basically any article of clothing used to clothe the waist down.

Kee gas/keek, n. A creative substitute for flatulence related words.

Morning Breath, n. The stanky breath you wake up with every morning. (I'm pretty sure this is a real phrase but Matt didn't believe that it was so I thought I would include it for his sake). 

Scones, v. A replacement for the phrase "lets go".

Sinkins, n. The television show, the Simpsons.

Snaiksel, n. A nickname for my sister, Rachel.

Suis, v. Used in the place of the word suicide (pronounced "sue-ease").

Tight face, n. What your face looks like when you first wake up. You can't really smile and you look like a completely different person.

VTS day, n. An abbreviated term for Valentine's Day.

Even a jedi can collapse a lung

One month ago, from tomorrow, my sweet Matt was admitted to the hospital. I have already blogged about it but while he was in the hospital we took some funny pictures that I thought I should share. For those of you who are wondering and don't know, Matt is doing much better, practically back to normal. He ended up being in the hospital for 6 days and it was a tough tough 6 days. For both of us. Mostly for him, probably, but it was very emotionally hard on me. I hated seeing him like that. However, even though he was suffering he still managed to make me laugh the whole time. Check out the pics and see why.

Matt loves Star Wars.. almost as much as he loves me. The first day at the hospital he kept saying how it would be so much easier if he had a light saber. So the next day his ma brought a couple of light sabers to the hospital for him.  He then needed to get a picture with every visitor, fighting with a light saber. There are a couple of people that came to visit that didn't get a picture with him, but for the most part we got everyone. Here are the pics... 

me

sista Sam

mama Dodes

Bishop Gailey

Sister Gailey

Lynell

my pa with his creepiest face

Steeeeeve

Dave Gailey

Adorable baby Julian with aunt angie (who looks a little like a granny in this pic)

Suz

best friend eva, camcom

Wyatt

Tori

Jim

Cassy Cass

Baby sister Rica

This is just a funny pic Sam and I snapped with the sicky

haha... matt

When my sister Rachel found out about Matt in the hospital she called me and was pretty upset about it. Matt told me to take a picture of him and send it to her. This is the pose he did. He was for sure faking. We thought it might scare Rachel too bad so instead we took this one...

Much better!

This was Matt's first time out of bed after his surgery. I love how happy me and Steve are and how unhappy Matt is.

Nothing like a nice cuddle in a hospital bed

Momma,

I laid in bed last night not able to sleep because I was thinking of you. Has it really been 14 years since we lost you? Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday and other times it's hard for me to believe that I ever even knew you. The few memories that I have of you almost seem like a distant, wonderful dream. I can still remember that day so clearly. The day you left this world. I remember being in my second grade class. The office secretary came over the intercom and told my teacher to send me to the office. She told me to bring all of my things because I wouldn't be coming back to class. I have to admit that at first I was a little excited, getting checked out of school was usually a lot of fun for me. It didn't even cross my mind that I was getting checked out because I had lost you. Because I had lost my best friend. I will never forget seeing dad and Matt through the glass windows to the elementary school office. Matt had his hood on and his head was hanging in his hands. Dad was trying so hard to look like everything was ok. But I knew. Even as a 7 year old I could tell something was wrong. And I knew just what it was.

I constantly wish you were here. I try and imagine what my life would be like with you in it. What would it be like to have a mom to call up anytime I want? I know that if you were here we would talk every day and you would know everything about my life. I know that we would be close not just as mother and daughter, but as friends. Now that I am a wife I try and think like you would, because I want to be just like you. I hope that one day I can be the wife to my husband that you were to dad and the mom to my children that you were to me. You were the absolute best. I sometimes wonder if you would be proud of the person that I am today. I hope so. It hurts me to think that I have already spent more of my earthly life without you than I have with you. I hate that my husband doesn't even know you and that my babies will never meet their grandmother. But for now, I will have to live with that. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation that allows me to be with you again. I can't wait to be reunited with you, ma. What a wonderful day that will be! Until then I will be thinking of you always and missing you every day. 

Love you for ever,

Ang

Finals week...

Today was the beginning of my dreaded finals week. Well, it actually wasn't too dreaded. I have been looking forward to this week because that means the end of the semester. I have to admit though, my week didn't start out at all how I imagined it. 

The past little while Matt has been having some back pain and I finally convinced him that he needed to go to the doctor. His appointment was at 9 this morning and since we only have one car his mom said that she could pick him up and take him while I headed to Provo to knock out a couple of finals. I was literally walking into the building where I had my final when Matt called me. I asked him how the appointment went and he told me it didn't go so well.. apparently the doctor took an x-ray and found out that Matt's right lung was collapsing. He was on his way to the hospital where he was going to have to have surgery. Well of course I freaked out. I immediately started bawling and ditched my final to be at the hospital with my Matty. 

Apparently it's a genetic thing and common in tall skinny guys. So we got him checked in to the hospital about noon and waited around until 6:30ish when the doctor came to do the surgery. The whole surgery only lasted about 30 minutes. They had to take a tube and insert it in his chest. The tube will stay in him for the next 2-3 days and will slowly suck out all of the air that has been compressed around his lungs. His sweet mom was at the hospital all day with us and she actually stayed in the room for the surgery (unfortunately, my weak stomach could never ever handle that). She said that as soon as they inserted the tube she could hear the hissing sound of the air being released. Crazy.

Matt was out for about an hour after the surgery. When he woke up and started talking he was hilarious. The first thing he said to me was "I am now more machine than man." and then his head hit the pillow and he was out again. Then he woke back up and asked me to raise his bed so that he could talk to "his people" and let them know that they were in danger. 

This has been the longest most emotional day of my life but I am so so grateful for the peace and comfort that my Heavenly Father blessed me with. I am grateful for priesthood blessings and worthy males who can administer them. I am grateful for the power of prayer and that I can use it any time. I am so grateful for all of the family members who prayed for him and called and texted with their concerns. I am so grateful for my husband. Even though he wasn't close to death today I had a lot of time to reflect about our lives together. He is so wonderful. He makes me happier than I could ever imagine and I look forward to many, many more happy years with him.

One Day

Have you ever seen a movie that just really effected you? Maybe I am the only one but sometimes I will see a movie that I just think about for days and days and cannot get out of my head. I haven't had it happen since I saw 500 Days of Summer, but it happened the other night. Me and Matt went to his parent's house for dinner and his is mom, Dodi, said that she had watched a movie the other night that was a real "tear jerker". Anyone who really knows me knows that I am a sucker for tear jerkers. I don't know why. My dad always used to say to me "Why would you watch things that make you sad when there are enough sad things in life already?" He's right. Life can be really tough on its own so I'm not sure why I would spend my time watching something that is written specifically to be sad. It's bad too because I always get super depressed when I watch sad movies or listen to sad songs. I always put myself in the situation of the main characters and apply what is going on in the movie to the people that I love. I guess I have a serious love/hate relationship with sad movies. I think it's a relationship that I need to end. Like, seriously. But anyway, last night I didn't think about how unhealthy this relationship might be. As soon as I heard my mother in law say the words "tear jerker" both Matt and I knew there was nothing that could stop me from watching that movie.

I can't really recommend the movie because there were some themes in it that are a little offensive. But it is a really cool idea. It shows this relationship between two friends throughout a span of 20 years and it shows their ups and downs and how they progress together. When it ended I was so sad. I cried and cried. I would calm myself down and then think about it again and cray all over. The next day I watched the trailer like 5 times and cried some more. Anyway, if you are looking for something to make you cry, check it out. Matt liked it too so it isn't a complete chick flick...