2 months

If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.  ~Andy Rooney

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I love my boy! I can't believe he's two months old already.  He's growing up way too fast.

Ephraim smiles when he's happy.  We can't "make" him smile yet, but if he is full and clean and happy he will smile away just to himself. I love it because I know it means he's really happy. We've caught a few on camera, but it's tricky.

Ephraim is getting so strong.  He can hold up his head without any trouble, and loves to "stand" and "climb" on mommy and daddy.  He doesn't like tummy time anymore, but likes his swing and looking at my mom's bibs.  His very favorite thing is bath time.  His least favorite thing is getting out of the bath.

Ephraim loves cuddles and doesn't love being alone for very long.  

He's getting better at going down to sleep at night, but he still wakes up every 2 to 3 hours to eat.  This boy loves to eat and is getting big. He weighs 16 pounds 4.5 ounces and is 24.5 inches long.  He's off the charts for his weight and in the 95th percentile for height.  I'm pretty proud of my big boy.

Ephraim also met his Grandmother Beckman this month.

My boy is growing too fast, but I'm having too much fun.  He makes me smile everyday. 

More Pictures Here

A name for the baby

From our ancestors come our names, but from our virtues our honors.  ~Proverb

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On August 5th Ephraim received his name and blessing at church.

He wore the same blessing outfit that all my brothers wore. (luckily my big boy still fit in it.)

In the morning we all got ready and took some time for pictures with the grandparents.

Then we went to church.  

It was so much fun to have so much family present for the occasion.

Ephraim's blessing was so sweet.  Stephen, his dad, my dad, Matt, Zak, the missionaries,  Cory Matheson were in the circle.  In Ephraim's blessing he was told that he was a joy and a blessing to those in his life and should continue to be so.  He was admonished to remember his name and be a missionary in word and through service.  He was also asked to magnify his priesthood, look for good examples, have charity, fulfill a full time mission, marry in the temple, and remember that he was born in the covenant.

I am so glad this little boy is a part of our forever family.

I loved the first part of Ephraim's blessing that told him to remember his name.  I wanted to share a little more about Ephraim's name.

All along we thought we were going to name this little boy Etienne, but when he was born we decided that we wanted to give him a name with more meaning.  The missionaries had been an important part of our short time in San Antonio.  Stephen went teaching with them often, and when we I was in labor and Stephen needed some support they were the ones to answer the call.  They also came and gave us the sacrament that Sunday we were in the hospital.

We wanted to name our baby something that gave honor to these great men who did so much for us.  We considered the Elders names, but none of those seemed right, and then we came to a name that Stephen had mentioned previously: Ephraim.  It felt right to me immediately, and fit in because the tribe of Ephraim is the "missionary tribe." 

Ephraim's middle name is Alexander.  That comes from his great great great great grandfather Alexander Dahl Sr. Here is an excerpt from some family history about him:

Alexander Dahl Sr. was born August 11, 1831 in Fredrikstad, Ostfold, Norway, son of Paul Larsen Dahl (1795-1869) and Anne Marie Andersen (1796-1844). He lived on a Norwegian farm with his parents until the age of eighteen, when he took up the trade of carpentry, of which he was able to master in five years. During this period Alexander came in contact with missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and was taught by Elders Dorius and Hogan of the Scandinavian mission.  He was baptized on Sept. 26, 1852, and was ordained to the office of teacher.  This decision proved to be a great sacrifice for Alexander since his parents disowned him when he became a Mormon.  The church was in its infancy in Norway at this time since the first converts had been baptized ten months before; however, the LDS Saints were not considered Christians by the Norwegian officials and persecution was common.  Due to these circumstances, the Elders were imprisoned in Fredrikstad, so the responsibility of proselyting fell up on the shoulders of the new members.  Alexander was very active in this endeavor and he shared the teachings of the gospel with his relatives and others.  When the Elders were finally released from prison, they were able to see that the membership of the church had doubled during their captivity.

I hope Ephraim follows the example of those he is named after and his sweet Father.

1 month

Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers; the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. ~The Wonder Years

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Ephraim turned one month old yesterday! It went way too fast.  I want him to stay tiny and cuddly like this forever.

He is a sweetie.  He is getting a little more fussy because he just loves to explore.  He loves eating, car rides, walks, bath time and tummy time.  He does not like to be ignored or held in one place for too long (unless he is sleeping). He is growing way too fast.  I don't have a scale, but he has an appointment with the pediatrician on Thursday, then I will come and update his stats. :) **Update** We had Ephraim's appointment and he weighs 12 lbs 11 oz. and is 24 in long. He is in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. He is a big boy!

Newborn Ephraim

One Month Ephraim

He growls when he wants attention and is smiling more and more often.  He looks adorable in everything he wears.  He has started grabbing on to things, and has recently taken to pulling off people's glasses.

I'm basically in love with this little man and his ever growing little cheeks and chubby legs.  I'm loving his new expressions and sounds, and as much as I love seeing him grow and discover his world, I hope he doesn't grow up too fast.

There are more one month pictures of Ephraim here.

To see all the pictures we have taken of Ephraim click here.

Love This Boy!

Ephraim is a week old and I wanted to share some of my favorite things about this little guy.

What I love about being Ephraim's mommy:

-The first night we were home from the hospital Ephraim cried most of the night, but ever since then he has turned into an Angel Baby!  He fusses a little, but he never cries.  At night I just feed him every 2-3hours and he goes straight back to sleep!

-The first 5 days he wouldn't eat because he was so sleepy, and mama was so worried, but after a few syringe feedings to break the sleepy baby cycle, he is eating like a champ, and has already gotten back to his birth weight.

-He is strong and loves to kick his legs, and roll from his back to his side. 

-He loves tummy time and will lift up his head and move it from side to side.

-He makes the cutest kissy face.

-He loves to have his hands by his face.

-He looks at you when you talk to him

-He is so stinking cute.

-When he had his PKU at the hospital he didn't even cry!

-Watching Stephen kiss him and comfort him, and be such a sweet dad.

Basically, I love this little guy!

The Story of Ephraim Alexander Beckman

To witness the birth of a child is our best opportunity to experience the meaning of the word miracle. ~Paul Carvel 

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Walking on the evening of June 28th.  Right before it all started.

So, Stephen has already written up his side of Ephraim's birth story here, and I wanted to type my side of the story up before I forgot it. 


 3:00 am-ish Friday June 29th
I was laying in bed asleep when somehow as a part of my dream I think I felt my water break.  At first I lay in bed half asleep, but then my mind registered what was happening and I rushed to the bathroom, and just in time!  A huge gush of water.  I felt a little light-headed, not because of anything physical, but more from the mental taking in of what was happening.  I hadn't had any real contractions to speak of leading up to that point, and as I sat there nothing seemed to change.  I couldn't wrap my mind around it, but there was no question that my water had just broken.  I waited until the leaking slowed down and wrapped myself in a towel to go tell Stephen.  He asked if I was sure I hadn't just wet myself, because I had told him stories of people I knew who thought their water had broken, only to find out that their baby had kicked their bladder in the night.  I assured him that I was sure. :-P


I really wasn't sure what this all meant.  Stephen and I had planned on a natural childbirth, and I knew that plan; the plan where we waited out contractions as long as possible at home before going to the hospital and use various pain management techniques....but that plan did not include my water breaking without contractions.  So I called the on call midwife, and she asked me a few questions and told me to go into the midwives' office when it opened at 9, and we would make a plan then.  Stephen helped me finish packing the hospital bags, and we tried to sleep.  I started having a few mild contractions about 5-10 minutes apart.  We ended up laying on the couch watching netflix, and I took a shower, and we slept a little bit.


At around 10 am we went into the midwives' office.  We met with Lauren there and talked about our plan.  We determined that we didn't want to check to see how I was progressing, because that would introduce unnecessary bacteria and increase the chance of infection, and make it necessary for immediate induction.  We were still hoping for a natural labor, so we decided to wait.  The longest we would go without induction would be 24 hours.  So we planned to stay at home until labor progressed or 9 that night, whichever came first.  At 9pm we would go to the hospital to be prepped, and if I wasn't progressing I would be given pitocin at 3 am.  We stayed and baby was monitored to see how he responded to contractions.  He was doing great, so she sent us on our way.

At the midwives' office.

We went out to lunch, and ran a couple errands so that I could walk and try and speed up my contractions.  We went home and tried some other techniques to naturally augment labor.  We took a nap.  My contractions increased to very 3-7 minutes, but they were still irregular. 

Lunch at Sonic

Out walking, trying to speed up those contractions.

Jamba Juice- my last meal on the way to the hospital

Getting out of the car at the hospital.  Starting to feel nervous.

The time came to go to the hospital.  I started to feel very nervous.  Laboring at home had felt much safer, and the idea of going to the hospital was scary.  We arrived and got checked in.  They monitored the baby and he was doing well.  The contractions grew stronger, and we tried to get some rest.  I slept on and off between contractions, and walked around and tried to encourage more contractions, but they continued to be inconsistent.  I was conflicted between the need to get more sleep and the desire to try and do what I could to avoid having pitocin.  Stephen was super supportive and stood with me, and encouraged me to be strong.  Despite all our efforts I wasn't progressing.  3 am rolled around and it was time to start pitocin.


Lauren came in and we discussed pitocin.  She had to nurse put me on a very low dose and said not to up it until 7 in the morning, and told me to sleep all that I could.  I slept in between contractions.  When the morning came, Pam took over Lauren's shift and came to talk to me.  The pitocin had been increased several times by then, and the contractions were coming stronger and stronger, and I could feel the downward pressure.  However, the contractions were still irregular.  I would have 3 or so contractions right on top of each other and then a lull of up to 10 minutes.  Pam wasn't sure why I wasn't progressing, and let me tell you, that having 3 contractions right on top of each other is not fun.  Stephen was a wonderful support, and stood with me and helped me breath, and try different positions and helped me on the birthing ball.  All of these things helped me get through the contractions.  


Pam finally decided to check and see where I was.  I was five centimeters dilated, and Pam noticed that as she felt the baby's head that she couldn't feel his soft spot.  She said that if he was facing the right direction, or if he was even posterior she would be able to feel the soft spot.  She voiced concern that he may be trying to enter the birth canal with his head sideways, so that the side of his head instead of the top of his head was going first.  She decided to continue to up the pitocin to see if I would progress beyond 5 cm.  


Stephen helped me as the contractions became stronger, and stayed irregular.  I slept in the longer breaks between contractions.  After several more hours of contractions, Pam came to check again.  I was still at 5 cm, and baby was still in the same position. I was tired, and discouraged by the lack of progress.  I asked Pam about pain medication, and she told me that the anesthesiologist would not be available to do an epidural for another 3 hours, but that an IV medication was available that would help me sleep in the meantime and take the edge off of the contractions.  I told her I wanted to discuss these options with Stephen, and she told me that she would tell the nurse to give me the IV medications if I requested it.


I sat with Stephen and we discussed the options.  It was sad to see that things hadn't gone as planned, but we opted to go for the IV medication to help me rest because we didn't know what was to come, and then to take the epidural when it was available.  The next few contractions seemed the longest as I waited for the medication to come.  Once the medication came, I was able to sleep.


 Monitoring showed that baby was handling the contractions well, but the concern of infection was increasing.  Dr. Haun came in with Pam and discussed with me the risks of infection and continuing to labor the way I was.  We determined that we would wait a couple more hours, and then make our final decision.


C-section was a scary thought, even scarier for Stephen at this point, because the IV medication continued to sedate me, and I mostly just wanted to sleep.  I am so grateful for Stephen and his strength and support of me at this point.  He had given me several blessings over the course of this ordeal, and as the situation looked more and more perilous, he realized that he wanted someone else to come.  He called some people and then the missionaries came to give me another blessing.  I remember them coming, even though I was completely out of it.  I could hardly finish a sentence I was so sleepy, but their presence and the blessing were comforting, and I am so grateful for the missionaries support of Stephen and I at this time.  It's only now that I realize how scary this must have been for Stephen, and how alone he must have felt, especially since even I was so sleepy.  I love this man so much, and there is no way I would have been able to handle all of this without him by my side.  He definitely was my greatest strength and encouragement through everything.

My amazing and supportive husband.

Hours passed with no change, and at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon I was given an epidural and prepped for c-section.  I continued to want to sleep and had  difficulty staying awake for even a few minutes at a time.  Stephen got dressed for the surgery and sat to hold my hand.  I was shaking from the medications.  I heard the doctors talking quickly, and felt them working.  Soon I heard, "you can look now," Stephen looked and I heard a cry.  It was the most surreal experience.  They showed me the baby and rushed him to be cleaned.  Stephen says that he peed all over everyone immediately.  Stephen followed the baby and took pictures while I looked on, shaking, partially due to nerves, partially to medication, and partially due to loss of blood.


Baby Ephraim Alexander Beckman (although we were not sure of this name at the time) was born at 4:51pm June 30, 2012.  He weighed 8lbs 12oz and was 20.5 inches long.

My perfect little baby.

The aftermath of the c-section involved worries about loss of blood, and a mild infection for me.  My recovery was a little slow, and we stayed in the hospital until late afternoon of Tuesday July 3rd to monitor my infection and blood levels.  Despite the setbacks, Ephraim was perfectly healthy, and passed all his tests with flying colors.


There's more to share, but that's enough for this entry.  Ephraim was absolutely perfect, and Stephen and I are so blessed to have him as a part of our family.

San Antonio!

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel.  ~Author Unknown

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It's been so long since I updated, so this is going to be a long post (as it doubles as my journal most of the time :-P).
I can't believe it's already the end of June... I guess time flies when you're wrapping things up at work, getting ready to move, moving across the country, starting a new job, and getting ready for a new baby to come.  But this long blog will have many pictures as well :)


Let's start with May:
Stephen left at the beginning of May to go down to San Antonio and start his new job, while I stayed in Rexburg to finish up the school year.  After much thought and prayer, I decided to take a week and a half of maternity leave so that I would be able to fly down and meet up with Stephen on May 23rd.  Work kept me very busy, and I worked late most nights so that I wouldn't have much time at home in the evenings.  It really was good, although I was worried that I would never get anything done!  Stephen and I were apart for 2.5 weeks, definitely the longest we've been apart since we were married, and being 7 months pregnant that was a little rough.  So many times I wished Stephen was there to take care of me (because he's good at doing that), but I was not without much help!  
First, Stephen packed up almost EVERYTHING before he left, and John, Mike, Gordon, Heidi, and Zak came an helped on multiple occasions to pack and clean before he left and after he left.  We were also blessed to be able to sell a lot of our furniture so that we wouldn't have to worry about packing that.

Boxes and boxes that Stephen Packed

While he was gone, Natalie fed me and made sure to check up on me, and Zak took me out to dinner on several occasions.  Joe and Jason came, and many members of the ward helped to load all of our stuff into the Uhaul and truck (and managed to fit it all!), and Joe and Jason drove it all they down to San Antonio after Stephen had found us an apartment.  They were real lifesavers, and helped me to remain somewhat rational when pregnancy hormones rendered me incapable of dealing with roadbumps (discovering that we had forgotten to have Joe and Jason take some of our things to San Antonio, having no where to send the fish, getting an ear infection a week before I was supposed to fly to San Antonio, cleaning the apartment when I was too tired to want to do anything).  I facetimed with Stephen whenever I could.  I am so grateful for technology that helped me stay a little bit rational as well and for Stephen for calling in help for me on many occasions. I am so blessed, and grateful for all the help that made this move possible.

The Beautiful flowers Stephen sent me for Mother's day.

Also, I can't forget to thank my wonderful coworkers for helping me so much to wrap up things at work.  Kayla especially helped so much to pick up whatever I couldn't finish, and never once made me feel guilty for leaving a week and a half early.  She even organized a little lunch/shower for me before I left, and my sweet coworkers gave me so many cute little baby things.  I'm really going to miss them and how they so patiently helped me through my first year of teaching.  It was an amazing growing experience.

Finally on May 22nd I took a shuttle down to Utah.  Grandma was there to pick me up, and I had so much fun spending an evening with her before she took me to the airport at 4:30 in the morning the next day.  I don't know what I would do without my sweet Grandma who takes such good care of me anytime that I need help and am in Utah.  The flights went well, there were no delays, and before I knew it I was in San Antonio.

In baby news, Etienne was growing and I could feel him a lot more.  I started getting tired again, and my back always hurt after long days of sitting in desk chairs, but it was so much fun the feel and see him wiggling, and especially fun the feel him get the hiccups.

Now on to San Antonio and more recent developments:
I arrived in San Antonio early that afternoon.  It was almost surreal to see my cute Husband there, because I felt like I hadn't seen him in FOREVER! :)  It was so exciting to see him.  He gave me a little tour and showed me our new apartment.  I love it so much, and he had already unpacked a lot of the big stuff.  We immediately went on a furniture buying rampage and thanks to Target, Walmart, and Craigslist, now have a fully furnished, super cute apartment.  It's so nice, and has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.  As of last week (June 13th-ish) we have officially unpacked everything, and this week I finally finished getting everything somewhat organized.  It feels like home now :).  

The view from our front door

Our living/dining area

View into the kitchen area

View out onto our back patio. My favorite part!  It's like our own little backyard 

Our bedroom.  We have a nice new bed, but we haven't chosen any bedding for it yet :) It's fine with me though, because I sleep with just the sheet anyway :-P 

Etienne's bassinet and my little vanity table.

Since I've arrived here we have been sampling what San Antonio has to offer in the way of barbeque.  I have to say that Smokey Mo's is my favorite, but Stephen prefers Two Bros. BBQ.  They both are delicious.  We even found a decent fish and chips place called Mr. Cod, which I love :).
Stephen has taken very good care of me since I got here, especially since I managed to contract a double ear infection almost immediately.  He's made many phone calls to sort out banking, phone, and insurance quickly and to get us going.  I've started seeing the midwives at Lonestar OB/GYN and have been very pleased thus far.
I've been pretty excited to be done unpacking so that I can work on Eti's nursery a little bit more.  I have a few more things I want to do, but it's coming together nicely.

Stephen putting together the crib that my parents got us.

The finished product

All ready :) 

book shelf

The other side of the room 

Cute Decorations

Stephen took a few maternity shots of me.  This one was a favorite, if you click on the caption, it will link to an album of a few more that Stephen took of me when I was 34 weeks pregnant

www.beckmanphotography.com

Etienne is running out of space in there and every movement results in much movement on the outside as well.  Sometimes even his hiccups will cause my stomach to spasm.  He doesn't like for anyone to encroach on his already limited space and pushes back when pushed on.  One day he even pushed his side out and I could see him "breathing."  The more I see him move the more excited I am to meet the little guy.

Speaking of "seeing" little Eti, the midwives thought that Etienne was measuring a little big, so yesterday (June 19th) they had me get an ultrasound to see just how big.  

My belly on the day of the Ultrasound (almost 38 weeks).

Etienne is very head down, and they had a hard time finding his head to get the measurements, but they finally got it, and they were able to take a sweet 3D picture.

A picture of baby Eti's first 3D picture :)

I love love love it.  My mom pointed out that he has Stephen's lips, and I totally agree.  I can't wait to kiss those little lips and squish those cheeks.  I was doing pretty good at being patient, but after seeing this picture, I definitely cannot wait to hold my little guy.

The measurements show that Etienne is measuring in around the 70th %ile.  They guessed that he is probably around 7lbs 9oz right now, and that, depending on when he comes he'll probably be around 8.5 to 9 lbs.  However, everything is looking great

Oh, back up, One last thing to share in this post (although there are probably a bazillion things to update, I will leave those other things for other posts).  Father's day was on Sunday and it was Stephen's first one :).  On Saturday we got a new car (which I think is definitely Stephen's favorite).  It's a denim blue 2011 Kia Soul, and it's super nice.  We're pretty excited about it, and especially excited to have a car without so many quirks.  We've been wanting another car so that I can get places when the baby's here, and this one was a great deal.  It's super nice to have two cars.

Stephen's New Car

Then on Sunday I gave Stephen his Father's Day Presents.  I got a matching shirt and onsie at this etsy shop, and then another onsie at this etsy shop, because I though Stephen would get a kick out of them.  He seemed to like them.