Halloween Costume Ordered!

Todd and I decided to order the Hulk costume for Matthew. We are excited and I hope it fits him. He's wearing 9-12 month outfits so we'll see when it gets here:) We chose it because Matthew is a pretty big dude and we joke about him having super strength. So excited for Matthew's first Halloween...especially since daddy is trying to get the evening off to enjoy it with us! Here's a picture of what it looks like:

Picture Perfect!

I just love taking pictures of our cute, adorable Matthew! Here are a few fun ones from the past few weeks! He is such a joy to have and he's growing incredibly fast!

Blessings

I'm overwhelmed with the many blessings I have been given. I'm especially grateful for my two boys:) I have the the sweetest, kindest, most loving husband there is...and now we have our long awaited, adorable little Matthew.

Honestly, some days are hard. Matthew gets gassy, decides he doesn't need to take naps, just wants to be held all day, and will only fall asleep nursing. I start to get frustrated and then I remind myself that Matthew is pretty much helpless. He depends on us for everything right now. So even when I can't stop his cry (which breaks my heart to hear it!), I can hold him and comfort him. And just when I feel like my arms or back are about to give out, I think of how quickly Matthew is growing. One day he won't want to be held so much. So I'm enjoying it now. I'm trying to take in everything about him, his cute smirk, his beautiful blue eyes, his milky baby smell:) I'm extremely grateful to Heavenly Father for trusting us with this precious spirit. I'm excited to watch him grow and learn. I get so excited when he learns the littlest skills right now, it's so much fun. Like how he can hold on to things, how high he can lift his head while lying on his stomach, and how he's starting to laugh for us! Each day with Matthew is a truly a gift.

I was thinking back to how we celebrated our 5th anniversary this year and had to laugh. Matthew was born on June 4th, our anniversary is June 5th! My dad picked up Olive Garden for us and dropped it off at the hospital. Todd set up our table and we had a wonderful dinner. It was the best anniversary yet! What better way to celebrate than by getting to hold Matthew in our arms.

Anniversary dinner at the hospital

I'm grateful for the gospel in my life and for parents who taught me to love my Heavenly Father and Savior. I'm grateful for the little family Todd and I have created and am excited to watch it grow. I am grateful to be a mom and I'm grateful to be able to stay home with Matthew. His little smile just melts my heart and makes me forget all my troubles. He is still so new, so clean and pure. And I get to hold him in my arms each day! How very blessed I am!

Matthew at 3 months old

Swinging

Matthew will be two months old on Tuesday! We cannot believe how quickly he is growing...and how big he's growing:) We were at my dad's house this morning and my nephew Rexford wanted to go out and swing. I think it was my dad who asked if Matthew wanted to swing. I wasn't sure about it because he's still so young but my dad grabbed a few towels to cushion the swing and fill in all the extra space. Matthew was in a pretty good mood and I think he is going to enjoy swinging as we do it more often and as he continues to grow!

Papa and Matthew

Rexford pushing Matthew

Fun Videos

Here are two videos of our little Matthew! The first is a few days after coming home from the hospital and the second was taken this morning. He's gotten so chunky:)

4 days old

1 month - Smiles

Shared photo book from Alyson

Click here to view this photo book larger

Matthew's Here!

Because Alyson's busy being a wonderful mother, this is the first ever Todd post. On Wednesday, Alyson was admitted to Winnie Palmer Hospital directly from Dr. Snow's office with high blood pressure (first time all pregnancy). I worked on Tuesday night and was going to work that night so I was sound asleep and didn't know a thing. Luckily, Alyson got a hold of Kim and asked her to wake me up and tell me to get to the hospital. At first we both thought that a few tests would be performed and if everything checked out that we would be able to go home. Not so. We learned that hypertension during pregnancy doesn't go away until it's baby time, so Dr. Snow wrote orders to induce. I called in to work and told them I wouldn't be there that night or on Friday for my last shift of the week.

That night (Wednesday) about 6 they began induction with a medicated shoe lace (best way I can think to describe it) called Cervidil. And that was the last decent night's rest we will ever have again -- that's including the start of contractions from midnight to 3. On Thursday morning around 7, Alyson started feeling contractions again and...her water broke. Sometime in the early afternoon we were taken down to labor and delivery. By this time, Alyson was having some pretty intense contractions, but the nurse recommended that she sit on the "birthing" (exercise) ball to use gravity to encourage the process. Alyson was a trooper and stayed on the ball for a couple hours until she finally asked, "Can I get an epidural now?" Yes. She could.

After the epidural was in, we were both able to relax. Of course Alyson was doing all of the work, but I was trying to be as helpful as possible and seeing her in that much pain was stressful. She actually fell asleep during her every 2 to 3 minute strong contractions and I have the picture to prove it. She said that she couldn't even feel them anymore. So things were on auto pilot, I ate some Chipotle while she slept :), and about 8 when the nurse checked her progress, she was at 9 cm and would soon be ready to push. The pushing commenced a little after 9:30 and because of the excellent coordination skills that Alyson possesses, we were looking at Matthew at 9:49. It was surreal but amazing, and at least for me it took until early Friday morning to really bond with him and realize the tremendous amount of love I have for him already. Two striving to be one have become three striving for the same in the Todd-n-Aly Eichelberger family. It's incredible! All thanks to the Father of us all and His Son.

Matthew's first time in his mother's arms.

Right after they dried him off, made sure he was doing well and warmed him up.

Grandma and Grandad Eichelberger for the first time with Matthew.

"Papa" Rich and Alyson's brother Caleb. The last visitors in the labor and delivery room.

The hat is awesome. But it hid his equally awesome head of hair. When he first crowned I looked up at Alyson and said, "...he's hairy."

Our 5 year-old niece Sahara (my brother Jon's daughter) saying hello to our little man.

A good shot with his eyes open. I know everybody thinks their own kids are cute, but come on!

My son. A responsibility that I don't take lightly.

Grandma Rich on Friday in our "mother baby" room.

No "A-wee" adventure would be complete without Rexford (and a "turkey").

It's Almost Time!

Quick update:
I'm at the hospital now. I went to my appointment at 10:30 this morning and since my blood pressure was high they sent me over to the hospital. I will explain more later but they are inducing me and I will be here until we have Matthew. I have to stop calling him little because they are estimating him to be 8 lbs 14 oz! I'll try to keep things updated but just wanted to share the excitement that Matthew will be here within the next couple of days!

New Used Car

So Todd and I went down to Carmax last Thursday and traded in my 2004 Nissan Sentra for a 2004 Nissan Murano. We have always talked about wanting a bigger car but we weren't sure about having a car payment again. My car was payed off and the Nissan Murano was obviously going to be a little bit more money. Actually we didn't start seriously looking until last Wednesday night. My car had been hit the week before along with my sister's car during the middle of the night. We had them parked on the street and obviously some drunk driver rammed into them. Mine was in a lot better condition then my sister's car but instead of paying to fix it up, we just traded it in. There were a few other things that were wrong with the car so it just gave us the push we needed:) We love love love our new car and are having so much fun with it. I'm glad we have more room for Matthew and it can be comfortable for all of us. We've already got the carseat ready to go and we enjoy turning around to look in the backseat. It's just a really fun time for us and we couldn't be more excited!

Baby Shower

My wonderful sisters had a baby shower for me on May 2. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed being in the company of such wonderful ladies! I'm not one to enjoy being in the spotlight so I don't really have any great pictures to share. I was never really looking at the camera but I'll share a few from the day that turned out okay.

I think the funniest moment of the day for me came from the game my sister Kimberly had prepared. Before the shower she asked Todd a few questions and at the shower she asked me the same questions. My job was to try to answer them the same as Todd. One of the questions was about how big my stomach was. Todd guessed 5o inches! I think I guessed 40 which was almost exactly right. Anyway, I went home after the shower and was like "50 inches Todd, really?" He told me that he was just guessing my size by comparing it to his size (38-40) and that I had to be bigger than him. It was pretty funny:)

I'm so grateful for all the generous gifts we received to help us prepare for little Matthew's arrival. I actually enjoyed getting 3 sets of diaper bags because we were able to trade them out for items we still needed/wanted. We are so very excited and are grateful for such wonderful friends/family! Thank you!

Front/Back Carrier

Johnson's Travel Pack

Bath Center


Cute Mittens/Sleepers

Me with Casey (one of my preschool friends!)

Baby Shower Cake

Fun at Lamaze

Todd and I were able to take a 4 week Lamaze class through the hospital education program. We went every Thursday night during the month of April and we actually had a pretty good time. There were about 10 couples and sadly we do not have a picture of the group yet. Still trying to get that from whoever brought their camera the last night.

Basically we talked about the different stages of labor, practiced a few breathing techniques while having a focal point (mine was one of our 3D ultrasound pictures of Matthew), and watched a few birth stories. I feel like the class was helpful in some ways but I'll be honest and say that when the time comes to have Matthew, I'll probably forget half the things I learned! At least I'll have Todd there with me.

Speaking of Todd, this blog is lacking when it comes to pictures of him. So I can't pass up the opportunity to post a picture of Todd from Lamaze class. On the last night of class we had a little party, ate some yummy food, and then watched each of the guys try on this little beauty, hope you enjoy:

Full Term!

Okay, so I've reached 37 weeks which is considered a full term pregnancy! We are getting more and more excited each day. It has felt like such a long journey and soon we will be holding little Matthew in our arms! I visit with the doctor each week now and so far I'm 50% effaced and 0 cm dialated. I'm still carrying high and I figure I still have a few weeks to go. We'll see what happens I guess:) Here are all the belly pictures I've procrastinated adding. I am feeling pretty big now and starting to feel uncomfortable more often, especially at night. All in all, my pregnancy has been great and I'm still just so thankful to my Heavenly Father for this precious gift!

30 Weeks

35 Weeks

36 Weeks

37 Weeks!

Sneak Peek!

I'm so happy Todd and I decided to have a 3D ultrasound! I've been wanting to but Todd wasn't really interested until about a week ago. Well I guess he's getting a little anxious to meet the little guy as well because he asked me if I was still interested:) Of course! So I made the appointment for Monday evening and we were so excited. The only problem was that Matthew really didn't want his picture taken! He was sleeping and had his face covered with his hands and his feet! We tried putting pressure on my stomach and he wouldn't budge so we had to reschedule our appointment. We went back earlier this afternoon and were able to get a few good pictures. The placenta was covering the left side of his face most of the time but it was still really neat to see him. It's amazing how you can get early baby pictures before your child is even born:) We also have a 15 minute video of the whole session but I'll just post a few of the pictures on here. We can't wait to meet Matthew in 8 1/2 weeks!

Third Trimester!

I'm a week into my third trimester and I'm feeling so excited! I have 11 weeks left and it seems so close now. I'm still mostly excited but every now and then a little nervousness kicks in. Sometimes I'm a little nervous about the actual birth process, wondering if my baby will be healthy and well, and wondering if I'll be a good mom. I think about this precious spirit that has come from our Heavenly Father and I pray that I will be able to teach him and help guide him to live a righteous life. I want Matthew to know we love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ with all our hearts. I love that he will have great examples in his grandparents, aunts/uncles, and his cousins.

It's been fun feeling Matthew move around and even more fun watching him. I remember the first time Todd and I saw my stomach move we just looked up at each other and laughed. It was such a fun time together and we still enjoy watching our little guy roll around:) I still haven't had any pain from Matthew moving around and I usually feel pretty good. I'm enjoying watching my stomach grow each week and I wonder what I'll look like by June! I feel big now and I still have 2 1/2 months left.

Here's a little story about my growing stomach:

The other night I was sitting on the couch with my nephew Rexford (he's 2 1/2) watching "Caillou" and he was leaning against my side. Then he sighed and moved to rest over my legs. I asked him if my big belly was in the way and he said, "Aly, can you move your belly?" We both started laughing, it was pretty funny. I just kind of shook my belly and said, "No, I can't move my belly, baby Matthew is in there." Then I told Rexford that Matthew would be here in a couple more months. Rexford said, "Yes, in the hospital." It's fun to see how much he knows about the situation. Whenever we play together and he runs into me or knocks my stomach he says, "Oh, sorry Aly, I didn't mean to hurt your Matthew." I think it's so cute and I hope I'll still have some Rexford playtime when Matthew is born. I'm hoping Kim and I will still hang out a lot:)

28 Weeks

29 Weeks