February

Hey friends, how are y'all? Árni and I have been well and we feel like we are finally settling into our roll as parents. Leifur sleeps a little more than he used to and breastfeeding is going superbly so we are certainly more confident to take outings. I joined this newborn network of Steamboat and have met some really great ladies and their adorable babies! We usually meet on Mondays for momma/ baby yoga, which is really a gentle yoga class and we are allowed to bring or babies lol. On Tuesdays is newborn network, which is a free class put on by the city of Steamboat which we learn a new topic every week and then if course socialize and recently I've actually volunteered to coordinate Wednesday outings with 6 other gals for us to do things like hike, or meet for coffee, park, ski things like that and of course we bring the little ones. This week yoga was canceled so the 7 of us went and had coffee and then for a walk, what a site seeing all these babies lined up, so cute! On Wednesday myself and two other gals took the babies on a hike at Emerald Mountain. It was snowy and a pretty good incline, so needless to say I realized how out of shape I am! Carrying around a nearly 12 lb baby isn't the easiest either! I have just two weeks left on my maternity leave which makes me incredibly sad! I never thought it would be so hard to leave him. Luckily I will only be working three days a week but that's still three days I'll miss out on Leifur's life! Even on the hardest of days, he's still the best decision I've ever made.

Last week we had some guests. My friend Tessa, who has been my friend for ten years, text me and said her sister Lyndee was temporarily living in Boulder. So we invited her to come stay with us, and it so happened that their mom Marilyn, was coming to Colorado for a visit so she came as well. They stayed with us two nights and man were they active! They went snowmobiling one day and dog sledding the next! I took them to strawberry park hot springs on Friday evening and Saturday morning we all went to Old Town Hot springs! This was Leifur's second trip to the pool and he loved it!  We really enjoyed having them and hope Tessa can make it next time!

Our Valentine's day was pretty swell actually. We started off the day with a family trip to the swimming pool, followed by milkshakes at our favorite drugstore, pho for dinner and then got the baby down to sleep and we caught up on some Netflix. They may sound boring to you but it was absolutely perfect for us!

We have much to look forward to in the next few months. Arni's parents will be meeting their grandson for the first time in a couple weeks and we hope to finally get some skiing in. Today is a wintery snow filled day and tonight is girls night for me!

zzzzZZZZZzzzzzZZZZ

Yep you got it, sleep. That is pretty much the only thing I dream of now days. I suppose this is a new parent right of passage we must all survive, but dern I can't wait for it to be over! On a good day/night Leifur will sleep in 2 1/2-3 hr increments on a bad night I'd rather not say. Friends just keep passing on words of encouragement and hope (even if it is a fib!) We will make it! The best thing though, is he is just so stinkin cute! Especially now than hes getting chunkier, I just want to kiss all over his double chins! The only time in life being toothless and having thigh rolls is cute. We are looking forward to Grandma Kitty's visit next week and Amma and Afi's visit in March. We also booked a flight to Florida in the spring, message me for dates! Leifur (and mommy) can't wait to see the ocean and have some warmth.
     I can't believe how fast these weeks are passing, my maternity leave has just over one month left and I'm sure that will fly by too. I hope we have some sort of routine established by the time I get back to work, because right now the routine is there is no routine! I have been getting braver and going on more outings sans Arni lately. Every time I do it, it gets a little easier. Our first trip was just to run a few errands and I swear I held my breath every time he made any little squeak! We also made a trip to the Ice Hockey rink to watch Arni and Johan practice and finally I went to a newborn class yesterday, which was surprisingly fun. I met some other new moms and the kiddos were all so cute interacting with each other. Of course, Leifur was unimpressed and slept the whole time, I also think going to groups like this is good for me, because I am still nervous about breastfeeding outside of the comforts of my home. Not because I am a modest person so much as I am just not super coordinated at it! We are both learning and will get better with time.
    This past weekend our friends came for a visit, which was really nice. They brought us snacks from Trader Joes, took us out to lunch and made us breakfast! I guess we traded out with baby cuddle time. Saturday, Arni and Johan went to open skate where they practiced some Hockey drills while Caitlyn, Leifur and I watched and then we all went downtown to Lyons's for a sandwich and ice cream. We played some board games that evening and ate Icelandic hot dogs. Sunday we all relaxed over coffee and a hockey game, The plan was to go into the hot tub as well, that is until we realized the circuit blew and the whole thing was frozen.. oops! Obviously we have had other things on our minds. It was a great weekend and we look forward to future visits.

Book Club with the ladies

Caitlyn wanted to ride through the snow =)

Caitlyn made this play mat for Leifur! It has little viking ships on it!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

 Wow what a year it has been! Another move to a new town, new house, new jobs and new baby! Every year we seem to face new obstacles and acquire new goals and somehow we always manage, even when I think we can't! As I reflect back on this year I realize one thing, that even when times are tough we have a strong marriage and continue to get stronger and closer every year. I am sure having a VERY stubborn husband who never gives up certainly has something to do with that. I'll admit I may have thrown in the towel a time or two if I were alone, but in true Arni fashion, he always pulls me up and pushes me on. The move to Steamboat this year was actually more difficult than I thought it would be. I figured the move from Florida to Colorado was a bigger challenge and we were moving not out of state, but to a new town a mere 3 hrs away. Boy was I wrong. My out of control pregnancy hormones probably had a play in this as well. I think now it was difficult for me for a few reasons. As you may remember we were married a mere 5 months before we packed up our lives and moved to Colorado. So we had lived our established married years in Boulder, as well as made some very solid friendships. Friends who became our families. This was the first time I ever lived so far from family, so I really clung to the friendships I made here. We spent all major holidays with them, shared birthdays and date nights and even met people in our exact same circumstance, so we all explored Colorado together. So in a way it was like leaving my family yet again! As well as probably the best job I've had in my Nursing career, and all the familiarity of my town which had once again became "home". Funny, I remember the first time I called Colorado "home". I was in Florida visiting family and friends when towards the end of the trip I mentioned to my dad that I was missing home and was ready to get back. That is when he pointed out to me that home is where the heart is, and I had put my heart into our little condo with my little family in Erie, Colorado!

    Another thing I think affected the move was I never really thought it would happen. We used to dream about moving to Steamboat Springs on a pretty regular basis. All of our friends knew how much we liked it here but like any ski town, professional jobs are far and few between. So when Arni asked if he could apply for this phD Scientist position at a research office I said sure go for it, thinking there was no way it would actually happen. Well darn, guess what, 4 interviews later he accepted the job. Not that I ever doubted my husband, he is extremely intelligent and can do ANYTHING he puts his mind to, I just thought with such a change in field as it was (renewable energy to cancer research) the company would want someone else. How does the saying go "Wanna hear God laugh, tell him your plans!"

    So here we are  6 months in and things are finally starting to get easier. I found another great job, we live on an amazing ranch, my horses have adapted, even to the freezing temps, I've made a few good friends, and haven't lost the old ones either! To top it all off, I am a MOM! I have a busy, crazy, beautiful life and I wouldn't change a thing, even all the tough times.

    As for Christmas and New Years we enjoyed a low key, new family, tired parents kind of holiday! Christmas eve, Icelandic Christmas, Arni made us traditional dinner as he does every year, of lamb, caramelized potatoes and Waldorf salad. I also enjoyed 1/2 glass of red wine, I say 1./2 because that was exactly how much it took to knock me out! Christmas day was beautiful and snowy and we enjoyed a big American breakfast which I made and video chatted with Arni's family in Iceland, my parents in Florida and Brett and Sarah in California! It is so amazing how technology can keep us all close, though so far away. Leifur enjoyed his very first Christmas from the comfort of mommy's lap snoozing and eating his little heart out. On NYE our friends Amanda and Cody were so nice to bring us a cooked ham and I made collard greens and black eyed peas for good luck! They came over early and we played a few board games before they, very respectfully, left around 7pm. my nights are very sleepless lately so bedtime starts around 7-8pm as we know we will be awakened at least 4-5 times over the night! So thank you to them for the great company and also understanding how it is for new parents. I told them I swear, we used to be more fun haha! New Years Day was spent watching football and chatting with family once again. Last but not least to this long blog post is today, my wonderful husband's birthday! He is spending it playing his new PS4 game and we will be eating pizza and ice cream cake later this evening! I want to wish him the happiest of Birthday's and thank him for always being positive and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, even when I can't. For being a patient and loving husband and for being such a great father. Thank you for helping me so much with Leifur, my recovery, the late nights and all the diaper changes! I know life will start getting easier in a few months and we will both enjoy being parents so much! XOXO

On his birthday he let me get a couple extra quiet hours upstairs. I came down to this. =)

blowing kisses or whistling, can't decide 

If this doesn't make you smile, you are a terrible human

Can't forget about the hoofed babies

The littlest Broncos fan

Leifur's first Christmas

Christmas eve

Miss Kati made him this, she's especially good at newborn sizing lol 

   

Leifur Cullen Árnason

  Hey everyone! I finally get a chance to write a blog about the most important thing in my life, my son. Although I am a little distracted so this may take me three days to write, good thing for draft copies.
 
    Leifur Cullen Árnason decided to show up a month early on December 8, 2014 at 9:02am! Árni and I couldn´t be happier. We kept his name a secret until his birth and hope you like it, we do! For those of you wondering it's pronounced Lay-fur. We may call him Leif as well, not sure yet but the important thing to know is it is not pronounced like a "leaf". His middle name is not an Icelandic name, just a name I really liked and his last name of course, is staying with Icelandic tradition. Leifur is Árni´s son so as in the naming tradition he received the last name Árnason. If you would like to know more about the Icelandic naming traditions click HERE . We spent 5 days in the hospital and came home Saturday evening and we are really enjoying life right now, even with VERY VERY little sleep!

    I am now going to tell you guys about his birth, I doubt it will be too graphic, but if you just plain don't want to know then skip to the bottom where you will find pictures of our boy!

    On Monday morning at 3:30am I woke up and thought "Crap did I just pee myself?!" You would think it would have occurred to me that my waters may have broken, but if you have ever experienced pregnancy or had a close loved one go through it, it's not too far fetched to literally have urinated oneself.  So anyway I wake Arni up, tell him I peed myself (hey if I got to be up he has to be up too) and he mumbles something half asleep about don't worry we will change the sheets, lol. I went back to bed and thought, "No way I did it again!" That's when things were clicking and I consulted Dr. Google. That and text my two night shift health care friends hoping one was up. That would be Beth. She immediately said "Your water broke, call the doctor." Did I do that though? Nope! I went back to bed and told myself I was having bladder issues. The voice of reason , my husband, finally convinced me to call the doctor and the whole time I was thinking how embarrassing it is going to be when I show up at the hospital and they tell me "Go, home you peed yourself!" I was scheduled to work that day in the PACU so I texted my friend who was working the 6 am shift and told her, I was going in to OB to get something checked, which is probably nothing, and I'm still planning on being at work at 730am. After all, I felt completely fine except the fact I keep leaking! We checked into the hospital at 0430am and as you can see things moved VERY fast, he was born at 9:02am.

    The hooked me up to the monitors and did the litmus test which confirmed I did, indeed break my water. Meanwhile I have no idea what's going on but a swarm of nurses show up and start doing things all at once. That's when I knew something was up. Now I'm on oxygen have 2 IV's going, the ultrasound on my belly and they are telling me to try and relax, my baby's heart rate is a litttle high. RELAX?! That's the last thing I could do, and being a nurse I knew too much. At this point I am texting my NICU friend telling her what's up and she's relaying info back to me, also trying to calm me down, even though I think she knew that things were serious. We eventually got his heart rate down with the supplemental oxygen and laying on my left side, and at that point I knew I was going to deliver that day. They started asking me about epidurals and my birth plan and through all that my biggest concern was I didn't want Pitocin contractions ( which are said to be more intense). Little did I know Leifur had different plans. The doctor came and was looking with the ultrasound when she said to me, your baby isn't moving like he should, I am going to wait for your blood work and then check him again in a few, let me know if you start feeling any movement. It was then that it occurred to me since this whole ordeal started I hadn't felt him move that much. I tried to concentrate and stay calm and was hoping for some movements but I didn't feel anything, although I knew he was ok I could hear his heart rate on the monitor, I was a little scared. A short while later doctor returned to ultrasound again, and this time she said, your baby needs to come out, now. That set things in full craziness, next thing I know anesthesia is in my room, I am signing consents, Arni is getting into scrubs and it was also at this moment I realized how much I loved my baby. I was terrified for his little lungs because it was too soon for him to come out. I was 35 weeks and 5 days. They can't predict how well a 35 weeker will do, but they hope for the best and prepare for the worst. The whole Operating room experience was surreal. Being on the opposite side of what I usually do was strange although not scary. I was nervous sure, but to see all my coworkers there and have them comforting me and caring for us was amazing.
    Leifur was born in no time at all, I was completely numb from my spinal but could feel a lot of tugging. When I heard him cry for the first time I cried myself. What a good sound. They had to work on him for a bit and he was on cpap ( positive pressure oxygen) for a little while. I could only touch his cheek briefly before they wheeled him to NICU. I sent Arni with the baby and I went to recovery where I was greeted by more of my peers.I can't say thank you enough to everyone for such great care!
    Leifur spent 4 days in NICU learning how to "suck, swallow, breathe" and weaning off the IV fluids. All in all he was a rockstar and surpassed their expectations, they had originally thought he'd stay about 2 weeks. We are home with him now and life is swell. Thank you to everyone who sent flowers, gifts, and stopped by!

2 days before I delivered

First time holding my son

Going home

First bath at home