Christmas

There were a lot of highlights from Blake's first Christmas. He had a closet full of holiday apparel to wear every day leading up to the grand event.

Grandma Tanner made everyone matching BYU pajama pants, including tiny pants for this sweet baby.

The Nativity

The Tanners have a tradition of acting out the Nativity on Christmas Eve. We were thrilled to have a real baby Jesus this year. Blake looked so sweet and innocent wrapped in white swaddling clothes. He was the most reverent of all of us! Joseph (Troy), kept telling Mary (Lindsey) to "move it" to the stable, and the Angel (Tricia) sang her own rendition of Christmas carols. Only our sweet baby Jesus lay peacefully in his manger, alert and not making a sound. It was humbling to watch Blake in reverence, as he has so recently left the presence of Jesus.

Christmas Greetings 2007 and Blake's Birth Announcement

With Blake born so close to Christmas, we doubled his birth announcement as our holiday card.

10 Days Old

How time flies! Blake is already 10 days old and I feel like we are going to be sending him off to college any minute. I'm a little hesitant about him growing up. It is so much fun to see his little personality developing already. Here are a few of Blake's likes and dislikes in his first 10 days of life:

Likes

• Sleeping on his dad's chest
• Rooting towards anything that touches his mouth - clothes, fingers, blankets, etc. (He looks like a little bird)
• Trying so hard to suck on his hands
• Cuddling with mom in the middle of the night
• Getting his picture taken
• Being swaddled tightly, and trying to get his arms out (He is very strong)
• Eating! Eating! Eating!
• Observing his new world with his beautiful big blue eyes
• Grasping onto his mom or dad's finger
• Being swung from side to side
• Trying to smile and grin

Dislikes

• Getting his diaper changed
• Having cold air touch him
• Getting his sponge bath (So much screaming!)

Overall, Blake is a very good baby and is beginning to sleep longer stretches (hooray!) He has brought such a wonderful little spirit into our home and continues to amaze us with how much he learns and observes.

First night at home, all bundled up!

The woman in Blake's life.

Blake's favorite place to sleep.

Blake's Birth

My December 5th due date came and went with no baby. I was pretty annoyed that I had nothing to show for my 40 weeks of pregnancy. I went into the doctor's office for a check up on my due date, and while the nurse was weighing me, she joked, "You're supposed to be down the street at the hospital today!"

I was not amused. Those pregnancy hormones got the best of me and I cried the whole way home. I wasn't in a terrible amount of pain and misery; the time had just come to meet my baby boy!

Troy sensed my disappointment, so he suggested that I schedule a massage to ease my discomfort.

Two days later, on Friday, December 7th, I went into a massage school for a noon appointment. The student massage therapist looked me over and asked, "When are you due?" I responded, "Two days ago." I could tell that she was nervous about having me as her client.

It turned out that she had every reason to be nervous, because as I was lying on the massage table, my water broke. I turned to her and told her what had happened, and she asked me if I wanted her to stop. I didn't want to get jipped out of the remainder of my massage, so I replied, "Well, how much longer do I have?" She said I only had about five minutes left, so I decided that I better go.

I got in my car and called Troy. I told him that I was pretty sure that my water had just broken. He was on campus when I called him and he was a million times more anxious than I was when he heard the news. He thought that I should call the midwife immediately, but I figured that I wouldn't go into the hospital for several more hours. I swung by Arby's on the way home because I knew that once we got to the hospital, they wouldn't let me eat. Troy met me at our apartment and while we were eating lunch, I started having contractions.

The contractions were mild at first and were spaced out every 3-5 minutes. Troy got into a frenzy trying to gather everything we needed for the hospital. I braced myself and finally called the midwife when the contractions got more intense. She told us that we could walk around the mall for a while to get the contractions going, or we could just come right in.

At that point, I was doubled over in pain with each contraction, so I didn't think that walking around the mall was the best idea. We decided to head to the hospital, and Troy gave me a blessing before we left. 

The contractions became even stronger on the way to the hospital. I had to crouch down and endure several contractions in the hallway between the car and the front desk. When we got to the desk, about 15 nurses all stopped what they were doing and gazed at me. One asked how she could help us and I responded, "Um, I'm in labor" (duh).

We checked in between 2:30 and 3pm and I was already dilated to 4cm. The nurse told me that I was a keeper.

Everything from then on out progressed very quickly. I went from a 4 to a 5 to a 7 and then to an 8+ in a short amount of time. I did not deal with the pain well at all. I was completely exhausted, and every time a contraction started, I screamed, "not again...I can't do it again!" I couldn't settle into any position to make the pain more durable, and I became completely indecisive with every suggestion that was given to me to help alleviate the pain. With every question I was asked, I sighed out a quick, "I don't know." The nurse tried to start an IV in case I opted for an epidural, but I panicked at the sight of the needle and wouldn't let her come close to me.

A Lamaze coach ended up coming in to help me with the contractions since I wasn't handling them very well. She coached me through breathing which helped a lot. By the time I was dilated to 7cm, I had had enough pain and decided that anything would be better than contractions, even if meant facing needles. I actually did really well with the IV that time around, but by the time they got enough fluids in me and we waited an hour for the anesthesiologist to arrive, I was already feeling the pressure of pushing.

I hardly even felt the epidural going in because the pain of the contraction I was having at the time completely overrode the poke of the needle. Within minutes after receiving the epidural, my legs felt warm, I felt a couple of light contractions, and then I felt nothing at all. It was pure sweet bliss.

The nurses told me that I had gone through the toughest pain of labor with no medication and I probably could have done the whole thing naturally, but I loved having that epidural. It was completely worth it to me, even though I only had it for the tail end of my delivery. I regained energy and even carried on civil conversations with the nurses and midwife, apologizing for my screaming and indecisiveness.

Shortly after receiving the epidural, I became fully dilated and it was time to start pushing. I pushed for about an hour, but I could have pushed all day because I couldn't feel a thing! My midwife had to tell me each time I was having a contraction based on the monitor I was hooked up to. I wasn't sure exactly which muscles to tighten for pushing because I couldn't feel anything. The baby's head started crowning at the same time that I began to feel really nauseated. I actually threw up, which tightened the exact right muscles to give the baby his final push.

Blake William Tanner arrived at 7:56 pm, about 7 hours after my water broke on the massage table.

I have to say that I was a bit distracted the moment he arrived because I was worried about my face and gown being dirty, and I was mad that the nurse was wiping my face with a cold washcloth as if I was a two year old. But when they laid that sweet, tiny, perfect little boy on my chest, I was completely taken back by the whole experience.

I couldn't believe that Blake was really here. We cried a little when we heard his tiny cry for the first time. I hardly knew what to feel at the time; I was so happy and yet it took me a while to feel like he was really ours.

Troy went out to the lobby where our parents were anxiously waiting and told them the happy news. It was surreal to get to share our firstborn son with our parents and Troy's siblings. We were so elated and completely in awe of our tiny little miracle.

The Name

Blake's middle name, William, is in honor of his great-grandfather William Tanner. Blake is part of a huge posterity from William Tanner, who has 13 children, 78 grandchildren, and now, 52 great-grandchildren. Of the 52 great-grandchildren so far, Blake is the very first baby boy to have the last name of Tanner! Amazingly, he will be the first Tanner boy of his generation to carry on the family name.

Blake William Tanner

Blake is here! He was born on Friday, December 7th at 7:56 pm. He was 7 pounds exactly and 19 inches long. He is perfect in every way and we are loving our new addition.

We were so happy to welcome him to the world.

The nurses gave him a Christmas candy cane hat.

The grandparents eagerly awaited his arrival from the lobby.

Uncle Todd dressed up for the occasion.

Aunt Tricia and Grandma Tanner marveled over his perfection.

Troy wasted no time coercing his son into the Red Sox Nation.

We bundled Blake up to battle the December storm and see his first home.

Today is my Due Date!

Every morning now I wake up hoping to feel some contractions or come across a great sign that I'm going into labor! But today will probably be like all of the other days so far...nothing. I am not uncomfortable at all, I am more just annoyed that this is supposed to be when the pregnancy is over and baby Tanner arrives! And I'm still just waddling around! At least Troy and I have a few Christmas parties this week to keep us occupied and not as disappointed when day after day we have no baby.

I was never very good at taking pictures during the pregnancy because I just felt kind of ridiculous but I did manage to get a few due to pleading parents and distant friends.

4 Months -  A couple of days before we found out we were having a boy.

5 Months - My cousin Sue and friend Stephanie threw me a baby shower before we left Michigan.

5 1/2 Months - On our Cruise to the Baltic with the Tanners.

6 Months - Kristen came out to visit. Can you see the little bump?

7 Months - My first real "pregnancy" shot.

8 Months - Alisa dressed up as me for Halloween. Only she could take her baby out! I, however, had a natural bumblebee 'bump'.

9 Months - This was taken a couple of days ago and as you can see - I definitely made up for being small in the beginning! Baby Tanner got huge almost overnight and is ready to greet the world!

All About Us

Hello! After much contemplating, we have finally decided to join the world of blogging. Mostly because we are going to be parents any day now, and this is the best way for us to keep family and friends updated on our new arrival!

So, we would like to introduce our soon-to-be Tanner Trio! Troy and I met during our Freshman year at Michigan State University. Troy was pretty determined to date me even though I was dating someone else. He told his mom, "Give me a few weeks." Well, a few weeks is about all it took for us to become best friends. We spent hours talking and laughing and not too many hours studying. We fell in love and dated for a year before Troy left on his mission. He served a two-year mission in Riverside, CA for our church during which we could could only write weekly letters.

After his mission, Troy transferred to BYU, and I came out to Utah after finishing my degree in Early Childhood Education at MSU. Troy proposed on March 3, 2006 and we were married exactly 3 months later in the Bountiful temple.

We have now been married for a year and a half and are expecting a little boy this week! Since we have been married, I have been teaching at a private school in Orem. I taught music last year and have been teaching kindergarten this year. I am grateful that I have been able to use my degree and also be the 'breadwinner' for our family while Troy has been in school. I am also so excited that I can stay at home with our baby and future children! I feel like I have waited my whole life to be a mom!

Troy is finishing his degree this April in finance at BYU. He works really hard and has just accepted a job offer from Goldman Sachs operations division in Salt Lake City. We were so blessed to also receive job offers from great companies in Boston, Chicago, and Michigan. However, after weighing all of the options, we chose Goldman Sachs. We never thought we would stay in Utah post-graduation but there was a different plan for us. We are continuously realizing many things that are wonderful about Utah. We have so much to enjoy now and in the future and we just love our little family!