2 Months

Two months ago at this time I was in labor. I had no idea what lie ahead of me besides knowing I was going to be a mother. Since that time I have gone through the struggles every new mother goes through and have fallen in love with this little boy.

He is now sleeping for 4-6 hours straight at night. He doesn't sleep too well during the day, but we are working on that one. With this sleep we have discovered an adorable smile. It is fun looking at him and have his whole face light up. Yesturday when Troy came home Parker wouldn't take his eyes off of him. It was precious.

Day of the BS ME

On May 8th Troy officially became an alumni of the

University of Utah.

After many hard years of school he now has a Bachelor Of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Parker must be really proud of Troy because he was extremely happy or slept during both ceremonies.

Hats off to Troy. He has worked really hard, and missed many nights of sleep. We are excited for what this means for our future.

Now that he is graduated Troy will be taking up mechanical bull riding.

Actually Troy will be working full time as a mechanical engineer, and plans to return to school in a year to start a masters degree.

Troy's Senior Design

Troy has worked hard the last two years to develop a hybrid powered elevator.

The project was inspired by the New Orleans area. After Hurricane Katrina the building code requires all houses to be at least 4 feet off the ground. The cost for a traditional elevator is more than most people can afford. Troy was able to help come up with a design that can be built from products found at many hardware store and can be built at a fraction of the cost of a traditional evelator. He was able to show off his design at the U of U's Mechanical Engineered Design Day.

Troy's senior desing team

Katie & Parker taking a ride

Troy riding the elevator

Sleeping Update

It seems Parker has finally learned how to sleep. For the last week he has slept for 2-3 hours at a time during the night, and is only up for 1 hour between each shift. He even slept for 4 hours straight one night. During the day he is sleeping for 1/2-1 hour at a time. He usually is up for about 1 hour between each shift. It has been so nice having a happy baby.

After 1 Month

1 month old

Parker is REALLY good at two things eating and messing his diaper.

If he had his way he would eat 24/7. He sometimes will go more than 2 hours between feedings, but usually wants to eat every 1 1/2 hours. Luckily He is my only responsibility so I can devote all of my time to his growing body.

I joke that he has a chronic dirty diaper. I doesn't matter when it is changed he will mess it minutes later. He even decided to go once while I way changing him. I've learned to look out for the fire house, but the blow hole was a new adventure.

We are still working on him sleeping. He is more like his dad in that if anything is going on he won't sleep. This usually results in a very cranky Parker. He will only fall asleep after being rocked until long past the point that your arms feel ready to fall off. Many times either Mom or Dad fall asleep in the quest to put him to sleep. During the day he stays asleep for about 30 minutes. At night he sleep for 1-2 hours at a time.

Parker seems to have two volumes - - content and quiet or WAWAWAWAWA at the top of his lungs. There isn't much in between those.

We have gotten some great smiles out of him, and even some cute squeaks. He has even laughed a few times. I can't wait until these are stimulated, and not just a coincidence.

We have made it one month. I don't know what is a better feat that we've survived or him. Although we still have a lot to learn we haven't completely failed at this quest to be half way decent parents.

It's A Boy

It is official

HE is a boy!!!

Name: PARKER ALBERT RUECKERT (because we named him this I found out the birth certificate person at the hospital knew Troy's dad in high school -- Albert is Troy's grandpa's name)

Weight: A hearty 8lbs 4oz (I've been saying this whole time, "I refuse to give birth to anything over 8lbs," but I'm sure this is not the 1st time he will show me up" I honestly didn't think my little body could do it, but BOO RAH momma is tough - but sore). As the doctor was stitching me up I asked when I could run a marathon, she gave me a look of horror and said 6 weeks. I said, "Great I'll sign-up for one," she really got concerned and said, "I think you'll need some time to train." I have been given the OK to walk in a week or so, but have promised no running until after I get an OK.

Length: 20in long.

Born on: Sunday 3/22 @ 10:59 pm (I figured at 4:30 am when I started having labor pains that we would have a Sunday baby, but didn't know he was going to cut it so close).

Funniest moment: After he was born both mom and dad were so wow'd by the whole experience that neither thought to look to see if we had a boy or girl. About 5 min after the birth a nurse finally said. "Hey, wait was that a boy or a girl." We had joked before hand after he is born when people ask what we had we would say, "I don't know, we didn't find out." I didn't know it might actually happen.

2nd Funniest moment: Watching our WONDERFUL FRIEND (we won't embarrass with a name) experience his first pee. WONDERFUL FRIEND know both mom and dad have now had similar experiences. The only difference both of ours happened at home, and we couldn't just call the nurse to come clean it up.

We love him and are excited for our future family with Parker as the big brother.

You can see some really cute pictures at: http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=f36c888a-4ad4-4abc-9565-e131b1b6264e&babyid=e699c9d8-1271-4df9-a129-3358af49a82b

Shelf

The other day I was innocently eating a grapefruit. Troy looked over at me an laughed. At first I asked, "Why are you laughing at me?" I then looked down and imagined what he saw and as well started to laugh.




I couldn't help myself, I can't bend down to be closer to the bowl, and this belly was at just the right height for what I needed. I've been told I'm going to miss my little "shelf" and this is just one thing I'll have to get used to.

Troy has been really funny lately. He has been telling the baby it is time to come (sometimes he even tells my uterus its time to let the baby out), and every time I grimace he wonders if I'm in labor. We both want the baby to come soon. Up until about 2 days ago I was more scared of delivery than I was excited for the baby to come so I was alright with the baby waiting until I realized I have to go through the pain no matter what; now I just want the baby to come so I can step into the next stage of my life. So many people have given me ideas on how to get labor started. I've tried some, but for the most part they don't sound that appealing so I don't even consider them. I'd rather be pumped with pitocin rather than castrol oil. For now I will just keep walking my 2 miles each day and hope the baby comes soon.