A Few Pics of Owen

Long Overdue Post :)

Okay, how long do I get to use the "I have a newborn" excuse? :) I've been meaning to update my blog everyday for the last four weeks. So I think I'll give myself a month of the newborn excuse, which means it ends today. :) There is so much exciting news that has happened in the last month to share--and I am finally sitting down to share it!

First of all--Owen Anthony Schad was born four weeks ago today. 8 pounds 7 ounces. It has been a blur of excitement, fun, exhaustion, adjustments, visitors, and most of all joy. Everyone says it goes fast, and so far they have been right on--the past four weeks have flown by. I ended up having a c-section, which I fought having up until the day before he was born. The fluid levels were getting low, so I gave in and accepted the fact that he wasn't going to flip from the breech position and I was going to have the c-section. It turned out to be a great experience. I had amazing nurses in the hospital to help me, an amazing husband who changed every diaper for the first couple of days (and has actually continued to change the majority of them), and my mom came out for the first week to help as well. Lots of help equals a great experience. And of course getting to finally hold our little baby mixed with the relief of not being pregnant anymore also added to the happiness.

Our next exciting news came on March 17th when Joey found out where he matched for residency. He got his first choice of Mercy Medical Center in Redding, CA! Which of course this was my first choice too. I'm so looking forward to farmers markets and fresh produce, living in a smaller town (tiny compared to Phoenix), living driving distance to Butte Meadows, living close to family, and especially living in the same town as my great friends Julie and Gib! We are also looking forward to checking out what Redding has to offer--with Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta and the Trinity Alps surrounding it we have already started planning backpacking trips. And with the Sacramento River known for its fly fishing, Joey has already started looking at drift boats. :) It is an exciting change that we are both looking forward to. How is Joey going to have time to do an 80 hour a week residency with all the stuff we have to check out? :)

Well, it's time to feed the baby again, better get to it. Pictures to come in the next post...

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

I had a doctors appointment today, and during the ultrasound the technician told me that the fluids around the baby were getting low. She went and talked to the doctor, and they decided to schedule me for a c-section for tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM! We are super excited to get to meet our little baby tomorrow. More updates coming soon...

Baby Update

Week 39 today! The full moon has come and gone and still no baby. I had a friend of mine tell me that it is common to have a baby during a full moon--so February 18th was one of my predictions for the baby to come. :) Only 7 days to go though--but still a breech baby. Our doctor let us know that I will most likely have a c-section at this point--but we are going to wait as long as we can for the baby to flip on his/her own and then have a c-section if we get to the hospital and the baby is still breech. Either way--we are super excited that the baby will be here soon! One thing that I am most excited about is for Maya (our dog) to meet the baby. :) I'm also excited that we are having the baby at such a good time weather wise in Arizona. I'm looking forward to taking Maya and the baby for plenty of walks and hikes during my two months out of work. Maybe a spring training game? :) Joey gave Maya a haircut and a bath yesterday--picture below. She has so much hair that it looks like he was sheering a lamb. :)

Happy Birthday Joey!

Joey turned 30 on Tuesday the 15th! Year 30 will be a memorable year—baby, graduating medical school, moving to a new town, and starting residency!

We had such a fun weekend last weekend! We kicked off Joey's 30^th Birthday Week with dinner at our house on Friday. You can't go wrong with good friends, wine, cheese platters, steaks and a bonfire. Thanks to our friends who came over—we had a great time!

Eric's team was in Glendale for four matches last weekend. On Saturday we were able to watch the UC San Diego Tritons win two big matches. One of the wins was against the #12 ranked team in the nation— Hawaii Pacific University! It was fun to get to watch my brother's team play some great tennis, and get to see him as well! It didn't hurt that we got to watch the matches in 80 degree weather. :) They went 4-0 this weekend—Go Tritons! :)

In between matches on Saturday we went hiking at Thunderbird Mountain for a couple hours. I am so thankful to still be feeling good enough to be able to get outside and be active in this awesome weather!

Only 10 days til my due date! Our little baby is still breech, so prayers for the baby to flip are more than welcome. Still hard to believe that we will have a little baby in less than two weeks!

Pictures Below: Joey's Cheese Platter; Kevin, Courtney, Joey and Matt at dinner, and me at 38 weeks.

7 Quick Takes

My friend Athena does a post called "7 Quick Takes" which give you a quick glimpse on what has been going on. Since I haven't posted in a while I thought I would catch up on what we have been up to the last month or so.

1. Joey is home! He came back from a rotation in Billings, MT on January 16^th, and is now back from rotations for good! It is so great to have him back after having him gone for most of the last six months.
2. Our baby is due in 28 days! After two wonderful baby showers and my mom visiting for the weekend—we feel like we are ready anytime. Well, I guess I should say ready as we'll ever be. J Oh, and the baby still has to flip—he/she is breech. I've been swimming trying to get the little baby to flip—but as of right now we still have a breech baby. SO—as soon as the baby flips—he/she is welcome to come out. J
3. Joey has finished ranking his residency preferences and has submitted them to the match. We find out the results right around March 15^th. The rankings in order go: Redding, CA, Billings, MT, Klamath Falls, OR, Reno, NV, Sacramento, CA, Scottsdale, AZ, and then another program in Sacramento, CA. We are excited with every option and can't wait to find out where we will be moving in June!
4. We are selling our house! Today we have our first open house. One of many to come… If you know of anyone looking for a great house in Glendale, AZ let us know!
5. We are LOVING this Arizona "winter" weather! It has been in the 70s all month!! Last weekend we went for a long hike in the Superstition Mountains (pictures below). It was beautiful. We wait a long summer for days like this—and we are doing our best to get outside and enjoy every minute that we can!
6. Joey is turning 30 on February 15^th!! Getting so old! We are going to have friends over for dinner and wine the Saturday before. Stop by if you are in the area!
7. It is baby madness! My brother and sister in law had their little girl on January 20^th, our really good friends Cory and Athena just had a little girl on January 25^th, my sister is expecting her baby in the next two weeks, and then us! I feel lucky that our baby is going to get to grow up with such great friends his/her age! J

That should do it for the "7 Quick Takes." Let's see if I can post some pictures of our hike in the Superstitions…

An Azalea or an Owen?

To many of our friends and families' dismay, we are going to wait to find out if we are having a girl or a boy. I just think it is the best surprise! We both don't have a preference for a boy or a girl at all. In fact, I go back and forth with every cute kid I see. J Although I don't know what I am going to be having, many people (especially strangers) seem to be quite certain what I am going to have. I have been stopped by many strangers who ask me what I am having, then stare at my belly for a few seconds, then tell me with confidence that I am having a boy and walk away. 100% of those predictions have been for a boy.

At the last ultrasound I told the ultrasound technician at the beginning of our visit that we are not finding out what we are having. I've heard enough stories of ultrasound techs accidently telling the parents what they are having that I start every ultrasound with the "we aren't finding out" disclaimer. After the ultrasound though, Joey and I got in the car and I said, did you hear him say "she"? And he said no, I clearly heard him say "he". So since we both heard something different I guess those are our subconscious predictions. J

Although we don't know the sex yet, we do have our names picked out. If it is a boy we are going to name him Owen Anthony, and if it is a girl her name will be Azalea Eve. When we tell people what we are going to name the baby everyone wants to know how we chose the name, or why. No real reason for the names, we just both liked them.

The first (and actually only) time I heard the name Azalea was one day when I was studying at Starbucks. I had my headphones on and was giving off a pretty antisocial vibe I am sure. But that didn't stop the cutest little girl from climbing up in the chair next to me and talking to me. So I said, hi—what's your name? And she said Azalea. Which I thought was cute. And then her mom started walking over and she said, that's my mom, her name is Azalea… And her mom laughed and looked at me and shook her head. She said Azalea, let's go, I think she is trying to read. So the little girl leaned over to give me a kiss goodbye. Having just met her I didn't feel comfortable giving her a kiss…J So I looked at the mom with a "what do I do here?" kind of look. The mom said, Azalea what did I say about kissing strangers? So she blew me a kiss goodbye instead. J Since then I have thought the name Azalea was sweet, and Joey likes it too. So if we have a girl that will be her name. Little did that little girl know what an influence she would have…

Joey found the name Owen. When we first found out we were pregnant we went online and looked at baby names. Joey saw the name Owen, and we both really liked it. So that is how we got our boy name. J

I'm very excited to find out what we will name our little baby. Less than three months now until we get to find out!!

Yes, We Have A Blog

I never thought I would have a blog, but here I am writing my first post! :) I thought I would start by catching up on our first year and a half of marriage in pictures...

We got married on June 13, 2009. It was such a great weekend of fun with friends and family!

On July 11th we added Maya to the family!

Our first Christmas was a white christmas in South Dakota.

In January Kathy and Jim came out to help us with our yard. 10 days of work and no play--anyone else want to come visit? haha

In March my mom and I went to Italy together for 10 days! It was an amazing trip!

On June 13th of this year--our first anniversary--we went road biking in Sedona, where we had gotten engaged two years earlier.

We celebrated Jimmy and Natalie's wedding on fourth of July weekend in Rapid City. We had also just found out we were pregnant that week.

Since July Joey has been doing out of state interview rotations for residency. I've been missing him and working here in Phoenix. :) I'm looking forward to January 16th when Joey will be back from his out of state rotations for good. Just in time to get ready for the baby to come! (Due February 27, 2011).