Happy Half-Birthday!

Hinckley is 6 months old today. Wow! Does time fly, or what?! Here's to you, mini-man.

Then:

Day after he was born, still in the hospital--


Now:

Happily sitting on our couch



Not so happily sitting on our couch :)


So curious about everything


We love you, Hinckley!

Couponing

I have a couple of great friends who make grand use of coupons to get killer deals at the grocery store. I wanted to learn and asked for some help. (Thanks Michelle and Christina!) Here's a picture of my first big coupon run--

I paid $3.21 for all you see pictured here. I made a small mistake at the register...it would have only cost me $0.81 (tax for the soda). :)



Does anyone need this much junk food? Hee hee, of course not. But if asked to bring treats to anything, you can bet that it will be something in this picture :)

"What is in my mouth?"

Here is Hinckley trying rice cereal for the first time (taken November 2nd, I think). I love the faces he makes. I also love hearing Travis's laugh in the background. What blessings I live with!

(And as a side note--Trav found this great video converter so now we can post our videos! See, we have a great video camera, but it films in JVC's proprietary format. Very hard to work with. No problem anymore! Thanks, honey!)

Tummy Time!

Here is Hinckley at 7 weeks having a good time on his belly. He has started to smile now. If he hadn't stolen our hearts before, we are hopelessly fallen for him now! (The volume is really low...sorry)

Hinckley's blessing

It was a beautiful blessing, a wonderful experience. Thanks to everyone who bent their schedules and drove for miles to make it. Nona and Papi take the cake with over 2100 miles one-way!

Hinckley in his blessing outfit

The happy little family

Grandma Lou and Grampsy Brett

Grandpa George and Dad

Jasmine, Soren, and Bryce. Good friends, one and all.

Nona and Papi

A Few More Pictures

Compliments of Lynda and Brett, here are some pictures that they took of Hinckley the day after he was born.


Awww, don't you just love him?


Our sleeping Angel.


The proud father.


Even when he's wailing, he's still adorable.


And here are his baby blues. We're seeing more and more of them everyday as he is becoming more alert. Trav has blue eyes, so I wonder if Hinckley's will stay this color...The pediatrician says "he's perfect," and who are we to argue with the good doctor?

We love you, little guy!

HE'S HERE!!!!

Well, it figures it would take the birth of a firstborn son to make me ever write on a blog. This post is coming from yours truly, Travis.

Hinckley George Needham was born June 2nd, 2010, 10:46pm PST, 8.00 pounds, 21 inches.
Here are some pics hot off the presses.


This is us right after arriving to the hospital (6/2/2010 - 8:15am)


Carma, moments before induction (6/2/2010 - 9:19am)

Carma, about 40 min before birth (6/2/2010 - 10:06pm)

Carma, moments after birth (6/2/2010 - 10:52pm)

Carma holding baby Hinckley for the first time (6/2/2010 - 10:53pm)

Carma holding baby Hinckley for the first time (6/2/2010 - 10:53pm)

Carma holding baby Hinckley for the first time (6/2/2010 - 11:00pm)

Baby Hinckley's first bath (6/2/2010 - 11:58pm)

The following morning... precious baby sleeping (6/3/2010 - 8:41am)

The following morning... precious baby sleeping (6/3/2010 - 8:41am)

The following morning... precious baby sleeping (6/3/2010 - 8:42am)

The following morning... precious baby sleeping (6/3/2010 - 8:43am)

Today's the Day!

We're headed to the hospital today to be induced. 5 am was the appointed time, and at 11 days late, it feels like a long time in coming. So, we got up at 4 am, and just as we were leaving, Labor and Delivery called and said they were short on beds at the moment--to wait by the phone and they would call us ASAP, sometime before noon. But we did take a "before" picture so that those who can't believe how big I've gotten can see it for themselves!

Eat your heart out, Michael. Your little sister's pregnant.

I passed!

Whew! Thank you to everyone who lent their thoughts and prayers regarding thesis defense. Friday, March 5th, was a little stressful on that count, so I really appreciate it! My professors strolled in a few minutes late, which put me at ease a little. They were seeming pretty lax, so I ought to feel the same, right? They grilled me for an hour-and-a-half, poking holes and pointing out insufficiencies, until I thought I might have been in trouble.

But not to worry. In the end, they said that I "passed with minor revisions." Yee-haw! Do the happy dance! So this past week was filled with those revisions (the 'minor' revisions came out to 15-16 hours worth...), and I've passed it on to the final checkers. The most they'll tell me to do now is something like "fix the page numbers" or "this part should be single spaced, not double." And THAT'S IT!

You know what the best part was? Travis came and sat through the whole thing. It must have bored him silly, but he cheerfully came, and it meant the world to me :) So very sweet. See? See what I mean? He's great.

Now the final checkers have to finish with it by Friday, and I have one more form to turn in. Then I will officially declare it done.

Mom and Dad, I can't wait to see you this week. And for those who have asked for belly pictures--I'm sure some will get taken while the family is here. They'll make their way up here soon. :)

I used to think belly buttons were cute...

...But then, mine never used to stare at me. :) As my belly grows, my belly button points more up at my face, so that every time I look at my belly--there it is. Having taken the opportunity to become reaquainted with my belly button I can definitively say: belly buttons are not as cute as I once thought.

In other news, my Thesis Defense is now officially on the books for Friday, March 5th from 12-2 pm. I'm feeling a little nervous, but I think Trav will be there for moral support. :) And not that we planned it this way, but it's hard to be too tough on a pregnant woman, right? Wish me luck!

Travis is gritting his teeth and pulling through the last 6 weeks of his educational career. He told me yesterday that he was feeling trunky. Can't blame him. Hang in there, honey!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sweet Travis emailed me on Tuesday, 5 days ago, and formally requested that I go on a formal date with him for Valentines. He wouldn't tell me where, but he said there would be dinner and dressing up. I felt all giddy and girlish all week as I was waiting for my big date with my honey!

So, on Saturday while I'm getting ready to go, Travis ducks out of the apartment a few moments later, I hear a ring of the doorbell...I go to open it, and there is Travis with chocolates and flowers! Purple lilies no less--some of my favorite! Awwww. He was here to 'pick me up' for our date. (I'm grinning wider now just remembering it than here in this picture). :)

Dressed and ready to go out

We had a lovely dinner out and went to a piano recital on campus at BYU. We haven't gone to a concert together in a long time. I tell you--it was perfect!

For Trav, I decided to do what Shannon had posted earlier about fortune cookies. So I did some homemade fortune cookies with little love notes inside, then dipped in chocolate and decorated with Valentine sprinkles. :) It was a good learning experience making them! I was hoping that he would like them, and I got my Valentine's wish!

Thanks for a wonderful Valentines, honey!

Happy Birthday, Trav!

I have made a new goal to update this blog every Sunday. We'll see how long I can keep it up for!

Travis's birthday was on Friday (5 Feb). For weeks before hand, I had so much fun teasing him--Every time I bought a present or one would arrive in the mail, I would tell him, "I shopped for you birthday today," or "A package came in the mail for you, but you can't open it 'till your birthday!" He retorted then when my birthday comes, he would start shopping months in advance for me and tease me back about it. :) Sounds delightful to me!

Here's a picture of Travis blowing out his 28 candles on the the ice cream cake I made for him.


Thank you to everyone for the cards and presents, well wishes and phone calls. It was wonderful to see Trav's phone ringing all day long with loving people wishing him birthday cheer. Thanks, everyone! I think we made it a special day for Travis.