The Big Surprise

Sunday, January 15th, was a pretty average day. We started off at the Bishop's House for a maternity shoot with Mike Reid and ended the day by saying goodbye to our roommate, Jake. I was so happy to finally be able to nest- I started setting up the rooms, sorting gifts from the baby shower, and even got some laundry going, with two very full hampers of baby clothes and blankets to go. Eric finally drug me to bed just after midnight as we both had to work the next day and I probably would have kept cleaning and organizing until the sun came back up. I went to bed that night feeling more happy and relaxed than I have for a couple months now; we finally had the apartment to ourselves and plenty of time to get things set up just perfect for Titus, or so I thought. I first woke up just an hour and a half after falling asleep. My garment bottoms were slightly damp and all I could think was how embarrassing it would be to wake up Eric and tell him that it had finally happened; I had wet the bed. After some investigating however I realized that it was not pee on my underwear but more likely sweat. This didn't surprise me because I had been so hot at night lately that most

mornings I woke up in a pool of sweat. This was slightly unusual though because I had never sweat so bad that my underwear got wet, just my top. With only a fleeting thought that my water may have broke, I decided I must just be especially gross and sweaty since I was only a month away from giving birth. At 2:30 am I woke up completely soaked! I got out of bed and went into the bathroom to figure things out. I couldn't believe it, my water had broke! I called my mom and asked what to do, 'Wake up Eric and get to the hospital.' The next 20 minutes were a whirlwind, Eric and I were both running around

gathering things up. Eric kept saying, 'I think you need to sit down.' I kept saying, 'The go-bag's not ready, the go-bag's not ready!' We finally got (almost) everything in a bag and were in the car heading to downtown St. Luke's. About half way there I started shaking from head to toe. A million thoughts were running through my head; once your water breaks you have to have your baby, right? It's not like I can go home and wait for a month. I think I need to call in sick to work. By four o'clock mom, Mark, bug, dad, and Cole were all crammed into a

hospital room with Eric and me, all of us waiting for the on-call doctors to show up- Titus was coming today. At 6:30 am the nurse asked the family to go wait in the waiting room so they could get me ready. Titus was still breach, making a C-section a must. Eric walked with me to the OR but had to wait outside while they prepped me, the moment he left my side I started shaking again. I've never had a major surgery before and I'm not going to lie, all those bright lights, shinny utensils, and at least a half a dozen nurses was pretty intimidating. Eric was aloud in after I was good and numb and ready to go.

At 7:07 am we heard out little man whimper for the first time. He squeaked and squirmed but never once cried. They laid him on the examination table where I could see him. He looked small but I couldn't tell exactly how small with nothing to reference to. Four pounds .08 ounces. My heart started to race, but much to my relief the nurse quickly told me that everything was fine. He was awake and breathing on his own and perfectly healthy, just small. The rest of the day was a blur due to the heavy pain meds I was
on. I went from recovery, to see Titus in the NICU, to my room on the eighth floor. Many people came to visit, most staying for only a few minutes before going downstairs to see Titus. All day I saw pictures of my little guy and heard stories of everyone else getting to hold him but I was confined to my room until I could sit up without feeling dizzy. That was not an easy task and it took me darn near all day to accomplish it, but I finally was able to sit up and get into a wheelchair late Monday night. Eric wheeled me downstairs and I was able to hold Titus for the first time. My beautiful baby boy, quite the surprise, but absolutely perfect in every possible way.

Showered with Love

What a fun and busy weekend it has been, full of fun and friends and many amazing gifts for Mr. Titus. Nichole, being the amazing party planner that she is, asked if she could throw my baby shower probably about 5 minutes after I told her I was pregnant!  Of course, I said yes, and she wasted no time planning away, which was completely evident as you walked into the club house yesterday for my baby shower! I am pretty bummed because I didnt get a picture of

the place all set up before people showed up, but it looked fantastic. Cole and Joey showed up at my place around 10am yesterday and started hauling in the goodies, I couldn't believe all the things she had stuffed into her little two door car. There was food and decorations and balloons and games!! All the fun things just kept coming and coming! Mom came early to help set up too, as did Lucy, and even with the five of us working away, it took about 2 hours to make sure everything was perfect, and it was! The clubhouse looked beautiful decorated in all sorts of fun lime green and teal things.

The guests started arriving and I was so happy to see that almost everyone was able to make it, it is so nice to be able to see close friends and family, especially when it's an all girl thing! No kiddos, no husbands, just us girls relaxing and having a good time. We played a few different games, for one everyone had to put a paper plate on top of their head and draw what they thought Titus was going to look like, some of the results were pretty dang funny! I was the judge and after careful consideration, I chose Dawn as the winner. I do have to say though, Adele was a close runner up, hers definitely made me laugh the hardest! After a few more games and snacks, I opened the wonderful gifts that everyone had brought. All the cute little clothes,
and blankets, and toys, it was just so much fun! We also did a diaper raffle so I am pretty stocked up on diapers and wipes, for a little while at least. Things started winding down and Adele and Liz stuck around with the rest of the team to help take everything back to the apartment and clean up a bit. As we were pulling presents in, our roommate Jake was taking boxes out. His last day with us is today, and although we are very sad to see him go as he has been
the BEST roommate we have had, I am also very much looking forward to living alone again. We have had an assortment of roommates and houses 

over the past year and it will be SO nice just to have it be the two of us again, well for the next couple weeks anyway. Then it will be the three of us, which will be just as nice, if not better!
After getting everything cleaned up Adele and I went on an adventure to Babies'R'Us. When she told me she had never been there before, I practically kidnapped her and drove straight there. I was glad she was there too because I didn't realized how big the mattress I was buying was, and I definitely appreciated the second pair of hands to help me out! After picking up a few things at Babies'R'Us, we headed back to my very packed full apartment. On Tuesday we will be moving things all around so for now all the gifts are in little organized stacks in the family room, hopefully that makes it easier to put
everything away once we get the rooms put together, but for the next couple days our family room is pretty much out of commission. It was
a wonderful and very busy day and I am so thankful to have such a talented sister who put it all together for me. Everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves and I feel so blessed to know that there are so many people that are already in love with Mr. Titus. I can't wait to wash all the little clothes we got and to hang up all the fun decorations and to just get set up and 'ready.' Thanks to everyone that made it such a special day. Happy blogging!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Grandma with Ami

It's been a while since I have written anything and it's because I'm stumped. Yep, hard core case of writers block. Eric's Grandma Bassett passed away on New Year's day and it has left me with a lot of unexpected feelings, at first I blamed it on the pregnancy hormones, but then I realized, I've never had someone close to me pass away. I've only attended one funeral that I can remember, and it was more of a memorial. Granted, it was for someone very close to my family, but not necessarily close to me. I'm still not sure how I'm going to express what I have been feeling, but here goes.

Gary called me on Sunday morning at 10am and my first thought was, 'Shoot, our ward moved to 9am this week, we've missed it.' My second was, 'Wait, so did Gary's, why is he calling?' He asked to speak to Eric and I was able to hear just enough to know that Grandma Bassett had passed away. I didn't know what to do, all I could think was that my grandmas are all still alive, how in the world was I supposed to support my husband through this when I had absolutely no idea what he was going through? Eric sat on the edge of the bed and let the tears come as everything sank in, then he got down on his knees and prayed.
I  loved Grandma Bassett, but I didn't really know her. We would go over for family dinner from time to time and she would always greet me with a hug and a warm smile. Eric told me stories about spending the night at her house when he was younger, about her pancake and scrambled egg breakfasts, and how she would always sing to him before he went to bed. Listening to her life story at the funeral gave me that much more of an understanding about her and her life. But, I still didn't really know her. What I do know about Grandma is this, she raised 5 boys to be incredible men, all serving full time missions and one of which is my loving father-in-law, who has always looked out for me, supported me, and even baptized me, a special moment that I will hold dear forever. I also know, that through the example he saw while growing up, Gary was able to
raise two beautiful girls and my wonderful husband, all three born in the covenant and each in turn sealed to their spouses and families for all eternity. And through the example that Eric saw while growing up, his first thought after hearing that his grandma had passed away, was to get on his knees and pray to his Heavenly Father. I thought I didn't know Grandma Bassett, but I was wrong. I may not have seen or talked to her very many times, but just by looking around at the Bassetts, and seeing the wonderful legacy she left behind, which directly impacts my own life, I feel as though I know her. I understand her heart and her spirit and I am so blessed to have been able to meet such a wonderful woman, and even more blessed that I get to

    continue to live in the legacy she left behind, forever.