One week old

When Grandma Kae was here, we were getting a little stir-crazy, so we decided to get ourselves to the fully-in-bloom Duke Gardens near campus. It only took one hour to load up the car with two kids and two adults. The second I opened our front door, I regretted the decision, as I was met with a blast of wet heat. But we had packed and prepared, so off we went.

This was only 10 minutes into the outing, and I was already dripping in all the wrong places. It took longer than I would have liked to get this simple picture. We originally wanted both kids in it, but Tessa was being ridiculous. She knows how to walk, but when she gets onto uneven ground, she freaks out and doesn't want to budge. So in order to get to this point...

... we had to suffer through this.

Enjoying one of the only shady spots in the place. SHADE! I NEED MORE SHADE!!!

And here's one of the main reasons we went. A week after Tessa was born, we went to Huntington Gardens near Pasadena with Ted's brother's family and spent a good part of the day there. (February in Pasadena = MUCH better weather) Ted and I have a series of "foliage shots" that we've posed for in various places, so we thought we'd get Tessa's first foliage shot there that day. So here's Tessa at one week old:

And here's Dean's first foliage shot at one week. What do you think? See a resemblance?

He's here!

Introducing...

Dean Olin Ririe

born August 9, 2010

9:45 am

9 lbs 12 oz

aka "Fatty"

With a scheduled c-section, there isn't quite as much drama attached to the birth story. No frantic rides to the hospital, no death threats from spouses, no "I was in the middle of saving the whales when my water broke" scenarios. Instead, I woke up early Monday morning, took a shower, drove myself to the hospital, checked myself in, and waited for Ted to arrive. He had taken Tessa to a friend's house while I was getting settled, and other than my veins collapsing every time they tried to put in an IV (I ended up getting stuck 5 times), everything went as planned. My nurses and doctors were absolutely fantastic from beginning to end, Ted was supportive and encouraging, and my mom came the next day with a whole pound of See's candy to speed my recovery.

Ted picked up our daughter a little later to bring her to the hospital because I missed her already. She was quite enamored with the "BEH-beeeee!" and I can only hope it lasts.

One of my first snuggles with the little cub.

When you schedule your own child's birth, you have less of a "nesting instinct" and more of an "impending deadline." The upside to scheduling is you have time to put makeup on for better "after" pictures. The downside is that you get put on morphine (well, it can be considered an upside, too. Let's be honest) which makes your whole body itch for about 24 hours. So after a day of rubbing, scratching, and pulling at my face as if I had a whole-body mosquito bite, I looked more like a typical woman who just gave birth (see photo below. eeks!).

The new "us". Welcome to the family, Dean!

The day before we became four

It is the eve of (?)'s birth. I felt it was important to document it while I was wearing makeup, for it may be quite a long time before that happens again.

Sure, I can laugh about it now...

When you visit one particular grocery store about twice a week (lots of ice cream sales lately!), you start to recognize or even strike up conversations with some of the familiar faces. And you begin to learn who's generally friendly and who to steer away from.

I came through one day last week with a moderate-sized grocery load. I'm leaning over the cart unloading the things onto the conveyor belt while Tessa is flirting with whomever is behind us. The checker, a girl who looks like she's maybe in her early 20s (if not younger), is expressionless as she beeps every item across her scanner. She did her requisite "Hey. How are you today" sentence (I won't call it a "question" because it had none of the voice inflection of someone inquisitive, let alone sincere) as she carried on, and completely disregarded my chirpy response (I happened to be in a pretty good mood that day, considering).

But the defining moment was when she held up one of my produce bags containing some beautiful hand-picked greens to her face level and asked, in that same annoyed monotone, "What are these?" Except her version was, "whuddatheez." I half-grinned (which ticked her off even more) and said, "Brussels sprouts", and she let out the most exasperated sigh because that meant she had to look up the number on her sheets of paper. I mean, why doesn't each individual sprout come with a sticker to help out poor people like that!

Then she made some snide comment to the bagger about Cheetos when she saw I was buying some of those, too. Apparently, she hates "stuff with cheese on 'em". And of course I'm an idiot for enjoying those crunchy, neon orange love puffs.

Fast forward to yesterday. I was actually going to be in a public place (the hospital where I'm scheduled to give birth Monday morning), so I spent a little more time looking somewhat presentable, both for myself and for the sake of the nursing staff who will soon be my godsends. Once again, I was in a good mood. I got to have a lengthy phone conversation with my brother on my way to the hospital (for preliminary blood work), I looked relatively cute (which is a stretch to say considering the sheer mammoth of this belly now, AND my doubled chin that doesn't disappear when I hold my head up higher), and I was excited to be getting one step closer to meeting this little boy who has called my womb home for the last 39+ weeks. I called Ted on my way home and mentioned that since Tessa was still napping (he was at home with her), I'd go run to the store real quick for milk and bananas. And all the great cereals were 50% off. I consider it food storage.

Anyway, I see a line that has NO ONE IN IT! Every other line was full because of the 5:00 hour, so I waddle on over to it and start unloading. Then I realize why it's empty. Annoyed Monotone is there, sitting on her duff picking at her nails. I must not be the only one who knows what this means: I'm in for it again.

She's once again expressionless and insincere until I move from behind the scanner thing and she gets a look at my belly. Keep in mind that I thought I looked pretty good for 9 1/2 months pregnant. Her now famous line in our household:

"How many you got in there."

Again, not a real question. I wasn't sure I heard her right, so I tried to cover all my bases.

"I have one at home, and there's just one in here (pointing to belly)."

"Look like you gots twins. Cuz you big."

..................

......................................

Thought process: [Is she joking? Did she really say that to me? Don't females know to never insinuate largeness to other females unless you have a personal vendetta against them? Does she have a personal vendetta against me? How is that possible? I just buy groceries here!]

..........................................

Dash it all. And may God strike your skinny little body to blow up to balloon proportions if you're ever lucky enough to land a man long enough to get you pregnant, you rude little snot.

Fourth Recap

It's becoming a tradition - Utah for the Fourth. This was our 3rd year in a row that we've made the trip (thank you, Anneli & Glen), and once again, we had a ball.

Two things we can count on every year. One is the ward breakfast for Ted's parents' ward - the one he grew up in. I don't know how long they've been doing it, but "forever" seems to fit the bill. My first year, I played in the band they round up (made up of anyone who's ever played an instrument in their life + their relations) and LaVell Edwards gave a nice tribute to our flag. They raise the flag and the scouts seem to get it caught on a tree every year (this year it got caught AND was upside down - classic), then the Primary sings a song or two out on the grass, we have a prayer, and dig into breakfast while the Young Women sell baked goods for camp. Since lots of people come "home" for the Fourth, it turns out to be quite a reunion, and it's been fun to just hang out and drink chocolate milk with the masses.

This also happens every year: watching the Stadium of Fire (!) fireworks from the Ririe front deck. Last year, P & K hooked us up with tickets to the actual inside of the stadium, so we got to see tweens clutching their bosoms as they sang along with the Jonas Brothers and actually witnessed Glenn Beck shed a tear. Since that never happens, we were so excited to be a part of history.

Planned: lots of booms..

Unplanned: Tessa getting SO excited to see "the baby". It made me hopeful for what is to come.

Planned: Outdoor time with Grandpa Del.

Unplanned: Photo op with the new hat addition to the collection. I think it suits her.

Planned: Spending the actual 4th at my brother's house for a BBQ with 4 of my brothers and their wives and kids. Awesome food, even better company (as in, completely therapeutic).

Unplanned: Not getting a SINGLE PHOTO of the festivities because we were too busy making memories to actually document them. Sigh. Dallin, your wings hold a special place in my heart, and Candacy, Gary, Emily, and Martha, I could have laughed and gossiped with you all night.

Planned: A day up at "The Cabin" in Heber. GORGEOUS day, gorgeous scenery, perfect weather.

Also planned: Bocce ball on Glen's homemade court in the back. Didn't happen because they had way too many other things to do.

Unplanned: (not pictured) Tessa experiencing her first bout of car sickness-induced vomit on the winding road TO The Cabin. Totally threw me a curveball, and it smelled disgusting. Hence the pink shirt with the orange pants. I'm not usually that out of it.

Also unplanned: Me falling twice on the 30-minute hike around the environs. My balance lately has been...not so good.

Planned: A trek to St George to spend a few days with my parents while no one else was there. Tessa got quality time with Grandpa and Grandma K without 23 other grandchildren running around. We visited the Wildlife Museum and were awestruck by all the animals that one man traveled around the world and killed for our amusement.

Also planned: A day of swimming somewhere - we didn't care where. My mom recommended the most incredible pool/mini-Raging-Waters I've ever seen in my life, but in the meantime, we went to this splash pad in the 100+ degree heat.

Unplanned: Tessa being scared of the splashing water. Notice she's at the edge of the dry part. She wouldn't wander in without one of us holding her hand. I didn't mind in the least, but a wet t-shirt contest when one is pregnant takes on a whole new meaning. Thankfully, we were mostly alone.

Planned: Getting used to it, then loving it.

Planned: Tessa's glee at hundreds of apricots from Grandpa's tree at her disposal.

Unplanned: Family hammock time! (Before we become four)

Planned: Meeting up with a BFF, Christy, somewhere in Provo since we seem to have the same mecca-like traditions (we both married Provo natives, and we still can't get them to stop yammering on about the talking Christmas tree that used to be at ZCMI).

Unplanned: Meeting at University Mall, of all places, to enjoy an Iceberg "mini" shake (can we say 32 oz???) and some bland onion rings that had no business being in my gullet.

Also unplanned: A picture of me 8 months pregnant. I don't like pictures of myself pregnant, but I had to document my reunion with this fabulous woman. The other picture didn't have her hand on my belly to ACCENTUATE it, but I made a sacrifice and posted this one because look at little Annie in the corner. I mean, come on! She steals the show!

That last shot is meant to sate all you sick perverts who wanted to see my hard-earned efforts of "cow" status. It's even worse now, but that's for the next post.