Bird Mouth

Conrad does this thing where he purses his lips together....that's why everyone says he has a little bird mouth. I think it's pretty darn adorable myself....

First smile....sort of

Teaching Conrad how to smile. 

Baby leg warmers

are so freakin cute! 

My Mom got Conrad a few pairs and he's wearing his ones with the trucks on them in this picture. I'm such a sucker...forgive me, i'm just a little crazy about this little guy! 

Mercy

"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful....no branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me (Jesus).... apart from me, YOU CAN DO NOTHING. 

My father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. "  

In my much needed time with God today, I read John ch. 15 & 16 and felt refreshed. I have found myself praying throughout the day as I learn how to be a Mom, and my relationship with the Lord is changing into something different than i have experienced before my baby. I feel more desperate than I ever have for His help and guidance. I feel very desperate.....yeah, desperation is the word....I feel like I NEED God in a totally different way than I had before. And I also see Him moving in my heart and answering prayers quickly multiple times daily, even as I was laboring, I had so many people around me praying for us. I had friends come to the hospital to encourage me and love on me (Allie, Morgan, Aaron, Sofia, My parents who were there waiting to take his first photos with tears in their eyes! I felt so loved. Even friends who have come to my house to bring us food. Conrad had his first play dates with Lorelai and Oliver, and today with Avery.....) 

I'm a little off topic now....back to what i was saying. 

A dear friend of mine who has twins (mattandvicky.wordpress.com) encouraged me with this quote before I had Conrad...

"The human heart does not replenish itself with sleep, the body does, but not the heart. We replenish our hearts not with sleep but with the word of God and prayer." John Piper 

Thanks to everyone for your love and support! 

My favorite photos of this week:

My Mom laughing because Dustins pants are almost as tall as she is.

Mid-sneeze kisses from Mom

Rockin' the hawk 

This is Conrad's "I'm too good for this photo shoot" face

Conrad wasn't feelin the first bath. You can't help but laugh...

Daddy sucking on Conrads hands

"God he's beautiful" is what i hear his Dad say most often

Conrad's pretty happy after he eats.

This week has been really rewarding and really challenging. Giving birth and caring for a new baby have been the hardest things Ive ever done in my whole life, yet have made me the happiest. I've cried this week from being over joyed, and I've cried just looking at him, or from exhaustion, or from  being overwhelmed or just from looking at him and praising God. It has been an emotional week. It's amazing, I never thought I could be in love with someone as much as I'm in love with Dusitn....It hurts to love Conrad as much as I do. I love him more than I could have imagined. It's terrifying and wonderful and makes me so happy all at the same time.

My Mom has been with me for the first three days and stayed the night for one. She did our laundry, cooked me meals, cleaned my house & helped me breast feed at 2 am when Conrad doesn't want to cooperate and I can't get him to latch, he's hungry and crying, and I'm crying because I wish I could satisfy him  quickly....she's been a big help! (breast feeding  is super hard, and my husband encourages me by saying "If breast feeding were easy, everyone would do it!") We've gotten a schedge down a little bit, of 3 hour naps and feeding, changing, 2 oz of breast milk, and putting him to sleep again. Since Conrad wasn't given a Binky at birth, he refuses to take one because we put it in his mouth, and he realizes theres no milk coming out and freaks out. It's kind of funny to watch, but also sad. My parents came over yesterday to watch the baby so Dustin and I could get out of the house for an hour, but we decided that sleep and cuddling were better than fresh air. It's funny the things you take for granted when you have a new baby. 

Next week, i will be focusing on learning how to get out of the house more with a baby and working on the schedule. 

Thanks for coming to see me at the hospital or bringing me toilet paper (Morgan) and food (Matt & Vicki) or praying for us....or answering text messages at 2 am (Vicki) or coming to the hospital 3 times to see me and bring my husband breakfast and magazines and cute baby outfits (Sofia) and for sending me cute hand made things for Conrads room, an owl made of bible pages (Sarah & Cj) I'll have to post a picture of it soon!  I have really wonderful friends. I love you guys.  

Happy Birthday, Conrad Franklin Robbins!

Chelsea and Dustin's perfect little boy, Conrad, was born today around 1pm. Chelsea was in labor for 20 hours, and ended up having a c-section.
Sweet Conrad is 7 lbs. 3 oz.
20 inches long
with perfect fingers, toes, a little bird mouth and a 14.5 inch head (hence the c-section).

Im a little biased, but he is the greatest little boy that ever existed, and I know at least two people that would agree.

See?

Congratulations Chelsea and Dustin!

We love you three!
Allie

March 18th 2009

was the day my husband was born 24 years ago today.
Happy Birthday sweetness. So sorry I forgot to get you a birthday card...all I've had on my mind lately is this baby coming. With my doctor saying she thinks i'll go into labor by the end of this week, and all of the pre-labor signs, especially all of the crazy contractions (that made me have to leave work early today), I hope to make it up to you with a baby instead. I think we can both agree that a baby would be the best gift to receive on the week of your birthday anyways.

Just wanted to say happy birthday and may we share many more years of watching tv in bed while sharing a carton of ice cream, and scarfing down burgers together, and watching The Soup and making me pee from laughing at how funny you are, and learning how to be parents together, and weathering through storms, and falling more in love, and me searching for your grey hairs and pulling them out to show my Mom how you're so hot like George Clooney with your grey hairs! You bring so much joy into my life and I feel like a kid when I'm around you.

I love you...Happy Birthday Daddy.

How cute is Bobbie?

At the end of a seemingly terrible day, it's always nice to have a friend pop by with a basket of surprises!Bobbie came to my rescue with a jar of M&M'S and some pregnancy essentials!

Thank You my darling.
You rock!

For Matt & Vicki

Here's that awesome baby shower gift I was telling you about last night.
It's by far one of my favs. I can't wait to put him in this rainbow ensemble. I just need to find matching rainbow shoe laces now and he'll be the talk of the playground.

This Week...

This week, My Mother in law blessed us with a fridge full of groceries from Trader Joe's to help get us ready for the baby and I thank her very much! It was such a joy to walk around the store and grab whatever my little taste buds so desired. I felt like I had won the grocery lottery! It was a blast.

This week, I saw my sons face on the ultra sound machine, and asked the doctor to check for any deformities, and asked if his chord was wrapped around his neck, and asked her why his head looked like an alien-head, and asked if I had enough amniotic fluid, all in one panicked breath, and she respectively told me to CHILL!, and reassured me that every baby looks like an alien. What a relief, my baby isn't the only one!

This week, I thanked God for the last two pairs of 36x36 khakis at Old Navy that were on sale, and then excitedly brought them home for the husband to model. (You try having a tall-beef-cake of a husband and tell me how impossible it is to find pants that aren't high waters.) It was a glorious gift from the Mother in Law! (Thank you)

This week, while taking my bro Vinni to pay billz, we stopped off at Motion City Hot Dogs in old Henderson and chowed on some delish dogs with onions and crout.Then we were given markers to write our names on the restaurant walls, and Conrad had to have his name on the wall too, So I let him write it....Just kidding y'all, he can't write yet.

This week, my little brother called me just to tell me that theres a guy on his baseball team for work named Conrad and that he thinks our baby's name is really awesome. Thanks Brandon!

This week, I hung out with Sofia & Avery. She made me a piece of toast with Nutela, and chips with mango salsa, and when Troy saw me feasting on my delicious snacks, he said "Someones obviously pregnant!" Then we watched her birthing video which was amazing. I cried, asked questions, said "Oh-my-God" and needed a hug afterwards....then I kissed Avery's sweet-chubby-perfect-happy-beautiful face and felt really blessed to get to have a chubby baby of my own in 3 weeks!

This week, I am 37 1/2 weeks pregnant and I look like this:

and my baby is this big:

and he looks like this: (with his cute little alien head and all!)

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Tiger Robbins aka Conrad Robbins

Here is 2 year old Baby Dustin in his golf attire, in his early days of golf when he played with plastic clubs:
Here is Dustin & I enjoying one of our favorite past times, golfing summer of 2004: I tried to convince my Mom that this out fit:wasn't gay looking at all, and would be a perfect "first golf lesson with Dad" outfit and that I absolutely had to have it no matter how gay-looking it is! I hope to instill a love for all things sports in our son, especially the love for golf! With that being said, he'll need to dress the part...

"Peeing your pants is the coolest"

I had a little chat with my boss today about how long I plan on working before my due date. If i wanted to take the week before I was due off, and I told him I would work as long as I can being that I'm healthy and the baby is healthy. (I would rather stay at work as long as possible so that I get more time with the baby) We talked about the possible chance that my water might break at work, or what our game plan would be if I can't drive myself home/to the hospital etc. I'm thinking this might be a great opportunity then to play the biggest prank of my life and pull a Billy Madison on my boss and brother and splash a little water on my crotch and see what they do...I'm thinking it would be hilarious, (and might also get me fired.) Working in an office with only men has me outnumbered, so they've got it coming to them for all of their making fun of my waddling and poking my belly!

Boob-ish bottles

My Mom and I went to a cute little baby boutique yesterday called Love Bug Baby off of Eastern and I found some amazing bottles. I am 3 weeks away from having this baby, and have yet to find a bottle that I liked since they all have super pointy long nipples that in no way resemble a human nipple, unless you have cow boobs, which I don't- Maybe if I did, it would be easier for a baby to latch?? I will soon find out. Anyways- So I found these bottles, and I love them because they're the closest to the human boob that I can find, they have a really big squishy top part, and a smaller, more human looking nipple! I carried them around with me in my purse and showed them to everyone who cared or didn't care to hear yesterday. I should be a spokesperson for Adiri. Let's hope Conrad gets as excited as I do.

Adiri Natural Nurser
by Adiri $11.99 per boob bottle

"Stay away from the salt!"

Great advice from my Dr. But hard to follow through with if you happen to be craving salty or spicy foods.

Today, Dustin commented on my toes saying "They really are little piggy's now!"

Yes, my toes look like a couple of vanilla tootsie rolls,
Yes, I can't see the bones in my feet anymore because my feet are swollen
Yes, I've retired my heels, ballet flats, and I'm almost at the point of not being able to wear shoes even....
and I'm completely ok with my cankles!

And my fingers are fat now too!

Twice this week, I've had to grease my wedding ring finger up to get my ring off. My mother had warned me to take my ring off weeks ago so I didn't have to have it cut off like she had to have hers cut off when she was preggers.

So what's a girl to do but go to Clairs and buy a gaudy, fake, wedding ring to wear so that strangers don't look at me with pity when they see me waddle through Smiths all knocked up and "unwed" to boot....(Not that being a single Mom is a bad thing, but I am a special case here people, as I already look like I'm not a day past thirteen years old anyways....It may be my pride not wanting to look like a pregnant thirteen year old, but it makes me feel better to have a ring on that finger!) Anyways. To prove that this Clairs ring was totally necessary, I have a picture here to show you just how puffy my finger was with the red indention of my wedding ring that had to be greased up to come off...and now it sits in the medicine cabinet to be worn when I lose all of this water weight. I've caught myself opening the cabinet just to watch it sparkle a few times because my gaudy Clairs ring just doesn't do it for me...

I guess I should have stayed away from the salt!

Date Nite @ Home

Coldplay in the back ground, husband hovering over his middle eastern cookbook, and my first attempt at making sushi....





And then a trip to the best place to get ice cream in town....Tutti Bella. I usually get a little ice cream and load up on toppings....the fresh fruit bar is amazing. Please go check it out so we can keep these small businesses in business...



This little girl was so adorable with her dinosaur footed pajamas getting ice cream late at night with her Dad.

Having a little boy....

is going to totally rock!

Drugs or No Drugs? That Is The Question

Each have their pros and cons. Here is my measly 2 cents:

NO DRUGS: We went to our 8 hour birthing class last weekend and learned more than I ever wanted to know about my anatomy and birthing a baby. The class was interesting & even though it was long, we didn't get bored at all. I felt like the instructor solidified my desire to birth naturally. The mere fact that if I get an epidural, I would be restricted to a bed with a catheter in me, and not able be to walk around, because I've gotten an epidural makes epidurals seem less and less desirable. I'd rather feel the pain and POSSIBLY have a quicker birth, and be present in my birthing process than just lay in bed and not be an active participant in my delivery. We switched hospitals from Sienna to the Delima hospital because we were told the nurses really cater to woman who want to birth naturally, or at least try to. They provide whirl pools, birthing stools, & birthing balls. Alot of the nurses are older and are patient to a mother who wants to take her time and not be rushed. The hospital is less busy as well. (My doc said either way, if you get the epidural, you've still got a bowling ball coming out of the size of a grape, so don't think the drugs are going to dissolve the pain! It's going to hurt no matter what you do! And no one gets out of the hard work of pushing and suffering!)

Plus, if you go natural, it's usually quicker I'm told! But if you get pitosin to speed up your contractions, or an epidural so you don't feel the contractions, it's a long process of making your body do something it already knows how to do, and it can be hard on the baby....and annoying, I would assume for the Mom.

The nurse said that only about 1-2% of woman that she sees in hospitals give birth naturally. It's VERY rare and uncommon. If the drugs are available, people tend to want them once they get to about 4 centimeters. She also said that while you're going natural, you will hit a wall where you feel like you can't go on and you can't make it through the pain, but if you have a good support system around you, a good team, you can push through the pain and get through it.

My whole hang up is, I want control. I want to be present. I don't want to have drugs doing for me what my body knows how to do on its' own. AND most importantly, I'm impatient. I wouldn't want to be confined to a hospital bed for hours if i knew that without drugs i could be walking around, and working through contractions without an epidural...I don't want to go through a 12 hour birth with drugs, if i knew i could maybe go through a 6 hour (more painful) birth without drugs!

If I can make it past 7 centimeters without giving in, I'll be proud of myself. My mom and Dustin's mom have both gone natural and also have had drugs for their births and said it hurts like hell, but you can do it. it's not impossible or crazy at all.

DRUGS: The other argument is, why not just sit back, and get the epidural? You feel a little numbing from the waist down, but you'll still feel the pressure of the baby coming out, and you'll still be present! Lot's of woman get epidurals, and it doesn't mean you're less of a woman for getting one! THE DOCTOR DOESN'T HAND OUT TROPHIES TO THE NEW MOM WHEN SHE GOES ALL NATURAL...THERE IS NO PAT ON THE BACK, THERE IS NO RIBBON CEREMONY OR CASH PRIZE! Plus, we learned that the baby actually doesn't get as effected by the drug as you think they do. So why not?? I went through these thoughts with my Doc and she said that even with an epidural, the pain is still a reality....

So which is right for me?

Theres no harm in trying to go natural right??

36 1/2 WEEKS!!!

How I'm Doing:
I Went to the hospital last night after mentioning to my friend Angie on the phone that I had been leaking fluid a few times in the last few days, and (Angie who has been acting as my Doula, and will be my labor coach,) suggested that I go to the hospital because I didn't want to risk an infection etc. So I went and they did some tests to see if It was amniotic fluid that i was leaking, if my water had broken or if the baby was doing OK, and they found a kidney infection. I'd been complaining to my doctor that my back had been giving me pain for a few weeks now in one central spot (my kidney) and she said that back pain is common in pregnancy- well duh! I had been complaining about discomfort etc. FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS and she said that UTI's are also very common in pregnancy and didn't investigate further...I am now on antibiotics with a kidney infect in, and everything seems to be ok now. I was having mild contractions 6 mins. apart, and am just a little dilated, so baby wont be making his appearance anytime soon, thank God, because the goal is for him to be full term obviously. I didn't sleep well last night as my brother has given me his cold and sore throat. And I've lost my cookies today as well. Can't go home though because we are short handed at work and staying busy at work makes me feel a little better anyways.

(I seem to have such a love and hate relationship with our health system...I LOVE that I can go to the hospital and have 5000.00 worth of tests done and get my baby monitored if he has decreased movement, but I HATE the system in general for so many other reasons!) BLURG!

IT'S THE FINAL COUNT DOWN!!!

36 WEEKS!!! I'm pretty excited! Wow, 36 WEEKS! He's almost here!!!

Baby Phat

For many years of my adolescents I cared far too much about how thin I was. I had a distorted view of my body as many girls my age did also. I knew girls who I cheered with who had eating disorders, I myself at one point struggled to maintain healthy eating habits. It is difficult being a gymnast and cheerleader for years especially for me because I was the girl being thrown in the air, and at 110 lbs, was one of the biggest flyers believe it or not. Society waves in front of our faces these false ideas of what sexy is, or what attractive is, or what is fashionable....and the key word is FALSE! It's fake, it doesn't matter and shame on me for measuring myself or finding value in these MEANINGLESS things because God could give two craps about any of it. I am here to make Jesus known, not make Chelsea Known....

Earth to Chelsea....It's not all about you!!! I love my God for how he redirects my thoughts when they become twisted.

WHY DO WE CARE SO MUCH LADIES??? WHY DOES IT MATTER IF WE HAVE CELLULITE, STRETCH MARKS, MUFFIN TOPS, OR THUNDER THIGHS?? IF MY JUGS DON'T SIT PERFECTLY IN PLACE AS PERKY AND ROUND AS CAN BE, WHY DO I CARE?? IF MY UNDERWEAR CAN ONLY COVER ONE CHEEK INSTEAD OF TWO NOW, WHY DO I CARE??

I'll tell you why. Because to the root of my being, I am vein, I am prideful, I am consumed with material things, with what I portray to the world and I think everyone else gives a damn....and they don't. No one cares.

I am made in the image of God and if he tells me I'm beautiful, then by-golly, I sure am! But we so easily forget this as we go from day to day looking at celebrity magazines, and half naked woman on billboards.

I was about 6 months pregnant driving in the car with my husband and I was outraged at myself. I was adjusting to my ever growing body and was struggling with it. (For some strange reason, the smaller you are as a pregnant woman, the more credit you get from people. If you're huge at only 5 months, people scowl when you tell them that you're only 5 months, they'll argue with you and say "NO, YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY BE 5 MONTHS PREGNANT? ARE YOU SURE??" "Yes I'm sure, lady. Sorry that I'm not a rail, I'm carrying a baby who requires lots of bags of spicy lime Cheetos!" People are very judgmental to a pregnant woman's body. I should know, I was asked once if I was having twins early in my pregnancy, and I said NO, I'm just bloated and I eat whole pizzas now, not single slices thankyouverymuch!)

I've never been this size in my life, and I was angry at myself for EVER thinking I was fat at all before pregnancy. I told Dustin that I could literally punch myself in the face for thinking that I was anywhere near obese when I wore a size 0-2. I felt like a friggin idiot for always being so down on myself having the body God had given me. But society made me CRAZY to think this way, to have such low self confidence and think that I had such a terrible body. I'M BLAMING IT ON SOCIETY. I'm blaming it on myself for buying into the lie.

This weekend, I woke up at 6:30 and began my 6 hour "nesting" regiment. I'm not kidding, to Dustin's amazement i cleaned for 6 hours. It was INTENSE. I organized every junk drawer, got my vacuum attachments out and sucked every piece of lent or dust I could find. I did 3 loads of laundry, cleaned the toilets, ran the dishes, and organized my clothes (AND the baby's clothes) and the list goes on.... In organizing my clothes I came across a basket of jeans I had put away when I got preggers because I wouldn't be fitting into them anytime soon. I went through them and was so baffled that i called Dustin in. I held them up disgustedly in shock and shook my head....How in the world would I EVER fit into these amazing size 26 Rock and Republic jeans, or these incredible size 28 Joe's jeans?? How was I EVER this small, and WHY IN THE WORLD DID I EVER THINK I WAS FAT!?? Would I ever wear these again, and DO I even want to wear them again? Even at 40 lbs. more than what I usually weigh, my husband still finds me quite attractive. I've got more hips and he doesn't seem to mind at all....but will I?? Even if i lose every bit of weight I gained, I may still have widened hips from the baby making his way out...so my body may not be the same no matter what.

I don't plan on lacing up my running shoes right after I pop this kid out, I'm more worried about producing milk and finding time to sleep than shedding the lb's. I know that getting into shape isn't easy and takes a lot of work. When I got engaged, I didn't diet, I've never dieted. But I abstained from ice cream, wine, chocolate etc. for a whole 7 months. I drank 2 protein shakes a day, I got up at 5 am and took my happy engaged self to the gym religiously, did 30 mins of cardio 3-5 times a week and lifted light weights. I saw a dramatic change in my body. I had endurance and strength and my legs looked great. I had never felt better about myself in my life. All in all i only lost about 9 lbs. But I toned up and could totally see a difference. I HAD ABS PEOPLE! REAL ROCK HARD ABS! AND YOU COULD LITERALLY BOUNCE A QUARTER OFF OF MY ASS....A REAL QUARTER....no, I never actually bounced a quarter off of it, but I could have. It was hawt.

I had promised Dustin that I would get in shape healthily instead of using diet pills, barfing, starving etc. This time, I would do it the right way by exercise and sacrifice. I didn't get to enjoy the foods I normally enjoyed, & lost sleep from early morning workouts, but it was worth it. And he was proud of me, and I felt great wearing that wedding dress!

I say this because I'm looking at losing my "baby phat" with the same mind set....It's going to suck saying "NO" to the foods I love and not scarf down all of the sweets & wine that I so desire, but in order to achieve the body that I had before, (or one similar) I have to sacrifice. I have to put in the sweat and push myself or it will never happen.

Every woman seems to have that internal struggle with their body image. I know I'm not alone here. What are your thoughts and how have you conquered that little voice that says "Don't eat that bag of chips you big fat fatty! Eat celery sticks for breakfast lunch and dinner because you're a fat little fat-ass! You fatty!!"

That's what my voice tends to say.