Our Riggin/Diaz Family Thanksgiving

I decided a while ago that I wanted to cook a Thanksgiving dinner. I love to cook! So we had John, Liz and Hadley over Wednesday for our own little Thanksgiving. It was way fun! I loved cooking for everyone. I made a yummy brine for the Turkey and it turned out quite delicious if I do say so myself. We also had homemade stuffing, pumpkin risotto, creamed spinach and mashed potatoes.


Auntie Liz made this adorable bib for him!

This noisy baby is a happy baby!!!

This boy loves playing with his little owl friends on the bouncer! He's yells and babbles and laughs...the owl apparently tells great jokes.


Such a cutie patootie.

Another thing he loves is Hadley!

And she loves him too! She calls him Bebe and loves to help take care of him. She gets very concerned when his Bee(Binky) falls out and has to put it back in for him. She's also obsessed with his belly button and we taught her how to give him raspberries so now she loves that too. The other day I was changing his diaper on the floor and she came over to inspect his belly button and when I took his diaper off she showed us the new word she knows..."Nasty!" lol! It was soo funny!


One thing that does not make him happy however...is Tummy Time! He hates it...and I feel so bad, either way, if I make him do it he cries, spits up and smashes his face in it... :/


And I feel bad if I don't make him do it, like he's not going to grow and develop right or something. No winning.


See...much happier on his back...looking up at the TV. My little couch potato.

Ashton's Blessing

On Sunday, November 6th we blessed our little fella. We opted to have the special occasion in our home since that was the Sunday that worked best for out of town family and it happened to be stake conference. It was a wonderful weekend. Kellen gave a beautiful blessing then we had soup, corn bread and pumpkin dump cake afterwards. I was so happy to see my family! My dad, brothers and grandma met Ashton for the first time. One thing is for dang certain: this baby boy has a ton of family who love him very much!

My little brother with Ashton. So sweet. :)


My cousin Keith and his wife Lynzy also blessed their little girl Grace the same day. Here they are together, she's just 3 days older than him.


Grandma and Grandpa Riggin and Uncles Parker and Koy


Mimi and Papa White and Uncles Alex and Mikhail, and Great Grandma White (We're missing Auntie Liz, Uncle John and cousin Hadley who were in California for John's mom's wedding...we missed you guys!)


Grandma D and Grumpa and Uncle Jordan


Great Aunt Diana and Uncle Joe and Second Cousins Tina, Anita Eric and also Tina's Sam...lol :)


Great Grandma and Grandpa Davis

Ashton: Two Months

Hey everybody! I'm 2 months old!
Ok so...like I said in the preface a few posts back...these are long over due updates, so we all know he's more that 2 months now. But that's what he's saying in this photo!

At his 2 month check up on Friday, October 28 everything checked out good. He's growing super well!
At 24 1/2 inches he was in the 95% for height and 12.7lbs 75% for weight. That's my big boy! :)

This big, grown up boy loves to smile and tell me stories all day. I never met a happier baby than this one. Every morning he wakes up with a big gummy grin. I just love it!

Another thing he loves to do in true Riggin fashion, is watch ESPN with his daddy. Here they fell asleep all cuddled up...too cute. :)

I Love Me Some Sleeping Baby

One of my favorite things is how cute he is when he sleeps. There's just as much personality as when he's awake!

Announcement and Photo Shoot

A little photo shoot we did with Elizabeth one night:

Our Little Man's First Halloween

I was so excited to have a baby to dress up for Halloween! We are Halloween prudes...we never do anything fun or even dress up. Mostly because we just never have anywhere to go for the holiday so what's the point of dressing up. But this year we had a cute, cuddly baby boo to dress up and play with! I had decided a long time ago what we were going to dress him up as! Winnie the Pooh of course! I love Winnie the Pooh and I was so happy when I found this cute costume...on sale might I add!

So our plan for our first family Halloween was to go take pictures at the pumpkin patch, and then later, Ashton and I were going to go trick or treating with John, Liz, Hadley and a bunch of their neighbors. Kellen had to work...booo. But he was able to come meet up with us at our friend Christy's parent's house for dinner and treats. It was super fun to actually have something to do for a change!


With daddy at the pumpkin patch!


Our Halloween family photo!


He's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh!
Chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff!
He's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh!
Willy, nilly, silly old bear!

Bringing Home Baby

We were able to stay at the hospital for 4 days since I had a c-section. Take note: I said we were "ABLE" to...not we "HAD" to. I absolutely loved being in the hospital! Weird? Well:
1. My nurses were awesome! They took such good care of us the whole time.
2. Free all-I-could-eat meals all day long! And the food was actually really yummy.
3. I didn't have to change one single diaper.
4. Everyone did everything for me!
I loved it so much there. So our last day there was the worst. First of all Kellen had to work all day long! Then I was sad because Ashton had to be in the nursery under the lamps for his jaundice.

So we were checking out at 5 when Kellen could finally come pick us up. I got the little cutie all bundled up for his fist day out.

It was a rush out the door because Kellen had to get to class. Everything was such a rush that before I new it I was sitting all alone on my couch with my baby wondering how the heck I was going to get through the next three hours with out any help. Lucky for me awesome Auntie Liz came to the rescue! She sat with us until Kellen got home.
I'm not gonna lie...even though he's awesome and we love him soo soo much, those first few weeks were hard. Just adjusting to taking care of a little fella 24/7 was difficult. But we got through it together!

Welcome Beautiful Baby Boy

On Friday, August 26, 2011 at 2:00PM we embarked on a journey of ups and downs, pain, sleeplessness, and endless cups of ice chips. That journey ended the following day Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 5:28PM when our sweet little Ashton joined our family.


I'll try to keep it PG but if you don't want to know...sorry...don't read it! ;) Here's our exciting story:
During the "terminal stages" of my pregnancy (Micheal Scott reference) I was being monitored for Preeclampsia because my blood pressure was elevated. During my check up at 39 weeks, the NP examining me asked, "What are we waiting for?" She decided that given all the facts: 39 weeks, 2cm, 80%, and high blood pressure...there was no reason to keep waiting for the little guy to come on his own. She called over to the hospital to talk to the doctor and when she came back she said, "Let's get you delivered!" The scariest, most exciting 4 words I had ever heard. She told me to head over to the hospital ASAP. So I went out to the waiting room where my Aunt Karen was watching my niece Hadley (I had been babysitting) and told her the news! Luckily she was able to watch Hadley for me so I could head off to meet my own little munchkin. It actually turned into a little bit of a panicky mess because I first called Kellen at work to let him know to head home and grab the "GO" bags and meet me at the hospital, then I had to take Karen and Hadley back to Liz and John's apartment. However, once we got there I realized that Liz had forgotten to leave us her house key.....sooooo...we loaded back in the car and headed to my apartment. We left Hadley and Karen there and finally headed off to the hospital. We got checked in and the induction process began at around 2:00.

See here...we're still smiling only a couple hours in. We had no idea how exhausted we were about to become!

The induction was a loooooonnng process. It took me all night to get to 4cm and I hung out there for what seemed like forever! Some details are hard for me to remember but I think it was around 5cm that they offered me the epidural and I took it. I was scared. Retrospect, I wish I had held out. But it was the middle of the night after umpteen hours of labor. I wanted relief. Unfortunately, relief is not what I got from that "magic juice." It basically gave me the Flu symptoms so we were up all night with that anyway. I kept hearing...probably around 6am we'll start pushing...maybe more like 10:00...hopefully by 1:00 we can start pushing. I was slowly loosing it! Finally, at 1:00pm the next day after 24 hours of labor, even though I was not fully dilated at 9cm, we started pushing. It was soo much harder than I ever imagined it would be. I was sick, tired, and sore but had to use all the strength I had to get my little guy out. We spent about an hour to an hour and a half pushing, I was the most exhausted I had ever felt in my entire life. Oddly the part of my body that hurt the most were my arms...never saw that one coming. So after all the pushing my poor baby was just plum stuck in there.

So they started talking to me about a C-Section. That was one of my biggest fears. I never in a million years thought I would need one and really didn't want it. I hated the idea of it putting limits on our future plans to have more kids. It just was not how I pictured this exciting day to go at all and it made me really sad. After some talking, tears, a beautiful blessing from my husband and a talk with one of my best friends and veteran C-Section mom Kimberly, I felt more at peace with however they had to get it done. The doctor wasn't going to be able to get there until 3:30 so we continued waiting and hoping I may still progress to the point that I could do it myself. The doctor got there and checked me out and felt comfortable letting me wait just a little bit longer before going for the surgery. They told me that if I could move him just ONE centimeter lower, they may be able to use forceps to get him out. So we pushed some more. But he wasn't moving at all.
At around 5:00pm, they juiced me up (which made me sooo sick!) and started wheeling me in to the OR.

At my request, they tried to place forceps, just to see if they could. I really just wanted to know that surgery was the ONLY way. So we tried and failed. And I was prepped for surgery. My sweet Kellen was so supporting and loving the whole time, I couldn't have done any of it with out him. Within minutes they were starting. I felt so weird. Literally drugged. I was shaking, nauseous and felt like I wasn't fully conscious. It was the worst.
But then all of a sudden I heard his little cry. I looked over at Kellen, who was looking at him and could tell how great he was just from the look on his face. :) We had our little moment. Then they showed me his tiny feet from over the curtain. So precious. The last thing I remember was telling Kellen to go be with him, don't leave him. And a nurse came to sit with me. Then I was gone.

I woke up back in my labor and delivery room. I was all bundled up and was sooo thirsty. The nurse brought me water and apple juice. That was the best darn juice I've ever had in my life. I hate apple juice.
They wheeled me over to Mother and Baby, and brought him to me.


I later found out the reason my chunky boy couldn't come out on his own:

All in all...it was an amazing, painful, wonderful, exciting, powerful experience. And once I had my sweet baby in my arms I could not have cared less about the pain I went through or was in or how they brought him into the world. I was just so glad he was here.

Ashton Kellen Kupa`aekuponokeikikaneali`iokalani
"Steadfast and Righteous is this Noble Prince from Heaven"

Just a little preface:

Brace yourselves! Hold on to your britches! (that's bRitches...with an R...just to be clear) Because here comes three months worth of updates in a series of posts that may take a couple days worth of blogging to complete. But here they come!

Nesting has begun

I have officially started nesting. Even though there is not much for me to do yet. Since moving into our apartment almost a month ago I've cleaned and organized everything I can get my hands on. Our second bedroom is still a bit of a mess with junk we haven't found a place for yet and baby things we have yet to assemble.

Here's a bit of baby things I have slowly but surely started organizing.
As you can see there's no furniture so far...hence the baskets all over the floor. And yes, it makes me nervous that those are all the baby clothes I have so far in that blue basket. Needless to say we have a ways to go, and with every day that goes by I get more and more anxious to get it all set up and ready.

My first day with nothing to do:

Today is my first day that I am not working, going to school or having any real responsibilities other than being a baby machine. It is 1:18 in the afternoon and this is what I have done so far:
Vacuumed all rooms [check]
Swiffered kitchen, bathroom and hallway [check]
Folded clean laundry [check]
Washed all our sheets, blankets and pillow cases [check]
Polished the stainless steel in the kitchen [check]
Wiped down counter tops [check]
Cleaned the toilet [check]

I'm running out of ideas.

So busy I'm bored

Seriously so much has happened since the last time I sat down to blog. It's even taken me a few sittings at my laptop just to finish this post. So the major update is that we are back in Utah. It's been a lot of fun to be back. Seeing friends and family that we missed while we were living in California. And going out to all the food places I've been craving since Day 1 of pregnancy!

See how happy I am...getting ready to go get some yum yums. :)

But now we are missing all our friends and family in Fresno...we just can never be totally satisfied! I know, everyone just needs to cater to our needs and move to wherever we are, ok? Sounds good to me. Speaking of catering...lol Kellen has been diligently looking for work since we got here, except for the first two weeks we were here. Oh, did I forget to mention he got pneumonia...again. Poor boo boo. Anyways, he got better, thankfully, and he's had quite a few interviews, surprisingly! Not because he's not a wonderfully desirable employee, but because our experience from last summer told us not to get our hopes up too quickly since jobs seem to be few and far between here. But he's had a few promising interviews! One with a local Cafe looking for a Catering Coordinator. He's got a second interview this week and I'm hoping it works out! I think he'll be great at it and enjoy that kind of job. So, we shall see!
I've been keeping busy taking two summer classes at UVU. I have Drawing I and Humanities Through the Arts II. Both have been fun and interesting, although I'm not sure it was the smartest thing to do while pregnant. Summer semester is double the work in half the time so there's really no room for missing out on anything in class. I've been kind of sick the past week and have missed a few classes. So as much as I'm enjoying it, I'm just counting the days until the end of the semester, hoping I make it with out any other complications.

So in baby news...Picture at 25 weeks.
I'm officially in the third trimester! That's crazy...time has gone pretty quick, now that I'm looking back on it but I still feel like there's a long way to go. We had our second check up with the perinatologist, the doctor who checks up on any issues, such as the calcification in baby boy's heart. She said that everything looks alright. The fluid in the kidney's is gone and the calcification is not threatening. She confirmed that while the chance is still there for some kind of chromosomal disorder, because all other factors look good, the odds are less that 1% that there is an issue. They got all kinds of cute pictures of him and we got to see his cute little nose and mouth pretty clearly. Overall, he's measuring normal, at about 28 weeks but his head however....is measuring the size of a 30 week baby. So, we have a slightly large headed baby here, not what I wanted to hear. I blame Kellen...seeing as how his head is rather large. Hopefully over the next 10ish weeks everything evens out. I am definitely counting on a below average sized baby for my petite body's sake!
Also this week, I survived the glucose test and the RhoGAM shot. Barely. Drinking that stuff wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it made me feel super icky about 15 minutes into my hour of waiting. My blood sugar or whatever they are checking was good, however they did find that I'm low on iron. The RhoGAM shot for being RH- wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting, still unpleasant though.

Poor habits be gone!

Ok so I'm nearly 6 months into baby production and I have made almost no effort to be any healthier than I was before. I go on brisk walks with my mom a couple times a week but even those are getting slower and more rickety.

And as for my eating habits.
Ladies and gentlemen, I will just come out and say it:
They are atrocious.
So I'd like to say publicly (so that I can be held accountable for this) that I am kicking things up a notch!

I don't want to be a nut or anything but I am thinking some kind of chart might be helpful...I need to keep track of what I'm taking in so I can make sure I'm getting all the fruits, veggies, protein and so forth that I and my little nugget need.

It's times like this, that I miss my iPhone...I'm sure there would be an app for that...

A Must Read for All the Moms

"Dear Lord my Shepherd,

I am a mother.
You have called me to assist you in
Shepherding a few dear lambs of the flock.

Their value is without price.
My abilities are imperfect.

Teach me to care for them as you care for us all.

I read the pattern of your perfect care
In the words of King David,
Royal shepherd of Palestine.

Help me to follow your lead."

This is a beautiful book of poems based on the twenty-third Psalm and written with mothers in mind. Anyone who is, will be or has a mother should read it! It is so sweet.

Do you ever sleep in there?!

A lot to write about...where to begin.
I'm over the hill! Past the halfway mark of pregnancy, that is. 21 Weeks today. It really has flown by but at the same time I feel like I still have a LONG way to go. September seems so far away. I feel like this is all I talk about...sorry. All you mommies out there probably understand though. What's more exciting to talk about than your kids? Besides, he is seriously on my mind 24/7 so if I don't talk about it, I drive myself nuts! Ever since that first night I felt him wiggling he really has not stopped and it's just getting more and more powerful and frequent. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely fun to know he's exercising in there but man! He's got me thinking, Do you ever sleep?! He wiggles when I'm hungry, he wiggles when I'm full, he wiggles when I'm watching TV, napping, sleeping, walking...
The Riggin side of the family will be pleased to know how active he is. I'm sure a sport of some kind is in this kid's future!
Yesterday I worked a kind of weird shift 12-4pm and I brought snacks but I didn't get to eat lunch until I got home and I guess by then you could call it dinner. He kicked straight out at me the whole drive home. And as I was sitting there thinking, I know you're hungry I'm hurrying! I got this image of him crying in there because he's hungry. That made me feel a bit like a monster... :( Kellen always tells me I need to eat more. Now I feel guilty when I don't. I have gained a whopping 7 lbs so far. The doctor says that's fine considering my little frame. But I should start gaining more starting about....NOW. A pound a week, I believe, for the last 20 weeks. For a grand total of 25-35 lbs. I'm shooting for 30, right in the middle. Not too little, not too much. But I'm really not counting or keeping track. I just eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. I try to eat good things but lets be honest fat and sugar taste the best. They sneak in there. :D

So, in other news: the answer is Yes. We are moving back to Utah. Most of our family and friends already know that but I don't think either of us had come out and said it publicly yet. We came out here with the plan to be down in LA for Kellen's schooling by this time but stuff happened, plans changed. Kellen got some school done here at Fresno Pacific but after taking this semester to really think it all through, we decided Utah is the cheapest, fastest way to get Kellen done and moving on. So that is where we will go. Was it a waste of time to be out here? We don't think so. I mean, like I said, our original plan was very different than what ended up happening due to finances and the school in LA closing. But all in all, we have really enjoyed spending this time in a different environment and being near my family for a change. It's been a good experience. But now we have our own family to consider and we just need to move toward our future in the most efficient way possible. I'm excited and sad. The same way I felt when we left Utah. I'm mostly going to miss my family. It's been so great to be near my three bestest friends, Mommy, Liz and Hadley. I will miss them so much. And I'm not sure how I'll feel about finishing out my pregnancy and having baby boy without them to help me. That will be rough. But we are both feeling optimistic about the move! It will be good.

My mom and Liz are throwing together a baby shower for me before I leave! Here's the cute invite Liz made, she did such a great job! (Even though it took Costco's photo center three times to print them right...)

I am so happy! It'll will mostly be great to get all my buddies here in Fresno together before we leave. And if you did not get an invite in the mail do not fret! Like I said it's been last minute so I'm sure we forgot some people or maybe just didn't have the addresses. But seriously DON'T BE SHY if you are in the Fresno area and would like to come, COME! All the info is above.
It will be so great to see everyone one last time. :) But....I can't lie...I also had fun registering for baby stuff! :) Is that tacky to say? Sorry...I like presents! I'm excited to have all kinds of little boy things to play with! lol I had heard about Diapers.com and so I went on there to check it out and they actually have a lot of great stuff at good prices so I decided to register there as well as the traditional Babies R Us. I figured since we are moving it would actually be easier for people to get stuff off Diapers.com since they can just mail it straight to us in Utah. And they had this cool thing you can register for called Diapers for a Year. It's where people can just pay for a gift certificate and we can buy diapers with it! I thought that would be the best present ever, since we'll be needing a lot of them for the next 2-3 years!
Anyways. Signing off for today. Time to be productive.