Hi Everybody...

My name is Parker Jameson Rudd.  I was born Wednesday, May 25th @ 3:28pm.  I weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and I was 20 inches long.  My mommy and daddy think that I am perfect, and they are completely in love with me.

                                First minutes of life

Mommy meeting me for the first time

My family with Dr. Neal

Not too happy

Sweet baby

My mom is CRAZY about me

Daddy or mommy look-alike????

Going home

Me and my dad going home

I love laying on my daddy's chest

This video is kind of dark, but you can see how sweet and perfect I am!!!

THREE more days......

.....and I get to meet my baby boy.  Can you believe it?  After all this time?  It feels like I've been pregnant for years.  Excited, scared, excited, anxious, excited. 

I was still not dilated Wednesday, so if I'm not dilated Tuesday morning, I will have to go into the hospital Tuesday night for Cervidil to help my cervix dilate, and then they will start Pitocin Wednesday morning at 6 a.m.  If I am dilated Tuesday morning, I will go in at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning to be induced.  To not be able to plan whether I'm going to the hospital Tuesday night or Wednesday morning is driving me crazy.  My mom is driving up Tuesday, and I'm ready for her to be here to help calm my nerves.  You sure you don't want to come tomorrow, Mom???  :)

Although I am nervous, anxious, etc. (did I mention excited?), all I keep thinking about is how hungry I'm going to be.  You see, I HAVE to eat.  I am not the skip-a-meal type of girl.  I wake up starving, and I'm hungry every few hours.  So if I have to go in at 6 p.m. on Tuesday night and don't have this baby until the next evening, what am I going to do???  Not looking forward to that AT ALL.

Well, this is it.  Until I have a cute little baby to post pictures of, this is what you're stuck with for now:

39 1/2 weeks!!!

Just Waiting.

I haven't posted anything new in a while because there is nothing new to post.  I am scheduled to be induced on the 25th (9 days from today), but at my last two appointments, I haven't been dilated yet.  My next appointment is Wednesday, so we're hoping to see some progress.  In the meantime, I'm just waiting.  I'm not working.  Most everything on my checklist is checked off.  The anxiety is building.  

I'm trying to take advantage of this time and just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet, but it's not what I'm used to.  I'm feeling pretty uncomfortable, and I think I am having Braxton Hicks occasionally.  I am ready to have my boy.  I woke up this morning at 6 a.m., just thinking about EVERYTHING: Am I going to be a good mom?  How tired am I really going to be?  How long will that last?  Are we going to have enough money to raise a child?  How long is it going to take me to lose this baby weight? etc.......

One thing that I have been concerned with is going into labor and not being able to wash my hair.  Weird thought, I know, but I HATE when my hair feels dirty.  I was explaining this to Bryan, and I asked him whether he thought I would be able to shower real quick if I started having contractions.  He asked me if I would have to fix my hair.  I told him no; that I would just shower and let my hair air dry.  Right after I say that, he has this funny look on his face.  I say, What?  He says, You look like Bret Michaels when you let your hair air dry.  So if you see a picture of me after giving birth and I look like Bret Michaels instead of Malissa Rudd, you know what happened.  :)

Call up mama when all else fails....

The words in this Blake Shelton song (me and my songs....I know, I know) hit pretty close to home all the time, like a few days ago when I was having a very emotional (when I say emotional, I mean break-down in the middle of the park) kind of day.  When I got home, I called my mom, still crying, and by the end of our conversation, I was all smiles.  What an awesome feeling to know that you have a person in your life that can always make everything better and always has.  My mom has been my rock.  She has supported every decision good or bad that I have made and has always been my Number 1 fan.  My mom "gets me" when sometimes no one else does.  We share a lot of the same characteristics and personality traits, so we very easily relate to things and understand where the other one is coming from.  She has played a huge part in making me the woman I am today. 

Not only did I get lucky in the mom department, but I got extremely lucky in the MIL department.  Bryan's mom is an incredible lady who has made Bryan the awesome man he is today.  I thank God for her.  She made me the husband I always wanted.  Our moms are two of the most unselfish people I know.  They would do ANYTHING for us.  I hope that Parker feels the unconditional love from me that Bryan and I feel from our moms.  

Thank you Mom and MIL for setting such a good example for the kind of mother I want to be.  Happy Mother's Day.  

Happy Mother's Day to all the other amazing ladies in our life: grandmas, step-mom, aunts, cousins, friends. I am surrounded by amazing mothers. I can't wait to share this experience with you all.

The bittersweet last year of my 20s!!!

My 29th birthday was this past Saturday.  It was a good day minus not spending it with the hubs with the girls.  I have some pretty amazing friends, I have to say.  

29 is such an important birthday to me because I will have my first baby.  I will always talk about this year, remember this year, cherish this year.....and then there's 30.

Fun day with the girls.

Not only was it my 29th birthday, but it was my dad's 50th birthday.  I was born on the same day as my dad.  April 30th, 1982, had to have been the best birthday he's ever had. :)  I'm sure once I was brought into this world, birthdays were never the same....meaning I stole his thunder every April 30th.  

Thanks for always sharing your day with me, Dad.  I hope you had a great 50th.  Wish I could have celebrated with you.

Move over William and Kate.....

Our friends Luke and Holly are getting married in Kansas City this weekend.  Luke was Bryan's roommate and soccer teammate in college.  The first time I went to visit Bryan in Tulsa (almost 8 years ago....wow), I got to meet these two.  I pretty much completely embarrassed myself, but we won't get into that.  I just remember Holly being AWESOME.  She made me so completely comfortable with this new group of people I didn't know.  They are one of those couples that you have the best time with always.  I am so incredibly happy for them.  Oh....and doesn't she look like Reese Witherspoon?

I, obviously, have to miss the wedding and am really bummed about that.  Bryan is a groomsman, so he will fly out to Kansas City tomorrow.  We are a little nervous, considering we have less than four weeks to go, BUT my best friend is coming to stay with babysit me for the weekend.  My birthday is Saturday, and my sweet hubby set up a day of massage and lunch with a few of my girlfriends.  Other than that, I am going to try to lay low and take it easy until he gets back to me.  

The countdown is on......29 days to go.

Tomorrow I will be 36 weeks.  My due date has changed to the 25th of May, which it kind of already was to begin with.  Without boring you with all the details, my doctor has always had my due date as the 25th, but the sonographer would always tell me my due date was June 3rd (June 6th in the very beginning) based on the size of the baby.  I figured the size of the baby was the better date to go with, but now my doctor doesn't want us to go past the 25th of May.  So if we don't have him before then, we will probably be induced on the 25th of May.  In all honesty, I am getting so uncomfortable, I don't know how I'm going to make it another four weeks.  I'm not sure why, but I kind of have a feeling he is going to decide to come before the 25th.  Does every mommy think that? 

His room is very close to being finished.  There are a couple more things I want to do, but here is what is done so far: 

With the way the room is angled, it's hard to get a good pic of the whole room.

Want to add some more books to his shelves and something to the left of the shelves.

Want to add four small picture frames on the wall beside the window.

I also need advice on where to put the video monitor (thanks MIL).  Bryan wanted to put it on the wall regardless of what it looked like.  If you are a mommy and have some advice for the best place to put the monitor, I would appreciate your help.  Not having him here yet, I'm not sure if we will need it for other areas of the house before he starts sleeping in his crib.  I don't want to put it close to his bed because of the wire, but close to his bed gives us the best view of him. (We practiced with the monkey).

I can't believe it is getting so close......but my back can. :(