Rivers Blessing

Family photo, after the blessing

3 generations of Shepherd men, also a preview of what Rivers will look like when he gets older :)

Handsome man with mommy before church :) isn't his little suit so cute!

Both my handsome men together

At 6 weeks old, on December 5th, Scott blessed our sweet little boy. It was such a wonderful day and we are so grateful for everyone who attended. I recorded the blessing, and when I get more time I will write it down and save it so he can read it himself when he is older. I hope my little man will learn and cherish what a wonderful priesthood line he comes from. This is one blessed kid!
A few things about Rivers at 6 weeks:
He sleeps 6 hours straight at night, Mommy loves this.
He loves, and I mean LOVES his changing table, we have no idea why...
He has discovered how tasty his hands are
He is getting over his colic!!! This pleases mommy more than words can say.
He has out grown some of his newborn clothes, this makes mommy sad, he's not my little baby any more.
He loves his swing, which is so nice for mommy.
He hates taking naps during the day.
He eats so so much!
He still hates his car seat.
He hates his binky, and makes a disgusted face while sucking on it. I like to think that his thought process is "I don't like you binky, but I'll suck on you anyway"
He's laughing and smiling more.
He loves his mommy
Mommy loves him!

Thanksgiving!

His shirt says "I'm stuffed!"

On his changing table, his favorite place in the world!
I'm having so issues with uploading photos, so this is just how all my posts are going to look for a while. And I don't have much time because I think I hear my little man starting to stir.
We had a huge family Thanksgiving this year with Scott's side of the family. Over 40 people and 4 babies in attendance. Rivers was a grump, and spent most of Thanksgiving crying. It was hard for mommy, but I know that it won't be this way forever. We are blessed that even though little man was a grump, lots of people still love him and everyone wanted to hold him. He is just getting too big!

4 weeks old!

Rivers was 4 weeks old on November 21. To celebrate we got our first big snowstorm!! being the awesome mom that I am, I made my husband and 4 week old baby go outside and take pictures in the snow.





Here are some facts about my 4 week old son:
He hates to sleep! I've never seen a newborn fight sleep so much, we have to cover his face after our 3am feeding to get him back to sleep (don't worry, I'm holding him and it's removed once sleep is accomplished).
Also he has to have "white noise" to sleep, my house have never been so noisy.
He hates his bath, unless he can just sit in the water. Getting clean is just too much work.
He loves to snuggle with Mommy, which mommy doesn't mind unless she gets peed on.
He has colic, which is a curse I would never wish upon my most hated enemy.
He is sooo spoiled! Every time he meets some one he gets a gift, or whenever family is around he gets a gift. Mommy is going to need more thank you cards.
He loves his grandmas!!!! The last photo is him with my mom, Rivers is such a good baby around Grandma Hulse and Grandma Shepherd, I wish they could be with him everyday.
Rivers HATES wearing clothes, and would rather be naked. It's cold so mommy is mean and makes him wear clothes everyday.
He also is exclusively breastfed, something mommy is proud of, and, when it's convenient, wears cloth diapers. Something else mommy is proud of.
Also, Rivers is getting so chubby, he almost doesn't resemble the little baby I brought home from the hospital.
He makes the silliest noises, he started cooing this week, but he cries are always so funny, we laugh at him, and he cries more.

Scott and I love Rivers so much and despite the colic would never change anything about him!

First Photos

I took my little man and got his photos taken when he was 11 days old. He was grumpy when we first got there, but the photos turned out super cute anyway. I wanna give a shout out to my wonderful friend Lyndi, who is moving back to Utah soon :), for making his super cute pumpkin cacoon. All the photographers went crazy for it, and asked where they could buy one at. You may have a business here Lyndi. I love my cute little boy, he really is such a blessing in our lives, and I couldn't imagine being without him!

Introducing

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Introducting

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INTRODUCING.....

My little monkey Rivers McKean Shepherd!!!!

These photos don't do him justice for how cute he really is! Here he is a week old on Halloween, as a little monkey.

Here Rivers is with his Daddy trying to karate chop him.

and here he is with his Mommy being just too cute!

And here he is just seconds after birth, weighing in at 7lbs 8oz, and 20.5 inches long. Since birth he has lost his .5 inches and a few ounces, which is completely normal.

Here he is with his Grandma Hulse, who waited all night at the hospital for him to be born (I'll go into those details later).

And with Grandpa Hulse, who had to go to the E.R. for an infection in his leg while waiting in the hospital all night for him to be born.

And this is one of mommy's favorite pictures of Rivers with his Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd. I have so many cuter and better pictures on my phone, but I haven't quite figured out how to upload them from my new phone.

So here is Rivers birth story:

On October 23, at about 4:30 in the morning I started having contractions, but silly me I thought it was just gas. Well, about 3 minutes into that I had the thought that maybe I was having contractions, so I laid there in bed counting how long they were (it was 4:30 in the morning and I couldn't really remember what the doc said about timing contractions). Well after about an hour of that I decided to wake Scott up and ask him what the doctor said, since the were getting stronger and more painful. Well we laid in bed for about another hour timing the contractions, with Scott asking me if we should go to the hospital. I had a terrible fear of this not being labor and still being pregnant and having to go in to work that night that I waited. Well we head to the hospital, and check in to Labor and delivery, and they hook me up to the monitors. I was in labor!! They monitor for a while, but my contractions aren't getting stronger, and I'm still only dilated to a one (which I'd been at for over 2 weeks at the point) but my blood pressure is higher than they liked. Well they unhook me and send me home with a loratab and instructions to rest and come back if labor pains get worse, or my water breaks.
So I called into work, which I had been scheduled in positions that I could leave if I went into labor. So I sat at home all day, while Scott slept because he was planning on working that night. Well I was still in labor with nothing happening. So I took a nap. Scott's boss told him to stay home with me, which Scott decided meant watch football all day, well around 5 o'clock, during my contraction filled nap, my water broke!! That was the weirdest thing I've ever felt!! So, I changed and headed back to the hospital. They hook me up again, and I ask for an epidural. That's right, why be in pain if you don't have to be, this was advice I got from my dad. after that labor was a breeze.

I started to progress (finally) after the epidural. Finally the nurse comes in and informs me that I'm going to start pushing at 2 am. Well, this is where the story turns for me, I push and push and push, and little Rivers is stuck. Taking after his father and grandfather, he has a rather large head, and it was stuck on my pelvic bone. After about 3 hours of pushing my doctor tells me that she's only going to let me do this for another 15 minutes and if I can't get him unstuck on my own, I'm going to have to have a C-section. Now I was very stern that I did NOT want a C-section. So somehow, despite being completely exhausted and having been awake for 24 hours now, I found some strength and pushed harder. I got him unstuck in two parts, and finally push his huge head out!! Rivers was born with the biggest alien conehead I have ever seen!! Which tilted slightly to the left, because when my water broke he was on the left side of the uterus causing him to come out on the left side instead of straight up and down. But he was perfect!! Completely healthy and right on time. Being born at 5:39 on October 24, 2010. Right on time! By the time we left the hospital his head was perfectly normal, and he just got cuter and cuter.

I love my little man, who really has been so text book his entire existence. I still can't believe he's a week old now. Everyday all I think is I'm never going to get this time back in either of our lives.

Scott is the best daddy ever, taking care of me and Rivers in every way and I am so grateful for the sacrifices he makes for our family. I am so blessed. I am so loved, and so is my little man. I feel the Saviors love every time I look and this amazing little blessing that I was given. What more could anyone want?

Moved!!

So, I regret to inform my loyal followers that I no longer have access to free Internet, resulting in a lack of blogging, and photo uploads. Which is really quite sad because I look awesome with my giant swollen belly.
We have the greatest apartment!! So for a time I will suffer with lack of Internet and cable to be able to afford our great place. It's not way expensive or anything, but I will be out of work for 12 weeks, and we just can get by on Scott's paycheck at this time. We hope that one day this will not always be the case.
We were able to move into a great 4-plex with neighbors who are all active in our wonderful McKay ward, which is a huge blessing itself. We are right by Liberty Park and I love my 7 minute commute to work :)
We finally got unpacked and decorated this week, and we put up the baby's crib and dresser and washed all his clothes and blankets, and we are now just waiting for his arrival. We only have about 4 1/2 weeks until the due date, and I feel great, well let me re-phrase that, I feel like every other pregnant lady, tired and uncomfortable. I have heartburn and trouble sleeping, and get frustrated when my clothes don't fit, but again this is normal for most pregnant ladies.
Scott and I are at a very happy place in our lives and I am grateful for all the support and love we get from so many around us. We can't wait for our little guy to get here, but we want him to stay in there at least until after conference, that's big money for me and that will be very helpful right before the baby comes.
When we get Internet again I will post lots of pictures, and everyone will be so happy I just know it. Until then, have a great October :)

Summer

So it has been brought to my attention that I haven't blogged for a while. After this post you will see why, Scott and I have been very busy!! This post will be mostly pictures, so enjoy!
Keeping with tradition we yet again attended the Pioneer day Parade in Salt Lake. Scott even slept overnight on the parade route to ensure we got a good spot. Here we have my cousin Josh, Tyler (Nephew), Scott and Riley (other Nephew) in the ever wonderful umbrella hats. I love the Parade, this year we went all out and brought our camping canopy. The parade wasn't as great as years past, but we had a lot of fun. A bunch of our friends also spent the evening with Scott, so it was a good time and we were exhausted after the parade.

This is the best picture on here! We LOVE the zoo, and Scott is always trying to get me to pretend to be the animals. Here I am, 28 weeks pregnant, acting like a big horn sheep, this picture was just too funny not to post.

We got a great view of the mama tiger sleeping, the animals kept getting startled by the thunder and lightening. But she looks so peaceful here.

I would make a great Asian lady right?

Scott makes a terrible Asian lady :)

The baby elephant was so so so cute, here she is playing in the mud. I also have other pictures of her nursing with her mama. I could have sat there and watched her for hours.

Also just last week Scott and his brother Nathan ran the Black Ridge Triathlon in Herriman. I thought I had a picture of them both before the race, but it's not here....

Here the guys are entering the water at the start of the race. I can totally see Scott can't you?

Transition one, move from swimming attire to biking attire. I also have a great picture of Scott on his bike that didn't post either... Oh well...

Just after transition two, from bike to run. Look how cute he is...

Here Scott is at the finish line, I had made posters for him and his parents and Sugaru (more on him later) were there to cheer him on, along with Nathan, who finished before Scott... Go Nathan!!

Here he is my triathlete! I'm so proud of him, he set out to reach a goal, and he did it!! He was all sweaty and gross at the end, but I still gave him a big hug and kiss!

So I asked Scott what he wanted to do to celebrate his race day, and he asked if I would go to a demolition derby with him. Well being the wonderful wife that I am, I agreed. Apparently part of the deal was also to dress up... Here is Scott and I in our matching redneck attire...

Tie Dye shirts, orange trucker hats, me in overalls, and Scott in badly cut cut-off shorts.... too funny.

Near the end of the night we got a group shot, including our foreign exchange student Sugaru, who I just loved!! He was from Japan, so on occasion Scott and his dad got to practice their Japanese. He was so fun, and polite, and I'm so glad I got to meet him.

As for me and baby, we're doing well. I'm on track weight wise, and haven't had any problems after the kidney stones. Baby is growing great, right on track weight in weight, and has a good strong heart beat. He is also practicing to be a soccer player or a boxer. My guts are getting squished, but I guess he just needs more room. On a final note, we move into our new apartment on September 1st. I'm excited to pull out all me own stuff again, and be able to walk around in my underwear.

I want candy!

I love candy! I mean I really love candy, more than anything else in the world next to Scott, who doesn't get put in the same category as candy. I hide candy so I can find it later, and I get very possessive of my candy, I don't want to share! There are days where candy is all I can think about. Since becoming pregnant I've tried really hard to stay away from candy because I don't think it's good for the baby. I don't think it's good for me either, but I am trying to be a good mommy.
Yesterday was one of those days that I NEEDED candy.
I got Kidney stones, which is the worse thing I've ever been through in my whole life!!
I tried very hard to be brave and not cry or complain, but I didn't know what was going on, and given my family history of delivering early I was certain I was in preterm labor. We went to the ER at about 12:45 Monday morning and didn't get home until 9:00. I felt so bad for Scott because no one would work for him and the poor guy had to go into work after having no sleep. This is why Scott can't be categorized with candy, which would have just made me go through this whole mess alone.
I slept all day Monday, and Tuesday went to work, how else am I going to pay off that trip to the ER? After work I went to a Urologist, who basically told me that I just have to wait this out until after the baby comes, and gave me a prescription for an x-ray after the baby comes. He was a nice guy, but a total waste of time in my opinion.
While driving home, having not taken any pain meds for over 8 hours so I could drive home, I got sad, and started feeling sorry for myself. What kind of mommy lets herself get sick like this? How am I going to take care of this little guy when every month something else seems to be wrong with me? Maybe our decision to have a baby was a mistake. But I don't believe that. This is when I turn to my one sweet friend who never lets me down, but does rot my teeth, candy. I stopped and spent $8 on candy, $8 I could have saved for the ER bill, or baby stuff. Having that guilt again I sat in bed all night still not taking any pain pills so I could pick up my husband from the train, eating candy and reading, praying that I could pass this stone.
That night as I snuggled with my hubby, doped up on Percaset, I started to feel some relief, and by morning I think I moved the stone to my bladder. I'm still sore, and guilty of eating candy, and mad at myself for giving in, but I know that the Lord has heard my cries, and is letting this thing pass sooner rather than later.
I know my love affair with candy isn't good for me, but it has yet again gotten me through rough patch.

Over it!

I'm kinda over this whole pregnancy thing, I just want the baby here already. We have nothing for the little guy, but I am just not enjoying being pregnant. I'm glad I'm not an elephant.

Independence Day!!

So Fourth of July weekend just isn't the place for cameras! We had a super busy weekend, and I only managed to take 2 pictures.
Our weekend started on the 3rd with the annual Shepherd family party. Every other year the family rents out a pool, and the other years they rent a bounce slide in which family members try to kill themselves and each other on. This year they tired to go safer by adding a jump guard at the top, so the only way to fix this was clearly with Pam cooking spray. My wonderful husband got the idea to spray down one side of a pool float toy and slide down the hosed off slide. Surprisingly no one was injured.

We came home sleepy and sun burnt, but it was all worth it!

On the Fourth itself we had a quite day, we went to church, had a BBQ with my folks and nephew, and did some illegal fireworks. My parents go to Mexico every year in March and buy some, No one died don't worry.

On the 5th we were blessed to have it off work, so we spent it at the mall like any good America should! Scott broke his flip flops playing Volley ball at the family party and we needed to spend a good 3 hours shopping for new ones. After some success, we went and registered for baby gear at Babies R Us. That night we did some more fireworks with Scott's family and ate some more BBQ!

It was a great weekend and I was sad to see it end, but the best part of Utah is we get to do it all over again for Pioneer day, which also includes sleeping over night for a parade on the streets of Salt Lake City! Baby will love this!!

Shaelynn and Ali's Wedding

So, watching your best friend fall in love is a fun thing. Over the past year I got the opportunity to watch just that thing happen. Ali is a great guy, and I have been joking about them getting married for a while now, and it was so great to see it happen. Shaelynn hasn't always had the best taste in guys, but I think she would choose guys she knew she wouldn't get too serious with. Ali certainly was a catch and I love seeing how much he loves her back! They are a super cute couple, and I'm excited to have Ali in the "family."

Here is the happy couple on June 24th exiting the Salt Lake temple, they were so happy and the sealing was beautiful :).

Awwww!!

Shaelynn looked incredible, I don't miss planning my own wedding, but watching her make plans for her wedding was really fun, I picked out the colors long before I ever met Ali, I just want to add that :)

So, Ali is the only boy in his family, he has 3 sisters, and Shae has one brother and 2 sisters, and those sisters have had babies which have all been girls (5 total) and Ali's one sister has 2 girls of her own... Ali is the lone gun men her with all these girls around (Shae's brother happens to live in Nebraska... Away from all the girls). I hope for the Harash sake that Shaelynn at some point, for Ali, will bless him with a son. But the odds just aren't in his favor...

They looked so stunning, I'm so happy that I got to be a part of their wedding, and I know Shae and I talked about having our babies at the same time, but Ali just didn't make it quick enough to the party, maybe next time. I love them both very much, and I look forward to the memories that the 4 of us can make with our own growing families. I wish them much happiness love, like Scott and I have found!

Father's Day

I wanted to post really quick about the 3 (almost 4) great men in my life. I really have been blessed.
STEVEN HULSE: I love my father very much, he has always been the parent looking to have fun. Some times he teases people, but he is always quick with a joke of a story, and I think a lot of my personality is because of him. I may not have always understood him, and we may disagree on things, but I know at the end of the day that my father loves me, and he wanted me to be happy. He has always let me explore, that may be the world around me, or myself, and never judged me. He has become the greatest grand parent a kid could have, I love watching him with my nephews, and I know that my little guy will be so blessed.
MARK SHEPHERD: Oh how I love to tease you! Living with you and actually getting to know you on a more personal level had been incredible. You are so strong in your beliefs, and are such an anchor for this family. I love watching you help Meg, and I really appreciate how hard you try to fulfil every church calling. When I watch you I can see how you only want what is best for your family, and to please our Father in Heaven. You may cheer for BYU, but I won't hold that against you :) and I'm grateful you raised such an amazing son!
SCOTT SHEPHERD: You are the greatest person I know! I can not even picture anything in my life without you in it. You taught me to love, you brought me to life, and you have made all my dreams come true. I pray for your happiness and safety far more than my own, and you are going to be the greatest father of all times! I love how you have to touch me when you're sleeping, and how you won't let me leave for work with out a kiss. I love how playful and fun you are. I love your crazy bed head, and how you steal the covers (even in the summer). I love the excitement on your face when you feel the baby kick, and how much you love to pick out cute, yet cool, baby clothes. I love that you have such big dreams, and I hope we can make them happen. I love you lots and lots, you're my best friend.
RIVERS SHEPHERD: I don't know you yet, but I know you're here. I love you so much it hurts! I love feeling you twist and kick. I love learning about how you grow and change daily. I love trying to imagine what your life holds in store for you. I'm going to let you be whatever you want to be, I will help you reach every dream you will ever set. Everyday you will know how much I love you, and how much your daddy loves you too. You will never feel out of place with me. I promise you will know every Bible, and Book of Mormon story. You are going to be so loved that you will never fear anything that the world could throw at you. You are the greatest gift I could ever ask for.
Love, Mystie

I hope everyone had a Happy Father's day :)

IT'S A.....

BOY!!!!!

Introducing Rivers Mckean Shepherd!

We are so excited! Here are a few pics of the ultrasound, now again, I have no scanner, so these are pictures of pictures so you lose a lot of the quality, but he is so cute, I can tell :)

My baby's sweet profile, I think he has my lips, and Scott's nose

And here are his boy parts.

We had quite a crowd when we went in for our ultrasound, both my parents came, Scott mom (his dad had to work or he would have been there too) and my best friend Shaelynn, plus Scott and myself. This baby will be very loved.

So picking his name has been a hard process. We wanted something original, I wanted something nature inspired, and Scott wanted something not too crazy or spelled weird. After I shouted out ideas like Rainbow and Sunshine, I went for dead actors, like Rock Hudson, and River Phoenix. Scott liked River, but he thought Rivers Como was cooler (lead singer of Weezer), and during Sacrament meeting that week, Scott found a scripture that my mom is going to needle point for us to hang in his room.

1 Nephi 2:9

O that thou mightest be like unto this river(s) continually running into the fountain of all righteousness! (last part of that verse)

In this verse, Lehi is naming the river of Laman, well of course we couldn't name the baby Laman, but we want our children to be raised in righteousness, and but adding the "s" to the end, it made it almost sound like a prophecy.

So this is how Rivers came to be, we both love it! It's funny because people have mixed emotions about it, they either love it or hate it (pretty sure Scott's siblings think I've turned him into a total hippie). Scott is always reassuring me that it doesn't matter what people think, it's our baby, and we love the name so does it matter, the vain, insecure part of me says yes :).

Having the ultrasound was so cool. I got to lay there and watch everything on a screen, and they recorded everything onto a DVD for us, which we make people watch when they come over. It's so cool though, and it shows all the parts of the baby.

I love my little guy, I love how he moves inside when I'm hungry, and he's still while I'm sleeping, I love watching Scott's face when he feels him kick (which is rare, because I barely feel or notice it most the time) and I love the thought of our other kids having an older brother, something Scott and I never got experience (Scott is the older brother in his family).

I can't wait for October for Rivers to get here :)

We're Half Way There.... Whaaa Ohhhhh Livin' on a Prayer

Well I've made it to 20 weeks with out killing anything or any one :) Second trimester is so much better and happier, what a relief that is. So Sunday I wasn't able to zip up my skirt, so I made Scott take pictures :) For some reason whenever he takes pictures I'm never sure if he knows how to work the camera so I always have a concerned look on my face, I'm really happy. Well tomorrow is the day for the big here is what the baby is ultrasound, I kinda like having a mystery about it, but how will I know what to shop for if I don't find out? I'm actually really excited because I love our baby names :)

Fat and happy!

From Moab with Love

So this post is a ton of pictures, we had a great time in Moab, it was Scott's first time going and I think he already is planning a trip back. if only there was a mall in Moab I think we could live there :)

Day 1: On our way to Moab I found on the Internet this cool site off the freeway where you can see Dinosaur tracks, Scott was so excited as you can tell...

Here is Scott pretending to be a dinosaur, they tell you to pour water into the tracks to see them better.

I'll point it out for you all...

We did a little shopping when we got into town, here is Scott's get-up to protect him from the sun.

That night we went on a guided moon lit hike of Dead Horse Point, Scott took some pictures of the moon rising on his phone, but we haven't uploaded those yet.

Day 2: Arches National Park... We did a ton of hiking this day, but there is so much to see we broke it into 2 days at the park. Here is Scott under sandstone arch.

and 5 month pregnant me made it up to Delicate arch, it was 95 degrees, and for a pregnant lady it was like being on the sun!! Scott was so happy when we got to the top, it really is a spectacular site, and I loved seeing Scott's excitement when he got up there :)

That night after we showered and cleaned up, we went to the Bar-M-Chuck wagon. We really enjoyed this, it's a fun little show and dinner that this local couple puts on, we started with a shoot out...

and after a cowboy dinner we got a show, I got Scott up on stage, other than the kids you see on stage we were the youngest couple there, I guess old people and me and Scott really like this sort of thing.

Day 3: Monticello and Hole 'n' the Rock, these got a bit out of order, Hole in the Rock is one of my favorite tourist spots. This guy decided to build his home in the mountain, he blasted it out with dynamite and him and his wife lived there. They had a diner and gift shop, now you take tours and there is a petting zoo! If you ever go to Moab stop here and take the tour, it's unreal.

Here is the Smallest temple in the world! Monticello. We did a session, which was super nice and helped Scott and I on our goal to visit all the temples in Utah. Afterward we went our to eat, and there was NOTHING in Monticello! No lie, we found a subway in a gas station, and all the people that were in the Session with us were eating at the Subway... guess that's all you can there is go to the temple and eat st the Subway...

Back to the petting zoo! The camel was my favorite, you can pay $5 and get a bucket of food for the animals, it was so fun, and the animals are so much more friendly if you have food, it was a ton of fun!

Scott got to feed the animals that licked out of your hand... that part seemed gross to me :)

So... I knew I got sun burnt on the hike, but since I have a great heritage I didn't think it was that bad... Well I was wrong, turns out you burn really bad when your pregnant because of some oil your skin releases, I blistered and peeled and cried and whined because it hurt so bad. This is my own fault for never wearing sunscreen before, and my mom's fault for being Indian and not telling me that people get sun burnt. I'm all done peeling now, and all is well...

Day 4: We slept most of the day, mostly because I was so sun burnt and tired. But later that day we went back to Arches, because when you pay to get in it's good for a week, so you can go back many times. Here is Landscape arch, which is my favorite.

We did a few other small hikes that day, here I am at balanced rock, since I was so burnt Scott wouldn't let me go unless I dressed like this... I look crazy, so look at the rock, not at me :)

We had a great trip, and we have so many funny stories from our adventure. We stayed at Moab Rim camp ground (I wanted a bathroom and a shower) and whenever we'd the camp site we'd pass this sign that Scott thought was so funny, and it sums up the end of this post.

Pleas DO come again :)