Three Weeks

Our sweet baby James will be three weeks old tomorrow. I don't know what we did to deserve it, but somehow we got a really good baby. He sleeps great at night already, he generally only cries for the obvious reasons, he can sleep almost anywhere through all sorts of noises, etc. I really have no complaints. In fact, I'm kind of paranoid that any day now he is going to pull a 360 on us and transform from a sweet little baby into a colicky one, but that is another story . . . One fun thing we've discovered about little James is that he loves music, especially Christmas music. A particular favorite is "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." If he even gets a tiny bit fussy all I have to do is start singing and he will almost immediately calm down (good thing he doesn't know yet how horrible my voice is). The only problem is that I seem to have forgotten the words to most children's songs. I can't get through the intro to "Rudolph" without naming Comet at least 2-3 times; "Rock-a-bye Baby" (you know, "in the tree top") has completely taken on a life of its own. I sat and tried to figure it out with Brian for about 5 minutes yesterday and neither of us could come up with the right words (I'll google the lyrics later). I even tried to sing a couple songs my grandmother used to sing to us when we were little and all they did was made me teary eyed missing my grandma (the squirrel and pigeon song for any cousins reading this). Until I reacquaint myself with songs from my childhood, do you think he'll mind if we sing him Black Eyed Peas instead? "I gotta feeling" that tonight's gonna be a good night?

Our Little Guy

My mom has had some fun (sometimes too much fun) taking pictures of our little guy this week. Every day she'll put him in a new outfit and snap some shots. Here are a few of my favorites . . .

For all those who know baby James as "Chuck"--this one is for you. Thanks to Brian's mom, he now has a toy truck named Chuck.

Some day he'll be excited about Christmas . . .

This is my personal favorite (Thanks, Mom!):

Chubby Cheeks

About a month before this little guy was born (by the way, he is now officially James) we had our last ultrasound that showed undeniably super chubby cheeks. I tried to take it easy with the milkshakes after that, but I couldn't help it . . . sorry little James, they suit you though and now I wouldn't change them for anything!

Here he is coming home from the hospital yesterday (I'm too tired to rotate the picture). He slept the entire way home.

I just want to kiss those cheeks all the time!


This is from this morning. He has periods every day where he is really alert and wide-eyed and just wants to stare at everything in the room.

This is also from this morning. Nap time in the car seat. It's the only way I've been able to get any sleep! He loves to have his hands up by his face.

That is it for now. I'm going to take a nap. I'm sorry to every mother out there who I thought was being a wuss by not getting as much sleep as usual. I got maybe 2 hours last night. He's worth it though.

At last . . .

We learned yesterday that it doesn't really matter how you come into the world, as long as you get here safe and sound. After a failed attempt at an induction (who knew that was even possible?), and, of course after many, many prayers, our beautiful little boy finally arrived via c-section last night around 6:30 p.m. Nothing yesterday went as I had planned/hoped. But what in life really does? As much as I never wanted to have a c-section, the experience made me grateful for modern day medicine and that women now actually have options during birth. Without these options, and without guidance from Above, I am convinced the ending might not have been a happy one.

The process started on Sunday night when they started me on pitocin. Although I sat through hours of painful contractions (over 14 hours to be exact, on the highest level of pitocin possible), I still wasn't making any progress the next day and all we could do was wait and wait . . .

And wait some more . . . (thank goodness for sisters).Around 5 p.m. on Monday, with still no progress, we finally made the decision to go ahead with a c-section. Apparently it's extremely rare to be on that level of pitocin for so long and to stay dilated (or should I say un-dilated) to a ZERO. Many tears and prayers later convinced us that a c-section was the right thing to do. The fact that we had made the right choice was confirmed even more after this little guy made his debut and the doctor informed us of several other factors she discovered while performing the c-section that would have prevented a natural birth anyway (I'll spare the details). God definitely played a role in this process and I could never adequately describe my gratitude to Him or to family and friends who said prayers on our behalf. All the stress and frustration were worth it when this little guy came into view:

Brian is already smitten with his son and I am convinced the two will soon be joined at the hip. It's so cute watching him be a dad. After his delivery, all he would say was "He's perfect, just perfect!" It melted my heart. It took me awhile to convince him that maybe I could hold him, too? I guess after carrying him for 9 months, Brian thought I needed a break. Although we're not entirely sure what to do with him once we take him home, we already can't imagine our lives without him.
Although he's only a day old, he already seems to have an easy going personality and has only cried a handful of times (never lasting more than 2 minutes). I hope he stays this way!

James Brian Richman (don't hold us to this -- it's still subject to change)

Born November 30, 2009

8 lbs, 20 inches long

Although none of this happened as we planned, it was all worth it. Even though I didn't get a chance to yell at Brian during the middle of labor that "I'm never doing this again!!!" I think he already knows that I would do it all over in a heartbeat for this little guy.

Counting down the days . . .

For the past month, Brian and I have been praying for this little guy NOT to come early. Brian had sporadic residency interviews all across the country and every time he left we prayed our hearts out that this kid would hold out just a little longer. We may have prayed too hard. I think our little buddy has permanently ingrained in him that he needs to stay put. Now that it is safe for him to come, he seems perfectly content where he is. If he doesn't come on his own over the remainder of this week, they are going to induce me on Monday morning (which terrifies me). Let the fun begin . . .

Two weeks and counting . . .

For the record, I am posting this picture for the sole purpose of making my mother happy. I'm not a fan of the "belly shots" and "pregnancy/baby stats" blog posts. To me, they rank up there with blog posts like . . . well, like everything on the satire blog "Simply So Blessed." To avoid offending anyone I won't name specifics. Anyway . . . the past 9 months have been long and tiring but not too bad up until the last few weeks (when the waddling/limping and body aches kicked in). 25 lbs later, here is what you get (feel free to make fun of me--I laugh at myself nearly every time I look in the mirror). By the way, let's all keep in mind that a camera normally adds 10 lbs and when you're pregnant I think it adds 20, maybe 30 lbs?


This is the angle where I look absolutely ENORMOUS. When I look down at myself I don't look that big, straight on, still not that bad, but simply twist to the side and BAM it's mortifying! Thanks, Andrea for insisting on taking the picture. I'm sure some day I'll thank you. Some day.


Brian and I went to Knoxville, Tennessee last week. The weather was perfect and I prayed the entire time that I wouldn't go into labor there. I want this kid to be born a Virginian!

My due date is two weeks from today. Any predictions on whether he'll be early, right on time, or late? The winner gets to change his diapers free for one week!

To waddle or not to waddle . . .

Confession #1: I always thought pregnant women who waddled were just doing it to be dramatic and occassionally I may or may not have made fun of them. Seriously, I just thought it was all in their heads and they were only doing it to make absolutely certain people knew they were pregnant -- just in case there was any room for doubt. Seriously, why did they think they had to walk like that? Did they even try to walk normally? My heartless self had no sympathy for them.

Confession #2: Over the last couple weeks I have noticed an increased discomfort and soreness when I walk. In fact, it's downright painful at times! With each step I take I wince slightly and take a deep breath and will myself to please, please, please walk as normally as I can even though it hurts! As a result, I have developed a slight limp on my right side. I can't decide which is worse: a lame pregnant woman or a waddling pregnant woman?

Confession #3: Several years ago when I was home over Christmas break, my little sister and I decided to brave the shopping mob at the local mall. We drove up and down the parking lot looking for a parking space. Lo and behold, the only space available within a mile of the mall was an "Expecting Mother" space. We felt only a slight twinge of guilt for parking there because it wasn't our fault we weren't married and weren't going to have children anytime soon, right? And we could totally count ourselves as "expecting mothers" because we really were expecting to be mothers some day, we just didn't know when! Besides, the "real" expectant mothers could park further away because they probably needed the exercise anyway. We were totally justified. Just for show, we pulled rings from our right hands and put them on our left ring finger and tried to dramatically push our bellies out. I'm not sure who we thought we were fooling. Luckily, no one caught us or even seemed to care. In fact, I'm not sure if you can even be fined for things like that. How would you begin to monitor that sort of thing? Have everyone who parks there urinate on a stick? As I said, we felt totally justified and only slightly guilty. However, now that it's harder and harder for me to walk, limp or no limp, I find myself wishing that more places had "Expectant Mother" parking spaces. I tell myself that yes, I probably do need the exercise, but don't these businesses know how painful it is to walk with several pounds of pressure pushing onto the lower half of my body, not to mention grotesquely swollen feet!?! Apparently Richmond, Virginia doesn't believe in "Expectant Mother" parking spaces because I have yet to find a single one (Although I have seen one or two "Reserved for Mothers with Infants" spaces, but does it count if the infant is unborn?). I blame this bad luck/charma on my past behavior, 1) making fun of waddling mothers, and 2) parking in "Expectant Mother" parking spaces as an unpregnant single female. I guess it's true what they say, what goes around comes around.

My little sister . . .

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty

Happy birthday to my beautiful, ambitious, spunky, charming, adventurous, AMAZING sister!

We've had more adventures together than I can count . . .

But even though you're all grown up now, I will always be there to take care of you!

I love you Amers!

What's in a Name?

I never understood how parents could welcome a baby into the world without having a name picked out well in advance. However, with only weeks to go before the arrival of our little guy, I now understand how that is possible. A few months ago, I was almost positive what this kid's name was going to be but now I am having second thoughts and am completely confused and unsure.

Out of pure desperation, yesterday Brian and I decided to ask his Sunbeam class what they thought our little boy's name should be. There was a clear consensus (and they were all quite serious): Bubba.

I have no idea where five 3-year-olds came up with the name Bubba, but Bubba Richman kind of has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Happy Birthday, Dad!

To my dear dad:

Happy Birthday! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you, but I'm thinking of you and I love you!

(My dad grew up in San Francisco and as a result LOVES the Giants! He loves them so much that he takes every opportunity to go to one of their games, even though he now lives in Utah. That means flying out to D.C. and San Francisco multiple times a year just to cheer on his favorite team. This also means that whenever the Giants play the Nationals, we know we'll get to see our dad. I keep meaning to call the MLB to tell them to schedule more games here.)

(My dad and I last January. On our way to the Inauguration we decided to follow one of the many signs we've always been curious about to "Stonewall Jackson's Shrine" and this is where we ended up. Was it worth the drive there to see this tiny house that General Jackson never even lived in? Maybe not. But, it was definitely worth the time spent with my dad!)

U.S. Open

(view of Manhattan from Arthur Ashe tennis stadium)

Ah, New York City. What's there not to love? The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in November, Times Square on New Year's Eve, and the U.S. Open every August/September. A couple weeks ago we joined Brian's family (as well as the Nielsons) in the Big Apple for the U.S. Open. Thanks in large part to Brian, I have become a major tennis fan over the last few years and this is our 3rd year in a row going. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Brian waits for this weekend all year long -- I'm pretty sure it's better than Christmas in his eyes. It's hard not to get equally excited when you're married to such a tennis fanatic. This was the best tennis weekend we could have asked for and I already can't wait to do it again next year. My only request is that I not be 7 1/2 months pregnant next time. As you can see from the pictures, I look about as worn out and swollen as a pregnant lady can get. I should have taken a picture of my ankles (they looked like golf balls had been implanted in them at the end of every day), but I think my tired looking eyes speak for themselves.

Day #1: The famous globe upon entering into the tennis center:

Here we are watching the Bryan brothers (#1 doubles team) courtside. They were amazing! Watching identical twins play tennis kind of made me wish that Andrea and I had better coordinated our talents to become #1 at something. I'm still thinking about what that something would have been, but I get that same feeling of regret every time I see the Olsen twins and knowing they used their twin-status to capitalize on millions. Andrea, it's not too late!

Day #2 started with Djokovic vs. Whitten. The American played his heart out but Djokovic won in the end:

Here are the Nielsons at their first ever tennis match (but definitely not their last! I think we may have them hooked!):

After amazing matches with Federer, Sharapova (getting her trash kicked by a 17-year-old American), and Andy Roddick vs. John Isner (Roddick also got beaten), our night match was American James Blake. Brian and I miraculously snuck down to the court without being caught for a slight upgrade from our seats in the nose bleed section. Sadly, we weren't down there long, as Blake lost in only 3 sets.


And here we are after about 16 hours of tennis . . . it was a looong day, but definitely worth it.


What a crazy tennis tournament! Roger Federer lost in the final for the first time in 5 years and Serena Williams behaved like a lunatic and as a result didn't even make it to the finals. Such sweet memories!

Welcome to the world . . .

My brother and sister-in-law welcomed this cute little guy into the world on Saturday. I would love nothing more than to see him in person and hold him in my arms for a few hours, but that's kind of hard when his parents decided to move to Sweden right before he was born!

(Michael Robert Candrian; 6 lbs, 6 oz.)

While I inherited some nieces and nephews when I married Brian, this is the first on the Candrian side so it has a somewhat different feeling/meaning to me. Congrats to Rob and Lorena (I hear Lorena did an awesome job, natural birth and all)! Hopefully I can see this little guy before he grows up!

9/11

It's hard to believe it has been 8 years. I have a lot of love in my heart for this great country of mine. I have so much admiration for the men and women who work to protect it. As cheesy as it sounds, the song "Proud to be an American" still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. I pray that the leaders of our nation keep the policies in place that have kept us safe since that dreadful day 8 years ago.

Last year President Bush invited former White House staffers back to the White House for the remembrance ceremony. I knew it would be my last time at the White House before a new president took over, so I met up with my good friend Millie and we waited on the South Lawn together and reminisced about old times (we've been through a lot of craziness together). Obviously, I was not invited back this year. I'm okay with that.

(Can you see me in this picture? Hint: I'm to the back right of Mrs. Cheney holding a white paper.)

10 Years . . .

10 years. TEN! One whole decade. No matter how you say it, I graduated from high school that many years ago. Last week was my 10-year high school reunion. That sure makes me sound old, but I don't feel the slightest bit old. Even though I happened to be in Utah the same weekend as the reunion, I decided not to go for many reasons. The main one being that I was pretty much over high school the day I graduated, so I had absolutely no desire to go. But other factors also came into play: I just hit my 7th month of pregnancy, my fingers are so swollen that I can no longer wear my wedding ring, and my husband was back in Virginia. Yeah, there was no way I was going to put myself in that situation (sounds like one of those "you might be a redneck if . . . "type situations--no thanks!).

Thank goodness we're not forever our 18-year-old selves. I liked myself back then just fine, but I needed those 10 years to grow up and discover what life is really all about.

August

I'm not sure how August snuck up on us so quickly, but here we are and it's August 19th already! Summertime, can you PLEASE slow down just a little? I don't feel like I've had a real chance to enjoy you yet and even though autumn is usually my favorite season, this year it means big changes and I am not ready for them!

We've had a pretty eventful month so far. My brother finally left for Sweden. I miss him already and it's weird to think that the next time I see him he'll have a kid and so will I. Did I mention how I'm not ready for that yet? To bid Rob and Lorena farewell, we decided to get together for dinner with them in D.C. one last time. I took a day off of work and we drove up to D.C. early to tour the Taiwan Embassy. The Consular Director ended up taking us out to lunch and driving us to the Ambassador's residence where they greet their Taiwanese guests. I had no idea such a home existed in D.C. -- it was incredible and Brian loved it because that meant he got to do something different in D.C. instead of all the things I usually make him do (which we still ended up doing later in the month anyway), plus he got to practice his Chinese.

Here's the Ambassador's residence:

Here's the inside -- it was all decorated in Chinese decor (I don't have any good pictures of that yet), which was beautiful.

Just a random shot of Brian (and a security guard) at the Supreme Court. Brian took a similar shot of me, but I look like I am about 200 lbs in it, so it will not be posted here.

Afterward we met up with all my siblings for an excellent steak dinner . . . and then we wished Rob and Lorena good luck and sent them off on their Swedish adventure!

Brian's sister Aleesha is staying with us for a few weeks while she completes a pharmacy internship. We're trying to keep her entertained every weekend while she is here. Our first stop was the White House (we also met up with France and Lindsay while we were there and had an amazing lunch at Old Ebbitt--I wish I would have taken a picture of my food it was SOOO good!).

That's it for now -- more to come!

Email Pet Peeve

I like email. I email a lot. Seriously. A LOT. For example, yesterday alone I sent out 63 emails (according to my "sent items") in an 8-hour period. And yesterday was just an average work day. During really busy days I probably send out even more than that. As a result of all this emailing and writing that I do, I type pretty fast. The last time I did an official typing test I believe it was somewhere around 75-80 wpm. Therefore, I do not think it takes any extra time to type out an entire word versus an abbreviation of that word -- especially when the word is already short to begin with. Maybe it will take a millisecond longer to type out the word in its entirety, but if you don't think you have that kind of time you seriously need to take a deep breath and slow down!

Example: I frequently send emails to my boss with items she has requested, documents for her review, etc. Her response is usually this: "Thx!" Excuse me? Thx? What is that? Was my article that I just spent several hours writing not worth enough to you to put forth the extra millisecond it would take to type the 3 extra characters in "thanks"? Are you really that busy? Every time I get her "thx" I try to come up with some justification for it in my head, but I just can't. In fact, I just timed myself and it actually took me a half-second longer to type "thx" as opposed to "thanks" because it's such an unnatural "word" to type that I had to put more effort into it. Seriously, thx? What lazy person came up with that?

Okay, that's all. It's Friday. You know it's a slow day at work when you've only sent out 21 emails. Thx for letting me vent!

Happy Anniversary!

July 14, 2007

We made it to two -- the best decision I've ever made! I love you, Brian!

It's a . . .

BOY!!!

Welcome to Richmond!

*My little cousin Michael Jeppesen (okay, he's not so little anymore since he surpassed the 6-foot mark long ago) was called to serve in the Richmond, Virginia mission. Michael and his twin brother Kirk (who was called to Ghana, Africa) are more than just cousins to me (whether they like it or not). Since I never had younger brothers of my own, these two more or less filled those shoes. Despite the age difference, I can't think of anyone we had more fun with growing up (was it because we were so immature that we just related better? I don't know!). Since they're from the Rexburg, Idaho area, I was always envious that my sisters, who both went to Ricks College, got to hang out with them so often. Michael leaves for the MTC tomorrow and I hope he knows that although I probably won't be able to see him very often (unless he gets put in my ward), that he'll have someone nearby who is praying for him!

(Downtown Richmond)

Dear Michael (I mean Elder Jeppesen),

I honestly thought you were lying when you called to tell me you were called to serve in the Richmond, Virginia Mission. What are the chances? I'm sure you've had time to research all about it, but I wanted to share some of my favorite parts of the "mission" with you:

See this -- yeah, that's a cotton plant. Yes, cotton! There are cotton plantations in Virginia. Welcome to the south! By the way, you should probably know that you should never refer to Virginia as the STATE of Virginia. You'll get shot. Here it's the COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. Weird? Yeah, I know.

Although Kirk may be going to a place that some people refer to as the foundations of civilization, you will be going to where the foundation of America began. This is Jamestown, Virginia -- the first permanent English settlement in America.

Maybe on your p-day you and your companion can dress up like this and take pictures to send back to your family. Your mom will probably hang them on the fridge and brag about you:

What we have next is one of my favorites: Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson located in Charlottesville, Virginia. If you are lucky, maybe they'll send you here during the fall . . .

When it looks like this . . . (you don't see this back west!)

Lastly, this is Williamsburg. Another one of my favorite places to visit. And yes, people really do dress up like this and perform regularly . . .

If I had more time, I could make this post really, really long because there are so many things about Virginia that I love. Lucky for you, this is where it ends. You'll get to experience it all for yourself soon enough! I love you, Michael! Hopefully we'll run into each other somewhere in the Commonwealth soon.

Love,

Brittany