Anders: 4 weeks old!

They say time flies when you have kids, that they grow so fast, it's all over before you know it. I am already realizing how true this is. I can't believe it was four weeks ago that our precious babe came to us.

For those of you who aren't in the south, the week Anders arrived we had a "snow storm" of two inches that caused this

to look like this

This was just two days before I went into labor. Yes I was the crazy pregnant lady having a melt down in my car on the freeway! And reasonably so, little did I know I would start labor a full three weeks before my due date.

For those of you who want to know what my delivery was like, read below. For those of you who don't, skip until you see some pictures of our wicked cute baby.

A bunch of my friends are pregnant right now so I thought I would share my experience, should you find it helpful! I didn't know I was starting labor, I just felt like I had really bad menstrual cramps. I didn't even think about it, I was just like "oh that's weird I haven't had cramps in a while!", and I proceeded to go and get my hair cut. While starting labor. yeah ridiculous huh! But the pain wasn't too bad, so I went on with my normal routine. When they didn't go away, and became very timely and predictable, and I couldn't sleep through them, Alan and I went over to the hospital to see what was going on. Most pregnant ladies get very anxious as their due date approaches, and I'm sure time is spent freaking out and stressing out about what is about to happen; I never got this opportunity because getting admitted to Labor & Delivery was not what I expected!

When I was dilated to a 5, they broke my water and all Hell broke loose along with it. Contractions are not fun people. Not fun at all. You see them in movies and people screaming and throwing things across the room, maybe that's how it is for some people out there but for me I just curled into a ball and crying. It felt like period cramps on steroids, only no Ben & Jerry's and chick flicks. Instead you get ice chips and monitors. In any other situation that would not have cut it, but when you know the pain is because your child, the child you have been feeling inside you, will be coming out for you to meet and hold and love, the monitors were pretty darn exciting!

For anyone out there unsure if they want an edpidural, let me tell you, they are amazing! Once I got mine, the tears stopped immediately. I was actually so comfortable, I fell asleep while I dilated to a 10. In between naps, Alan and I gushed over how crazy and exciting this was. Personally, going through labor this way, quietly, pleasantly, and happily, is the way I want to remember this experience. I'd rather that than brag about having no epidural but Alan seeing a side of me he wishes he could forget. This moment is so amazing and precious, why not keep it that way and put the tears and screaming aside for something less incredible.

Anyways, after five hours of active labor and thirty minutes of pushing, our beautiful son was born!

Anders Chase Hintze, born at 12:00pm on January 31, 2014, weighing 7 lbs 10 oz, 21 1/12 inches long, head 13 1/2 inches. Call me biased but he is absolutely perfect.

Being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done, I'm not going to pretend that it isn't. Suddenly makeup, cute clothes, showering, eating, drinking, sleeping, having free time never happens. And that is what I was told before so it came as no surprise. But what I wasn't ready for was the huge rush of love I immediately felt for this precious, precious child.

Being pregnant with a child is an amazing feeling, but as real as those kicks feel, without a face to the punch it still has a level of surrealness to it. Meeting our son, seeing his little hands and nose, and feeling his curl up on my chest was the best moment of my life. Suddenly eating and sleeping don't even matter, because all I want to do is hold him and smell him. I don't know if anyone's told you this, but babies smell like heaven. Especially when it's your baby. And everything they do is hilarious and adorable.

If I had known when I was pregnant what I know and feel now for our son, I wouldn't have been able to wait nine months to meet him. Every moment of nausea, every ache and pain, would have been handled with complete joy because of who I was getting at the finish line.

Anders is hilarious. He grunts and sighs all the time, even in his sleep, and loves to projectile spit up/pee/poop and shoot for the distance. He smiles when he farts, and he farts a lot. Lucky me gets to see lots of smiles.

Anders we absolutely love you. Welcome home, son. Can't wait to see what you learn next.