What did we do before we had this perfect little guy? Jason Leo, you have brought so much joy to our lives in one short month. We have fallen in love with your adorable little face, alert eyes, and sweet disposition. The past month has been nothing short of amazing!

At one month, you…

…weigh 11 lbs. 4 ounces and measure 22 inches long (at your one month check up, technically 5 days post 1-month mark).

…love sleeping in the rock-n-play in our bedroom, but spend lots of quality time in the swing, boppy lounger, & baby wrap.

…have mastered the art of escaping the swaddle although we still attempt it every night.

…are a champion eater! downing about 4 oz. every 3 hours.

…look just like your daddy!

…definitely enjoy being awake some during the day, and take smaller cat naps throughout.

…have flashed us some killer cute smiles, and I can’t wait until you *really* show us those all.the.time!

…look like your eyes are going to be blue, and, that hair, well it is certainly leaning towards red! :)))

…love making cute little cat noises and grumpy old man grunts while you are sleeping and dreaming.

Our very first month with you looked a lot like this…

I’ve mostly been taking advantage of my iPhone when snapping everyday photos of baby Jason (hence all the instagram photos above), but here are a few of my favorite snapshots off the big camera (still editing all our newborn photos taken by Aunt Kristi)…

He’s here!!! Our beautiful baby boy, Jason Leo Shaidle.

We welcomed this perfect little baby on Thursday, April 14th, 2016 at 12:02PM. He weighed in at a whopping 8lbs. 8oz. and measured 20 inches long! Jason is named after his daddy (Jereme Jason) and his great grandfather (Leo). …and I think he looks exactly like his daddy!

Jason means “healer” and Leo means “Lion.” And he’s nothing short of total adorable newborn baby goodness (as I write this on the eve of my first Mother’s Day, I can’t believe he’s already 3 weeks old! Time, please slow down!).

^^Jason’s cord somehow became knotted as he made his way out into this world. I feel insanely blessed that this did not become an issue.^^

After a cozy 40 weeks and 4 days in my belly, Jason had become a little too comfy, so my wonderful doctor and I decided it was time to hand out eviction notices. My induction was a two-part process, starting on Wednesday night with Cervidil and ending on Thursday morning with Pitocin. It was pretty much smooth sailing until the Pitocin was handed out. I went from zero to hero, so to speak, in a matter of three short hours on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, I don’t think the nurses believed me when I explained my contraction pain had gone from next to nothing to holy-crap-it-feels-like-someone-is-stabbing-me-with-a-million-knives-every-time-i-have-a-contraction. Basically, on a scale of 1 to 10, my pain quickly became a 4 million. I guess they just assumed I was a big woose, and there was no way I could have gone from only being 1.5cm dilated to fully dilated that quickly. Turns out, I can! Poor Jereme got to hear the brunt of my displeasure while laboring and got the fun job of massaging my lower back as hard as humanly possibly during each contraction!

It took a few choice words during said contractions and some downright pleading with the nurses to finally get my request for the epidural granted, and by then, it was a waiting game. I had to wait for the anesthesiologist team to wrap up a surgery they were in and also for them to administer an epi to some other lucky lady who got on the waiting list before me. :((( But F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, after about an hour of waiting, the anesthesiologist made it to our room just before 11AM! Phew! They are miracle workers, I tell ya.

By 11ish, I finally felt comfortable again. I thought I’d have some time to rest in my hospital bed or text my family a few updates, but little did I know, we were about to have this baby!

The nurses checked me just moments after I received the epidural, and boy oh boy were they surprised, or shocked really, to discover that I was fully dilated and the baby was basically on his way out. They rolled me on my side to slow things down and called my doctor to get over to the hospital asap. Meanwhile, I texted my photog friend Amanda (Amanda Hillary Photography) to see if she would be able to also haul it to the hospital in time to photograph the birth! I don’t think anyone, especially me, expected to start pushing out a baby by 11:30AM.

Within minutes my doctor had arrived and I was pushing! From what Jereme tells me, I pushed through a solid 10 to 15 back to back contractions before our son was born.

It still all seems so surreal.

It was a whirlwind of a morning as Jereme and I became parents to the most perfect and healthy little baby boy. We are head over heels in love with him and our hearts could not be any fuller. I have lots to share from our first few weeks at home with Jason, but for now, here are more of the beautiful images from his birthday (all courtesy of the talented Amanda Hillary Photography) and a short *VIDEO* at the very end!

A special note on all of ^^these^^ insanely amazing photos… I was beyond thrilled that Amanda (of the fabulous Amanda Hillary Photography) also made it to the hospital in time to photograph these precious moments for us. I cannot thank her enough! I am in awe of every gorgeous photo she captured and so happy we have Jason’s birth documented in such a beautiful fashion. Thank you, thank you, thank you Amanda!!!