Wow! I feel like so much has happened since my last post in December.
First of all, Happy 2016! 2015 was a great year full of travel, love, family, friends and finding out the best news - that we were expecting a baby!
With the great times that we had in 2015, our family also had a few rough patches toward the end of the year with health and losing an amazing family member. My Uncle Erik was like a second father to me. His loss has been one of the hardest things that I still struggle with and think about every single day. What makes losing him even harder than not having him here for selfish personal reasons, is that he isn't here to meet and make memories with our little man - something that he was looking so forward to. His heroism of being an organ donor and the fact that he was able to save the lives of so many other people upon his passing, makes him even more of a hero in my eyes - and someone that I continue to be so proud of every single day. 
The best thing that took place during my absence from blogging - we welcomed our little man 2 days after our due date. He held out for an awesome day, December 19th... it was my Dad and I's 4th kidney transplant anniversary :)We have a happy, healthy, beautiful baby boy that sure made his momma work hard to bring him into this world! After 32 long (and very rough hours toward the end), Bennett Lee joined us at 1:45 pm, weighing in at 8 lbs 10.3 oz. I would have never made it through the long labor and almost 4 hours of pushing without Eric - he was a saint and I think that he even surprised himself with how calm, patient, caring and supportive he was through it all (someone was paying attention during childbirth class! Or maybe he just felt bad! Whatever it was - I'm so thankful for him!) :)
While in the moment, I was thinking (and I'm sure saying out loud) that I had no idea why people would want to go through childbirth more than one time. After seeing the beautiful baby boy that our amazing doctor put on my chest after he was born, I thought to myself how worth the past 32 hours were (the majority of which were without pain meds) - and thinking how lucky Eric and I were to become parents to such a beautiful baby boy. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean we'll be rushing to have baby #2 anytime soon - haha - it's just amazing how in a split second, after hours of feeling and thinking that the pain and labor would never end, how everything just becomes calm, things are put into perspective and you're reminded after laying eyes on your beautiful baby, just how truly lucky you are.
So - here's to an amazing 2016 and to mommyhood! I'm excited to blog about this new, exciting, exhausting but so rewarding journey and all that I learn along the way - whether those things be easy or hard, beautiful or ugly. It's already been an amazing month so far and I can't believe how fast 2016 is flying by. I'm looking forward to another amazing year full of love, happiness, health and watching our little man grow!
Until next time....
