The end of the beginning

With all of the hustle and bustle of, like, having a baby and stuff, there are a lot of important things we failed to report, and I KNOW you all have just been sitting at the edge of your seats, checking the blog daily wondering WHEN we are going to give updates on our extremely exciting lives!  Well let us backtrack some....The whole reason we went to Colorado in the first place has come to an end.

In May (2012 guys, not like, May 1999), Andrew graduated from Colorado State University with his master's in Marriage and Family Therapy.  Ok..well he really doesn't graduate until like...next week, but he WALKED May 11. 

So he isn't really "walking" here, so much as he is receiving his empty diploma cover

He had one more class he had to take that was in the end of May/beginning of June which means that sweet diploma won't come in the mail until sometime after August commencement but that is neither here nor there. 

SO, nearly all of his family (Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, brother in law, sister in law) came for the occasion which was, in fact, quite a big deal. 

You see, Andrew is the first person on his side of the family (from what I understand) to get a degree higher than his Bachelor's degree.  So it was a party.  My parents came out as well and we all crammed in our tiny little apartment for some fun!

Now, I grew up on Guam, and there is a graduation tradition there (and in Hawaii, and on many other islands, I presume), where you give all kinds of leis to the graduate.  The best kind to get are money leis, but we are poor, so I had no money to give him.  Mama Lemons and Mama Rigdon spent awhile making delicious candy leis, however, and went to the dollar store and purchased many lovely cheap flower leis and Andrew was adorned with them. 

Please note, he was given a green and yellow (CSU's colors) lei to wear during the ceremony and it made it much easier to spot him for photo shoots!

Can you spy Andrew with his bright, fluffy leis?

Now, Andrew was offered this job in dreamy Ohio before he even graduated (ya folks, he is in high demand!).  Just a bit about what he does: He is doing Multi-Systemic Therapy (google it because my explanation won't make it any easier to understand).  In a nutshell he does in-home therapy with the families of kids who have been through the judicial system for one reason or another.

Colorado will always be a special place for us.  It is where we moved right after being married.  It is where we spent the first two years of our marriage.  It is where our first baby was born.  And of course, it is where Andrew earned the degree that is going to help him earn some dollars so we can eat and stuff.  We miss Colorado immensely, but who knows, maybe we will find ourselves back there someday.

A little addition..

Underestimating my size, I thought I could shimmy through the door, I was wrong

A little addition to our family...

So it has been a little while since we have written in our blog (not that we are regular writers anyways) because we have been a little busy.  We've tried to pack as many life changing events into the smallest time span possible.  First and foremost Keane Merrick Rigdon joined our family on June 13th at 12:04 am.  He weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces and was 21 inches long, for those of you who keep track of such things.

Stuck on the ground, Andrew refusing to help me up until he took a picture, 8.5 months pregnant, note Andrew's shoe

Now, a lot of people give the whole labor story, but I will take into consideration your feelings and your attention span and give you the important details while trying not to give you T.M.I.  Keane was due June 12, we did not know the gender before he was born.  This is because my dad and I made a bet that we would not be able to wait to find out the baby's gender until the birth.  He promised to pay us....a sizeable sum of money....if we waited to find out.  My dear father thought we would not take him up on this offer, apparently he forgot how poor we are.  ANY-WHAYS

June 12 early morning: Contractions, go to the doctor for my routine checkup, they tell me it won't be for a could days

 My last doc's visit, due date, having  a stress test where they listen to baby's heart beat for like....ever.  I spent most of the last month in this arm-over-my-head position to encourage baby to GET OUT FROM UNDER MY RIBS

 June 12 afternoon water breaks, go for a walk, go to Wal-Mart for something to do, eat a quesadilla, more contractions; June 12, 7pm, call the hospital and find out there is only one room left with a bathtub so go to the hospital June 12 at 7:15pm

 

 Last picture, exactly 9 months pregnant, due date June 12, 2012, just before being admitted

 Our "Disneyland" picture (thanks to Lauren Lloyd, now Fuller, for this idea), Andrew didn't like this one cause his "midriff" was showing

 So we took this one as well..

More contractions, worse contractions, pushing, more pushing, more pushing, Keane came, happy, healthy and unmedicated.

Now, let me say something: everyone says you immediately forget about the pain when you see your baby and hold him or her in your arms.  Folks, I still have not forgotten about the pain.  The oxytocin did NOT give me warm fuzzies and make it so I could run, jump and dance the moment Keane was born.  I love this boy, but I also have a very clear memory of everything that happened.The Pain is why people look so haggard after it's all over.

We were SO lucky in the fact that I (obviously) was done working, and Andrew was done with school.  For two weeks we got to stay home together and get to know Keane and prepare ourselves for the next big adventure.  Andrew's Mom was there for a couple days, then my Mom came out and was with us for awhile.  Let me tell you something, for the first week my mom took Keane during the night except when I needed to feed him, BEST THING EVER.  We got to sleep!

 Papa and the Boy

We then decided it would be a good idea to move across the country with a 2 week old.  That means that in the two weeks before the move (aka the first two weeks of Keane's life), we had to try and pack up our house and get ready to move to Columbus, Ohio.  My parents offered from the moment we thought we might be moving, to help us pack and move out to Ohio.  We took three days to get from Fort Collins to Columbus and a full train of people came with us: Mom, Dad, Sister Bekka, Grandma, Andrew, Brittney and Keane.

Now we are here, we are getting settled, Andrew has started his job.  After two days at work he had to go to Pittsburgh (about 3 hrs. away) for one week for a training program for his job.  Luckily, Bekka stayed here and so I had her and SHE watched Keane during the night so I could sleep, because if I was by myself the entire week I might have died.

So now we have had a few "REAL" weeks.  Andrew working, Keane and me at home, no Moms, no Bekkas, no family.  Maybe they could come back?

In the end (or the beginning?) Andrew and I decided, Hey, if we are going to make one drastic change in our lives, why not just change EVERYTHING?  And so, I quit my job, had a baby, Andrew graduated, got a job, and we moved across the country to a state and city that neither of us have ever been to and know nothing about, farther away from our families and people we know and love.  We both love a good adventure and we figured this is going to be one major adventure!