Happy New Year!

I started this yesterday and finished it today. It is long since I have been neglecting my updates so I apologize for both things. Hope you all had a merry Christmas and have a happy safe New Year!

Andrew’s first Christmas was awesome! We went to Andy’s dad’s side on Christmas Eve for the traditional Goin celebration. It was a hard one this year being the first without Granny, the mother of the 6 siblings that are now becoming grandparents. But it was a happy one too to have Andrew as the new baby and to find out one of our cousins is pregnant again and we’re getting another boy in Andrew’s generation. No girls yet, they have all been boys.

Andrew was so good. He was tired but he let people hold him and he nursed in the downstairs bedroom no problems. Grandmomma was there with us for the first year and she enjoyed time with him more than meeting new relatives! She played with him on her lap several times while he looked at tree lights and the older kids playing with their toys.

It was his first time to see other babies, though the other babies were all over one year old they seemed quite interested in each other.

I hope we don’t have to wait a whole year to see them again!

He even took a short nap on Grandmother Lorna’s shoulder. It is so funny to see her with Andrew. He’s her first grandson and she seems to go right back to what she did with her youngest son and just bounce him and rock back and forth with him. It worked and he slept for about 20 minutes and was good to go for another hour after that!

Then that night Grandmomma stayed with us in Sanger and we all opened our presents to each other. Andrew was awake for most of that. He went to sleep without a bath that night too.

We were so anxious for the next morning and still processing through the evenings events that I think Andrew was the only one who got much sleep that night! I fell asleep before Andy though.

I got up with Andrew a little after 6 so he could spend some time with me and Grandmomma and get in a nap before going to Grandmother and Granddaddy’s for Christmas morning.

We had fun and opened stockings and got Andrew all dressed up in his cute little Tree jammy’s from Grandmother before we left.

He did take a short nap at home and one in the car on the way there. He even slept through it when we drove past a farm where a calf had gotten out of the barbed wire fence. Andy pulled over and turned around. It could have been very dangerous for a driver had the calf wandered in to the road! It is a very curvy 2-laned back road. So Andy “Ya-ed” the calf until it ran back through the hole in the fence. Then he scared all the cows back away from the fence so they might not try to get out again. At least not right away. It was chilly and windy and Andy had a good time doing it anyway!!

Then we got to Grandmother’s and Andrew was still so sleepy. He wanted to spend time with Grandmother and Meema though so he didn’t want to sleep right away! Grandmother tried to put him to sleep in her room but he needed to just be rocked on his own. We didn’t have his trusty bouncy seat with us but she has an infant carrier that he likes to lay in too. I put it by me at the kitchen table and rocked him and he fell asleep pretty quickly. He even slept through his cousins (2 and 6) coming over very excited and yelling.

We all enjoyed Granddaddy Ken’s famous Christmas breakfast. We look forward to it every year!

Then we moved to the living room for gift time. There were so many presents under the tree, they weren’t even under the tree!! Andrew woke up for a short while and sat in his bumbo and looked at a few of his gifts. Then he got hungry so I sat in a couch corner and fed him under a blanket while his Daddy opened gift after gift after gift from his grandmas for Andrew! Andrew eventually fell back asleep and nothing we did would wake him again. He slept through pretty much the whole present opening!!

Grandmother and Granddaddy and Meema gave Andrew so many gifts! He got tons of toys and clothes and things. I am still un-packaging the toys and washing the clothes. Can anyone tell me why they put so much packaging on those toys??? Such royal pains in the you-know-what!

Meema gave him the cutest little rocking chair. It isn’t one of those stuffed chairs that are all over now, he’d have had that squished in a month! It’s a nice wicker type white rocker that is sturdy and I can see him spending many hours rocking the thing to its limit! He’s still a little small for it now, but I am sure it won’t be long until he’s filling it out!

He had such a busy weekend before Christmas too. We took him to Lake Ray Roberts Friday night and Saturday afternoon to visit some other relatives on the Goin side, Andy’s aunts and uncles. They were all enjoying holding Andrew. He did pretty well. He napped at the site in his stroller both days! We can’t wait to take him camping. We’ll be in a tent of course not nice RVs like they had. But we plan to get started as soon as the weather turns nice again.

Andrew also turned 12 weeks old on Wednesday this past week. Huge birthday I think. Sad that time is already going so fast. He seems to learn and do something new each day, whether it be a new noise he can make or just longer in his exersaucer or at tummy time. He has been grabbing things on the exersaucer and trying to put them in his mouth. He stays in tummy time for a very long time now, though he prefers it on a lap! He was on his tummy for quite a while this morning as we put the tree away, he and I, and we talked about everything we were doing. He talks so much now! I wish I could spell the things he says. Mostly ‘Naaaa’ and ‘Nnngaaaa.’ And several various vowels.

I think he may be hitting another growth spurt. Either that or his tummy is just bigger. He used to never nurse from two sides in one sitting and the last couple of days at more than one feeding I have had to switch sides. Plus he’s sleeping on average 12 hours a night and still napping 3-4 hours during the day. He does play hard though and when he’s awake, he’s very alert.

Everyone at Christmas couldn’t believe he was only 12 weeks old. They all said he was so big for one thing but also so alert and really looking at people and things. Trying to learn as much as he can.

I love taking him with me around the house as I do chores and talking to him about what I am doing. Sometimes he’s in his bouncy, sometimes bumbo, and today he was in his exersaucer watching me do dishes and sweeping up tree mess. I think he learns a lot just watching me be. I also talk with him and he answers.

Andy works hard most of the day on his computer taking care of the various sites we have but once he turns around and starts talking to Andrew, Andrew’s face lights up and he giggles and gives one of those big open mouthed baby smiles. You know the ones, they take up the whole face and have no teeth! The cutest for sure!

One of our favorite times of the day is bath time! We all spend time together as a family and it’s so great. Andy and Andrew usually in the tub though sometimes we switch and Mommy gets in the tub. Andrew likes to go ‘swimmin’ and this week he prefers to swim on his tummy and kick his feet out behind him. It is seriously the cutest darn thing. He only gets soap every other day but we bathe him every day to keep with the routine. After bath he gets his swaddle and nurses to sleep. Most nights go just like that for now. The time may be different but the routine remains the same.

Andrew is also really exploring his voice. It seems he’s making a new sound every day. He definitely talks to me.

I am also very lucky to have a good sleeper. He fights it sometimes if he’s over tired or too excited about something. But on a normal day he’s only awake for almost 2 hours in the morning before he’s ready for another nap! Great chance for me to sweep the floor or finish dishes or whatever. He’ll only sleep 30-45 minutes usually but it’s just what he needs to keep up his good mood!

Tummy time is becoming more of a favorite and less of an exercise. He can roll from his tummy to his back when he is on a bed or the futon. Sometimes he needs a little help but he’s done it several times on his own. Scared Daddy one day when he set him down and turned to do something and Andrew rolled himself right off the pillow. Good thing it was in the middle of the bed! We are keeping a much greater eye on him when he is on a bed now.

He still sleeps with us at night. I want to put him in his crib to start the night, after bath and all, but it is so cold in there and I worry the cats will jump in the crib. And I just cannot shut the door on him. Even with a monitor. It’s hard enough to be away from him in the same room when he’s asleep. I miss him. I couldn’t bear him being in the other room with the door closed. Now he sleeps in his swing by Daddy’s desk until I go to bed. Daddy is always sad when I take him too, but by that time he is ready to eat again so I just nurse him in bed. If I even suggest to Andy that we put him in his crib, he immediately shoots it down too. He says he’s still too young to be so far away from us, especially at night. I will admit I do not sleep as well as I could with no baby in the bed. But I do sleep better than I would if the baby was in the other room! Plus we can stay in bed much longer. Andrew may not sleep the whole time, I feel him kicking me a lot as he works out his farts, but at least we get to lie down for a long time. We are often in bed for 10 hours. It’s hard to get much sleep when he wakes me up with farts, kicks and needing to eat, but I know I’d sleep less if I just heard him doing it on a monitor from across the apartment. Especially since I’d be getting up to feed him and check on him! And if I am not there to pat him right away he may wake up entirely and then neither of us would be getting any sleep at all! I do sometimes worry about how we will get him into his own bed someday but I try not to obsess about it. We may just have to put his bed in our room or something. Once we have another baby, the newborn will be in bed with us and Andrew will be too big to share the bed with a new baby. But for now he’s only barely 3 months old and still has a long way to go being a baby!

I love just holding him. He sure isn’t lacking any loving in this family! In the mornings I have a hard time waking up so after his diaper change I will just sit in my computer chair with him and hold him. He doesn’t always need to eat since he often nurses right before we get up, that’s usually what wakes me. But I will just hold him and he holds his head up and looks around the room. I hug him and tell him he’s so awesome and I love him.

Yesterday he gave some super cute open mouth kisses. We got it on video too. He used to just open his mouth after I gave him a kiss and now he’s opening it preemptively. He did it to Daddy which is too adorable for words, and then he gave his Santa toy big open mouth kisses too! Thank God we have a video camera!

Speaking of which. We gave the grandparents all a DVD with various videos of Andrew for Christmas. I will try and get Andy to upload a couple of them to youtube or something so I can post them here for everyone to see.

Remember to check the photo album. I can’t keep up with it as much as I’d like, I have a baby to hold you know! But I do try. We didn’t get many pictures at Christmas but we got good video so again, I will try and get them uploaded. I’d do it on my computer but my video editing software crashes my machine!

Happy New Year everyone!! Be safe.

2 month check up

I actually wrote this 2 days ago but the blogger system was down. So here it is a couple of days late:

Well, our Little Mister as we call him may have had his 2 month check up, but we were told he is the size of an average 4 month old! My oh my, what a big boy we have. I really must keep up with my exercises, which I have not been, so I can keep up with him!

He is super healthy of course. He also got his shots. L Made us very sad. He screamed in such pain when the nurse did it Andy and I just held each other’s hands trying to calm down. Then when she was done, and she was very quick about it, Daddy scooped him up and sang to him and walked with him. The two of us got him to calm enough to leave with singing walking and nursing. Such a traumatic experience for us all!

He hadn’t slept much the night before because we all got up so early due to a storm. Any snow and ice in Texas is cause for closings so we weren’t sure if there’d even be an appointment. But we drove home in the sleet and all slept in bed most of the day. He was a little sore but overall did awesome. The next night was rough though. He was obviously feeling the effects of the shots, and Andy and I had a hard time cheering him up. We did get Andrew calm in the tub for a while but you can only do that for so long. He wasn’t so sick he didn’t eat or anything so there was no alarm, it was just the worst we’d ever seen him as far as discomfort goes. We probably should have giving him Tylenol but in the moment we just couldn’t be sure it was the shots that had made him ill and he had no fever. He’s had zero problems since then so now we know it must have been the shots and we’ll give him some medicine if it happens again next time.

He really is such a good baby!

Monday was his first big awake day! He stayed awake for about 9 hours total and that’s a record. Plus he’s slept through the night every night this week so far. He’s stayed awake about the same amount each day since and I am thrilled! I thought at first it was because his Meema came over but since he did it again yesterday I am thinking it is his newest phase of life. We play more now. He isn’t really grasping toys yet, I mean literally grasping with his hands for them, but he seems to like to look at them briefly. Mostly he still just enjoys being talked to. He is also getting much better at his exersaucer but he doesn’t play with the toys on it, just likes to be upright looking around.

Andy and I have been debating what to get him for Christmas. Our family will probably have the tradition of one nice big present every year. Not a bunch of filler gifts from us. We will see how that goes as he grows up anyway. For this first year just one gift is needed. I had wanted to get him a mirror toy and some blocks. But we saw this really neat seat online called a Bumbo. It holds them upright and encourages them to use the right muscles for sitting, and they can use it before they can sit up and long after. Now I am torn about it. It doesn’t seem like much of a fun toy but it may be just the right thing. Andrew seems to love sitting up when he’s held up and in his exersaucer. I have put a mirror low on the wall for him too which we could set his Bumbo in front of if it’s what we decide on. Maybe wooden blocks will make a better gift for his birthday or sometime around 6 months. I do want him to have a set of good wooden blocks to play with so we’ll see. Still trying to decide on that one.

We took his Christmas pictures this week so check the photo album. His Thanksgiving ones still aren’t up but I am going to work on that today so be looking! Plus I have of course taken just some of the sweetest pics of him around the house so be sure to check on the regular album as well.

He is such a joy to watch grow and change. I get so excited for each new phase! He is quite a mellow content baby for the most part. He seems happy to just hang with me in the kitchen while I do dishes or make my morning coffee if I am talking to him. Until he gets hungry that is! And let me tell you a 2 month old that is 14 pounds 4 ounces and 25 and ¼ inches long, is hungry a lot!

First Thanksgiving

We are learning more and more about our boy every day and his unique and individual personality. He is a sensitive baby. As he grows and becomes more aware of his surroundings and wakes up more and more each day, he is becoming sensitive to atmosphere. He has always been sensitive to position. When being held if he decides the position you have him is no longer working, he yelps a few times to let you know it’s time to try something new. Often times he just wants to be put down into his bouncy seat, breaking the heart of whoever wants to hold him. Now we are starting to see he is also cautious of new places. Most places we have been since Andrew has started ‘waking up’ we have been many times before, Grandmas’ homes, friends’ homes, things like that, but since he can now see where he is and he seems to know it is not HIS home, he gets upset. At least the first few times we are there. He has gradually gotten used to a few of the places we visit.

I have noticed also a curiosity developing. He is starting to prefer to be held upright or sitting up instead of lying in his bouncy, unless he’s sleepy. He wants to look around more. He is holding his head up very well, though it is still quite wobbly, and he is even enjoying the exersaucer we were given as a gift from an online friend. His feet don’t quite touch the bottom but when it’s stuffed with a blanket he can hold himself up.

His limbs are not yet his own, he still startles and doesn’t have control of his arms so he can’t really play with toys. But he is enjoying looking at them and likes it when they move, make noise or light up. We’ve been able to lay him under his gym and he really sees the things hanging there. Also his mobile in his crib is being noticed. We had to go get batteries for everything finally! Lol

He gets most upset with crowds of people. We took him to my mom’s church group so everyone could see him. There were a few young kids running around making loud noises as kids do and it really seemed upsetting to Andrew. I think he wanted to see everything but was tired and hungry and couldn’t calm down enough to eat and sleep. He was quite over-stimulated.

Because of that we decided it would be best to keep him home for Thanksgiving. Originally we wanted to take him to a family get together, but due to the distance we would have had to drive him and the number of people and children to be there, we thought it best to just stay home. It would have been awful to drive him over and hour and have him wake up in a strange place with tons of strange faces and noises and then when he got upset and we had to leave (we don’t keep him places when he gets upset!), we’d have had to drive him the over an hour back home again. By Christmas hopefully he’ll be a little better equipped at handling these situations. But the family get-togethers we go to then are much closer also so if he is upset and we have to leave, we can get home quickly and meet whatever needs he has.

Andrew is such a treat to have around! He is seldom fussy. He only gets cranky when he’s tired really. Sometimes when he has gas but he is getting better at getting that out, and mommy and daddy are getting good at helping him get it out! When he’s tired he often wants to fight it so then he’ll cry. But he sleeps through the night most nights. We do have an occasional 2am night, but it’s usually due to him sleeping too much in the evening and he just wants to sit and hang out some more. There has been maybe one night in the recent weeks of him crying with gas till 2am.

I am so grateful to have Andy here to help with Andrew too! I couldn’t do it without him for sure! He won’t go to sleep if the baby is crying. He wants to help. Neither of us can usually sleep if Andrew is upset, we just want to make him comfortable and happy. And let me tell you, when he smiles at us and giggles in our faces, our hearts melt and it makes us want to do whatever we did to get him to do that over and over again!

Andrew still has most of his hair. In fact it looks like it’s all still there, but his head got bigger and no new hair has grown in! It is the softest hair in the world and he likes it when we gently rub it.

His favorite time so far seems to be bath time. He loves his face time with mommy and daddy and he gets the most of it in the tub. We are both there and all of our attention is on him. He also seems to really enjoy being in the water. Andy and I both enjoy being in water also so we’ll be a water loving family for sure. As soon as he can hold his head up a bit better, I want to take him into a shower with us too.

He is still exclusively nursing. No bottles. Andy has tried to give him a bottle of water and Andrew didn’t seem to know what to do with it. He just chewed it! But I wouldn’t mind if he took some water from a bottle on occasion too. Just in case he needs to be comforted and I am not around.

I think he is in the middle of a growth spurt right now. He has been sleeping more than last week and he eats for longer periods of time. Not more often, just longer when he is eating. I can’t even imagine how big he will be for his appointment next week!

I am not looking forward to his next appointment as much as I am because he gets his first round of shots. He did very well with them in the hospital but again, he is more aware now and if his body is feeling some new sensations he may react to it. But I am very excited to find out how long he is and how much he weighs.

Be sure to keep checking the album linked at the right! We have pictures from Thanksgiving we will put up very soon. I also plan to take some Christmas pics of him this week that will be put up there as well. Remember to let me know if there are any pics you see that you want a copy of. We can order it for you and have it shipped to you or sent somewhere you can pick up!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you all have as much to be thankful for as we do!

Size 2?

Today is Andrew’s 6 week old birthday. Happy Birthday Andrew! And wow has he changed. We are trying so hard to keep up with pictures (check link on the side of page!) but I feel like if we miss a day, we miss a lot, and it happens.

Last week we went to my mom’s home for dinner. She had out her digital scale and we wanted to weigh Andrew. He doesn’t go back to the doctor until the end of the month and even an estimated weight would be cool to know. So I weighed myself first and was pleased to see I am still losing weight at a reasonable rate and then weighed me holding Andrew and did the math. Um, 11 pounds. 11 pounds? At 5 weeks old? The doctor told us at our 2 week visit if he kept gaining like he had been he’d be 12-13 pounds by 2 months. Yeah, 5 weeks. And my back has been feeling every pound of it. I have been good for 6 weeks and not done any strenuous exercise but now my back is paying the price. Needless to say, I started working out again yesterday. Little walks are not enough, we’re talking push ups and back strengthening stuff.

So this week we went to another friends’ home, just a couple of days ago, to hang out and discuss the big weekend coming up. For those of you who don’t know, Nintendo is releasing its new console this weekend. Andy is a huge Nintendo fan and lover of all things gaming so he’s been saving money since last summer to get this machine. Unlike most new consoles, this one is actually affordable by us normal folks!

So anyway, at our friends’ home we asked to borrow their scale. It had after all been a week since we weighed our little man last. I got on and was again pleased to see another pound or so gone, then took my baby. Um... 13 pounds? Could that be right? Let’s try this again. OK. 13 pounds. Even if the scale is off with the weight, could it be off with the math? I don’t think so.

So yeah.

I use cloth diapers most days. Some days if he’s kept me up most of the night, are disposable days. Days we are out and about, he gets disposables and nights, he wears them as well. We co-sleep and the cloths don’t soak up his massive amounts of pee!

Well, yesterday I had to retire the size 1s. I kept him in the disposables all day just to use up the last of the package of 1s we had, and this morning when I was planning to take him back to bed, I busted open a size 2. And it wasn’t such a tight squeeze. He’ll be in his clothies today, which are getting small too.

Fortunately Andy’s mom bought us diapers of all sizes and we are stocked up. We also have plenty of 1s left for our next baby even! And should have plenty of 2s to last however long he can wear this size! Like what a week or so?

Also, fortunately, my mom bought us good cloth diapers, so I already have the next size up, I just need to get them washed and prepped. I really didn’t expect to be doing it quite this soon!

Our big boy!

He is holding his head up well, but not for too too long. We put him in his exersaucer for some neck exercise at least once a day for as long as he can stand.

And this week, he started laughing. He laughed at me on Monday. When he had finished nursing he looked up at me and saw me. He broke out in a huge smile and started giggling! Oh yeah, my heart melted. That was no gas bubble, that was an “I love my Mommy!”

Then yesterday he laughed at Andy! You never heard such joy from a grown man! He’s been doing it at least once a day all week and we can’t wait to see what he does next.

Still doesn’t take a pacifier or suck his thumb so that’ll be neat to see if he picks one of those up, especially once he notices those hands of his!

Thanks to all the grandmas for all your help!!

We love this whole family so much and are looking forward to showing off the new boy for the holiday season!

One Month Old Already!!

The official one month birthday was passed yesterday and our little man is getting huge! We haven’t been able to weigh him as we have no scale nor access to one, but let me tell you, our backs can attest to his weight gain for sure! When he is extra tired and doesn’t want to sleep and when he has his minor fussy hour or two at night, my arms, elbows and lower back feel the burn from walking him around the apartment! I tried to pass it on to Andy to carry him in the papoose carrier and we take him outside, but even that is wearing Andy out! Definitely time to start working out, he’s only going to get bigger!

We don’t see the doc till the end of this month so I may have to find a scale before then to weigh him. The curiosity is killing me!

We’ve been getting some real smiles from him every day and it is absolutely amazing! In fact just a bit ago, I was nursing him and singing a lullaby and every time I started singing, he’d grin at me! So adorable

!.

His Granddaddy and Grandma stopped by today for a very welcome surprise visit. Our place is a mess but it was so good to see them. And Andrew was quite fascinated by his Granddaddy. He is totally learning to be more aware of people and surroundings! He even smiled for Granddaddy, too cute! Of course Granddaddy wants to take mommy’s baby out hunting and riding on his bike but we’ll have to wait a few years before we can even discuss such adventures! :D

We had a great Halloween. Went to Grandma’s dressed in the costume she got for Andrew. He was a little frog and super cute of course! There are pics on our photo album and the link is on the side of the page.

I also got some cute shots of baby and Daddy at bath time – no real nudity so don’t worry! But it is about the cutest thing I personally have ever seen!

We are all doing well. It is hard to figure out our timing on things still. He doesn’t usually sleep or eat in any real pattern so it’s hard to plan around him. And it seems the last couple of days he’s been eating more often and more at a time too so maybe he’s about to get even bigger! He slept a whole lot yesterday but not as much today. He was up for four straight hours thanks to our visitors. He was sure impressed with his Granddaddy! I think he likes deep voices because eh likes his Daddy’s voice a lot too. And Granddaddy did a lot of talking to him.

It is as usual a struggle to live in the moment. We want to enjoy every day, we know they will be gone and over too quickly. But at the same time there’s such a sense of wanting him to acquire new skills every day. He’s getting better at holding his head up and there’re so many toys and things we can show him once he can hold his head up! And in a few months we can start playing more games. Right now our games really consist of, following the rattle with his eyes, turning his head towards Daddy’s voice, holding his head up on his tummy, or just some good face time and conversation. He does a lot fo grunting and talking of his own so we try to answer him and make his noises back at him as well as talking to him. He won’t usually let me read to him right now. I miss our reading times at night like we had when he was in my belly! But he seems to prefer my eye contact now. I can sometimes hold him on my lap at the computer and read a few news stories before he gets bored or just needs to move.

I hear him calling right now so off I go!

3 Week Birthday

Our Andrew Scott is 3 weeks old today and I can’t believe how big he’s already gotten! He’s gained at least 2 pounds since birth and over 3 inches. He’s such a big boy. And I see him changing every day. He looks more alert and I can see him growing. He’s even already outgrown some clothes!

All this, I feel grateful to say, is thanks to my breast milk. I love nursing him. He’s so good at it too! He latched on properly almost immediately and hasn’t had a problem since!

It really is the most amazing thing in the world. Growing him from my body, inside my body was pretty awesome but there’s just something even more incredible about making his food from my body. Not just feeding him through my blood. I make his food! And he eats it from me. I can’t describe for anyone who hasn’t experienced this how cool it is. It makes me feel a connection to him on a level that we cannot see with our eyes.

If he’s napping and I see him stir or hear him grunt and coo, I will produce milk. I can feel it coming in! Thankfully I have gotten a free manual pump from WIC and I use that to start storing up some reserves whenever I get that.

Sometimes he needs to nurse for just a minute to help him fall asleep. Sometimes he wants to eat a full meal. Sometimes he just wants to look up at me. I can’t wait until he starts to really smile!

We are not on any consistent schedule just yet. I feel it is too early to try and force him in to one, but we are trying to follow his lead and cater to him. I feed him on demand and during parts of the day, that is every hour! We are back to about every 2 hours at night though, we were at every hour for about 2 nights last weekend. I thought I’d never be able to get out of bed!

Andy and I have rapidly turned our days and nights back around. I go to bed with my son at about 1030 or 11. He’s usually been asleep for about 4 hours already before that. I just started putting him in another room to sleep for that time. It’s been hard for me, but I just get up and walk in there to look at him. And it seems fair to him to give him a nice dark room to sleep in instead of with us in the living room while the lights are all on and noise and such, just because I want him close! It is still hard for me. I miss him every moment we are apart right now.

I must confess it is still a bit difficult having him separated from my body. Maybe that’s why the nursing is so special too. I still feel completely needed and connected to him then. And at night when we sleep, I can feel him.

The first few nights home when he slept next to me, I could feel his little feet kicking my belly from the outside and found it quite comforting. After months of feeling him every night kicking me from the inside, it helped a lot.

He is such a good baby! He is gassy though. I mean he farts a lot! Good thing he can get it out most of the time. He does get a little fussy when he’s stuck and he grunts a lot I think because he is working the gasses out. But it’s so cute. He also grunts when he’s ready to eat, right before he starts to cry for it. I am learning to read his hunger cues. Though I sometimes still mistake gas for hunger. Then he just pukes on me and then burps, and he feels all better and can eat again! We’ve had to take a few baths together after a bit of a vomiting on mommy! I love it!

Right now Daddy is taking baths with him almost every night. It helps me a lot. Andy gets in the tub and holds him while I wash him off. It’s a lot easier than trying to get Andrew to stay in any of the other things we have for him. He’s too big! And it increases the bonding with Daddy. Andrew will just lie in Andy’s arms and stare up into his eyes the whole time. It’s adorable! Every now and then he’ll glance over at me as I wash him and be like, ‘Oh you’re here too, ok.’

Sometimes, when Andy is the only one who can calm Andrew down when he’s upset or fussy, I get sad and feel like I am just a boob. Just a food source and not good at making him feel better in any other way. But then I realize that Andy and I are different people, and we both have special things about us we can offer our child and they are different things unique to us, and that is what is important. And I am not just a boob to my baby. I am a great source of comfort for him many times. But sometimes he really just needs his Daddy.

I couldn’t be happier!

Especially now that we are getting some sleep and not going to 4 doctor visits a week!

Scenes of Andrew

Just some things of the baby around the home. He is only on his first weekend in most of these clips and much bigger now. We'll get more video made of him soon.

Baby Belly Growing Video

All the belly pictures put together to watch it grow. YIKES I got big!

Finally Got Our Baby!

We’ve been home for almost a week now and it seems like the time has been flying by already!

Andrew Scott Goin was born on October 4^th at 847am after over 12 hours of labor.

I must say, I puzzled quite a bit about what labor would be like and feel like before it happened. I read accounts from women after they’d had their babies and what their labor experiences had been. They all agreed it was the most pain they’d ever had, yet I could not imagine it. Well, let me tell you, it was the worst pain I have ever had!

It started Tuesday at my weekly doctor visit where he stripped my membranes, a kind of natural induction. We also scheduled an official induction for one week later if he didn’t come on his own by then. Because of this, the doc wanted us to have a couple of procedures done to check the baby, a sonogram for measurement, movement and to see breathing and a non-stress test to check his heart rate with his movements. Unfortunately we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and my little pumpkin was asleep for his sono and wouldn’t move or do his practice breathing. This concerned the doc so much so that while we were at the Labor and Delivery having the NST done, he said to go home and return the next morning for a follow up sono. It was neat being on the monitors because it affirmed for me that the pains I’d been having for a couple of days actually were contractions! And I honestly thought they weren’t that bad. Painful and not what I thought they’d be, which was why I didn’t know they were contractions, but not so bad I didn’t think I could handle it.

Then we went home and things got bad fast. I started having very regular contractions almost immediately after we got home and I was bleeding from my earlier doctor visit. Andy was timing my contractions on the computer and the closest ones were about 3 minutes apart so he said, we needed to go. I was really afraid we’d go all the way to the hospital only to be sent home in false labor and I couldn’t bare the idea of leaving there with an empty car seat! But I said we could go after I took a shower and shaved my legs, you know how it is! That was easier said then done with contractions coming minutes apart. But I made it through that and washed my hair and got it dried and Andy was rushing me out the door!

We got to the hospital and got all checked in and hooked back up. Our nurse was very nice and I told her I hope we can stay; she seemed to think without even checking me that this baby was coming tonight. I guess working L&D for almost 20 years you get an instinct about such things.

She was very nice and understanding about my birth plan but reminded me that this is going to get worse and there’s no need to suffer when I don’t have too. And it can slow labor when I am not relaxed and distress the baby so she encouraged us to stay open minded. Which Andy and I had already decided to be anyway. The fear of the epidural came mostly from the needle in the spine thing and the fear of it being messed up, but we had no idea what we were getting in to.

Between contractions at this point I felt so good, almost euphoric. It was like the moments of pain were so bad that it made the moments of ‘normal’ feel like extra good!

I got in the tub for a while and labored when I’d been laying on the bed laboring in pain for a couple of hours. The grandmothers on Andy’s side were there being supportive and after I got in the tub, my mom showed up. The tub helped but after about an hour there I felt like I wanted to sit on solid ground again. I was already starting to think that I couldn’t do this. The moments of euphoria were getting shorter and shorter!

I managed to labor for about 6 hours medication free but as the contractions got closer and closer, I needed something to help me. I wanted to try the IV drugs first because of my fears of an epidural although I had heard some women say the IV drugs didn’t help. This turned out to be my experience also!

The IV drugs made me feel like I was so doped up and out of it. The nurse said I needed to rest and try and sleep, but I would get sleepy between contractions and then wake up for every one and feel all of it! So that was a bummer. Didn’t help much at all really.

My mom and Andy’s mom were so helpful during this time. Tressie had to leave since she was on call but she was back in time for the birth. Our mom’s would rub my hips and legs through my contractions one on each side as I moaned and groaned and was probably a total bitch. Plus I could hear them all chatting in the background of my doped up mind and it soothed me.

Andy was so sweet and comforting to me. He kept telling me how proud of me he was and how strong I was being and helping me to remember to breath. He was an awesome coach and handled seeing his wife in such pain very well.

Shortly after the meds were given maybe 2 hours, I have no concept of the time, I was getting worse. It felt like I had no time to relax between contractions, and my water wasn’t breaking, and I wasn’t progressing very fast. The doctor came in and said he wanted to break my water and I freaked. I knew once that happened the contractions would really kick it up a notch or two and I was already getting such feelings of fear when I could feel each one approaching.

I cannot tell you if you have never had kids what this pain was. Just like I could not have been told beforehand myself. All I can say is it was much much more than I thought it would be and unfortunately I was unprepared and unable to handle it. I told Andy I couldn’t do it. I said, that’s it, I can’t do this anymore, I’m so scared. He went and talked with the doctor and the nurse about me having an epidural. I wanted one at this point because I was more afraid of the pain of the next contraction than of life long paralysis from a missed needle in the spine! He felt better after talking with them and we agreed I’d try it out. I am so glad I did. I always used to say I’d try anything once, so I am glad I got to experience the epidural. I had a little guilt about not going completely drug free and then some about getting the IV drugs because they doped me up so much, but I am over that now. I feel like I had a complete labor experience. I made it for half of it with nothing and experienced that, a few hours of IV help, which I will never do again, and an epidural, which I will get next time if I need any help. Perhaps if I had been more prepared and known what to expect and my body had done it before, as will be the case with the next child, I can make it through with nothing. Though to be honest I couldn’t imagine pushing him out without the epi!

So after I got that the doc was going to come back and break my water and they were going to start pitocin to speed the process. I didn’t want the pitocin, I wanted my baby to want to come out! I really felt like he did though. That whole day I’d felt like he wants to come out. And the nurse managed to get my water to break on my next check and after that we were rolling.

It was probably another hour or so maybe even over 2 before it was actually time to push. We made it through shift change!

Two things went wrong with the epi that had concerned me and been partial reasons why I didn’t want it. In hindsight, I’d rather have it than not, even with these things. The first one was, it didn’t work too well on both sides. My left side was numb but my right was not. And as time went on, it wore off completely on my right side, which had been my most painful side all along! Of course! I ended up getting a second dose about an hour or so (who knows my time concept was so screwy!) before time to push. This led to my other problem, I couldn’t walk for about half the day. But that was kind of cool! So yeah, overall, thumbs up to the epi.

The moment arrived, I was complete, the doc was called and my new nurse told me it was time to start some light pushing. I am getting a little teary right now just thinking about it and how it felt in that moment knowing I’d see my son very soon. She told Andy how to help and we did some little pushes to move his head down in to position. Then she coached me on some smaller pushes to keep him there until the doc came in.

It wasn’t long before the doctor arrived and he said I looked much better than the last time he saw me and let’s do this!

I won’t get too graphic but I do want to say I pushed about 3 really hard pushes before his head came out. Then short break and maybe 3 more pushes total with Daddy’s help and this little baby’s body was laid across my lap with all this gorgeous hair. All fingers and toes and major parts were accounted for, and I wanted to nurse him right away, but once the cord was cut by the doc the nurse took him to his little bed by my bed and cleaned him up a little while the doc fixed me. Andy videoed the babyl from that point on and I watched him as he almost burst in to tears while the nurse cleaned our first son.

It was so amazing and awesome and the greatest thing I have ever done. He was returned to me and I nursed him immediately and he was a pro! Latched right on and knew what to do. I felt an immediate connection to this little being, this little human, that I’ve never felt before.

We had wanted these first few moments to be just for us and our newly born family and the grandmothers respected that for only a few moments. Soon though they couldn’t stand it and had to come it. It was fine. He was in our arms at last and nothing else mattered.

He’s so perfect. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in all the world. We have really enjoyed him the first week. We are so exhausted, more than I’ve ever been in my whole life. Nursing is hard work. He needs to eat every few hours so I don’t sleep more than 3 hours at a time and I am lucky to do that once a 24 hour period and then get a couple more catnaps in as well. But he’s awesome. I’ll tell you more about our experiences with him next time. For now, see the videos. And check the link for our family album!

Our Family Photo Album, check back often, most pics will go here from now on instead of in the blog posts. If you want any prints, email me and we will get them for you!

No Baby No Rules

We felt a ton better this week after seeing our doctor. Not only did he say there’s a good chance we’ll make it through the weekend without any labor, but he reassured us that the other doc in his office shares his philosophies and listening skills so not to worry. He said they couldn’t work so closely and not have those things in common. Also, as much as he said he thought I could make it through the weekend, he said there’s just as much of a chance that I wouldn’t! AAAARRRGH!

There are no rules for birthing babies. There is nothing consistent in any of the stories I have read or heard. I have spoken with just about every mother I know personally and heard their birth stories, most even have more than one. I have read accounts on many webpages from women with babies from this month and from years past. The only thing I have learned - they are all completely different! There is no sure fire way to tell, nothing that every woman said happened to them before their labor began that let them know, this is it, it is time.

So I sit here waiting and hoping for a sign, a contraction pain, bleeding, anything to make me think something might be happening, and it matters not. I could get no signs at all and suddenly start labor and have a baby 12 hours later! Or I could have signs and signs and more signs for a week or more and no baby. Awesome.

I have heard from most mothers that the only thing that is the same for them all is the last few weeks are the worse. It starts to feel like you’ll be pregnant forever and like the baby is NEVER going to come out. Of course rationally and logically, we all know this is not true, but let me tell you, in this moment, it feels like I am going to be like this forever!

My stretch marks have gotten worse since he dropped, though still not bad and something I have great pride in, they are sore and itchy. Once he’s out they won’t be as big of a problem. My tummy is in the way of everything. I can’t do dishes without getting it wet! I can’t bend over to pick things up easily. I can’t sleep on my stomach or lie on my stomach to watch TV or play a game. Sure, I’ve been going through these things for a while, but I feel like ok, enough is enough.

Another sign I think it is time to have the baby is, my maternity clothes aren’t fitting too well any more. Phyllis got me a ton of clothes to wear and they got me through the summer greatly. And even since the weather has cooled off, there were a couple pairs of pants and shirts I could wear that were warmer. But the pants are getting too tight and I can’t wear dresses when it’s cold, they seem to get shorter and shorter! I can’t even wear my own PJ pants, which are some of my favorite clothes, and I had been able to wear this whole time until very recently, nor can I wear my own boxer shorts! I can only wear some of Andy’s. My maternity panties are even getting too small!! And they say one size fits all!?! How can that be when they don’t fit me anymore?

And now I am starting to feel like people blame me for holding on to this baby. Even Andy says to give it up so he can hold it too! Believe me, if it were up to me, I’d have had him out a week ago! I am so ready to get this show in the road.

Actually, we’ve been saying we aren’t NOT ready anymore. I don’t know how ‘ready’ we can be until he’s here and we get it going, be we definitely don’t feel not ready anymore. We’re totally ready to meet him and hold him and see him. Are we ready for the lack of sleep and stresses of parenthood? Maybe not, but is anyone ever ready for that before it actually happens? No. I doubt it. But we’re not NOT ready, that’s for sure!

So when am I having this baby? Don’t ask me. Ask him! Ask nature. Ask God. My body doesn’t even seem to know yet, it sure hasn’t given me any signs. It’s all a matter of him finishing up and signaling my brain to start the process. Though he should be finished by now! He should have his lungs very well put together, he could breathe on his own, his digestive tract won’t be quite ready and he’ll be sensitive to all his senses with his immature nervous system, but thus is the life of a baby. That’s no reason for him to hang out much longer in my belly!

I just keep reminding myself and my loving supportive husband, that it can’t be much longer. The doctor won’t want us to wait much longer as certain risk factors come up. But not just that, nature won’t wait much longer. Baby and I are healthy and I feel that both of our bodies are truly ready for this experience. I even thought that I wouldn’t make it past this weekend. Mostly because the doctor is gone and that figures! But I have been saying since I first heard my September 27^th due date that he’d be born in October. Let’s just hope not too far into October! Like the 1^st or 2^nd would be good!

Keep us in thoughts and prayers and thanks for your support!

Tyler says "Turn off that light!"








Biggest belly yet! This was taken tonight actually and I swear ot looks so much bigger in person! You can see my newest stretch marks coming in on this side, too.






Tyler lounging under a blanket.








Here's Mr Thunder with momma's belly. I posted a pic like this a couple of montsh ago too, so this is a size comparison for those who remember. He's the only cat we're worried might get jealous because of his close relationship with his daddy. Andy has promised to make sure he spreads his attention around!

Upsetting News

I got a call today from my doc’s office that they needed to change this week’s appointment. I had originally been going to see our secondary doctor because our primary will be out of town this weekend, which I was already quite concerned about. They called to change the appointment with our secondary because apparently, he will be going with our primary and they will both be gone! We have spent the last couple of months trying to get to know these two docs and them getting to know us and our pretty specific desires and concerns about having this baby. And now to have to realize that if the baby comes any time in a 5 day window – which will be after my estimated due date and quite likely – he will be delivered by someone we have never met and will have no idea about us, our history, and our desires. We are a little freaked out.

The receptionist at the office originally tried to reschedule me for the following week, October 2^nd! I had to explain to her, I am due to have this baby THIS week and I’d rather not skip an appointment during my due date week. So she got us squeezed in tomorrow to see our regular doc in the morning. It will be good to talk with him face to face about who will be delivering for us if we have him while they are both gone.

There is a third doc in their office but we have never met him. I have seen him, seen his pictures all over holding newborns he’d delivered, even talked to a patient of his that was very happy with him. I have no doubts he is a wonderful doctor, after all he’s a part of this office and we are happy with them, but the fact remains that we have not met him. We will discuss with our doc tomorrow the chance of meeting the other guy sometime this week, just for our own peace of mind and to let him in on our plan.

I will be making out a detailed birth plan. I had one before but want to make sure it is up to date and accurate with how I feel now. We’ll bring 2-3 copies with us so we can go over it with the other doctor. And we’ll try to meet with any doctors that may be on call this weekend.

It’s just really scary. I am sure this was a possibility all along. If we go into labor outside of regular hours, the on-call doc handles it I guess. Well, then why do we go through the relationship building with one doctor? I don’t get it.

And we did go through a lot to see this guy. We moved 2 months early so we’d be in town soon enough to have a few months to build a relationship with a doctor before the baby came instead of only a few weeks. We paid double rent for 2 months to be sure it would happen that way. We didn’t like the office staff at first though we have come to like them more over time, but we fell in love with the doc right away! Maybe this wouldn’t be as big of a deal as it is if we didn’t like these two doctors so much. And trust them so much. Our first doc of this pregnancy was not personable and was a know-it-all that didn’t listen well, so if it had been him perhaps we could have hoped for someone we liked more. Now we couldn’t imagine someone we’d like more and I my feelings are hurt that they are leaving. I understand life goes on and doctors, especially OBs cannot wait around for all their patients to have babies. It just sucks that this is our first one.

And we’ve had such a great pregnancy. We’ve hit almost no bumps in the road when it came to my health and the baby’s health. We’ve felt very safe and secure with this doctor knowing and understanding our desires. We’ve discussed things with him at every appointment. He’s given his opinion but been understanding of ours.

Honestly, right now it just comes down to the fact that we are scared. We’ve been scared all along, this is a scary thing, even if it wasn’t our first, but more so because it is. And now the rug’s been pulled out from under us.

There’s still a chance I could go in to labor tonight or tomorrow or Wednesday. But the chances are also great that it starts over the 5 days the docs are out. Still could be not until they get back and we’d have to look in to inducing. That’s part of what makes this so hard, the not knowing.

I guess we have an option of getting induced this week before they leave, but I don’t feel that is good for the baby or the mom when there is no medical reason for it. It greatly increases risks of c-sections and births of underdeveloped babies that end up colicky, miserable and full of health issues that could be avoided by a little more baking.

So we’ll be letting him bake. And if that means our two favorite doctors miss out on this birth, so be it. But we are nervous about being in the hands of someone we do not know. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers about this.

We plan to do all we have within our power to keep it our way. We will have our detailed birth plans with us and have copies for everyone. We will discuss our desires with every nurse, tech, doctor or orderly that walks in to our room so there is no question. But there is not much more we can do.

Perhaps that is how it always is and we just were under the wrong impression. Unfortunate if you ask me.

Just reiterates my desire for home births with midwives from here on out as long as we have no complications with this one.

Thank you again family and friends for your continued support and concern! Now let’s hope the phone calls start tonight!! Come on out Little Andrew, the world is waiting for you!

Fun Nature Video!

We saw this going on in our very own front yard and had to capture it on video! It's pretty neat stuff and Andy explains what's going on a little during the beginning. Enjoy!


BTW - still no baby, but it could happen any day, so keep sending me those positive labor prayers and vibes!

Coming soon: Grandma Phyllis's garden and the puppy Tazz on video! And hopefully a baby!!!!

39 Out of 40

Full gestation is considered 40 weeks. I am at 39 weeks. However babies can be born safely from about 37 weeks to 42, though most doctors don’t like to let women go past 41 weeks because of dangers that can present. So here I am at 39 weeks and still pregnant, knowing if nothing else, in about 2 weeks, we’ll probably have to have an induction, which I don’t want. The problem with estimated due dates is that they are just that, estimated! And it’s impossible to know exactly when you conceive, unless you only have sex every few months I guess! So I could be a little bit farther along or a little bit not as far. AAAHHH! It’s all just too much guess work for me. I am a planner, I like to plan. It’s hard to plan for having a baby when one has no idea what day he will decide to make his appearance!

So we wait. And wait. And wait.

And every day seems longer than the last. I am trying to enjoy these last few days of no baby when we can sleep freely and play games and read and whatnot, but I must say, it’s not easy. We want to play with our baby! We want to hold him and wash him and feed him… and MEET him!

Andy has read his book for fathers about birth and delivery. So he’s ready now. As ready as he can be.

I am trying to keep up with laundry and dishes so they don’t backed up. I’d hate to be at the hospital trying to enjoy the birth of our first child with the weight of dishes in the sink and dirty clothes waiting at home! Especially since they won’t be getting done for at least a few days when we return home!

We have our bags in the car ready to go just in case we are out and something happens.

We’re playing games before bed while we can.

But it just feels like we are in a limbo. Like we’re waiting to be born as well!

I tell the baby everyday his lease is up and he needs to get out and join the world. We have so much to show him! He has so much love to be given from family and friends!

We see the doctor tomorrow so it’ll be interesting to see what he says. He didn’t seem to think we’d make it to the next appointment at our last one. And I guess we still might not, there is a whole night between now and then! I’m just afraid he’ll want to start talking inductions. I have a fear of inducing. It’s not the natural course but sometimes nature does need some help. I have read plenty of birth stories – PLENTY! And some of the inductions went quite well, but all involved an epidural, which I do not want either.

I’ve been thinking about some actions on my own here to get some progression. I have been reading up on Evening Primrose Oil and that seems to help ready the body, though it doesn’t cause labor. I don’t think I want anything that will cause labor, I want that to happen on its own, but anything I can do to help ready the body for when it starts will help it to progress faster and easier – especially if we end up needing an induction. The other thing I’ve read about is raspberry leaf tea. So I may get those two things today and start a regimen and see how it goes. Since the doc doesn’t do internals until labor starts I have no way of knowing if I’ve had any progression yet and if these things will increase it. But I figure it’s worth the small investment since they don’t hurt and are good for women’s healthy anyway!

Meanwhile, back at the Goin Home…

We’re too excited to even express in words. It makes my heart melt when Andy talks to my belly or tells me how he can’t wait to do his part to help out. He really wants to take such an active role in his son’s life. He doesn’t want to miss a thing! I know he can’t help me feed him for at least 6 weeks, maybe even 3 months depending on how I am feeling! But he wants to help with every other process he can. And even during feedings he wants to help! I understand how women say they fall even deeper in love with their husbands after they have a child together! And we don’t even have the baby in our arms yet but already I feel my love for him growing.

I worry about our cats. How will they react? They are good adjusters to change when we move and bring in new things to the house or have visitors, but this will be quite the big change for them. Especially for Andy’s cat Thunder. His relationship with that cat is like it’s his first son. He will almost have to treat the situation like that as well. We’ve been discussing how to make sure Thunder gets special time with his daddy so he doesn’t get jealous of the baby. Though I am hoping he won’t. The way I see it, he will either get jealous or he’ll recognize it as something that comes from Andy and be protective of it. I also fear because he and Sami have their claws. Thunder has decent claw control but Sami has none. I would feel horrible if they lashed out at the baby and scratched him. Wait, I will feel horrible any time that child gets hurt and yet it will happen and I can’t and shouldn’t try to stop it! But with the cats, I feel it is something we can try to control. If anyone has any suggestions about cats with babies please email me.

My mom came to visit the other night and had dinner with us. It was great to spend some time with her though it wasn’t long enough. Feels like every time she leaves I remember at least one more thing I meant to discuss with her! She was sweet to drive the 45 minutes to our place this time since she knows we are scared to leave our hospital’s town. I know labor isn’t an instant thing in most cases, but if my water breaks or something we want to be as close to our hospital as possible. While she was here she agreed to take a few pictures of us together! We don’t have many of Andy and me and the belly, especially at this late in the game. I am putting up two though I think I am making a goofy face. Mom doesn’t know how to give a count down and I was talking or laughing trying to tell her how to use the camera through most of the shots! :D

Andy looks super cute in this one! I look silly in both of them - but it's not about me, it's about daddy and the belly! Although the shirt doesn't do it justice, the belly feels bigger than it looks!

Here it is in all its glory! Relative to the size of my hands, you can get a feeling for how big this thing is getting! Time for him to come out now!

Please keep sending us positive labor vibes and energy for this to come quickly and go swiftly and smoothly and ending with a healthy baby and healthy momma! If I am having labor pains that are going to last for a while, I plan to make a blog post about it, a short one, to let everyone know the moment is at hand.

Also, please email me if you want a phone call and we haven't already discussed it with you. We're happy to make sure everyone gets contacted. All are welcome to the hospital but no flowers please. Just bring yourself! If you feel the need to get a gift, Walmart gift cards will help us tremendously with groceries. But we really just want our family and friends close in this time. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Our First Video

A very big thank you to my Mom, Ken, and Tressie for pulling together and getting us a video camera that we will be using to make many videos as the baby comes and we start our family. This first video is a test really and full of some things we do while we are in our holding pattern waiting for Baby Andy to come. You will see Lea and the final stages of the belly and how big it's gotten (even close ups to see if you can see it moving!), video footage of our cats Tyler and Thunder, and the garden Grandma Phyllis has been helping us with. The garden started off as nothing but dirt and dead bushes; look and see a small tour of how much the ivy and tomato plant has grown!

This is only the first episode of what we plan on being a series of sorts and is rough in certain areas with editing. The camera we have is so easy to use and is very quick at transfering the video to the computer, it's really a matter of just editing one together and uploading it to Google where we store them and present them here. We already have more footage of the baby room to share in the next episode and more. Thank you for reading and watching! Click play to watch the first video below.

Videos to Come!

If the video in the next post does not play for you, please go here:

CLICK HERE

And download this latest Flash player. You'll be needing it!

We are so blessed to have the family that we have. They are all so generous to us and we can never say enough.

Tonight we were given such a sweet gift from Andy's parents and aunt. They got us a digital video camera. We were planning on trying to get one on our credit card in a month or so, but they said we needed one now since the baby will be here before then and they want videos right away! So we got an early Christmas present tonight and we couldn't be more excited!

Be on the lookout for many more vids to come. They'll be much better quality than the one with Tyler since they won't be shot on a regular cam but on an actual video camera! We'll have them posted on youtube or google so we can embed them like that directly into our posts here. You should be able to watch by just clicking play, just make sure you go to the above link and get the Flash Player.

Tomorrow we're going to try it out on a tour of the nursery!

Our Tyler

Here is a video Andy made of our cat Tyler. It was shot in bits on our digital camera which can take short video clips (uses up the whole memory card so we only do it at home!). Then Andy edited it all together. I am the narrator! It's pretty cute we think, but we think he's cute!
You must have the latest version of Flash installed so if you can't see the video, get Flash.
And he's just about the happiest healthiest kitty you'll ever see! He's getting old, but he handles it so well, still frisky!

It's Almost Time!

Yes, the time is upon us. We literally have less than 2 weeks until the due date. But the doc pushed my due date up a few days, and he even thinks I could go as early as this weekend! PHWEW! Where did these last months go?

I know we have been so busy there hasn’t been time to stop and think much. I’ve slept a lot too, but I just know I need to get it all in while I can. I love sleeping and that will be what I miss most as a mother!

We are so ready. I hadn’t been completely ready until this week though. I just felt like it wasn’t the right time and now I feel like it is. A lot of little things are in place and the things that aren’t, aren’t important enough to fret over. Like my desk – it will never be clean! This baby is so loved already and so many people are so excited about his appearance. Beyond even his mommy and daddy, who are the most excited of all.

Andy has started telling the belly it’s time to come out. I am visualizing him moving lower and lower into position. And I tell him we are ready for him so get ready for us!

As scary as it is, and I sometimes get this wave of emotion, like a rush of a near accident when I suddenly get a realization that I’ll be a mommy very soon, I am thrilled! I can’t wait at this point.

I have no signs of any labor. No idea if I am even close, which there is no sure sign that labor is coming except water breaking. I almost wish the doc hadn’t “called” this weekend. For some reason, since he said it, it feels more possible and now I can’t stop thinking about it and I want to get ready. But if Monday comes with no baby or labor, I’ll be disappointed! Really though even if he doesn’t make his big appearance this weekend, we don’t have long to wait, so it’s all good.

Andy is the sweetest! I try to explain to him what it’s like to have a little person around. Not that I know or anything, but I have had a lot of experience with babies and small children in my time and he has had none. The other day I was explaining to him how maybe we needed to look in to some big covers for our outlets that have things plugged in in case the baby can pull the plugs out when he gets bigger. Andy says to me, “Honey, I don’t think you understand. I’m going to watch him. I’m going to be so interested in him and what he’s interested in.” He’s said this type of thing to me before and I guess I just can’t imagine it. But I must say, last week at the doc’s office a lady came in with her 3 month old. He was sleeping in his carrier and Andy couldn’t take his eyes off of him. He was enchanted! And forget about it once the baby woke up! He didn’t stop staring at him and talking to him and trying to get his attention until the lady got called back to see her doc! He turns to me and says, “I’m just going to want to look at him all the time when he gets here!”

I must admit I have been worried about how I will find time to get things done around here, like cooking and so on when I have to keep an eye on my little one, but I feel much more confident about that now. I know when I need to be in the kitchen cooking or cleaning up, I can count on daddy to stare at his son and make sure he’s ok. And as he gets older, he can play too!

Now if only Andy could help with the nursing!

He actually will. He wants to burp him between breasts and after feedings. Which will be precious since he has not only never burped a baby before, but he’s only ever held one maybe once or twice! I can’t wait to see him learning all about these things. It’ll be so cute!

I’m almost coming to the accepting place where I don’t feel like I have to be perfect. I’m not going to have a perfect spotless home, especially the first month after baby’s birth. And that’s ok. Even if I get it spotless before we go to the hospital, it won’t matter and it won’t last. I get the important parts done and that’s that. I just worry about when the baby starts crawling, but I know Andy and I will have to take turns following him around and playing with him and cleaning up. Sounds easy and I know it won’t be, but I do feel that we are ready, and beyond ready, desire this lifestyle!

The only thing we don’t have completely ready is the car seat. It is installed and we put it in a better spot after some research, and I feel now more like we have it in right. But we can’t seem to get the one lady in all of Denton to be available to check out our job. We have called her now 4 times in less than 2 weeks. She says, “Just call 20-30 minutes before you come so I don’t go to lunch!” I’ve heard that so many times now but then I call and she’s either not ready that day and tells me another day to call and then not ready that day either or she’s away from her desk never to return! It is so frustrating. We may just swing by the fire department here in Sanger and have them take a look. But I really feel like we have it in right now. And again, even if we don’t get it checked out before the birth, we can still see her and have her check it later.

I want to take my time to enjoy these last few days (maybe weeks) without a baby. Of our lives alone. But I also feel like I can’t enjoy it. I have too much preparing to do! Not just our home and my body but my mind. I am nervous about labor and I try to spend some time everyday researching it and preparing myself mentally. Really I just can’t imagine the pain. I just can’t. How bad can this be? Ask me again when we have the baby home! But for now I just can’t see it being something I can’t bear. But it is my first time so there’s no way of knowing how my body will take it. My doc is confident with my ability though. He says I have a good shape for it and I am healthy. My weight and baby’s weight are good. Should go relatively well. I am just hoping it goes quickly!

Be ready for a phone call or email to come when we are in labor. And please be sure to send positive thoughts, vibes and prayers our way while we are getting this highly anticipated and greatly loved child into our world.

Doctor Visits and Pictures (part 1 of 3 entries today!)

Oh where to begin! Perhaps by saying this will be a 3 parter so be sure to read on after this post for the rest of them. Preview: Nursery pictures! And close to the car story as well as pics of Granddaddy-to-be's new bike!

I have been to the doctor twice since I last blogged. Last week we saw the ‘new guy’ again. He is so nice! But so young! We found out from the regular doc this week, just as we had suspected, that he is fresh out of residency. Kind of nice to know he’s got the schooling so fresh in his brain. I would be happy to be delivered by either him or my regular doc.

At the appointment last week, we had a couple major occurrences. 2 big tests that get done at that stage of 36 weeks. The first was the GBS or Group B Strep test. Strep is a normal flora that lives in and on us all and is what is called ‘opportunistic.’ In other words, if it gets in the wrong place it can make you sick, but in the right places it works with your body. About one third of women have it living normally in their vagina and/or their lower intestine. Which is fine for them. It is not fine however for a completely sterile baby who hasn’t been exposed to any microbiata the whole time in utero and can cause some serious illnesses if the baby passes through a birth canal laden with Group B strep, like meningitis! Fortunately, there is an easy fix of simple IV antibiotics during labor which takes care of most cases. And although it is fairly rare, it is something all pregnant women are tested for because it is so easy to fix.

The other test was an extensive urine test. I get to pee in a cup every time I go and they check protein levels to make sure I am not getting the toxemia, but his one had to be sent off to a lab. Fortunately I am pregnant so I can pee 3 times in one hour easily so going twice in one visit wasn’t hard. I am not sure what all they did for this test. I know they checked for some kind of growth.

I was a little nervous going to the doc yesterday with such looming test results hanging over my head. I had the ‘what if’s’ big time! I blame it on being pregnant. I am usually pretty mellow though I am still feminine and have a greater tendency to worry myself than Andy does. And as much as Andy reassured me everything would be fine, I didn’t breathe the sigh of relief until the nurse told me all results were normal and good!

Another bit of good news has been my weight and blood pressure. This is a time in pregnancy where a lot of women get an elevated BP but mine has stayed low about 100/70 and my weight has almost leveled off. I gained only one pound in the last week. I am officially 165, exactly 40 pounds of weight gained and that was exactly what I was told I’d need to gain because my starting BMI was slightly below normal. So I may go over that a few pounds but not by much.

The other good news is the doc wanted to get another sonogram measurement of the little guy since he measured so big at 31 weeks. I love any opportunity to see him on the screen and be reassured that yes, it’s a boy (saw his testicles again!), and yes, he passes all sono checks. So the tech did all the measurements again and although it can be off by a pound or so at this late stage, she had him weigh in at 6.6. So in 3 weeks, on his actual due date, he should weigh about 7.5-8 pounds! I must confess as strange as this sounds that I do want a big baby. Not a 10 pounder or anything but a good solid 8+. I just feel they are healthier. And aren’t so scary tiny! But if he’s just under 8 that’d be great too. Now we just have to see if we make these last 3 weeks. He could really come at any time! Though don’t worry, I am not having any signs of early labor yet, at all!

The doc seemed to think the chances are greater that he’ll be late. In most first pregnancies they are. I agree. He hasn’t switched positions in months and I get the feeling he is real comfy in there! Though he will start running out of more room soon enough and maybe that’ll inspire him to look further!

I also get the feeling we’ll have a pretty mellow baby. He’s not a kicker. He does wiggle a lot when he wiggles and there’s been times when I am reading to him at night, it feels like he’s trying to come out and meet me right then! But for the most part he’s not too rambunctious. I also think he’s shy. I always want other people to feel him move around in there. It’s such a wonderful feeling I want to share it with everybody! But he so rarely does it when we are around other people. My mom, Andy’s mom, Tressie, our friends, Andy’s brothers, I want everyone to feel him and I don’t think anyone has! My friend Tammy got to feel him hiccupping once. My mom has felt a limb once I think but no real roll-arounds. Then as soon as we get in the car to leave the people we were just with, there he goes dancing away for just his mommy and daddy! Andy says he’s like the singing frog from the old cartoons that would only sing for the one guy and every time he tried to show someone else it would just go, “rib-bit.” We may have a shy guy on our hands!

So far he seems to be like us then, shy, awake at night, and pretty mellow. Now we’ll just have to see.


Here I am in an outfit I wore at 5 months too. It fit a little differently back then... can't quite close the jacket!







"Do I look pregnant in this?"








I do love showing off this big old baby belly!








This dress used to fit differently too! I am coming to the end of quite a few of my maternity clothes. Fortunately not long left and the few that do still fit will get me through these last weeks!







Belly pics from weeks 35 and 36. I can tell it's getting bigger, can you? Hey! Where's my belly button going? It has completely stretched out and I fully imagine the next weeks for it to do the old turn inside out completely gig!










Please read on for more pictures and stories from our last two wonderful weeks!

And remember to click on the pics to see the full size!