Peyton's First Christmas

Peyton enjoyed his first Christmas. We traveled to New Orleans to spend the holidays there, flying not only with Peyton but with our dog, Nellie, as well. We were those people in the airport that other people look at and wonder, "What were they thinking?!" All in all, it wasn't so bad. We figured that even flying through Atlanta's airport on the weekend before Christmas was better than spending two days driving from North Carolina to Louisiana.

We packed in visiting with as many family and friends as we could, and Peyton enjoyed the boxes and wrapping paper the most, although he did get some pretty cool presents.

We had an early Christmas lunch with the Ory's on the Sunday before Christmas, and Peyton enjoyed playing with his cousins (well, during the time that he wasn't snoozing.) Then the Christmas festivities revved up on Christmas Eve morning at Patrick's parents in Robert. From there, we traveled to Metairie to see my Dad's family. Then we took a small break back at my mom's before heading to Big Mama and Big Daddy's Christmas party that evening. Before we made it back to my mom's that night, we stopped at Aunt Di and Uncle Bill's Christmas party. Patrick and I agreed later that we may have done a little too much that day. I'm exhausted just writing about it again.

The next morning, we woke up to see what Santa Claus had brought to NO (even though he had made a stop in NC before we left for LA and brought Peyton some toys there too)! The thing Peyton liked the most was the shoebox full of wooden spoons. He got lots of new outfits and PJs and toys that make lots of noise! Overall, it was a very exciting Christmas morning. Then we traveled across the lake to see the Wedigs for Christmas at Mimi's. We finished up our day back at my mom's for Christmas Supper with the Sehrts.

It was good to see everyone, and we enjoyed seeing Peyton play with all of his aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. He even got to see his friend Aubrey, who lives in TX. It was also nice to have lots of people around who wanted to help out so his mommy and daddy could have some free time too!


I've posted some pictures of our week home here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/Christmas2008

The Kindness of Strangers

The one good thing about traveling alone with a baby is that people are very, very nice to you. It was time for Peyton and me to head back to NC this morning, after a wonderful visit home to NO for Christmas. Patrick and Nellie had flown back home on Sunday so it was just me and the little man to conquer the airports alone.
I thought I could handle Peyton, the stroller, a rolling carry-on piece of luggage, a large diaper bag, and another rolling checked piece of luggage all by myself. I should say that traveling with Peyton has gotten considerably more difficult since early October when I last flew alone with him. But thank goodness the older couple sitting next to me on the first leg of the flight insisted on standing up and getting out of their seats only moments after takeoff so that I could retrieve the pacifier Peyton threw on the ground when he got mad. And thank goodness the man insisted on rolling the carry-on at least to the top of the jetway for me at the end of the flight (I should mention that he was walking with a cane in the other hand.) I was also grateful that the man sitting next to me on the second leg didn't mind the oatmeal flakes that went everywhere when Peyton knocked the bowl because I wasn't adding water and feeding him fast enough. I was also very thankful that the pilot of the plane helped me roll everything to the top of the jetway at the end of that flight too. And the woman that helped me drag everything to the curb once I retrieved my checked luggage so that I could wait for my ride was also very nice. And there were countless other people that offered to help throughout the morning as I schlepped through the airports struggling to maintain my sanity. I was reminded today about the kindness of strangers and I am very thankful for all of their help in our safe and sucessful trip home.

Ho Ho Ho Ho

Peyton sat on Santa's lab and wondered what was up with that long white beard. He couldn't quite figure it out. He told Santa that he couldn't wait to see all of his family and friends in New Orleans and was looking forward to his first Christmas!

Museum of Life and Science

This past weekend we took Peyton to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. He enjoyed himself quite a bit. There were all kinds of new objects and textures to play with. Not to mention that he got to push his afternoon nap back a bit.


He especially liked the blocks. Well, his mommy and daddy liked building stuff with the blocks.













And he liked knocking them over.




He's such a boy!

Random Peyton Videos

I was looking back over some of the videos that we took of Peyton in the last month or so, and these two made me smile.

In the first, there were some periods of calm and silence, interspersed with periods of craziness.



In the next video, Peyton is showing off some of his cool dance moves. Patrick says that he doesn't think he gets his dance moves from me, but I think that with practice, Peyton could definitely be as good as me some day ;)

It's all Over

I was watching Peyton crawl around this morning, and he became quite interested in our shoes near the front door. I kept moving them away from him because he kept putting them in his mouth. It seems like only yesterday that I could put them on the landing of the stairs and they were out of sight and out of mind, and he'd move on to something else. Not today.....




Patrick is installing the baby gate as I type this post.

Gobble, Gobble

Peyton's first Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. His pals Amelia (pictured) and Kalina (not pictured, sleeping) came by to help him celebrate. He had turkey, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin to celebrate the occasion.



And because I'm just a little crazy, I made turkey feathers for his highchair to make things a little more festive.












Then on Friday, we took Peyton for his first hike. He enjoyed looking around at everything.














Well, at least for a little while. Then he decided it was the perfect time to take a snooze. Just like his mom, he falls asleep in the car, in the stroller, on a hike. Anywhere there is soothing motion.













We stopped to eat lunch and figured he'd wake up. Nope. Just kept on snoozing.

Teething

A couple of weeks ago, my once good-natured, happy baby turned into this whiny, grouchy baby with quite a short fuse. And then the culprits behind the transformation of my child's personality appeared: two little whitish structures in his mouth popped up. It was a relief to see that there was a perfectly good explanation to his behavior and I stopped considering the possiblity of shipping him off to his grandparents until he was old enough to reason with, say like age 5 or so.

I don't have any pictures yet. Every time I try to pull his lip down to get a good shot, he sticks his tongue out, so now I have a bunch of pictures of his tongue. I'll save them until he's older and I'll show them to his girlfriend.

Wait, he keeps banging on the keyboard. I think he has something he wants to say:
2 3WS11SAazaaaaaqq

I think that means that he is denying all charges against him in this post.

Trick or Treat!

I think Peyton enjoyed his first Halloween! He got to go trick or treating with his good pal Amelia and collected lots of candy that he can't have. Really, it was more for our own amusement more than anything. We're willing to admit that.

I've posted a few pictures. Matt and Mary stopped by with their flower, Kalina. We dressed up as zookeepers and took our little monkey trick or treating. Chad and Lauren dressed up as farmers and took their cow trick or treating. We went back to the farmers' house for a party and caught up with another farmer (Michelle) as well as the chicken (Peyton's pal Camden) and the egg (Mark). We had a good time. http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/Halloween08

Big Adventures

Hello Everyone!
Peyton has been quite the busy little boy lately. He's becoming quite the traveler too! We recently took a quick trip home to shop for his Nanny's wedding dress. Actually, Peyton wasn't too interested in shopping, so he spent some quality time with his Lulu and Papa instead. But he also had a great time visiting with all of his grandparents and great-grandparents. He even got to go for a stroll down Magazine Street with a "policeman dressed in blue" (Everybody sing the song, now...), known to Peyton as his Gramps.

Peyton is crawling all over the place now. Nothing is safe anymore! He wants to explore and put everything in his mouth - especially those things that he shouldn't have. He's eating solid food, and doesn't turn much away. He's already had green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, avocado, carrots, and squash. We try something new every few days. The only thing he wasn't too crazy about at first was the avocado, but I think it was mostly because it wasn't a very ripe avocado and he didn't like the texture. I tried again after I pureed one in the food processor and he liked it much better that time.

For the most part, Peyton is a pretty happy baby. We get the biggest kick out of his giggling and laughing.



I've posted a few new pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/SeptOctPeyton2008#

This week is the State Fair in NC, so we went to check out all of the animals. The best part was the pig races, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, it was during this time that Peyton decided it was time to take a nap, so he missed out. But Patrick and I enjoyed them anyway! You should watch the video, they're so darn cute:

Growing Boy!

Peyton is growing up quickly. We started him on rice cereal this week. He seems to like it and Patrick doesn't think it tastes too bad either. I disagree, but Nellie definitely likes it. I got distracted and put Peyton's bowl down on the floor. Next time I looked, it was squeaky clean. I asked Patrick why he washed it and he said he hadn't touched it. There's only one other explanation: Nellie.



And Peyton has just started learning how to crawl. He's been getting up on his hands and knees all week and would just rock back and forth. But tonight, he went for it. Nellie better watch out because here he comes!




We recently had some much needed time off for vacation, and initially headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama. However, Gustav had other plans for us, so after getting all the way to La Grange, GA, we turned around and came home. Still feeling like we needed a vacation (La Grange just didn't cut it), we headed to Myrtle Beach. We were there a few days before Hanna reared her ugly head and made us run from there too. I think that's the last time we plan a trip in September. We did get to spend some quality time together, which is really all that matters, but it would have been nice if we didn't have to keep running from the storms. Peyton didn't understand why we kept putting him back in his car seat for rides that never seemed to end. His parents didn't understand why he would wait to poop until after we were back on the road after a lengthy pit stop.
Here are a few pictures form our vacation to the beach:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/BeachTripSept2008#


My mom's mom and my dad's mom both celebrate birthdays on August 17th (at least its easy to remember), so Peyton and I took a quick trip home to help them celebrate.
And here are some pictures from that trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/PeytonAugust2008#

Pictures

Recently, my mom, grandmother and sister visited for the weekend. Since we had 4 generations here, we decided to take some pictures. Patrick was able to set up his camera and lights in some of his studio space at work and we did different combinations of people for a variety of pictures. I think they came out really nice. It was hard to get Peyton to cooperate. I only wish I had a video camera to film the clowns that were trying to get him to smile from behind the camera.

Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to bring enough home with me last weekend for everyone, but I knew that we could always print more. I have posted the pictures here. If you would like copies of one, some, or all, please email me to let me know what pictures you want (they are numbered), what size, etc by Tuesday, August 26th. Obviously 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 pictures are all cropped differently, and the photographer (Patrick) would like to be able to crop each picture to the specific size that you would like. I will take care of printing the pictures and will pass them onto my mom, dad, or Mrs Jayne and they will get them to you as soon as possible. I can always print more after the 26th, but I can't promise that it will be done in a timely fashion :)

Peyton's First Cold

It had to happen sooner or later. Peyton has been lucky enough to avoid the sniffles for 4 months, but it wasn't meant to last. He started with a cough alone a couple of weeks ago that progressed into a stuffy nose that led to a fever this weekend. I took him to the doctor on Monday afternoon (after a visit on Friday when the pediatrician thought he was fine and I was being an overly paranoid mother) and we discussed his symptoms further. The pediatrician wasn't completely sure that he had an ear infection. He asked me to wait to see if the fever subsided on its own over the next day or two. It didn't after a day and I decided it wasn't worth waiting until day 2, so I filled the prescription and gave Peyton his first dose of antibiotics last night. That was certainly a challenge. When the pharmacist told me the dose was 5 mLs, I thought to myself that I have trouble getting him to take 1 mL of tylenol, how in the world am I going to get him to take 5 mLs of antibiotic? I think Peyton wore more of the medicine on his clothes than he got in his mouth the first two times. Then Dad took over and gave him the third dose and did a way better job of getting the medicine down than I did. At least when he was done, Peyton's eyebrows weren't the color of pink bubble gum. Peyton seems to be acting like he feels a lot better today and he only has a low-grade fever. Hopefully we're nearing the end of this nasty cold.

Wow...it's been a really long time since I've updated the blog, hasn't it? In my defense, I've been very busy. I'm back at work and trying to balance motherhood with finishing my degree (yes, Patrick, one day I will graduate. One day.) Its been a pretty smooth transition back to work. I think that has been the biggest surprise. But it hasn't left time for much else, including the blog. I will try to post more frequently, but I make no promises.

Peyton goes to Mrs. Lauren's everyday and she takes very good care of him. Knowing that has made things a lot easier. I knew Lauren's husband, Chad, at LSU. We were biochemistry majors together. One day we actually realized that we were related, sort of. Chad's grandmother's sister is my grandmother's sister-in-law. We had lost touch after graduation but one day a few years ago, I looked up on the shuttle bus to school one day and saw Chad and we've kept in touch ever since. He's now a post-doc here at UNC. His wife, Lauren, worked at a daycare. They had a baby last September but Lauren initially went back to work and took Amelia with her. After some campaigning on our part, Lauren decided to stay home with Amelia and watch children in her home. So right now, its just Peyton and Amelia. Camden, the child of another grad student at UNC, will start at Mrs. Lauren's in another week. Lauren has lots of toys and games that the babies get to play with and she works on their motor skills and development. Peyton is already rolling over! I think he has a great time at her house.

At the end of each week, Lauren posts pictures of Peyton playing throughout the week and sends a journal home with a description of everything that Peyton has done that week and what he thinks about it all. (He dictates and she writes it down for him, obviously he can't write yet) Its been great to have such a personal touch to his daycare experience.
Here are pictures from last week:
August 1st pictures

I've taken a few pictures recently, too, and posted them on picasa. I think the ones posted on July 26th and August 6th are the ones that I hadn't posted on here previously. My mom, sister, and grandmother were all visiting recently, so a few pictures from their visit are there. Just in case anyone is interested in printing their own copies pf some pictures, you can order prints through Walgreens by choosing "Order prints" while viewing the album then choose walgreens as the printer.

Patrick has taken some really nice, professional quality pictures (like the one above) too, so when he finishes editing them, I'll post a link to those as well.

We went for Peyton's 4 month checkup yesterday. Other than a minor cold, he is doing really well. He weighs 19lbs, 10oz, which puts him above the 97th percentile on the growth chart. He's smiling, laughing, rolling over, and I think its just a matter of time before he starts crawling. He reaches out for things and puts everything in his mouth. Not everything can possible taste that good, but that doesn't seem to deter him. We got him a huge exersaucer to play with and he has he best time playing with everything on it. It keeps him quite entertained. Patrick and I have actually gotten to eat dinner together once or twice.

Some New Things

Everyday there is something new and exciting for Peyton to see and do in his new world. I am back at work (unfortunately) and he goes to Mrs. Lauren's everyday. They go for walks, play in the swing, in the bouncy seat, read books, sing songs and have lots of tummy time.
Each night we sit and talk about his day.



This was Peyton's first 4th of July. In order to commemorate the occasion, we took him swimming for the first time. My friend Jen invited us over to swim in the pool at her place. We figured that we'd put him in the water but that he wouldn't like it and we wouldn't stay in for long. But he seemed pretty unphased by the whole thing. There was no resistance. There was no fussiness. Not a peep. He just seemed to like chewing on the handle of his floaty. I'd say our first swimming experience was pretty successful!



Peyton's working on his newest trick: Bouncing in the jumper all by himself! Ever since he was just a few days old, Peyton has liked to be bounced. Up and down, up and down, up and down. When my dad visited around the time when Peyton was about 5 1/2 weeks old, he spent just about the entire weekend bouncing up and down on a bouncy ball while holding Peyton. As soon as Gramps would try to stop bouncing, Peyton would start crying. But as long as he was bouncing, Peyton was happy. Now, he can bounce all by himself! We set up the jumper over the weekend, not sure if Peyton was ready for it, but he's taken to it quite well. He's figuring out how to bounce up and down pretty good on his own. And having a toy that he can put in his mouth while bouncing is just lagniappe.
The best part is that its at perfect Nellie height, so she tries to sneak in a few licks whenever she can.

Peyton's Trip to New Orleans

We recently took a trip home to New Orleans to introduce Peyton to our families and have him baptized. Peyton and I flew home together on Tuesday morning and Patrick flew home to meet us Thursday. It was a whirlwind trip, but he got to meet most of his great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and everything in between! The priest that married Patrick and me almost 7 years ago was also in town, so he was able to baptize Peyton. We had seen him last year during our trip to Italy, where he now works at the Vatican, and he wanted to know when we were having kids. Patrick and I had just started talking about trying to start our family, and he of course thought it was a great idea. He said he would baptize the baby when it came along, but we didn't think in a million years that it would actually work out. We live in NC and he lives in Rome, and the godparents live in Phoenix and Wichita. We figured there was no way we would pull it off, but the one thing we had going for us was that all of us are originally from New Orleans and all of us itch for a trip home for some good food, good company, and good times at any chance we get. In the end, it all worked out and we were all able to be there. It was so nice to see all of our family and friends and introduce the little guy to his very large extended family. What a very lucky little boy. Hopefully I got a chance to say hello to everyone that came to his baptism, but I was a bit overwhelmed so I definitely didn't get to spend as much time with everyone as I had hoped. We sure do have big, loving families!
Here are some pictures from his baptism:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/PeytonSBaptism

I think Peyton likes flying - he slept like a baby on the way there and back. Patrick and I looked like we were actually moving across the country with all of our stuff in tow. Adding a little person to the trip sure did add a lot of stuff. I was in charge of holding the baby and Patrick was in charge of the stuff. I just kept counting the number of pieces we had to make sure we had it all: 3 pieces of luggage, a car seat, car seat base, a stroller, a diaper bag, and a computer bag. On the day we headed back to Durham, we got to the rental car place and unloaded the car, dragged everything to the shuttle, rode to the airport, dragged everything to the counter, checked what we could, dragged the rest through security, boarded the plane, flew home, collected our bags at the other end, dragged everything to the shuttle bus stop, boarded the shuttle bus, unloaded the shuttle bus, then loaded everything in our car. There must be an easier way to travel!

Here are some pictures from the last month or so, including some with his cousins and grandparents during our trip home:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/PeytonJune2008

A Good Night's Rest

Aaaahhhhhhhhhh.......it finally happened. A full night's rest. I put Peyton to bed around 10pm last night and fully expected that I would be up 3 or 4 times during the night, and Patrick would get up just as many times. We'd have to put the pacifier back in Peyton's mouth or swaddle him again in the blanket that he'd somehow gotten one arm or leg out of. But just as all parents do the first time their child actually sleeps soundly through the night, I woke up at 6am and jumped out of bed to check on him because he hadn't woken up at all during the night. Sure enough, there he was sound asleep in his bed. Peyton had given up the middle of the night bottle about a week ago (after we slowly decreased the number of ounces he was getting and just stopped giving him anything at all). But he was still a little restless at night and would whine if he lost his pacifierr or came out of his blanket. And then last night he just didn't wake up at all. It was wonderful! I hope this was not an isolated incident and we will have many more nights like this.

Tummy Time and a Belly Laugh

Here are a couple of videos that we took today. Peyton is really at a fun stage now. We're noticing how much he's developing so quickly. He's been smiling at us for quite awhile and cooing quite a bit, but today we got the best belly laugh out of him. And while he is on his stomach, he's picking his head up and holding it up for a good bit of time. We're looking forward to our trip home this week to introduce him to our families - we can't wait for everyone to meet him!

2 Month Checkup

Peyton went to the doctor yesterday for his 2 month checkup. He weighs a whopping 15lbs,4oz. Whoa! No wonder my back hurts. Obviously, he's a healthy, growing boy. He got a few shots, and he was quite cranky afterwards, understandably so I guess. But the pediatrician was pleased with his growth and progress, so we'll go back when he's 4 months.

Sleeping-wise, he's doing pretty well at night. I swaddle him and put him to bed around 9 0r 9:30pm. Even if he's not completely asleep, he'll usually settle himself and fall asleep eventually with little intervention from me. He's been sleeping until 3 or 4am, when he's not necessarily awake, but he's doing and awful lot of grunting and groaning. Eventually he wakes himself up and Patrick gives him a bottle and puts him back down and he'll sleep until 6 or 7am, when he again starts with lots of grunting and groaning. For awhile, he was doing pretty good at night but wasn't taking good naps during the day. However, he's done a little better in the last couple of days and has taken some really good naps. At the risk of jinxing the situation, I'll leave it at that.

There is a big debate about who Peyton looks like. Does he have the good looks of his dad or mom? I've scanned in our baby photos so that we can do a fair comparison. Patrick is 3 months in his picture, Peyton is 2 months, and I'm not sure how old I am, but I look like a baby, so it counts. I still don't know who he looks like.....

Peyton's first videos

There are new pictures on picassa web, dated 051308:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528

And below are a few videos of our little man. Enjoy!

Boot Camp

A friend of mine recently said that having a newborn baby is like being in boot camp and the baby is the commanding officer. Ain't that the truth.

I was talking to another friend and told her that I don't know where the day goes, but I don't get anything done, other than tending to Peyton. She asked me what I did all day and I told her I had no idea. So I decided to keep track of what I did in a day. This is by no means a routine. Everyday is different with new and unexpected twists and turns. But I do spend a good part of my day feeding Peyton. That may explain why he know weighs 11lbs and 11oz, hitting the 90th percentile in the weight charts -meaning that he weighs more than 90% of other one month olds. Yep, he's a big boy, alright.

So here it is. A day in the life of Peyton Christopher Harrell:

10:30-12:30pm Sleep swaddled in car seat on the floor while dad sleeps on the sofa next to him. Up until this particular night, Peyton will only sleep while being held. Worried that this is leading to some bad habits, mom and dad decide to try swaddling him tight and putting him in his car seat where he seems to sleep quite peacefully during car rides.

12:30 – 1am Bottle Fed by dad – 5oz. Quite impressive!

1:45am-4:15am – The previous sleep cycle went well, so mom keeps Peyton swaddled in car seat on the floor while she sleeps on the sofa next to him

4:15-5am – Peyton wakes mom up to let her know that he's hungry. He gets breast-fed.

5am-7:45am – Dad's turn. Grunting/sleeping while dad is on duty.

7:45am-9am – Dad's got to go to work, so its mom's turn. Peyton decides he's hungry again. He gets breast fed

9-9:15am – Swing time while mom shovels down her breakfast

9:15 – Starts crying. He’s done with the swing.

9:30 – because mom is holding him, he falls asleep. Mom puts him in car seat because he slept really well there last night.

9:40 – mom brings the car seat upstairs and puts it in the bathroom with her while she takes a bath

9:50am – Unfortunately, the car seat is not close enough to the bathtub to rock it when Peyton has a juicy burb, wakes himself up, and starts screaming.
Mom has to hurry up and finish getting the shampoo out of her hair so that she can comfort Peyton. She’ll have to wait until tomorrow to shave her legs

10:05am – Peyton falls back asleep and mom puts him in his cradle.

10:15am – Peyton is no fool. He knows no one is holding him and he wakes up. But he seems to be in a good mood so mom puts him in his crib with his mobile and animals and he watches the action for a few minutes while mom gets dressed and gets a load of laundry started.

10:40am – Ok, Peyton has been patient enough and has had enough of his mobile. He lets mom know that he’s done. Mom feeds him.

11:00am – after feeding only on one side and changing a poopy diaper, Peyton decides he’s done eating and falls asleep. Mom swaddles him and puts him in his pack ‘n play with a bear that makes womb noises. Will he stay asleep???

12noon – The bear stops making womb noises and Peyton has to poop, so he wakes up very unhappy.

12:30pm – after a series of crying, settling, sleeping, crying settling, sleeping, mom decides he must be hungry. Again.

1:15pm – Peyton is done eating. Mom is hungry, so he goes in his swing for a few minutes while she makes lunch.

2pm – After swing time, car seat time, and tummy time, Peyton is getting quite fussy. Mom bounces him to sleep and the two take a nap on the couch together.

3:30pm – Time to eat again!

4:15pm - Now that he’s done eating, Peyton decides its time for some more Z’s.

5:00pm – 5:30pm – But he can only sleep so long in his pack n’ play without being held, so he wakes up mad that no one is holding him. Again, we do some crying, settling, crying, settling, etc until mom decides he must be hungry. Again.

5:30pm – Eating Once again. Dad comes home. Finds mom sitting in her usual chair feeding Peyton again.. Mom is now referred to as “the cow”

6:15pm – Go for a walk in the neighborhood. Peyton looks all around and is fascinated by the green grass, pretty flowers, and blue sky, but eventually falls asleep.

7:00pm – After the walk, Peyton gets put down while he is sleeping, but again it is short-lived. As mom tries to finish her dinner, dad dances Peyton around the living room. It does seem to settle him down a little bit. Can we squeeze in a bath before the next feeding?

7:30pm – Nope. Need to eat before bath.

8:15pm – Bath time! Peyton loves taking a bath. He’s so calm. And, he’s got to get that fountain of pee going in the water every time!

9:30pm – Yep, he’s hungry again. Mom feeds him, then heads off to bed. Dad’s in charge now. Bottle’s in the fridge.

And the cycle continues….

More Pictures

A few more pictures of our new little one:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528

10lb baby

Went to the doctor this morning (Friday) and Peyton already weighs 10lbs!!

By the way, Patrick got peed on.

Week 1

I'm not going to lie. This is hard. I had no idea. Patrick says they lied to us. Each day actually gets a little better, but the breast-feeding has been way more challenging than I had anticipated. My milk had a hard time coming in, so Peyton really wasn't getting enough to eat. Finally between day 5 and day 6, my milk came in, although I never really did get that engorged feeling or anything. Hopefully I'll keep producing more and more, because this is one heck of a hungry boy. Night before last, he ate, pooped, and screamed pretty much non-stop between 10pm and 2am. My mom and I were on duty and by poop number 6, all we could do was laugh. Thank goodness my mom is here. I don't know what I would do without her. She's been such a big help. She's not sleeping either, but somehow she's managing to keep up with the laundry, keeping me fed, burping Peyton, changing his diaper, etc.

Last night, my mom and Patrick took turns sleeping downstairs with Peyton and just brought him to me to be fed. That way, I could get a little bit of sleep. Up until then I had been trying to have him sleep in the cradle next to me and every little noise he made, I would jump up and see what he was doing or what he needed, so I wasn't sleeping at all. I feel a lot better today. Its amazing what some sleep can do for you.

So, we're adjusting. Still getting used to each other. But now I know he cries for two reasons: he needs to eat, or he needs to poop. He's got terrible gas. After the 6th poop in a row the other night, I knew he was a Harrell! His daddy is so proud!

Patrick says I had such an easy pregnancy, I had to pay for it somehow. And between the labor and this first week at home, I feel like I've paid my dues. The delivery was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. My labor started about 3am. I had gotten up to use the bathroom and noticed a little blood, so I was hoping that meant things were starting. I got back in bed and woke Patrick up. He asked if we could sleep just a little longer, but within just a few minutes, I had a contraction. Then I had another one. Yep, I was in labor. I called my mom and told her to get on the next plane. I got in the bathtub to get ready to go to the hospital, thinking we still had a few hours before we needed to do that. Then we started counting the contraction length and frequency and realized that they were between 3 and 5 minutes apart and lasting between 45 and 70 seconds. The doctor had told me I should go to the hospital once they were 5 minutes apart and lasting for a minute and this had gone on for an hour. At that point Patrick realized that he really needed to pack, walk Nellie, and get ready to go. I've never seen him move that fast. We left the house a little after 6am, stopped at church and said a prayer, then arrived at the hospital. They wheeled me up to the labor and delivery floor, checked to see if I was dilated and I was already between 4 and 5cm, so they gave me a labor room. I opted for the epidural right away - I was pretty uncomfortable. I stopped feeling my contractions in my abdomen, but was really feeling them in my back. I think Peyton was right up against my tailbone. By 10am, I was 8cm. My mom's plane was getting ready to take off and she was nervous that she wouldn't make it in time. But at this point, things kind of slowed down. They ended up breaking my water sometime around noon if I remember correctly (things are kind of hazy). After another hour or so, I was still only 8cm, so they started me on pitocin (sp?). My mom arrived at this point, relieved that she made it in time. Around 3:30pm I was 10cm and started pushing. Wow. I wasn't prepared for this part at all. The midwife asked me if I had taken the childbirth class and I said yes, and she said ok, good, so you know how to push. I looked at Patrick and he had a blank look on his face too, so I turned to her and asked if we could go over that part. You know, no one said a word in our childbirth class about pushing. I hadn't even realized it until that exact moment. But looking back, how do you complete a childbirth class without having covered pushing??? As prepared as I was for everything else, and as much as I had read about everything, I was clueless about pushing. But we went over what to do and I proceeded to push for 3 freakin' hours. I had not realized how difficult this part was going to be. At this point, I had no idea that I was about to push out an almost 10 lb baby either, but that may explain why it was so hard to get him out. Once he was born, my placenta wouldn't deliver on its own so they had to manually remove it. That was fun. But there he was, born at 6:42PM weighing in at 9lbs, 13oz and he was just beautiful.

He's got to be one of the luckiest little boys in the world. Between Patrick and my families, he has 12 grandparents or great grandparents. Somehow, we managed to find unique names for all of them. Here they are:

My family:
My mom - Lollie
My stepdad - Pops
My dad - Gramps
My mom's mom - Grandma
My mom's dad - Paw-Paw
My dad's mom - Granny
My stepdad's mom - Mimi

Patrick's family:
His mom - Lulu
His dad - Papa
His mom's mom - MawMaw
His dad's mom - Big Mama
His dad's dad - Big Daddy


I will eventually try to post more pictures. Peyton keeps me pretty busy, but I will try to post some things periodically between feedings and poopy diapers.

Peyton's first bath .... 12:45pm

Jessica got peed on and Chris (Jessica's mom) got pooped on. I just laughed.

-Patrick

Photos!

Here are some pictures of Peyton's first few days. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528/PeytonPhotos

What's in a Name?

We had told everyone that the baby was a boy, so we figured something should be a surprise, which is why we decided to keep the name a secret. But as you now know, his name is Peyton Christopher Harrell. According to our baby name book, Peyton is a variant of the name Patrick, Latin for the Roman Patricians, or nobles and aristocrats (the Irish association comes from St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland). We didn't want the baby to be Patrick Jr., so we thought Peyton was the next best thing. Christopher, the middle name, is a family name on my mom's side of the family. My great grandfather was Christopher, my grandmother's brother was Christopher, and my mom is Christine (and everyone calls her Chris) so we thought it would be appropriate to keep the Christopher name in the family!

We're all doing pretty well. We came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon (Friday), and we had a very very rough night. Peyton screamed at the top of his lungs for pretty much the whole night. His cry is now very hoarse. Luckily, we had an appointment with the pediatrician this morning. He asked me some questions about my milk, and he said that Peyton is probably still hungry after feedings because he's not getting enough since my milk hasn't come in yet. I've still just got colostrum and its not enough to keep him satisfied. He said that until it does, we should supplement him with just a little formula after he's finished breast feeding. We've tried that a few times today and he definitely seems to settle down quite a bit more if we give him the little bit of extra. I've been pumping a little bit too so we give him that instead of the formula if we have enough. I'm concerned about the whole bottle vs. breast and formula vs. breast milk thing because I want the breast feeding to work and I don't want him to prefer the bottle over the breast. But the doctor assured us that all bets are off as long as my milk is not in yet. So, we're still waiting for that, but in the meantime we're hoping that things will go a bit better tonight and we can all get a little bit of rest.
Patrick and my mom have been great. I don't know would I would do without either one of them. Patrick has this dad thing down pretty darn good - I'm pretty lucky.

We've taken lots of pictures and will work on getting them posted so that everyone can see them soon.

Peyton Christopher Harrell has arrived!

Born April 2, 2008 at 6:42pm. 9lbs 13ozs. 21 inches long. No c-section required. Jessica is quite a trooper!

Going to the hospital - 6am

Contractions are 2-4 minutes apart lasting about 45-70 seconds.

1st Contraction-3am!

Jessica started with her first contractions at about 3am this morning.

Says Jessica, "This %@&&% hurts!"

-Patrick

Still Waiting

We went to the doctor again today - weekly visits now. No new news.
I told her I was having sharp pains in my lower abdomen area when I walk - they aren't contractions because its only when I'm walking and they don't last long. She said, sounds normal. Everything is loosening up in order for me to give birth. She asked how I was feeling otherwise? Grouchy and ready for this baby to come out. Again she said, sounds normal. She also said the baby won't come unless I make peace with the situation and get over being grouchy. (I think that was for Patrick's benefit). She asked, any fluid retention? Yes, my hands hurt at night and my feel hurt during the day. She said, sounds normal. She asked, are you having any contractions? No. Ok, see you next week.

She said its really anyone's guess as to when he's going to arrive. It could be anytime now. Even though I'm not having any contractions, I could start any moment. She is on call on Sunday and that's really my only chance of actually having her deliver the baby. She said sometimes her patients have a way of willing their babies out when she's on call. I asked for a prediction on the size of the baby and she says 7 1/2 lbs but she says that for the most part, its a guess. Personally, I think he's over 8lbs.

Here are everyone else's predictions so far for when the baby is coming - feel free to add your prediction! I like Aunt Dede's suggestion - the one closest gets to hold him first when he visits!

Aunt Debbie - April 15th, 7.5 lbs, 22in
Aunt Donna - April 14th, 9 lbs 7 oz, 21.5in
Aunt Dede - April 7th, 8lbs 3oz, 20in
Mom - April 9th, 8lbs 4oz, 21.5in
Heather - April 12, 7lbs 2oz, 20in
Erin - April 12th, 8lbs, 21in
Granny - April 15th, 7lbs 2oz

P.S. Patrick wants me to mention what a good husband he has been. He massages my hands in the morning and he tries to be as accommodating and helpful as possible. He's been trying very hard to be nurturing, so he wants everyone to stop reminding him that he has to be nice to me.

No Baby Yet!

No signs of labor, no contractions, no baby. We're just waiting.

He's still moving around quite a bit and he gets the hiccups occasionally. I am feeling a little more groin pain - like maybe he's moving down a bit. But he's always been low, so its hard to tell. Patrick thinks it will be the end of this week. I'm not convinced. I think he's quite comfortable where he is.

But whenever he would like to make his appearance, we're ready!

37 and 38 Weeks

Today we are officially 2 weeks away from our due date. Time seems to be dragging along. If we just knew when he was coming, I think we'd feel a little more at ease. But the uncertainty is killing us!

I guess if you're reading this, you've probably seen the video. And if you haven't already, you'll just scroll down now and watch it. So, ok, I'm hormonal. I can't help it. I admit I may seem crazy at times. But I'm carrying around a 30lb bowling ball, which means I can only waddle so fast, I'm hot all the time, I have to get up and pee every couple of hours during the night, and I have some other aches and pains that I'll spare everyone the details of. I mean, you have to expect that I'm going to have a moment of hysteria every now and then. But, rest assured that I will get my husband back.

You may have also read about our breast feeding class. It was quite informative. Despite all of his protests and claims that there would be no other men in the class, it turns out that there were 9 other men in the class and 10 other women. I, of course, pointed out how many men were there and Patrick informed me that they were all there against their will too. But he survived and we learned a lot about how it all works.

I think we've officially covered all of our bases when it comes to educating ourselves about this whole process. We've taken classes about introducing the new baby to our dog, newborn care, childbirth, breast feeding, and we've taken a tour of the maternity ward of the hospital. I like to be well informed, and I certainly think we're as prepared as we can be. When it all comes down to it, I imagine that the knowledge is great to have, but nothing is ever as you plan or expect so you just have to go with the flow.

I have obviously entered the "nesting" phase. I've been cleaning, for crying out loud. Some may not realize that I HATE to clean. I like living in a clean house, but I hate cleaning. My sister's one piece of advice to Patrick when we got married was that he should hire a maid. I can't for the life of me figure out why he doesn't think that's a good idea. I think it would be worth every penny. I would be such a happier person. I get really grouchy when I clean. I have way more fun things to do than scrub toilets. But I've always heard about "nesting" and sure enough, there I was this weekend scrubbing the shelves of the refrigerator, dusting, vacuuming, and mopping. And I was grouchy.

We went to the doctor yesterday. Basically, we listened to the heartbeat ( a strong 138), the doctor asked me if I was having any contractions, I said no, and she said she'd see me next week. Patrick, after having to live with my grouchiness from cleaning all weekend, asked what we could do to speed the process along. She had a couple of suggestions, none of which really sounded appealing to me, so we're just going to have to let him come out when he's good and ready.

Once I hit 37 weeks, the baby was considered full term. His lungs are fully mature and ready to function on their own in the outside world. As we head into week 38, he probably weighs about 6.8 pounds and is over 19 1/2 inches long. In addition to his lungs, his other organs have matured and are also ready to function on their own. We're ready for his arrival, so hopefully he'll decide he wants to make his appearance soon! We'll keep everyone updated!

Laughing and Crying at the same time!

What you are about to see actually happened. In fact, it's not the first time it has happened. Its just the first time I caught it on video. Enjoy!





I hope the next two weeks go by quick. The hormones are starting to swing wildly!


-Patrick

(video published with permission by the prego lady.)

Breast Feeding Class

We went to the breast feeding class at Duke healthcare last night. We've been taking all of our classes at UNC Health Care, but because of a scheduling conflict we weren't able to attend. Duke and UNC are big rivals in just about everything. Basketball. Football. Golf. Healthcare.

We both immediately noticed that the people in the class were "different" from what we were used to at UNC. My friend, Ted (a Duke grad), commented that it's because Duke women shave. I don't know if that was exactly it, but we were definitely among the higher end of society.

Although we learned many techniques on how to make breast feeding go smoothly, I took away two important things:

1) Breasts are amazing. The fact that a woman's body is so tuned to provide for a baby is just remarkable.

2) Breasts, for me at least, are no longer sexy.


-Patrick

Weeks 35 and 36

I know, I know! I'm waaaayyyyy behind on the blog. I've been busy! I taught a class about C. elegans (the organism that I work on in the lab) at another university yesterday, so all of my energy was going into preparing for that. I thought it went really well. The class was really interactive and I had a blast.

I think we pretty much have everything ready for the baby. My hospital bag is mostly packed, the baby's room is set up, most of his gizmos and gadgets are put together, so now I think we just need him to arrive! We do still need to install the car seat in the car, but it seems a little complicated so we are going to go by the fire station and let someone there show us how to put it in properly. And I still need to call the pediatrician - I'm going to do that today, I swear! I know which pediatrician I want - I just need to call and see if they have an opening. Daycare is all settled, so that's a big relief.

We've taken our childbirth class and our newborn care class. We have the breastfeeding class left to take and we're scheduled to do that tomorrow night. Yes, I am dragging Patrick with me to the class. He has protested, but has finally agreed to come. I've heard it can be difficult to breastfeed and get frustrating sometimes, so I just want him to be educated about it so that he can help me. I asked the lady on the phone when I confirmed the class yesterday if there would be other men there and she assured me that other people had indicated that they were bringing guests. I guess I'm just hoping they're bringing their husbands and not their moms. If Patrick is the only guy in the class, he'll never let me forget it!

I went to the doctor yesterday. Everything seems fine, so I'll go back in a week. I'm considered full term at 37 weeks, which is tomorrow! The doctor did say that his head is down, so he's in position and ready to come out! But I have absolutely no indication that this baby is coming anytime soon. He seems quite comfortable where he is. No braxton-hicks contractions or anything. I guess we just sit around and wait now. He's going to get an eviction notice if he doesn't show up by April 9th, my official due date. No more free womb and board! Actually, the doctor said she probably wouldn't induce before 41 - 41 1/2 weeks, which wouldn't be until sometime after April 16th. Arrgghhh! I don't think I can wait that long!

Any predictions on when he'll come or how big he'll be? My lab has a pool going. They are all going to the beach the weekend in April right after my due date (without me this year, unfortunately) and for some reason, no one thinks he's coming that weekend. I don't know...its possible that he could be a few days late! One of them is predicting that he's going to be over 10 lbs when he comes out! He thinks I have a big belly! I think he's just trying to make me scared. I was only 7lbs, 2oz. Patrick was over 8 lbs, but I think 10 lbs is a stretch.

The baby should be about 6 lbs now and is probably a little over 18 inches long. His kidneys are fully functional and his liver is capable of processing most types of waste. Physically, he's finished the basics of development and will just be putting on weight from here on out. I guess that means I'm going to keep getting bigger! He is probably shedding the downy covering of hair and the waxy substance that protected his skin in the amniotic fluid for the last 9 months. He'll swallow these secretions which will form the contents of his first bowel movement. It will be a kind of blackish mixture called meconium. Ok, enough about poop, but isn't it exciting?!

34 Weeks

We had another fun-filled weekend this past weekend. My mom was here helping me get everything ready. What would I do without her?! We put the baby's clothes in his dresser, set up the baby monitors, cleaned mine and Patrick's bedroom from top to bottom and set up the cradle, put together the pack 'n play, the stroller, and the carseat. We ran some errands, and even went to a baby shower!

My friend LeAnn, with the help of some other friends from school/bookclub, threw me a baby shower at the home of Phil and Martha (the couple that leads a small group discussion Patrick and I go to once a week.) . It was a mixture of friends, many of which didn't know each other, but I think everyone still had fun. We played a couple of games, including one where you had to name the baby versions of animals. For example, what is a baby whale? Apparently, the answer is not a fish. What is a baby swan? It is not an ugly duckling. These are just a few that I got wrong. I only got 6 out of 14 correct. I'm not sure what this says about my maternal skills. But, like someone at the shower said, at least I'm not a veterinary obstetrician. The other game that we played was to guess how big my belly was. A roll of toilet paper was passed around and you had to pull off the number of squares that you thought was the length around my waist. Let me tell you, some people think I have a BIG belly, including my own mother. But my friend Mary, an expectant mother herself, got it pretty close! I got a lot of really nice things at the shower. Everyone was so generous and thoughtful. I got a bunch of stuff that I still needed, so that was awesome. And some of my very talented friends made some special gifts for the baby - my friend Megan made a quilt and my friend Rebecca knitted some sweaters for the baby, and Liz is knitting a baby blanket (once I pick the colors!)

At the shower, my friend Lee came over to talk to Michelle Risher and I. Michelle is originally from New Olreans as well. Lee said she used to have a roommate from LA and that she always used to talk about this stuff that people used in LA and Lee wanted to know if it really existed. Lee said she was going to be really embarrassed about asking if we didn't know what she was talking about. Before she could say what it was, Michelle and I looked at each other and said, Boudreaux's Butt Paste! Lee was like, well, I guess it really does exist! I told Lee that I have a very large jar of Boudreaux's Butt paste ready for the baby. We got a good laugh about that. Here are some shower pictures:

Me and LeAnn

Baby's first baseball bat from Martha


Quilt from Megan




After the shower, my mom helped me put everything away, wash some more clothes, sheets and blankets for the baby. Then she and Patrick and I spent the evening trying to put things together. Here's the thing. I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent person, but putting things together for a baby tends to make you question that. The directions on these things, like the stroller, car seat and pack n' play, consist of badly drawn cartoon images of pieces, and very short instructions, such as "Snap!" Snap? Snap what to what? What is that a drawing of? It definitely felt like it took longer to put everything together than it should have. Eventually we managed to figure everything out, we think. Hopefully they won't all fall apart when we put the baby in them.

Now, most of you may know that I'm not exactly a neat person. I tend to have a lot of clutter. Patrick had said he wasn't putting the baby's cradle in our bedroom until I cleaned it. His definition of clean and my definition of clean are two very different things. I thought it was clean already. But my mom got in my bedroom and whipped it into shape so that we could move the cradle in. Now that I look at my room, I see how nice it looks. It feels so good to have such a clean room! I had gotten the bedding for the cradle at my shower, so we put that all together and got it set up in our room. Its a big cradle, but the only thing we had to move out of the room was a nightstand. Its right next to our bed so all I have to do is stick my hand out and rock the cradle to get him to settle down and go back to sleep.



I think things are pretty much ready for the baby's arrival! He should weigh almost 5 lbs and is probably about 18 inches long. His fat layers are filling out and his central nervous system and lungs are continuing to mature. I go to the doctor again tomorrow, so we'll see how things are progressing!

33 Weeks

7 more weeks to go! (However, this post is a little delayed, so its more like 6 1/4 weeks!) Patrick's parents were here this past weekend delivering the baby furniture that Mr. Brian made. He made a cradle for our bedroom for when the baby first comes home, and he made a dresser for the baby's room. Both pieces are beautiful. He did a very nice job. It was a long drive for a quick trip - they arrived Friday afternoon and left Sunday morning - but they wanted us to have the furniture so that we could finish getting everything set up.

The cradle is quite large. We may have to rearrange some things in our bedroom to squeeze it in there, and I think the baby could sleep in it until he's 2, but it really is a great piece of furniture. I'm sure it will be a family heirloom for generations to come.
The dresser is very nice as well. It has a lot of very nice details - notice the balled feet and the swirly thing at the bottom. Mr. Brian had called to see what color stain we wanted, so Patrick and I spent a lot of time trying to pick out the right stain to match the crib (at least 4 trips to Lowe's), but it paid off because the colors match quite well. I will be able to use the top as a changing table initially, but the baby will be able to use it as a dresser forever. Unless we give it to his younger brother or sister. Hmmmm....maybe we should put in our order now for another set of furniture.



So the room is coming along very nicely. The bed is all made, the curtains are hung, the furniture is all there. Now we just need a baby!


Nellie even has her own little spot in the room. I'm hoping that she'll be happy laying there and won't try to get in my lap while I'm nursing the baby in the rocking chair. I know that's probably not realistic, but I have to try anyway. At this point, she still tries to get in my lap, but I think she's starting to realize that there isn't much of a lap left. I was sitting on the floor the other day, Indian style, and she came over and tried to put her paw down in my lap and couldn't find anywhere to put it. She turned a little, tried with the other paw and failed again. She settled with sitting next to me, as close as she could possibly get. I'm not so sure that she is going to like the new addition to the family, because she's not going to get nearly the attention she normally does. And she is a very attention-hogging dog.

At 33 weeks, the baby should be about 4 lbs and 17 inches long. The skeleton is hardening but the bones in the skull are not fusing yet, which makes them more pliable so that the baby can fit his head through the birth canal. I'm still feeling pretty good, although I'm finding it harder to sleep comfortably. I guess the lack of sleep is just good preparation for when the baby comes.

Belly Pictures

Use this link to see some pictures that Patrick took of my big belly!

http://www.pbase.com/pharr080/jessica_pregnancy

32 Weeks

We went to the doctor last Tuesday, and everything still looks good! She measured my belly and it measured about 32 - 32 1/2, which is exactly in line with my due date! The baby seems to be head down, with his feet up near my ribs, so as long as he doesn't decide to turn around, he should be good to go! We'll start going back more frequently now, so I have another appointment 2 weeks from tomorrow.

We took our childbirth class this weekend, which we enjoyed. There were other scared dads in the class, so Patrick felt a little better, I think. We learned about all the different stages of labor, relaxation techniques, pain managment, C-sections, etc., and we got to see all of the equipment that they will use during the delivery. And of course we got to see a video of a live birth. How do they talk women into allowing them to videotape this, even if its for educational purposes?!

We did a role playing activity, where the wives had to read specific lines and then the husbands had to say how they would respond. My line was something like, "I've been in labor for 10 hours and I'm only 5cm dilated. I'm done with this. I'm going home!" (You know, I can actually imagine myself saying something like that.) To which Patrick responded very supportively in front of the class, "You're doing great, honey. You're halfway there. You can do it". I told the class that I actually thought he might take more of a tough love approach and say something more like, "Oh, yeah?! You're going to drive yourself? Because I'm staying here." We got a good laugh out of that.

Anyway, the baby should weigh about 3.75 lbs and is probably about 16.7 inches long. I should be gaining about a pound a week now (no problems with that), and most of this will go to the baby. He will gain about 1/3 to 1/2 of his birth weight between now and when he is born. He should also have fingernails and toenails now and maybe even a little hair on his head. However, I haven't had any heartburn at all, so perhaps he's bald?!

30 and 31 Weeks

Wow! Time is flying by...less than 9 weeks to go! I feel like I'm getting bigger by the minute. I was starting to have a lot of leg pain because I think the baby is sitting pretty low. But now I wear this belly-band thing that pulls my belly up. Its actually helped quite a bit with the leg pain and higher back aches.

The baby is moving around quite a bit. Sometimes I feel like he's doing summersalts in there. I think he gets the hiccups occasionally. I go back to the doctor on Tuesday, then I will start going every two weeks.

Some friends of ours had a 'baby brunch' for us and another couple that is pregnant a couple of weekends ago. We played games and ate lots of good food. But one of the games consisted of guessing the ingredients to 5 different baby foods. I dipped my pinky slightly in them to get a little taste and gave up after that. None of them tasted all that great, and they all tasted the same to me. Seemed like all of them had bananas in them, but apparently only one did. Patrick on the other hand ate everything on his plate trying to figure out what they all were. He only got the banana part right too.

My mom and Bob were here last weekend (since it was Mardi Gras). We got a lot done. My rocking chair arrived and we put that together, we put the mobile together and put that on the bed and started decorating the baby's room. We washed a lot of the baby's clothes and blankets and stuff he'll use in the beginning. I felt better having gotten so much accomplished.

My water aerobics class is going well. It feels so good to get in the water and move around. And its good to talk to other first-time moms or other moms that have done this before. The lady that teaches the class has a 13 week old, so she has lots of great advice.

Patrick and I will be taking a childbirth class next weekend. Its lasts all day both Saturday and Sunday, so hopefully we will get something useful out of it.

The baby should now weigh a little over 3 pounds and is probably about 16 inches long (we don't know this for sure, but this is a general idea). Apparently he should be heading into a growth spurt so I guess that means I can look forward to getting bigger and bigger! His eyesight is beginning to develop but will probably only have about 20/400 vision when he's born.

29 Weeks

Here is my big belly, getting bigger every day!

Patrick and I have been working on the baby's room all week. He painted over the weekend (notice the nice green color!) and we built the crib Tuesday night. It came out very nice - we're very excited about it. But we've come to realize how very small the room is. Its only 8.5x8.5 ft, so there won't be much extra space! We're still hoping to squeeze a dresser/changing table combo and a rocker/glider. Its going to be a tight fit, and we haven't quite figured out how we're going to arrange the room. We're using newspaper cut to the dimensions of the dresser and rocker to try to lay things out with the crib (since we don't have either of those pieces in the room yet), and we haven't found the perfect solution yet, but hopefully we'll figure something out. Nellie has been checking out all the action as we are starting to put together the room.
But don't be fooled. She's not as innocent as she looks. What she's really after is the monkey.

In other news, Patrick and I took a newborn care class last night at the hospital. We learned all about diaper changes, baby carriers, and swaddling. I'm a little concerned that when Patrick was practicing putting a baby doll in a carrier that you wear, he popped the baby's head off. A little too much pressure on the head as he was trying to position the baby, perhaps? I'll give him another chance but if he pops our baby's head off, he's going to lose some privledges.

My water aerobics class is a lot of fun. There are a couple of other moms in the class that are due in April. I feel a little self-concious because I think I look way bigger than they do. But its fun to get together with other prego ladies and swap stories. I have my second class tonight.

The baby should be about 2.5 lbs now and about 15 inches long. This is the period where his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, so I've been drinking lots of milk! He needs about 250mg of calcium a day to deposit into his hardening skeleton. His head is getting bigger as well since his brain is developing so he also needs lots of protein, Vit C, folic acid, and iron. I've really tried to eat much healthier since I've been pregnant. Hopefull he's getting lots of good nutrients!

News Flash!

The nursery is now green. Yes, it was green before. Is it now the right color green, you ask? Doesn't matter. It's green.

-Patrick

Weeks 27 and 28

I'm a little behind on updating the blog, so I'll have to do two weeks at once! The third trimester has officially begun! The baby should be about 2 1/4 lbs and about 14.8 inches long. He can open and close his eyes and his eyelashes have also formed. As his eyesight is developing, he can probably start to see light that filters in through my belly. His brain tissue is also still developing, and at this point his brain is probably very active.

Patrick and I have been busy the last couple of weeks. We've finally managed to get most of the baby's room cleared out and transferred most of the office stuff into the guest bedroom (its getting very crowded in there!) We've been storing all of the baby stuff in the guest bedroom too since we still need to paint the baby's room. I'm working on picking out the paint, but I don't make decisions like this very quickly. And Lowe's seems to be out of the paint swatch that I think has the exact green color on it that I want! But I think I would like to paint the room green and have red accents, like red curtains, etc., since the pattern has some red in it. Those of you that have been to our house know that the baby's room is already green, but its definitely not the right green. Its too dark, and not quite the right shade to match the pattern. But I think I've finally convinced Patrick that the room needs to be painted. He has agreed to do it, although he doesn't seem to be happy about it. Since I'm pregnant, I'll just supervise the job. But I'd better get the green color right the first time because there is no chance in hell that I'll convince him to repaint it if I don't like it! We're going for an animal theme, and here's a picture of the quilt from the pattern for the baby's room (click on the picture to make it bigger):


We purchased the crib this past weekend, so I'm glad that it's done. I was worried that we would have to order it and that it would take up to 12 weeks to arrive, which is around the time the baby will arrive too. And even though the baby won't sleep in his crib right away, we still needed it soon, right?! But the lady at the store said, "we have some in the back, do you want it today?" and of course I said yes! They came out with this huge box, so we ended up having to take all of the pieces out so that we could fit them all in the back of the Explorer. I told Patrick that I felt so much better now that we have the crib. He thinks I'm crazy of course because he didn't think there was anything to worry about anyway. And now he wants to know what we should do with it until we are ready to put it in the baby's room. Hmmmm...right now its in pieces in the living room. Guess we should paint the room so that we can put the crib together, huh? That means I need to make a decision about the color!

I had my most recent doctor's appointment yesterday. I had to do the screening for gestational diabetes, so i had to drink a very sweet fruit juice drink then wait an hour to have my blood drawn. I called and got the results today and it was in the normal range, so that's excellent! The baby's heartbeat also sounded great - it was around 150bpm, so it's going strong! Otherwise, the doctor seems to be pleased with my progress. I only gained about 5 lbs between my last two visits, as opposed to the 10 that I gained between Thanksgiving and Christmas!

I have enrolled in a prenatal water aerobics class on the suggestion from Patrick's cousin Laura. She said it made her feel so much better and she thinks that the fact that she was in pretty good shape made for a better labor. I look pretty funny in my prego bathing suit, but hopefully so will all of the other pregnant women in the class. I'm supposed to start tomorrow night, but I'm fighting a cold again so I guess I'll have to wait and see how I feel.

25 and 26 Weeks

Patrick and I just arrived back in NC after a very nice visit home for Christmas. We stayed in Atlanta both driving there and driving back. Our old neighbors, Shawn and Besty, live there now and were kind enough to give us a warm bed to sleep in. We were lucky enough to have great weather for the drive, and traffic wasn't really too bad either. We stopped frequently so that I could use the restroom and move around a little bit. Its good to be back in NC, and I think it will be a long time before we can get Nellie back in the car. Between the drive to New Orleans, the trips across the lake, and the drive back to NC, she's had about as much fun in the car as she can take. She has taken to running away when she thinks we're going to put her back in the car.

As always, we were busy seeing family and friends in New Orleans, and enjoyed every minute of it. We started the week with Maw-Maw's Christmas lunch on Sunday where we got to see the Orys. Emma Reese and Renee are getting so big and adorable!


Abby and Matt

Uncle Vance and Renee

Danielle and Emma Reese

Then on Monday (Christmas Eve) we had Christmas morning with Patrick's parents and Matt and Abby, lunch with my Dad's family, dinner at Big Mama and Big Daddy's, then a final stop at Aunt Di and Uncle Bill's.

Family Photo


Lisa Harrell and I compare bellies

Then on Tuesday (Christmas Day), we had Christmas morning with my family, then we went to Mimi's for Christmas with the Wedig's, then back to my parents for Christmas supper with the Sehrts. It was an exhausting couple of days, but I don't think Christmas would be the same without the craziness!

Mimi and Tricia

Me and soon-to-be Aunt Tobi


Sehrt grandkids

Before we left, Patrick's family gave us a baby shower! We got lots of great things - some really cute outfits. Our baby will be well dressed, that's for sure!




We had a great time over the holidays. It was strange to think that next year at this time, we'll be toting around an eight-month old! Patrick is priming everyone for Christmas in NC in '09. We'll have to see about that!

As for the development of the baby, he is now about 1 and 2/3 lb and 14 inches long. He's starting to put on some body fat. The nerve pathways in his ears are developing and more equipped to respond to sound. His wrinkled skin is beginning to smooth out and he's growing recognizible hair. I'm still feeling really good and starting to count down the last 3 months of pregnancy!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! We have a lot to look forward to in the new year and are very excited about what's to come!