all by ourselves

When we were released from the hospital, I was under strict orders to take it very, very easy for the first 2 weeks because I had more healing to do than average. Mom had been planning to stay with us for "a while" after Nate was born, so she stayed for 2 weeks to make sure that I'd be able to take it very, very easy. She went home this morning. Now, we're all alone.

Rodgers just went out to pick up Nate's birth announcements, which we'll send to aunts and uncles and grandparents. He also offered to pick up Chik-fil-a for lunch. Mmmm...my favorite! Nate's napping in his crib right now, which he usually doesn't like much. He sleeps well in his crib or Pack n Play at night, but during the day wants to be held for his naps. But today, he's sound asleep in the crib. Here I am, all alone, for the first time in over 2 weeks.

Nate's umbilical cord stump fell off Thursday. I wanted to give him a real bath Friday, but we were at the Dr for his 2 week check up all morning and were lazy all afternoon...He got his first real bath this morning. It wasn't nearly as bad as bathing him without being able to put him in the water. Still, he didn't like it. Here's a great picture of him giving me the evil eye:

We've gotten some glimpses of how cute his smile will be. He has spontaneous smiles in his sleep. It melts my heart every time. I adore his smile. Yesterday morning, when I sat down to feed him before going to the Dr, he looked me right in the eye and just grinned at me for several seconds. Mom was there, and she agreed it was a real smile. We oohed and ahed over it. Gradually, it faded, but then he gave us another little smile. Then, that one faded, and he decided no more messing around: it's time to eat! Later, he smiled some more while laying in his favorite spot: the changing table. I hung a picture of a lion over it and 2 monkeys are hanging from the ceiling. He loves watching all three of them. He sort of groans/grunts at them, and yesterday, he smiled at them, too.

My baby's already growing up.

2 weeks old: 10 lbs 1 oz, 22" long

visit from the Walls

Nate's cousin James finally came to visit us!! They ignored each other for the most part, but we had lots of fun! The Walls got here just before lunch, and we sent Matt to get pizzas. Then, we just hung out for a few hours.

Here are the boys napping together. They were both close to waking up, so they were squirming around, accidentally punching each other.

Nate, 2 weeks old; James, 6 weeks old

And here are comparison pictures of Claire and me, from Thanksmas, when she was 34 weeks pregnant and I was 31 weeks, and from today. It's safe to say we both look happier today.

November

January

Nathanael's birth announcement

Beautiful Nathanael Joseph

Here are some pictures of our precious baby boy
born Jan 15 at 11:23 am
9 lbs 7 oz
21 in long

Thursday night and Friday morning
Friday night and Saturday morning in postpartum
At home

We'll of course be adding more pictures. :)

41 weeks and a treat

baby betting

Several days ago, I took some bets on when Nate would be born. Here's an overview:

Jan 6 - 1 bet
Jan 7 - 1 bet
Jan 8 - 3 bets
Jan 9 - 6 bets (including mine)
Jan 10 - 2 bets
Jan 11 - 2 bets
Jan 15 - 2 bets

Wednesday is the most common day for babies to be born. In the US, there are 15.4% more babies born on Wednesdays than on the average day.

Sunday is the least common, with 35.1% fewer babies born on Sundays than on the average day.

Eleven of us were wrong. Six are still in the running. Will any of them win?

life after the due date

I was reading today that, technically, "past due" is after 42 weeks of pregnancy. From what I've heard, no doctors let women be pregnant that long. They induce, at the latest, at 42 weeks. My doctor induces at 41-41.5 weeks, unless the due date isn't firm, then at 42 weeks. Fortunately, my due date is firm, so I won't have to wait till 42 weeks. Yay!!!

In the meantime, lots of people have given me ideas for getting the process going. There are lots of old wives' tales and such which tell tricks for starting labor. We're trying some of them, especially the ones that call for eating certain things. In the past week, my insatiable appetite has returned. We've walked a lot as well. So far, nothing.

This baby is entirely too comfortable in there. He's still just kicking, punching, stretching, rolling, sticking his butt out, and enjoying his own little world. Not for long, baby boy. Not for long.

progression from 4 weeks to 39

39 weeks

How Far Along 39 weeks 3 days
How Big is Baby 20" long, 7+ lbs is average for 39 weeks.
Total Weight Gain 40 lbs even
Stretch Marks I stopped putting lotion on them. I just don't care anymore.
Sleep Still very poorly, but the past few nights have been a tiny bit better, more like when I first started having the insomnia. I tried to take a nap yesterday. Laid down for over an hour and slept all of 6 or 7 minutes.
Best Moment this Week Just getting through the week! Now I have only 5 days (or less) of work left.
Movement I've been feeling more movement down low. Also, I haven't been getting heartburn and rib pain as much, so I'm hoping that means he's dropping.
Food Cravings dark chocolate
Labor Signs Lots of contractions (they went on all day Thursday, about 30ish minutes apart, but not so often since then), and I'm dilated 1 cm.
Belly Button No change
What I Miss TMI, but having a satisfying BM.
What I'm Looking Forward To The same as last week: not being pregnant anymore. Soon (er) (ish).

Weekly Wisdom I thought of something really great a few days ago, but don't remember it anymore.

Milestones Counting down to the due date on one hand!

2009 in pictures

January

We took advantage of every warm weekend to go hiking, picnic in a park, or do something outdoors. Our first outing of the year was to Mother Neff State Park. Also in January, I had a personal bridal shower, and we went to a Twogether in Texas seminar on conflict resolution, which was free, came with free lunch, and knocked $60 off the cost of our marriage license. Amusingly, we'd registered for one in Temple, but the instructors couldn't make it, so it was canceled, and we had to go to Marlin. The instructors there were both from Temple and the others who were registered for that seminar were from Killeen, but didn't show up. So, we all drove to Marlin, when we live within a couple miles of each other.

February

In February, the wedding prep was nearly finished. We had a pre-wedding party in Arlington, hosted by Angela and Amy. Here, we're practicing cutting the cake together, so that we'd be good at it at our wedding reception. We played one of those "how would your fiance answer this question" games, which we'd also played at Twogether in Texas. One question that I'd gotten wrong at Twogether in Texas, I changed my answer to what Rodgers answered that time. And he changed his to what I'd said. So, we still got it wrong.

March

The wedding! We loved our wedding. We love being married even more, but we often reflect back on what a great day our wedding day was. On one hand, I feel like we've always been married. On the other hand, it feels like just yesterday we were still LDRing.

April

In April, we celebrated our first monthiversary by making samosas for the first time. We have nearly perfected the art now. Rodgers made some at Christmas that were the-best-ever! We didn't know it yet, but this was the first picture of me pregnant.

May

In May, we found out that our family was growing already! Here is Nate's first portrait. I still remember the look on Rodgers' face when I told him I'd be taking a pregnancy test. He just started grinning and giggling. He didn't stop smiling at me all evening. It was annoying at the time, but now a great memory. We are thrilled to be parents, and I am thrilled that pregnancy is almost over!

June

We spent Father's Day at my parents' house. All the kids pitched in together to get Dad an electronic drumset, which, we found out, has very fun sound effects. It came with headphones, but he enjoyed it more when everyone could hear what he was playing. Rodgers also helped Dad dig a trench to improve their drainage system for the washing machine. It was a hot day.

July

In July, we started really preparing for the arrival of Nathanael. I found a lady on craigslist who had a Baby Bjorn she wanted to sell for $20. We ended up also buying a travel swing and a high chair from her, and she gave us tons of toys and extras.

August

In August, we took our babymoon. I was barely starting to show, though I already felt enormous. People who knew me could definitely tell, but strangers could not. I'm sure they thought I was just pudgy...This is us with a replica of the Santa Maria. It was built in Spain, to the specs of the original. It, with the Nina and Pinta, set sail from Spain on the 500th anniversary of the original voyage which accidentally landed in the New World.

September

The end of August, we moved into a bigger place, to make room for our baby. By September, we were unpacked and well settled-in. Looking at this picture, I realize that our living room is now really, really a mess.

October

After a few cold days in October, we had a warm, sunny Saturday. We went hiking at one of our favorite parks in Stillhouse Hollow. It was possibly our last hike together before Nate's born. We may make another outing to try and speed the process of him joining the world of air, though, if he decides to be late.

November

With 2 babies coming in our family within a few weeks of each other, we celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving with my family in early November. It was a very fun time. And, we got all our Christmas shopping done way before the crowds. I was 31 weeks pregnant, and Claire was 34.

December

In December, Rodgers got his BA in Psychology! In April, we thought he'd be graduating in December, but then found out that he needed a b'jillion more upper credit hours that he thought he already had credit for. So he took lots of summer school. Then, in August Lillie, in the registrar's office, called him and told him he could actually graduate in December. What a blessing! His medallion is from Alpha Chi, which is an academic honor society for the top 10% of upperclassmen. The gold scarf is from Psi Chi, a psychology honor society. He was also in Pi Gamma Mu (social science honor society), but didn't wear their regalia, and he was invited to Gamma Beta Phi (academic honor society for the top 20%), but didn't join because he'd already joined Alpha Chi, so GBP was anti-climactic.