One more thing...

I forgot to mention in my post below that I have now lost 25lbs since J's birth. I have a bunch more to go before I can fit my pre-pregnancy clothes, but I feel good and am keeping it all in perspective. I just had a baby for goodness sakes. My goal is to be able to fit into this dress for my 28th birthday at the end of March. Wish me luck!

Funny Things About My Baby

Jericho is a funny kid. I'm not surprised judging by who his parents are. He uses his hands more than any baby I've ever seen, and when he opens his eyes and looks at me.. it's as if he knows exactly who I am.

At his dedication yesterday I heard Mike & Lindsey saying they have yet to see a picture of him with his eyes open... So I've searched high and low for the following.



This is right after I found out I had a jaundiced baby, so if I look upset - I am.





Yes, he loves noses. Gross.








This is when he was all better.






Aunt Megan & Aunt Nina bought me this cool play gym which I LOVE.







"Great to meet you, got milk?"






This is him most of the time, unless of course he's sleeping.

I do have to say that last night was one of the best nights we've had in awhile. He fed from 9:15-9:45 then went to bed at 10 and slept until 4:30am! He ate some more and was asleep by 5:30. I was pretty excited that he went 7 hours.

I'm a little worried about this week though - his grandparents have been visiting for the past week and he would get picked up every single time he cried and cuddled and soothed until he slept. I can't do that every time he needs to sleep. It was so great they were able to see him - we aren't sure when they'll be able to visit again so it's a little sad... I'm supposed to be investing in a webcam for their benefit.

Anyways, my baby is asleep - enjoy the pics!

Jericho's Dedication Take Two...

Okay, so sort of disregard the last post... Jericho will be dedicated this weekend at the church, but not until the 11 am service. I had some scheduling difficulties. Can you regular Saturday night people come Sunday at 11 to celebrate this event with us?

Jericho's Dedication

For any family members and friends in the area who read this blog of ours, Jericho will be getting dedicated at our church this Saturday, November 25th at the 6:30 pm service and you are all invited. My dad has pointed out to me that it's not J who is getting dedicated, but Nate and I who are dedicating ourselves to raise our little man the best way we know how - with the faith and values our parents imparted on us. And we pray he will come to love Jesus with all his heart.

Scary Dreams

Jericho generally wakes up twice per night. Usually around 2 and 5 am. I'm not finding it too hard, but the one thing that weirds me out is that every single night I have a dream just before he starts really crying where he's already in bed with me and I'm feeding him or cuddling him. At first it really creeped me out because I swear I could feel the blanket moving and I seriously believed as I was slowly waking that Jericho was in bed with me. We never bring him to bed. I never feed him in bed. But Nate sometimes finds himself trying to convince me that yes, my son is in the crib waiting for me to feed him and he's not my blanket. It's strange that it happens every night, but it's good because I'm getting less hysterical about it. At first I would sob in confusion, but now I just state the obvious to help myself get over it. Strange? I think so.

Cabbage Patch Anyone?

Let's just say Mom and Grandma were a little bored one day. Did I mention little Jericho will have a small role (very small role) in Alien vs. Predator II? I don't even like scary movies... but he can open his first bank account.

Jericho's First Walk

We went for our first walk yesterday. Thanks to Aunt Noelene's pretty white outfit it was plenty warm for baby.

Whew, Healthy Baby

Sometime late Thursyday night my little man took a turn for the better. We realized that he was starting to associate nursing with crying and getting upset... so I only tried to nurse when he was calm and it seems to have worked. We haven't used the syringe since 2 am Friday morning. My baby gained 5 oz. in 2 days! He's doing great now. Mommy is so proud.

Plus his yellow colouring has substantially subsided and he is a healthy shade of pink. Here are some pics we have taken in the last week - Happy one week bday Jericho!

Pictures

I can't take it anymore! I have pictures that need to be posted, I just don't think it's appropriate to post them on my blog when they are pictures of Sara's baby. So she was kind enough to give me the power to post on her blog.




I feel much better now. Hope you all enjoy the pictures. They were taken within an hour of his arrival.

Update

My little man is jaundiced. Actually, it was a horrible day yesterday. The midwife came over and noticed how yellow he was and that he was lethargic. He was just starting to not nurse as well and we were getting worried. Turns out he had lost 11% of his birth weight and was down to 7.5 lbs. I cried and cried. I went to the midwife office with Nate - my first outing since giving birth. Then they took me home with my mom while Nate took Jericho to the hospital for the bilirubin test. They also picked up a breast pump and some other stuff. They were gone for almost two hours and I was devasted. I missed the sound he makes when he breathes, I missed his little nose and kissing his face. I missed the little guy so much it physically hurt. When he came home I was good and ready to kiss him to death.

Today has been much better. I went to the hospital for the second test and we stopped by the church to introduce him to some of the staff. They all thought he was adorable - which is totally is. I'm just watching my mom burp him... You can all keep praying for him as I'm still a worried Mommy. He's not nursing well still - but we do have a syringe we're using and I am able to mostly feed him breast milk. It's just so devastating for a brand new mom to have something 'wrong' with her new little one.

But my energy is up and so is my baby's. I love him. I promise you all will too. I still don't have a pic, but you can check out 4ever29.blogspot.com and go down a bit and you'll see a little teaser.

My Son

I'm sorry I don't have pics yet as our internet is down, but we have a beautiful son. He was born Saturday, November 4th at 5:00 exactly. Just in time for dinner! His name is Jericho Edward Stephen and he weighed 8lbs, 8 oz. It was a natural birth, which was good... And I did need an epidural in the end as I needed to be induced as my water had been broken for 24 hours before I went into active labour. But I had plenty of contraction. In the end my midwives were very impressed with my labour and delivery - apparently I'm a natural. I'm so in love with my little man. Thanks for all your prayers. Pictures coming soon...

Busy Week.... NO BABY YET

So at my last post I talked about my dad's back. The real reason I wanted him to be able to leave with my mom is because we were planning a surprise 50th birthday party for her. Luckily he convinced he was well enough and they were able to get away together while my siblings and I cleaned my mom's house and decorated it for her party. I cleaned cupboards, organized bottles to be returned, and couldn't sleep that night because I was so sore. That night the baby dropped all the way. I couldn't believe the difference when I looked in the mirror Saturday morning. And the pressure!! Wow. Then Saturday I headed back to my parents for decorating and getting food ready.

The biggest surprise for my mom was this scrapbook we put together. It's over 50 pages of letters from friends and family letting her know how much they love and appreciate her. We also were able to get a lot of old pictures - some she had never seen put in it as well. Nina, Megan, Christa & I were able to put a lot of work into it and it turned out beautifully. Each of us kids did a page of our own - and we put a lot of work into our dad's page to make it extra special. But it was so awesome to read letters from so many people and to see how much love they have for my mom. It wasn't hard at all to get people to participate. A lot of the letters brought tears to my eyes... Not unusual.

So basically she was totally surprised and felt very blessed by the end. But she also got after me for what she thought was doing too much. But my blood pressure this week was only 122/66, so it couldn't have been that bad.

Sunday morning I woke up to having FOUR Avon boxes at my door. FOUR. Due to my awesome Open House I had a substantial amount of sales and a lot of merchandise to sort through. About 30 orders actually. Then my aforementioned wonderful mother took me out to deliver most of them on Monday. Fabulous.

Then Sunday night we went to the Cactus Club - my dad refers to it as the T&A Cafe - and celebrated with my mom again. The Saturday party was all her girlfriends so we felt we needed something for the guys in her life - ok only her hubby and sons. It was fun, but I started feeling sick again. It's likely just fatigue.

I haven't been able to check email or blog for a few days due to our laptop being out of wireless commission. Plus Nate takes it to work with him and works quite a few evenings. So I've been hanging out at my folks tonight catching up on internet news, applying for mat leave, and placing my next huge Avon order. Busy night for me for sure.

I think my mom would appreciate it if I get off her computer now... so hope you all enjoyed the update.

PS - I've been having a lot of contractions today... and I raked the leaves in my yard. I think Deanna would be proud.

My Dad

My dad has hurt his back, again. This time it's really bad. He's been to the chiropractor every single day this week and today he has two appointments. He picked me up from my house yesterday cause I was tired of having evenings by myself. He asked me to carry in his jacket and I promptly jumped out of his truck and went in my parents house. No one else was home. I was in the house for 3 minutes before I realized - no dad. So I opened the door to find him hobbling up the steps at the rate of about a 90 year old and he was grimacing bad. The next 10 minutes were spent grabbing him advil, and ice pack, and whatever else he needed to get comfortable. Now for someone who is 39 weeks pregnant it felt weird to NOT be the one being babied.

The best part is my dad wants to take my mom away Friday night because her birthday is on Sunday - she'll be 50! Now it's not looking good for him. Please pray that he'll feel better quickly and that I won't be comparing him to an old man anymore! People are always surprised when I tell them my dad is 51 because he does look very young for his age, but I'm realizing that he is actually mortal.

Home

My last day of work was last Friday.. I've had one full day at home and today the staff is taking me out for lunch. So far I like being home. I'm sleeping in, relaxing, making lists of what I want to get done before Murray comes, etc. Yesterday I even made a cheesecake.

My belly is HUGE. Like 42 cms huge. But the midwife says that the baby has moved positions a few times lately so chances are there's just a lot of fluid in there and babe isn't as huge as we think. Sounds promising.

I'm sleeping really well, last night was only up twice and promptly fell back to sleep. I think it's because I'm staying up later and sleeping in. By the time I go to bed I'm completely zonked. My mom has said several times to take it easy, she doesn't realize I spend a lot of time just laying in front of the TV watching TLC and the like.

Anyways, I gotta get going to my lunch date, talk to you all later...

Funny story

So I went to the midwife yesterday and as always, weighed myself first thing. I knew what I had weighed last week, so imagine my shock when I looked down and saw that I had gained 7 lbs in one week!!!! Then I came to my senses and took my purse off my shoulders and my shoes and sweater then it was a much more realistic 2 lbs that were gained.

No, I'm not blonde. Really.

Hospital Bag

So ladies, what are your suggestions for helpful things to pack for the hospital? My husband has given me a lovely allowance to spend for things I'll need to take when I have this baby.

Last week I got my housecoat which feels like a warm hug of hot cocoa and fireplaces on rainy days. I also have a little outfit for baby. That's about all I got right now. My mom bought Nate massage oil so he can use it on me - but I've had some people tell me that I may not like a massage in labour, so we'll see.

Are there any things you brought that were super helpful? Or anything you wish you took with you?

Baby Doesn't LIke It

My favorite restaurant has been this little pasta joint in town. I really love the bread, the caesar salad and especially the New Orleans Penne. So yum. Debbie called me last night and said she had a coupon and would I like to go - WOULD I EVER! It was great company and amazing food. Then I hurried home for sister night which has been moved to Monday due to Thursday night small group. Nina & Meg came over and we just hung out.

I sat and watched TV for awhile after they left and since my hubby was working late, decided not to wait up anymore and heading to bed... Then I started to feel REAL sick. I lost my dinner in the bathroom, then later in the kitchen. I was more devasted about the fact that I actually liked the meal I was losing than I was about throwing up. I called Nate and he was just finishing work so he said he was on his way.

So I had a bath and some tea to calm my tummy and went to bed to read until he arrived. Having him home makes things easier to deal with. Even though it was just vomit and I have dealt with that plenty in the last 8 months... he just knows how to make me feel better and it was nice of him to come home for me.

Today I'm still feeling a little woozy. Tummy's upset and there's not a lot I'm really wanting to eat - had cereal for breakfast and grapes all morning. *Sigh*

I am still alive

After a very long weekend of preparing for my open house, training Amber-Lee in doing PowerPoint at the church services, and having a young family of five stay with us for 4 nights....I am still on two feet. I would say that's relatively impressive for being 37 weeks pregnant. My mom would tell me that if I keep this pace up I'll end up in the hospital. She'll be happy to know I am doing NOTHING for the rest of this day.

Let the short work day and the days off begin...

From now on I will be working 10-3 and I don't think I could be more excited. Not only that, but I had yesterday off. I had another midwife appointment and it was a crowded room. Nate and my mom have both come before, but yesterday mom and I had gone for lunch and shopping with Nana, so I brought her into the room too. She couldn't believe how much labour and pregnancy has changed since she last gave birth about 40 years ago. We realized that between my mom and Nana they had 13 babies between them... so I think I have good genes for this.

The highlight of my day though was when my mom picked me up and we went to Jysk to look for crib bedding. Couldn't find any sheets, but we picked out this really cute and super soft blanket to match the room. Then mom mentioned she needed some new shampoo from this spa in the area she always goes to. So we pull up and I say that I would prefer to sit in the car for a bit. She turns to me and says quite emphatically "NO!". She tried to explain that she wanted me to come in and help her, but by then I knew something was up. We get in there and she explains that she has purchased me a facial as they won't give a massage to a really pregnant woman for some reason..lol..but it was amazing. When I came out the chick at the counter said that mom had also purchased massage oil and I could pick a scent. What fun!

The rest of the day was spent doing basically nothing but a bit of laundry, some more shopping at Zellers for a new housecoat and finally a crib sheet. So all in all it was a pretty awesome day off - THANKS MOMMY!!!

Midwife Appt Update

Yes I had an appointment yesterday and after much poking around it was decided that the baby's head is about 1/5 engaged..so Murray hasn't completely dropped yet, but it's getting close. Then we read the heartbeat and it was all over the place - which they say is good as it was responding to all the poking, etc. And the baby is in the perfect position and moving alot so it's all looking good. Yesterday was 8 months so only a month until the due date - wow! Time sure does fly when you're getting big for baby!

Bible help needed

I'm supposed to lead the devotional at staff tomorrow and I need suggestions for a Scripture passage. Last week we talked about Joshua crossing the Jordan and the week before that was Lamentations... Any suggestions? I was thinking something to encourage the staff - all pastors by the way.

I don't wanna work....

As of the end of today I have 13 days of work left. Thirteen days to finish training my replacement. I have a bit of a cold and tomorrow I'm 8 months preggers so this whole training/working thing is just not working out for me. How do you train someone when your brain is mush and you keep having annoying Braxton-Hicks contractions that are starting to get uncomfortable? I've started to make really detailed lists of what I do, then giving them to said trainee and letting her go at it until she gets stuck - then I rewrite the directions until they are crystal clear. Doesn't that sound fun?

Good news is that the baby has dropped, I haven't had that proven by a medical professional yet, but I can feel the difference. I'll go to the midwife tomorrow and see if I'm right. There was a couple in here a few minutes ago and they are swearing up and down that this baby will be born within two weeks. Hope not. I mean, I want it out so my swollen fingers and cankles will go back to normal and so I can meet the kid, but I'm not ready yet. I have to pick up a few more things before the baby is born and I don't think I'll get it done in 2 weeks. But what do they know?

A Cake for Baby Murray

My adorable friend Lisa loves to make cakes and I love to make cakes with her. In the past we have talked several times on the possibility of opening a bakery together. We mostly just love fun theme cakes and so we got together this past Sunday to make one for Baby. Her mom had bought this stork cake pan for her and we used to create a thing of beauty. It was really fun! I had to make sure I took plenty of pics for her portfolio because that's how much she likes making cakes.

I'm realizing that I'm actually kinda talented at artsy things when I originally thought that only my Meg, Nina & Phil got those gifts in my family. Matt is good at everything else but art. But I can paint alright and decorate a cake okay. I can get by. So without further ado....pictures!!





I hate this picture of me, Lisa looks great... But it's one of those unflattering pregnant pics that I may take down one day without notice...

Baby's Room!

Here's what we've done with the baby room. Nate painted the walls - they look awesome..the wall border arrived Monday. I know there's a sticker on my bunny picture, I took it off and then forgot to take another picture. Now all we need is bedding!

Excited!!!

Tomorrow I have a day off for no real reason except I have a couple appointments, so my boss said I could just take a day and rest and go do stuff. YAY!!!

Blast from the past

My friends R & T being silly:



Now let's see how long it takes them to ask me to take that pic down. Hehe.

Really I wanted to show you a picture of me at my last Avon Open House, but I found that one and couldn't pass it up. But here's me:



It was taken back at the end of January, and I was excited about it..I had like 12 customers show up. But it was hilarious how my mom was selling everything and I was just sitting back. She's coming to help me again, lol. My next one is Sunday, October 15th from 2-5:00 p.m. It's my last big Avon push before baby comes. Any profit I figure I could use to buy new clothes for when I'm skinny again..haha. It's a lot of work, but I really like it.

Well, Nate's making dinner and cleaning around me and my guilty conscience is starting to perk up. Oh - we got our baby room border today!!! It's up and adorable..I will take pics tomorrow.

Productive Day...

It's not even the end of the day yet and I feel I've gotten a lot accomplished. I like days like that. For my birthday this year, which was back in March, Nate bought me three large picture frames from IKEA. Since we moved in back at the beginning of July, they have been hanging empty on the wall. Today I picked two pictures for the first two - an engagement & a wedding pic of us. I took the negatives to London Drugs and got them enlarged. I still don't have the third picture. I could use the recent picture of the two of us hugging my belly... but part of me wants to wait and have one with baby.. We shall see. I also bought a beautiful white picture frame for this painting I did for the baby room. It looks great! PS - any regular priced item is 50% off at Michaels this week!

I also organized one of the largest Avon orders ever. Sometimes it takes me a long time to get everyone's stuff ready to deliver - today was one of those days. I also did some prep work for my Open House coming up... Should be good.

The last thing, I asked my mom if she would like to be in the delivery room. She sounded pretty excited about it. Nate's really good at keeping me focused, and my mom has had five babies and knows how to calm me down. So I figure it's a good choice.

Test Results and Sister Nights

Last visit to the midwife she let me know I do not have gestational diabetes. This is good. I don't want to be pricking my finger for these last 7 weeks. I am big - in the 90% for my belly size, but the midwife says it may be because I am very short-waisted...hmmmm. I guess it has no where to go but out. My iron levels are at 112 and are supposed to be between 115-160. But I realized I was supposed to be taking my prenatal vitamin 3 times per day. Oops. So that level will already have increased.

Enough of the boring stuff. My sister Nina decided that she wanted to have "Sister Nights". So now every Thursday we get together at my house to watch Survivor...we also played a round of Cranium..Nate got home right after Survivor was over and so him and I went up against Nina & Meg. Those two are nuts. Megan started acting out "The Friendly Giant" for Nina to guess and all she did was let her know it was three words, raise her arms up high, and start smiling. It was Nina's first guess. So Nate and I lost, but we'll take them down at a later date. Next week hopefully sister-in-law Christa can make it.

Oh - I almost forgot - I had a dream about baby last night. It was a little girl. She was sweet and quiet and blonde. It was a great dream, but I don't think it will be close to reality...Not that a blonde baby is better than any other baby, but I think we like it when our kids look like us. I will love this kid if it looks like Nate or my parents or whatever, but part of me really wants it to have a quality or two of my own. Is that so wrong?

Everyone who reads this can hope for me that I have this child before November 7th. My dad and brother are leaving on the 8th to go down and help some people who had their homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. They are both very talented when it comes to the trades, and they've decided to give of their time - which is awesome. I just would REALLY like it if they were able to be around when the baby is born.

Old Men

So this elderly gentleman with whom I am acqainted, came up to me today - took one look at my swollen belly and exclaimed, "You didn't!"

With a gleam in my eye I replied, "I did".

Pat on the back feels good

I'm a church secretary. Last weekend I did a new bulletin format. I had some people come and tell me they liked it, most of them are my friends so it was nice. My dad even commented on it and he doesn't often do that.

Well there was a letter in the mail today - someone sending in their offering - and on the back was this note saying how much they liked the new bulletin format. YAY ME! And this person is not forthcoming with compliments, quite the opposite really...so man, that felt good.

We've come a long way baby...Murray

I was spending a lot of time thinking about this kid. I realized that about a year ago we decided we would start trying to have a child together. We didn't tell many people, mostly because we wanted to avoid the "So, you pregnant yet?" every single month. But yes, we started thinking about kids back in September. We did go through a little bit of waiting, so that's why it was so amazing when I actually did find out we were expecting. I had been through a couple pregnancy tests by the time I had a positive. I don't know what made us decide we wanted a baby so bad for sure, but it may have been the time we babysat my cousin for the weekend and fell in love with her. She was 15 months and adorable - still is. It was fun dressing her, feeding her, teaching her new words to take back home. We tried "Show me the money" and all that we got was "Show me Mommy". I think she was sick of us by the end.

Actually, we went to Superstore with her and I bought her a new outfit because I had tried everything her mother brought already. We bought a bunch of other stuff, ice cream included, and were looking forward to getting home. We get out into the parking lot and our car is sitting in the middle of the lane. The bumper was falling off and pieces from my little red car where strewn everywhere. I'm holding a toddler, Nate's holding ice cream...ARGH! Someone had pulled through a parking stall with a big truck and somehow hooked onto our car and pulled it right out of it's spot. THEN DROVE AWAY! Lucky for us, several people got his license plate number. My dad came and picked up me and the baby - and the ice cream, while Nate waited for a tow truck. It was a lesson in how little issues can become HUGE when you have a child. It wouldn't really have been such a big deal, but it was hot and I didn't want her outside too long, there was no where to sit and wait...

But in spite of all that we decided we really really really wanted to experience being parents. To plan for a baby and go through a pregnancy - ok you may think that's mostly me doing that, but Nate has had to do a lot of extra work these past 7 months. He's been more amazing than he was before - which is pretty amazing. He's made dinner, done laundry, cleaned the house, given me massages, told me to take naps, kissed me when I've cried for no reason, painted the baby room, helped me paint the baby dresser, etc...I think I could go through being pregnant again no problem with a husband like him.

It's funny how much you look forward to a child when you're 31 weeks pregant and have been thinking strongly about the possibility of him/her for a year. It's not long compared to some people, but man...I can't wait!

I thought I should add to this post that someone from my work who will remain unnamed told me I have the body of a god.... too bad it's Buddha.

Baby Dresser

I introduce you to a real thing of beauty. Nate & I spent the long weekend prettying up this old dresser and now it looks amazing. Baby likes!

PNE Part 2 and My Crazy Family

Last Friday night, yet again I went to the PNE. This time with 4ever29 and her three kids, husband and the friend obsessed with pig. It was a good time. I even went on a ride this time -what a rebel. R insisted I post a picture of the pig races, this is all I got babe.



Last night we went to my parents to celebrate my sister-in-law's belated birthday. I've realized there are too many things to celebrate for us now, it seems every month now there's something going on. In fact, the only two months of the year where there are no birthdays are September and December. That's if we include Kyle's April birthday - Nina's boyfriend. But Meg & Joe have their anniversary September 2nd, so basically the year is full.

A couple birthdays ago we wished Nina a happy birthday by having everyone except my mom and me go on the dirtbikes. Seriously. This party we introduced jumping over chairs. It started out innocently enough, with Phil deciding he would jump over a chair with Nina in it. Then we got out the camera's and the amount of chairs being jumped over continued to increase. Surprisingly, there were no injuries..none that anyone will admit to anyways. At one point I thought it would be funny to lay down in front of the long line of chairs, then quickly realized that was suicide and rolled away. Sadly Nate got a picture of that. Even sadder, I'm sharing it over the internet. But it was fun, even though I hadn't really wanted to go because I was sooo tired and sooo hot. I'm glad Nate convinced me or else I would have spent today feeling lousy over missing a birthday party.



















And my Dad learned a valuable lesson last night. Do not tease a pregnant woman. Not smart. You think he would know that after his wife had 5.

Us