So Happy Together...

We made it! Andrew Joshua is here, and better than we could have imagined. He made his appearance Thursday, January 27, 2011, coming in at 7 lbs, 12 oz, 20 inches long. The whole thing, like our pregnancy, was so smooth. I started having contractions at 4am on Thursday, we were at the hospital by 7, my water broke at 10, I had an epidural at 12 (yeah!), and he was born at 4:35. We were the first of 6 births in two days at Haywood Regional, including a pre-mature high risk c-section. In a hospital that only has around 350 births a year, it was a major population explosion. We got such great care the whole stay. We were so impressed with the way the doctors and nursing staff handled the stress and took care of us so well.

We had a constant stream of visitors through Saturday when we came home. People who welcomed Andrew into the world at the hospital included our parents (obviously), Sara, Ben, Emily, Robin, my Nana and Papa, Mom and Dad, Papa Robins (Lisa's dad), Cayli, Susie, Eric, Martha Teater, Dr. Prince, Dan and Leslie, my assistant Lynn, Katie and Damon, Katherine, Ann and James, Mike, Jen, Mickey, and Marisa, and I'm sure others my mother-of-a-4-day-old brain can't remember. It was a two day party. Andrew became an expert at meeting new people. It turns out he has excellent people skills.

Since we have come home things have been wonderful. Andrew is awesome at eating, peeing, pooping, and keeping Mommy and Daddy totally mesmerized. He is getting great at nursing and is sleeping in his cradle when we can bear to put him down. Mostly Josh and I just giggle and talk to each other about how amazing he is.

We went to the doctor today and Andrew has gained back his birth weight plus an ounce (7 lbs, 13 oz). He is doing so well, they don't need to see him back for a month, except for when he gets circumcised on Thursday (sad day for baby). We knew he was perfect, but it was fun to hear it from someone else. :-)

Sorry I have been slow to update. I have actually been working on the update for several days, but like I said earlier, Andrew is pretty distracting. Josh is taking beautiful pictures that he is putting on Facebook, so watch for them. I will put them up here too.


"Hi Mommy"


"So what instrument would you like to learn first?"


Andrew was so alert for the first few hours. It was so cool to watch him meet everyone. You could tell he had been waiting months to put faces with these voices.


A small fraction of Andrew's adoring public.


Andrew loves his Nana and Grandma.




My first baby with my first baby.








Aunt Cayli made it just in time for my epidural. Good timing, eh?


I had to put a better hat on him. Those hospital hats are not nearly cool enough for the son of a knitter.


Eric just turned 12, the same age I was when he was born. His parents were living in the house we are in now when they brought him home from the hospital. I'm thinking these guys will be friends. :-)


Drew loves Daddy


Sweet face


Before birth, Andrew had a special talent for hiccups. He continues to be awesome at them.


Andrew tells Daddy lots of stories when Daddy burbs him. Male bonding stuff, I guess. :-)


Mom came by for another visit and Andrew was prepared in his "I Heart Mom" outfit.


The first of many naps, I am sure.




Andrew's Adoring Aunts


My cousin Kym got Andrew this great Ralph Lauren onsie that is the fanciest outfit he owns. It goes great with the hat I made him to match Josh. He looked gorgeous on the way home from the hospital.








I think we will keep him. :-)

Happy Due Date!

I knew this day would come and go. Earlier in my pregnancy I was thinking it would be nice of the baby to wait until February so we wouldn't have to pay January insurance for only a day or two, knowing full well I would probably take that wish back as we got closer. I still feel pretty great, being 40 weeks pregnant and all. It's not that I am ready for it to be over. I am actually a little nostalgic already when I feel his little kicks and squirms. Pregnancy is a special time. But... I am ready to meet him already! It is getting harder and harder to be patient about seeing his little face! And I am not the only one. Every person I call on the phone picks up with "Are you having the baby?" Every person I see in the hall at school says "Are you still here?" Josh asks me at least 4 times a day when the baby is going to get here. Already this baby is so loved!

This is a picture one of my students took today for his blog post on our class blog, which I highly recommend reading. My students are amazing. There is a link to it in the side bar. Feel free to comment, the kids love it. I am glad I am working right up til the end. I think I would go crazy trying to sit at home and wait, and it is fun to have all my work friends along for the waiting game. A secret part of me hopes I will go into labor at school and Lynn will have to drive me to the hospital on the bus. Wouldn't that be a memorable field trip? I can feel your shocked expression, Aunt Kathy. Don't worry. We will definitely NOT do that. I don't want to try to explain the experience to my students. :-D

I did go to the doctor today and he said I am 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced, so he predicts the big day will be within a week. Woohoo for that! I have Sara on standby to update the blog from the hospital and Robin on the schedule to handle Facebook, for those of you who might follow that way. We will post pictures of our adorable little man and announce his name (still unknown to us) as soon as we can! Thanks so much for all the love and support through this. Can't wait to introduce you to our guy!

Last minute knitting

I knitted most of my Christmas presents this year and so I didn't have time to knit much for the baby. I wanted to make a little sleep sack and I had some ups and downs with this. I started with some yarn I got from Christmas, and then as I was about halfway done Mommy pointed out that it was wool and not machine washable. That didn't sound so good, so I took it all out and started again with different yarn. I like it so much I think I might make another one with some cool argyle or stripes or something. Maybe I'll have time to get it done before he gets done. :-D

Also...

An update on Adam for those of you who are interested: we get to talk to him almost every day now via email. He has an email address that he can check on a computer in his room. That has been great. If you would like to email him, the address is adam.trantham@afg.usmc.mil. Email is not quite the same as a letter, but since he has been there for 5 weeks and still hasn't gotten any mail, email is nice. Also, we have been able to email him pictures at that address, so when the baby gets here we can send him pictures every day. He posted a picture on Facebook, but as everyone doesn't have Facebook (Aunt Terri), I thought I would put it up here too.

38 weeks

Finally got some pregnancy pictures I don't hate. :-D My photographer husband is so great. :-D

Nesting in the snow

Well, we have been back at school for a week and a half now and I have only seen my kids for 3 and a half days. Last Thursday was an annual leave day for winter weather, then Friday was a two hour delay that turned into a 12 o'clock dismissal. Since my kids get bused in from all over the county, they didn't arrive until 10:30 and started leaving at 11:15. The only thing we had time to do was eat lunch!

More snow this weekend made for three closed days in a row (no school tomorrow either). I may not see my students again before I have this baby! I'm not complaining though. It can be a little crazy feeling, but it is nice to work at a job that gives you unexpected days off and doesn't need you to risk life and limb to get to work. Josh and Daddy have no such luck. Josh worked an unexpected shift last night because someone couldn't get to work and Daddy is offering rides to anyone who works for him in Haywood County that needs to get to work. Apparently people suffer from mental illness no matter the weather.

Yesterday, Josh didn't have to work at the store because it didn't open and I didn't have to go to work, so we used our time at home to scrub every inch of the kitchen. I'm talking emptying out drawers, rearranging cabinets, scrubbing the inside of the refrigerator, we did it all. I am completely aware that this is a classic case of nesting, but it feels great to get it done. How nice of Haywood County Schools to give me time to satisfy all those urges! Josh was a great sport about it, despite the fact that deep cleaning was not on his list of things to do on a day off. He's the best.

The roads in town are pretty good today. They have been scrapped a lot and the sun has come and melted quite a bit of the ice on the roads. The snow mounds will be around for weeks I am sure, and the water on the roads will freeze tonight, but for now it's not too bad. I stayed at Scott and Lisa's last night since Josh was working. Everyone gets really jittery these days about me staying home alone in bad weather. Something about labor or whatnot. :-D Scott went out late last night to shovel the driveway "in case we needed to get out." My family is so sweet.

Josh and I were able to get to the doctor today for my weekly checkup. I am not dilated or effaced at all, but the baby is engaged in the correct position for the main event, so that is a step in the right direction. So far he is awesome at being born. :-D

So, for now, it looks like we are on track for the due date or there abouts, which is fine with me. He was nudging me last night as I was going to sleep and I was thinking about how those little interactions are almost over. I can't wait to see his sweet face and kiss his cheeks, but I don't want to take any day of this for granted. He is a good little baby.

Baby Countdown Begins!

Since the beginning, I sort of put off thinking about the big day until after Christmas. Now, it is January 2nd, and it is time to think about it. :-D Our due date is three weeks from tomorrow, woohoo!

Today Mommy and I washed all our little guy's clothes and hung them up. We also finished setting up the nursery: cutting off tags, unpacking sheets and blankets, etc. I packed the diaper bag for the hospital with teeny outfits and warm things for him to come home in. I also packed a basket full of board books to put next to my chair in the living room for us to read together. hehe.

We had our last shower yesterday at Lisa's house and it was awesome! Thanks so much to everyone who has blessed our baby so richly these last 8 months. We have everything that we need for him and we haven't spent a penny. Our God and our friends are so good to us.

I go back to school tomorrow after break. My students are starting to get a little nervous about me leaving. All year we have talked about me having the baby "after Christmas." The time is here, and they are very concerned about when I will leave and how it will feel for them. I have a great substitute for my leave, and I am sure they will be fine, but any prayers people are willing to offer for my students would be great.

We still don't have a name for this guy, but we do have short list of names we like. I don't know if we will be able to decide until we meet him, which is driving our families a little crazy. Any suggestions?

Baby is HUGE at this point. He takes up every spare space in my tummy. The doctor says he is head down, but it doesn't keep him from twisting and kicking. His new trick is to stick his toes under my right ribs and wiggle them. He's cute. :-)

I was looking back over some of my previous posts and I couldn't believe what I forgot to show you! When we were at the fair in October we visited all our Village of Yesteryear friends, including Karl Johnson, a fantastic scissor artist who cuts people's silhouettes free-handed in the village. When he found out about the baby, he asked if we had an ultrasound profile, and of course I had it on my phone. He was able to cut the profile from the picture on my phone! Isn't that cool? We will find out soon if it looks much like him. :-D