Happy 1st Thanksgiving, Stormy!

What a day! First, Stormy worked up an appetite cruising around in the walker at Nana and Papa's house.

He really liked listening to his uncle Allen play the guitar!

His cousin Allen was also there and all dressed up for the occassion. How handsome!

Stormy got his first taste of Thanksgiving turkey, and while he liked it, he wasn't sure how to eat it...

...so Mama chopped it up in tiny pieces and mixed it with some yummy sweet potato. He even got a little taste of pumpkin pie for dessert! oooh!

What a happy, happy day to spend with family. Aunt Amy is so funny and makes him laugh like crazy!

Thanksgiving has been the best holiday yet! Just look at this kid! The proof is in the pudding...er, pie...

When dinner was over, Stormy realized just how full he was from all that good food...

...and just how tired, too. : )

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The Guys

Just because this is the cutest father/son picture EVER!

...and because during the weeks surrounding Father's Day, Stormy was screaming his head off for hours on end...and the fact that I just realized I never posted a Father's Day pic of Adam and S. on account of said screaming. (oops!)

...

6 Months!

Our big guy is six months old, can ya believe it?! And boy is he on the move... He's rolling every which way, scooting around the house in his walker, trying to crawl when he's on the floor...of course, so far he's only going backwards, but what the hell. Going somewhere is better than going nowhere, right?

Anyway, we went in today for his six month check-up (and those nasty shots that are never any fun), and all is well with Stormy Tyler. He's now 17 pounds and 27.5 inches long. And at the rate he's eating, he'll keep growing by leaps and bounds. I'm still breastfeeding, but on top of that, S has been eating solid foods for over a month now. He loves pears, apples and squash the most. We got the go-ahead today from Dr. Eggert to give him pretty much anything to eat from here on out. (No ice cream and cookies though yet, Dad!) But we'll be trying a whole lot more fruits and veggies, a little meat maybe, and probably some baby finger foods here pretty soon. Things are really going to get interesting now! Everything will still be blended to an undistinguishable consistency for a little while yet, but at least he'll have the opportunity to try some new tastes and a little bit thicker texture. I am thankful every day that I was blessed with a good eater. Keep your fingers crossed for us that it doesn't change for a long time, lol!

We've also been very lucky to have had a really healthy year for the whole family—almost no unneccesary doctor's visits, so let's keep our fingers crossed for that too! The year is almost over. We are looking forward to giving him Thanksgiving dinner and having his first Christmas. By then he should be pretty good at sitting up by himself, and you know how much fun all that crunchy wrapping paper is to get into! Talk to y'all again soon.

Happy Halloween!

psst! it's actually November when I'm posting this but what the hell... these pictures are so cute, and I suck at keeping up with this blog lately. anyhow here's Papa, Stormy, and Daddy. we had a big party for Adam's 30th birthday, and since it was the day before Halloween, Stormy wore a really cool skeleton costume.

...

Weekend Adventures

It was so nice outside on Sunday that we spent a lot of time out and about. Stormy saw his first frog in the driveway! How exciting! Okay so Adam and I tried to show it to him, but I don't think he gave a crap, haha. Maybe he couldn't see it through his cool guy sunglasses that finally fit his little noggin. Later that afternoon, we took him swimming for the first time in the kiddy pool in Nana and Papa's neighborhood. We had him all decked out in a t-shirt and trunks, sunglasses and a hat. Poor guy was so tired he was falling asleep on the way there, but once he woke up, we took him in. I started by dipping his toes in; he only flinched a little as the water was a little cool. But after easing him in slowly to let him get used to the temerature, he relaxed and seemed to really like it! Adam and I sat in the pool with him on our knees and bounced him up and down while Amy ran around splashing and chasing little Allen. Pretty soon, the two boys are going to be playing chicken and doing cannonballs off the side of the pool together! Well, talk about worn out...our big guy was asleep in daddy's arms before we even got to the car. What a big day for a little dude.

Pics to come soon.

Hickey Me, Baby

And I thought the carseat straps were the culprit... The other day I was at the car repair shop with Stormy and noticed he had a bruise on the inside of his right arm. I thought 'Oh no! Maybe I pinched him in the carseat!' Then I called Adam on the off chance that I just hadn't noticed it earlier. I asked him what had happened to Stormy's arm, but he didn't know what I was talking about either.

I stood there waiting for the car, racking my brain trying to figure out when our little guy had gotten his first boo-boo, feeling terrible about the whole thing. Then, amidst my brainstorming... I heard the sucking. Stormy sucking his fingers and wrist while hanging out looking over my shoulder. Oh my god! It occurred to me immediately: He had given himself a HICKEY! Hahahaha, how hilarious! This is one for the record books, I told myself.

Sure enough, later that afternoon at the end of his nap when I went in to get him, there he was sucking away on his arm again. He had another hickey right next to the first one! The little sucker...what a crazy kid. I can just imagine the predicaments he's going to get himself into the bigger he gets, lol. Hope you all get a laugh out of this one. I sure did!

M.I.A.

Oh yeah...there's this blog I used to write...

Wow! I seriously can't believe it's been over a month since I've updated here; that's really sad! There is so much that has happened. We've been taking lots of pictures and trying out lots of new things, so I'll have to try to remember everything. I must say that up until the past two weeks, we were barely able to put the little dude down without a major meltdown, but now that he's actually going down for naps in his bassinett (!!!), maybe I'll have more of a chance to record all the goings-on. Maybe...

Stormy's almost 15 weeks old (on Monday); that's three and a half months already! Geez. When I weighed him on his three month birthday, he was about 14 or 15 pounds and 24 inches long. He's a tall guy and loves to stretch out stiff as a board to show it off. He's sitting on the couch now with us. Yeah, he topples over on occasion, but with support, he's getting the hang of it. He's got some new hobbies these days that include sucking voraciously on his fingers and hands, shaking his rattle, and watching his mobile in his crib.

I finally managed to get through all the stuff we had piled in his closet. His enjoying lying in his crib to watch his mobile really helped. Before 10 weeks, I could hardly put him down at all! Now he'll happily lie there for all of 15 minutes watching it go around and around. (Good thing Adam got the mobile with the remote; that thing has come in handy!) Here's part of a letter I wrote to him in my journal when he was 10 1/2 weeks:

You HATE going to sleep most of the time. What a fight it always is...

screaming and scratching, and no matter how often I trim your nails,

they're still crazy sharp at naptime.

You usually have two or three goods bursts of fight in you

before you finally give in and close your eyes.

I suppose you'd just rather be awake and taking in the world...

(...and later that night...)

Holy shit, you have been fussy and screaming all day.

What the hell dude?! You're on my effing nerves!

Finally now you're lying in your crib watching your mobile,

but only after Daddy held you for a while.

Maybe we just spend too much time together and you're sick of me.

Well likewise, I hate to say;

but we need breaks from each other, little buddy.

That's just the way it is.

.

Much frustration there? LOL! Yeah, there were some rough days, and there are many more to come, I'm sure. Anyway, that was week 10, loads of fun... I'll have to continue with the next post. Stormy's up from his nap and ready to play! See y'all later!

Happy Independence Day!

Turning two months old and celebrating a national holiday all in one day is totally fun!

...and totally exhausting.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Omigosh Look!!!

Look, I caught it! Our big guy smiling!!

Don't ask us why, but his favorite place to be is on his changing table (a.k.a. his "office").

He's all smiles when he's fresh and clean and naked, baby! LOL!

Stormy's First Smiles

Stormy smiled at me on Friday for the first time! Officially, on purpose, intentionally smiled. It was amazing! I've never been a happier mama. He's given Adam and I little smiles each day since. How exciting! I only wish I caught it on camera to share with all of you, but you know it happens so fast and then he's moved on to something else. Eventually we'll capture this tiny miracle on film...ha!

One Month Check-up

Well, our big guy passed with flying colors! At his one month check-up with Dr. Eggert (five and a half weeks, really), he weighed in at 9 lbs., 11.5 oz. and measured 22 inches. Remember that he started at barely 7 lbs. and 20.5 inches... So he's finally starting to fill out a little bit. You'd think he'd be a football player by now at the rate he's eating these days, but no pressure, lil' dude (we're gonna give him a few more years on that). :-p

Talk to y'all soon!

Just for Giggles

What a character!

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What the Funk?

It's a good thing our pediatrician has clinic hours on Saturday mornings!

Stormy woke me up to nurse at 4 a.m. yesterday morning with one of his eyes glued shut by some crazy funk. So I cleaned him up, sure that it had gotten scratched or he had gotten something in there and that it might be infected. Again at 7 a.m., same nasty funk. Adam questioned whether we should take him to the doctor. And after consulting my book of baby knowledge, and his ever-wise Nana, I agreed and gave the doctor a call and they had us come on in. Nana came over and joined us for the visit (it's so much easier doing these things with an extra set of hands!).

Turns out Stormy has an infected tear duct. It was totally gross y'all, and the poor kid was so irritated. We have to squeeze any pus out of his tear duct a few times a day, and we got an antibiotic ointment that's damn near impossible to squirt into his little eyeball. Tear my heart out, why dontcha?! He's screaming, and I have to pry his eye open and squeeze that stuff in there three times a day. Poor little dude...

But today is a new day. His eye looks so much better, and he's feeling better, it seems. (At least, his appetite's back. Have I mentioned he never stops eating?) And we're just glad it's not Pink-eye, because everyone knows how you get Pink-eye... ew!!!


p.s. Unofficially, since he was weighed with his clothes on, Stormy now weighs over 9 lbs.! Big guy!

Got Milk?

Holy crap, have I ever been through the ringer with the ladies for the past month! Most of you know, I'm a breastfeeding mama. It's one of those things I was really set on doing with the baby, because you know, you can't really be set on all that much. You can try; but you will be shamed into submission (pacifier when desperate, anyone?).

Well, I was almost defeated by my own body. The girls and I got into battles of will, I tell you, over how to get this breastfeeding thing accomplished! (Ok, so it was more like I just didn't know how to get the baby to latch on properly.) Even though nursing is one of the more natural things in life, the technique must still be learned. Every now and then, there is some lucky bitch whom the rest of us hate because her baby gets on there easy-cheesy and the happy couple are nursing from hour one. Stormy and I were not that happy couple. But we make a great team and are willing to work together to do what we think is best. So, after a stressful first week of not nursing efficiently, if at all, and a second harrowing week of pumping (hand-held, manual pump, that is...pain in the ass!) and bottle feeding mama's goods, I had my heart set on trying to get him to nurse again. And with a little...scratch that...HUGE nudge from my good friend Justine, I called the lactation consultant at the hospital where Stormy was born.

Casey, the LC, was my savior. We spoke on the phone for 20 minutes or so, and she gave me some suggestions since he was due to eat and would be screaming any minute. We were semi-successful. sigh... She told me to come right in as soon as it was time for the next meal. I got the diaper bag and stroller and everything ready. This would be my first venture out of the house with the baby, alone. Talk about terrifying! Thankfully, he was pretty good and didn't cry most of the way there, and when he did, I reached back and stuck my pinkie finger in his mouth to tide him over (I still hadn't caved to the pacifier at that point—a whole other story...).

When we got to the hospital, of course, I couldn't get the car seat out of the freakin' car! I had never done it before. Not to mention how to put the stroller that it attaches to in the right position and all, sheesh. I was a hot mess by the time I got to Casey's office. I could see the pity in her eyes when she greeted me. So we got right to it. She weighed Stormy beforehand so that we could weigh him again after he ate to see how much he was actually getting. After lots of screaming and some crying (both me and the little guy), we did it! We actually did it. I thought I would pass out with relief. We spent about and hour and a half with Casey, talking and nursing, making sure I asked every single question I could think of and getting more information back than I ever thought possible. Calling and going to see her were the best things I've ever done for myself and my son. Afterward, the first couple days of doing it at home, by myself, were incredibly nerve wracking. And we still needed lots of practice getting comfortable with each other and with positioning, but we made it through! And a Boppy pillow helps. A LOT.

So within a couple weeks, with nursing down to an art, Stormy was eating well and gaining weight, and all was right with the world...

...until he infected my boobs!!!!

Seriously?, you might ask. Yeah! And it was the worst thing ever. I had read about it, but you just think that stuff happens to other people, right? Come to find out a lot of women I know have had this problem. Who knew it was so common? Basically, there is bacteria in the baby's mouth, and sometimes the icky just gets up into the milk duct (or seven...) when baby is nursing and causes the duct to clog up. OUCH!!

I had a fever running between 101 and 102 degrees for a couple of days, and my boobs ached, not to mention everything else! Stormy wanted to nurse, but it hurt like crazy; and the kicker is, when your boobs are infected, the best thing you can do is nurse as much as possible to drain them. I was trying everything I could to relieve the pain. Ibuprofen; warm, wet compresses; nursing when I could; pumping—finally got an electric pump! thank you, you know who you are : ). Finally, I went to the doctor to get some antibiotics, and my lactation station was up and running again by the next afternoon. But what a nightmare the whole few days was! I hope that never happens again, but at least next time, I'll know what the hell is going on.

Just when you think you're safe... Watch out! I seriously never thought I'd be scared of my own boobs and the possibility of them turning on me! Boobaphobia? I don't know what a person would call that... I'm sure there's a term...

Aha, found it! Mastophobia! Good old internet... you learn something new every day!

Birthday Dude!

Guess who's one month old?!

This big guy!

We celebrated with Adam singing him "Happy Birthday" while he screamed, er, sang right along with Daddy... haha.

Life's tough when you're so little. : )

Well, shit...

...and lots of it. Seriously. Hey Adam, remember that time you were worried he was constipated? Um, how 'bout no, notsomuch...

Adam's new catchphrase: "That kid shits in straight lines!" Right off the changing pad and onto everything in the vicinity it seems. Haha, poor Adam always gets the really bad ones somehow. Poor daddy. Not to mention the inevitable accompanying waterfall. Don't worry, I get my fair share of monstrosities to deal with too. I love it when he goes through two or three diapers in one changing—that's my favorite. LOL! But what the hell can you do but laugh and move on with your life? So that's what we're doing. Day by day; diaper by diaper.

Happy Dude Date, Stormy Tyler!

Today is when we expected you...boy, did you catch us by surprise!

Three weeks and two days later, and you are obviously ready to party, lol!

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Labor... appropriately named...

So that's why they call it labor! It is laborious.

Let me 'splain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up. [/Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride]

I woke up in the middle of the night, or rather, very early in the morning Monday, May 4, at 2 a.m. and got up to go to the bathroom, per my usual nightly ventures. Well, to say the least, I barely made it this time. This was NOT the usual nightly venture; I knew pretty quickly it was much, much different. Within minutes, I started having pretty persistent cramps. I waited a short while and called the doctor when they didn't subside. (Trust me, I wanted to call right away, but the book told me not to, that I should try to wait to determine if it was false labor or true.) My OB suggested I take some Tylenol and try to time the cramps (aka CONTRACTIONS! holy shit!). She said if it was true labor, the Tylenol wouldn't relieve the pain. Bingo! So they were coming pretty fast and furious from the get-go—about five minutes apart. I called her back; she told to me to go ahead and go to the hospital and she would see me there!

So what did I do with my "waiting" time, pending the doctor's decision that a trip to the hospital was in order? Well, fortunately we had packed our hospital suitcase and put it by the door the day before so I didn't have all that much to do. Talk about timing, lol! So between the cramps and the thousand bathroom trips, I walked around the house since I had read that it helps the pain. Seriously?! Who decided that horseshit? Anyway, I busied myself with putting the last of things for the baby into a diaper bag (read: threw some clothes in his bag without really looking at what I chose...so much for an adorable "Going Home Outfit" pfft!) I grabbed the bathroom bag and my pillow and the phone chargers and a few other items we'd need, and got ready for what I knew would be the inevitable word from the pro. So when I talked to the doc for the second time at 4:30 and got the go-ahead, I quietly got dressed, turned the lights on low, and as gently as I could, woke Adam from his sound sleep. His reaction: "What? Are you serious?" Lol! Well, yeah! I'm not fucking with your head at 4:45 a.m. just for shiggles! Then...I guess it was kind of unexpected being over three weeks before our due date, come to think of it...

He was up and bouncing around our room in seconds trying to figure out what to do first. I'm not sure he'd ever been so shocked in his life. Somehow, I remained calm and told him to take a minute to wake up, gather himself, brush his teeth and whatnot. The last thing we needed was him driving us to the hospital completely dazed, and with morning breath on top of it. Ok, I confess I was thinking of myself... if he was gonna be in my face "comforting" me, I didn't want any a.m. halitosis making it worse, lol!

We arrived at the Emergency entrance of the hospital by 5:30 and were admitted directly to a labor and delivery room. Here's where I sum up. Perhaps a timeline will suffice?

5:45 a.m. ~ Nurse on duty comes in, does an exam, can't find my cervix, thinks I'm fully dilated. oh fuck! you've got to be kidding!
5:46 a.m. ~ Dr. on call comes in, does an exam, can't find my cervix, thinks I'm fully dilated. double fuck! are you serious?! is my reaction. is it even POSSIBLE to dilate that fast? it's been less than four hours since my water broke! this "exam," by the way, is more painful than labor, y'all, honesttoshit. I'm not exaggerating.
5:50 a.m. ~ Dr. announces there might not be time for an epidural. WHAT?! oh shit, oh shit, oh shit... and so on. All I could do was mumble to myself. And I have never seen such fear on Adam's face. I think he was trying to mentally prepare for how he was going to help me get through labor without medication. I would've been terrified too.
5:51 a.m. ~ Epidural can't happen until they have pushed a full bag of fluids through me, so they put a pump on the bag to rush it as much as they can. *fingers crossed that there's time*

The next hour or so was a crazy, mind-numbing blur of activity. I was only partly present for most of it. My contractions at this point were only a minute or so apart. There were a ton of nurses and techs in the room getting everything ready. The anesthesiologist was there setting up. A random nurse who'd come into the room to get something was trapped in by all the equipment; and thankfully so as she ended up being my salvation in the whole mess of the moment. The guy had a helluva time with the epidural seeing as in my condition by that point, I could NOT hold still for him to stick the splint in. Aforementioned nurse shoved a pillow in between us, wrapped her arms around me as tightly as she could, and helped me to breathe. I shook; she held me still for the needle. If not for her, I know that damned thing never would've made it into my spine.

6:45 a.m. ~ They kept asking me if I had any urge to push. I said I had no idea what that meant. They said, oh, you'll know it when you feel it... WHAT in the HELL?! I thought I was supposed to be getting numb, not "feeling" things. I was so tired, and now even more confused. Well, thanks for that wealth of knowledge, assholes!
7 a.m. ~ All was right with the world again; the epidural was successful, and I was on my way to numb.
7:15-ish a.m. ~ The next Dr. on duty, who would end up being my delivery Dr., Rebecca Banks, came in for another one of those awful "exams." *shudder* I braced myself. Well, guess what? She found it! My cervix! Imagine that...it was still there the whole time! I don't know where the hell the other two went looking for it, but they were not in the right place apparently. *eye roll* I was about three to four centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. Once the epidural had me numbed to the point that I could no longer feel the contractions, which had slowed as a result, by the way, I was put on Pitocin to help speed them back up again. Fine with me! Let's get this shit over with already!

The rest of the timeline is a little bit skewed on account of the exhaustion of the previous hours of pain and then the utter relief of the drugs kicking in and doing their jobs. But basically there were phone calls amongst family members going on, my brother had shown up at the hospital, gone home, and come back. My dad had booked a flight to Atlanta and would arrive around 2. My mom was on her way from Florida and made it by noon, I think. Adam's mom was in the waiting room maybe? I don't really remember. Everyone was telling me to rest. Sure, stop coming in my room every two seconds, and I'll do that...

12:45 p.m. ~ We start pushing. They were right; I knew it when I felt it. And it felt like an eternity. With every round, the nurse and Dr. kept saying, One or two more and he should be here! But there were a lot more than "one or two more." Adam stood vigilantly by my side holding one leg while I pushed and my hand while I rested. His voice and the doctor's were the only two I listened to. I could hear everyone else cheering me on and everything, but it was all so jumbled and frustrating. The nurse's counting was so off of what I had going on that I started counting to myself instead. My foot kept slipping on her stupid glove. I chose her to hate during my delivery. Of course, I couldn't have done it without her, lol, but I needed someone to be pissed at to get the job done. Dr. Banks, on the other hand, was amazing. When I could focus on nothing else, she would catch my eye and straightforwardly give me instruction, to which, miraculously, I followed to the T, despite having no patience or strength left to call my own. And Adam just knew me so well in those moments. He knew just what to do, just how to act, just what I was thinking about everything going on.

2:17 p.m. ~ Stormy's arrival. He's beautiful. Just perfect. They wiped his face and layed him on my stomach. Tears and smiles. And as happy as I was to see him and touch him, I was happy as well when they took him over to the table to clean him up and get his stats. I needed a few minutes to let it all soak in. It was over, and he was here. And he was safe and healthy, and we were all together as a family, and that's all that mattered.

And so, I figured today, Stormy's Due Date, was as good a day as any to finally publish his delivery story. Welcome to the world, beautiful boy!

Hour Zero: Little Dude Time

I've come to realize over the past ten days that the hour on the standard clock doesn't really mean much at all. Lately, I'm running on a variable-time clock that resets itself every two to four hours, depending. On the little dude, that is...

Currently, it's about 2:45, Little Dude Time (LDT). For the rest of you, it happens to be 3 a.m. You'd think I'd be sleeping, but thanks to Adam practically locking me in our room when he got home from work last night, I had just woken up from a 3+ hour nap the last time Stormy woke up. And I have been famished for two hours and 3o minutes, LDT, on account of sleeping through dinnertime and taking care of you know who for the last couple of hours. But what goes up, must come down; and he's down for the count. For a little while anyway...

So, I'm here, letting it all out, and relishing in the fact that I just ate a bowl of Cheerios in the middle of the night. In fact, I should go ahead and stuff my face some more, while I have the time! *mentally scanning the kitchen pantry* I could have anywhere from 15 minutes to another hour before the LD clock resets. And I'd venture to lie down for a few minutes of that time, but if it's only 15 minutes I have, waking up would be sheer torment to my nervous system.

Really, that nap did wonders, I tell you. This is the first night I haven't wanted to cry for the past few. Don't get me wrong, this kid loves to sleep! And he's more than willing to let us catch some zees too. But my brain has been in a continuous debate with my body since we came home from the hospital. Do I get the stuff done I need/want to get done, or do I sleep? I'm trying to find a balance between the two somehow. A lot of times, I'll lie down to rest only to find that I'm creating To Do lists in my head. And then there's always one last thing to do before I can really relax enough to drift off.

Last night, I called Adam into our room (after lying there for a few minutes trying to read myself into a sleepy submission) under the pretense of asking him to turn on the ceiling fan. Then: Hey, would you make sure Stormy doesn't roll over? He needs another blanket to keep him up on his side, I said. Ok, he answered, and began to shut the door. I could tell he was onto me... Before the door hit the casing, it reopened with Adam sticking his head back in and saying, Everything's ok now; go to sleep, and the door closed behind him. And I cried...from utter exhaustion hitting me full-force, from feeling like I was abandoning my child, from the pure relief of knowing that I could actually sleep soundly for a while...I don't really know why. But I cried myself to sleep. Oh, don't worry; it took all of three minutes before I passed the fuck out for over three hours. LOL!

Yeah, I've heard it a million times already: Sleep when the baby sleeps. And I do actually take a nap most afternoons, sometimes holding him in my arms. Other times when he's sleeping, I just watch him breathing in and out and listen to his soft baby noises, amazed by the fact that he's here and that he's so beautiful. And other times, I scurry around the house, trying to cram in some laundry and dishes before Hour Zero comes around and we start all over again. It's all about balance. (And it helps to have a husband who's willing to force you to lie down and take care of yourself once in a while!)

Every day, I take a little time of my own to remind myself how truly fortunate we are to have the time together that we have as a family, no matter who's clock we're running on.

First Sponge Bath — This is the Life!

Getting ready...

Help Meeeee!!!Hey, that's nice and warm!

This isn't so bad!
Snug as a bug...
...and ready to fight the next time we try to pull that bathtime stuff on him! Check out that left hook, hahaha!

Mother's Day Surprise

Little did I know this Mother's Day would be my first official, and I couldn't be happier that it was!

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Welcome Stormy Tyler!

Remember that last post? The one where I was talking about lack of sleep? HA! So much for that! Less than 24 hours later, I was awake yet again, but for a completely different reason...

Please join our family in welcoming to the world

Stormy Tyler Antell!!!

He was born at 2:17 p.m., Monday, May 4, 2009. Weighing in at just under 7 lbs. (6 lbs., 15.8 oz.), he was a whole 20.5 inches tall! When he introduced himself, he had dark curly hair and dark gray eyes; he was so bright-eyed and content as you can see in the picture! Almost immediately we could see he had my wrinkly forehead and expressions, but with every day that goes by, he looks more and more like his daddy—so adorable.

Well, you can imagine, having spent the last nine days getting to know each other, there is a lot to say, so I'm gonna get to it. : ) I'll try to break it up some, though I could go on for days and paragraphs about our little dude. LOL! Adam and I agree he is the most amazing thing we have ever seen, and we are so overjoyed with him we could both burst with pride and love. And we are so happy to be sharing all of this with you all. Be sure to check back often: There's a lot of stuff coming your way!

Sleep as a Precious Commodity

So, here it is, approximately 6:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and the third or fourth (?!) time this week I've been awake before dawn and wondering what to do with myself... I mean, honestly, what do you "morning people" even do at this hour? This is totally nuts. Don't get me wrong: It's a lovely time of day, what with watching the sky light up, seeing the first outlines of the tree-tops, listening to the birds wake up and get on with their day. But really, even Mac the turtle who lives in our front yard isn't roaming around in the grass yet, and he lives out there where there is no shutting of the blinds to keep out the light; where there are no pillows to put over his head to hide from the early sun.

A "morning person," I am not, nor have I ever been. (See entry below.) And I'm not being a curmudgeon about being up early; I kind of enjoy the quiet of it all. I just don't know what to DO with myself right now! It's not that I go to bed too much earlier than I used to. Could it be the naps I've been taking, or just the simple discomfort of staying in one position for too long? I don't think I buy the *cough*bullshit*cough* theory that my body is "preparing" for the long, sleepless nights when the baby's first born (because really, aren't the days sleepless too? ...yeah, I thought so. ha!). I like to think my body is smarter than that and knows it should be sleeping right now while it still can! But I've actually been waking up well before 6 a lot of these days. Sometimes I can force myself back to sleep reading a few pages or just turning away from the window and burying my face in the pillow, like I imagine Mac's doing in some bed of leaves out there right now, I'm sure. But on mornings like this, when my hard-working husband actually has the chance to sleep in, I relent to torture him with my tossing and turning, and I succumb to nature's time clock and forgo the pull of my own. (Come on, Adam has to put up with my shit all day! The least I can allow him is a good night's sleep... haha.)

Well, now the coffee's done brewing and I chopped up a cantaloupe that's calling my name, so I guess that's one thing I can go do. Eat breakfast—yum! Maybe I'll clean out the fridge after that...I don't know; but if I think of enough things to do to wear myself out this morning, maybe I'll be ready for a nap after lunch! Nothing like falling asleep with a good book for an aftenoon nap. Ah, home sweet home (and by "home," I mean my bed)!

[/end bitchfest] Thanks for listening! LOL!

G-Ma Sprout’s Blog Entry

Well…this is long overdue, huh? Just wanted to share a little insight with Stormy about his Momma, and share a few baby photos.

Born 21 Sept. 1978 – 9lbs 6ozs, 20.5” at 10:35 pm…She’s still a night owl~ she was born without too much hair, but that rapidly changed. It grew in thick and curly just like her Daddy’s. Has always been brown too. She looked so much like her Daddy that I used to be jealous, but she DID get my cleft chin. No one EVER said how she resembled me when she was a baby…well she didn’t, so I guess that was to be expected.

She was a cute little thing. Always smiling, creating mischief from the time she could grab things. I remember her Dad putting her crib right under the thermostat in her bedroom and I was thinking that wasn’t such a good idea. But, Dad didn’t realize how well she could pull herself up in her crib I guess – so we awoke the next morning to ‘pieces’ of the thermostat everywhere – to include her mouth! Needless to say, we got a new thermostat and her crib changed locations quickly. She loved taking baths and being naked! Some of her favorite things were puzzles, books; especially story time. She hated her swing though cause it usually meant ‘nap-time’ and naps were just never on her agenda.

Believe it or not, as she got older, she became very shy with everyone. Her first time in pre-school, the teacher called me for a conference (after 4 or 5 months) to find out if she knew how to talk! (What happened???) Eventually she came around. The first love of her life was Jamie Lamerding – a little boy her Grandma used to babysit. She stole kisses from him every chance she got! She learned quickly how to get what she wanted from us too; and it wasn’t by pitching a fit and crying. She was extremely charming and ‘cute’. She would smile and roll her eyes at you like ‘aw come on…you know you want to’. Giving up was never her forte either.

Trust me Stormy, don’t try to pull any shenanigan’s with your Mom…she knows ALL the tricks! The stories I’ll be able to tell you…mmm mmm mmm. Gonna be FUN. Plus remember, Grandmas and Grandpas let you do almost everything that Mom and Dad won’t let you do…hehehe. We figure that after dealing with being the ‘responsible’ one for so long with our kids, we earned the right to spoil the grandkids with too much love and attention. We usually have more patience too.

I can’t wait to meet you; show you all her embarrassing pictures and tell you all the stories in person! I especially can’t wait to hold you, cuddle you and take naps with you. I just hope you don’t turn out like your Mom there…she really didn’t like to be cuddled much – too independent!

Hugs and Kisses
Grandma Mary

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Two weeks old

First Christmas: 3 mos. old

Seven mos. old in the tub!

Nine mos. old with first kitty, Smitty!

36 Weeks!

And now the real countdown begins! Today/tomorrow marks the start of our 36th week of this crazy journey. The last month—I can hardly believe it's here! Most days I feel ready. Some other days...not so much, lol. And everyone keeps telling me that no matter how ready I feel, I am not by any stretch of the imagination, and that no one is ever really ready. Well in response, all I can say is: Suck it, haters! I'm gonna keep pretending I've got my shit together, so there! Neener neener! (Plus! positive thinking about being prepared leaves me in a much calmer state of mind than being anxious about it, so I'm choosing preparedness, even if I'm totally deluded, lol!)

It does help that we got so much done this weekend (with lots of help from Michaela!). The crib is officially put together in the baby's room. Things are washed and put away. We have lots of diapers and other essentials stocked up and organized. All we need now is a little time to relax, sleep, and mentally prepare ourselves to share our lives with an incredible little dude. Adam and I are both sooooo excited to meet him and hold and cuddle him.

We had a check-up today; from here on, we will be going weekly since we are getting so close. And everything looked great as usual! My blood pressure was a little high when I first got there, but after resting on my left side for a few minutes, they rechecked and it was completely normal. Whew! Stormy was also very excited to be there, apparently. He was kicking like crazy, and his heartbeat measured at 150 bmp. He's normally somewhere around 130, but today's measurement was by no means unusual. We just caught him getting some exercise. Well, I tell ya, he'd better get it in now because things are getting really tight in there! As he gets bigger, his movements will become more restricted. He's surrounded in the max amount of amniotic fluid now, so the space around him isn't going to grow anymore. Any more growth will be all baby! Little dude needs a few more weeks to fill out and plump up before he joins us.

So that's all I've got for now, but stay tuned—the really exciting stuff isn't too far away!


(Just fyi, we learned today that pregnant or not, if your blood pressure is running high, laying on your left side to rest for a while is a surefire way to get it to come down a bit. Good information for anyone to know, I think!)

New Blog Tool

Look down there in the bottom right corner under this post. You should see a tiny white envelope with an arrow on top of it. If you want to forward a blog post we've written to any other family or friends, click on the envelope and it will direct you as to what to do. It will save you the few extra steps of copying and pasting. Hope that helps!

35 Weeks, woohoo!!!

So here we are at 35 weeks of pregnancy. Can I just say that this, now, is officially the most uncomfortable I've ever been in my life?!...and it's going to get worse?!...are you effing kidding me?!!! I think I might pass out, y'all. I'm pretty sure the extreme degree of my awkwardness even has Adam freaked the hell out. Sometimes he just stares with his mouth agape as he watches me struggling to get off the couch or out of the bed before remembering to ask me if I need a hand. Hahahaha! Poor guy, he has been so helpful and considerate for the duration, but sometimes I think he's still caught off guard by the whole thing. We get a lot of laughs out of it though! It's an absolute riot to try to explain to him how I feel, or why I get into bed the way I do (not pretty, folks, I assure you that!).

Anyway, regardless of all that, little Stormy and I are doing just fine. We were at the doctors' office yesterday for a check-up, and aside from the massiveness of my feet and ankles due to swelling over the last couple of weeks, everything is still right on track as far as baby's and my growth. Little dude has a strong steady heartbeat at 132 bpm this week, and is kicking around as much as ever, just itching to get out and see the world!

In other news, I have decided that this week is my last week of work. I have felt very fortunate that I have been able to run around and work on my feet all night as long as I have, but it's become really difficult to move around now, so I'm going to call it quits. It's only a week earlier than I had originally planned, so no biggie. But when my co-worker, Yuen, and I can't physically fit past each other behind the bar? Yeah, I think that's a definite sign to get the hell outta there and start my leave, LOL!! Also, now that the swelling has begun (thinking Stay-Puff marshmellows, anyone?), it's a pain in the butt...and thighs...and knees... to get a lot done. My work shoes don't even fit my ginormous ankles, people! So I'll be concentrating on keeping those puppies up as much as I can now while I finish up the last of things around the house in prep for Stormy's arrival, which will be very soon!

We start weekly check-ups with the doctor now that we are so close; and they say after 36 weeks, anything can happen...that's NEXT WEEK! Ahhhhhh!!! The final countdown begins! Keeping in mind the due date is May 27, anyone want to guess what his actual birthday will be?

Family Picture

Hey people! Well, last week we visited "our beach" for our last family vacay before Stormy joins us, though, as you can see from the picture, he is very much present! Every year, we go to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, where Adam and I got married three years ago; and each year, we seem to add another family member to the trip. This year, we had with us both of Stormy's older cousins, Sophie and Little A, and next year, Stormy will join the ranks of the toddler posse. We can't wait to teach him to swim in the ocean and build sandcastles with his cousins!

32 Week Update

Just a quick one, y'all... We went to the doctor today for a visit, and everything's right on track! Little Stormy dude is growing steadily and kicking around all the time. Not so much to report other than that! But boring is good, like I've said many times before.

The Dr. gave us some info on circumcision, which we have decided to do, by the way, the day after he's born. My Ob actually performs the procedure, not the pediatrician. But that does remind me, I need to give her a call sometime soon too—we have decided to use Dr. Ann Eggert and her partner, Dr. somebody (haven't met 'em yet). Dr. Eggert specializes in Adolescent Medicine as well as Pediatrics, so Stormy will have the same doctor for a while. The best thing is, Dr. Eggert was my doctor growing up! And Adam and I are good friends with her son (who happens to have been in Cub Scouts with my brother and so on...). Small town, what can I say?! Anyway, we both like her a lot, even if she does only have steps up to her office, and not a stroller-friendly ramp... ;-p

Anyhow, there's not much going on for the next couple of weeks really. Easter week, we'll be heading to the beach for a family vacay. Geez, I can't wait to just float around in that water. It's been a while since I felt any kind of "light" ya know? LOL! And it will be great to have a relaxing trip shortly before Stormy joins us. There won't be too much relaxation for a while after he's here! Talk to y'all soon.

p.s. I need to blog about the baby shower! Maybe tomorrow after I get all the pics uploaded. There is so much to go through still!

What's in a Name?

Drumroll please!.....



We have chosen a name for our nameless Baby Antell! We hope you like our choice, and if not, too bad...you have two months to get over it and get used to it, HA!


Baby's name will be Stormy Tyler Antell.

• Yes, we are serious; no, we are not joking.
• No, it is not April Fool's Day (yet).
• He will go by Stormy, not Tyler or Ty or anything else, until (if/when) he chooses to go by something different.
• Because we like it, that's why.

We both love this name! There aren't so many Stormys out there in the world after all, and you know our child is bound to be an individual! (I know, I know...everyone says that, lol)

So does a person's name determine what he will make of his life? Does it determine what job he will have? We don't think so, although several philosophers including Carl Jung have studied the intricacies of nominative determinism: "Are these the whimsicalities of chance, or the suggestive effects of the name [...] or are they 'meaningful coincidences'?" he asks. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism)

Some hilarious examples:

• Thomas Crapper, inventor of the ballcock
• Rollie Fingers, MLB pitcher
• Scott Speed, Formula One race car driver
• Lord Brain, neurologist

However, we don't believe that our Stormy is doomed to be a meteorologist or a tornado chaser, although that would be ok with us if he wanted to do either. On the other hand, we also don't believe his name will inhibit him from being a lawyer, a politician, an architect, or anything else he wants to be. Yeah, maybe he sounds like a musician already, and perhaps that's what he'll want do with his life, but we're pretty sure that given all the options and education we can provide, he can choose a life and career suited to his passions, not his name.

Baby Shower

The baby shower given to my by two of my sisters-in-law, Amy and Susie, was just adorable!

Here's the proof:

Mom pinning on my corsage, watch out now!

A beautiful table setting!



Monkey-topped diaper cake!


Amy's drink station, lol!

Invitation and favors!

Adorable decorations and a framed pic of our little dude!


Time for guests and gifts!



Amy and Susie keeping track, thank goodness! ^^^

Michaela was a big help with the gifts!

The shower was wonderful overall. There was a ton a good food, and the cake was amazing! I got just about everything I needed, and even Adam got some gifts of his own. Well, he has to share with the baby, but you know... haha. It was a great day to spend with friends and family!