9 days...

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Taryn had her first pediatrician appointment today. She is 9 days old. Here are her birth stats vs. her current stats:
The doctor said that Taryn is doing great! She said "Obviously the feeding is going well." Usually they want babies to regain their birth weight within 2 weeks. Taryn not only regained her birth weight, but gained a whole extra 1/2 lb in 9 days! Usually the doctor has babies come back for a 2 week checkup, but she said we could skip that one and come back for the one-month check-up since Taryn is obviously thriving.

Taryn was extremely well behaved for the doctor and didn't even cry a bit. She really liked the doctor's orange wall. We'll see if the magical orange wall will help at the next visit when she gets some shots.

Check out this great belly shirt!

Projectile Poop

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The other day I boldly jumped one of the many hurdles of motherhood.

I got projectile pooped on.

We have been using our ottoman with a changing pad on top of it to do most of Taryn's diaper changes when we're in the living room. So, I was sitting on the couch and Taryn was on the ottoman. I cracked open the diaper and reached for a baby wipe.

And then I heard a huge fart and poop flies at me (legs, not face, thank goodness!), the couch, the ottoman, and the carpet between. And then I heard Lee laughing.

I tried to start to clean Taryn up while Lee came over to assist in the carpet/couch cleaning. Just as he was down on the floor cleaning, there was another huge fart and more poop flies at the carpet. It seriously somehow went between Lee's arms to land on the carpet and somehow did not get on him at all. He said it was a moment straight out of the Matrix, and I agree. I totally saw it in slow motion as well.

Who me??

Ri-DONK-ulous

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Last night I was watching tv while trying to soothe a screaming baby. I was only half paying attention to the drug commercial that was on.

They were listing all of the side effects, and I was like "What is this?"

"No, it can't be what I think they're saying..."

"Oh my gosh, it is."

They now have a drug called Latisse that is supposed to help you grow longer thicker EYELASHES. Are you serious? Is this worth the money? The side effects? There are just WAY too many drugs on the market these days!

Our first 3 days in pics

10cm dilated and ready to push. If I had known what that meant, I would not have been nearly this excited.
Finally out! Lee got to spend some time bonding with Taryn while the doctor was finishing things up with me.
Finally got to hold my little girl! Grandma Mary is head over heels in love!

Lee's first diaper change... EVER. And the contents were not pretty.
Our "celebration dinner" at the hospital. The dessert was awesome. So was the wine*!
On Saturday, we gave her her first sponge bath. She did not so much like it.

"I can't believe you did that to me!"

* P.S. Yes, Reuter, I had my first Bud Light last night. It was tasty!

Busy weekend at home!

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Lee and I finally got to bring our little Taryn home from the hospital on Friday, late evening. It was definitely time for us to be sprung from our prison. I was about one shift of nurses away from going off the deep end!

Friday night was a little rough. Taryn decided to cry from 11pm - 2am. At 2am, I threw in the towel and woke up Lee and said "Your turn." So, Lee took the 2am-2:10am shift. Wow. She is now adapting to being home though. She slept a lot yesterday and was a perfect baby last night too. She slept the whole night except to eat at 2, 5 & 8am.

My mom has been up from Lafayette ogling her first granddaughter. My dad just arrived last night from New Jersey. Lee's parents were up on Friday evening. Tomorrow we have my uncles and grandma coming. We need to start charging admission! The good news is that we've been getting tons of food! Gotta love that!

Don't forget, the greatest spectacle in racing today!!! The Indy 500!

Sorry for all the cell phone pics. Its all i can do from the hospital with no laptop! We'll be home tomorrow night!

Taryn hearts mom!

Big ol baby with a bow in her hair!

Wednesday - The BIG Day

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I went to the doctor this morning and it turns out our little bundle of joy is WAY too comfy in the womb. Since tomorrow is my due date, it is time to take the bull by the horns and get this show on the road.

So, I report to the hospital at 6am on Wednesday for a date with destiny (and an IV of pitocin).

As Mich & Reuter can surely vouch for, it is so strange to have the date set. And to know your baby's birth date before it happens. "Yes, honey, you were born on May 20th because Wednesday was the doctor's on-call day!"

(Oh well, it's as good a reason as Lee & my wedding anniversary. When we had to move the wedding up 8 months thanks to the Navy, we called our reception hall and they happened to have a cancellation on September 16th.)

On one hand, it is nice to know and be able to plan for it. But, on the other hand, if it were a surprise, I wouldn't have time to overanalyze everything which would be nice too. My last day of work was on Friday, so at this point, all I have to do is obsess. And I'm doing a good job of it.

While prego, almost everyone reads the book "What to Expect When You're Expecting" or some similar ginormous book. (Seriously, it's 616 pages long.) You read about all the crazy things that are going to happen to you thanks to that alien being growing in your stomach and the hormones that come with. And you don't believe it. "There's no way a dark line is going to appear on my stomach." Oh... There it is.

The thing I probably was most skeptical about was the idea of "nesting". When a woman is getting close to the end of the pregnancy, supposedly she starts wanting to get the house in order, clean everything in sight, wash & re-wash the baby clothes, etc etc etc. I did NOT think that sounded like something I would ever do. I usually avoid cleaning as much as possible.

But, as shocking as it sounds, I have totally gotten kind of crazy about things. I want to organize every closet. I am obsessed with baskets and all the things I could store in baskets. I bought bags that go under your bed to store winter clothes during the summer and summer clothes during the winter. I have rearranged our bookshelves. I wrote out directions to whoever might come to our house about how to feed the cats. I've gotten every thank-you note written for the gifts we have received. I have some baby bottles sterilized and ready to be used. The inside of my car has been cleaned. I have created a list of everyone in the family's phone numbers and who is supposed to call who.

And now, things have been stepped up a notch. Knowing that labor is like 40 hours away, suddenly my "clean enough" house is not clean enough for the newborn that will be coming home this weekend. Or for the guests that will be arriving to see the newborn.

So, what is left on my nuerotic list of nesting?
* Wash every blanket & towel in the house.
* Dust everything.
* Clean every un-dustable surface with PineSol.
* Re-pack my hospital bag.
* Make up the beds that my mom & dad will be sleeping in when they visit.
* Make Lee vacuum (I don't like to vacuum, it's loud.)
* Stock the beverage fridge (yes, some celebratory Bud Light will be included)

Ok, time to get back to nesting. (I think Lee is out "man nesting" in the yard.)

Candy = Yum

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On Saturday, Lee and I made a trip up to Merrillville, as we do most weekends. No real plans to speak of this weekend, just trying to pass the time until baby girl decides to grace us with her presence. The trip was none too exciting. Petsmart, the Home Depot, Babies R Us, and TGI Fridays for lunch. (Seriously, sounds like Will Ferrel in Old School, doesn't it?)

After all of that, I decided I wanted to hit up the Albanese Candy Factory. We always see the signs for it. Plus, in college, Ahow lived with Steve Albanese, so we'd heard about the candy factory many times.

First off, the place is much bigger than I expected. I don't know what I was thinking... I guess you do need quite a bit of space to make lots of candy! The front is a large candy store with windows to see back into the factory part. What we could see of the factory really wasn't that exciting. We saw lots of powdered sugar, and that's about it.

There was so much candy there! And not just stuff made by Albanese. There were lots of "old school" candies that I hadn't seen in years. Like the little wax bottles that you bite open and they contain sugary juice... Classic. Unfortunately, there were also a TON of people there. Agh! I got ran over by a dude at one point. I said to Lee "Apparently he underestimated his size," and Lee said "Or yours." Hmmm. The coolest part of the store was this huge tube that had melted chocolate dripping down it from about 50 feet up. Delicious looking.

With all the crowds, Lee and I grabbed some gummy bears (supposedly their specialty), chocolate covered pretzels, and a ginormous turtle (for Lee) and bailed.

All in all, I'm glad I got to see the place. But, I was quite disappointed in the lack of Oompa Loompa's. The white chocolate pretzels and the gummy bears have both been quite delicious. Although I'm not sure I'm enough of a connoisseur to really say if they have the BEST gummy bears...