Crawling

Our life is now forever changed, again.

*note: you might want to mute the video so you don't have to hear my "baby voice" ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLw8u3tIuTQ

Monday Madness....but not here!

Just a little peace in the eyes of a child

What have we been up to...

Brooke is starting to figure out that *she* has the ability to get things that are out of reach. And she is happy when she does!

She loves her daddy

We went over to eastern Washington to some friends' apple farm and picked apples a while back. Someone stole my camera from me and caught me with my ol' glasses on.
Surprisingly, Brooke slept really well on this trip too. She had no problems going down for naps or sleeping in a strange place. We all had a great time!

Happy Girl!

Check out this Happy Girl! Her grandma just made her a new softy blankie since the other one (not made by grandma) was falling apart already. I just can't get enough of that (toothy) smile!

Another growth spurt?

This kid is going through clothes like you would not believe! She's not even 5 months old and already two of her "6 month" outfits no longer fit. And I think she's going through another growth spurt, because....she sleeps...a lot....when she grows, and when she's teething, and when she's sick. Did I mention she sleeps**? And mostly between the hours of 6-7pm until 5 or 6am. Too bad I only sleep half of that time, otherwise I would get a lot of sleep too! One of these days, I'll learn.

{**I am full aware, that this will be the ONLY child of ours, that will sleep. All other child(ren) will most like be night owls with colic - oh joy!}

So what else do we do these days?

She tries to sit and play by herself

Her favorite snack is "Red Robin"

And of course she loves smiling at Daddy!

Big Girl

Brooke is really starting to look like a big girl now...no more newborn here...

I Heart Craig$list

On Sunday we were at some friend's house for tacos, and they have a little boy 6 weeks older than Brooke. They have one of those activity mats with the arches that dangle toys in the baby's reach. Brooke was just loving that thing! She was laying under it for almost an hour cooing and smiling and just having a grand time.

So being the engineers we are...we tried to make due with what we had.
Parts List:
(1) Bouncy Seat
(1) Crazy Cow Plush toy
(7) Plastic Links
(1) Clamp from the garage

Assemble as shown.
Insert one happy baby and enjoy.




But of course, we need some variety too. So this is why I love craig$li$t.

Normally, the retail price is up near $60-70 for one of these play mats. I found one brand new for $25. The only thing "wrong" with it is the sun toy doesn't play music anymore. Oh darn...a baby toy that doesn't make noise. Shucks.

She seems to like it. (you can thank Brady, the slightly needy - totally spoiled cat, for helping me with the filming. He kept head-butting my arm while I was trying to film.)

Two Months Old!

It's so hard to believe over 2 months have gone by since our precious baby opened her eyes to the world.

Some milestones we have reached...

Brooke likes to look at Daddy; sometimes she'll even coo and smile

She is getting really good at controlling her gorgeous little red-head



She likes to sleep - and most of the nights, she lets Momma sleep until 4-5am!

She's trying to grow an 80's style punk-rocker chick mullet

And she is such a precious sleeper

We had our 2 month checkup today

she weighed in at a whole whopping 11 lbs 13 oz (75%tile for girls)

her length was measured at 23 3/4 inches (90%tile for girls)

and her head was measured at the 50%tile - I can never remember the number.

Andy and I have a bet on how tall she is going to be. I'm not sure what the stakes are yet, but we have quite a few years to figure it out.

Andy's guess: 6'1

Andrea's guess: 5'11

We shall see who is right....stay tuned for the next 18 years....

Brooke's Baptism

May 17, 2009 A very special day.

As I write this, there are tears in my eyes and wet splotches on my shirt. It is really starting to hit me now, Brooke is growing up. Too fast. And I feel like I am too busy fussing about other things that are much less important.

Let me back up...Sunday was Brooke's baptism. It was both a day I have been looking forward to, and stressing over at the same time.

What were the things I was looking forward to?

• Spending time with family and friends that we don't see often enough.



• Seeing the joy on those same faces when Brooke would smile and coo for them.



• Watching my grandfather hold his great-granddaughter for the first time.



• Enjoying the good food Andy and I prepared together

But where was my energy and my focus? I wasn't always "in the moment" soaking up every minute. I was distracted with trying to make sure everything was "perfect". And the ironic thing, it wasn't absolutely perfect, but it was the best I could have made it. And you know, no one noticed it wasn't perfect. So why do I put so much energy into trying to make things "perfect" and then miss the little moments. Little moments like being about to sit with the group and listen to wise words from my 90 year old grandfather. Little moments of spending more than 2 minutes talking to any one person.

But surely, I do appreciate what few little moments I was a part of.

Like when my grandfather held Brooke for the first time

And of course, there was the baptism itself...

And spending some time with both sides of the family...

And of course, the lady of the hour...

There are only 3 short weeks left and then I will have to return to work. I will try and make the most of every little moment and stop worrying about the insignificant things!

3 weeks and a day

Presenting...the one...the only...

Brooke Elizabeth Vandehey

born March 18, 2009

1:47 am

20 inches

7 lb 14 oz

Overdue

We are now past our due date. She seems very content to stay put for now. I haven't had many contractions the last couple of days.

Maybe this is better though - then Andy can study for his final and not be distracted with baby. I have another doctor appointment tomorrow, and maybe we'll have made some progress in the dilation department. But if not, she's only got a week to come out on her own, then we'll induce on the 17th at the earliest.

And this was the same girl that wanted to come out and play on January 16.....funny how things work out.

Going into labor??.....Not quite

I really thought that we might be heading to the hospital in the middle of the night last night or this morning. It started around 7pm and I was starting to get fairly frequent contractions. They were less than 5 minutes apart accompanied with cramping and back-aches. I was thinking...uh oh...here we go! And the contractions continued on for about 6 hours, but they weren't too intense. I didn't need to do any of the breathing techniques to get through them and they were more of an annoyance than anything. The contractions started to space themselves out.

I may have just been dehydrated, and so I drank about a liter of water between 7pm and midnight that seemed to calm them down and I was able to get to sleep. This morning everything feels like it is back to normal.

Definitely was an interesting night - laying there awake - wondering if my water is going to break, or if I should call triage.

Now we wait some more

+++++++++++

In the middle of all these contractions, I decided to get the crib put together.

Now we just need a baby to lay in here. (and organize the rest of the room that you can't see)

Only 16 more days, or less??

It is really hard to believe that we are only 16 days away from our due date! After the little scare we had in the hospital over a month ago, I just Praise God that everything has worked out so good this far! Our God is an Awesome God!

You might think that with just over 2 weeks until Baby Girl arrives, I might be a little more prepared. Hmm...not quite. The crib mattress is still balancing on end in the crib - to keep the cats out of it. I am just now washing the mattress pad and sheets and *maybe* I'll get around to making the crib this weekend. All the 0-3 month clothes are washed and in bags waiting to be organized into the dresser that my gracious Aunt is bringing over to us on Monday. And really - if she decided to come tomorrow, we would be more than okay. She won't care if the crib bumper isn't in place, or the window valance put up. So I'm not worrying about having everything perfect. It surprises me that I'm content with not having everything organized. Must be the hormones or something.

Ash Wednesday is coming up next week - and I've been thinking about what I would like to change/improve/sacrifice during those following 46 days. When I'm not working, sleeping, eating or staring out the window, I have been spending quite a bit of time reading. And the books I have been choosing to read, are not the most spiritually fulfilling. As entertaining as murder mysteries are, they aren't really filling my head and heart with good things. One of the things I plan on doing, is replacing my murder mysteries with the study of God's Mysteries. What better place to learn about His mysteries, than in searching for what is revealed in the Bible. I would like to read the whole Bible eventually, and maybe I can work through a large portion this Lent.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Baby Progress

We did have a doctor appointment on Thursday. And we seem to be progressing...
In 1 week, we went from <1cm dilated, to maybe a 1 1/2 cm dilated (but the first check was from a different doctor, so we may not have changed much at all)

Wouldn't it be ironic if she was late!

A little update

On Friday Jan 16, we had a little pre-term labor episode that actually granted me a 5 day hospital stay to get the contractions under control and stop the labor. I was having contractions at work and some of them were accompanied by a little cramping. Friday night I decided to go in and just get checked out by the midwives and I fully expected them to say I was just over-reacting and to go home, drink more water and rest. Well, apparently the contractions were being productive and I was starting to dialate (we were at 32 1/2 weeks). They immediately checked me in and hooked me up to a magnesium sulfate IV and that totally knocked me on my butt. Magnesium sulfate (aka "mag sulfate" or "mag" by the nurses) royally SUCKS. It makes you feel like you are on fire and makes you super weak. I was on the lovely stuff for 48 hours, but it seemed to do the trick. It is a muscle relaxer and also lowers your blood pressure. This is where things get tricky for me. My normal blood pressure is 100/60. Pregnancy was 90's/50's. And on this stuff, my BP was in the 80's/ 40's. It took them a little trial and error to find the right dosage that didn't make me pass out.

And through all this, our baby girl was perfectly fine. She was on the monitors and just doing her thing. Monday morning, they took me off the Mag and put me on a pill that would do the same thing but without the dramatic side effects. Then I spent two more days in the hospital being monitored and checked to make sure I wasn't dialated anymore.

I think one of the scariest parts for me was when my blood pressure crashed to 60/30 and they started talking emergency c-section and blood transfusions and the NICU (newborn intensive care) nurses came to talk to me about what I could expect with a preemie. Fortunately, they were able to find the right balance of mag for me and we didn't have to go to these extremes.

I am so thankful that our baby is doing great and I praise God that things turned out ok.

I have been home now for about 3 weeks on bed rest. Of course I would go out of my mind if I actually stayed in bed, so the daylight hours are spent out in the living room or in front of the TV with my new subscription to Netflix. And since we made it past 36 weeks, if I go into labor now, then we'll be having a baby. Which honestly makes me a little nervous...ok, a lot nervous.

My mom thinks we are going to have a Valentines baby (uh, yeah...that's this saturday. I'm trying not to panic)...which would be fun, except she is going to be in California (Bay area) this weekend and the LAST thing I want my mom to do is drive all the from San Fran, thru Oregon and half of Washington just to get here. Yes, she would do something this crazy - it would take her about 5 triple Venti latte's from $t @ rbuck$, but she would probably drive without stopping.

I'm thinking that we won't be having a baby this weekend though, since I haven't been having contractions.

Changing Tables

Here is a funny conversation Andy and I had last night about baby changing tables:

Andy: "why do we need a changing table?"

Andrea: "Where do you suggest we change the baby"

Andy: "On the kitchen counter"

Andrea: "You have got to be kidding me. No way...you are not changing the baby on the kitchen counter. That is just gross"

Andy: "The cats stick their bare butts on the counter. I don't see how this is different"

Andrea: "Touche...but still not happening. We are getting a changing table."