Tummy Time

What is the best time in the world? TUMMY TIME!!! With all the scares about SIDS, (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) no baby is allowed to sleep on their stomach anymore. So, to make up for not being able to sleep on your belly until you earn your third paycheck from your first part-time job, parents have invented "tummy time." Basically, it's parent supervised belly sleeping. What's even cooler about it is that I get to sleep at the same time. :) So, on most days, as long as Tiny Baby (who isn't so Tiny anymore) hasn't been asleep all day and is threatening to stay awake all night, Dad and baby will get their tummy time to lay back in the recliner and take a nap together. It gives us our time and it gives #1 Mom a chance to break away and get a shower, take a nap or whatever it is she needs or wants to do. We like our tummy time and #1 Mom seems to really enjoy it too.
As you can probably guess, alone time to work on the computer, website and blog are kind of at a premium right now. So, hopefully, you'll excuse me if I don't keep this updated as much as I did in the past.. I'll still keep it updated, but the write-ups will not be as frequent as they were in the past. As soon as we get to sleeping all night and have everything down to a routine, I'll jump back into it.. Main reason: As any of you out there with kids know (And I'm finding out) there is PLENTY to write about when a child enters your life.

Just a quick update on everyone: #1 Mom is doing great. A bit of "cabin fever" having to stay around the house all day everyday. We're starting to take some trips downtown just to get her back outside and are in the market for a stroller that will go well on the asphalt so we can start walking around the neighborhood in the evenings with her. But, overall, she is mending up nicely and is ready to jump into "life" head on (as long as she doesn't have to leave Tiny Baby behind)
Tiny Baby, as you can see is growing bigger by the day. She is very alert and even started to get a bit spoiled. But, that's to be expected with the first grandkid on one side of the family and my just likes to spoil kids, period. We have had MANY visitors over the past few weeks and we appreciate everything everyone has done for us.

One bit of information I can pass along; I joined a prestigious group this morning: The Royal Paternal Order of Projectile Vomit Catchers. That was quite a treat I've never had the honor of doing. Needless to say, I'm not wearing the same shirt I was about 2 hours ago. Talk about a badge of honor.. That badge covered the entire front of my shirt. Ain't Parenthood Grand???? Yes it is.

Smart Hospitals

Besides being filled with Doctors, Hospitals are smart. They keep your baby every night they sleep through the night and then, just when it's time for them to start staying up all night, they release the mother and child to go home. They must have secret formula that tells them which night your baby is going stay awake. Lo and behold, they did it to us. Tiny Baby slept through the 2 days and nights her and #1 Mom were in the Hospital. Then, the day we get home, she is awake MUCH more of the time than she is asleep, and has been for the last two days. Of course, we knew this was coming and we were ready for it. #1 Mom and I take turns watching Tiny Baby while the other tries to cat-nap. Of course, I've been on the better end of that stick. I've gotten much more sleep than she has, (because I can sleep on a bed of rocks if I'm tired enough) but I'm still trying to help out.

All in all, this has been a great experience. We absolutely adore our little girl as does the rest of the family. We are very blessed to have her and enjoy every minute with her.

For a quick update, #1 Mom and Tiny Baby are doing great. They were allowed to leave the hospital a day earlier than first told (Of course, that's because when they did the formula, they figured out Tiny Baby was going to be awake Thursday night and not Friday as they originally thought) Both are doing great. #1 Mom is healing up very nicely and getting around better than expected after being cut open only days ago.

A big THANK YOU to all of you that have emailed and called voicing your well wishes and congratulations. I means the world to all 3 of us. :)

The pictures: One of Baby, and one of the sign my sister had put in the front of our house just before we came home.

Happy Birthday

Being the Patriotic guy that I am, you would expect this to be a Independence Day write-up. And, under normal circumstances, it would be. However, today is not normal, by any stretch of the imagination.

This birthday is not a 230th birthday, but an original birthday.

At, 10:56 pm, July 3, 2006, my daughter, Ansley Savannah Hall, was born at Coliseum Hospital in Macon, GA. She weighed 6 lbs and 13 oz and was 19.5 inches long.

Too make a long story much shorter, Darling Bride's (now also known as #1 Mom) water broke at 9:00 am while she was at work on 3 July. There had been no contractions to speak of, so, the water breaking was kind of a surprise. We called the Dr and they said to go to the Hospital. We did and she was admitted around 10:00 am. They checked and she was dilated 1cm. They put her on, what the Doc called "Go-Go Juice," to bring on labor and get her dilated. After 11 1/2 hours of contractions, epidurals that wore off, and visits by all family members within a 450 mile radius, she had dilated all the way to 2cm. Quite a bit away from the 10cm needed to give birth. The doc decided it was time to do a c-section. She always knew this could be an option and was very willing to do it since it didn't look like she was going to dilate anytime soon. At 10:56 pm, Little Miss Ansley was born via c-section while I was seated by her mother's head in the operating room. Both Mother and Daughter are doing fine and expected to be released a day earlier than originally thought.

Happy Original Birthday, my sweet Daughter.