Our future pianist!

Teeth!

Well, she's had them for a couple of weeks now, but I'm just now getting around to updating. Savannah has her bottom two front teeth, and those suckers are sharp! She hasn't let me get the camera and simultaneously get my finger in her mouth to open it up for a picture, so I don't have any pics yet.

She's moving along just great...we've tried lots of different foods, and so far avocado is the only thing she hasn't cared for. We'll give it another couple of tries over the next couple of weeks before giving up on it completely.

That's really all I have for an update right now...cheers!

Luck O' the Irish

A few pictures from our St Paddy's Day photo shoot...enjoy :)

Happy Halfsies, Savannah!

Six months...I can't believe it's been 6 months. Savannah has grown so much, and is developing and changing so much every day! She had her six month checkup this week, and she weighed in at 16 lbs 2.5 oz, and measured 25.5" long. I can't imagine life without my precious baby girl...I sometimes wonder what I ever did before she came along, because she makes my life feel so complete. Peter and I both feel so blessed to have such a happy, healthy baby. She is our world. Happy 6 months baby!

Changes

It's so great and so fulfilling to watch my baby girl grow and develop. Sometimes I just sit and watch her, because it's so interesting to me to watch her learn. She'll spend 20 minutes just staring at her hand, twisting it this way and that. She already knows she can control it, but I think she's realizing just how much control she has over it. It's really an incredible thing to watch.

I also notice changes within myself. I'm not just Jess anymore, I'm a mom. I'm "mom". There are days when I get home from work, she sees me, and if I leave the room for even a second, she starts crying because she wants me to hold her. There are nights that I sit up feeding, rocking, and shh'ing her to sleep. There are mornings that I wake up to a happy, smiling, chatty baby. Most mornings, in fact.

There are nights like last night, where she's fussy and wakes up every hour wanting to eat. I know she's fussy because she's teething, and she's hurting. So I feed her, rock her, whatever it takes to make her comfortable and help her get to sleep. We take her to the doctor for her check-ups, and I cry when she gets shots. I don't like hearing the cry of pain when they stick her with the needle...it just breaks my heart.

I eat better, for her sake and my own. I want to be healthier and lose some weight, I want to be able to keep up and to play with my daughter. Most importantly, I want to ensure that I'm around for her as long as I possibly can be, and that means taking better care of myself.

I think more and more about the future. Our future as a family, Savannah's future. The fact that Peter and I are solely responsible for raising a child, making sure she eats her veggies, does her homework, and goes to bed on time...it's an interesting thing to think about. I know that we're up to the challenge, and we look forward to it.

We have a roller!

Savannah rolled back to front for the first time in January, at 4 months old. She did it a few times the first night, and after a few days of no rolling, she started back up again. She's become a pro at it now, nearly 2 months later! We put her down on her back to play, and before we know it, she's on her tummy! Crazy! She's working really hard to learn to crawl now. My little girl is growing up!

Let me know if you want the link to the YouTube video (I don't have the vids trasferred to the new laptop yet...I'll try to remember to come back and add the video once I transfer them).

Solids...

We've done the rice cereal thing a few times now. The pediatrician said we could start introducing it any time after 4 months. We're waiting for the 6 month mark to start regularly giving her solids and introducing fruits and veggies to her diet. We're working on giving the rice cereal more consistently in the evenings right now, and we'll probably be introducing oatmeal soon, and possibly barley cereal, to give her a little variety. When we start the fruit and veggies, the plan is to make our own baby food. It's a fraction of the cost of the jars, and I know exactly what's in it. For now, here are a couple of pictures of our entry into the world of solids.

First time (end of January):
"Mom, I'm not too sure about this..."



Most recently (end of February):
"Hmm...this isn't so bad..."




And as a bonus, the first time using the mesh feeder...there was a chunk of banana in it, and she seemed to dig it:

"This is much better than that rice stuff, mommy..."

Belated Birth Story

A little late, I admit...but I finally feel ready to write my birth story for any who wish to read it. Nothing gross, just the experience.

The best place to start would probably be Friday, September 12th. I emailed my boss, who was away from his desk, asking him if the following week could be my last week of work since I was getting pretty tired pretty fast, and the trek to and from the parking garage at work was taking it's toll. After work I went to my prenatal appointment, where my doctor checked me for progress. She said I was about 1cm dialated, which was good. She also said we would talk about possible induction at my next appointment if I made it that far.

My due date was September 22nd.

Saturday the 13th, I started having contractions, just mild, and I assumed they were braxton-hicks contractions, basically the wannabe contractions that help get your body ready for the real thing. They typically happen any time after 12 weeks of pregnancy, and a lot of times you just don't feel them until you're farther along. So no big deal, didn't cause any concern. They got stronger throughout the day, but didn't hurt, and were very infrequent. We did our normal weekend stuff, and headed home. Just in case, I packed my hospital bag.

About 5:00 Sunday morning, the contractions started to hurt. They got closer together as well, but not close enough to call the doctor. I timed them off and on all morning, and when they finally got close enough to call the doctor, I called, and they told me to come on in to get checked. I called my parents to let them know we probably wouldn't be making it out to their house for dinner as planned, as we were headed to the hospital.

We checked in around 2:00, hooked up to all of the monitors, and the nurse was in and out checking on me. We got to hear Savannah's heartbeat the whole time we were there, and the computer was monitoring my contractions. When the doctor came in to check me, I was 5 cm dilated, and they admitted me and took me to the labor and delivery room, and sent for the anestesiologist for the epidural.

The on call doctor was in and out to check on me, and then the epidural was put in. It was amazing...I couldn't feel the contractions any more, and my butt was numb, hehe. My parents, Peter's parents, and Kris and Spring all came to see us, starting around 5:00 I think. I wasn't dilating very fast, so the nurse gave me some pitocin to help speed up the process, and had also given me fentanyl for the pain before the epidural kicked in, and the fentanyl made me throw up, yuck. The on call doc came back around 9 and said she was going home for a while, but lived close by and would be back as soon as the nurses let her know I was fully dilated.

At that point, the nurses were estimating I'd deliver in the early hours of Monday morning, maybe 2 or 3 AM, and they told me to expect to push for 2-3 hours. Around 9:15, everyone went out to the waiting room for a bit while they checked me again. I was able to feel the contractions again. They didn't hurt, but the pressure was very intense, almost worse than the pain had been. I was fully dilated by that point.

About 9:30, my parents came in to say they were going to head home, and that they would be back the next day to see how we were doing. I told them to hold on, because if they waited a little bit, their granddaughter would be here. They went back out to wait with Bruce and Ann in the waiting room. Kris and Spring had already taken off for the evening, and Peter sent them a text message letting them know the baby was coming.

The nurses came back in and got everything ready to go. One of them told me to try not to push, because they were waiting for the on call doc, she was on her way back to the hospital. I tried, but it was virtually impossible. My body wanted to push no matter what. They finally grabbed another doctor from down the hall to come in and help deliver the baby, because she was coming fast.

After 14 minutes of pushing, at 9:54PM 9/14/08, Savannah was born. She had a double umbilical cord, and it was wrapped loosely around her neck, which was very scary. They cleaned her up, and laid heron my chest. It was the happiest moment of my life. She was so tiny, and rather purple. Her face had some bruising from the delivery, but she was prefectly healthy. She weighed in at 7lbs 11oz, and was 19.5" long.

Peter promptly texted her picture and all of her stats to everyone in his phone book. As soon as they were given the okay, all of our parents, and Kris and Spring, came in to see us. It was so wonderful to have them all there to share such a special moment in our lives. Once everything was cleaned up and settled, and everyone else had gone home for the night, the nurses took Peter, Savannah, and I to our post-delivery room for our first night as parents. Peter was great and did all of the diaper changes for those first couple of days so I could rest. At one point the first night, apparently someone came and drew blood from me, and I have no memory of it. Given my aversion to needles, I am amazed I could sleep through that, but go figure.

Over the next couple of days, everyone came to see us. Kris and Spring, my parents, Peter's parents and 4 of his little sisters, Matt and Shelley...it was great to have them all there.

Now, our baby girl is 5 and a half months old...time has flown! She's getting big fast, and she's the light of our lives. I can't imagine life without her.

Our parents are all ecstatic. She's the first grandchild on both sides, and they couldn't be happier. My mom babysits for us while we work, and she loves being a stay-at-home grandma to Savannah.

I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life...I have a wonderful, loving husband who is my best friend, and the most beautiful baby girl in the world. They are the best things to ever happen to me.

Happy 5 Months, Savannah!

I can't believe it's been 5 months already! She's rolling over now, has discovered her feet, and is talking like crazy...too bad only she understands what she's talking about! :)

I feel like the luckiest person in the world...I have the greatest husband, and the most beautiful little girl in the world. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life. Thank you to those of you who who help make my life so special...I can't imagine life without you!

Happy 4 months, Savannah!

She's 4 months old as of yesterday. How crazy, the time has gone so fast! I can't believe how big she's getting, yet how small she still is. She's definitely growing quickly! The last weigh-in was 14lbs 8oz at my parents' house the other day. We'll get another weigh-in and whatnot at the pediatrician's on Friday.

She's been giggling, which is the cutest thing ever! It's still pretty sporadic, but she's doing it more and more. Plus, she "talks" like crazy, it's great. She's also trying *SO* hard to roll over. She can almost make it. She gets most of the way, and needs just the teeniest push to actually make it over. Pretty soon she'll be doing it!

First week back to work...

Well, I survived my first *full* week back to work. It was hard. Hard to leave my baby girl, hard to be away from her all day long, and hard to keep from getting a speeding ticket on my way home to see her.

It was definitely a long week. It honestly wasn't horrible, just long. I know it will get easier.

I got to transition back by way of doing a whole lotta nothing the first couple of days while all of my logins got reinstated after my leave. You'd think they could start that process the week before I come back, but they're not allowed to do so until I'm back in the building. After that, I got some training, and was set loose on a brand new report. It's nice to do something new, but I'm working in a very "grey" area, and I have a lot of power when it comes to determining which accounts stay open and which get closed. It's hard working in such a grey area, but I feel good that they trust me enough to do so.

All in all, I think I'll survive. I knew I'd survive, but those first few days were hell. I'm better now, and we're getting a nice routine down, which makes things easier.

I'm forever grateful that my mom is our babysitter. I know she enjoys every minute of it, and we have someone we trust to no end watching our little one.

In a few more days, Savannah will be 4 months old...I can't believe how fast the time is going!

Cheers!
Jess

Happy 3 Months Savannah!

Yay, my baby girl is 3 months old tomorrow! I can't believe how fast the time has gone, and how big she's getting! She's my world, I love her to no end! Sadly, I will have to go back to work after Christmas, but she'll be in good hands. My mom is choosing to take early retirement from her job, and stay home to babysit her granddaughter, how cool is that?!

And now, some recent pictures :)